Kellams: This is Ozarks at Large. It is the 15th of October. It happens to be a Wednesday, so we’re welcoming back to our show Becca Martin Brown for a trip the other way. Welcome back, Becca.
Brown: Hi, Kyle. We get to bring together a whole bunch of my favorite things today.
Kellams: Oh, list them, please.
Brown: We’re going to talk about Ozark Creatures: Fierce and Fantastical at Cane Hill. And we’re going to talk with Amanda Cothren from Cane Hill and historian Brooks Blevins, who is the presenter of the Ozark Creatures program.
Kellams: We’ve had both of these individuals on our show before, and they’re both wonderful. So I look forward to this conversation. It’s my honor to bring in Amanda and Brooks. Welcome both of you to Ozarks at Large.
Cothren: Hey, Kyle.
Brown: Amanda, tell me, is this the first time there’s been kind of a spooky side of the Ozarks’ works presented at Cane Hill? How did this idea come about?
Cothren: No, this is actually our fourth annual Cane Hill After Dark, and it is a really popular event that we thought up just trying to find something for each season. We decided that folklore of the Ozarks was an opportunity to tap into something in conjunction with Halloween.
Before my time four years ago, they invited Abby Burnett to come for the very first one, and she told some spooky stories. Then we had Brandon Weston, and last year we went back to Abby Burnett.
This is a very—it’s like a campfire feel in our outdoor amphitheater, and it’s just a fun way to spend a Friday night before Halloween.
Kellams: Brooks, tell us a little sneak peek about what the audience will find out about Ozark Creatures: Fierce and Fantastical.
Blevins: This is kind of the year for mythological monsters, I guess. I leave the occult stuff to Brandon Weston and anything about death to Abby. What we’re doing is really going back and relying on stuff that Vance Randolph wrote many years ago.
Almost all of the mythological creatures that were once in Ozarks regional lore we remember because of Randolph. As I’ll talk about at Cane Hill, most of these haven’t survived in local folklore.
So when we talk about the Gyascutus, or the Fillyloo, or the Side-Hill Hoofer, or the Hinge-Tailed Bingbuffer—those are stories that Randolph heard and recorded a hundred years ago. And we have him to thank for letting us know those creatures once existed around the campfire.
Kellams: If nothing else, we have to remember those names, right? Brooks, those are some amazing names.
Blevins: Yeah, that’s just kind of scratching the surface. It makes me wonder—you know, Randolph was quite a character. He was a rounder. It makes me wonder if he made some of those up out of whole cloth. I wouldn’t put it past him to do that, and he’s probably laughing from his grave right now that we actually believe people were telling stories about some of these creatures.
But, yeah, just some remarkable names, and we’ll cover a dozen or more of those strangely named creatures at Cane Hill.
Kellams: Amanda, whether they’re figments of Vance Randolph’s imagination or earlier imaginations or not, it seems like sunset after Cane Hill on a Friday night is a perfect time to delve into this topic.
Cothren: Absolutely. The weather is almost guaranteed to be perfect. It’s just beginning to be sweater season. You might need to grab a coat to come out. Bring a chair and enjoy.
If we’re still okay in terms of having enough rain, we’ll have the opportunity to roast some s’mores and have beverages. It’s just a fun time for that sort of experience.
Brown: Tickets are $5 unless you’re a Cane Hill member. Is this event for kiddos or is this for adults?
Cothren: No, we’re asking for this to be 21 and over, please. We are doing some spooky stories, and it’s really more intended for an adult audience.
Brown: Do people need reservations?
Cothren: You can buy tickets at the door, so no, but it would be helpful to us if you go ahead and buy your tickets in advance.
Again, if you’re a Historic Cane Hill member—which is what we call those who support the mission of Cane Hill—Historic Cane Hill, of course, is a nonprofit organization. For $35 for an individual or $50 for a family, you can become a member for a year.
There are several events that we have free tickets to, including our Harvest Festival and some other concerts and things.
But if you could go online and get your ticket in advance, that would be great. If you decide on that Friday, which is October 24, that you want to come out—come on out anyway. There’ll be enough seating.
Kellams: Brooks, this is an open-ended, vague question, so you might not have a solid answer. But what is it we love about monsters? Whether they're ones that Vance Randolph was telling us about or any of us who grew up in the Ozarks near Table Rock or Beaver or Bull Shoals Dam heard the stories about the monster catfish that people swore they saw at the base of these dams, what do we love about these monsters?
Blevins: It’s something that apparently Hollywood has figured out. I don’t know that anybody else has figured out what we love about it, but I think it’s the mystery. It’s the dark romance of things that might exist, could exist, but probably don’t.
So much of our mythology, our folklore, and our storytelling as humans emanate from that wellspring. We’re just regular folks here in the Ozarks, and there was a time when regional, ethnic, and national groups had their own monsters—just like they had their own folk songs and foodways and all that kind of stuff.
That time doesn’t exist much anymore in the United States, but it’s kind of fun to look back and revisit those monsters—mythical or otherwise—that kept our ancestors up at night and that they loved to tell stories about at the fireplace.
Kellams: Brooks Blevins, Amanda Cothran, Becca Martin Brown—thank you all so much.
Brown Thank you.
Blevins: Thank you.
Cothren: Thanks, Kyle.
The 2025 Cane Hill After Dark with Brooks Blevins is Friday night, October 24, beginning at 6. More information can be found at Historic Cane Hill. Brooks, by the way, will also discuss Ozarks monsters on the October 31 edition of his podcast, The Old Ozarks.
Ozarks at Large transcripts are created on a rush deadline. Copy editors utilize AI tools to review work. KUAF does not publish content created by AI. Please reach out to kuafinfo@uark.edu to report an issue. The audio version is the authoritative record of KUAF programming.
