The Ozark Howler: Monster Cat in the Ozarks?

Ozarks of Arkansas

One of my favorite stories from my years of living in different parts of the South is the tale of the Ozark Howler in Arkansas. (It is also said to live in Missouri and Oklahoma, maybe even in Texas).
Now let me be clear from the start that this mysterious animal or beast or monster or whatever it is has been the focus of an incredibly large number of hoaxes and false reports. One hoaxer even admitted to a researcher that he spread as many false stories as he could to poke fun at the Chupacabra craze that swept through Texas a decade or so ago.

Small Waterfall in the Ozarks

That said, there are real stories from sincere eyewitnesses of a strange creature roaming through the Ozark Mountains. Its nightly cries are said to sound like a the screams of a woman.

I first heard reasonable eyewitnesses talk about the Arkansas Howler in 2004 when I was living in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Several people that I talked to who had seen or heard it or found its prints did not believe it to be a real "monster," but instead thought that a mountain lion or cougar was loose in the Boston Mountains that stretch between Fort Smith and Van Buren on the south and the booming Northwest Arkansas corridor.

Wildlife authorities maintained at that time that there were no native cougars left in Arkansas. Nevertheless, residents who lived in and along the fringes of the Boston Mountains, which are part of the Ozarks, were serious in their claims that a large animal was roaming their neighborhoods.



Cougar as seen in a USDA Photo

The most convincing evidence I saw during my time in Arkansas were photos from a trail cam belonging to a couple that lived north of Van Buren in Crawford County. The photos without doubt showed a large, tawny cat that looked just like a cougar to me. State wildlife officials did not dispute that it could be a big cat, they simply point out that there is no evidence of a breeding population of such animals in Arkansas.

Be that as it may, they do agree that there could be cougars or other large cats roaming the wild areas of the Ozarks, just believe that if they are there, they were someone's pets that either escaped or were released by their owners when they got too big and dangerous.

The Ozarks from White Rock Mountain

Now to be fair, other eyewitnesses claim to have seem something much more monstrous than a cougar in the hills and hollows of the Ozarks. Sightings ranging from a cat much bigger than a cougar to a cat-like monster with glowing eyes and horns growing from its head have been reported.

Whatever it is, and a recent investigation in Newton County, Arkansas, obtained plaster casts of what a biologist identified as possible Puma tracks (Puma is another name for a big cat like a cougar), the Ozark Howler is very much part of the modern folklore and tradition of the Ozarks.

To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/ozarkhowler.

The Historic City of Van Buren, Arkansas

If the streets of the beautiful Arkansas city of Van Buren look familiar, there probably is a good reason.

The Arkansas River community doubled for Biloxi, Mississippi, in Matthew Broderick's popular film "Biloxi Blues." The movie made use of numerous settings in and around Van Buren and nearby Fort Smith, including the Boston Mountains, downtown Van Buren and the Arkansas River.

First settled as a trading post and timbering community, Van Buren gained its present name in 1831 when a post office was established there. The name honors Martin Van Buren, who ironically had not yet become President of the United States when the town was named for him.

A stop on the famed Butterfield Overland Stage Route in the years before the Civil War, the growing town saw its commerce all but die during the war years. Occupied by Confederate troops for the first two years of the war, Van Buren played an important role in both the Pea Ridge and Prairie Grove campaigns and the graves of scores of Confederate soldiers can be seen in the city's Fairview Cemetery.

Actual fighting reached the city when it was attacked by the Union Army of the Frontier on December 28, 1862. The attacking force arrived so fast that the citizens of Van Buren were stunned by cavalry riding and fighting along their main street as they watched from the wooden sidewalks.

Today, Van Buren is a charming and prosperous city with a beautiful downtown area. It boasts numerous historic sites and is popular with visitors. To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/vanburen.

Grave of one of DeSoto's soldiers? - Van Buren, Arkansas

One of the most unexpected historic sites in the South can be found in the old section of Fairview Cemetery in Van Buren, Arkansas.

It is called the Mystery Grave and local legend holds that is the burial site of one of the men who explored Arkansas with Hernando de Soto and his expedition of Spanish conquistadors in 1541. The origin of the story is not known, but it probably has much to do with the eroded appearance of the stone slabs from which the grave is made and various theories that DeSoto might have made it as far up the Arkansas River as Van Buren during his travels west of the Mississippi.

Another more recent theory is that the Mystery Grave is actually the burial place of a Viking explorer. This unusual theory revolves around claims that Vikings actually lived in Oklahoma more than 1,000 years ago and left such markers as the Heavener Runestone. Self-taught Viking researcher Gloria Farley believed that strange carvings on the Mystery Grave were actually inscriptions left by ancient, unrecorded explorers.

There are markings on the grave, but it appears more likely they are Masonic symbols which provide a probably clue as to the true origin of the unique historic site. So what is the real story of the Myster Grave? Please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/mysterygrave for a possible answer.

The Battle of Van Buren, Arkansas

On December 28, 1862, thousands of Union troops stormed out of the icy Boston Mountains to attack the important river port of Van Buren, Arkansas.

The Battle of Van Buren was one of the more unusual of the Civil War. After an initial encounter at Dripping Springs north of town, the battling forces arrived in Van Buren so quickly that there was no time to warn the people of the community. As a result, citizens were going about their daily business along the main street when battling cavalry suddenly came charging down the avenue in their midst. Union soldiers later described seeing the astonished faces of civilians as they rode past at full speed.

Outnumbered Confederate troops boarded steamboats and a ferry on the Van Buren riverfront in an effort to escape across to the Fort Smith side of the Arkansas River. Despite cannon fire from the Union forces, the ferry made it across with most of the men. Two other steamboats, however, were forced to surrender.

For the rest of the day, the fighting raged between two armies separated by the wide Arkansas River. The Confederates planted a battery on the south bank of the river and began shelling the Union troops in Van Buren, inflicting both military and civilian casualties. Federal gunners replied with rifled cannon planted on a rise in the city's Fairview Cemetery. It was later estimated that as many as 100 shells crashed into the buildings and streets of Van Buren as civilians ran for cover.

The site of the battle is now (as it was then) a part of downtown Van Buren, a picturesque city overlooking the Arkansas River. To learn more, please visit our new pages at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/vanburenbattle1.

The Battle of Dripping Springs, Arkansas

Over the next few days we are exploring the Battle of Dripping Springs, Arkansas on our sister blog, Arkansas in the Civil War.

This battle was fought on December 28, 1862, between Confederate and Union troops in the edge of the Ozarks north of the city of Van Buren, Arkansas.

It was an important preliminary action to the Battle of Van Buren, fought later that day.

If you would like to read more, visit the blog or go to the Battle of Dripping Springs page at www.exploresouthernhistory.com (just look under the Battlefields and Forts heading in the left hand column).

The Battle of Van Buren, Arkansas

The picturesque city of Van Buren, Arkansas, located on the banks of the Arkansas River near Fort Smith, is one of the most historic communities in the Natural State.

Its antebellum courthouse, seen here, is still in use today and each spring the school children of the community reenact the Civil War encounter remembered today as the Battle of Van Buren. The battle involved a breakneck charge down the main street of the town. The fighting arrived so fast that citizens were still going about their daily business when soldiers suddenly came charging down the street.

If you would like to read more about the Battle of Van Buren and see more photographs of this beautiful town, simply go to www.exploresouthernhistory.com and scroll down to the "Index" section. You'll find a link to the Battle of Van Buren under the "Arkansas" heading.