The Amarillo Anomaly

An Unidentified Amarillo Object in Texas

Dec 03, 2024

I love a grainy photo. A burnt out black and white picture of Bigfoot? A grayscale static image of a UFO? A soft-focused rendering of Nessie? Whatever this is.

The world of high strangeness is full of fuzzy phenomena (figuratively and literally). Blurry images of the weird have captured imaginations since the invention of photography. But for those of us on the hunt for the truth, they’re also their own kind of nostalgia. A grainy photo of Mothman is to a monster hunter what the smell of an old book is to a librarian. There is an odd comfort in knowing that, no matter how far technology progresses, we can always rely on Bigfoot to be just a little out of focus.

Which brings me to this week’s monster. Guys, gals, and non-binary pals, please allow me to introduce, the Unidentified Amarillo Object. Or as I’ve chosen to dub them: The Amarillo Anomaly.

They’re just a silly little anomaly— Image Credit: Amarillo.gov

It was 2022. Many of us were still feeling the devastating reverberations of the pandemic and the (first) Trump administration. I think, on some level, we were all grasping in the dark, looking for a lifeboat. Hoping, as Fitzgerald put it, to be borne back into the past. For me, that time machine looked like a blurry image of…a coyote…person…thing?

A zoo in Amarillo, only a couple hours drive from where I used to live, had released a still image from their security system that depicted something lurking beyond the fence. While I wouldn’t say it went viral (the rest of the world was pretty preoccupied). It did gain a lot of attention in my neck of the woods.

The sighting

It was a dark night in May, around 1:25 am, when the Anomaly appeared. It was lurking outside a perimeter fence when it was captured by the zoo’s security cameras. A few week’s later, in early June, the Amarillo Parks and Recreation Department (which oversees the zoo) sent out a press release with the image. Below is an excerpt from that release.

Was it a person with a strange hat who likes to walk at night? A large coyote on its hind legs? A Chupacabra? It is a mystery – for Amarillo to help solve.

For now, the strange visitor is a UAO – Unidentified Amarillo Object. However, perhaps Amarillo has a better explanation.

In the spirit of fun if not curiosity, the City of Amarillo is letting the public offer ideas on the identity of the UAO. (Video footage is not available.)

“We just want to let the Amarillo community have some fun with this,” said City of Amarillo (COA) Director of Parks and Recreation Michael Kashuba. “It is important to note that this entity was outside the Amarillo Zoo. There were no signs of attempted entry into the zoo. No animals or individuals were harmed. There were no signs of criminal activity or vandalism.”

It is definitely a strange and interesting image. Maybe Amarillo can help solve the mystery of our UAO.

A handful of local news stations ran the release and it could’ve ended there. But the photo eventually made it’s way online where the internet did what the internet does. Soon there were a number of “theories” ranging from hoax to … “skinwalkers.” Side note: I plan to do a full deep dive into the appropriation of Indigenous skinwalker stories at some point in the future. But let’s put a pin in that.

Thanks in part to its relative isolation and the speed at which attention cycles shift, the Amarillo Anomaly was only in the spotlight for about three days. And that’s being generous.

As quickly as it came into our lives a blurry, nostalgic beacon of hope, it vanished. It was only recently, as I was digging through my library to find ideas for future monsters, that I recalled the Anomaly.

“It’s been two years,” I thought to myself, “Surely there has been an update.”

Well. Yes. But also, no.

Two years later…

There have been no further official statements from the zoo or the city in the intervening years. The last mention of the Anomaly in any sort of “official” capacity came from a news story in late June of ‘22. Wyze, a Seattle-based company that specializes in camera technology, donated a bunch of new security cameras to the zoo as a publicity stunt.

“Unfortunately, the camera at the Amarillo Zoo was not able to provide a clear image of the UAO. We’re making it our mission at Wyze to make sure when and if it comes back, we all get the answers we need,” a spokesperson for Wyze told reporters.

Not one to turn down free equipment, the zoo happily accepted the donation, and released a statement thanking the company.

“We are grateful for Wyze and this incredibly generous donation to the Amarillo Zoo. It is doubtful we will ever discover the identity of the UAO. However, thanks to Wyze, the Amarillo Zoo will have the best camera technology on the market. This donation improves the security of the entire zoo facility.”

I did find a report from CBS that answered one of my outstanding questions about the photo and the press release. Why was there no video footage? The release states “no video footage available,” but doesn’t elaborate. According to a statement by Kashuba, the cameras only take photos. I looked into the Spypoint Link Micro cams myself, and sure enough they’re trails cams. Designed for pictures, not for video. So that’s one potential mystery solved.

The report also gives us a little more information about where the image was taken. We knew the Anomaly was outside a perimeter fence, but that was all the information in the press release. Thankfully, Kashuba gave a little more context in his interview.

“Members of the zoo were casually looking at footage from game cameras placed throughout it when they came across the photo […] the cameras only take photos and the now-famous picture overlooks an open area of the park right outside the zoo that doesn't receive heavy traffic.’

After some research I think I’ve narrowed where the Anomaly was sighted. That’s right, it’s red marks on a Google Maps screenshot time!

It’s likely that the Anomaly appeared near one of these red Xs. God I love drawing red shapes on maps. Almost as much as I love grainy photos — Image Credit: Google Maps

It seems that whatever the Anomaly was, the zoo and the city weren’t that concerned about it. Even the corners of the internet dedicated to these sorts of sightings have been weirdly quite about the Anomaly. I did find one (very fictional) story on the No Sleep Subreddit that was written from the perspective of an employee at the zoo. For the uninitiated, No Sleep is a place where Redditors post Creepypastas (essentially, internet urban legends). It’s one big creative writing prompt for burgeoning horror writers. So at least someone out there hasn’t forgotten the Anomaly.

What was the Amarillo Anomaly?

I’ve seen a lot of “theories” about its true identity. Skinwalker is the most prominent one. Again, I’m not going to even humor that little bit of casual cultural appropriation right now. But there are others out there from “a coyote on its hind legs” to “a Chupacabra” even “Crash Bandicoot come to life.”

But I’ve got a little theory of my own: a Kangaroo.

I know, I know. You’re probably thinking “A Kangaroo? In Texas? Maybe go back to the Crash Bandicoot theory.” But hear me out. This theory actually has legs (and a tail). The Amarillo Zoo has a Red Kangaroo, but it was accounted for that evening — otherwise this would have been an open and shut case. But, the zoo’s roo isn’t the only marsupial hopping around the Texas panhandle.

In September, 2021, Ricky Looby, an exotic animal collector in Amarillo, reported that one of his kangaroo’s had been stolen. At the time Looby owned multiple exotic animals, including several kangaroos, which he kept in a sort of quasi-petting zoo about 8 miles from the real Amarillo Zoo.

Looby posted online offering a $3000 reward for information leading to the return of the animal.

Apparently things in Texas are just blurrier — Image Credit: Rick Looby, Facebook

The perpetrators were eventually arrested about two weeks later after one of them…posted images of a kangaroo on Facebook. Look, no one said marsupial thieves were smart. Anyway, that could have been a wrap on the mystery of the missing roo, except the animal itself was never found. The alleged kangaroo kidnappers plead innocent to their crimes and claimed to have no idea where the animal was. As of this year, the marsupial was still missing.

So, perhaps our Amarillo Anomaly was Looby’s missing kangaroo trying to find its way back home. After all, the image was taken just a few short months after the kangaroo went missing. It’s not outside the realm of possibility.

Kangaroo's in blurry 120p do look reminiscent of the Amarillo Anomaly

Even if we count out the missing roo, Looby’s other kangaroos have made several daring escapes over the years. It’s possible another one got loose around the time the Anomaly was captured and hopped its way past one of the zoo’s trail cams.

And this wouldn’t be the first time in Monster of the Week history where an enigmatic entity could potentially have been a misidentified kangaroo. If you want to know more, check out my entry on the Enfield Horror.

Do I believe?

What I love about the Amarillo Anomaly is that, at least for me, belief isn’t really a part of the puzzle. The photo is real. The zoo captured an image of something. The question comes down to what? While I stand by my rogue kangaroo theory as one possible explanation, it’s not the only one. Or even the most sound one, really.

Ultimately, the Anomaly represents something more than the sum of its parts. It’s an idea. A reminder that we can find comfort in surprising places. If we had all the answers, life would be pretty dull. The meaning is in the mystery. In a weird way I hope we never find out what the Amarillo Anomaly was. Let the thing live as it was born, blurry and out of focus.

So what do you think? Are there kangaroos running amuck in Texas? Or something stranger still? Will we ever know the truth about the Amarillo Anomaly? Let me know in the comments!