Dusk settles over the Monster Mart, Boggy Creek's destination for monster souvenirs and snack food.

Boggy Creek Monster Mart

Fouke, Arkansas

The Boggy Creek Monster first made headlines in May 1971 when it attacked the house of the Ford family in Fouke (pronounced FOWK) Arkansas. The creature, they said, was seven feet tall, covered in brown hair, and had eyes "like coals of fire." The Fords blasted it several times with several shotguns but the creature kept coming back, leaving behind big three-toed footprints.

Denny Roberts demonstrates the outdoor monster photo-op.

A pseudo-documentary that featured the attack, titled The Legend of Boggy Creek, was filmed in the town, released in 1972, and became a box office hit -- making the monster a nationwide celebrity (The film's director, 23-year-old Charles Pierce, also sang its theme song, and was posthumously inducted into the Arkansas Entertainers Hall of Fame). Research later revealed that hairy monsters had been visiting Fouke for decades, but that their human witnesses -- fearful of being called crazy -- had kept the sightings to themselves.

"It was a bad deal for a lot of folks 'round here," said lifelong Fouke resident Denny Roberts, as he recalled the frenzied early days of Boggy Creek fame. News crews and thrill seekers descended on the town in pursuit of the monster. "They would get crazy," Denny said. "They were tearing down fences, stomping around with guns."

Showcases are filled with rare relics, footprint casts, and stills from the original Boggy Creek film.

The monster hunt eventually ended (unsuccessfully) and by the early 1990s Denny, who was then president of the local Chamber of Commerce, decided that Fouke's monster could be safely turned into a tourist attraction. A life-size head-in-the-hole photo-op of the shaggy creature was installed outside the town post office, and Denny renamed his minimart next door the Monster Mart. Inside he displayed some faded monster newspaper clippings and a plaster cast of a cryptid footprint.

"Lemme outta here!" Monster makes his own exit from the Mart.

He was, however, dissatisfied. "I thought to myself," Denny said, "that if we want to be called a 'Monster Mart' we need to have something besides a bunch of old ragged stuff hangin' off the walls. We didn't want the people who come here to be disappointed. They needed somethin' to see."

So Denny commissioned Le'Roy Simmons, a local artist, to build a giant monster head and outstretched arms atop the Monster Mart, with eyes that glowed red at night. Denny was so pleased with the result that he gave more work to Le'Roy, who has now created statues, murals, and hairy creatures both inside and outside the building. "He's workin' on a monster right now down at my barn," said Denny; it will lounge in a hammock slung in the space formerly occupied by the minimart's gas pumps.

Denny, meanwhile, has been busy establishing a collection of Boggy Creek Monster relics. Showcases in the minimart display monster sighting location photos, drawings, and recent plaster footprint casts -- proof that the creature is still stomping around. "I could get a lot more but I'm limited on space," said Denny, an acknowledgment that the Monster Mart, despite its name, is a business that devotes much of its square footage to selling household goods, chilled beverages, and snacks.

Visitors can pose with a Boggy Creek Monster family.

But there are also monster souvenirs! In addition to generic Bigfoot mugs and magnets, the Monster Mart sells copies of the Beanfield Track, a three-toed 14-inch-long Boggy Creek Monster footprint from one of its earliest 1971 sightings ("I used to pick cotton in that field," said Denny). Creature fans on a budget can buy small vials of Boggy Creek water, which, who knows, may contain trace fluids from the monster itself. "We go down there every now and then and get a gallon out of the creek," Denny said. "They laughed at me about that, but it sells." Denny added with pride that these Monster keepsakes "are not something made in China; they're something from Fouke."

On October 1, 2023, Denny himself saw what may have been the creature (or one of its relations) crossing the road in front of his car on his way home from church. "I told my wife, that ain't no deer," said Denny. "I won't say it was the monster necessarily; it looked like an orangutan. Maybe it was a juvenile."

The Legend of Boggy Creek movie has spawned five sequels, reflecting the enduring charisma of the Boggy Creek Monster. More proof of its appeal can be found in Fouke's original monster photo-op, now over 30 years old, which still stands just north of the Monster Mart. Birds have given the metal creature a poop beard and hair, which we mention because the face hole is not very big. If, however, you can position your loved ones gingerly, you will have a fine photo-memento of their faces wreathed in the painted-on fur of one of America's most celebrated monsters.