A listener writes “I grew up camping, at least 3 weeks/year, in Arkansas at a campground called Shady Lake.
It’s near Athens, AR. It’s in the Ouachita mountains. There were many times I heard very strange sounds coming from the forest on the other side of the creek, which is completely devoid of camping.
It would sound like chattering and screaming. My parents always said it was other campers, but I knew better than to think campers were on top of the mountain, in the middle of the night with no flashlights.
The “other side of the creek” is famous for snakes, so only an idiot would be walking around there in the dark. I constantly felt as if I were being watched at night. I can recall one specific night, when I was about 30 (I’m 40 now)… I was in a tent with my husband and kids, and I was jolted awake by voices. They sounded like they were about 30 feet from me, down by the creek.
It was definitely talking of some sort. This was around 2 a.m. I couldn’t sleep well that night because it had dropped down to around 20 degrees, and my sleeping bag was not for cold weather. Anyway, I then heard footsteps walking back and forth around our tent, within 15 ft or so. I assumed it was raccoons at first until I realized whatever it was was walking on 2 legs. As it got closer I realized the footsteps were too heavy to be a person in my opinion, but I could tell whatever it was was trying to be quiet. I kept hearing talking, so I thought it had to be people, and that was odd since there were no other campers in our section when we went to bed, other than my parents and their friends. At this point, Bigfoot wasn’t even something I’d heard about other than in folklore.
So, the only things I thought it could be were people or bears that talked and were walking upright. I just remember being extremely scared. It was a fear I’d never felt in my entire life. It was primal I guess you could say. I’d heard bears walk around before, though much further away, and never felt fear to the extent I did that night. It still makes me wonder if it could have been one of the big guys. The next morning, I looked around, and none of our food was missing nor anything broken into. That makes no sense if it was a bear or raccoon.
About 2 years prior to this, a camp sponsor came by and warned us because a few months prior, a lady said that a bear tried to take her toddler during the night. Basically, she woke up to what she called “a hand” grabbing her 2 year old son’s ankle and trying to pull him out of the tent. She screamed and whatever it was let go and took off. She stated that it had dark brown hair and fingernails. She said that it had long fingers so she wasn’t sure “what kind of bear it was”. I never thought anything more about it until recently.
One other odd thing that happened there…when one of my sons was 4 years old, he got lost (in the daytime) when one of his older brothers left him. We searched for him for about an hour. We were screaming his name constantly. He all of a sudden appeared out of nowhere. When we asked him where he’d been, he said he went to the top of the mountain on the other side of the creek and kept going because he thought he could hear us talking and was trying to find us. He said that he could hear “two daddys” talking but couldn’t understand them. At no point were there two males from our group talking to each other. The males had all split up and headed in different directions. He was crying and terrified. He was so far away that none of us ever heard him crying. He said that something (a mommy as he called it) started talking to him from far away (though I’m not sure what exactly he meant, but I got the impression that he thought she was getting on to him), and she sort of herded him back in the right direction.
He just said he didn’t know what she said, but she scared him so he went the other way. He never saw her. He’s now 16. He remembers some of it but none of the details. We always wondered what or who sent him back on the right path. Had that not happened, there’s no doubt in my mind that he would have died that day. It dropped down into the 20s that night, and he was wearing shorts because the daytime was much warmer. By our estimations, he had gotten at least 4 miles away from us and onto the top side of the mountain. He told me that he saw a bear, but I’m not sure (nor is he) that it was actually a bear. Supposedly there are black bears out there. He just said that he saw a huge brown bear standing up by a tree.
Have you heard of any sightings in the Ouachita mountains in Arkansas? It’s about 2 hours north of Fouke, AR. I’m not seeing any sightings online. I do have to say that people around Arkansas and Louisiana don’t talk about Bigfoot. It’s not something that would ever be believed. You kind of hide things like that here.”
JON F
First! Boom!
James M
Well , there are no brown bears in ARKANSAS !
Diana A
Very interesting and honest. A young child tries to use words to understand what they see. So saying I saw a bear would be the best description. I love how he said I heard two daddys. So innocent. These hairy people prob were familiar with your family for many years. Your family seemed to mind your own family, not disrupt the ecology or leave garbage. This probably created respect for your family. Being Native first people of California, our heritage called them protectors of children. If children wld get lost they wld bring them back. But I do realise it is a human quality to call humans we ate unsure of cannibles. Columbus said that abt the people he found on the island he discovered. He expected the native people to be legs with heads on them walking around eatong human legs and arms. Old drawings his crew and him left behind depict that. Humans can b led by preconceived notions, like many bigfooters.
Frankie P
Doesn’t this sound like 411 in the making? Talk about a “near miss”; how terrifying for your child to be lost. I’ve been there, and it is not funny at all… takes weeks and months to get over it even when it was innocent (at the neighbors for the first time watching tv).
byron h
Don’t know about your area but I’m from north east arkansas, a place you would never think these things would live and have had multiple encounters. Its mostly Farm land and thickets.
Bryan H
I’m from northeast Arkansas (Jonesboro). Where in N.E. Ark. are you from?
Bryan H
Just curious Bryan H, whats your last name? As I’m a Bryan H, as well. And do you know a area called Hollywood Ar. The boy almost coming up missing, sounds like a almost case of missing 411
byron h
Mccrory arkansas
Alan H
Grew up in NW Arkansas,Beaver lake area..I’ve had a lot of strange things happen out hunting and riding dirt bikes as a child in those hills
byron h
Originally I believed that only big forests could support a population of large animals like these but now I know that not to be true. I think the population count is far greater than believed by most. Delta Farm land in arkansas is not suppose to support these things…….but it does.
byron h
Basically what I am saying is….they can be anywhere.
Rob T
Shady Lake, we camped there as a kid in the ’70’s and had a strange thing happen in ’76 May
I know there were other people who were frightened that night?
Also we had a cabin near Mena and that place was creepy as hell