Are These Monsters of Legend Still Lurking in Missouri & Illinois

The history of Illinois and Missouri includes haunting stories of creatures that defy quick answers.

Lurking in the back of our memories are generational tales from family, friends, and friends of friends and in some cases even media reports (before the internet). Have you heard the legends of these Missouri and Illinois woodland beasts?

The Piasa Bird

The twenty foot long part bird, part dragon with a long whip tail (that has a fish tail on the end) glowing red eyes, large deer antlers, sharp teeth and the face of a man with a long beard…Who could imagine such a thing? When Marquette and Joliet began exploring along the Mississippi River in the 1600’s they saw the painted image of the Piasa bird on the bluffs along the river near Alton, IL. Their Illini Indian counterparts knew of the bluff art and were creeped out by it and that area of the river. The Native American legends are of Chief Ouatoga following a dream of how to kill the monster leading his braves to slay the beast at the mouth of a nearby cave.

Mo-Mo the Monster

The first account came in 1971 from a couple of travelers on highway 79 who had stopped for lunch and firstly smelled Mo-Mo then saw it and heard it’s guttural croaks. The next year in Louisiana, Mo. Mo-Mo showed up in the yard of a local family with a dead dog in its arms frightening the children. The local media jumped on the story and Mo-Mo sightings in the region picked up and so did the media stories across the country and overseas of the large, stinky, hairy, bigfoot like creature with glowing orange eyes.

The Ozark Howler

The vast expanse of wilds in the Ozarks may contain something menacing. The Ozark Howler is a predator of legend with tales going back generations. The tell of the Howler is that eerie shriekish roar firstly, but it also supposedly sports shaggy dark hair, thick furry legs, vibrant red eyes and horns. There have been stories from Crawford County Missouri from the 21^st century about the Howler.

The Enfield Horror

Enfield Illinois 1973, a couple kids at home alone told their father Henry about a creature that scratched at the front door trying to get in. Shortly after they’d explained themselves the scratching at the door returned so the dad went to handle the situation and found that it had three legs, little arms with claws and oversized glowing pick eyes. He slammed the door on it, grabbed his pistol and fired. He swears he shot it and it hissed at him before leaping away into the woods. The police were called, and there had been another report of the creature from earlier in the evening who had clawed at a child’s clothes and shoes. The police did find claw marks on the siding of the house.

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There are many things we experience that we struggle to understand. Illinois and Missouri aren't unique when it comes to things knocking around in the wilderness that don't seem to fit within our range of comprehension. We know there is something...and something  by definition isn't "nothing".