; Phantoms and Monsters: Pulse of the Paranormal

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Haunted Highway: The Original 'Ozark Howler' Reports


Many of you may have watched the 'Haunted Highway' episode on Tuesday night...namely, the 'Ozark Howler' segment. The information for the investigation was gleaned from two posts on 'Phantoms and Monsters' by BASE Productions. I have provided the original reports below:

Lon - I don't have any idea what I witnessed Saturday evening (5/28) but it was the most frightening experience of my life. My wife and I were camping at an RV park near Jasper, Arkansas and planned to be there for several days. We arrived early Saturday and got situated soon after.

My wife wanted to look around the area since she had never been in the Ozarks. I was born and raised in the mountains and was familiar with the terrain and wildlife. After we tinkered around the campsite we decided to take a short hike through a nearby valley. There were a few caves and caverns along the way but nothing where I would have guessed any large predator would be living. After walking for an hour we started to head back towards the RV park.

Not long after we started walking back down the trail something caught my eye on the right in a sassafras thicket. My wife sensed it as well and stopped to look in the same direction. I could see this dark four-legged creature moving back and forth slowly through the brush. We immediately started to walk at a fast pace back towards the park. This creature was moving along as well, keeping it's distance, but tracking us. This continued for what seemed like 10 minutes until we reached the clearing.

We got back to the campsite very shaken and nervous. All my years growing up in these mountains and I had never seen anything comparable to it. From what I could gather it was very large, almost the size of a black bear but moved close to the ground like a cat. It was also very dark in color. We didn't say anything to others camping nearby.

The rest of the evening was very quiet and peaceful until around 2:15 am, we heard what sounded like a high pitched howl coming from a distance. It was loud enough to wake both of us and I noticed several campers were looking outside, milling around and talking as well. Someone said it was just a coyote - but that was not a coyote or anything else I had ever heard before.

The next morning we woke around 9 am. When I stepped out of the RV a woman walked up to me and asked if I had heard the howling. I said that I did and had no idea what it was. The woman, who was camping nearby, said that she believed it to be the 'Ozark Howler' and that there had been a few sightings recently. I knew the stories about the 'Ozark Howler' but never believed any of it.

Well, my wife wanted to leave ASAP. Now I'm not sure what to think. We came home today and I looked up the 'Ozark Howler'. There isn't much to go on. I read your blog and thought you may want to get the word out. Is it possible this creature may live?
- Was It The Ozark Howler? - 5/30/2011

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I have seen this creature very close to Jasper, Arkansas. I have lived in the Arkansas Ozarks for over 20 years. I never knew what it was until recently doing research. And I do believe I know where they are. I first had visual sight of one was off HWY 65 on HWY 256, heading towards Welcome Home. When I saw it I couldn't believe my eyes, I had never seen anything like it, what shocked me the most and what was most memorable was the horns coming out of it's forehead, very much cat like, but it was it's face with it's horns that really shocked me. I drove as if in shock from a car crash not believing what I saw, until I started doing research on the subject. For over 10 years, in a remote region close to Mountain View, Arkansas, you can hear the howl every single night, usually after midnight. I never knew it was until I did the research, it is very elk like, almost like a horn, but definitely a howl. If anyone is brave enough I can show you where exactly to go to hear this, and where I made visual contact. - Reader Response - Ozark Howler - 8/15/2011

NOTE: I sure hope they start doing a better job with some of these segments. The 'Utah Skinwaker' segment was a joke...THOSE WERE COYOTES, JACK! I've provided information for several of these cryptid / paranormal shows and, for the most part, I haven't been too pleased with the final production. The 'Ozark Howler' segment was interesting though the dramatics could have been scaled back a bit. Sending the print cast to Dr. Jeffrey Meldrum added credibility to the findings (indiscernible/cryptid)...Lon

Haunted Ozarks (MO) (Haunted America)

Giants, Monsters, and Dragons: An Encyclopedia of Folklore, Legend, and Myth

Ghosts, Spirits, and Monsters of the Ozarks