Heman Park

Just a memorial picture fir me, didn't trust walking around in the evening, due to a lot of unsavory people in their activities

Skeets Rodgers gave a wonderful outdoor concert yesterday evening. He and his band played a variety of music and everyone was pleased about the mixture of music. There were no mosquitoes in our area and the trees made the park very pleasant.

This is a large park that is also home to an aquatic center and a variety of sports fields/courts. There are multiple entry points for parking, and plenty of spaces when you get there. This was the first time I've ever seen River Des Peres in a natural state with water visibly flowing, so that was a pleasant sight. There were other points along the walking trail to catch the eye, which added to the interest. One highlight was a very dead frog - don't often see that! Judging by the old water fountains, this must be a very old park. Everything seems to be well-maintained, including the trail.

They say if you wander too deep into Heman Park after sundown, you’ll hear the sounds first—something between a growl and a man’s coughing laugh, echoing low through the trees. Most folks chalk it up to raccoons or teens trying to spook each other. But some, especially the old-timers, they know better. They’ve seen the Heman Park Humanoid. Back in the late ’70s, when the park was just starting to get cleaned up from years of neglect, workers found more than just rusted beer cans and sun-bleached bones of old deer. Deep near the creek bed, hidden in a cluster of old oaks, they discovered a series of strange shelters—woven from vines, bark, and animal skins. One man swore he saw a figure watching from the trees, half-covered in shadow. Said it moved like a man… but the eyes? They weren’t human. Over the years, sightings continued. A jogger saw it dart across the path—too tall for a man, too fast for a bear. Kids would come home from night games talking about “the park man,” saying he smelled like wet leaves and rotten meat. One unlucky couple parked near the edge of the woods claimed their car was clawed—deep gouges on the hood, as if something had leapt on top. Nobody knows exactly what it is. Some think it’s part man, part forest spirit, born from the old burial mounds nearby. Others whisper it’s a science experiment gone wrong, escaped from some long-defunct lab under the park’s old stone pavilion. And some just call it what it is: the Humanoid—neither man nor beast, watching and waiting for something only it understands. They say if you’re in Heman Park and the breeze suddenly dies, if the crickets go quiet and the leaves stop rustling… you best leave. Fast. Because that means he’s near. And he doesn’t like to be seen.

Pretty nice park near the the Delmar Loop. Very dog friendly with multiple paths and ample parking. One full loop around the park equates to almost exactly 1.5 miles.