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The Honey Island Swamp Monster, Bigfoot's Southern Cousin

HONEY ISLAND SWAMP MONSTER

Story by Gene R. Hampton Artwork Ricardo Pustanio

Bigfoot's Southern cousins seem to roam as far west as Galveston, Island Texas to Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Florida. These hot blooded crypto swamp beast seem to be very well adapted to the wet and the terrain just as Sasquatch is accustomed to the high mountain counties of the North West. A local legend tells of a train crash in the area in the early twentieth century (early 1900s). A travelling circus was on the train, and from it a group of chimpanzees escaped, and interbred with the local alligator population.

These creatures are usually named concerning the terrain or area they live in , Such are they called as The Monster of Galveston Island called the Galveston or Texas Sand Man, legendary monster of Boggy Creek, The scary Arkansas Fouke monster, The Mississippi coasts creature called The Mississippi Mud Man and The foul smelling Florida Skunk Ape. But few of the southern kind compare unless new info surfaces on other such sightings. Of course you can now a days read reports of Bigfoot popping up in all places in between but in the south a Swamp Monster is a foot! And don't forget the Louisiana Loupe Garou!

The Legend Of The Honey Island Swamp Monster
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The Honey Island Swamp Monster The first claimed sighting was in 1963 by Harlan Ford, a retired Air traffic controller who had taken up wildlife photography. After his death in 1980, a reel of Super 8 film showing the creature was allegedly found among his belongings. In 1974 the monster gained national fame after Ford and his friend Billy Mills claimed to have found unusual footprints in the area, as well as the body of a wild boar whose throat had been gashed. Ford continued to hunt for the creature for the next six years. Another sighting happened recently, though not in Honey Island. A bizarre creature was spotted in the Bayou area, when a man and his family were camping; when he woke up his camera was destroyed but his SD card wasn't, which caught the monster on tape. The image was later proved as a hoax several times because two different versions of the same image had a different date on it.

M.K. Davis and Jay Michael continue to investigate the Honey Island Swamp Monster for this web site. They also investigate sightings in Mississippi and other areas. http://jmichaelms.tripod.com/HIS/

If you take a journey into the alligator infested swamplands of Louisiana and you might just find a real monster hiding amongst the tall palmettos. Sometimes called the smaller cousin of bigfoot, the local Louisiana legend has haunted the Honey Island Swamp for many years.

This huge creature, which lives in the deep cypress filled shadows of the dark haunted Louisiana bayou. The Honey Island Swamp Monster, The Swamp thing, Tainted Keitre, St Tamanny Parish Big Foot, Marsh Man and Southern Mississippi River Sasquatch is as elusive as the north American Bigfoot. Some say he's real, others just a myth like the " Legend of Boggy Creek”.

The Legend Of The Honey Island Swamp Monster Please buy it here now!

A documentary film by Dana Holyfield, the grand-daughter to Harlan Ford, who was first to report a sighting of this legendary creature and appeared on "In Search Of."
Holyfield took her video camera and ventured deep into the Honey Island Swamplands where tour boats can't go, to search for evidence of this legendary creature. She also confronted several recent eye-witnesses who actually live in the swamp, and have had an encounter with this elusive beast. She located Mr. Mills who was with Harlan Ford on a hunting trip during the original sighting in 1963. He tells of their encounter for the first time on camera. Ford's wife donated an old Super 8 film reel that she found in her husband's belongings after he passed away in 1980. The reel was labeled, "Honey Island Swamp Monster." It had footage from a tree-blind where Ford filmed a large, hairy, bigfoot-type creature walking upright through the dense foliage. See Ford's footage uncut in this documentary film.

This is a note from Holyfield: This documentary film was film without a studio, and without a budget. It doesn't have special effects and such or many reiactments. It was produced solely by myself, because I believe my grandfather did see something out there. There may be a few scenes with poor sound and lighting, because it was an unexpectant opportunty to get an interview, or shot, But, my film has received good reviews from film critics and customers who enjoyed watching and learning about this legend. After you watch this, you may also believe there is a Honey Island Swamp Monster!

This product is manufactured on demand using DVD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply.

Review
Dana Holyfield, has compiled a fascinating, hands-on documentary compiling her research into the mysterious beast said to roam the swamps. This docu-drama has the eerie feel of the infamous LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK from the '70s, as she patrols the river bottoms with hunters and witnesses who for the first time ever speak of their encounters with the hairy critter. There are also some impressive findings in the form of footprints left in the muddy banks as well as her grandfather's own footage of the monster which he filmed in the '60s. Documentaries such as this are hard to come by, and I can't recommend it enough, because we've all heard of the HONEY ISLAND SWAMP MONSTER, yet know so little about it, so this dvd is the best guide to the swamp and its eerie inhabitants. --Neil Arnold, UK

Review
You might be wondering to yourself... What in the name of Charles B. Pierce is the Honey Island Swamp Monster? Fair question. This documentary sets out to provide an in-depth answer. Some 40 years back, Dana Holyfield s grandfather (Harlen E. Ford) allegedly had a run-in with an unknown creature deep in the Louisiana swamplands. Since then, the legend has continued to grow and Miss Holyfield decided to make a movie about it. Mostly made up of interviews with people who claim to have encountered the being in one form or another, there are also a few man-in-hairy-suit clips thrown in to keep things lively. A couple of stand-out moments... Sounds of the whatever-it-is are caught during an evening exploration that results in the hurried evacuation of some freaked-out teens partying nearby. Plaster track-casts (found while filming) are provided to an excited crypto zoologist for examination. You ll be treated to several such moments and that s a good thing. The locals have interesting and varied takes on all of this, but the general consensus seems to be that everybody should just leave them/it alone. An unexpectedly entertaining project that culminates in the discovery (thanks to Holyfield s grandmother) of the fascinating reel of film shot all those years ago that appears to capture the Swamp Monster walking through the brush. The Legend of the Honey Island Swamp Monster is exactly the kind of thing you d excitedly rush off to catch at the drive-in back in the good old days. Fans of The Legend of Boggy Creek and its like should absolutely not hesitate. --Michael Mackie CultCuts Magazine

Review
I just watched the DVD. It is fantastic. Thank you for your efforts in putting this film together. I am a member and of the American Anthropological Research Foundation. Our goal is to prove beyond any doubt that these wonderful beings exist and then to get them the protection they must have. The last thing we want or need is for someone to kill a being like this. Please spend a few moments visiting our website at Trueseekers.org I am more convinced than ever that these Forest Giants are much more widespread and numerous than anyone thought. These people in your film are not hallucinating. Many of the folks you interviewed have been in the swamps their entire lives. Folks like that are not prone to fantasy and illusion. As a general rule, you can take what they say to the bank. --Robert - Louisiana State Director of the American Anthropological Research Foundation

"The Honey Island Swamp Monster"

SWAMP MONSTER DESCRIPTION

Long to short hair on the head. Shorter hair all over the body. At times head hair forming bangs some what over the eyes. Hair color is dingy gray. 5- 8 feet tall and weight 300 or 350 pounds, with long, orange-brown gray or black hair and big, wide-set orange amber eyes.

These animals are sometimes described as having a "mane" of hair, large broad shouldered. The face is said to be rather flat. The most prominent feature described by Ford and others, is the size and color of the eyes. They appear to be disproportionately large, and of an amber color.

THE HONEY ISLAND SWAMP MONSTER

Mr. Ford stated that this gave the animal a "sinister" look.

Honey Island swamp is unique because it's one of the least-altered river swamps in the country. It's pretty much in its original condition, almost a pristine wilderness. Take a personalized narrated nature tour into the 250-square-mile Honey Island Swamp. Nearly 70,000 acres of it is a permanently-protected wildlife area--the Nature Conservancy's First Louisiana Nature Preserve. People from all over the world now explore this wildlife sanctuary with him.

Honey Island earned its name because of the honeybees once seen on a nearby island. A tract of bottomland timber lying between the East Pearl and West Pearl rivers, Honey Island is between three and seven miles wide and 15 to 20 miles long. It is located 50 minutes from New Orleans in Southeast Louisiana.

Honey Island has become one of the most well-known swamps because of the real or imagined presence of a creature similar to what others have called Big Foot.

The tracks , left by the animal, appear to be somewhat similar to an Alligator's rear foot. Upon close examination, however, it becomes clear, that this is something different.

In 1974, zoologists from Louisiana State University (LSU) met with Harlan Ford to study the plaster casts of the creature's four-toed footprints. Crypotozoologist from Washington also arrived in Louisiana to inspect the unusual casts. Harlan said, "That thing stood eye level with me. The thing that startled me the most, we're it's large amber eyes." Harlan was later interviewed in a documentary called "In Search Of" which still airs periodically on The Discovery Channel and other television networks. Harlan's own personal sighting has been documented in a book, "Monsters of North America"

This is a real plaster cast of the impression of the footprint of the Honey Island Swamp Monster. This cast was donated to the Abita Mystery House by Dana Holyfield, grand-daughter of Harlan E. Ford, the hunter who found and cast the tracks. He was the first man to report a sighting of the creature and he was also the first and only man to my knowledge who poured plaster paris casts of it's tracks found deep in the swamp. The Honey Island Swamp is about 25 miles East of the Abita Mystery House. There are several swamp tours of the area.

There are four toes visible. There are three heavily clawed toes , with prominent knuckles , underneath the foot. Then... there is the bizarre thumb like small toe . About an inch and a half on the cast that I have. These toes show clearly , that this animal can grasp with the toes. The three large toes , are long and slender , with tendons visible in the prints. The claws are turned down , and backwards to grip the loose soil , sand , and mud. This is reminiscent of a cat like trait. The skin appears to be thin on the bottom of the foot , with tendons showing. In the hostile environment of the island , thin skin under the foot would indicate that it didn't spend a lot of time on the ground.

IN SEARCH OF ST. TAMMANY, PARISH BIGFOOT

In 1978 the Alan Lamdsburg Company, producers of the popular TV program, IN SEARCH OF did a segment on the Honey island Swamp Monster. This catapulted the monster into International fame. Since then there have been many reports and the program has become a reference for information on the creature.

http://www.americanmonsters.com/webclips/

Dana Holyfield, grand-daughter of Harlan Ford, has made a documentary film about the Honey Island Swamp Monster. The documentary also includes footage of a swamp trek that Dana took into an area where there had been sightings of the creature. She found tracks, and shot video of the tracks. Also included in the documentary is footage shot by Harlan Ford years ago in the swamp. There are a few seconds of footage of a bipedal, hairy being that is walking behind some trees.

This book documents sightings of a mysterious man-like creature that roams the dense foliage of the Louisiana Honey Island Swamp, where few men have ever ventured. Evidence found (as seen on Discovery Channel's In Search Of) was studied by reputable crypto zoologists who claimed that is was not a hoax.

About the Author
Dana Holyfield grew up in Slidell, Louisiana. She wrote this book because it was her grandfather, Harlan Ford, who first reported the sighting of the legendary Swamp Monster after he poured plaster paris tracks. She has authored many books such as Swamp Cooking With The River People, More Swamp Cooking, New Orleans Mardi Gras Recipes, Cajun Sexy Cooking, Swamp Tour A Way Of Life On The Bayou, Mermaid Bayou Legend Of The Fresh Water Lady Fish, Sexy & Lean Bayou Cuisine.

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The footage was recently uncovered by Dana’s grandmother, Harlan Ford’s widow. it had apparently been lying around, gathering dust. Dana was just given this old footage earlier this year and has included it with her documentary.

Is the figure the Honey Island Swamp Monster?

The DVD is available on Dana’s website http://www.angelfire.com/la2/SwampMonster/.

Since hurricane Katrina people are still seeing the Honey Island Creature in the wilderness along the Pearl river on both the Louisiana and Mississippi sides, as far as Covington and Hammond to Slidell and New Orleans East.

The outside world first learned about Louisiana's Honey Island Swamp Monster in 1974 when two hunters emerged from a remote area of backwater sloughs with plaster casts of "unusual tracks." The men claimed they discovered the footprints near a wild boar that lay with its throat gashed. They also stated that over a decade earlier, in 1963, they had seen similar tracks after encountering an awesome creature.

They described it as standing seven feet tall, being covered with grayish hair, and having large amber-colored eyes. However, the monster had promptly run away and also an afternoon rainstorm had obliterated its tracks, the men said.

The hunters were Harlan E. Ford and his friend Billy Mills, both of whom worked as air-traffic controllers. Ford told his story on an episode of the 1970s television series In Search of . . . . According to his granddaughter, Dana Holyfield (1999a, 11):

When the documentary was first televised, it was monster mania around here. People called from everywhere. . . . The legend of the Honey Island Swamp Monster escalated across Southern Louisiana and quickly made its way out of state after the documentary aired nationwide.

Harlan Ford continued to search for the monster until his death in 1980. Dana recalls how he once took a goat into the swamp to use as bait, hoping to lure the creature to a tree blind where Ford waited-uneventfully, as it happened-with gun and camera.

He did supposedly find several, different-sized tracks on one hunting trip. He also claimed to have seen the monster on one other occasion, during a fishing trip with Mills and some of their friends from work. One of the men reportedly then went searching for the creature with a rifle and fired two shots at it before returning to tell his story to the others around the campfire (Holyfield 1999a, 10-15).

Footprints and other specific details aside, the Honey Island Swamp Monster seems part of a genre of mythic swamp-dwelling "beastmen" or "manimals." They include the smelly Skunk Ape and the hybrid Gatorman of the Florida Everglades and other southern swamps; the Scape Ore Swamp Lizardman of South Carolina; Momo, the Missouri Monster; and, among others, the Fouke Monster, which peeked in the window of a home in Fouke, Arkansas, one night in 1971 and set off a rash of monster sightings (Blackman 1998, 23-25, 30-33, 166-168; Bord and Bord 1982, 104-105; Coleman and Clark 1999, 224-226; Coleman and Huyghe 1999, 39, 56).

HONEY ISLAND MONSTER

FROM ANY DIRECTION: (New Orleans, Covington, Mississippi and the Gulf Coast), you must exit Interstate 10 in Slidell at exit 266 (US 190) also known locally as Gause Boulevard.

Take US 190 East (2 miles) to the traffic light located at the intersection of US 190 and Highway 1090 (Military Road). Turn LEFT. Drive NORTH 1 mile on 1090 where you will pass over Interstate 10. Immediately, you will come to the Interstate Service Road. Turn RIGHT onto the Service Road and follow it 1.5 miles to its end at the Pearl River. Parking is on the LEFT. Gift shop, restrooms and refreshments available on location.

Honey Island Swamp Tour Information

Honey Island Swamp Tours has provided unique, interpretative boat tours since 1982. Our business has grown as demand for the tours has steadily increased. Use of small boats (both covered and uncovered) allow us deep access into the heart of our beautiful honey island cypress swamp. All boats are Coast Guard-inspected; and all guides are licensed, native, professional guides.

http://www.honeyislandswamp.com/

References
Baker, Robert A. 1995. Afterword to Nickell 1995, 275-285.
Blackman, W. Haden. 1998. The Field Guide to North American Monsters. New York: Three Rivers Press.
Blanchard, Kevin. 2000. Bigfoot sighting in La.? Baton Rouge, La., The Advocate, August 29.
Bord, Janet, and Colin Bord. 1982. The Bigfoot Casebook. Harrisburg, Pa.: Stackpole Books.
Burdeau, Cain. 2000. Many in central La. fear Bigfoot. Baton Rouge, La., The Advocate, September 15.
Byrne, Peter. 1975. Quoted in Guenette and Guenette 1975, 81.
Cassidy, Frederick G., ed. 1985. Dictionary of American Regional English. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press, 1: 333-334.
Charbonnet, Robbie. 2000. Interview by Joe Nickell, December 4.
Coleman, Loren, and Jerome Clark. 1999. Cryptozoology A to Z. New York: Fireside (Simon & Schuster).
Coleman, Loren, and Patrick Huyghe. 1999. The Field Guide to Bigfoot, Yeti, and Other Mystery Primates Worldwide. New York: Avon, 14-19.
Dennett, Michael. 1982. Bigfoot jokester reveals punchline-finally. Skeptical Inquirer 7.1 (Fall): 8-9.
Dennis, John V. 1988. The Great Cypress Swamps. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 27, 108-109.
"Dr. Wagner's Honey Island Swamp Tours, Inc." N.d. Advertising flier, Slidell, La.
Ford, Perry. N.d. "The Honey Island Swamp Monster." Song text in Holyfield 1999b, 13.
Guenette, Robert, and Frances Guenette. 1975. The Mysterious Monsters. Los Angeles, Calif.: Sun Classic Pictures.
Holyfield, Dana. 1999a. Encounters with the Honey Island Swamp Monster. Pearl River, La.: Honey Island Swamp Books.
--. 1999b. More Swamp Cookin' with the River People. Pearl River, La.: Honey Island Swamp Books.
Krantz, Grover. 1992. Big Footprints: A Scientific Inquiry into the Reality of Sasquatch. Boulder, Colorado: Johnson Books.
Nickell, Joe. 1995. Entities: Angels, Spirits, Demons, and Other Alien Beings. Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books.
Pickens, Ray. 1975. Quoted in Guenette and Guenette 1975, 80.
Wagner, Sue. 2000. Interview by Joe Nickell, December 4. l