Quote from Angela on May 18, 2022, 1:10 am

Could there be any truth behind timeless ancient folklore? Or is it all simply myth and legend? Well sometimes folklore and fact cross paths. 

The Ozark mountains stretch across five states, Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Illinois.

The Ozark Howler is said to be a terrifying black wolf like creature which lingers deep in the Ozark mountains. That is the folklore part, so what about the hundreds of reported sightings reaching as far as Northern Canada and Texas?

The Howler is described as 8ft tall, glowing amber eyes, a wolf like body and menacing horns.

During the 1900s there were many sightings of the beast from various hunting parties all of whom described the very same thing ‘a large black predatory creature which pursued them’. 

Locals believe the howler to be a very real flesh and blood creature. However, cryptologists and researchers have suggested this may be a spiritual being whose energy is somehow tied to the earthly realm.

Chillingly, despite its size, the howler is known to move with supernatural speed and precision.

Often, the first and only warning sign of its approach is an unearthly gutteral demonic howl and those who hear the howl are believed marked with its inescapable curse of impending death. 

Historians have considered the creature may be linked to the ancient Greek 9th century mythological monster known as Cerberus, a multi headed hound who guards the gates to the underworld.

Ancient Welsh mythology stated the howler is known as Cwn Annwn, the mystical black spectral hounds, and the British Hell Hounds, who escorted souls from earth to hell.

So could Cerberus and the Cwn Annwn be the one and same entity?

As America was colonized these legends slowly merged with native American lore and became the Ozark Howler we know today.

Many believe the howler is anything but folklore but rather the result of modern day witchcraft, a demon conjured by todays witches, which now resides amidst the Ozarks.

The first recorded sightings of the howler were reported by none other than the legendary American pioneer, and frontiersman, Daniel Boone himself. Boone claims he had two encounters with the howler. 

The first time was in 1810 whilst he was hunting just north of what is now Cuba, Missouri. He wrote a letter to his sister in law claiming that he had shot, and wounded, a creature that he could not rationally identify.

The second encounter was in 1816 whilst hunting the Platte River. Astonishingly, Boone claimed to have captured and killed the beast and had it stuffed and put on display in his prized hunting trophy room.

There are churches in Arkansas which depict the creature in stained glass window designs. When one such church was questioned about the design, they offered that they simply wanted to depict and commemorate images of local folklore. Another church stated they did not agree with exhibiting such images because of their ties to the underworld (hell).  During the 1800s one church ordered the windows be taken down and replaced. The very same week those windows were removed, that very church burned to the ground in a spontaneous fire.

Let’s take a look at some real life reports.

In 1998 a howler was supposedly killed in woods near Branson in Missouri.

In 2016, wild life officers responded to calls from a group of explorers being menaced by a predatory giant black cat like creature.

In 2018 hikers in Rola, Missouri, reported a dark looming shape ahead of them on the trail which launched into the air and mysteriously disappeared from sight.

If anything, it all certainly makes for some great fireside tales.

To all our readers, have a wonderful evening!