I was raised on the West Coast and had only been “east” once before meeting my wife. In 1972 we flew east to meet my future in-laws who lived in the tiny village of Piasa, Illinois. A couple of days later they took me to see the famous painting along the Great River Road near Alton, Illinois. My wife had graduated from Piasa Southwestern High School whose mascot was fittingly the Piasa Bird. So I was quickly indoctrinated with the local lore and history of this famous character.

The painting as it looks today along the bluffs of the Mississippi.

But what about the history of the monster?

In 1673,  Pere Marquette and Louis Joliet, while traveling down the river spotted the painting of the monsters along the bluffs. Marquette wrote down this description:

“While skirting some rocks, which by their height and length inspired awe, we saw upon one of them two painted monsters which at first made us afraid, and upon which the boldest savages dare not long rest their eyes. They are as large as a calf; they have horns on their heads like those of deer, a horrible look, red eyes, a beard like a tiger’s, a face somewhat like a man’s, a body covered with scales, and so long a tail that it winds all around the body, passing above the head and going back between the legs, ending in a fish’s tail. Green, red, and black are the three colors composing the picture. Moreover, these two monsters are so well painted that we cannot believe that any savage is their author; for good painters in France would find it difficult to paint so well, and besides, they are so high up on the rock that it is difficult to reach that place conveniently to paint them. Here is approximately the shape of these monsters, as we have faithfully copied it.”

Drawing on 1678 map by Lean Baptiste Louis Franqueli

Quoting from the Alton Telegraph Newspaper

This wingless Piasa was included on a 1678 map, “Discovery of the Illinois country,” drawn by French cartographer Lean Baptiste Louis Franquelin of Quebec. The original map is in a French government museum collection. Photo courtesy of Service Historique de le Marine. A drawing of a Piasa Bird was described by Pere Jacques Marquette on his missionary journey down the Mississippi in 1673. Art from Telegraph archives.

So it can easily be seen by Marquette’s description and the drawing that the original monster did not have bird wings.

What about the name Piasa?  From Webster’s Dictionary we read:

The name “Piasa”, pronounced in English /ˈpajəˌsɑː/ or “pie-uh-saw”, is from the Miami-Illinois word páyiihsa (cf. Anishinaabe: apa’iins(ag), “little people(s)”),[1] the name for a type of small supernatural dwarves said to attack travelers. The connection between this Miami-Illinois word and the “Piasa” illustration is confirmed by such early French transcriptions as “paillissa”, found on Nicolas de Finiel’s map of 1798. (See Costa 2005: 297). Etymologies which claim the word “Piasa” means “the bird that devours men” or “bird of the evil spirit” are impossible, and are not rooted in the Illinois language.

Could these “little people(s)” or  “small supernatural dwarves” actually be juvenile sasquatch?

What wild-man / bigfoot / sasquatch features does the monster exhibit? According to Marquette – “a horrible look, red eyes, a beard like a tiger’s, a face somewhat like a man’s.”  Do not all of these features appear to be possibly sasquatch features? Many witnesses report sasquatch as having eyes that glow red, being hairy with beards, facial features being man-like. And in recent years reports have come in with sightings of sasquatch running as quadrupeds.

In the book Santa Claus, Last of the Wild Men, the author Phyllis Siefker traces the origins of wild man worship back at least four thousand years.  Paintings from the famous “The Sorcerer” at the cave of Les Trois Freres in France clearing show a shaman dressed in animal skins.

The Piasa “monster” on the left and the “Sorcerer” from France on the right.

But, were Wildman or Sasquatch found in this part of the country? Both modern sighting reports and audio recordings would seem to indicate that is still the case.

My brother Dale believes that he had a visit by a sasquatch while camping in July of 2004 in the Lewis and Clark National Forest in Montana.

Here is a write-up that my brother did to document his experience in 2004:

My wife and I decided to camp closer to home to save on fuel with the rising costs of travel so we decided to try a public campgound in Montana. We decided to go to Spring Creek campground located in the Lewis and Clark National Forest located about 5 miles North of highway #12, West and North of Martinsdale. The campground is located in the Belt Mountains on the Southern edge. It has 10 sites with restrooms, tables, fire pits, and centrally located garbage cans. The main road leading to it is barely visable up above the camp in heavily forested land with a creek running South through the campground.

We departed our home in the country West of Laurel, Montana on July 21, 2004 and planned to spend a full week or so camping there. When we arrived after about 3 hours we checked out all the sites and picked out the one that we though would be the best for us and that would accomodate our 34 foot motor home parking it sideways instead of backing it in to make a maximum amount of privacy. Our site was on the end of a loop on the outside so we had nothing to our East and South but the forest.We set up our camp taking our time and fixing it up for a long stay.

The first two nights we were the only ones camping in the entire campground and then on Friday and Saturday only four other parties occupied other sites. By Sunday afternoon all were gone again so we had the entire campground to our selves again.

On Monday evening we were both sitting at the big picnic table close to our fire pit enjoying our dinner we had prepared. Our dog Zacary (English & American Cocker Spaniel) was close by waiting for a hand out. Where I was sitting I could see up the lane a short distance towards another site. I happened to glance up and noticed a very small young black cat sitting in the middle of the lane. I quietly told my wife to slowely turn and look as she wouldn’t believe what she was going to see. She turned around and saw the cat. She immediatelly got up and slowly started towards the cat. Our dog spotted it at about the same time and race was on, chasing the cat off into the woods and that was the last we saw of it.

We had a couple of cans of tuna fish with us and plenty of milk so we decided to set some out that evening after dark when we retired for the night. I placed it close to our door on the carpet along side the steps just under the travel home. When I awakened the next morning I went out to check the bowl and it was empty. We continued that day watching for the cat but never did see it the rest of the time we were there. We would place more food and milk out each evening till we departed on Thurdsday the 29th. Each morning the food would be completely gone. We had to assume the cat would wait till it was quiet during the night and then come and get the food.

On Monday night the 26th we had gone to bed around 9:00 PM going right to sleep. I was awakened around 1:30 AM by a strange noise which seemed to be coming from our door located between the kitchen table and the easy chair on the passenger side. It sounded like someone was trying to open our door. I was immediately alarmed and very nervous with many things rushing through my mind. I knew that we were the only ones there and the closest humans being about 4 miles back down the road towards the highway.

I am a Vietnam Veteran that served in the infantry in combat so I have a lot of memories of how scary things can be at night. I just layed there and continued to listen. The noise would start again and last about 5 seconds and then stop again and then it would repeat. Our door handle on the outside is a lever insted of a round knob and I knew the sound was identical to the sound that it makes when you place your hand on it and jiggle it. I didn’t know what to do at first and hesitated to get my 357 pistol out of the closet right next to me. After hearing this strange sound for several more times I decided to awaken my wife to have her listen to it also. My pulse was racing and it felt like my heart was up to my throat. She had a hard time getting awake and she did hear it once and then we never heard it anymore. I decided to get out of bed after I got calmed down and walked slowely towards the front of the motor home to get a large powerful flashlight under the sofa. I shined it out of the large window above the kitchen table and down towards the outside steps and door. I saw nothing so decided to turn on the outside light. I didn’t see anything even then but I had this earry feeling that some one or something was waching me. I sat there in the dark and decided that every thing was okay and eventually went back to bed with no other noises being heard again.

I tried to convince myself that it had to be that cat but knew there was no way it could have climbed up to the handle or even jumped up there. The exterior of the motor home is fiber glass and has a very slick finish!

I walked our entire area the next morning looking for some kind of evidence that something was out there but found nothing. The containers used to feed the black cat were both in place where I had placed them that eveing but they were licked clean.

After that we would place our lawn chairs and hammock around our door before retiring each night to make a barrier hoping if what ever or who ever came back that the chairs would be bumped and make noise to awaken us. We never had anymore incidents happen after that and we headed home on the 29th.

We went back to the same campground a month later and spent another 7 nights there with most of them being spent alone. We parked at the same site but had no more visitors in the night including the cat.

My wife and I camped with them the summer of 2005 in the same campspot. We were the only campers. The third night this is what I recorded at 11 p.m. It is my opinion that it is a large biped walking past our two motorhomes. When my dog growled from inside the motor home the animal walked away. Even though I had the night-vision next to my bed, by the time I got up and looked out the window the animal was gone.

Click here to listen to this sound clip: Footsteps 1

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I spent several nights camping at this campground in 2008 and 2009.  Three of these occasions were written up preciously.

Botanist and The Elk

Greasy Hand Prints (Oklahoma / Montana)

Old Hag vs Infrasound vs Unknown

Pieces of evidence sometimes are found at the most unexpected times.  Such was the case a year ago when we found “Footprints in Stone“ embedded in concrete in Springfield, Illinois. Chicagoland has never paid much attention to their little sister to the South and it appears they will not be outdone once again.

In November after exploring the woods around Bachelors Grove Cemetery in rural Cook County, Illinois we saw deer prints scattered heading across the roadway. It would appear  that children are easier to keep away from wet concrete than deer.

On the 8th of December 2010 I was getting ready to do some sound recording about an hour south of my home. It was 11 p.m. As I approached my car I heard this really strange sound coming from due north of my house towards a large hillside. At first I thought it was going to be a roar but then it stopped.

The sound was very loud. When I played back my sounds I was disappointed to find out that my memory card was full and I had failed to record that unusual sound. However when reviewing my recording I found several sounds that I think matched what I heard that night. The sounds reminds me of deer snorts but the sounds I recorded were much louder and filled up the cove with its sound.

Click here to listen to sound clip: Snort 1

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On this next clip where the sounds are spaced 60 seconds apart you can tell how far the animal has moved because the second sound is much louder and closer to the microphone.

Click here to listen to sound clip: Snort 2

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For comparison listen to a White-tailed Deer snort  – Deer Sound Clip # 1

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The first part of March 2010 I recorded the following sound. At first I thought it might be a Red Fox, but after listening to it further I don’t think that is the case. It would have been better if the Screamer had been closer to the mic. The recorder and microphone were on my patio running continuously. I am unsure of the direction from my home.

A view to the west close to our house.

Click here to listen to sound clip:  Scream 3

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Click here to listen to sound clip: Red Fox

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As both the Illinois Howl Illinois Howl and the Colorado Howl Colorado Howl would appear to be mimicking coyotes perhaps the Illinois Screamer is mimicking Red Fox.