Southern Monsters

America is a country that loves its monsters.  We still have not given up the quest to find bigfoot and every time a raccoon with mange shows up we declare that we have finally found a living Chupacabra.  Recently, when an big eyeball washed up on a beach in Florida, we all thought it came from a sea monster.  It turned out to be a completely normal swordfish eye, making us wonder how this turned out to be a new story in the first place.  Here are six of the South's most notorious monsters.

The Honey Island Monster

It seems like every region has its own Ape Man.  The Honey Island Monster is Louisiana's version of the Sasquatch.  Local legend is that a circus train crashed near the Honey Island Swamp and released a train car full of Chimpanzees.  Supposedly, the Chimpanzees interbred with the local alligators and created the horrific Honey Island Monster.

Here is an actual cast of the Honey Island Monster's foot print.

It resides at the Abita Mystery House, which happens to be my favorite museum in the whole world.

Interestingly enough the Honey Island Monster isn't the most fantastic mythological creature in the museum.

The owner John Preble constructs and displays amazing works of crypto-taxidermy.

But that is a subject for another time.  Today we are talking about REAL monsters.

The Scape Ore Lizard Man

Not every humanoid monster is ape-based.  Some are lizard-based.  At Scape Ore Swamp in Lee County lives the Scape Ore Lizardman.  Locals report seeing a horrific bipedal monster living int he swamp.  It also appears that the Lizardman really hates cars, as he is reported to scratch the crap out of cars.  One account even has him jumping onto a moving car action-hero style and clinging to the roof.

Despite the fact that the Lizardman terrorizes the local population and trashes their cars, he is beloved figure and every year the county hosts a 5K race in his honor.

The Skunk Ape

My favorite Sasquatch sub-species is the Everglade's Skunk Ape.  He is Florida's version of the Sasquatch.  He's a lot like your normal Sasquatch except he smells like a rotting corpse (supposedly from sleeping in Alligator dens) and he is a Psychopath.  One sighting involved him ripping the door off a semi and assaulting a trucker.  He apparently has a reputation of hating white people, but being friendly to the local Indians.  An account in 1822 chronicles a posse of white settlers the set out to kill the Skunk Ape which led to Skunky straight up murdering several of them.  He is one Squatch you don't want to screw with.

Those curious about the Skunk Ape can find the Skunk Ape Headquarters in the middle of the Everglades.

The Research Center is run by Dave Shealy who has dedicated his life to researching the Skunk Ape.  Inside you can purchase his field guide to the Ape.

And view some of the photographs he has taken.

The Rougarou

The Rougarou is a beast from the swamps of Louisiana.  He stalks animals and humans alike, in some accounts he has a particular fondness for the blood of people who don't observe Lent.  This of course makes him a great monster to threaten catholic children with.  When hearing about the Rougarou one will find that accounts of what he looks like appear to vary widely.  Some people refer to him as a Sasquatch type creature, where other descriptions more closely match the idea of a Werewolf.  Sometimes he is even portrayed as being a half-man/half-alligator type creature.  These inconsistencies can be explained though, as the Rougarou is said to be a shape shifter, switching his form to assist in his hunt for the blood of lapsed Catholics. 

Mothman

The Mothman is one of the most legendary and feared Southern monsters. Hailing from Point Pleasant, WV the Mothman was known to haunt a local dynamite factory.  There was a rash of sightings of a winged creature with glowing eyes in the mid 60s.  During the outbreak of sightings the Silver Bridge, connecting WV to Ohio collapsed and killed 46 people.  Mothman suddenly disappeared, leading many to believe that he was somehow connected with this horrific event.  This inspired the book "The Mothman Prophecies" by John Keel, which was turned into a movie starring Richard Gere.

The nature of Mothman has been largely disputed and depending on who you talk to he is either a rare animal, a ghost, an alien or a demon.

So how does a town deal with being associated with a evil harbinger of Death?

They erected a giant statue in the middle of town to Mothman.  Point Pleasant knows how to treat their monsters.

There is also a Mothman festival every year where you can eat Mothman shaped pancakes.

If you look closely, behind that adorable pancake monster is the Silver Bridge.  The one that collapsed and killed 46 people.....good times.

Point Pleasant also has a Mothman Museum which features real authentic Mothman memorabilia.

As well as props from the movie.  When I visited, I was thrilled to find they had my favorite prop from the movie: the creepy chapstick.

In case that does not ring a bell, check out this CLIP.

Sugar Flat Road Monster

There it is.  The Sugar Flat Road Monster.  The story is that a man ran over it with his truck in in 1989 and taxidermied its head.  They say that another monster still lives in the area.  This supreme monster artifact sits in the window of Cruz's Antiques in Lebanon, TN.  I drove 10 hours just to see it.

The Carpetbagger 

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The Raccoon Penis Bone

Okay, this is a sensitive topic and I will handle it with the dignity it deserves.  Many people may do a double take on this one, but the Raccoon penis bone is important to Appalachian culture.

The initial reaction that most people have to this is "Wait a minute, raccoons have bones in their penis?!?"

Yes, yes they do.  Actually almost all mammals have bones in their penis known as a baculum.  There are only a few exceptions to this.  Humans do not have penis bones, but all other primates do.  Oddly enough, the possum does not have a penis bone.  Makes you question who are true closest relative is.

This here is a raccoon penis bone.

In Southern Appalachia the raccoon penis bone has traditionally been worn as a fertility talisman.  It also has the amazing double purpose of being used as a toothpick. It keeps you fertile and keeps gunk out of your teeth.  

Now if you are dieing to get your raccoon penis bone, there are readily available on Etsy.

The Carpetbagger

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Chiefing in Cherokee

Awhile back I talked about Cherokee, NC.  Cherokee is a traditional tourist town that is a throwback to the 1950s.  While there currently is a movement to create a more "tasteful" tone in Cherokee there is still plenty of mid-century kitchy vacation fun to be had.

One of the first things you may notice when driving into Cherokee is that there appears to be a LOT of "Chiefs" for one tribe.

What you are seeing is the tradition known as "Chiefing".  Native Americans dress up in traditional garbs and charge a few bucks for people to take their pictures with them.  All of them bill themselves with the title of "Chief", because I guess there is little incentive to have your picture taken with a rank and file Indian. Of course the "traditional garb" has more to do with Hollywood then history.

Here is me and my wife participating in the timeless tradition.

In my opinion having your photograph taken with a Chief is a right of passage in Cherokee.  Your family photo album is truly lacking if it doesn't contain at least one Chief picture.

In the world of Chiefing there is one King and his name is "Chief Henry".  Chief Henry billed himself as "The World's Most Photographed Indian" and all evidence points to this being true.  Henry posed with generations of tourist families until his death in 2007.   He also posed for numerous postcards and other promotional material in Cherokee.  Here is one of his classic postcards, that are still for sale to this day.

Vintage Postcard, Not my Image

I did however buy a batch of vintage slides of ebay where I found a copy of a mid-century family posing with Chief Henry.

Of course, in Cherokee, one Chief is never enough.

Here are the same kids posing with a less photographed Indian.

Also, while working in a local museum I was working in the storage room and stumbled across a true Appalachian artifact:  Henry's Placard.

Sadly, the Placard is not on public display as it should be.  (Museum's keep all their best stuff in storage, trust me on that).

Oh, and for the record.  There is only one Chief in Cherokee and his name is Michell Hicks.

I don't know much about him, but he is not nearly as flashy of a dresser as the unofficial Chiefs.

As far as I know he doesn't charge you to have a picture taken with him.

The Carpetbagger

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Harrison Mayes

As I have mentioned before, when I first moved to the South I was amazed by the large amount of religious signs I saw on the Roadside.  Most of these were wooden signs nailed to trees and poles, but one time in Murphy, NC I came across one that was strikingly different.

 

It was a towering monument which had clearly seen better days.  It appeared to made from concrete and steel rods.  I asked around if anyone had any idea where it had come from and no one had knew.  I was left scratching my head until I found out about the Museum of Appalachia in Clinton, TN.  The museum has a whole exhibit dedicated to the man who made this cross.  His story is a fascinating one

Photo Property of Museum of Appalachia

This humble looking man is the Reverend Harrison Mayes.  Harrison Mayes was a simple coal miner in the rural town of Middlesboro, KY.  Harrison would end up getting trapped in a coal mine.  While trapped in the mine he made a promise to God that if he let him live that he would dedicate his life to him.  Well, God let him live and Harrison more then kept his end of the deal.

Harrison begin creating religious monuments in the shape of crosses and hearts.  He would get the supplies materials from fellow coal miners who would set excess materials aside to use in the creation of his "sacred signs".

As I mentioned, The Museum of Appalachia in Clinton TN has a great exhibit on Mayes which includes a large collection of the signs that were left over when he died.

Mayes knew that it was time was running out so he started marking signs with locations on where he wanted them planted around the world.  Some of them were even marked to be placed on other planets.

Mayes' fixation on outer space can also be found in his preferred mode of transportation: his bicycle.

Mayes used his bicycle as his only form of transportation and never had a driver's license .  This of course would make hauling giant concrete monuments very difficult.  Harrison would enlist the help of his friend and his truck.  They would travel across the country planting these signs.  Harrison would dig holes in private property and plant signs without permission of the land owners.  He would leaves messages for them that would tell them that they would risk going to hell if they removed the sign.

Mayes tracked his travels on a series of large U.S maps with his paths spiraling out from Middlesboro.

Since Mayes died in 1989 the number of his crosses still planted in the ground is dwindling.  As Highways expand there becomes less room in the world for the "sacred signs".

I wasn't sure if I would ever seen another besides the one I spotted in Murphy, NC, but I received a tip that there was another one standing in Fletcher, NC.

I found another when my wife happened upon a heart shaped sign in Marble, NC

Another tip from a friend led me to this cross in Smyrna, TN

For some reason Mayes' original message of "Get Right With God" has been altered to say "Made Right With God".

I recently happened upon a second sign in Murphy, NC while we were looking at tornado damage.

My friend Loungelistener ended up hitting a massive patch of signs as he traveled near his home town of Middlesboro, KY.  I drove out there to see them myself.

Tazewell, TN

Fork Ridge, TN

Harrogate, TN

There was this heart shaped sign that was marked to be placed at the Suez Canal, but never made it out of Mayes' home town of Middlesboro

I also tracked down the original sign Mayes made, which he planted on his parents grave in Fork Ridge, TN.

The most exciting part was seeing Mayes's old home.  Mayes had actually built his home in the shape of a cross, so he essentially lived in one of his own signs.

The house doesn't look as much like a cross from the ground, but it still stands and has one of his signs  (painted an odd green) in the yard.

My quest continues as I still look for more of these sacred signs.  I hear there is one as far north as Ohio.  There is also one in Gibson Station, VA and Ruth, NC.  They are all on "the list".

Updated 11/17/14: I have located some more signs, check them out HERE.

The Carbetbagger.

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