Domain of the Ozark Howler
Recent searches for the strange cat-like monster of
the Ozark Mountains have produced evidence that a
big cat (or cats) might be roaming the region.
Ozark Mountains
A strange cat-like creature has been
reported at points across the Ozarks.
Is it a big cat, a monster or a legend?
Stream in the Ozarks
The Ozarks form a beautiful and
rugged region of mountain vistas and
running streams. They are known for
their remarkable folklore.
THE OZARK HOWLER
Arkansas, Missouri & Oklahoma
Cat Monster of the Mountains!
Copyright 2017 by Dale Cox
All rights reserved.

Last Update: July 17, 2017

(Some content Copyright 2012)
Custom Search
Ghosts & Monsters of the South
Rugged Mountain Terrain
The vast and rugged slopes of the
Ozarks are home to many legends of
ghosts and monsters.
A Cougar in the Mountains?
Recent evidence suggests a large cat
like this cougar may be loose in the
mountains.
(USDA Photo)
The Ozark Howler is the name residents and
hunters have applied to a strange creature
some say roams the remote forests of the
Ozark Mountains. The reports originate from
a vast area that includes parts of Arkansas,
Missouri and Oklahoma.

Some attribute the sightings to the presence
of an escaped big cat in the mountains, but
others say something more is behind them.
Eyewitnesses have come forward claiming to
have seen a mysterious cat-like monster in
the Ozarks, a creature unlike anything they
had ever seen before.

The mysteries of the Ozarks are part of their
charm. Folk tales of ghosts, monsters and
strange creatures in the region date back
hundreds of years. Unlike the well-known
Arkansas Wild Man of the 19th century and
the Boggy Creek and White River monsters
of the 20th, the Ozark Howler mystery is
complicated because eyewitnesses vary
widely in their descriptions of what they have
seen.

Some who claim to have seen the creature
describe it as a gigantic cat, bigger even than
a cougar. Others describe something far
more monstrous: a massive cat-like beast
with glowing eyes and horns protruding from
its head. Most agree that it is black or dark in
color.

Between 2005 and 2010, the Howler (also
called the Black Howler or the Devil Cat) was
spotted several times. A family living north of
Van Buren in the Boston Mountains of
Crawford County set out trail cams after
spotting what they believed was a cougar.
The images they supplied to a Fort Smith
television station appeared to show a big cat
similar to a cougar (mountain lion).

The problem is that wildlife officials maintain
there is not a breeding population of cougars
left in Arkansas. They do concede that it is
possible there might be individual big cats
living in the mountains, pointing out they
likely were once held as pets but escaped or
were turned loose by their owners.

At roughly the same time as the Crawford
County sightings, similar reports originated
from across the border in eastern Oklahoma.
Those sightings revolved around large dark
cats seen moving through the mountains.

Other reports from near Dardanelle in the
Arkansas River Valley described strange
sounds in the night similar to the laugh or
bark of a hyena. From higher elevations,
witnesses reported seeing what they
described as a large "stocky" cat.

Adding further confusion to all of this is the
fact that some researchers believe the whole
Arkansas Howler legend is a hoax, created
by an individual intent on exposing what he
considered the outlandishness of the
chupacabra reports that began making their
rounds on the internet in the late 1990s.

Researcher Loren Coleman and others were
able to conclusively point out that someone
using multiple aliases had spread a variety
of outlandish stories about the Howler on
websites and blogs.
So is the Ozark Howler a hoax? The answer
to that question is a definite combination of
yes and no. Some people have undoubtedly
been involved in spreading false stories on a
large scale. On the other hand, others have
told stories of big cats in the Ozarks for many,
many years.

The most reliable accounts, like those of the
sightings in Crawford County between 2005
and 2010, revolve more around cougars than
they do monsters. The trail cam images
taken of the creature in Crawford County
definitely appeared to show a cougar.

Evidence from Newton County, Arkansas,
where the Howler was spotted in 2011,
seems to verify the possibility of a big cat or
two (or three or four) roaming the Ozarks.

The SyFy Channel show "Haunted Highway"
focused on the Ozark Howler in July 2012.
Investigating the location of the Newton
County sightings, program investigators took
thermal images of an animal they thought
might be the Howler and also made plaster
casts of paw prints found where an animal
had taken meat the show producers had left
out hoping to attract the Howler.

The thermal imagery turned out to be of a
raccoon or possum, but a wildlife biologist
consulted by the show intriguingly identified
the paw prints as possibly being from a
puma or cougar. They were too big to have
been left by bobcats, which are well known
residents of the mountains.

The question still remains: Is the Ozark
Howler a monster, a hoax or a real cat of
some type? The evidence seems to point to
the latter amswer.

While a big cat living in the Ozarks may not
be as flashy as a monster with glowing eyes
and horns growing out of its head, the
possible presence of such animals in the
mountains is equally intriguing.
The Ozark Howler
Stories of strange cat-like creatures
that defy explanation are common in
the folklore of the South. The Ozark
Howler, however, may be the real
thing!