Bigfoot Spotted in Tupelo

Bigfoot has been reported in Mississippi and Arkansas for years. Maybe somebody should have checked the costume shops.

From the North East Mississippi Daily Journal

4/9/2008 6:44:42 PM

By Danza Johnson
Daily Journal

TUPELO – With four gorilla sightings on Thomas Street on Wednesday, it seemed the infamous Oliver inspired a copycat or copy primate.

According to police, two postal workers and two parents picking their children up from school claimed to have seen a huge primate run into the woods behind the post office shortly after 2 p.m.

Because all the accounts were separate instances, School Resource Officer Lt. Terry Sanford said he doesn’t doubt that people saw something, but he’s almost sure it wasn’t a gorilla.

“We got a few calls about the gorilla, but we didn’t see anything,” said Sanford. “People said they saw the animal run into the woods. I think what they saw was a person dressed in a suit trying to get a reaction out of people.”

A local costume dealer said a man and a woman bought a gorilla head and hands Tuesday, stating that they already had a suit.

If anybody wants to arrange Bigfoot sightings in Jackson, we have the above suit here:

Guess What This Is

What in the world can this be?

I'll give you some hints:

• I took the photograph myself in 1974.
• The subject smelled really bad.
• I wasn't in any danger but I almost lost my camera.

Monkey Island Postcard

I found this old post card of the Jackson Zoo Monkey Island. It says "58" but it looks older than 1958 to me. If I had to guess I'd say this was probably from the '40's. "58" is probably the catalog number for this particular postcard.

It shows the island as seen from the alligator pond with the ramada (like a band stand, not the hotel) in the background. Where you see a stretch of trees is now the elephant exhibit.

This was probably a black-and-white photograph that was tinted in the printing process to make it appear color. That's why it looks sort of like a cartoon.

The little houses still existed when I was involved with the friends of the Zoo back in the 80's and 90's. They weren't on the island anymore though, and were only brought out during Christmas at the Zoo.

It seemed like they were wood covered with porters cement. As I recall, they were from the original zoo at the Jackson Fire Department before they moved to Livingston Park.

The whole island was originally covered in concrete to make it easier to clean up the monkey poo. I think they dug it up so grass and what-not would grow, but it may have just washed away through the years.

I don't remember the tree. It was gone before I got to zoo going age. I believe the little bridge may still be there under all the brush that's grown up.

Model Of Jackson

Once upon a time, there was a small-scale model of downtown Jackson.

I remember it was displayed in the foyer of the auditorium for years when I was a kid. I'm sure there was a plaque or something on it saying who made it and why but I've long forgotten such details.

It was a huge thing, maybe eight feet long by four feet wide and included pretty much all of downtown.

Does anybody remember this? Does it still exist somewhere?