The Story of "Big Jake"

Once in a while, someone leaves a gem in the comments section. Whether the story of "Big Jake" is true or not, it's extremely intriguing and sounds very believable. This horrifying event happened in a small town in Arkansas -- the ending is shocking:

First off I want to say I don’t write good and for that I am sorry. I just figured I might tell this story so people can know about it with all the others. Looks like this is the best place to say it.

My Daddy was a quiet man, not much for talking. He spent most of his time working his job as a trash man and then in our yard on the weekends. He took me hunting and fishing and everything else a daddy normally does, but he was just a quiet man that never said much.

He was always this way except for one summer. This was the summer most locals had some type of encounter or sighting of a Bigfoot, including my Daddy.

We lived in a rural part of Arkansas, Wilmot to be exact, not much to do but hunt and fish. It wasn’t a bad place, even though I left awhile back. It was filled with good people- except for a few and that is what got Daddy talking.

I will explain more later but it was my Daddy who stood up to the people who wanted to go harm these creatures.

A lot of folk heard I’m sure heard a story about Boggy Creek, or the Faulk monster, this story aint nothing like that one.

It started in May of one summer. More and more locals started talking about seeing something big and hairy in the woods. Pretty soon word spread and people were saying it was a Bigfoot. Some people said it looked like a big man but was near 9 feet tall, and covered in fur. It did not start this way, at first people were laughing because most of the stories were coming from people who loved the bottle if you know what I mean. Things changed when, our minister the sheriff and a few other upstanding people seen the same thing. That is when people really started to believe.

One day this one farmer, “Big Jake” a big man, most people didn’t care for because of his drinking and nasty way of treating his wife, came in the local luncheonette, now it ‘s called something like the Country Cupboard, angrier than ever. He said something killed his chickens and destroyed his chicken coup. Most people laughed or did not care because they did not like him, but he wouldn’t stop. A few days later he started up with stories of Boggy creek. This changed the talk from curiosity to people becoming scared. Most of the women were scared for their kids, and most men took to carrying a sidearm and always having a shot gun close by. Groups started hunting for it on weekends, and they found tracks, and fur and figured it had a den in this one area. Just want to say that we dealt with the occasional panther so this type of hunting and tracking was something people were used to. By August there weren’t no question, it was going to be found and killed. This is what riled up my daddy.

He pulled me aside and told me he saw the creature and three others. He said they was like a family. He was fishing and dozed off, when he woke up he saw all four across the creek, with the smaller three hiding behind the big one. He said if they wanted to do him harm they coulda, but just look at him and left. He said these creatures didn’t mean no harm and should be left alone. Daddy always thought Big Jake wrecked his own chicken coup in a drunken rage and never believed a thing he said.

Well by mid-August Big Jake said he knew the area where the things were hiding and he was gonna “burn them bastards, cuz shooting was too kind”. He got most folk behind him despite my daddy trying to talk sense into em. Finally one Friday, after a chicken fried steak and half a bottle of Jack Daniel’s Big Jake said the next day was it. The next morning 3 or four trucks full of gas cans and rifles lined up ready to go and burn out whatever they was.

Finally, my daddy got up and told his story. Everyone including Big Jake listened to him and most, including Big Jake said he may be right, but it was too risky. They got in their trucks drove to the dry part of the swamp and set a big fire circling the area where they thought it was. After a few hors when it was a night we heard a loud and what sounded like painful howl. It could have been a cougar, we could not tell but all I know is nobody saw the things again and my daddy went back to being quiet and keeping to himself.

Nobody talked about it that much after that. Don’t know if they felt bad or just didn’t care, about the most you got after was a few people saying they kept it from hurtin any kids.