The Wild Man of the Navidad refers to a complex, nineteenth-century Texas legend made up of a number of different stories, many of them contradictory to the nature of the creature involved. Some of these stories suggest that the Wild Man was a runaway slave with tremendous powers of stealth, while others involve a crypto-hominid creature similar to a smaller version of Bigfoot. The origin of the legend has been traced back to the small town of Sublime, Texas, located about halfway between Houston and San Antonio. The first known stories of the Wild Man come from 1836, the same year that the Battle of the Alamo was waged just over 100 miles away. Some stories claim that the Wild Man was part of a trio along with a female known as the Wild Woman of the Navidad. Other stories suggest that there was only one creature, a female.
The Wild Man derives from oral slave culture during the turbulent period of Texan independence from Mexico in 1836 and through the early years of statehood. Slaves along the Navidad River during this time period believed that there was a creature that would use the cover of night to steal food, move items, or just cause mischief. Initially called “The Thing That Comes,” this creature was never seen, but evidence of its passing could be found in what had been taken, moved, or replaced. Even though the creature was reported to be adept at gaining access to houses while people slept and could not be detected by dogs, it never manifested any malicious intent, leaving valuables in place and sometimes borrowing tools or other items but returning them later, polished, sharpened, or in other ways improved. It is likely that members of the families involved can attribute these stories of pilfering and low-level theft to midnight food raids.
Over time, other unexplained phenomena began to be attributed to the Wild Man of the Navidad. Reports of a quick-moving, bipedal creature covered in brown hair began to emerge, with the theft of food and minor property still ascribed to its passing. Reverend Samuel Rogers began collecting stories about the Wild Man in the 1840s. He noted that the creature seemed to know when food was in abundance on local farms: “When the corn was in roasting ear he would come nearly every night to get a supply” (Montgomery 2005). Rogers reported finding footprints of three different sizes, and it was indeed felt that there were three such creatures instead of just one. On several occasions, Rogers found what was believed to be an abandoned camp used by the trio. Even though reports during this time period were more consistent with crypto-hominids than humans, rumors began to circulate that the Wild Man and his supposed cohort were in fact runaway slaves or a group that had been abandoned as children during the Mexican invasion of Texas in 1836, and who had grown up wild and self-sufficient in the rural areas along the Navidad River.
In 1850, a hunt was organized to get to the bottom of the mystery, and a runaway slave who knew no English was captured. Some accounts hold that this slave was a prince from West Africa who had escaped upon arrival in Texas, and who was subsequently resold into slavery until freed following the Civil War. Other accounts suggest that this slave was not the Wild Man of the Navidad, and that all accounts from this period instead involved a woman—sometimes referred to as the Wild Woman of the Navidad—who had been separated from her family during the war and chaos of the mid-1830s. With all of these different variations, with reports of male and female humans and crypto-hominids, it is difficult to know exactly how many local legends have been bundled into the idea of a Wild Man roaming a small river in east Texas. In his 1928 book, Tales of Old-Time Texas, J. Frank Dobie notes that, even at the time, no one theory was held to be conclusive by the settlers living in this area.
Despite the inconsistencies in its origin story, the Wild Man of the Navidad continues to impact local popular culture, with a 2008 horror film meant to evoke the era of 1970s drive-in films bringing the legend to a whole new audience.
Andrew Howe
See also Bear Man of the Cherokee; Bigfoot or Sasquatch; Boogie Man; Mogollon Monster; Pope Lick Monster; Pukwudgie; Skunk-Ape of the Everglades
Further Reading
Dobie, J. Frank. 1928. Tales of Old-Time Texas. Boston: Little, Brown.
Kenney, Martin. 1837. “The Wild Woman of the Navidad.” Bigfoot Encounters website. http://www.bigfootencounters.com/creatures/navidad.htm. Accessed October 22, 2015.
Montgomery, Murray. 2005. “Wild Woman of the Navidad.” TexasEscapes website. http://www.texasescapes.com/MurrayMontgomeryLoneStarDiary/Wild-Woman-of-the-Navidad.htm. Accessed October 22, 2015.
Reese, Randy. 2002. “Wild Man of the Navidad.” Victoria Advocate. July 23. Google News website. http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=861&dat=20020723&id=qjNSAAAAIBAJ&sjid=JTYNAAAAIBAJ&pg=7163,5985592. Accessed October 22, 2015.