Tangipahoa River Cyclops
By Cole Herrold
Some Fortean cases are so bizarre that
they defy categorization. This seems already an impossibility as there are
countless esoteric topics ordained from the very biological Cryptozoology and
the physics and astrobiology oriented Ufology to the almost impossible to
investigate spectral investigation/demonology and faerie research, yet on
several times there are cases that seem to overlap or seem to not fit into the
normal parameters of these categories. In Ken Gerhard's mandatory-to-own book A
Menagerie of Mysterious People, he catalogs one such encounter with a
creature in Louisiana that seems to be ripped from Greek Mythology and thereby
difficult to put into one of the comfortable boxes Fortean researchers tend to
categorize such anomalous phenomenon.
In November 1957, four friends were
gallivanting around after seeing a movie and having some dinner. The group
driving around and talking had decided to work their way into the nearby
Louisiana Bayou and at 9:00pm made their way over the Tangipahoa River Bridge
and began driving through the small, wooded section the acted as a liminal
space between the River Bridge and a smaller one. The group was surrounded by
shadows when suddenly they noticed what they first thought to be a person
clamoring out of a ditch near the passenger side of the car and stood waiting
for the vehicle to pass. The group, however, as they approached the man,
noticed that it was noticeably taller than a normal person, and the only word
they could describe it as was "giant." The group, excited by the
colossal size of this man, wanted to try to see more of him and, after driving
some time, found a spot to safely do a U-turn. The group now heading back down
the road to see if the giant man was still in the area was surprised to see
that the man was still standing near the ditch that he crawled from, and the
group proceeded in stopping their car and parking in a spot that allowed the
headlights to be aimed directly at him. It was in this position that the group
could thoroughly get a better look at the man and estimate his general size.
They estimated that the man was 7 ½ ft tall at least and seemed rather husky,
weighing about 325lbs. He was wearing tattered bluish clothes, and they could
not tell if he was wearing any shoes. As they scanned up the figure, however,
they soon realized that the man's height was not the only bizarre thing about
him, for, in place of a nose, the man had an upturned snout type nose and that
instead of the expected two eyes was one single offset eye in the forehead that
seemed to glare at the group. The group and creature continued this stare-off
until the creature seemingly decided to return from whence it came as it turned
around and slowly walked down the bank. The group, seemingly done with the
excitement, in turn, began to speed away and head back to the nearest town and,
feeling a sense of importance, ran headfirst into the nearest police station.
The group, in quickened breath, told their account to the police, but the
officer's calm and worried expression was ultimately changed when the witnesses
described the man, and every police officer soon erupted in a chorus of
laughter. The friends, in turn, returned home worried and embarrassed; they, in
later years, would talk about the sighting amongst themselves, believing that
the figure was a person who was deformed and escaped from their home. What
concerned them, however, was that their sighting happened only 5miles away from
their home, and countless thoughts seemed to enter their brain about the nature
of this colossal cyclops, yet none would ever be answered as they would never
see it again, nor did anyone else in the area.
Now, this one-off encounter is incredibly
bizarre; there's almost nothing like it. Cycloptic aliens, cryptids, and
faeries have been reported, but this entity seems to not match any of these
accounts. There's only one account that sort of matches, and even then, it's
only a loose relation; this account was referenced by Ken Gerhard and appears
in Loren Coleman's book Mothman and Other Curious Encounters. The
account occurred in 1966 on Pioneer, Mountain near Newport, Oregon, where a
local couple claimed a group of cyclops was staring at them. This account,
interestingly enough, possibly occurred during the same time as the Walking
Stump Extraterrestrial case that occurred in April of that year. Yet further
details on the cycloptic creatures and the account in general, in this case,
are practically nonexistent.
While cycloptic creature sightings do
exist, as stated, this creature or man seen in Louisiana does not match any of
the quintessential cases. So, it's difficult to put it into a category as far
as we can tell it's not an alien as it is not seen in conjunction with a UFO.
The fact that the creature's clothes are tattered also does not seem to
indicate this unless it was thrown from its spaceship and the clothing got torn
from the landing. It's safe to say that the creature probably isn't a cryptid
since there have only been a few cases of cryptids wearing clothes, and they
are usually hairy hominid oriented, and rarely are there cycloptic cases of
them. One possibility is that this could be a troll, even though that's just as
unlikely as trolls tend to be nude, yet from faerie lore, trolls sometimes do
wear clothing even though most eyewitness accounts describe them as simply hair
covered.
Since the classic entries are out, we are
left with only a few possibilities, some of which are not Fortean in nature.
The first and most plausible (even the witnesses) described this possibility is
that the man was just that, some man with a deformity. Throughout the United
States, there are tales of pocket communities filled with individuals that have
some birth defects; some are infamous like the Melonheads or the Albino
Cannibals of Ghost Mountain or the Midgetvilles described in the Weird US
book series. Perhaps this is a Louisiana version of this kind of encounter. Now
my only problem is that unlike the Melonheads or Albino Cannibals, no one else
reported seeing a cyclops or a group of cyclops, so perhaps there was only one
lonely man who for some reason decided to hide in this section of the swamp and
just happened to be sighted.
Now it is important to note Cyclopia,
which is the technical term for individuals who suffer from this defect almost
never live past a young age; in fact, most are stillborn or live only a few
hours after birth. So, with that said, the chance that a natural-born
individual with Cyclopia to live to adulthood and to reach an astounding height
of 7 ½ ft is almost as implausible as the Fortean answers. So maybe there's something
else about this encounter that others have not discussed.
Perhaps Cyclops encounters and other
Fortean entities might simply be a part of the phenomena of High Strangeness.
This is complete and under speculation; however, seeing as that the 66' case on
Pioneer Mountain had a ton of UFOs and other phenomena all concentrated in the
area, perhaps these creatures, either from an interdimensional or
Ultraterrestrial standpoint, appear for some reason. I cannot offhand find any
truly bizarre cases in this area during that time period, but perhaps it's
hidden away in some alternative location or not even accounted so as to state
this is pure speculation at best but a possibility that I have not seen
referenced anywhere else and is perhaps no different than that of reports of
lions in areas of high strangeness or Flying Humanoids.
While there are some compelling theories
and some clear cuts from other phenomena, there's no real answer to this case.
I'm unsurprised by this as this tends to be the case with most Fortean
subjects; however, it's frustrating since, with these one-time sightings,
there's rarely any follow-up or anything that one can compare it to, including
a history of accounts. Even still, I'm fascinated, for there's plenty of
accounts with creatures that are seemingly mythological, from Goatmen who are
mirror images of Fauns and Satyrs to merfolk and flying bird-women who seem
dead ringers for harpies and sirens, so it is sort of refreshing to see one of
the lesser monsters of myth reported especially since accounts of the
gargantuan beasts were extremely important in Greek Myths. Cyclops were both
the sons of Poseidon and some of the early creatures that helped the Greek
pantheon in stopping the titans. A man-eating cyclops by the name of Polyphemus
was an antagonist of the Greek epic the Odyssey, so these creatures are far
more important than many of the other monsters said to exist in the wilds
today. Perhaps tales of the cyclops from ancient times are actually based on
true encounters and that today they are a dwindled species forced to live in
the most remote locations like mountains and swamps, waiting for the time when
they will all but be forgotten.
Quick Facts:
Species/Potential Species: Hominid/Mammal
Location: Tangipahoa River, Louisiana
Sighted: November 1957
Works Cited:
A Menagerie of Mysterious Beasts By Ken
Gerhard
Mothman and Other Curious Encounters By
Loren Coleman
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