New White River Monster Research

Okay guys, we are pretty much caught-up with all of our sponsored post backlog, so we'll try to give you a short run of some good stuff real quick. I was lucky enough to speak with someone while I was "Away" who lives on White River in Arkansas. I didn't mention the monster, waiting to see if he would bring it up, but he didn't.

What he did say was quite illuminating though, as he was talking about fishing and I asked him what varieties of fish were present in the river. He responded with a list approximately as long as my arm.

Now, I have to admit, this guy was not very credible. Not because he was in jail for having stolen a brand new 4-wheeler, but because he came in claiming to know "Ninjitsu" and all such as that, then ended up having to be taken out on a stretcher, crying, after he had signed a statement for the feds. He had your garden-variety panic attack and tried to milk it until he realized no one was buying it and let it go. He was very young and this was obviously the first time he had ever been in any real trouble. But I digress.

If what he says is true - and I don't know a whole lot about fish and such, so I have no choice but to accept that it is - then no matter what taste the alleged beast may have, it has a good selection. From wide-mouthed bass to pike to crappie to bream, White River reportedly has it all.

But it is interesting that this young guy who claimed to know "Ninjitsu," and was nowhere near short of other tall tales, made no mention of the White River Monster.

The White River Monster

Most aquatic “monsters” are associated with lakes and similar large bodies of water, though at least a few are associated with rivers. The White River Monster of Newport, Arkansas, is one of these.

Sightings have occurred intermittently since the early 1900s, with at least one photograph (though blurry, you can clearly make out the bony spine from reports) of the creature having been taken in the 1970s. According to nearly all reports, the creature is at least 12’ long and 3-4’ wide, though others report it as being “the length of three or four pickup trucks.” One account claims that a boat, bearing two grown men, was lifted out of the water on the back of an unseen beast of immense size.

Many of the accounts claim a roar accompanies the creature’s appearance, something between a cow’s moo and a horse’s neigh. It is said to have some sort of bone-like protrusion from its forehead. While a lot of the reports are similar, almost all reports indicate that, when the creature rises, the water becomes foamy and bubbly, often resulting in a large waterspout that can leap 30’ or more into the air.

Biologist and cryptozoologist, Roy P. Mackal, suggests “The animal in question clearly was a large male elephant seal...” He thinks the animal made its way into the river through the Mississippi. Of course, that is possible, but highly unlikely. Many of the sightings were made by fishermen and even a Deputy Sheriff. While elephant seals are not native to the area, they were most certainly known to most people by the 1970s, and the photograph, while blurry, clearly does not indicate a seal of any kind.

It does not appear that any (or many) sightings have occurred since the 1970s.