The Mogollon Monster is a creature said to inhabit central and eastern Arizona along the Mogollon Rim. The Mogollon Rim is a 2,000-foot-high sloping plateau that stretches from northern Yavapai County all the way to the border of New Mexico. It has spectacular views, making it a popular destination for hikers, campers, hunters, and those who love the great outdoors.
The Mogollan Monster is said to be over seven feet tall, walks upright, and emits a strong, foul body odor, similar to dead fish or rotting meat. The monster is said to be nocturnal, omnivorous, territorial, and, sometimes, aggressive. It walks with large, wide, strange strides, and leaves behind footprints that measure nearly two feet across. Some say the creature lets out a loud scream similar to that of a woman in danger.
In 1903, the first reported sighting of the creature occurred. Then, a man named I. W. Stevens told The Arizona Republic that he saw a “humanoid creature with long white hair and a matted beard that reached to its knees.” The monster did not have on any clothing and possessed at least two-inch-long claws on its talon-like fingers.
Later in 1940’s, cryptozoologist Don Davis claims he saw it as a boy. He was on a Boy Scout trip near Payson, when his group saw a large, hairy creature with expressionless eyes and a square-shaped face . No one who witnessed the sighting knew what the creature was. Davis noted the creature was huge with massive arms and shoulders.
Years later, Marjorie Grimes, a Whiteriver, Arizona resident, claims to have seen the creature between 1982 and 2004 on multiple occasions. She described the creature as black, tall, and walking in big strides.
Although most of the reported sightings of the creature are from anecdotal reports, interestingly A number of people on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation have also claimed to have seen the creature.
Skeptics claim that this creature is just a case of mistaken identity of a bear or another animal. That certainly could have been the case with Marjorie Grimes as she described the creature as black. Perhaps she saw a black bear walking on two legs? Still, some believe that this creature only comes out at night and that the darkness has concealed its identity for all these years. It’s said the creature does visit campsites in the woods, a behavior similar to a bear. With only anecdotal evidence at this point, it seems that Mogollon Monster might just simply be Arizonian folklore.
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