Fouke monster; Swamp Stalker

14 3 0
                                    

Origin, Fouke Arkansas. 1970's. Many parts of this story is based off what I have read happen to real life people. Enjoy the spooks. 👹


I bolted upright in my bed, my heart pounding against my chest as I hear our neighbor, Lizzy Ford squeal in fear before I hear men hollering. Tossing my blankets off of me, I wander over to my bedroom window and witness Lizzy's husband and brother chasing after something that was gigantic in size and as hairy as a gorilla before it disappeared off into the woods. Lizzy ran outside to her husband, hugging him closely and crying.
"That was it, that was the Boggy creek monster." She says to him, clutching his button up shirt close to her face. Don; her husband, looked over to his brother who stood nearby with a frown.
"Don't worry, we got rid of it. That thing won't come around here again if he knows what's good for him." He replied gruffly.
Don's brother looked to Don, "What if it comes back again?"
"It won't." Don says again more strictly. Once Don had gotten Lizzy to calm down, they both walked inside together while Don's brother took one long last glance back at the woods until he looked right up at me and in return, I ducked to the floor swiftly. He definitely must've seen me. But, it's not like I was doing anything wrong though, right?

After my friends departed ways from the gas station, I paid for my icee when I was suddenly bumped into by a man with a thick beard and shaggy blond hair.
"Are you Don Ford's brother?" I asked him, looking up at the man.
He grinned, "Yeah, you his neighbor, ain't ya? Wow, I remember when you were just little."
"Heh, yep. Today was the last day of high school for me." I replied before I stepped out of the line, yet still talking with him.
"Well, you got any plans son?" He asks, stepping up to the front counter.
"Actually not really, not yet anyways. I will though." I say while rubbing the back of my neck.
"I mean, you gonna go on a trip now that school is over?"
"Ohh no, no. I just got done hanging with some friends, now I'm kinda all out of plans." I stated.
"Why don't we go on a fishing trip down at the creek? I was just gonna head over there." He offered me up on the activity.
"Really? Oh, sure then."
"Good. Let's go." He replies before leading me out of the station and up to his raggedy old truck.
I remember this truck from when that incident happened that night, several summers ago. He had pulled into Lizzy and Don's driveway, the rocks coming up and banging against the metal of his red and white truck. However, now the white became a yellow tint and around the tires now displayed horrible rust. The aged truck made the incident seem like centuries ago, but to be fair, we were surrounded by swamps. The humid air mixed with some moss was rough on vehicles here.

"So the swamp, is it that one? With the monster?" I questioned him, hesitant to bring up the memory.
"Nahh, everybody thinks there's some type of Bigfoot like creature living around here, hiding and lurking, but it's long gone." He replied.
"But-that night, I know you saw me that night looking out my window." I confronted him. He glances over to me before focusing on the road again.
"That was 71', Kevin. It's been years since that happened. You were only about, what, ten years old?" He laughed to himself, but it came off cold. I could sense he wasn't enjoying the fact I'd brought the incident up, but I couldn't stop now.
"I was actually thirteen then." I corrected him, giving a nervous smile as he glared back at me once more.
"People hear and see things that aren't actually there, especially here in Fouke." He says.
"Or, they see and hear things that they don't have an explanation for." I replied, shrugging my shoulders up.
"Tell me Kevin, what did you witness that night, peeking out that window of yours?" He starts interrogating me. I looked over to his busted up stereo in his truck, remembering the incident fully now. I'd woken up from hearing screaming, then seeing Don and him chase after something, I could hear gunshots bang throughout the woods.

"You and Don tried to shoot at what startled Lizzy that night. Were you successful, Ash?" I asked him. His fingers tightened over the steering wheel as he drove.
"It was some kind of bear or something, but yeah, we shot the thing." He states.
"But there was never no blood trail to be seen, was there?"
He gave me a once-over, "How do you know kid?"
"The newspaper that came out that year told me."

He suddenly turns the truck off and that's when I realized we were parked in the grass near the swamp.
"Don't believe everything you read." He gets out before grabbing his fishing gear and hands me a pole, leading me to a speedboat that was sat in the murky water and jumps in.
"Well? You comin' or not?" He snapped at me.
"Is it safe?"
"Sure it is." He replies. Despite me hardly believing in him, my gut told me I should follow him into that swamp.

After hours of fishing and only ending up with few fish, we turned around and headed toward the truck.
"You saw this thing, what's it look like? You know, up close." I egged the topic on again. This time, he focused on the swamp ahead while his hair flew back.
He sighed, "It was about seven feet tall, hairy and was probably around three hundred pounds. And his eyes, god, his eyes glowed red in the pitch black." He informed.
"Have you seen it-
"Hush!" He suddenly snapped before shutting off the boat. The locusts chirped loudly, nearly deafening. Before I could say anything else, I'd realized why Ash had stopped the boat. At his truck stood a giant creature. It's red nose sniffed the air before running away, growling lowly to itself. Ash started up the speedboat once more and once we met up with his truck, it was more ruined than before, decorated with claw marks and the seats barely in tact. It seemed as if it smelled something it wanted, but couldn't find it.

"Looks like it wasn't gone after all." I say, unnerved looking at the sight.

Short horror stories: Urban Legend editionWhere stories live. Discover now