Thirty-six witnesses, one early closure, and a district manager who submitted paperwork to a review team he cannot name

The Dollar General on Route 79 outside Louisiana, Missouri closed at approximately 7:40 PM Tuesday evening. The posted closing time is 10:00 PM. The manager was out of the parking lot by 7:52. Thirty-six witnesses have given accounts to WTC field correspondents and, where applicable, to local authorities, whose level of interest in those accounts we have not been able to confirm as of airtime. What we can confirm is this: something was standing outside that store, and it was not a customer.

WTC received the first call at 7:44 PM. By 8:15 we had corroborating contact from nine independent parties, none of whom appeared to know each other, all of whom used similar language when describing what they had seen near the south-facing exterior wall of the building, specifically in the area between the propane cage and the garden supply pallets that have been sitting there since at least March. The description is consistent. It is large. It does not move the way things that size are supposed to move. Several witnesses noted a smell. Several more noted that they did not want to be on record about the smell, but agreed to be on record about the rest of it. We are working with what we have.

Community Notice

What the Manager Said, and What the Manager Did Not Say

The district manager confirmed the early closure in a statement that I will quote to you in full: ‘The closure was operationally justified, and a full account of the evening’s events has been submitted to corporate, where it will be reviewed by the appropriate team.’ When asked to identify the appropriate team, the district manager said he was not able to do that. When asked whether the appropriate team had a name, there was a pause of approximately four seconds before the call was transferred to a general voicemail inbox. The voicemail greeting did not identify a department. I left a message. The radio on my desk shifted pitch while I was writing up my notes. I have logged it. I have not drawn conclusions.

I’ve driven Route 79 for eleven years. I know what deer look like. I know what people look like. I pulled back onto the highway and I drove to my sister’s house and I did not stop.

— Witness, name withheld by request, Louisiana, MO

For context: what thirty-six witnesses described Tuesday evening is consistent with historical accounts associated with the Missouri Monster, a cryptid with a documented presence in Pike County and the surrounding river corridor going back to the early 1970s. I want to be precise about this because precision is what the story requires. We are not speculating. We are noting that the description — the height, the build, the reported movement pattern along the exterior of the building — falls within established parameters. Whether this is the same individual entity that has been reported in this region for fifty years is a question I am not able to answer tonight. It is a question I have written down.

We had a full parking lot at 7:30. By 7:45 there were two cars left and neither of them were moving. I’m not going to tell you why I closed early. I’m going to tell you that I would do it again.

— Store Manager, Dollar General Route 79, via phone, before transfer to voicemail

I have been at this desk since 2009. I have covered a lot of early closures. Most of them have explanations that arrive within forty-eight hours — a plumbing situation, a staffing issue, something that resolves into paperwork and a reasonable account. I am not ruling that out here. What I am telling you is that thirty-six people stopped their cars on Route 79 Tuesday evening and saw something that caused them to call a cryptid news network before they called anyone else. The percolator on my desk is running. The radio is at a pitch I would describe as elevated. I am going to keep writing. We will update this story as information becomes available, or as the appropriate team at corporate returns my call, whichever comes first. I am not betting on an order.