The Ozark Howler…
The Ozark Howler as profiled on In Search of Monsters (Season 1, Episode 10, the Travel Channel) ranges in the dense forests of the Ozark mountains, and is a large feline-type creature traditionally described as having black fur and horns, and equipped with razor-sharp claws and teeth. In some accounts, he also sports glowing red eyes, with which it can give a “death stare.” In spite of this, there are no reports of a Howler attack on people! As his name would suggest, the Howler has a cry described as unsettling, uncanny, and terrifying. A family in Missouri has recorded this cry, and it can’t be identified. Some speculate that the loud and focused cry is a form of communication between other members of the species, suggesting that there is more than one individual member.
Game camera images also exist supposedly of the creature, images which a wildlife expert could not identify. In 2015, other photos of an unidentified, horned creature were also taken that could not be identified (below). These images appear to be of a smaller, less terrifying creature, and some regard them to be photoshopped although the photographer adamantly denies this.
The history of the Howler gets interesting, with witches known to have been active in the Ozarks once upon a time, and one such witch reputed to have had a horned familiar. Is the Howler then a supernatural entity created by witchcraft?! None less than Daniel Boone in 1810 described shooting and wounding a black, horned creature. More mundane speculation is that the Howler is a black mountain lion, leopard, or jaguar. Winters in the Ozarks are judged to be too harsh for a leopard or jaguar to survive, however…
The Ozark Howler should not be confused with the Midnight Rambler, which was a Rolling Stones song not heard often enough. As my mind moves in strange directions, however, I can imagine myself visited by the Midnight Rambler, a terrifying late-night cryptid who arrives uninvited and engages in pointless conversation when you only want to sleep. “Just get to the point, dammit…either that or kill me and end my misery, OK?,” I pleaded. (What passed for a grin moved momentarily across The Rambler’s face. He fed off human misery, and had no intention of ending my suffering.) “Let me tell you about what I had for lunch yesterday,” he began as I pounded my head against the wall, and prayed for the sweet release of death that would escape me…
Tags: In Search of Monsters, The Ozark Howler
You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.
FOXSYLVANIA 
June 7, 2019 at 5:35 pm
Well, the second photo might be of a real animal. But, I think that real animal is nothing more than a Manchester terrier trained to endure the wearing of jackalope antlers!
As for the game-camera photos that Ozark couple showed to the young veterinarian? That was most definitely neither feline nor horned. It wasn’t even melanistic!
In fact, until the computer cleaned up the image a little, I thought all they had photographed was a tree stump. But, afterward, I thought:
“That thing looks more like a cream-colored hamadryas baboon.”
Given the ruggedness and vastness of the Ozark Mountains, a baboon that escaped from the abusive owner of a private menagerie or small-time traveling carnival could very well be living in that wilderness. Not to mention, be responsible for some of the more recent sightings and “howlings.”
LikeLiked by 1 person
June 7, 2019 at 5:55 pm
Then, again, it might even be a vagrant specimen of that other Southern-based cryptid: the so-called “devil monkey!”
LikeLiked by 1 person
June 7, 2019 at 6:30 pm
If it was an ape, could it be the gorilla my dreams? If demonic, it might be the “devil with a blue dress on” celebrated in song!
LikeLiked by 1 person
June 7, 2019 at 7:31 pm
Or, maybe, it was an albino Yrashu engaged in a ritual manhood hunt for an hrosma tiger horn.* 😉
*According to Wookieepedia, the Yrashu are a Force-sensitive species of sentient green-furred primates native to the planet Baskarn. Same as the hrosma! And it could be that creamy-white is to their fur what gold-and-white is to Burmese pythons; a form of albinism.
LikeLike
June 7, 2019 at 9:08 pm
How can you tell I’m a bit of a Star Wars fan? What do you call the Star Wars equivalent of a Trekkie, anyway? A “Warrie,” perhaps?*
*As in “Warries! Come out to play-yay. WARRIES! COME OUT TO PLAY-YAY!”
LikeLiked by 1 person
June 11, 2019 at 5:27 pm
[…] Foxsylvania writes that the story of the Ozark Howler is more than just the story of a monster: […]
LikeLiked by 1 person
June 15, 2019 at 11:44 pm
“You could be right. But, I may be crazy.” 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
July 23, 2019 at 8:54 pm
Seriously, though: I remember reading someplace that, back in the Stone Age, jaguars used to be native to Tennessee!
LikeLiked by 1 person
August 30, 2019 at 5:48 pm
[…] Foxsylvania writes that, “The history of the Ozark Howler gets interesting, with witches known to have been active in the Ozarks once upon a time, and one such witch reputed to have had a horned familiar. Is the Howler then a supernatural entity created by witchcraft?!” […]
LikeLike
July 30, 2020 at 4:10 pm
[…] The Shaggy Ozark Howler design shows an image of the Ozark Howler monster, along with the phrase “Ozark Howler”. The Ozark Howler a creature of Ozark mountain folklore dating back to at least the 1800s, with a story of an encounter with the explorer Daniel Boone (see https://cryptidz.fandom.com/wiki/Ozark_Howler and https://foxsylvania.blog/2019/06/07/the-ozark-howler-2/). […]
LikeLike