The Honey Island Swamp Monster, also known as the Cajun Sasquatch and in frc, La Bête Noire, is an

ape Apes (collectively Hominoidea ) are a clade of Old World simians native to sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia (though they were more widespread in Africa, most of Asia, and as well as Europe in prehistory), which together with its sister g ...

-like humanoid

cryptid Cryptids are animals that cryptozoologists believe may exist somewhere in the wild, but are not believed to exist by mainstream science. Cryptozoology is a pseudoscience, which primarily looks at anecdotal stories, and other claims rejected by ...

creature, similar to descriptions of

Bigfoot Bigfoot, also commonly referred to as Sasquatch, is a purported ape-like creature said to inhabit the forest of North America. Many dubious articles have been offered in attempts to prove the existence of Bigfoot, including anecdotal claims o ...

, purported to inhabit the

Honey Island Swamp The Honey Island Swamp (french: Marais de l'Île-de-Miel) is a marshland located in the eastern portion of the U.S. state of Louisiana in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, St. Tammany Parish. Honey Island earned its name due to the abundance of honey ...

St. Tammany Parish St. Tammany Parish (french: Paroisse de Saint-Tammany) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana named after Tamanend, the legendary Lenape Chief of Chiefs and the "Patron Saint of America." At the 2020 census, the population was 2 ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

. It has become a part of

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

, with many

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

tour companies in the area capitalizing on its alleged existence, which is considered unlikely by scientists.

Description

The creature is commonly described by alleged witnesses as a large,

bipedal Bipedalism is a form of terrestrial locomotion where an organism moves by means of its two rear limbs or legs. An animal or machine that usually moves in a bipedal manner is known as a biped , meaning 'two feet' (from Latin ''bis'' 'double' ...

humanoid A humanoid (; from English ''human'' and ''-oid'' "resembling") is a non-human entity with human form or characteristics. The earliest recorded use of the term, in 1870, referred to indigenous peoples in areas colonized by Europeans. By the 20t ...

, about tall, covered with gray hair, having yellow or red eyes and accompanied by a putrid odor. Other local names for the creature include the '' Rougarou'', ''Louisiana

Wookiee Wookiees () are fictional humanoid aliens in the ''Star Wars'' universe, native to the forest planet Kashyyyk. They are distinguished from humans by their gigantism, hirsutism, and physical strength. The most prominent Wookiee is Chewbacca, c ...

'', and ''The Thing''. Alleged

plaster casts A plaster cast is a copy made in plaster of another 3-dimensional form. The original from which the cast is taken may be a sculpture, building, a face, a pregnant belly, a fossil or other remains such as fresh or fossilised footprints – p ...

of footprints said to be from the creature showcase four toes; not a natural trait found in

primates Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians (monkeys and apes, the latter including huma ...

, who possess five. Claims of its existence are generally not considered credible, including by scientists familiar with the area like

ecologist Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

Paul Wagner and his wife Sue. Neither they nor their

Cajun The Cajuns (; French: ''les Cadjins'' or ''les Cadiens'' ), also known as Louisiana ''Acadians'' (French: ''les Acadiens''), are a Louisiana French ethnicity mainly found in the U.S. state of Louisiana. While Cajuns are usually described as ...

guide, Robbie Charbonnet, report having seen any valid evidence beyond anecdotes and possible forgeries.

History

The first claimed sighting was in 1963 by Harlan Ford, a retired

air traffic controller Air traffic control specialists, abbreviated ATCS, are personnel responsible for the safe, orderly, and expeditious flow of air traffic in the global air traffic control system. Usually stationed in air traffic control centers and control ...

who had taken up

wildlife photography Wildlife photography is a genre of photography concerned with documenting various forms of wildlife in their natural habitat. As well as requiring photography skills, wildlife photographers may need field craft skills. For example, some anima ...

. After his death in 1980, a reel of

Super 8 film Super 8 mm film is a motion-picture film format released in 1965 by Eastman Kodak as an improvement over the older "Double" or "Regular" 8 mm home movie format. The film is nominally 8 mm wide, the same as older formatted 8& ...

showing the creature was found among his belongings. In 1974, Ford and his friend Billy Mills claimed to have found unusual footprints in the area, as well as the body of a

wild boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is ...

whose throat had been gashed. Today, the creature is still purported to inhabit the swamp and the

bayou In usage in the Southern United States, a bayou () is a body of water typically found in a flat, low-lying area. It may refer to an extremely slow-moving stream, river (often with a poorly defined shoreline), marshy lake, wetland, or creek. They ...

s along the

Pearl River The Pearl River, also known by its Chinese name Zhujiang or Zhu Jiang in Mandarin pinyin or Chu Kiang and formerly often known as the , is an extensive river system in southern China. The name "Pearl River" is also often used as a catch-a ...

. Local lore tells of a train crash that occurred near the swamp in the early 20th century in which a traveling

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclist ...

lost

chimpanzee The chimpanzee (''Pan troglodytes''), also known as simply the chimp, is a species of great ape native to the forest and savannah of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed subspecies. When its close relative th ...

s who adapted to the environment and offer a potential explanation as to the creature's origins.

Popular culture

* The Honey Island Swamp monster was the subject of ''

The Secret Saturdays ''The Secret Saturdays'' is an American animated television series created by Canadian cartoonist Jay Stephens for Cartoon Network. It debuted on October 3, 2008 in the United States. The series follows the adventures of the Saturdays, a family of ...

'' episode "Ghost in the Machine" with its vocal effects provided by

Dee Bradley Baker Dee Bradley Baker (born August 31, 1962) is an American voice actor. Much of Baker's work features vocalizations of animals and monsters. Baker's roles include animated series such as ''Avatar: The Last Airbender'', ''Codename: Kids Next Door'', ...

. The

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anim ...

monster resembled a Bigfoot-like creature with crab-like claws. * The creature was featured in an episode of ''

Lost Tapes ''Lost Tapes'' is an American television series that aired on Animal Planet. Produced by Go Go Luckey Entertainment, the program presents fictional found footage depicting traumatic encounters with creatures cryptozoological, supernatural, myt ...

'', "Swamp Creature." * It was the subject of an episode of '' In Search of...'', "The Swamp Monster." * It was a subject of an episode of '' Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files'', "Bayou Beast/River Ghost," showing Mr. Ford's original film. The investigators were able to recreate Ford's footage with a man dressed in a camouflage

ghillie suit A ghillie suit is a type of camouflage clothing designed to resemble the background environment such as foliage, snow or sand. Typically, it is a net or cloth garment covered in loose strips of burlap ( hessian), cloth, or twine, sometimes made t ...

used by hunters. They deduced the film could simply be mistaken identity on Ford's part, but didn't rule out that such a creature could exist. * An episode of ''

Swamp People ''Swamp People'' is an American reality television series, reality series that was first broadcast on History (American TV channel), History on August 22, 2010. The show follows the day-to-day activities of alligator hunters living in the swamps ...

'', "Full Moon Fever," includes a segment in which a group of people, Harlan Ford's granddaughter among them, are searching for the monster. * The creature was featured in a segment of the series ''

Monsters and Mysteries in America ''Monsters and Mysteries in America'' is an American documentary television series that premiered March 24, 2013 to April 1, 2015 on Destination America. Repeats air on the network's sister-station, the Discovery Channel. It also sometimes airs ...

'', "The Swamp." Super 8 footage of the monster was shown in the segment. * It was featured in a segment of a 2012 episode of ''

Mysteries at the Museum ''Mysteries at the Museum'' is an hour-long television program on the Travel Channel which features museum artifacts of unusual or mysterious origins. Plot Each episode is focused on interesting and unusual artifacts held in museums. The show ...

''. * On July 20, 2013,

Mattel Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company founded in January 1945 and headquartered in El Segundo, California. The company has presence in 35 countries and territories and sells products in more ...

introduced the

Monster High Monster High is an American multimedia-supported fashion doll franchise created by toy designer Garrett Sander and launched by Mattel in 2010. Aimed at children aged 7 to 14, the franchise features characters inspired by monster movies, sci-fi ...

character Honey Swamp as the daughter of Honey Island Swamp monster at the 2013

San Diego Comic-Con International San Diego Comic-Con International is a comic book convention and nonprofit multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California since 1970. The name, as given on its website, is Comic-Con International: San Diego; but it is co ...

. *In 2019, an episode of ''

America Unearthed ''America Unearthed'' was an American entertainment television series, the first original series to air on the A&E Networks channel H2. The show premiered on December 21, 2012, and was produced by Committee Films of Minneapolis, Minnesota. The p ...

'' titled "Bigfoot in the Bayou" investigated possible sightings. Presenter Scott Wolter concluded that the smell attributed to the creature was most likely methane produced by decomposing plants. *

Eoin Colfer Eoin Colfer (; born 14 May 1965) is an Irish author of children's books. He worked as a primary school teacher before he became a full-time writer. He is best known for being the author of the Artemis Fowl (series), ''Artemis Fowl'' series. I ...

drew inspiration from the Honey Island Swamp monster for the character Vern in his novel ''Highfire''. *A version of the Honey Island Swamp monster is included in the

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...

supplement ''

GURPS Monsters ''GURPS Monsters'' () is a 128-page soft-bound book compiled by J. Hunter Johnson and published in 2002 by Steve Jackson Games as a supplement for the ''GURPS'' role-playing game system. It contains biographies and gaming statistics for forty-eig ...

''.{{cite book, title=GURPS Monsters, publisher=Steve Jackson Games, editor-last=Johnson, editor-first=J. Hunter, editor-link=J. Hunter Johnson, year=2001, location=Austin, Texas, isbn=1-55634-518-6, pages=38–39

References

Louisiana folklore American folklore American legendary creatures Bigfoot Hominid cryptids

Description

History

Popular culture

See also

References