The Boo Hag

The Gullah people claim the existence of a mythical creature that they believe stalks the living by day in the hope of sucking their energy at night.  This wicked creature is known simply as the Boo Hag.

The Mothman

On November 12, 1966, five men digging a grave at a cemetery near Clendenin, West Virginia purportedly encountered a seemingly supernatural creature flying amidst the nearby tree line. Little did they know that this encounter would be the first of many to transform the sleepy town of Point Pleasant, West Virginia into ground zero for one of America's most infamous monsters.

Hear the legend, folklore and history of this tale on our Patreon member-ony series “Southern Gothic: The Monsters”

The Ozark Howler

The vast, dense wilderness of the Ozark Mountains have been home to rich tales and folklore dating back centuries prior to American settlement.   One such tale is that of a vicious beast who is said to torment locals with a terrifying howl.  However, many believe this tale might just be a hoax. 

Hear the legend, folklore and history of this tale on our Patreon member-ony series “Southern Gothic: The Monsters”

The Rougarou

For centuries, the Cajun people of Southern Louisiana have told tales of a vicious werewolf-like creature from the swamp— The Rougarou.

Half-man, half-wolf, the beast purportedly stalks the swamps, fields and outskirts of Louisiana towns searching for prey… for which he knows well, because he is likely a member of these human communities by day…

Hear the legend, folklore and history of this vicious beast now on our Patreon member-ony series “Southern Gothic: The Monsters”

The Wog of Nodoroc

Just east of Atlanta, Georgia is the mysterious site of an eerie, boggy marshland that once emitted a constant bluish smoke, devouring everything that came into contact with it’s boiling waters. The Creek named this site, and the violent mud volcano within it, Nodoroc, or “gateway to hell.” But if the treacherous geography of Nodoroc were not enough to inspire fear, the Creek also believed that a vicious beast guarded this entrance to the underworld. A beast that required human sacrifices to appease its hunger. A devil-dog known simply as the Wog.

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The Fouke Monster

Enjoy this preview of the member’s only-episode “The Fouke Monster,” a vicious ape-like beast that roams the wooded regions of Texarkana and has become known to many as the Beast of Boggy Creek…

The Tale of Two-Toed Tom

The Tale of Two-Toed Tom (Preview)

Southern Gothic: The Monsters

Legend of a Demon Alligator

Legend says that a vicious alligator once roamed the swamps & farmland along the Gulf Coast of Florida and Alabama.  The creature was over fourteen feet in length, had glowing red eyes and an undeniably monstrous strength.  Locals called him Two-Toed Tom for his unique footprint.  The demon gator had lost all but two of the toes on his left foot after being caught in a steel trap. 

For over two decades Tom preyed upon livestock, with all attempts to be stopped thwarted by his undeniable strength.

CARL CARMER’S TALE OF PAP HAINES

The legend of Two-Toed Tom was first published in 1934.  Author Carl Carmer recounted the tale in his acclaimed work Stars Fell on Alabama which outlined folklore from all across the state.  Carmer tells the story of Pap Haines who purchased 40 acres of land from the lumber company in South Alabama.  Locals warned Pap that he shouldn’t keep any livestock on his new property or else he might attract the attention of a local alligator who was like no other he’d ever encountered, but Pap ignored the warnings.  The result was an epic battle between man and beast.

MYSTERY OF THE DEMON GATOR

Pap wasn’t the only man to attempt to hunt the demon gator.  After decades of Tom’s destruction, a group of Alabamians were finally able to chase him out, all the way across the border into Northwest Florida.  Some say he made a home in a pond near Esto in Holmes County where locals claim he’d let out a deep monstrous bellow every time the nearby lumber company’s whistle would go off.  

Eventually sightings of Two-Toed Tom began to waver and speculation of his demise began.  Then, a half century after Carmer published the story of Pap Haines, the tracks of an enormous alligator were found on a sandbar at Boynton Island on the Choctawahtchee.  These monstrous footprints had two toes.

Whether these tracks were in fact Two-Toed is still a mystery to this day.

The Pope Lick Monster

The Pope Lick Monster (Preview)

Southern Gothic: The Monsters

The Kentucky Goatman

The Pope Lick Monster is an infamous hybrid creature that many claim lives under an old railroad trestle bridge just east of Louisville, Kentucky.  Those who have seen him describe the monster as part-man, part-goat and part-sheep.  He is covered in greasy fur, with sharp horns protruding from his pale white forehead and equipped with cloven hooves in the place of feet.  The Pope Lick monster stands upright like a man, but this vicious beast is blessed with more than just inhuman strength, he also has supernatural powers.

The origin of the Pope Lick Monster varies depending on who tells the tale.  Some claim he is the product of human-animal relations, others that he is the reincarnation of a local farmer believed to have sacrificed goats in a deal with Satan to receive immortality, but the most infamous tale says that the Pope Lick Monster is an escaped carnie out for revenge.  He stalks the area surrounding his home near Pope Lick, either hypnotizing his victims or luring them onto the 90-foot high train trestle with his uncanny power to mimic the voice of those they trust.  It is there, on the top of that bridge, that his victims meet their death-- often the result of an oncoming train.

A Deadly Urban Legend

While tales of the Pope Lick Monster have been around since the sixties, the monstrous archetype of the goatman has been a staple in lore as far back as the satyrs of Ancient Rome; but unlike these other mythical creatures, the myth of the Kentucky goatman has proven more lethal than the monster itself.  The old trestle bridge crossing Pope Lick Creek is still part of an active railroad line, and unfortunately, over the last several decades dozens of people have either been killed or injured on it while searching for the fabled beast.