from the unexplained to the mundane. Come join
us on a Journey to the Fringe. Hello and welcome
to Journey to the Fringe, which Chelsea, unfortunately,
we share an acronym now with the Joint Terrorism
Task Force in the US, for which we might actually
be on that list. So I don't know, that's kind
of awkward. That is awkward. But here we are
in this world that we inhabit. We are your podcasso's,
Taylor and Chelsea. Here today, yes, those are
the exact people I was thinking of. I got Chelsea.
They just have a flamboyance to them. It's the
Unbuttoned shirt. It's fabulous. We are here
today to follow up and bring us into the spooky
season and of course as we get closer to the
spooky season we are going to be talking about
the spooky encounters. Now Chelsea and I have
picked only the ripest cryptid encounters to
go over. I'm not actually sure. Chelsea tried
to text me about how we're going to split this
up and I refused to answer as that would restrict
the creativity. It's true. He didn't answer me.
That's of course our normal interactions, but
it's true. It's how it works here. Anyhow, I
got a couple cryptids to go over with you guys.
Chelsea's got a couple cryptids to go over with
you guys with these freaky encounters. And Chelsea,
I'm going to start us off with the Tuttlebottom
Monster. Oh, that sounds adorable. I know. I
love that name. Yeah, it sounds nice. Someone
ought to make a children's book about it. Somebody
ought to ask an AI to do that for them. Anyhow,
I just need to say this. If you're out there
listening to us and you're a cryptid looking
to make bang with society, you got to pick the
place that you're getting your encounters because
nine times out of ten you're going to be named
after where your encounter happens and Chelsea,
this encounter happens in Tuttle Bottom, Illinois.
Oh, okay. I was just gonna ask if it was in bottom
somewhere. Guess that'll bottom make sense. You
also gotta market it right so it's not a place
where there's another more popular cryptid. You
want to be super famous so it's probably somewhere
you need Point Pleasant for instance. You want
famous. But you don't want too famous of a place
because there's no way you're ever gonna get
a New York monster. No, exactly. Exactly. You
don't need a famous place. You want a no -name
place. where you explode them to popularity and
therefore everyone comes to see you. That's what
you want. Yeah, and you basically are gonna get
a festival no matter what. You're gonna get a
festival, you're gonna get a bunch of, all the
restaurants are gonna be named after you. They're
gonna make pizzas in your likeness. There's gonna
be festivals. There's gonna be all sorts of crazy
shit just with like statues. That list goes on
and on. Now, our story of the Tuttlebottom Monster
starts on August 6th, 1963. a hot summer night
where a young man armed with a rifle was out
near Tuttle Bottoms, a swampy stretch of the
land just north of Harrisburg, Illinois. It was
around 11 p .m. when he saw what he described
as an eight foot long, four foot high creature
covered in coarse hair and most notably sporting
a long anteater -like snout. Oh, he sounds adorable.
Wasn't a bear, wasn't a dog, and it's the Tuttle
Bottom. Love it. I am already a big fan. Is it
an anteater? We'll finish the story off. okay
the young man put the sighting to saline county
sheriff james l thompson according to the harrisburg
daily register thompson found the youth and later
dispersed a group of about a dozen armed boys
who had gathered to hunt the creature this is
not a campfire story it was serious enough for
law enforcement to intervene and it wouldn't
be the last time there is a surge of sightings
of this thing in the 60s throughout this decade
sightings of the tuttle bottom monster surged
teenagers parked near the bottoms reported seeing
a hairy creature approach their cars. Hunters
claimed to hear strange growls and catch glimpses
of something large moving through the brush.
Descriptions varied slightly. Some said it walked
on two legs, others on four, but one detail remained
consistent. Long, narrow, and a natural snout.
Police received multiple calls, officers always
responded. While no physical evidence was ever
recovered, the consistency of the reports kept
the legend alive, and then came the rumors. Some
locals whispered that murderers had occurred
in the area. Grizzly unsolved and possibly linked
to the creature. No official connection was ever
made, but the fear was real. By the 1980s, the
Tuttlebottom Monster had become a fixture of
Harrisburg folklore. But it wasn't just stories
passed around a dinner table or campfires. Former
Harrisburg police chief, Gary Crabtree, later
stated that his department received approximately
50 reports. over 28 years. That's 50 reports.
That's not a myth. That's a pattern. Witnesses
concluded couples parked near the bottoms, hunters
deep in the woods, residents walking dogs or
driving home at late at night. Each described
a large hairy creature with a snout. Some said
it watched them. Others said it fled, but none
forgot what they saw. Police often responded
to these calls. Sometimes they found disturbed
brush, strange tracks or shaken witnesses. Other
times, nothing, but the reports kept coming.
One of the most provocative claims came from
the local resident Virgil Smith. Smith believed
the creature was real and that it had been released
by the federal government. He claimed a former
USDA employee told him the department had conducted
a private investigation into the monster. No
documentation has ever surfaced to support this,
but encrypted lore, government secrecy is part
of the mystique. So was it an experiment gone
wrong or just a story that grew with the telling?
Sightings continue even into the 21st century
with locals still reporting strange encounters
near the bottoms. One man claimed he saw the
creature cross the road in front of his truck,
walking upright with a snout and glowing eyes.
Another described hearing guttural growls while
fishing, followed by a splash and a glimpse of
fur. Police still respond to these calls and
while no formal investigations were launched,
the reports were logged and legends endured.
And the most recent sightings even happened in
the 2020s, Chelsea. A Harrisburg resident walking
his dog near the bottoms reported seeing a large
hairy figure watching him from the treeline.
He described it as about seven feet tall with
a long snout and dark fur. The creature didn't
move, it just stared. The man called the police
who arrived in search area. They found broken
branches and disturbed But no creature and the
report was filed in the mystery deepened. What
is the total bottoms monster? There are theories
out there, such as a misidentified bear or boar,
an undiscovered species, cryptid unique to the
south of Illinois, or some believe a supernatural
entity tied to the land itself. The anteater,
like Snow, sets it apart from other North American
cryptids. Not a Bigfoot, not a Dogman, something
else. And despite decades of sightings, no clear
photos, video or physical evidence has surfaced.
Now, the Tuttlebottom Monster may not have the
fame of Mothman or Bigfoot. Actually, pretty
much anything that we've covered so far. But
in Harrisburg, it's part of the landscape, a
story passed down through generations, a warning
whispered to teens heading out to the bottoms
at night. And for those who've seen it, it's
not a joke, it's not a myth, it's very real.
Yeah, I believe that about anteaters. I mean,
to be fair, there are no seven foot tall anteaters
out there. Are they not? They're pretty big.
They can be big, but they don't live for 60 years.
Yeah, but they could have families. And families
generally just keep living. That's the thing
about ant eaters, they don't generally reside
in South Illinois. Hold on, no. Wild ant eaters
do not live in Illinois. Have ant eaters escaped
from toots in Illinois? Apparently the giant
ant eater can be up to seven feet long, so if
he stands up he could, um... They're pretty big!
And I... Yeah, and if they probably got caught
in the headlights, I bet their eyes would glow.
Yeah. Yeah. Anyhow, that's... The Halloween episodes
are not for disproving. They're for telling the
stories of creepy things. I'm sorry. I just...
I googled the renditions of what they look like
and they don't look exactly like anteaters. Sorry,
I had to. Okay. I have two episodes ready to
go. And I was waiting to see what you were leading
with to see what one I was going to cover in
this episode. So I'm going with the conversation
that we had at the beginning of the episode on
if you're a cryptid paranormal creature, you
got to pick where you pop up. It determines your
future as a paranormal cryptid. With that being
said, my cryptid that I chose to do is the Nane
Rouge. Have you heard of the Nane Rouge? I've
heard of Mulan Rouge. Really? Okay, so this is
the Red Devil of Detroit. I thought you might
have heard of him being that you've been to Detroit.
I've heard of Ninruj, yes. Yeah, maybe I'm saying
him wrong. Yes, I definitely have heard of it.
Yeah, so we're gonna talk about him because he
represents Detroit. Whether or not you heard
of him, another thing and that goes to where
you pick the city you're gonna hunt. Maybe Detroit
was too big. There's a brewery named after it
in Detroit. There is, yeah. Super big in Detroit,
apparently. The legend of the Nain Rouge weaves
a tale from the early days when Detroit was founded
by Antoine de la Mouthe Cadillac in the 1700s.
While attending a party in Quebec, a fortune
teller warned Cadillac of a future encounter
with the Nain on his next adventure. She stated
Cadillac needed to appease the monster with flattery
and his reward would be discovering a city that
would rival ones in France. If he respected the
fiend, misfortune would darken his life. Cadillac
sailed out on his mission the next day and eventually
established Fort Pontchartain due Detroit in
the western bank of Detroit River. The fort prospered
for years until one night someone spotted the
Nain Rouge. When Cadillac ran into the Scarlet
Imp. Instead of paying him respect, he smacked
the monster with his cane and told them to leave
the city. The Nain Rouge's cackling laughter
pierced the air as the demon slipped away into
the inky darkness, and doom shrouded the arrogant
Cadillac. His superiors removed the founder from
his illustrious post and shipped him to Louisiana.
as they did with the French back then, which
he considered a wretched place to live with his
family. I guess that explains a lot about what
happened to Detroit. Was it a wretched place
to live or was it a wretched place to live with
his family? Yes. The place or the family? Why
not both? The Nain Rouge was included in Charles
M. Skinner's 1896 book, Miss and Legends of Our
Land, described as, quote, a shambling red -faced
creature with a cold, glittering eye and teeth
protruding from a grinning mouth. Legend holds
the Nain Rouge's appearance would precede terrible
events for the white people of the city and foretell
success for the indigenous people. The feature
is said to have appeared on July 30th, 1963,
before the Battle of Bloody Run, where 58 British
soldiers were killed by Native Americans from
Chief Pontiac's Ottawa tribe. Supposedly, the
Nane Rouge danced among the corpses on the banks
of the Detroit River after the battle, and the
river turned red with blood for days after. According
to the tale, all the misfortunes of Governor
and General William Hull, leading to the surrender
of Detroit in the war 1812 are blamed on the
Nain Rouge. We then have the 1805 fire and several
sightings were later reported during the 20th
century. Two utility workers claim to have seen
the creature just before the 1967 Detroit riots
and supposedly it was also seen before an ice
storm in 1976. This has led to a supposedly 300
year annual tradition on the Sunday after the
Vernal Equinox where Detroiters gather for a
march to meet the Nain Rouge. There are no records
to indicate that the legend of the name Rouge
existed in the 18th century when Antoine de la
Mauve Cadillac was the authority in Detroit.
The earliest record Hamlin's legends of Les Detroit
is probably not how you say that in French, but
there's an accent on it. Detroit? It wasn't published
until 1883, 180 years after Cadillac was said
to have been cursed by the Nain Rouge. However,
some claim that it originates in the early 1700s
French settlement of Detroit, supposedly deriving
from Norman French tales of the Luton, a type
of hobgoblin. Some also claim that the Nain Rouge
originated with supposed Native American legends
of an impish offspring of the stone god. And
that is the Nain Rouge. And that is why you should
always trust the devil. I actually learned about
this on a ghost tour I did in Detroit. I always
loved this portion of the story so like whenever
you're learning about history in Detroit a lot
of car names come up so obviously Cadillac ends
up getting his name dropped into a car as Pontiac,
hilariously enough, with the tribe that destroyed
them. Cadillac, his family crest, ends up being
the logo for the Cadillac. What? Yeah, that's
like when you look at a Cadillac, the logo for
Cadillac, that's that's his family crest. Also,
he lied. That's not a real family crest. He made
it up to say that he had like a familial ancestry
that didn't exist. That's the good thing about
ghost tours. They always give you a really great
history of the goings on of wherever you're visiting
as well, unless you're doing a ghost tour in
Barcelona, in which case don't do a ghost tour
in Barcelona. because you won't learn anything,
but it'll be run by a guy from San Francisco.
That is neither here nor there. Do you have anything
to add to the Nain Rouge then? Perhaps how you
really say the name? The Nain Rouge, which also
does have a brewery, which we are unable to attend,
unfortunately, because it's closed when we walked
by. We did still get points on the Detroit Brewery
Trail because they had a discount code, which
I could use. An important part of the story.
Do you have another creature for us? I do, Chelsea.
And this is somewhat keeping with the region
that we're in, but not really. For Chelsea, we
are going to look at the Hubei flying entity.
Oh. Which yes, Hubei is nowhere near where we're
talking about. Never heard of it. Hubei province,
China. Close. What are you talking about? But
I got an Illinois theme going on. And what do
we know Illinois for, Chelsea? Pizza. Chicago.
Mothman. There we go. Hubei flying entity. Oh
my god. And also the place that he picked was
Hubei and he is named after it, the second less
scary theme of the episode. This is a weighted
humanoid reported in remote regions of Hubei
province, also where the Yaren comes from, often
appearing before disasters or in moments of high
strangeness. The first sighting on record is
in Badong County, July of 1998. In this first
documented account, which Badon County is in
western Hubei province, it happens in early July
of 1998. Multiple villagers reported seeing a
large winged figure flying over a valley near
their homes. They described it as 2 .5 meters
tall or about 8 feet, covered in dark leathery
skin or fur, possessed a wingspan of roughly
3 to 4 meters, eyes reportedly glowed red in
low light, and flight was silent with no flapping
or sound, just a gliding motion. Now, witnesses
claimed the creature hovered over the valley
for several minutes before vanishing into the
mist. Three days later, a landslide struck the
area, killing several residents and damaging
infrastructure. While no formal investigation
was launched, the timing of the sighting led
locals to associate the entity with the disaster.
The next notable sighting is in Shenanjia Forest
Reserve on August of 2002. This particular forest
reserve is known for the Yaran. A group of university
students from Wuhan were hiking deep in the reserve
when they witnessed a humanoid figure gliding
between treetops at dusk. They estimated it to
be 7 -8 feet tall. Wings described as bat -like,
extending from shoulders to ankles. No visible
feathers. They noted a membranous texture, like
a bat. Eyes or chest emitted a faint glow, and
movement was smooth and deliberate, not bird
-like. The group reported the incident to park
rangers, who dismissed it as a large bird or
misidentification. However, the students maintained
their account and later published a brief summary
in a university newsletter which was picked up
by fringe cryptid blogs. Now the third and final
major account comes from Yichong City near the
Three Gorges Dam. In October of 2009 a bridge
maintenance crew working at night shift reported
seeing a humanoid figure perched on a support
beam. Witnesses described the figure as man -sized
hunched with elongated limbs. Wings folded tightly
against his body resembling a cloak. When it
approached the Now across all these sightings,
we get a few things that are fairly consistent.
and well, no formal police reports exists that
I could find because let's face it, I'm not gonna
pull up some Chinese police reports. These accounts
have circulated regional folklore and online
cryptic communities. The Hubei Flying Entity
remains one of China's most mysterious wing apparitions,
part omen, part enigma. So is it a cryptic, a
spirit, a warning we may never know, but the
consistency of these sightings suggests something
is out there watching from the skies above Hubei.
Oh, that was a good one. I really like that.
I think we do need to do an episode on Mothman
of the World because that was not the only one
I could find. I've actually never heard of this
guy, but I do know there are spots that it has
popped up as well. I would be all over that.
Phantom Mothman. He's my favorite guy. My number
one. And do you have another one or is this where
we're going to cut it for this one? I have another
one. I, my next one is the Ozark Howler, which
I didn't take this international for my second
one. I stayed very much in the United States
in the Ozark. But you moved south. I don't know
what an Ozark is. All I know is that the dad
from Arrested Development is in it. Yeah, he's
in that show called the Ozarks. It's a group
of lakes. Yeah. Oh, sorry. Is it? It's the Ozark
Mountains or Ozark Plateau. It's a physiographic
region in central southern U .S., primarily Missouri,
Arkansas, Oklahoma, and a small part of Kansas.
I couldn't get into the show, so I wouldn't know.
So this is a phantom creature of the Arkansas's
hills. Again, my geography of the United States
is a little bit sketchy, especially when you
get to the middle parts. Ain't nobody you remember
in the middle, unless you're in the middle. Yeah,
yeah. It's tough. There's so much. When you have
50, you're gonna lose a bunch that are right
together. That's just how it's gonna work. Oh,
yeah. Okay, so the Ozark Howler or the Ozark
Black Howler or the Devil Cat legend has been
passed down for generations by locals who have
heard and seen things that they could not describe
as an animal that you would expect to find in
the heart of the Ozark wilderness. Its frightening
sound and eerie appearance have been seen in
the more remote parts of the Missourian and Arkansas.
Ozarks, and even farther west in Oklahoma and
south in Texas. Sightings have been officially
recorded since the 1950s, though many Ozark families
have stories passed down through generations
of seeing the Ozark Howler well before that time.
The origin of the Ozark Howler legend is not
clear, but some sources suggest that it may have
Native American roots. According to one story,
the Howler was a spirit animal that protected
the land from invaders. Another claims that the
Howler is a curse placed on the region by a witch
who was burned at the stake by European settlers.
Some believe that the Howler is a manifestation
of the fears and hardships that the early pioneers
faced in the wilderness. The legend gained more
popularity in the 1990s when a cryptozoologist
named Chad Armand published a book called Cryptozoology
Science and Speculation. It's quite a nice word
when it comes to science. The book included a
chapter on the Ozark Howler. Arment claimed that
he had collected dozens of eyewitness accounts
and physical evidence of the creature's existence.
He also speculated that the Howler might be a
new species of feline or cannon or hybrid or
both. Between 2005 and 2010 the howler was spotted
several times and in 2015 the legend received
more attention when a local television station
in Arkansas reported that they had received photographs
of the creature from a viewer. The station contacted
the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission who dismissed
the photos as a hoax. However, some people still
believe that the photos were genuine and that
they showed proof of the Howler's reality. I
bet you're wondering what he looks like because
I didn't start with that. Let's talk about the
description of what you would be seeing if you
spotted the Ozark Howler. Just in case, maybe
you've already seen him. Maybe you're sitting
next to him on a bus. I don't know. Anything
could happen. It's a Halloween episode. So if
you're sitting on a bus... Listen up! The Ozark
Howler is typically described as being around
the size of a bear, with thick boy stocky legs,
black shaggy hair, and having prominent horns.
Most agree that it is either black or dark in
colour. Some witnesses also report seeing glowing
red eyes, long fangs, and a long tail. The most
distinctive feature of the Howler is its sound,
which is said to be a combination of a wolf's
howl and an elk's bugle. I didn't know that's
what you would call it. Some people also compare
it to the screams of a woman or a half human
creature. The howl is said to be very loud and
terrifying and can be heard for miles. So is
that not just the sound of a cougar? Yeah, it
could be. Very humanly scream. Yeah, it's true.
There's a lot of animal animals that have really
creepy voices if you were to hear them at night
like owls cougars yeah that's another creepy
one i wouldn't want to hear at night i wouldn't
want to hear a lot of noises at night if i was
to be honest with you there's that one bird that
mimics and it's like like a chainsaw yeah yeah
he's a good one i wouldn't want to hear at night
because like parrots that learn how to talk wouldn't
want to hear one of those guys at night uh depending
on what they had to say um Bigfoot wouldn't want
to hear him at night, so there's lots of stuff
that I don't know why I'm talking about the animals
I don't want to hear at night. The Ozark Howler
is said to be nocturnal and elusive, preferring
to stay in the dense forest and caves of the
Ozarks. It is also said to be territorial and
aggressive, especially during mating season or
when protecting its young. Some stories claim
that the howler can kill livestock and even humans
with its powerful jaws and claws. It's just describing
another, I hate to be this person on this episode,
but it just sounds like any other wild animal
in the woods. Maybe a dark -haired cougar. Yeah,
maybe an anteater. Others say that it could cause
bad luck or misfortune to those who see it or
hear it. Let's talk about sightings of the Ozark
Howler. There have been many of them. As I already
talked about, then I talked about what it looks
like. Now I'm back to the reportings. Mostly
from hunters, hikers, campers and residents who
live near the woods. Some of these sightings
are more credible than others, but they all share
some common elements. Here's some examples of
notable sightings. October 2014, a motorist in
Benton County, Arkansas reported that he nearly
collided with an unidentified animal on Pump
Station Road in Springdale. He described it as
a bear -sized, gray, fast -running animal with
horns. In December 2015, a viewer sent photos
to 4029 News in Arkansas, claiming that they
showed images of the Ozark Howlert near Devil's
Den State Park. The photo showed a dark animal
with horns and red eyes hiding behind some trees.
Nothing comes up if I search this. Well, maybe
we'll throw it up if we find it. Otherwise we'll
just generate an AI image of it. In June 2016,
a group of friends camping near Lake Tenkiller
in Oklahoma claimed that they heard loud howls
and saw glowing eyes in the dark. They also found
large paw prints and scratch marks on their car.
In August 2017, a couple hiking near Branson
in Missouri said that they saw a large black
animal with horns crossing a road and they said
that it looked like a cross between a bear and
a goat. In October 2018, a hunter in Texas reported
that he He shot and killed an animal that he
believed was an Ozark Howler near Big Thicket
National Preserve. He said that it had black
fur, horns, fangs, and red eyes. He took photos
of his trophy and sent them to the local newspaper.
That's the Ozark Howler. Lots of weird names
and places in that, by the way. That was a well
-rounded episode. And I'm not sure what the theme
was, actually. It was probably about cryptids
and... Where their names come from? Yeah, except
the name Rouge doesn't quite fit in there, but
that's okay. Does not where his name comes from,
but where a cryptid chooses to his origins from.
Yeah. Yeah. And I guess with that, I have been
Taylor here with Chelsea. We are a journey to
the fringe. Thank you all for listening. We'll
see you next week. Bye. Thank you for listening
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For now, I'll see you in the next episode.