Momo, the Missouri Monster

In the summer of 1972 the town of Louisiana, Missouri, on the Mississippi, was gripped by reports of a tall, dark, foul-smelling hairy creature on Marzolf Hill, seen by children and then by dozens of others, its name a contraction of “Missouri Monster.” Search parties combed the bluffs. It was the peak of a nationwide Bigfoot wave, and no evidence ever supported a creature, but the 1972 flap was entirely real and made national news, and the town remembers it with good humor.