Media

Media Article – Macoupin County, Illinois # 1

Tuesday, April 9, 1991

Sounds of bumps in night at Staunton Lake

Alton Telegraph

by Mary Brase, Telegraph staff writer

MACOUPIN COUNTY – A foul smelling creature, that witnesses said may have been Bigfoot, apparently slipped away from Staunton Reservoir without a trace.

Cheryl Kampmann and Eric Schlechte reported hearing what may have been a large creature running up a hill on the south side of the lake about 1:30 a.m. Monday.

“We were sitting out near the beach when we heard the shuffle of leaves and three loud thumps,” Schlechte said.

It sounded like the creature was pulling up trees causing a lot of damage, the two said.

Schlechte said there was a “terrible rotten fish smell mixed with the odor of algae when the pond turns over.

“It’s hard to describe, but it’s pretty potent.”

Later Monday morning, as deputies with flashlights combed the area, Kampmann said she heard a growl and a roar from across the lake.

“At first I thought someone was fooling with a public address system, but the sound wasn’t near the cars, and the car doors were not open”

Schlechte added “It sounded like a cross between a lion and a grizzly, and lasted  three or four seconds.”

The Telegraph – John Badman

Eric Schlechte and his girlfriend, Cherly Kampmann, both 21, sit on a pier at Staunton Reservoir; where they say they heard something moving through the tree line early Monday morning.

Schlechte and his girlfriend, both 21, come to the lake often, usually during the daytime to catch crappie and bass. They said they have never encountered anything like Monday morning’s episode.

Neither have police and sheriff’s deputies, who found no evidence of a foul odor or even one footprint, authorities said.

“We didn’t really see anything because it was so dark and cloudy, but we heard it on the side of the hill. We first thought someone, was goofing off,” Schlechte said.

“Police advised us to clear out and we did. ” he said, but the two can’t help believing there may be something to the Bigfoot legend.

“It could be,” Schlechte said, looking across the water to the curve of inlets surrounded by trees.

“Well, if you find him, let me know,” Staunton Police Chief Larry Grabruck said, “But calm him down first.”

Macoupin County authorities said the spring sighting may be related to a recent Bigfoot documentary on television.

“I think my kid was watching the movie on cable last week, ” Grabruck added.

By |2021-04-18T07:02:33-05:00June 3rd, 2011|Media|Comments Off on Media Article – Macoupin County, Illinois # 1

Mississippi River Project – Presentation

I am going to be a guest speaker at the:

Grant River Campground in Potosi, WI  this coming Saturday,  May 28th, 2011 and

Blanding Landing Campground in Hanover, IL  Sunday, May 29th, 2011.

 

 

 

This Saturday

May 28th, 2011

8:30 p.m.

Grant River Campground

Public Invited

3990 Park Lane

Potosi, WI 53820

42.65127, -90.69988

——————————————————————————————————-

This Sunday

May 29th, 2011

8:30 p.m.

Blanding Landing Campground

Public Invited

5720 South River Road

Hanover, IL 61041

42.28583, -90.40333

 

 

By |2011-05-26T09:13:39-05:00May 26th, 2011|Media|Comments Off on Mississippi River Project – Presentation

Guest on WDLJ – 97.5 The Rock

This coming Thursday morning (07:30 a.m.) , the 26th of May, 2011,  I am going to be a guest on  Moose in The Morning at WDLJ – 97.5 which broadcasts locally from Breese, Illinois. You can also access the show live through their internet website at 97.5 The Rock – Your Southern Illinois Rock Station.

Hopefully one of the local witnesses will also be available for comment. Clinton County is the area where I recently spent time researching the “Screaming Hairy Lady.”

To listen to the archived version please click on image below:
Moose in The Morning, 26th of May 2011

By |2011-05-23T16:20:20-05:00May 23rd, 2011|Media|2 Comments

Springfield Ghost Society – Presentation

I am going to be a guest speaker at the Springfield Ghost Society Meeting at the Rochester Public Library this coming Sunday, April 17th, 2011.

 

“Bigfoot In Illinois”

This Sunday

April 17th, 2011

4 PM

Public Invited

Rochester Public Library

#1 Community Dr.

Rochester, IL 62563

 

Note: It would be appreciated if you plan on attending to email  debbie.lowery@comcast.net or call  217-414-4678 to confirm your attendance.

 

 

 

By |2011-04-13T06:50:38-05:00April 13th, 2011|Media|2 Comments

Wallowa County Incident

My first memory of sasquatch discussion was the 1st of April 1959 when I was 10 years old and living in Northern Idaho.

Here is the article from the front page of the Lewiston Morning Tribune – 1st of April 1959.

Oregon Men Say "Abominable Snowman' Seen In Wallowas

La Grande, Ore. (AP) – Three La Grande men swear there is a home-grown said they saw it through binoculars when they flew over the mountains for another look as soon as clouds disappear, perhaps Wednesday. Ray McFarland, who was piloting their light airplane on a pleasure ride Sunday, said he sighted what at first he thought was an animal near Horseshoe Lake. He put the binoculars on it.
“It was the shock of my life,” he said. “The best I can describe it is as half-man, half-beast.”
McFarland said it was hairy, but patches of skin appeared. “The hind legs were longer and it was tearing at the carcass of a small animal. Doug Holman and Leonard Knight, who were along, said they also saw the half-man, half-beast creature. All three are La Grande businessmen.
Evening at Horseshoe Lake

Horseshoe Lake in the Wallowa Mountains of Northeastern Oregon

As a child in Idaho I read this article in our local newspaper about this sighting in North-east Oregon. My uncle, Roy Carper, lived in Wallowa County, Oregon and he was a friend of Leonard Knight’s. Uncle Roy said his friend wanted the pilot to rent a small helicopter and go back and have another look but the pilot, apparently shook up about the sighting refused.

I vividly remember this incident as my relatives lived close to the sighting area.  The description as “half-man, half-beast” really scared me as a kid, actually it still does.

This story is  written about in:

John Green’s book – “Sasquatch: The Apes Among Us.”

And the incident can also be found in John Green’s Database here:

John Green Database – Wallowa County, Oregon – # 10011009

By |2011-03-04T19:00:03-06:00March 4th, 2011|Media|Comments Off on Wallowa County Incident

Illinois Gets No Respect

The great Rodney Dangerfield made a career out of the phrase “”I get no respect, I tell ya”.

In many ways I feel that the state of Illinois is the “Rodney Dangerfield” of the bigfoot / sasquatch world.

From novices to certain college professors there has always been a bias that if they even accept the existence of  sasquatch that it only lives in the vast forests of the Pacific Northwest and most certainly not Illinois.  In fact, when I first started researching in Central Illinois I received an email from a famous researcher in Michigan who’s advice was “Stan, you need to be quiet about bigfoot activity in Illinois, everyone knows that Illinois has only cows, and you will hurt your reputation.”

But what about the history of sightings in Illinois. The first known newspaper article concerning sasquatch in Illinois was dated 1883 concerning a “monster in St.Clair County, Illinois.” Since that time there have been close to a hundred articles about Illinois sightings. Certain names for the “Monsters of Illinois” have become famous such as Bachelors Grove Monster, Cohomo (Cole Hollow Monster), Dutch Henry Monster, Du Pont Monster, Enfield (Wabash Monster), Farmer City (Salt Creek) Monster, Kickapoo Monster, Murphysboro Big Muddy Monster, Piasa Monster (Piasa Bird), Sangamon River Bottoms Monster, Tuttle Bottoms Monster and Weed Monster. Even the New York Times carried an article about the Big Muddy Monster.

But perhaps all these monster names never translated into the term bigfoot or sasquatch.

If one looks at the various groups that post sightings for Illinois the number is close to 200 reports. The BFRO (Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization) lists over 160 sightings and Illinois is ranked 7th in the nation, and only 3rd place for states east of the Mississippi.

So then, Illinois does have the reports, but what about the land? Is it not known that Illinois, if not being mostly urban sprawl, is a land of corn and soybeans.  On first glance that may appear true. To the casual traveler on one of the states interstate highways massive agricultural landscapes appear to predominate.

If one looks past first impressions and looks at the statistics things appear somewhat different.

According to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Illinois has  4.9 million acres of forest. Although these forests tend to be of smaller acreage and not like vast areas in the West they do harbor a massive amount of game. Illinois has an estimated 800,000 white-tail deer, 

Illinois also has 87,990 miles of rivers and streams.

So it would appear that Illinois, although not a wilderness does have a very large network of forested rivers and streams. Even Cook County, Illinois (the third most populated county in the U.S.) has 67,880 acres in the Forest Preserve District of Cook County. And unlike in many states, sightings in Illinois are not concentrated in any one section but stretch from Jo Daviess County in the extreme northern part of the state to Alexander County, the southernmost county.

Presently are there are reports from over 70 of the 102 counties of the state

One of the most interesting witnesses I ever spoke with had a sighting in Kankakee County, Illinois just 50 miles south of Chicago. You can read his report here. When we talked on the phone he said that he could give me a dozen reasons that bigfoot could not exist in Illinois but there was one problem, and that was that he had seen one. No amount of arguments or rationale could move him past what he had seen with his own eyes and he knew was true.

By |2011-02-27T16:00:02-06:00February 27th, 2011|Media, My Research|3 Comments

Weed Monster

Newspaper articles:

Maywood’s What-Is-It

Sasquatch is real to some and myth to others

Books & websites:

BFRO Report # 12984

BFRO Report # 28461

BFRO Report # 28525

Bigfoot Encounters – Cook County – # 1

John Green Database – Cook County, Illinois – # 991014

By |2011-02-25T07:00:35-06:00February 25th, 2011|Media|Comments Off on Weed Monster

This Is A Custom Widget

This Sliding Bar can be switched on or off in theme options, and can take any widget you throw at it or even fill it with your custom HTML Code. Its perfect for grabbing the attention of your viewers. Choose between 1, 2, 3 or 4 columns, set the background color, widget divider color, activate transparency, a top border or fully disable it on desktop and mobile.

This Is A Custom Widget

This Sliding Bar can be switched on or off in theme options, and can take any widget you throw at it or even fill it with your custom HTML Code. Its perfect for grabbing the attention of your viewers. Choose between 1, 2, 3 or 4 columns, set the background color, widget divider color, activate transparency, a top border or fully disable it on desktop and mobile.
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