Honey Island swamp is
located just south of New Orleans, Louisiana and is a bottomland swamp. It is between 3 to 7 miles wide and about 20 miles
long and sits between the East and the West Pearl rivers.
You will find multitudes of animals and reptiles including alligators,
deer, diamondback water snakes, boar, black bear, water turkey, and perhaps even the Honey Island Swamp Monster also known
as Bigfoot, The Thing, and Wookie.
In 1974 two hunters Harland Ford and his friend Billy Mills emerged
from the swamps with plaster casts of unusual tracks. They claimed they discovered the tracks near some wild boars that had
their throats torn out. The first two boars they came across were a good ways from the water and have been dead for at least
a day or two, the third was lying near the water still kicking with blood coming from its throat.
They decided to leave the area in case the creature would return
for its kill. Later that night they both returned with plaster to cast the tracks. With the proof they needed they contacted
the Louisiana Wildlife Commission, Zoologist at the Louisiana State University, and Cryptozoologist from Washington.
All who inspected the casts agreed that they were not hoaxes and
of an unidentifiable animal. The web toed casts appeared to be a cross between a large alligator and a primate. They estimated
its weight at about 400 pounds.
The tracks found by Ford and Mills were not the only tracks found
of the creature. An employee of the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission also found tracks on a sandbar were it apparently
left tracks after crossing the river.
The only evidence so far of the creature is of tracks and the many
eyewitness statements.
In the mid seventies In Search Of did a story called In Search Of
The Swamp Monster The show interviewed many of the people who claimed to have seen the creature including Harland Ford. The
show also sparked a wave of a lot of hoaxes with people faking prints and telling stories of the creature which led many to
believe that the tracks were nothing more the alligators and some over active imaginations. Although those who trap or know
tracks know that the gators and the creatures tracks are not the same. For example a gator has four long straight toes and
curves at the heel. The creatures track showed tree small toes that bent downward with a fourth appendage off to the side
of the foot with no curve at the heel.
Dana Holyfield (Harland Fords Granddaughter) sticks by her grandfathers
story saying, Harland wasnt a man to make up something like that. He was down to earth and honest and told it the way it was
and didnt care if people believed him or not.
Harland continued to search for the creature until his death in 1980.
Dana recalled how her grandfather once took a goat into the swamp to use as bait, hoping to lure the creature to a tree blind
where he waited with his gun and his camera.
Not much has been heard of the swamp monster these days. Was it a
Hoax? Did it die or become extinct? or is it still out there hiding in the dense never regions of the swamp?
So if youre ever
in Louisiana and you have a couple of hours to spend you might want to see if you cant locate the Honey Island Swamp Monster.
There are a few HISM tours you can go on. So as you take your swamp boat down the Pearl river you can observe the cypress
trees, Alligators, and maybe if your lucky even the Honey Island Swamp Monster.
