1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:03,440 Speaker 1: All right. We've all heard monster stories. Some are just 2 00:00:03,680 --> 00:00:08,080 Speaker 1: stories and others are allegedly true, as told firsthand by 3 00:00:08,119 --> 00:00:11,799 Speaker 1: respected folks. This is a story that took place fifty 4 00:00:11,880 --> 00:00:15,760 Speaker 1: years ago, late at night in a small town in Illinois. 5 00:00:16,200 --> 00:00:20,160 Speaker 1: I'm Patty Steele. If something scratches at your door late 6 00:00:20,200 --> 00:00:24,200 Speaker 1: at night, better than twice before opening it. That's next 7 00:00:24,239 --> 00:00:31,400 Speaker 1: on the back story. We're back with the back story. 8 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:33,640 Speaker 1: I don't know about you, but when I was a 9 00:00:33,680 --> 00:00:36,519 Speaker 1: little girl, I had nothing but older brothers, and they 10 00:00:36,600 --> 00:00:39,080 Speaker 1: loved me. But they also loved to scare the hell 11 00:00:39,120 --> 00:00:42,080 Speaker 1: out of me. They'd talk about monsters seen late at 12 00:00:42,159 --> 00:00:45,800 Speaker 1: night in the woods behind our house. I was terrified, 13 00:00:46,280 --> 00:00:50,040 Speaker 1: and I never doubted them. Duh. But these kinds of stories, 14 00:00:50,120 --> 00:00:52,960 Speaker 1: a lot of times, are based on some sort of fact. 15 00:00:53,560 --> 00:00:56,200 Speaker 1: Let's go back to the spring of nineteen seventy three. 16 00:00:56,720 --> 00:01:00,640 Speaker 1: We're in a tiny southern Illinois town called Enfield. It 17 00:01:00,760 --> 00:01:04,479 Speaker 1: was mostly defined by long stretches of fields with rail 18 00:01:04,560 --> 00:01:08,120 Speaker 1: lines running through it. A little after ten o'clock at night, 19 00:01:08,560 --> 00:01:13,320 Speaker 1: Henry McDaniel heard something scratching on his front door. Don't 20 00:01:13,360 --> 00:01:16,320 Speaker 1: open it. Well, he's not listening to me, so of 21 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:19,919 Speaker 1: course he opens it later, what he said he saw 22 00:01:20,360 --> 00:01:24,400 Speaker 1: didn't just terrify little Enfield. It pulled in reporters from 23 00:01:24,520 --> 00:01:27,759 Speaker 1: hours away, and it kicked off one of the weirdest 24 00:01:27,880 --> 00:01:32,560 Speaker 1: monster scares ever. So back to that night, curious about 25 00:01:32,560 --> 00:01:35,959 Speaker 1: where the sound came from, Henry grabs a flashlight and 26 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:40,280 Speaker 1: a twenty two pistol. He steps outside into the gusty, cold, 27 00:01:40,440 --> 00:01:45,440 Speaker 1: early spring wind. Then he spots the intruder nestled between 28 00:01:45,520 --> 00:01:48,880 Speaker 1: two rose bushes. He later tells cops that the creature 29 00:01:48,920 --> 00:01:52,120 Speaker 1: had three legs and a short body. He describes it 30 00:01:52,120 --> 00:01:54,840 Speaker 1: as having two little, short arms coming out of its 31 00:01:54,880 --> 00:01:59,440 Speaker 1: breast area, and two pink eyes as big as flashlights, 32 00:01:59,520 --> 00:02:03,640 Speaker 1: staring at him. The creature was grayish in color, he said, 33 00:02:03,960 --> 00:02:07,040 Speaker 1: about four and a half feet tall, almost like a 34 00:02:07,120 --> 00:02:11,040 Speaker 1: human body. Spooked and sure he's seeing a monster of 35 00:02:11,080 --> 00:02:14,600 Speaker 1: some sort, he fires his gun at it. He squeezes 36 00:02:14,639 --> 00:02:18,000 Speaker 1: off four rounds and thinks he hit it once the 37 00:02:18,040 --> 00:02:21,600 Speaker 1: thing lets out a loud hiss. Henry says it sounded 38 00:02:21,639 --> 00:02:26,040 Speaker 1: like a wildcat. It then bolts, vaulting fifty feet in 39 00:02:26,200 --> 00:02:30,000 Speaker 1: just three leaps downhill toward the railroad tracks that connect 40 00:02:30,160 --> 00:02:33,440 Speaker 1: Enfield to the rest of the world. Deputies arrive on 41 00:02:33,480 --> 00:02:37,000 Speaker 1: the scene, and sure enough, they find odd sort of 42 00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:41,200 Speaker 1: dog like tracks in the earth, but with six towpath marks. 43 00:02:41,800 --> 00:02:45,360 Speaker 1: They later said that while the story sounds suspicious, Henry 44 00:02:45,400 --> 00:02:50,359 Speaker 1: seemed completely sober and rational. Of course, within hours, words 45 00:02:50,400 --> 00:02:53,440 Speaker 1: starts to spread. A few days later, a ten year 46 00:02:53,480 --> 00:02:56,720 Speaker 1: old boy says a three legged creature jumped him while 47 00:02:56,760 --> 00:03:00,600 Speaker 1: he played outside in the evening, shredding his sneakers. He 48 00:03:00,639 --> 00:03:03,080 Speaker 1: and his parents later admit the claim was a hoax, 49 00:03:03,440 --> 00:03:07,840 Speaker 1: but his story contributed to the viral outbreak. Then, two 50 00:03:07,880 --> 00:03:12,080 Speaker 1: weeks after Henry's first encounter, there's another one. This time 51 00:03:12,200 --> 00:03:15,680 Speaker 1: it's May sixth, about three o'clock in the morning. Henry 52 00:03:15,720 --> 00:03:20,200 Speaker 1: hears a noise and goes outside. He sees this thing again. 53 00:03:20,840 --> 00:03:24,760 Speaker 1: It's scurrying along the railroad trestles near his house. This 54 00:03:24,919 --> 00:03:28,280 Speaker 1: time he doesn't shoot, He just watches it lope away 55 00:03:28,520 --> 00:03:32,359 Speaker 1: into the night. Now, some radio news guys arrive in 56 00:03:32,600 --> 00:03:36,720 Speaker 1: Enfield from Kocomo, Indiana. They're going to search for the monster. 57 00:03:37,200 --> 00:03:40,720 Speaker 1: They begin combing the area near an abandoned building close 58 00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:43,920 Speaker 1: to Henry's home. They later claimed they saw a gray 59 00:03:44,120 --> 00:03:47,800 Speaker 1: ape like figure standing in the mist. They capture a 60 00:03:47,840 --> 00:03:52,320 Speaker 1: recording of a spooky cry unlike anything they'd ever heard, 61 00:03:52,560 --> 00:03:56,040 Speaker 1: But then someone fires a shot and the thing takes off. 62 00:03:56,920 --> 00:04:00,000 Speaker 1: At the same time, twenty five year old Lauren Coolemy, 63 00:04:00,360 --> 00:04:04,560 Speaker 1: a cryptozoologist that's a person who studies legendary creatures like 64 00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:08,760 Speaker 1: Bigfoot or the Lochness Monster, comes to town. He hears 65 00:04:08,800 --> 00:04:11,200 Speaker 1: the tape of the creature, which he says has a 66 00:04:11,240 --> 00:04:15,280 Speaker 1: strange banshee like screech, but he's unable to get any 67 00:04:15,320 --> 00:04:18,120 Speaker 1: other evidence. The tape, by the way, seems to have 68 00:04:18,160 --> 00:04:22,440 Speaker 1: disappeared in the ensuing fifty years. But now Enfield has 69 00:04:22,440 --> 00:04:26,839 Speaker 1: a problem. Young monster hunters arrive in town, mostly under 70 00:04:26,880 --> 00:04:29,440 Speaker 1: the age of twenty, a lot of them armed with 71 00:04:29,560 --> 00:04:33,520 Speaker 1: rifles and shotguns. They say they're there to photograph the thing, 72 00:04:34,040 --> 00:04:37,760 Speaker 1: but brought weapons for some protection. The local sheriff has 73 00:04:37,800 --> 00:04:40,720 Speaker 1: to chase them out of town by mid May. The 74 00:04:40,839 --> 00:04:44,320 Speaker 1: Enfield Monster is a celebrity, getting shout outs on the 75 00:04:44,440 --> 00:04:48,119 Speaker 1: radio and write ups in newspapers from the Chicago Daily 76 00:04:48,200 --> 00:04:52,240 Speaker 1: News down to the Alton Telegraph and beyond. It's a 77 00:04:52,279 --> 00:04:56,719 Speaker 1: full blown curiosity. But what the heck is it? Well, 78 00:04:56,760 --> 00:04:59,520 Speaker 1: there are all sorts of theories about that, maybe an 79 00:04:59,560 --> 00:05:02,480 Speaker 1: animal that looked weird late at night in the beam 80 00:05:02,520 --> 00:05:06,720 Speaker 1: of a flashlight when somebody is nervous. Some folks suggested 81 00:05:06,839 --> 00:05:10,120 Speaker 1: it was an escaped kangaroo, that the three legs were 82 00:05:10,120 --> 00:05:14,440 Speaker 1: really two legs, plus that heavy kangaroo tale. But Henry 83 00:05:14,440 --> 00:05:18,040 Speaker 1: says no way to that theory. He'd owned a kangaroo 84 00:05:18,120 --> 00:05:21,080 Speaker 1: when he served in Australia, and he knew what their 85 00:05:21,120 --> 00:05:24,360 Speaker 1: faces and their tracks looked like, and the tracks did 86 00:05:24,400 --> 00:05:28,120 Speaker 1: not match a kangaroo. Henry was pretty convinced that this 87 00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:32,760 Speaker 1: thing was extraterrestrial. There never has been a definitive answer 88 00:05:32,800 --> 00:05:35,000 Speaker 1: as to what it was, but a lot of folks 89 00:05:35,040 --> 00:05:38,360 Speaker 1: believe it was a case of public imagination running out 90 00:05:38,360 --> 00:05:42,520 Speaker 1: of control and embroidering more onto the story. They say 91 00:05:42,560 --> 00:05:46,600 Speaker 1: it was fear, fun and folklore braided together. A group 92 00:05:46,640 --> 00:05:50,640 Speaker 1: of researchers from the University of Illinois actually studied the 93 00:05:50,760 --> 00:05:54,920 Speaker 1: Enfield monster story to look at how panic and rumor spread. 94 00:05:55,680 --> 00:05:59,680 Speaker 1: Their paper, published in nineteen seventy eight, used Enfield as 95 00:05:59,720 --> 00:06:03,559 Speaker 1: a case study in social contagion. How a few first 96 00:06:03,600 --> 00:06:06,600 Speaker 1: hand reports there were just three of them, can balloon 97 00:06:06,760 --> 00:06:12,040 Speaker 1: into an epidemic through news stories gossip and the irresistible 98 00:06:12,120 --> 00:06:16,320 Speaker 1: magnetism of a good monster story. Folks in Enfield, though, 99 00:06:16,400 --> 00:06:20,160 Speaker 1: aren't embarrassed by their monster story. Over the decades, the 100 00:06:20,200 --> 00:06:23,440 Speaker 1: town's brushed with the bazaar has just become a great 101 00:06:23,520 --> 00:06:27,520 Speaker 1: local tale. And what happened is understandable, they say. A 102 00:06:27,560 --> 00:06:30,720 Speaker 1: guy here scratching at his door late at night. He's 103 00:06:30,760 --> 00:06:34,120 Speaker 1: worried about his children. He steps outside into what he 104 00:06:34,240 --> 00:06:38,520 Speaker 1: thinks is danger and believes he sees something that shouldn't exist. 105 00:06:39,360 --> 00:06:42,400 Speaker 1: If you've ever spent time in farm country, you know 106 00:06:42,480 --> 00:06:46,039 Speaker 1: the dark out there can feel really thick. A flashlight 107 00:06:46,080 --> 00:06:49,000 Speaker 1: beam looks like a tunnel through a sea of black. 108 00:06:49,680 --> 00:06:52,760 Speaker 1: A possum hissing at you at midnight can sound like 109 00:06:52,839 --> 00:06:57,239 Speaker 1: a demon. Then there's the pressure of reporters wanting quotes 110 00:06:57,520 --> 00:07:01,719 Speaker 1: and neighbors wanting answers. I want the answers to fit 111 00:07:01,800 --> 00:07:05,200 Speaker 1: the melody already in the air. Look every once in 112 00:07:05,240 --> 00:07:08,120 Speaker 1: a while, when you're outside at night, you think you 113 00:07:08,279 --> 00:07:12,600 Speaker 1: see something out there in the darkness. It's a shape 114 00:07:12,600 --> 00:07:15,720 Speaker 1: between the rose bushes and the door, And in that 115 00:07:15,920 --> 00:07:20,080 Speaker 1: electric second, you become part of the story. You are 116 00:07:20,240 --> 00:07:24,360 Speaker 1: Henry McDaniel seeing a thing that makes no sense and 117 00:07:24,440 --> 00:07:28,480 Speaker 1: trying to explain it to yourself. After all, every monster 118 00:07:28,720 --> 00:07:32,200 Speaker 1: is actually two things, maybe some sort of animal in 119 00:07:32,240 --> 00:07:36,520 Speaker 1: the dark and the story that rationalizes our initial fear. 120 00:07:37,640 --> 00:07:40,480 Speaker 1: I hope you like the Backstory with Patty Steele. Please 121 00:07:40,560 --> 00:07:43,160 Speaker 1: leave a review. I would love it if you'd subscribe 122 00:07:43,280 --> 00:07:46,960 Speaker 1: or follow for free to get new episodes delivered automatically, 123 00:07:47,480 --> 00:07:49,240 Speaker 1: and feel free to dm me if you have a 124 00:07:49,240 --> 00:07:52,280 Speaker 1: story you'd like me to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty 125 00:07:52,320 --> 00:08:01,840 Speaker 1: Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. 126 00:08:02,080 --> 00:08:06,360 Speaker 1: The Backstories a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis 127 00:08:06,440 --> 00:08:10,600 Speaker 1: Durand Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser. 128 00:08:10,840 --> 00:08:14,480 Speaker 1: Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday 129 00:08:14,520 --> 00:08:17,040 Speaker 1: and Friday. Feel free to reach out to me with 130 00:08:17,120 --> 00:08:21,080 Speaker 1: comments and even story suggestions on Instagram at Real Patty 131 00:08:21,120 --> 00:08:24,600 Speaker 1: Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening 132 00:08:24,600 --> 00:08:27,840 Speaker 1: to the Backstory with Patty Steele. The pieces of history 133 00:08:28,080 --> 00:08:29,720 Speaker 1: you didn't know you needed to know.