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.
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.
There have been several reports lately of sightings, footprints from two separate locations, numerous stick structures and vocalizations all within the forest preserves in the 4 northeastern counties of Illinois.
I have been on location at Bachelors Grove in rural Cook County, Illinois four times since early November 2010. Â Normally I am not interested in stick structure, teepees, tree twists or arched over trees. It is difficult for me to differentiate between what is storm caused, human activity or something else.
Bachelors Grove however impressed me. Â What I found very odd is that there is an area of the woods that is almost devoid of any vegetation or leaves. The area has trees of all sizes and logs, lots of logs strewn around. Â I am told by local researchers that new structures periodically show up overnight, and that the logs are moved around. Many of these logs would take a lot of effort to move, something that I would find very unusual for humans to be able to do.
The area that is devoid of vegetation is about 100 by 100 feet. When I stand there I get the impression that it is a very unusual spot, almost like it is an area where something happens. And by that I mean I just get the impression that it is perhaps a rendezvous area. There has been much speculation over the years about sasquatch social structure. I normally try to steer clear of speculation when it comes to why sasquatch do what they do or what their  lives are like when there are no witness reports to back up our ideas.
This new structure was built between the first part of December, when I had last visited the area and the first part of April. It is approximately 12 feet by 12 feet by about 8 feet high. Pictures are a very poor way to visualize such an open structure.
What impressed me was the construction. I will not go into details because of the problem with hoaxers or people coming forward and claiming they had built it. If someone believes they either built it or it is of human construction then they can contact me with an explanation of the details of its design. I tried to lift the heavier crosspieces and was unable to even budge them.
Most areas in the out-of-doors do not bother me, but this location effects me in the same way as the Little Big Horn area of Montana, I just get the feeling that something has happened here. Not foreboding but I just wonder what goes on at 3 am when most of  mankind is asleep.
To see structures photographed earlier at this location please click here:
Cemeteries and Squatches, Pt. 3
One of the more commonly reported sounds is wood knocking. Now whether wood knocking also includes vocalizations, hand slapping or rock clacking is open to debate.
Another type of knocking or banging heard in the woods is what sounds to be banging as if on metal.
From the book Gorilla Behavior by Terry L Maple and Michael P Hoff  (Van Nostrand Rheinhold Co., New York: 1982 ) we read on page 197,
“In captivity, as we have seen gorillas incorporate the built environment into their aggressive displays. They will drum, pound, and kick against any surface that reverberates the sound. Their use of the environment to create noise may be seen as a kind of tool use, and in gorillas the behavior is clearly an extension of their natural chest-beating display.”
Chest-beating has also been reported from this location. Using a remote recorder I recorded the following sounds on the night of the 30th of March 2011.
Click here to listen to sound clip:Â Â Metal Banging 2Â
Waveform View
Spectral View
Each one of the ten bangs is very short and at a distance, therefore the signature on the photo above is small. Â There is old farm equipment close by so perhaps something was banging on it.
R. D. Bedwell
Here is the story I’ve heard since I was a kid. The series of events took place near Lewistown, Illinois, in October of 1968. I’ve researched this story and found only one press release in a local newspaper — the Fulton County Democrat, Wed., Oct 23, 1968. The story printed is very vague, and from my interviews not very accurate. The actual first encounter was Friday, Oct. 18, 1968, between 7:00 and 8:30 pm. on the Dutch Henry gravel road just a few minutes outside of Lewistown.
Dutch Henry Rd leading off west of U.S. Rt 24 and southwest of Lewistown, Illinois.
The First Sighting
Like most high school students from around the midwest, trying to find something to do in small town U.S.A. on a Friday night can be a challenge. So like many others, cruising and parking on the back roads is not uncommon. But this particular fall evening proved to be much different. In two separate vehicles, one following the other, they come upon what they think is an animal stunned, lying in the middle of the road. Both cars come to a stop, headlights on. They all get out and start walking towards this animal. As they get within ten feet or so from it, it stands up. Shocked at what they see, they think it is someone dressed up in a monkey or gorilla suit (after all it was almost Halloween). So one of the guys yells at it, “You-little-son-of-a-b—–, you better get out of here before I beat your ass!!” This creature bent over and slapped the ground, then picked up a handful of dirt-gravel and threw it at them, hitting a few and the first car. Now the guy charges the creature, it turns to get away, as it spins, it back-hands the teen across the chest area. The guy flies into the roadside ditch, the others run to their cars. The creature leaps a nearby fence with ease. I was told that it moved as fast as a deer, no way could a person be that fast or strong. All seven who witnessed this made a police report. The police went to the Dutch Henry road later that night and found nothing.
The Second Sighting
The very next night around 9:30 pm., a Fulton County police officer was driving on route 24 near the Dutch Henry road turn-off when a wild-ape ran in front of his patrol car. He turned down the gravel road but lost sight of the creature. For about 3 weeks people reported seeing this wild-man, then all the sightings stopped.
Description of the Creature
The animal was described as 4-5 feet tall and had dark brown hair or fur. It was very stocky and had long arms. The face looked human but it moved like an animal, though running and walking upright. No smell was noticed, but it did make some grunts.
My Theories
First, my half-brother was one of the teens that witnessed this event. He would not lie about this! He doesn’t believe in bigfoot/cryptozoology, he thinks its all B.S., but he doesn’t have an answer as to what he and his friends saw that night in 1968. My dad remembers other reports on the local radio, he said the radio was saying it was just a Halloween prank. But he really feels something was there and that my brother wouldn’t lie about it. I asked my half brother just last year if it was the truth – I told him after all these years there was no reason to hang on to a Halloween prank. He said, “I saw what I saw, don’t know what that thing was, it was real, it happened!’ He is now in his mid 50’s.
Second,  I think there  are a small number of North American Apes that travel by water and use obsolete railroad tracks, and possibly stay in old mine shafts for shelter. Many sightings take place near train tracks, creeks and rivers.
Return of the Dutch Henry Monster?
I did an interview in the mid-1990’s with a lady named Rhonda Bybee, she told me that in September of 1991, around 8:00 pm, Â she was driving down route 100 near St.David, Illinois (about 10 miles from Lewistown). She saw something at the edge of the pavement, it was down on all fours. She thought it could be a hurt animal until it stood up and crossed the road in front of her car. It was acting stunned or hurt, then it went down into a ditch, and up and over the railroad tracks, then into the woods. She was terrified! Another car that was coming from the other direction must have seen it too, as it sped off very fast. She told me that it had black or dark brown fur-hair, was about five foot tall, and very dirty looking, like it had mange. Could this have been the return of the Dutch Harbor Monster?
Well, for now this is all the information that I have been able to piece together about the strange events of 1968, I hope that one day the Dutch Harbor Monster will return, or could it be that it’s still here?
On the 30th of March 2011 I recorded something sniffing and checking out my recorder at my main research area. Now when I place out remote recorders they are usually an object of interest by the forest critters. Most of the time I assume it is raccoons, possums or even field mice.
This audio was a little different and made me wonder if it wasn’t something a little larger. It had a long approach getting to the recorder and leaving. Also heard are several different types of owls, coyotes and the long rumble of a train. I could not filter at all because it would lose those lower sounds. The best way to listen to this sound is with headphones and the volume turned up. Although the subject was very close to the microphone the noises it made were very subtle. Is this the same way gamecams are inspected, by coming up slowly and and staying out of the front of the camera? It would be interesting to have audio recordings on those gamecams that have revealed out-of-focus fringes of hair around the edges of the vision of field.
Click here to listen to sound clip: Â Sniffer 1
Waveform View
Spectral View
Location of the recorder placed underneath a log. As the small recorder was not visible to any casual passer-by my hunch is that it was detected by the animal having smelled it. None of the leaves appeared to have been moved so I would think that what ever was inspecting the recorder was careful not to touch either the recorder or the leaves that were close to it.
I recently received this photo titled “Bill and Mongo” from my cousin Bill Courtney of Washington State. Obviously he has been reading my blog and has heard about Mongo!
Bill, his brothers and sister were raised in the Blue Mountains of Southeast Washington State. This part of Washington State is famous for sasquatch sightings and footprints because of the research of Paul Freeman of Walla Walla, now deceased.
With the opening of the new movie Red Riding Hood (2011), it got me to thinking whether there is any connection between the Big Bad Wolf and the old “hairy wildman” myths of Europe.
Now I am not a folklorist nor am I knowledgeable about old European myths. I honestly only feel comfortable speaking about something I have personal experience with. However, having had a very brief sighting of an “upright hairy biped” myself near Seneca, Illinois in 2005, I do know that “hairy wildmen” do in fact exist in North America. It is my belief that the “hairy wildman” myths of Europe are based on the real flesh & blood animal commonly known in the North America as bigfoot / sasquatch. As such I think the wildman fits the description of ogres and trolls.
Illustration by Gystave Doré (1832-1882), the French artist and engraver.
But what about “The Big Bad Wolf”? In medieval times  Europe did have wolves and big problems at times with rabid wolves. The recently released movie Red Riding Hood (2011) proclaims that it is “Set in a medieval village that is haunted by a werewolf”.  There are similarities in the dialog of Red Riding Hood to old Norse myths which describe the animal as a giant, not a wolf.
It is my conclusion that it has always been difficult for witnesses to come to grips with what type of animal the “hairy man” is. Being confronted with an 8 foot hairy creature standing behind a tree many have included it must be a wolf standing on it’s hind legs. And if it is a wolf, which doesn’t stand on hind legs, then it must be an upright walking wolf, the werewolf.
Note – for an excellent resource to the origins of  the myth of  the “hairy man” in Europe read the in-depth book entitled ‘Santa Claus, Last of the Wild Men: The Origins and Evolution of Saint Nicholas, Spanning 50,000 Years’.
Pieces of evidence sometimes are found at the most unexpected times.  Such was the case a year ago when I found “Footprints in Stone – Pt.2“ embedded in a concrete roadway in Cook County, Illinois.
In March my wife I were walking the streets shopping in Nuevo Progreso, Mexico when we saw this long string of footprints laid down in soft concrete many years ago.  And once again, it would appear  that children are easier to keep away from wet concrete than a wandering dog.
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 WallowasLa 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.
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
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. Â 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,Â
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.
