https://i.imgur.com/gZeZ030.jpg

The Arglefargin or Argilfirkin which is a local legend of the Nachitoches Valley, has been attributed to a series of disappearances in Louisiana that began in the 1860s.

Young men began disappearing near Johnson's Chute, along the Cane River Bottoms. Upon examining their whereabouts, they found something disturbing. The investigators discovered signs of a violent struggle, including broken branches, scuffed earth, and bigfoot-like footprints. The only other clue as to where the young men went were notes either pinned to trees or scratched into the dried mud..... Arglefargin.

Farmers used farm animals as bait for this unknown monster, but were only able to catch the usual predators, like bears or panthers. A Cane River local, Mrs. Jane, tried to explain the disappearances, saying "the people were being abducted by creatures from the moon to be used as slave labor." An unnamed, courageous young man offered to use himself as bait, since the strange beings were apparently only after young bachelors.

After days as bait, he finally emerged, exhausted. He told the townspeople that the claim from Mrs. Jane, that they were from the moon, was inaccurate. He then told a story about the real culprit, and his encounter with a horrifying and almost unbelievable beast. The behemoth stood between 9 and 11 feet tall and looked "... something like a cross between the ugliest person who ever lived, a mutant gorilla, and a hackberry with Dutch elm disease." He also said that they smelled like dead skunks, and were abducting men to mate.

According to the young man, the arglefargin were a long-lost branch branch from the human family tree, whose line was declining due to their sheer size and low birth rate, so were attempting to repopulate with new genetic material from our lineage.

Oddly enough, the disappearances of young men increased after the news, though few were lucky enough to return with a similar tale.

The last reliable sighting came in 1903 by Bob Norman's great-uncle Obie.