Is the Horizon City Monster roaming our city and lurking around El Paso's mountains?

Sylvia Arreola
Sylvia Arreola
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This is how a recent and strange incident at McKelligon Canyon led me to believe the legend of the Horizon City Monster.

In the summer of 2021, I was invited to be part of the cast for Viva! El Paso's media night. Two days before the show, the cast of about 30-35 met for rehearsal at the McKelligon Amphitheatre.

Uriel Posada
Uriel Posada
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While some cast members were inside the changing rooms, the rest of us were on stage going through our roles. It must have been around 7ish at the time when out of nowhere, I heard what amounted to a screaming howling screech in the foreground.

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Thinking maybe someone was on their phone, I shrugged it off, but then a few minutes later, I heard it again and even asked to cast to stay quiet to see if they could listen to it too. A minute later, sure enough, the howls came back one long one, followed by a few short ones.

The whole cast and I freaked out for a moment; then I realized I didn't have my phone on me; I ran back to my car to get it to try and record any of the sounds for proof of what we heard, but by the time I came back the howling had ceased.

Ray Arreola
Ray Arreola
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Curious and perplexed as to what that strange sound could have been, I started to do some online sleuthing.

I kept thinking there was no way it was a mountain lion or anything like that because this howl/screech was different, loud, and sounded like a thundering roar that rolled through McKelligon Canyon that late Wednesday afternoon.

ma
ma
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The Legend of the Horizon City Monster

While trying to find more information, I came upon the legend of the Horizon City Monster, a hairy Bigfoot-type of animal that allegedly roams the outskirts of our city.

The legend of the Horizon City Monster dates back to the 1970s. There’s even an article published on Sept. 20, 1975, by the Herald-Post that talks about an encounter three teenagers had with a “gorilla-like” creature spotted near the Horizon City Golf Course.

kevron2001
kevron2001
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According to the page Paranormal World Wiki, El Pasoan Cecelia Montanez encountered the monster in 2003 when driving along a desert highway near East El Paso. Montanez says that she spotted a hairy figure crouched over a dead coyote and was shocked when it stood upright and walked up a nearby mesquite mound and seconds later vanished into the ground below.

The article describes the Horizon City Monster as “7-8ft tall with broad shoulders, an elongated head, very short hair, and a faded brownish-maroon color”.

El Pasoans have also apparently reported sightings near Ascarate Lake and Eastlake Boulevard, and now we can add McKelligon Canyon. Because, after finding out about the Horizon City Monster, I’m more convinced that what we heard that day was something more than a mountain lion echoing across those mountains.

Btw, while searching for similar sounds to what we heard that day, it sounded exactly like the audio in the video below:

So was it the Horizon City Monster? I don’t know, but I’ll never forget how eerie those howls rolled through McKelligon Canyon that late afternoon.

Have you encountered anything strange or supernatural? Share your story by emailing monika@ksii.com.

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