Forty years later, debate over ‘Momo the Missouri Monster' lingers

This is a very old Bigfoot type story that I had forgotten about until reading this article. I remember hearing about it when I was fairly young, but then like many other stories like this, it faded into memory. It's good to revisit old, and often forgotten stories to keep the details alive, and preserved for future reference.

This is one of those Bigfoot sightings that will probably always be debated about whether or not it was a hoax, but well worth reading the article.


www.kansascity.com...

The Sasquatch-like creature stood tall like a man – just bigger, stinkier and hairier – cradling a dead dog under one arm and growling. The stench from ole' Big Foot was horrific and sickening before the creature darted back into the rural Missouri woods.

The Momo saga began on July 11, 1972. The Harrison family lived in a house along what was then known as Marzolf Hill. On a hot summer day, 8-year-old Terry Harrison and his 5-year-old brother, Wally, were chasing their dog through the woods.

Suddenly, 15-year-old Doris Harrison, who was inside, heard her brothers screaming, ran to the window and saw a creature she described as perhaps 7 feet tall with dark hair covering its face. It held a dead dog under its arm and blood – apparently from the dog – flecked the dark hair of the beast. And, ooh, that smell!

Reports of encounters began to pile up. A man claimed he was chased by a big hairy beast with red eyes. School kids said they saw it from their classroom window. Two women picnicking near the river said Momo chased them to their Volkswagen, then displayed the human-like intelligence to try and open the door before a blast of the horn scared it away.

Ellis Minor was sitting on the front porch of his home one night when his bird dog began to growl – there were many reports of dogs acting crazy when they sensed Momo, and why not given his apparent taste for canines. Minor pointed a flashlight and allegedly spotted the beast in the middle of the road, 20 feet from him. The thing had hair “black as coal,” but ran away from the light and Minor never saw it again

Here's a very old thread on ATS about the Momo Monster:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Seems like something "Fact Or Faked" would have to investigate lol. I never heard of "Momo" before, so this is new too me. I don't dismiss cases liek this, but they are kind of unimportant to me. There is always too much "I saw it with my own eyes" type arguments but they never have evidence to back up what they claim

I live in Missouri and this is the first I have heard of this.

I spent many years playing in the woods as a kid every day, cold or hot. I never once saw anything like this. Come to think of it though I never saw a dead deer either, but my guess is the coyotes took care of that. I never seen a venomous snake alive but one time and that was when a rattlesnake was swimming across it, seen lots of other snakes though.

We had a bear come into the front yard (this was back when they told us there were not bears around this area, a few years ago they admitted to them being here), and I seen lots of different tracks around the pond and the creek.

The description sounds a bit like the Florida one with them talking about it being stinky.

Raist

I had heard, briefly, of Momo, seeing as I live in Missouri. (there's also a river monster here that goes by that name)
However, this reminded me of a local Indian legend. They say that a couple was banished from the tribe in the Ozarks area and went to live by themselves. They eventually went wild and hair covered their bodies, and their children were referred to as "Ozark Blue Men" because of the raven-like sheen of their hair.
Little something to think about. If I see or hear of something that's backed up by Indian legend, I'm generally inclined to believe it, though I've never seen "Momo" myself.

reply to post by isyeye


Based on the descriptions, this poor family may have met someone from my wife's family. One tall, long-haired, smelly brother-in-law comes to the front of my mind. He was experimenting with a lot of substances in the 70s and 80s that affected his behavior. Several of the women that he used to drag home even match the description of the dog under his arm. Even the location fits. I will see if I can get the family to issue an apology to that poor family.

Seriously, I was a kid in Missouri during the 70s and 80s. MOMO was some seriously scary stuff in my area. I did not know that the story was based on an actual report. The older kids always told us that he lived in an abandoned root cellar a few miles from where I live now. I might want to check into that again.

Honest to God, though I believe his imagination got away from him in the dark, my 15 year old son said that he saw a similar creature about a month ago. I even told him about the MOMO legends from my childhood, when he told me about it. He was seriously freaked and is now scared to go outside by himself. He is a huge football player and never expressed fear like that before. Like I told him, the creature must have been peaceful or it would have already ate him (he was only about 20 feet away from it). Either that; or, it was going to track him home and eat his entire family. He didn't like that part.