The Native Americans of Louisiana called it Letiche. The Cajuns who followed named it Loup Carou. But most natives of Louisiana know it simply as the Honey Island Swamp Monster.

Honey Island Swamp is located only an hour's drive from New Orleans and is considered one of the most pristine waterways in the United States. The swamp covers 70,000 acres and is home to such rare animals as Red Wolves and Florida Panthers. But is there something even rarer creeping around in the cypress forests and the muddy flatlands? The modern legend of the Swamp Monster began in 1963 with two hunters named Harlan Ford and Billy Mills. Ford and Mills were exploring the swamp when they stumbled upon a large, hairy creature crouched on all fours in the middle of a clearing. Upon hearing their footsteps, the creature rose to a startling seven feet in height and turned to look at them. The fur that covered its body was a dark gray hair and it had wideset yellow eyes. The creature let out a bellow like the two experienced outdoorsmen had never heard before and disappeared into the bayou. Although they pursued it, the ape-like animal vanished quickly, leaving behind only strange, elongated footprints.

Although Ford and Mills told friends and family about their frightening experience, they did not go public with the information until eleven years later when they had a second encounter with the animal. In 1974, the two men returned to Honey Island Swamp to hunt ducks, and were startled to find a number of dead wild boars along the swamps edge, each with its throat torn out but otherwise intact. Neither man could explain why a predator would kill the boars but then not bother to eat them. Intrigued, they continued to investigate and found the same elongated tracks that they had seen in 1963. The men left the site, fearing that the Swamp Monster might return for its kill, but returned the following day with plaster in order to make casts of the tracks.

With the casts in hand, Ford and Mills approached the Louisiana Wildlife Commission and the Louisiana State University for help in identifying the strange creature. The zoologists at LSU closely examined the casts and felt they were the legitimate prints of a otherwise unknown primate. They were even able to estimate its weight as being approximately four hundred pounds. The prints were unusual in that they appeared to show webbed toes, which some enthusiasts have theorized is an reasonable adaptation for a creature that would walk at least partially upright in a swampy area.

After the 1974 encounter, Ford dedicated the remainder of his life to trying to prove the existence of the swamp monster. He claimed to have had several other encounters with it over the years, but was never able to capture it on film or bring any other kind of definitive proof to light. Today, people who work, live and visit Honey Island Swamp still argue over the existence of the creature... and the swamp is reluctant to give up its secrets.

YELLOW FEVER IN THE GRAVEYARD OF THE NATION
Shaggy monsters aren't the only potential threat prowling through the Louisiana swamps. There's something out there that has proven much more dangerous and elusive than the Honey Island Swamp Monster... and that is the persistent threat of disease.

Built among swamps in a warm, humid environment, New Orleans was a city often rife with disease. Perhaps the worst epidemics were those of Yellow Fever, which was commonly known as “Yellow Jack” or “The Black Vomit” by the residents. The viral disease caused massive internal hemmorhaging which resulted in a horrible, suffering death. The worst outbreak of the disease occurred in 1853 when nearly 8,000 people, almost five percent of New Orleans' population, was stricken. By August of that year, it was estimated that the sick were dying at a rate of one person every five minutes. The death rate was so high and rapid, that graves could not be dug fast enough. It wasn't until the 1880s that a Cuban physician named Carlos Finlay made a breakthrough in understanding the disease. Dr. Finlay determined that Yellow Fever was carried and spread by mosquitoes breeding in the stagnant swamps all around the city. Despite this new information, epidemics continued to ravage the city until 1905. Then a New Orleans doctor suggested an ordinance to screen the city's cisterns for mosquito infestations. This simple solution helped to keep the breeding insects (and the disease) away from the city's borders for good.

[This information was originally transmitted as an enewsletter on June 10, 2006.]