StanCourtney

Submitted by Dave Tackett of  Bigfoot Ape.com

1977 Illinois sighting with a Map

My story, it is probably one of the longest sightings ever, lasted for several hours. The year was 1977.

There were three of us going fishing in a remote place along the river. We walked down some RR tracks until we got close to a bridge, then we stopped in our tracks, as there was a thunderous crashing sound in the forest across the slough. I stated it was probably some Deer we spooked, and we proceeded to spread out and start fishing.

The noise didn’t stop, it was quite irritating and seemed to spook the fish. About an hour later it finally stopped. It got so quiet I got this feeling something was watching me. Not where the noise was, but straight across the slough I made out a head peeking over a bush. “Hey, there’s that Deer” I hollered and pointed, and when I did that the creature reacted by walking out in the open. “Its a Bear, no wait a minute…, Evan, come here, you got to see this, it looks like a Bigfoot!” Evan and came over, then we sat stunned at what we were seeing.

We watched this creature walk from bush to bush, peeking over. After awhile, we decided to go back to fishing, it didn’t seem threatening. We fished a couple hours, and I kept an eye on the thing, but then I couldn’t find it, I looked and then spotted it again, it had moved down the bank where it could get closer to us, too close, that scared me. I told my buddies and we decided it was time to leave. That darned thing could have easily crossed that shallow slough and be on top of us.

I asked these two guys if they would return with me in my boat, gun, camera and some plaster, but they didn’t want any part of that. I did return that Fall, about 4 weeks later, with 10 gauge shotgun in hand. We were building a Duck blind on the point of that island, and Evan didn’t want to walk with me so I went alone with my 10 gauge. I walked part of the island which is about one mile long by one half mile wide without seeing anything. I stood where we saw the creature, but there was no sign of any wildlife or human. It is too remote and hard to get to for people.

I returned this Summer but could access the RR tracks, they have a gate now. I plan to return by boat some time. It is so shallow, it takes a Jet-drive to get access to the island.

I cannot explain what I saw. I bekieve it could have been an animal, but what I don’t know. It was brown and hairy, tall and thick. It walked on two legs similar to a bear. It is hard to believe anyone would have been waiting on that island for fisherman to come to such a remote spot.

The sounds when we arrived sounded like a heard of deer, no man could make such a racket and deer wouldn’t have spooked so easy being 200 yards away in heavy brush out of sight. It could have been a horse I suppose, but that is doubtful. It sounded like a herd of deer running through the brush.

Next thing was the thrashing sound that lasted a long time. Sounded like duck hunters cutting cattails, but it was too early to build duck blinds, I know because we drew out and built a blind in that area. I don’t think it is possible for anyone in a suit to be thrashing and crashing in the brush in a fur suit for such a long time on such a hot day. It could have been more than one person, but then we’re back to why would people wait in such a remote spot for the slim chance that someone might come to fish on the other side of the slough. It just doesn’t make sense, it must have been an bigfoot ape.

It did not show itself, I happed to make out a face 100 yards away peeking over a bush, not moving. That was hard to spot, it was trying to hide, rather than trying to get me to look. It looked like a deer head peeking over the bushes. It only came out in the open after I pointed at it and yelled for my buddies to look at that deer. When it walked out into the open, it looked like a bear walking on two legs, it was huge. We don’t have Bears around here, and it and walked more like a man than a Bear. It was not trying to scare us away, it seemed to be curious. It would watch me for awhile, then walk to another bush to watch the other fisherman, then back to where it could see me. Only after a long while did it disappear and show up a little closer to us that spooked us. But even then, it didn’t act aggressive, it was just sneaking up to get a better look at us, apparently. Non of this makes any sense if it was a prank, it just seems more like we were witnessing some type of animal that was ape like and curious about us. It gives me the creeps just thinking about it. It seems ridiculas but we saw what we saw.

This island is actually a peninsula, toward the top end it narrows and meets the mainland right where there is a farm house. No one can access this park unless they walk through the yard of the farm, or by boat that can go in shallow water. No one ever spends time on this island except duck hunters for this reason. I have hunted this island for ducks for two years around that time. The island is very thick brush and swamp, and the water around it is silted in making it a hard place to get a boat close to it. On the side we were facing, was a shallow slough and on the other side is the main river. The water is only inches deep all around the island and all the years I have spent on that part of the river I have never seen anyone near it. Its just not a place to go to camp, fish or anything. Where we fished is owned by the railroad and it is closed to the public. We had to park about a half mile away or so and walk to the area we fished. People have fished there along the tracks, but rarely and mostly when the water is high in the spring.

This is a sketch showing what I saw.