STATE FILE · MS
Cryptids of Mississippi
What cryptids are in Mississippi? The best-known are Pascagoula River Creatures, Witch of Yazoo, Honey Island Swamp Monster and Bigfoot.
Mississippi is the setting for one of the most famous alien-abduction claims in American history. On October 11, 1973, shipyard workers Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker said they were fishing on the Pascagoula River when a glowing craft appeared and grey, wrinkled beings with claw-like hands floated out and carried them aboard. Their story became international news, and in June 2019 a historical marker commemorating the encounter was unveiled at Lighthouse Park in Pascagoula. The Pascagoula River itself has an older legend: the eerie humming of the “Singing River,” tied to traditions about the Pascagoula people.
Cryptids reported in Mississippi
Pascagoula River Creatures
Pascagoula River, Pascagoula, Mississippi
Gray, clawed, legless beings that two Pascagoula shipyard workers said floated from a glowing craft and seized them by the river on October 11, 1973.
REGIONAL LEGEND SPECTRAL · 1904Witch of Yazoo
Glenwood Cemetery, Yazoo City, Mississippi
A river-swamp witch who, legend says, swore as she sank in quicksand to burn Yazoo City in 20 years – and the 1904 fire that seemed to keep her promise.
LOCAL LEGEND HOMINID · 1963Honey Island Swamp Monster
Honey Island Swamp, Pearl River, near Slidell
A gray-haired, amber-eyed swamp ape said to roam the Pearl River’s Honey Island Swamp – launched by a 1974 report of webbed footprints near Slidell.
REGIONAL LEGEND
HOMINID · 1958
Bigfoot
Pacific Northwest forests, reported across North America
North America’s most famous cryptid: a huge, hairy, upright ape-like being reported from the Pacific Northwest to Florida since the 1958 “Bigfoot” tracks.
WIDELY REPORTEDThe legends of Mississippi
In the Delta, Yazoo City remembers the Witch of Yazoo – a woman who, according to a tale popularized by author Willie Morris, vowed as she died in the swamp to return and burn the town, which was largely destroyed by fire on May 25, 1904. Her grave in Glenwood Cemetery, ringed by a chain, is a popular stop for visitors. Along the state’s southwestern border, the Pearl River swamps are shared with Louisiana’s Honey Island Swamp Monster.
Skeptics suggest that the Pascagoula account may reflect sincere fear, sleep-related experiences or misunderstanding, and note that Parker’s story evolved over the decades; the Singing River sound has been attributed to insects, gas from the riverbed or water movement; and the Witch of Yazoo is a literary legend built around a real disaster.
Hotspots
Site of the 1973 Hickson–Parker encounter and the legendary “Singing River.”
The chain-ringed grave of the Witch of Yazoo, said to have burned the town in 1904.
Wild bottomlands on the Louisiana line shared with the Honey Island Swamp Monster.
Flat, fertile cotton country rich in blues and folklore, including Yazoo City’s witch legend.
Sightings timeline
- 1971<em>Good Old Boy</em> is published Witch of Yazoo
Willie Morris’s memoir of growing up in Yazoo City featured the witch and spread the story far beyond Mississippi, turning a local ghost story into a regional classic.
- October 11, 1973The encounter on the river Pascagoula River Creatures
Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker reported that a blue-lit, buzzing craft appeared while they fished, and that three gray, clawed beings carried them aboard for an examination. That evening the men reported the event to the Jackson County sheriff, who secretly taped their private conversation.
- October 12, 1973Front-page news Pascagoula River Creatures
The Mississippi Press reported that two local men had been “forced” aboard a UFO, and the Associated Press and United Press International carried the story nationwide. Hynek and Harder soon arrived to interview the men.
- November 2, 1973Hickson on national TV Pascagoula River Creatures
Hickson appeared on The Dick Cavett Show, followed by other talk and game shows, as the Pascagoula case became a centerpiece of the 1973 American UFO wave.
- 1974Webbed footprints and a slain boar Honey Island Swamp Monster
Ford and Mills went public with plaster casts of four-toed, webbed tracks found near a wild boar with its throat gashed. The story spread quickly through south Louisiana and beyond.
- March 4, 1978<em>In Search of…</em> broadcast Honey Island Swamp Monster
The episode “The Swamp Monster” of Leonard Nimoy’s documentary series featured Ford and brought the legend to a national audience, prompting calls from around the country.
- 1980Ford’s death and the Super 8 film Honey Island Swamp Monster
Harlan Ford died in 1980. His family said they later found among his belongings a reel of grainy Super 8 film showing a large, hairy figure moving behind trees; it has since appeared on several cable TV programs, but its subject has never been identified.
- August 1999Willie Morris buried beside the witch Witch of Yazoo
After Morris died on August 2, 1999, he was laid to rest in Glenwood’s old section, thirteen paces south of the witch’s grave – a final joke many residents believe he would have enjoyed.
- 2001Joe Nickell tours the swamp Honey Island Swamp Monster
Investigator Joe Nickell reported touring the swamp with wetlands ecologist Paul Wagner and Cajun guide Robbie Charbonnet, who between them had decades on the water and had never seen anything unidentifiable. In Skeptical Inquirer he concluded the evidence pointed to a hoax.
- 2012“Spookiest cemetery” honors Witch of Yazoo
Glenwood Cemetery was voted the second “Spookiest Cemetery in the US” in a Huffington Post readers’ poll, largely on the strength of the witch legend.
- 2018Parker breaks his silence Pascagoula River Creatures
Calvin Parker, who had largely avoided publicity for decades, published Pascagoula: The Closest Encounter, My Story, giving his own detailed version of the night.
- June 22, 2019Historical marker unveiled Pascagoula River Creatures
The local historical society and Pascagoula Main Street unveiled a marker commemorating the reported abduction on the riverbank, attended by Parker and Hickson’s son.
Latest from Mississippi
No recent cryptid headlines from Mississippi. See all the latest cryptid news.
Videos
ARCHIVE.ORG3:07
Patterson–Gimlin film (unedited)
Roger Patterson and Bob GimlinThe original 1967 Bluff Creek footage – the most famous and most debated minute in Bigfoot history. Marked public domain on archive.org.
ARCHIVE.ORG4:59
The Film That Made Bigfoot A Star
Oregon Public BroadcastingOPB’s short documentary on how the Patterson–Gimlin film turned a regional legend into a global icon – and the hoax claims around it.
▶ VIDEO
Sts’ailes Sasquatch Days in Harrison Hot Springs
Tourism Harrison River ValleyShows the festival celebrating the Sts’ailes people’s Sásq’ets, the being behind the word “Sasquatch” (no archive.org equivalent).
▶ VIDEO
The Search for the Honey Island Swamp Monster: Bigfoot Beyond the Trail
Small Town MonstersDocumentary episode that visits the swamp and retraces the Ford story with locals.
▶ VIDEO
Encounters with the Honey Island Swamp Monster Documentary Film
Dana in Honey Island SwampClip from the documentary by Harlan Ford’s granddaughter, Dana Holyfield – the family’s side of the story.
▶ VIDEO
Pascagoula River Alien Abduction 50th Anniversary
WLOX NewsGulf Coast TV news report marking 50 years since the encounter.