Short Stuff: The Enfield Monster | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

Hey and welcome to the short stuff. I'm. Josh and there's Chuck. Jerry's here. sitting in for Dave and [music] uh Dave. didn't want to come because he gets. spooked easily and this is a spooky one. Chuck, a spooky. >> spooky one. >> Exactly. I can't do that as well as you, so I just kind of left it for you. Oh, [clears throat] how about Sammy Davis. Jr. going saying spooky like that? >> I don't think that's possible. Hammerman. A spooky one.

>> Perfect. >> Yeah, it's all right, >> man. I'm gonna get you a crown. Says. Sammy Davis Champ. [laughter]. [gasps]. [sighs]. >> Uh, you ready to dive into this mystery. of the infield monster? >> Yeah. Had you heard of this before? I. had not. >> I don't think so. Well, we need to think. uh thank man think about Medium the. website and Dread Central and all that's. interesting for their reporting on this. I mean supposedly true thing that.

happened in 1973. We should say that. there are a lot of skeptics out there. about this this story. Um but it is a. really big deal in the crypted community. and there is a crypted community out. there. people who are like, "Yes, there's um there are animals out there. that we don't understand." This is one. of their big examples that they throw. to. Um but we're not going to look too. deep into it because this is Halloween. and uh it's a fun story, don't you. think? >> Yeah. And the skeptics are calling from.

inside the podcast. [laughter]. So, um, this was one of those 70s things. along the lines of like, um, the. Amityville horror where it was a decade. where people were willing to be like, "Hey, this insane supernatural thing. happened to me." Uh, and I, uh, want to. be on the news about it and they would. get on the news. And the guy who got on. the news the most from this whole thing. was a guy named Henry McDaniel. He lived. in uh, the village of Enfield, Illinois.

and he got on the news because he said. that there is a very strange creature. that he not only saw but shot at. And uh. the creature behaved quite strangely and. looked so strange that he was quite sure. it was not of this planet. That's right. Uh, I guess we can kick it off though. with their neighbors, uh, the Garretts, because the Garrett boy, young Greg. Garrett, apparently, this is around 9:00. at night, was uh, catching lightning. bugs.

>> and all of a sudden, you know, comes. storming back into the house. His. parents are watching TV. >> and he's hysterical. He's crying. He's. upset. And he said he saw a monster. >> Uh, described it as four or five feet. tall, tiny little arms with claws. >> Mhm. uh slimy gray skin and three legs uh. with claws and big red eyes about the. size of flashlights and presented. physical evidence in the form of his. tennis shoes that were shredded up that.

he said the monster, you know, kind of. stepped on his feet, I guess, and ran. past him. And his parents were like, "Oh, what?" Pretty much. Apparently, uh, Greg wasn't known as much of a trickster. or a liar or even a fiber from what I. understand. So, his parents were just. kind of like, I I'm not quite sure what. to make of this. What What happened, Greg? And they yelled at him for like a. half hour until he cracked. >> Um, or they tried to make him crack and. he never cracked. So, um, as this was.

happening, and so we should say this, Chuck, the accounts of this are so muddy. by this time that it's not entirely. clear the order of events and. everything. So, we're just going to kind. of go with the general flow, but just. >> take this with a grain of salt because. >> it's just it's a muddied story. essentially. It's a muddied supernatural. story if you can believe that. >> Yeah. And I think it's one of those. deals where over the years it's been. retold so many times it's probably been.

added to and and changed about like. things like this are done. Does that. make sense? >> Yeah. No, totally. And not only retold. retold by people too lazy to go look up. facts that they just assume instead and. then that becomes fact kind of thing. So. uh I at least we're not writing about. it. We just read about it and we're too. lazy to go look up the facts. >> That's right. because this is just a. fun, silly, spooky shorty. Uh, so the. McDaniel kids are out that night as well.

and uh, Mr. McDaniel hears this story. He's also in disbelief obviously cuz he. doesn't believe something like that. could happen to his kids. >> Mhm. >> And hears some scratching at the door, opens the door, sees this monster, uh, evidently slams the door, and goes and. grabs a .22 pistol and a flashlight. opens the door back up and shoots at. this thing. [laughter]. >> Yeah. >> I just have as you do. >> I just have in my mind like uh like him.

closing his eyes and turning his head. and just firing wildly out the door. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. >> So um that's when he got the description. that you gave. Um and like he said also. that he hit it. He knows that he hit it. because he said it hissed like a wild. cat which is I believe a quote. Um, and. that it just bounded away. And bounded. away meaning like it covered tens of. feet with each bounce, which with each. hop thanks to that third leg,

apparently. >> Yeah. Apparently 75 ft in about three. hops. >> That's impressive. >> Yeah. Uh, and it went over the railroad. tracks. calls the cops and the Illinois. state it calls like the local police and. the Illinois state troopers show up. instead. >> and maybe that's a good time for a. break. >> I agree. [music].

>> [music]. [music]. >> Okay, Chuck, where we last left off, McDaniel's Henry Henry McDaniel's gun is. smoking. The um Enfield monster has. bounded off out of sight. And of course, the first thing he does is call the.

police. Like his children have just been. terrified. He's just fired on some. unknown monster. God knows that he was. concerned about Greg Garrett's tennis. shoes. >> Sure. >> So, he called the police. The Illinois. State Troopers show up to um conduct a. search and they search and they. >> Quite a recap, by the way. >> Thank you very much. You know, I live to. do recap. >> Man, you just retold the whole thing. >> Um so, the the Illinois State Troopers. show up and they search the area. Um, and they don't they don't find the.

monster, but they do find some. suspicious evidence. I found it. suspicious. Didn't you? >> I think so. Uh, they found scratch marks. on the sighting of the house, fresh. scratch marks. Uh, they found. footprints, three footprints with claw. marks on them. Uh, two of them were. about 4 in wide apparently. The third. one was a little bit smaller. And then. apparently, you know, McDaniel starts. telling the story all around town. Uh, and people start retelling the story. I.

think a kid, some other kid, maybe a. neighbor, uh, faked or said he had faked. the eyewitness account. >> Yeah, that doesn't really help your. case, but it was enough for um, Henry. McDaniel to kind of get into the paper. I think he was in the would you say it's. got to be the reading e eagle, right? >> It's not reading, though. The reading. eagle. >> I mean, yeah, it could be referring to. the eagle reading the newspaper. I don't. know. >> Sure. Why not? >> At any rate, it wasn't the um the Sun.

Times or anything like that, but they. did run a story and like the the story. very quickly started to get picked up. through other news outlets, including. the news um like TV news in um Illinois. and the surrounding area. And um so this. was it had become a thing, right? Um but. that that was the first sighting. [snorts] About 10 days later, Henry. McDaniel comes into play again. Uh, when. he wakes up to the sound of the. neighborhood dogs going crazy, and he. grabs his gun again and goes down to the.

front door, opens it up as he does, and. there's the monster again. >> That's right. Uh, but not at the door. this time. Uh, this time it was uh over. on those railroad tracks that it had. disappeared over on the previous. sighting. And he said it wasn't in a. hurry. It was just kind of amling down. the tracks. He has a great quote in an. interview. Uh, if they do find it, they'll find more than one and they. won't be from this planet. I can tell. you that. So, he thought it was.

otherworldly, extraterrestrial, perhaps. >> I've spent a lot of time with Henry. McDaniel to prep for this short stuff, and he sounds exactly like that. >> Oh, good. All right. Good. >> Um, so yeah, a bunch of people started. to show up. monster hunters, which are. basically um bush beard drunk um hunters. with rifles and um shotguns. >> Yeah, >> they showed up. Obviously, the like I. said, the news showed up. There were um. crypted uh investigators, people who are.

like, I'm not I'm not a fool, but I also. believe that there's animals out there. that we can't explain. So, like, >> yeah, >> I guess quasi scientific investigators. showed up as well. The whole the upshot. is the whole town, this small town just. became like a hot bed of activity. So. much so that the sheriff was like, "Hey, McDaniel, if you keep telling this. story, I'm going to arrest you for. basically disturbing the peace.". >> And uh I I I mean, I believe that's. unconstitutional. So, he never made good.

on that threat, but the point is the. town was in an uproar over all this. >> Yeah. and they arrested some of these. hunters cuz they're just out there. drinking beer and firing into the night. You can't do that either. Uh not even in. 1973. And then a guy whose name is uh too. great to be um disbelieved named Rick. Rainbow. He's the news director for WWKI. in Cookamo, Indiana. >> The place where you get there fast and.

then you take it slow. >> That's right. and he was a another. eyewitness supposedly. He and three. other guys saw um this this monster near. an abandoned house not too far from the. original sightings. Uh it was in the. shadows though with its back turned so. he couldn't like verify the description. but he said it was grayish and about 5t. tall and stooped over and reportedly. recorded audio of this thing screaming. even though it was never released to the. public which makes it very sketchy to me.

>> for sure. There's a there's a few things. that are kind of sketchy about this. story, but. >> like all of it. >> So, um that was uh I think so McDaniels. or no, sorry, uh Rick Rainbow's um. sighting was the last sighting of the. Enfield monster, I believe. >> I think so. But uh some other people. heard it uh over the course of the next. few days. Those some some weird cries. coming from the woods and then it just. stopped as quickly as the Enfield.

monster showed up. It just went away. And uh I think those crypto crypted ex. um investigators opened a case study in. 1978 where they really investigated this. and they found. I saw that the guy who is the lead. investigator was like I I'm baffled by. this but yeah it's also. >> essentially like most of the story is. basically the the locals wanting to get. in on it and and embellishing sightings.

or just completely making some stuff up. But he seemed to really be intrigued by. Henry McDaniel's accounts in particular. at least. >> Yeah. And some of that, you know, uh, alleged actual evidence like the. footprints and the scratched up shoes. and the scratched up sighting. >> Uh, a lot of people were like, you know, this is a big hoax. They were trying to, you know, just dust up some uh some uh. some news about their town so maybe. people would come by and give them some. tourist money. Uh but you know, no one.

really knows what happened. I think um. it's interesting that a guy in Ohio. later on said, "You know what? I have a. pet kangaroo, >> right, >> named Macy, who kind of fits that. description and had gotten away and was. missing." So, uh this thing bounding. around the the hopping, the three I. suppose the tail, if it had a a funky. tail, could have been a third leg. >> Uh I don't know. Maybe it was just this. guy, Macy the Kangaroo. It being Macy the kangaroo is almost as.

astounding as it being like a a crypted. that has never been discovered before if. you ask me. >> Like a guy just having a random kangaroo. that happened to escape. >> Yeah. [laughter]. That's what people were shooting at, too. >> Yeah. >> Uh I think that's it for short stuff. The spooky short stuff, huh? >> Yeah. Except it's actually not that. spooky. I think we we're more laughing. at it. But hey, if you're from the. surrounding area, I am curious if that. [music] legend still survives around the.

campfire. So, let us know. >> That means short stuff's out, right? >> I think so. [music]. >> Stuff You Should Know is a production of. iHeart Radio. For more podcasts, iHeart. Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple. Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your. favorite shows.