Halloween 2009: Monster #1

Reports of a 6' leech-like creature with long claws and eyes below it's gaping maw began quietly with a one line article in The Heber Springs Tribune Issue 6 Volume 64, March 11th 1926.

Sightings became more frequent as the early century progressed, with at least three a month by the mid nineteen-forties.

Not ironically, these reports also coincided with an ever increasing tourist boon for nearby Greer Lake.

"He done got a mouth on his forehead, an big 'ol glowin' eyes!" Reported Hick Heber, a local restaurateur, in a 1936 sighting. "I thunk I was dunfer."

Later dubbed "Mouthy McGee" by an entrepreneurial local named Rick Heber, "'ol Mouthy" began appearing on billboards, T-Shirts, and even as the mascot for nearby Heber Elementary School.


[Artist Sketch of "Mouthy McGee" based on several eyewitness accounts]

Greer Lake dried up for a few years in the late sixties, and so did the tourist trade. The lake has returned, but the tourists never did.

The last reported sighting of Mouthy McGee was over twenty years ago.

"It's a beautiful lake and a wonderful town," says Nick Heber, current resident. "We'd like to leave "Mouthy" in the past where he belongs. He's dunfer."