Dear Otus,
Yikes! In your column last week, you mentioned a "White River Monster" that was captured in 2007. We didn't move here until 2011 and this is the first we've heard of it. We live close to the river near Southerland Park, so can you fill us in? Are there any other legends we need to be concerned about?
-- Robert Kenneth Wilson, Batesville
Dear Robert,
It was wholly a pleasure to hear from you and thank you for the opportunity to revisit the legend as a public service to new readers.
There have been Osage tribal tales of a bunyip or kianpraty in the White River since the late 1700s, but thanks to Jack Alope of Springdale (formerly of Oil Trough) and cryptozoologist-photographer Miguel Cuento of Newport, the beast was finally caught and photographed in 2007.
The award-winning Cuento, regular readers may recall, kindly credits me for his fascination with Arkansas' many myths and legends ever since 1980 when I wrote about the blind albino cave alligators that live in Blanchard Springs Caverns.
Those tiny 4-inch creatures dine exclusively on blind albino cave crickets and build their hamburger-bun-size nests in guano. They were thought to be extinct in 1850.
The serendipitous 1987 discovery of a nesting pair caused the Forest Service to open the Wild Cave Tour in 1989 in addition to the more sedate and familiar Dripstone and Discovery trails.
The Wild Cave Tour, which takes spelunkers two miles underground through tortuously twisting passageways, is rated a Class IV trek and is not for the faint of heart or the athletically challenged. But the chance to witness the alligators in their natural habitat annually draws 2,500 applicants for the 252 spots on the tours.
Tours are conducted for only three weeks each summer, when the 'gators are mating and distracted. Each tour is limited to 12 people and slots are awarded by lottery each May.
After seven years of applying, Cuento finally had his name drawn, and he says it was worth the wait. His dramatic photos were featured in Spelunker Aficionado magazine (August 1996).
Over the years, Cuento has investigated the Fouke Monster, the Jasper Yowie, the Gurdon Light, UFOs over Eureka Springs, the Headless Cammack Village Alderman, the Conway Wampus Cat (or Ewah) and the Crescent Hotel Ghost.
All those legends paled when Cuento and Alope caught the "monster" that had been reported in the river in modern times since 1937.
Affectionately known as "Whitey," the creature had been described by various witnesses as "wide as a boxcar and three cars long" with skin like an elephant. Some said it crawled out of the river at night and left 14-inch prints on sandbars.
Alope, an ichthyologist, knew better. He knew that after severe hurricane seasons, manatees sometimes make it up to Memphis and giant freshwater albacore find their way up the Mississippi and into the White River, where falling water levels trap them.
Without natural predators, the albacore would grow to enormous lengths by feeding on the 400-pound blue catfish that inhabit the White.
Alope caught the 42-foot, 2,982-pound tuna on a 375-foot trotline using 50-gallon oil drums for floats, quarter-inch, nylon-wrapped, stainless-steel snoods, gambrels and hog hooks baited with freshly butchered, free-range shoats.
Alope hooked the monster at 6:12 a.m. and the epic battle lasted until 2:50 p.m. when the creature expired. Alope winched the fish up on a flatbed using a snagboat's two-ton block and tackle and hauled it to Howie's Fish House in Newport.
Using a chainsaw, the fish was chopped up and made into 7,500 tuna salad sandwiches. The 9-foot head, however, was mounted and is on display at Jacksonport State Park. Famed Mountain View artist Beau Botafogo sculpted an exact replica of the head using Plasticine over galvanized chicken wire. It toured the state in 2008 and is on display at the state Capitol grounds each October during the State Fair.
Side note: Fortunately for Alope, he snagged the monster 200 yards from the mouth of the Black River, just outside the White River Monster Refuge established in 1973 by the state Legislature. Had he been inside the refuge, Alope would have been facing a hefty fine.
Cuento says his current goal is to capture photos of the legendary Devil's Hole gowrow (an indeterminate marsupial cryptid) near the unincorporated community of Self north of Harrison in Boone County. However, on June 30 the Forest Service closed Devil's Hole Cave and all the state's caves (except Blanchard Springs Caverns) until 2019 due to white-nose syndrome in bats.
Until next time, Kalaka reminds you no one has ever photographed the Lonoke laestrygonian. Be the first.
Disclaimer
Fayetteville-born Otus the Head Cat's award-winning column of humorous fabrication appears every Saturday. Email:
mstorey@arkansasonline.com
HomeStyle on 07/19/2014