Bigfoot comes in many shapes and names across the world.
If you are hiking through the woods of northeastern Arizona and hear something on two feet following you, and you have an eerie sense of being watched, you may be having an encounter with the Mogollon Monster
What is the Mogollon Monster
The Mogollon Monster is reported to be a bipedal humanoid, 6–8 feet tall, found in the forested portions of northeast Arizona. Its body is said to be covered with long black or dark brown hair and has eyes that reflect red. Sightings of this creature are often accompanied by a foul odor like that of dead fish, a skunk with bad body odor, or decaying peat moss.
To me, the description of the Mogollon Monster sounds very much like that of Bigfoot and in all likelihood, it is just another name for Bigfoot that is region-specific, much like Booger, Straw Man, or Momo.
This Bigfoot population is found in the area of the Mogollon Ridge and so has taken on the moniker of Mogollon Monster.
Where to find the Mogollon Monster
Most people have it in their minds that Arizona is one big desert, but the northern and eastern areas are higher, cooler, and forested. In fact, a lower arm of the Rocky Mountain extends through Arizona, dividing the desert to the southwest from the Indian reservations to the north.
These ridges make up a relatively unbroken path to travel from America’s southern border to the north. This expanse of wilderness area leaves plenty of room that a Bigfoot-type creature to hide and survive.
History of the Mogollon Monster
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While the Apache and Navajo Native American people living in the area have a long list of encounters with the ‘Big Hairy Man’ or ‘The Old Man of the Mountain’, what we call the Mogollon Monster (pronounced ‘Mo-gee-on’), the first recorded encounter comes the June 3rd, 1903 edition of the Arizona Republican. The article chronicles the encounters of one I. W. Stevens of Cedar, CO who had been boating down the Grand Canyon when he stopped on a sand bar because he saw bare footprints in the sand.
His interest piqued, he pulled into shore and started examining the area. After a few days of exploring, Stevens saw something truly unusual.
“I saw … a man with long white hair and a matted beard that reached his knees. He wore no clothing and upon his talon-like fingers were claws at least two inches long. A coat of gray hair nearly covered his body, with here and there a patch of dirty skin showing.”
To me, this sounds more like a true wildman than an encounter with a Bigfoot-type creature. The description of a long beard, gray hair, and 2″ long talons sounds truly like a man gone wild and not a Bigfoot type creature. Even Stevens claims that it was most likely a man that had been lost in the wilderness too long.
The Don Davis Mogollon Monster Encounter
Don Davis who late in life became a cryptozoologist, claims that in the ’40s, as a teenager he encountered the Mogollon Moster while attending a Boy Scout camp near Payson, AZ.
Davis claims that he was woken in the night by the noise of something going through their supplies. Thinking it was a fellow scout, he called out to it. Much to his surprise, instead, the creature stopped what it was doing and walked up to him. At a range of just feet, he got a very good look at it, even in the night.
He described it as massive, with huge arms, chest, and shoulders. The face had a square jawline and dark, deep-set eyes. The body was completely covered in hair except for the face which was bare. Most striking of all was the odor the creature put off. Terrified, Davis pulled up his sleeping bag to cover his head, hoping the monster would leave him alone. Ultimately this worked as the monster lost interest in the scout’s campsite and wandered back into the wilderness.
To me, this sounds like a classic Bigfoot encounter and is quite reasonable.
Mogollon Monster Makes the News
Mogollon Monster Sightings On The Reservations
Several Indian reservations are located in Northern Arizona and the residents have had plenty of encounters with the Mogollon Monster. For example, Marjorie Grimes, who lives in Whiteriver, the primary town on the reservation. When asked about her encounter she reports that “It was all black and it was tall! The way it walked; it was taking big strides. I put on the brakes and raced back and looked between the two trees where it was, and it was gone!”
Regarding local reports, Tribal police lieutenant Ray Burnette states that “A couple of times they’ve seen this creature looking through the windows. They’re scared when they call.” He stated “The calls we’re getting from people — they weren’t hallucinating, they weren’t drunks, they weren’t people that we know can make hoax calls. They’re from real citizens of the Fort Apache Indian Reservation.”
Mogollon Monster Stops For A Drink
Back in 2014, a 28yr old woman was hiking through the Canyon Point Trail that runs along the Mogollon ridge when she encountered the Mogollon Monster. She walked up on the creature that was on its knees drinking water. Curious as to what the creature was, she decided to try and take a photo of it. She reached into her bag to grab her camera, but that is when the creature noticed her, quickly turned its head in her direction and stared directly at her. Extremely frightened by the large unknown creature staring directly at her, she began to try and scare the creature off, by waving her arms and yelling as loud as she could. The creature then stood up onto its two legs and took off running into the canyon. The woman described the creature as having a human-like face with no hair on it, a thick nose, small lips, brown-red eyes, and a body covered in hair.
Phillip M Reports Seeing Bigfoot near Flagstaff
One report published on the Rocky Mountain Sasquatch Organization website details one man seeing this creature as he was driving north of Flagstaff.
Seen one preparing to cross the route 89 north from Flagstaff to the reservation one summer evening, right after sundown. The “creature,” was standing very still near a tree trunk trying not to be noticed. Jet black, 8 to 10 feet tall, and at first I thought it was a horse’s tail blowing in the light mountain breeze so I slowed down, and turned on my halogen full beam lights.
Then, thought is this a bear, but realized it was standing to up and was too tall to be a bear! When I scanned down again, I noticed huge dark skinned colored fingers under the jet black 5 to 10 inch strands of matted shiny hair! I could not see the feet, since the grass was knee-high, but the upper body was clearly displayed. I even was able to see the huge fit body and enormous upper body muscles on the arms, like it could scale a 45 degree wooded mountain or kill a deer by running it down and breaking its neck for food. As I got closer, I realized the enormous size and strength this creature had and its intelligence to using the dark to hide in plain view!
Read the rest of this report
Couple Encounters Bigfoot Near the Grand Canyon
Hell Canyon Mogollon Monster Encounters
As David Pulides has pointed out many times, locations with “Hell” or “Devil” in their names seem to be hotspots for strange activity, and Bigfoot sightings. In the 1980’s deadwood harvesters working in the Hell Canyon area (near Drake, AZ) reported some strange encounters.
“We use to cut firewood in the Kiabab National Forest (and) saw many tracks, many times.” Additionally, they possibly discovered a cave where one lived. “The site that was most bizarre was a cave with a very big tree covering the entrance.” They claim the tree had been split down the middle. Not cut, but actually split.
“Those who say they’ve crossed paths with the beast regularly describe an eerie silence prior to their encounter, an appreciable stillness in the woods that commonly surrounds predatory animals. more common are reports of a strong, very foul stench, which has been described as that of dead fish, a skunk with bad body odor, or of decaying peat moss.”
Sasquatch Chronicles EP:709 The Mogollon Monster
Take a listen to this Sasquatch Chronicles Podcast that features an interview with a man that had an encounter with this creature while camping north of Phoenix. A massive, biped creature, walking around in the dark while you lay in a sleeping bag sounds like a long horrible night to me.
Alex Hearn Bigfoot Sightings in Arizona
Arizona Cryptozoologist Alex Hearn, says he’s seen the beast twice during his search for the beast.
In 2008, Hearn said he came eyeball to eyeball with a maybe seven-foot-tall Mogollon Monster just off Highway 288 about 20 miles south of Young, AZ which is in the heart of Mogollon Monster territory.
“He had reddish brown hair — the most unique thing that I saw. I don’t know if this means it’s a female,” he said. “It was very upright: I looked to my left and there was this brown head and shoulder, raising its arm up in almost a swimming motion, lifting the branches out of the way.”
Hearn insisted: “It had human-looking eyes, very dark and big. It did have a huge, huge brow that seemed to be more brownish skin. The eyes were deep and stared right at me. I was caught in this glance. It didn’t look away. Its eyebrows went up.”
I’m guessing this Bigfoot was as surprised to see Hearn as he was to see it.
Later, while investigating a cluster of sightings on the White Mountain Apache Reservation, he was approaching a campground when his group heard Bigfoot-type screams from out in the brush. The group stopped and spread out, looking for what was making the sounds, and that is when he saw the creature again.
The creature stepped out from behind the tree at a distance of about 20 feet, said Hearn. Possibly a juvenile, this creature was thinner and only about six feet tall. That is when one of his teammates spotted something else on their thermal imagers.
As he was watching this creature, the team with a thermal imager called him on the radio and warned him that something was approaching him from behind. Likely it was another Bigfoot, moving in to protect the one he had eyes on.
“I heard some twigs break,” Hearn said. “I just didn’t know what to do, but I started running towards what I heard, and whatever it was went the other way. I don’t know what made me think that way: I’m certainly not brave enough to chase one of these things if I think about it.”
Arizona Bigfoot Nests
Now many Bigfoot species are thought to build “nests” or blinds for hiding in, but I must admit that I haven’t seen any that look like the ones made out of pine needles, sticks and logs in Arizona. Could this be their winter shelter for young Bigfoot?
Filmed by Arizona researcher and Bigfoot expert Mitch Waite and his wife, Susan Farnsworth, they speculate that this is a Bigfoot or Mogollon Monster den.
What do you think these “caves” are? They could be the constructs of someone playing survival, but they also could be the work of a Bigfoot family trying to stay warm during an especially cold spell.
As for Mogollon Monsters, do you have a sighting or piece of information that needs to be here? Drop me a message, or leave a comment down below!
Books About the Mogollon Monster
There aren’t a lot of books out there specifically on the Mogollon Monster, but Susan Farnsworth has a couple you might want to check out. You can pick these up on Amazon or your favorite online bookstore.
Report Mogollon Monster Sightings
Have you had an encounter with a Bigfoot-type creature in Arizona? I would love to hear about it! You can either send me an email at Reports@pararational.com or use our contact page. Feel free to include as many details as possible.
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