I am going to be a guest speaker at the Afterlife Paranormal Conference and Film Festival in Chicago, Illinois this coming Saturday, October 6th, 2012.
I am going to be a guest speaker at the Athens Fall Festival in Athens, Illinois this coming Saturday, August 25th, 2012.
I am going to be a guest speaker at the Quincy Public Library hosted by:
Spirit Bluffs Paranormal this coming Saturday, August 11th, 2012.
I am going to be one member on the Haunted America Monster Panel at the Haunted Ameican Conference this coming Friday, June 22nd, 2012.
Donald J. Potts
I am the one that saw a large hairy creature riding between box cars listed in the first
paragraph above. See 1st comment here: Railroading Sasquatches
I was 15 years old and the year was 1975. At that time in my life, I grew up spending
every non-school hour possible outdoorsfishing in the summer and hunting in the winter
and use to love to rabbit hunt with my Beagles up and down all along the railroad tracks
in my area. The animal I saw was very huge and balled up so I could not see the face.
It had long auburn brown hair that glistened and blew in the sunlight/wind. At that
time back in 1975 it was mostly thought that bigfoots only lived in the deep woods of
the Pacific North West and Canada. I had heard stories of bigfoot sightings in IL, but I
too was skepticback then and if you said you saw one, you were ridiculed and chastised
for it.
Yellow highlight showing the location of Bond County, Illinois
Now that I am older (51) and much wiser and have researched all the information I can
find on them, I am very confident that both Stan Courtney and I saw a Bigfoot riding the
trains in Illinois. I know it sounds crazy as hell, but knowing what I knownow about them,
I no longer tell myself it was a huge dog, or an orangutan escaped from the St. Louis Zoo.
This is what I told myself all of these years because I had no other explanation for
what I had saw with my own eyes. My incident occurred in Bond County, IL out near the
heavily wooded areas near the Kaskaskia river bottoms.
I am now retired military and retired law enforcement. My entire career has been spent as
a trained observer and an investigator. I am not lying about what I saw since I have
nothing to gain by lying. If Stan or someone else sets up some cameras on tripods so they
can film the trains from both sides and both directions, it is only a matter of time when
this same incident can be captured by HD camcorder.
I urge others not to automatically jump to the conclusion that Stan was hoaxed. I know for
sure nobody hoaxed me back then. I think bigfoots are extremely intelligent, super strong,
and ninja like stealth masters. I now believe they do ride trains and I hope others will
prove it to everyone else by being the first to catch one riding the rails on 1080 HD video.
Once again, great report Stan.
Donald J. Potts
Bigfoot In Illinois.  Saturday morning (11:00-11:30) Central, the 11th of February, 2012,  I am going to be a guest on the Flyover Zone at 88.3 WQNA with Hugh Moore and Friends which broadcasts locally from Springfield, Illinois.
The complete interview can be listened to live and in archive from two links found on this page:
Oct 20, 2011
“Gorilla” marketing: Chatham Sasquatch playing promotional role for upcoming Halloween events
By Jenn Pointer
Springfield – The State Journal-Register
CHATHAM – The Chatham Sasquatch has taken a liking to Funilla Ice’s seasonal candy corn milkshakes according to one of the business’s owners.
Owner Rhett Mays said Bigfoot sightings at the business have increased since Oct. 10, when the 1980s and 1990s-themed ice cream shop and miniature golf facility held a Chatham Sasquatch Day for area students to raise funds for the not-for-profit organization, Kailey’s Krew.
The Chatham Sasquatch watched the Glenwood High School Titans win the Central State Eight Conference battle for second place after defeating Rochester High School 35-25 on Friday, Oct. 14, 2011.
“Our manager, Julie Smith, did most of the coordinating for the event, “ Mays said. “We sent flyers out to schools in the Ball-Chatham School District (and) raised $231.â€
The Sasquatch event attracted more than 100 people with some additional marketing help spearheaded by his seven part-time GHS student employees, including Mays’ son, Nolan, and Trevor Dowell, who are both GHS soccer players. The students’ promotional efforts have since led to Bigfoot sightings at high school football games.
To promote upcoming Halloween events, both Funilla Ice and the Chatham Jaycees are using the Chatham Sasquatch as a marketing tool.
The Chatham Sasquatch will be making appearances at the Chatham Jaycees Haunted Hayride on Saturday, Oct. 29, at Chatham Community Park, and Funilla Ice’s Spooky Golf, which will run until the business closes for the season on Nov. 1.
Funilla Ice will be open from 4 to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursdays; 4 to 10 p.m. on Fridays; noon to 10 p.m. on Saturdays; and noon to 9 p.m. on Sundays.
“We have the course decorated and spooky music playing. It is ‘gorilla’ marketing at its best,†he laughed.
Oct 18, 2011
Chatham Jaycees Haunted Hayride is back – and so is the Sasquatch
By Jenn Pointer
Springfield – The State Journal-Register
CHATHAM – The Chatham Jaycees Haunted Hayride is back, and the organization says it is prepared to awaken the spirit of Halloween – and a few monsters – by resurrecting the old community tradition Saturday, Oct. 29, at Chatham Community Park.
Hayrides will be held from 5 to 9 p.m., with friendly rides available from 5 to 6 p.m. The route will begin and end at the main entrance of Chatham Community Park by the parking lot behind the baseball concession stands. The Park Street entrance will be closed.
The Chatham Jaycees Haunted Hayride will be held from 5 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 29, at Chatham Community Park. The Jaycees will be setting up many “scare stations†and several monsters will be roaming in the park, including the mysterious Sasquatch who was last seen by the Jaycees Oct. 6 at Fulgenzi’s heading to Funilla Ice. Have you seen the Sasquatch since?
Tickets are $4 for adults and $2 for children ages 3 to 12. Children ages 2 and younger ride free. Tickets will be sold until 9 p.m.
The Jaycees will be setting up many “scare stations†and several monsters will be roaming in the park, including the mysterious Sasquatch who was last seen by the Jaycees Oct. 6 at Fulgenzi’s heading to Funilla Ice.
There will be a bonfire and ghost stories by the Friends of the Library.
Hotdogs, bratwursts and a variety of fall treats will be sold, including Apple Barn cider and caramel apples. Popcorn, hot chocolate and baked goods will also available for purchase.
The Ancient Athletics, a unit of the St. Andrew’s Society of Central Illinois, will be setting up a scare station and donating the use of a party bus to provide tours for the elderly.
History of the event
The Haunted Hayride dates back to 1988 and was “the brainchild†of Chatham Jaycee Terry Burke according to longtime member John Moore.
The original route started at the village square, toured decorated neighborhoods west of Route 4 and south of Main St., and wove its way back to the square, where members of the Friends of the Library told ghost stories around a campfire.
Volunteers from the Chatham Fire Department towed the wagons and the Jaycees followed in chase cars.
Moore said the Jaycees and other groups set up displays and Halloween scenes along the route, which later led to the participation of residents.
“Residents who lived along the route during the early days of the event would often plan and execute scenes on their own. Some of these became very elaborate,†he said.
“Halloween parties took place in driveways and costumed guests got involved in scaring the hay riders.â€
The Jaycees determined in the mid 1990s that public roads were too dangerous for hay riders, and the event was shelved.
The organization has held alternative Halloween events since, including an indoor event at the Chatham Community Building and a Halloween walk called the “Goblin Gathering.†Hayrides were brought back briefly beginning in the late 1990s during the construction of Chatham Community Park, but ended after a few years.
Moore said Chatham residents remember the tradition of the Haunted Hayride because of the amount of community participation and the creativity that was put into displaying “scare areas.â€
This year, the Chatham Jaycees plan to present an event with the same atmosphere as the original haunted hayride, Moore said.
“While providing plenty of frights, the Jaycees always tried to add a little humor and kept the event very family friendly, too – fun and frights, not a lot of gore or violence.
“There will be something for everyone to enjoy, from the very young to grandparents.â€
For more information, visit the Chatham Jaycees on Facebook.
On the 21st of June 1998 Lake Springfield hosted an Ironhorse Triathlon. The outcome was the largest epidemic of leptospirosis in the nations history. Other lake users also had symptoms. Dr.Donald Graham, head of infectious diseases of the Springfield Clinic believes that all 346 with symptoms  had the disease.
You can read the full article  Troubled Waters from the Illinois Times.
Leptopirosis bacteria is carried in the urine of mammals. The investigation lasted for months and hundreds of animals, both wild and domestic were tested but to no avail.
Highlights from this article are:
Does a microscopic monster lurk in Lake Springfield?
“The medical community was stunned that these people had leptospirosis”
“The strain of leptospira bacteria was so unusual you had to have some unusual mammals causing it,” explains Graham.
“it was not obvious” there were any sewer mains at the sparsely populated end of the lake where most people were contaminated.
Bridgeview Beach, in the branch fed by Sugar Creek, was the site of the triathlon in 1998, and it was the only area of the lake to yield a water sample testing positive for pathogenic leptospira.
Wetlands just before it flows into Lake Springfield and close to several sasquatch reports.
From my reading of several articles about this incident it appears that the final conclusion was:
1. It was a stunning medical event.
2. It was unusual strain of bacteria from an unusual animal.
3. The bacteria was not from sewage.
4. The area of most concern was the Sugar Creek drainage.
– Â references to Leptospirosis and Lake Springfield include:
Leptospirosis in Emergency Medicine
Leptospirosis: Background and History of the Disease
Leptospirosis Information Center
Leptospira Molecular Genetics Server!
According to the Illinois Department of Public Health the strain of Leptospirosis was Leptospira kirschner serotype grippotyphosa.
So what am I getting at?
Anyone who has been following my posts about Chatham, Illinois this summer knows that there have been several tracks found, rocks being thrown, vocalizations being heard and possible sightings of sasquatch all along Sugar Creek and it’s branches. Â How much urine does an 800 lb mammal produce or for that matter a family unit of four or five?
Now I don’t what the source of the  leptospirosis bacteria was back in 1998 but I do agree with Dr. Graham when he said  “you had to have some unusual mammals causing it”.
Conclusions:Â
Was the unknown mammalian carrier of leptospirosis that infected 346 lake users in Lake Springfield in 1998 a Sasquatch / Bigfoot? Â Obviously you can not answer a mystery with another mystery but there have been dozens of reports suspected sasquatch activity in Sangamon County and over a dozen in the Sugar Creek area.
The largest outbreak of leptospirosis ever in the continental United States baffled dozens of doctors and scientists and remains to this day without a conclusion. The mammalian host species remains a mystery. Â Or is it?
When the Illinois Times article Troubled Waters asks “Does a microscopic monster lurk in Lake Springfield?” my answer would be:
“No, the monster lurks in the woods along the shores of Lake Springfield”
On Monday, the 12th of September, 2011, Tom (not his real name) was in his backyard in the small town of Chatham, Illinois. He happened to look back towards his patio and saw an odd sight. Â Clearly someone or something had destroyed a section of his downspout. The downspout had blood splattered on it and several hairs were still attached.
At this point most of what happened is open to conjecture. It would appear that something ripped the downspout apart in an attempt to perhaps get at a squirrel.
Everything is a wild guess at trying to understand a very strange occurrence.
Photo of the downspout still partially attached to the side of the house.
One section of the downspout showing tooth impressions.
Part of the ripped apart downspout showing apparent splattered blood.
I met the homeowner at his home and he agreed to the following interview. His real name is not “Tom”.
Tom – You see how close I am to the lake. This is pretty much all woods, there are like three ponds that drain into this one that is right back here. And that pond actually drains into that ‘s’ curve that you see that is connected to Lake Springfield. There is all kinds of deer up through here. I didn’t know what it was, I was kind of freaked out for my dogs.
My dogs pretty much stay in the yard, they won’t leave, but it ain’t going to stop anything else from coming in. You can walk through straight to the pond through all these yards.
Stan – What was the series of events.
Tom – It happened like Sunday night, and I noticed it Monday. I came out the door and I said “What the heck?” They pulled both screws out and only had one left. Â No one heard anything, my son’s bedroom is right there. I mean to have that much damage and no one hear.
Stan – Any reaction from your dogs?
Tom. No. That’s because they were inside. But sometimes the dogs come out here at night and their always barking down there towards that direction. She always runs out there near that green thing.
Stan – So, is there always one direction they bark?
Tom – Oh, yeah! Always, when they come out this door she comes flying out this way, she always faces that way. That’s that big swampy area, down through there.
Stan – Have you ever heard any unusual sounds?
Tom – You hear, in this neck of the woods, all kinds of sounds. You hear coyotes. There used to be a zoo (Grindstone Valley Zoo). I’ve had giraffes in my yard, and you would hear like lions at night.
Stan – How long has that zoo been closed?
Tom – I would say at least four years.
Stan – So, how did you happen to contact me?
Tom – I talked to one of the guys at work, Mike. Mike says “You have to call the police and find out, because I am telling you I have hunted my whole life and I have had dogs my whole life and their ain’t no dog that did that to your downspout.” Because some of these teeth marks and just the way it mangled it. Mike knows you and that is how I got your number.
Wetlands area behind the home where Tom lives.
Tom – As you can see it is very dark back here.
Stan – Have you ever smelled anything unusual?
Tom – You get that a lot around here, I find dead raccoons all the time, dead squirrels.
Tom – Mike said what was funny is that his dog didn’t even want to smell that piece of pipe. They didn’t want to have anything to do with it. It didn’t, and this is a German Shepherd. He said she isn’t usually afraid of anything, but whatever was on that pipe the dog didn’t want anything to do with it.
Tom – This whole area where we live, we have the wildlife sanctuary, that’s a protected area, all the deer, this is just a bountiful area here and cover.
Stan – What gave you the idea it might be related to the other possible sasquatch reports in the Chatham area.
Tom – When I showed the downspout to Mike, he said “That ain’t no dog, that is some type of other animal. You should probably call the police so they could figure out what is going on, because that is no dog.” We had talked about the other sasquatch report in the area close to here. So Mike said he had this friend who was involved in research and could take a look at that, let me send him the photos. So that is kind of how it happened.
Stan – Well, thank you very much for contacting me and allowing me to come to your home and look around.
The downspout along with blood and hair samples have been submitted for DNA analysis. At this point I am guessing that the blood belonged to the possible squirrel that was in the downspout.