The Ozark Howler is a legendary beast living deep in the Ozark Mountains. Its stomping grounds extend from central Missouri to northern Arkansas and sightings have even been recorded in Oklahoma and Texas. Of course it’s just a tall tale… or is it?

Origins of the Myth

The Ozark Howler, or the Ozark Black Howler, has been discussed by generations of locals who have heard sounds they could not describe, and have seen creatures that do not appear similar to any animals normally found in the Ozarks. It’s terrifying howl and foreboding appearance have been experienced by hikers, campers, hunters, and locals alike.

I spent my summers as a kid at my grandparents’ house in Alton, Missouri. Hidden deep in the Ozark Mountains, my cousins and I spent every summer playing in the woods. My uncle always claimed to have spotted a large black cat on his property and warned that if it wanted to it could drop out of a tree and snap our necks before we could make a sound. It always made me think twice when I was walking to my tree stand in the pitch black during deer season.

The Howler is characterized as a large mammal roughly the size of a large cat or small bear, with a thick body, hefty legs, black shaggy hair, and having prominent horns or antlers. Most firsthand accounts state that it is either black or dark in color. Its call is often described as being a combination of a wolf’s howl and an elk’s bugle. Skeptics claim that it’s an eastern cougar, a black bear, or some kind of wolf or feral dog. Sightings have been officially recorded since the 1950’s, though many Ozark families have passed on stories of their parents and grandparents seeing and hearing the Ozark Howler well before that time.

Between 2005 and 2010, there was an increase in Howler sightings (also called the Black Howler and the Devil Cat). A family living north of Van Buren in the Boston Mountains of Crawford County set out trail cams after seeing what they thought was a cougar. The images they supplied to a Fort Smith television station appeared to show a big cat similar to a cougar (mountain lion), but the animal could not officially be identified.

The issue with this claim is that wildlife officials maintain there is not a breeding population of cougars left in Arkansas. They do concede that it is possible there might be individual big cats living in the mountains, pointing out they likely were once held as pets but escaped or were turned loose by their owners.

The Howl

The howl, as you might expect, is the trademark of the Ozark Howler. Its sound has been described as “very deep and guttural” as well as a “high-pitched howl.” Others have said that it’s “an unearthly scream.” People have also said that it sounds like a “terrified woman’s scream,” which is not an uncommon sound for large cats. Those who have heard the screams pierce the night never forget the chill that ran up their spine and the feeling of dread that washed over them.

Some claim that the sounds are made by animals commonly found in the region. They point to the screams and howls of animals like the Red Fox, Fisher Cat, and even fighting raccoons. Officially these sightings and sounds cannot be explained by any animal native to this region. To further the legend, it is very common for hikers and campers to get lost in the Ozark Mountains and never be heard from again. These woods are a maze of ridges and hollers all covered by a thick canopy of oaks and pines that block out the sun. Most people not from this area assume that the forests in the Ozarks are like other relatively flat deciduous forests in neighboring state, but the Ozark Mountains are no joke.

Be Afraid

The legend is that when these hikers and campers go missing, it is because they were eaten by the Howler. Since 1950 there have been nearly 1,200 missing persons cases in the Ozarks and at this very moment there are nearly 100 open cases. This area is sparsely populated with my grandparents’ town having a whopping 705 people, so when people go missing it is noticed. In the minds of the locals, the only explanation has to be the Ozark Howler. So the next time you go for a float on the Eleven Point River or go camping in Mark Twain National Forest, make sure you look over your shoulder and listen for that bone chilling howl!