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.

–  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!

Leptospirosis – USA (Illinois & Wisconsin)

Outbreak of Leptospirosis among Triathlon Participants and Community Residents in Springfield, Illinois, 1998

Troubled Waters

Update: Leptospirosis and Unexplained Acute Febrile Illness Among Athletes Participating in Triathlons..1998

Z o o n o s e s !

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.  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: 

Was the unknown mammalian carrier of leptospirosis that infected 346 lake users in Lake Springfield in 1998 a Sasquatch / Bigfoot?  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.  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.  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.  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.

The following posts were extracted from an online hunting forum. I did a search for Keith’s comments and arranged them as to their particular thread and date. As I have camped extensively in Colorado I found them to be very interesting. Keith Foster has given me permission to post his writings here.

1. BIG FOOT!

2. Bigfoot may be dead!!!!

3. Bigfoot Sightings

4. Bigfoot Tracking

5. Colorado Bigfoot?

6. Colorado Bigfoot Again

7. Forgot Bigfoot-Grizzly Spotted!

8. It’s Bigfoot Tracking Season

9. New Bigfoot Info

10. Sasquatch Hunt

Stan – a week after the Incident at Cumberland Sugar Creek Cemetery (June 25th, 2011)  I was contacted by Larry Wilson and we talked about an investigation and findings that he and Chris Mason had been involved in at the cemetery. I asked Larry if he would like to write up a report and allow me to post it here. The following is that report.

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Date of Incident