Boonville Bigfoot?

 

The Boonville Creature

Boonville is a city in Boon Township, Warrick County, Indiana, United States .The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters

In 1936, an animal described as a “monster hairy ape,” or a “giant sloth,” was reported in Boonville.The first appearance  of the animal came in 1936, when fisherman Ralph Duff reported that a large hairy animal had attacked  his dog . Duff's wife saw the animal, which ran off when she screamed, describing it as a "towering monster larger than a bear". Ralph Duff set up bear traps along the river to catch it.

On 13th August 1937, Mrs. Duff again saw the animal, which she compared to a giant ape. Other residents of Boonville reported hearing "blood-curdling shrieks and yells". Posses were formed to search the river area. A police dog was supposedly mauled "so bad it had to be shot". Mothers kept their children indoors, traps baited with raw meat were laid with hopes of luring the creature in. Some area residents guessed it was an ape hiding in a cave near the Ohio River.

On 18 th August a man went to  the Boonville newspaper office and claimed that the animal was a giant sloth which he and his uncle had captured during an expedition to Mexico two years previously. He said they lost it near Evansville. When questioned he was uncertain if it was two-toed or three-toed, but averred that sloths came in both varieties. It had apparently been in a circus and escaped from its travelling cage.

On August 19th newspapers announced that the search was being “temporarily abandoned” and no mention was made  of resuming search.An  article, written a month later, points out that the rumours began just as blackberry season started and suggests that Boonville people spread the horror story to keep people away from their blackberry patches.

I find the sloth story not believable. A sloth is not an animal to be kept in a circus as they move slowly and don’t perform tricks. They are not normally aggressive although they can cause some damage with their claws but are not usually bigger than a bear.The fact the man did not know if it was a two or three toed sloth also casts doubt on his story. So what was the creature? A bigfoot perhaps?