MEDDYBEMPS HOWLER

With the thick forest and desolation, it only seems right that Maine would have it’s own Bigfoot stories. I can remember traveling through Meddybemps with someone who had never encountered that type of fog, forest or isolation only to hear her say "ok, when is Bigfoot going to pop out? Cuz this sure as hell is Bigfoot country." As with any myth, legend, ghost or folklore story, you’re going to hear so many different versions on the same subject that you have to wonder if you’re even hearing about the same thing. Take Bigfoot for example:

Some have this creature as six to eight feet tall, or “two fathers high” as the legend describes it. Some who claim to have seen it say it is black, while others say red, brown, gray, blonde or white.  The only thing that seems to remain consistent is the horrendous smell of sulfer or rotten eggs wafting from its hairy body.

Many names have been given to Bigfoot but here in Maine we have adopted our own lingo. The Maine Ridge Monster, Pomoola, as he is known by the Native Americans, and of course the Meddybemps Howler, are all titles given to this hide and seek champion of the world.

So far, I have not been able to find any convincing tale of the Howlers’ existence (including my own) in Maine, so if you have a tale to tell, feel free to reach out. I will tell you my not-so-convincing story.

I was around the age of 6 or 7 and I was playing in the room just off of our living room. The room had big sliding glass doors. I was alone when I looked up and saw a tan colored (see, always a different color) thing standing so tall in the door, that it’s head almost reached the top. It raised an arm up to, what I thought was to knock on the door or wave. So what did I do? I screamed to beat Hell until my mother ran into the room. I pointed out the window telling her a monster was outside. We ran to the window and I can remember seeing something running around the house hunched over with long dangly arms swaying.  She sent my father outside to look around but there was nothing to be seen or heard.

I have no idea what I saw. My mother has no idea what it was either. I only have the vague memory of a six year old brain hard at work to go on. I can’t come up with anything else. If it was a person nosing around, now is your time to come out with it. Seriously, that’s not nice.

While stories of the Yeti/Abominable Snowman already existed in the Himalaya’s, the American version of Bigfoot began in the 1950’s when a journalist from California caught wind of some loggers finding ginormous footprints in their work area. While the loggers didn’t necessarily believe in such a creature, the story spread like wildfire and so began the legend of Bigfoot in the U.S.

If you are curious about learning more about Bigfoot, I suggest visiting the Cryptozoology museum in Portland, Maine.  If there was going to be any legitamite source of information on this magnificent beast, it would be there.