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A creature in every port
Published: 12/17/2006 9:18 PM
Last Modified: 12/17/2006 9:18 PM

I am in the minority, perhaps, but I sort of enjoy a road trip to Shreveport.
OSU is headed to Shreveport to play Alabama in the Independence Bowl. Mention Shreveport to some folks and they act like they would rather go to Saturn for a bowl game.
I have a big reason -- make that a Bigfoot reason -- for thinking that a Shreveport road trip is not without charm. If you travel to Shreveport by going to Texarkana, then heading straight south, you go through a little town called Fouke, Ark.
Fouke, Ark., is a burg where Bigfoot sightings used to occur. In the 1970s, they made a sort-of documentary movie called "The Legend of Boggy Creek" about the beastie. I saw it at the Pryor Drive-In when I was a pup. I doubt the movie stands the test of time, but it was scary back in the day.
Anyhow, one of very few businesses in Fouke is a convenience store called the Monster Mart. They have bigfoot newspaper clippings on the wall. They sell "Legend of Boggy Creek" movies and t-shirts. They have a faceless silhouette of a monster near the store so that tourists can "become" the monster and pose for pictures. Last time I made the trip, Rick Couri, TU's radio analyst, took a turn at being the monster. (Any guy who has raised as much money for charity as Rick is way underqualified to be a monster.)
I always stop for a dose of Mountain Dew and nostalgia at the Monster Mart. I would not, however, want to have a flat tire in the dark while driving through Fouke. I don't want to be the person that finds out the big hairy fellow is real.





Reader Comments 2 Total
Bill (6 years ago)
Jimmie, I can no longer consider you a reporter. You, sir, are a raconteur (something else those mid-20s fellas won't understand). Thanks.
Jimmie Tramel (6 years ago)
Thanks for calling me a raconteur. I had to go to dictionary.com to find out it was a compliment rather than an insult. I thought perhaps it was someone who specializes in the study of raccoons. May you have a Christmas that is not sudoriferous.
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Tulsa World sports writer Jimmie Tramel is a former class president at Locust Grove High School. He graduated magna cum laude from Northeastern State University with a journalism degree and, while attending college, was sports editor of the Pryor Daily Times. He joined the Tulsa World on Oct. 17, 1989, the same day an earthquake struck the World Series. He is the OSU basketball beat writer and a columnist and feature writer during football season. In 2007, he wrote a book about Oklahoma State football with former Cowboy coach Pat Jones.

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