I made mention in a previous post #STATECHALLENGE :LOUISIANA: Swamp Jasmine, Researching This Post May Have Saved My Family’s Life Y’all!
that I used to live in Pearl River, Louisiana, home of the Honey Island Swamp Monster.
The town town is very proud of this, and even has “Home Of The Honey Island Swamp” and alligators, painted on their water tower! Legend has it, that there was a train wreak the in the early 1900s. A traveling circus was on the train, and a group of chimpanzees escaped! Then they bred with the alligators. And of course, what do you get y’all? Swamp Monster, that’s what!
So in 1963, Harlan Ford was the first person to claim to see the Honey Island Swamp Monster .
Harlan, and his friend Billy Mills claimed they found strange footprints, and a dead wild boar, whose throat had been gashed open! Harlan would never give up hunting the monster. When he died, his wife found a reel of Super 8 film showing the Honey Island Swamp Monster in his belongings!
The Honey Island Swamp Monster is said to stand on 2 feet, be seven feet tall, have gray hair and yellow eyes and smell disgusting! Footprints supposedly left by the creature have four toes. There is a plaster cast of the footprint of the monster at the Abita Springs Mystery House. It was dontated by Dana Holyfield, grand-daughter of Harlan E. Ford, who hunted the Honey Island Swamp Monster, found and cast the tracks in the Honey Island Swamp.
In an interview for the documentary “ In Search Of ” on the Discovery Channel, Harlan said, “That thing stood eye level with me. The thing that startled me the most, we’re it’s large amber eyes.”
The Honey Swamp Monster was also made famous on the show The Secret Saturdays episode “Ghost in the Machine”. The monster resembled a Bigfoot-like creature with crab claws. The creature was featured in an episode of Lost Tapes, "Swamp Creature.” as well as an episode of , “Bayou Beast/River Ghost,” showing Mr. Ford’s original film. An episode of Swamp People, “Full Moon Fever,” shows a group of people, including Harlan Ford’s granddaughter, searching for the monster. Also the Honey Island Swamp Monster was featured on the series Monsters and Mysteries in America, “The Swamp.”, including the Super 8 footage of the monster. In 2013, Mattel introduced the Monster High doll Honey Swamp as the daughter of Honey Island Swamp monster. Additionally, a blues group, The Honey Island Swamp Band, formed in San Francisco after Hurricane Katrina, when their founding members were displaced. In 2019, an episode of America Unearthed “Bigfoot in the Bayou” looked into sightings. Eoin Colfer was inspired by the Honey Island Swamp monster for the character Vern in his novel “Highfire”. And also, it was the subject of an episode of In Search Fact or Faked: Paranormal Filesof…, “The Swamp Monster.”
The Honey Island Swamp itself is located in the east Louisiana in St. Tammany Parish. The swamp is bordered on the north by U.S. 11, on the south by Lake Borgne, on the east by the Pearl River and the west by the West Pearl River.
I lived right on the other side of the levee of the Pearl River, and hiked there often. I never saw the Monster though! Animals you might see in the Honey Island Swamp include alligators, raccoons, owls, wild boars, nutria, snakes, turtles, bald eagles and black bears. I once ran a 5 kilometer race through the Swamp and have taken a boat tour where you feed the alligators. This is actually a very bad idea.
Alligators are very popular in Louisiana culture, in fact there is a big ole concrete gator right in the middle of the town of Pearl River.
I hope you enjoyed learning a little bit more about the State Of Louisiana, the town of Pearl River and it’s famous Honey Island Swamp Monster!
Here in Louisiana, we were on a Phase One Lockdown, Then progressed to Phase two which was less severe. However cases of Covid-19 began to rise again, so Phase Two keeps being extended, but with more restrictions. We are in mandatory face mask wearing now. But people don’t comply with the restrictions and there are no consequences.