The Mogollon Monster

“It’s coming up here in a few minutes I think,” Tom said as he put his hands over the heater vent. 

“Daddy I’m cold,” six year old Alisha said from the back seat. “The hot air doesn’t get back here enough.”

“I’m sorry sweetie,” Mel replied to her exhausted little girl. “Let me point the vents back towards you a little more and you wrap that blanket around you okay?”

“I’ve got the blanket but it’s not helping enough,” she complained. “My fingers feel all crackly and my nails are turning purple.”

“We have more blankets and warm clothes in the trunk. We’ll get all bundled up when we make it to the campsite. Then we can set up our tent and roll out our sleeping bags and curl up together nice and warm,” Mel reassured her baby girl.

The Johnson’s were a young family from Mesa, Arizona on their way up north for an adventure-filled weekend in the mountains and in the cold. Tom’s family had done regular weekend trips up to the Mogollon Rim when he was a boy and it was an experience he felt he needed to share with his young family. The Mogollon Rim was a part of the Mazatzal Mountains about two hours north of Mesa and a popular camping, hiking and fishing destination. The highway through the mountains had stretches of steep incline, sharp curves and was surrounded by pine trees from the Tonto National Forest. Camping in the woods, getting away from TV, games and friends were all part of a fun filled childhood for Tom. It being mid-January the weather was particularly balmy at nearly 6000 feet elevation just north of Strawberry, Arizona. Strawberry was a small community of less than a thousand residents situated on the Mogollon Rim and a regular place to stop for gas, a meal or snacks before heading into the woods. He intended to pull off on a side road and find an old hunting campground that his dad had taken him too many times as a boy. The road was unpaved and rough but he hoped his old beater car could make the trip.

“It’ll be too late for us to do much more than make camp when we get there,” Tom stated. “But in the morning we can make a fire and heat up our breakfast over the fire and we can go for a walk down to the small pond and just hike through the woods for a bit. We’ll see loads of wildlife we’d never see in the Valley.”

“Are we going to eat something before bedtime Daddy? I’m hungry,” continued his little girl. 

“We can have a small bedtime snack before we lay down,” cut in Mel. “Nothing too big though and nothing sugary. It’s past 9 o’clock.”

Mel had wanted to wait for morning to make the trip up early Saturday morning and drive back Saturday night or Sunday morning. Tom had insisted that two nights in a tent would be good for them and the only way to get the full experience.

As they rounded a curve Tom heard a bang and the engine began to whine and squeak. Smoke began emitting from under the hood. 

“Damn it, Tom. This is exactly what I was afraid of. This old beater is fine for going to work but it’s not meant for these road trips anymore,” exclaimed Mel in frustration.

“Damn it, Daddy,” repeated Alisha.

“No no sweetie. Only Mommy can say damn it.”

“Well, damn it,” continued Tom as he pulled off onto the side of the road. He looked down at his phone to call AAA. “Cell reception up here is shoddy enough that we don’t get much service. I told you switching to that cut rate phone provider would be a problem if we ever left the city.”

“Well between the car and the cell service we shouldn’t have left the city,” fumed Mel who was not thrilled with this trip to begin with.

“Damn it, Daddy,” said Alisha again.

“That’s enough,” Mel scolded again. “I guess I had better go get those jackets and extra blankets out of the trunk.”

“I’ll get it,” Tom sighed. “You girls stay put.”

He exited the vehicle and went for the trunk. He saw that Mel had pulled a granola bar out of her travel bag and was passing it back to his now very fussy six year old. When he closed the trunk he saw about a hundred yards in front of him a tall, dark figure with yellow eyes standing upright. It had to have been well over six feet tall and broad shouldered. He quickly opened the driver's side door again and grabbed his flashlight.

“What? What is it?” asked Mel as he scanned for the now missing figure.

“I don’t know. It was something I saw out there on the side of the road. It was big and tall with yellow eyes,” he replied. 

“It was probably just like an elk or something like that. Get back in the car, or better yet, look under the hood and see if there’s something we can fix,” Mel said exasperatedly.

Tom handed her the extra jackets and blankets from the trunk but kept his gaze fixed forward. 

“It wasn’t an elk. I know what an elk looks like. This did not look or walk like an elk or even have the shape of an elk. It stood upright, not on four legs,” Tom replied and started to get a little annoyed that she wasn’t taking any of this seriously.

“It could be friggin’ Santa Claus or Casper the Friendly Ghost for all I care. If it’s not Triple A coming to tow us then I don’t want to see it or hear about it. You haven’t tried starting the car again or popping the hood.” 

She bit into one of the granola bars they had brought and humphed. She was getting hangry. He could tell. They weren’t far from the turnoff for their campsite but if the car was going to die he’d rather it do it on the highway. He got back into the driver's seat and tried to turn the ignition over. The car wouldn’t start. He got back out and pulled his extra hoodie and jacket on to take a look under the hood. As he pulled his hoodie over his head he thought he saw the figure again. When he could see again it was gone.

“It was just there again! I saw it!” He pointed off to the other side of the road now just slightly closer.

“What now dear?” Mel rolled her eyes not even looking up from her phone as she said it.

“If you weren’t looking at your phone you would have seen it. It was right over there!” 

“If I don’t pull up a show for your daughter on your phone then the only thing we’re going to hear is an exhausted and very fussy six year old. I’ve got a headache already, I can’t handle it,” Mel replied as she finished pulling up one of the downloaded episodes of their daughter's favorite show.

He turned his back on the road and lifted the hood. He honestly had know idea what he was looking at. The smoke had stopped coming out from under the hood so he supposed that was good. Outside of that he remembered that his wiper fluid was low and that was about it. Then he heard a sort of guttural growl and then a snort from behind him to his left even closer than before. He snapped around whipping the flashlight around in every direction. He looked around the hood and saw that his daughter was sucked into her favorite show and his wife had pulled out her book.

“Tell me you heard that,” he clamored as he climbed into the driver's seat.

“Now what? You sure are jumpy for someone who so desperately wanted to get up here on a Friday night after talking about this weekend for weeks,” she still didn’t look up from her book. He knew she was tired and hungry and frustrated from being stuck on the side of the road.

“There was a snarl or something out there. Something close. I heard it when I had the hood up,” he replied.

Looking around through the windows he couldn’t see anything moving. The headlights were still on to let any passing cars know that they were stranded. He shone the flashlight through the windows twisting all around as much as he could looking for any sign of what he’d seen.

“What are you doing Daddy?” asked Alisha looking up from her show as he looked around. “Is there something out there?”

“There’s nothing to worry about baby girl. Your daddy is just jumpy and tired….”

 Her voice trailed off. There was continued movement out in the woods not 50 feet from the side of the road where they’d pulled off.  The slight breeze through the trees had the branches moving and it made it more challenging to see anything moving. The moon was less than half full and didn’t give off much natural light. 

“I think I saw something out there,” said Mel with growing apprehension. “Pause your show for a minute sweetie. Mama needs to listen.” Alisha continued watching her show on the phone as her eyes began to drift off.  “Baby girl, please pause your show.” 

Tom reached back and paused the show on the phone. Then Mel rolled down the window and listened, shining the flashlight into the woods. The sound of the wind through the pines covered up any passing noises and would have been relaxing if it wasn’t so cold and they weren’t on edge.  Tim opened the door and started to head towards the trunk. 

“What—what are you doing?” stammered Mel. “Where are you going?”

He opened the trunk and retrieved the small hatchet he’d brought for firewood, the knife he’d brought for preparing any fish they might catch and the lantern. He turned the lantern on and held it high over his head, sticking the hatchet in his belt and walked around to the side of the car. He handed the knife and flashlight to his wife through the still open window.

“What are you doing? Why are you handing me this?”

“We don’t know what is out there. I need you to have something to defend yourself and Alisha if something goes wrong,” he said with his back to the car still looking out into the woods. The lantern held high over his head in one hand and the flashlight in another he surveyed the woods and strained to see or hear anything out of the ordinary. 

“I want to watch my show again Daddy,” whined little Alisha from the backseat.

“Be quiet sweetie. I’ll be right back,” he called over his shoulder as he walked away. 

He approached the woods with the lantern in one hand and the hatchet in the other.  He saw some movement in the distance to the right and pointed the lantern that direction. 

“Point your flashlight over there sweetie,” he called back pointing to his right. 

She redirected the flashlight and the lights hit a pair of gleaming yellow eyes at the edge of the woods in between two trees.

“Oh my God. Oh my God, oh my God. What is that?” called out Mel. “Come back over here right now. Get back in the car. We don’t know what that is.”

Tom stepped closer to the treeline holding the lamp up brandishing the hatchet as he went, ready for anything. He had to know what it was. Maybe it was just an elk or something harmless. He approached a little closer.

“Tom! You get back over here right now! This instant!” 

He heard the car door open and his wife running over to check on him. She pointed the flashlight towards the yellow eyes and they quickly pulled back into the woods. 

“What are you doing?” Tom said hurriedly. “Go back to the car and stay with Alisha.” The eyes were visible again off in the distance deep in the woods.  “There! Over there!” He whispered as loudly as he dared. “The eyes are back.”

As they crept closer intent on seeing clearly what it was once and for all, they only caught a glimpse of matted black hair and a hunched over form that skirted away.

“Daddy, I”m tired,” he heard from the back seat of the car. “When are we going to bed? Can I watch my show again?”

“Go sit with her Mel,” he whispered back to his wife. “Damn it where did this thing go.”

He heard a snarling growl behind him towards the direction of the car and saw a tall, black creature walking on two feet towards his car. Its hair was long, black and matted in dirt, pine needles and leaves and it had two tall, pointy ears on its head. He heard the sound of his daughter's show playing on the phone and saw the lights. She didn’t see it coming as it approached the window.

“Hey!! Get away from there!” He and his wife yelled at the same time and ran back towards the car. 

Then a beam of bright lights hit the creature from down the road and it turned, holding its hands up to shield its eyes momentarily. A car was coming down the highway from Strawberry with its headlights right on the creature. The creature turned and glared at Tom and Mel momentarily as if to say, “You got lucky this time” and ran off into the woods. For the brief moment they saw it, it stood nearly a full seven feet tall by best guess with a broad chest, powerful arms ending in sharp claws and a protruding mouth full of jagged, carnivorous teeth. The vehicle that had saved them pulled off the side of the road behind their car and once their eyes had adjusted to the new light they could tell it was a Sheriff’s deputy.

“Got your hazards on. You folks doing all right?” asked the deputy jovially.

“Thank God you’re here, officer. You won’t believe what just happened,” began Tom.

“Did you know there’s a damn monster in these woods? You got Bigfoot or something wandering these woods and you haven’t done anything about it? What’s going on up here?” Yelled Mel with exasperation. 

“Woah woah woah now folks. Hold on a minute. You’re getting a little excited. Let’s calm down now folks. You’re carrying on about some monster?” repeated the officer as he took step back incredulously.

“Yes officer,” replied Tom. “There’s something that was just here. We saw it plain as day. About 7 feet tall, big jagged teeth, matted fur covered in dirt, walking on two legs…It’s a damn monster.”

“Son, sounds like you’re describing Bigfoot. How long you folks been out here on the highway? When was the last time you had something to eat and drink?” asked the officer again, sizing them up.

“Officer, we both saw it. We’re not dehydrated, we’re not hallucinating and we’re not making it up. There’s something out there,” insisted Tom, stepping towards the officer. “It was just here and ran off when your headlights came around the corner.”

“Folks, other people have made claims of seeing some phantom beast in the woods before too. City folks on an adventure hike or overnight stay. They get excited and jumpy in the woods. There’s never been any evidence of Bigfoot in these woods,” said the officer pulling his pants back up and straightening out his shirt.

“Call it a Mogollon Monster then if you want or whatever. I don’t care. It was here!” exclaimed Tim.

 “Why don’t I take you folks back into town in my squad car and once we’re back in cell service you can call the tow truck and have your car dropped at the shop? There’s dead spots all around these mountains,” sighed the officer now rubbing his hands over his belly.

“Thank you officer,” replied Mel. “We’d just like to get away from here and get inside someplace safe and warm.”

They loaded up their packs and the three of them got into the officers SUV, heading back for Strawberry. No explanation was possible for what they had seen that night. Nobody would believe them. This would be their last camping trip to the Mogollon Rim.