Part 2: 6 Crypt-id Monsters That Live In Northern Arizona (Plus 3 More from South. AZ)

Artist's conception of the Aswang

(Part 1, "Land Dwellers" can be found by clicking here)

The Crazy Cave Creatures of Route 66:

The last three monsters on the list are cave-dwellers.  Due to the 600+ known volcanoes in the area, there must be hundreds of square miles of undiscovered caverns, lava tubes, and caves in northern Arizona, and the creatures that purportedly live in them are easily the strangest and most bizarre.  Why sightings seem to occur mostly around historic Route 66 may simply be because that's where the humans are present to see them. All of these cave-dwellers are nocturnal, and sightings are rare. (*13)

6 Crypt-id Monsters That Live In Northern Arizona (Part 1: Land Dwellers)

Most locals have heard of the Mogollon Monster, but descriptions of exactly what kind of creature it might be have changed over the years. A rash of sightings of a particular type of creature would make that animal a sort of "Mogollon Monster du jour."

As a result, this author will not give the title of "Mogollon Monster" to any of the forthcoming six.  Instead, it is hoped that people who have seen these strange creatures and are afraid of coming forward might learn that they are not alone in their experience.

Some of these monsters are truly bizarre, but every one of them has been seen in other locations on our planet.

Part 2 of this duet will focus on "The Cave Dwellers." This article focuses on "The Land Dwellers."

The Colorful, Short Life of Mayor Buckey O'Neill

Mayor William Owen "Buckey" O'Neill, 1860-1898

Even renowned Western fiction authors could not dream up a more interesting character than the real-life story of Buckey O'Neill.

Although modern spellings of his nickname drop the "e", William Owens "Buckey" O'Neill was a gambler, lawyer, newspaperman, miner, Sheriff of Yavapai County, Mayor of Prescott, and finally, a Captain in Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders.

Buckey got his nickname from his days as a gambler.  He enjoyed the poker game "faro," where going against the odds was called "bucking the tiger."  Buckey had a penchant for going against the odds, but ultimately it would cost him his life at age 38.

Teddy's Rough Riders Originated in Prescott

When news arrived of the explosion and sinking of the USS Maine, William "Buckey" O'Neill was the Mayor of Prescott. Buckey, (that is how O'Neill spelled it,) like most Americans, was infuriated by the disaster and hungry to join the fight.

While discussing the situation with Alexander Brodie and James McClintock, an idea occurred to them to raise a volunteer cavalry from the Arizona territory.  Buckey wanted to raise a regiment of hardcore Arizona frontiersmen. Men who were already able to survive under harsh, dangerous, and deadly conditions would make excellent soldiers.

William "Buckey" O'Neill

They would come to be known as "The Rough Riders." And the men they would recruit would become the origin and core of the First US Volunteer Cavalry, which would win great fame and glory under Teddy Roosevelt in the Spanish-American War.

1928: Famous Record-Breaking Airplane Crashes in Prescott

Less than 12 hours after this picture was taken, the Yankee Doodle would be reduced to "confetti" in the Bradshaw Mountains:

On November 3rd, 1928, the Prescott Evening Courier printed an Associated Press story about a record-holding, Lockheed Vega monoplane named "Yankee Doodle." It would be attempting to break its own non-stop, transcontinental record flying from L.A. to New York, taking off that day. (*1)

The Courier could never have known that later that very night, the Yankee Doodle would crash into the Bradshaw Mountains, desperately searching for the Prescott airport.

The Miller Bros. Saved Prescott From Starvation

Sam and Jake Miller were two of the very first whites to lay eyes on the Prescott area when they arrived with the Walker Party in 1863.  But unlike the other members of that party, the Miller brothers stayed.  Had they not, the history of Prescott would have been much different and much shorter.

Imagine if "Prescott" was remembered only as an attempt to settle the area, an experiment that failed after only one year due to starvation and an Apache blockade of the town.

This could have very well been the case had it not been for the Miller brothers' nerves and the business they started in Prescott's earliest days.