Thursday, February 02, 1922

Wildman Lives Alone In Cave

New Oxford Item (Pennsylvania)

Makes Night Raids On Neighboring Farms and Carries Away Animals.

FIGHTS WITH HUNTERS

Won Hand-to-Hand Encounter With Man Who Battled Him in His Cave in Effort to Win Reward

Mt. Sterling, Ill. – A wild man, living in a cave near here, is thwarting all efforts of police and armed citizens to capture him and is keeping the countryside in terror with his raids on outlying farms. A price has been set on his head, but desperate attempts to capture him in his lair have proved vain.

The wild man recently made a series of bold robberies near. Mt. Pleasant, carrying off calves and sheep to a deserted mine where he stays hidden in the daytime. Ambrose Smith, a dead shot and tireless hunter, was seriously wounded in a terrific hand-to-hand encounter with the mysterious man-monster.

Is Huge Creature With Bony Hands.

“The wild man has long, wiry hair that bristles about his savage-looking face.” Smith said in his home, where he is recovering from the adventure. “In the uncertain light of the cavern I made him out to be a great towering creature. His hands are thin and the flesh is stretched over the bones like leather.”

People feared black damp in the long empty galleries of the mine so much that even a reward of $500 for the wild man, dead or alive, failed to result in his apprehension. At last Smith, accompanied by J. M. Blair and others from Mt. Pleasant, all quick with a gun, went to the cave. It was late in the afternoon. Smith had the others stand back 200 yards from the mouth of the cave and entered alone, armed only with his large hunting knife. His dog followed him.

Fought for Hour in Damp Cave.

Night fell and the watchers waited in vain for Smith’s return. Then there was a great noise and the dog ran out whimpering. The men went into the cavern in search of Smith. They groped along through the twisting passageways in the darkness, but were unable to find any trace of him. At midnight Smith crawled from the cave on his hands and knees and fell faint and exhausted at the feet of his friends.

“I did not get more than 50 feet into the cave boys.” he said, as they carried him to the doctors, “when I saw the wild man glaring at me a few feet away. Then he sprang at me and held me in his steel-like grip. I tried to knife him but he held my wrist. For more than an hour we fought together on the wet floor of the cave.”

“I weakened and he slipped from my grip. I felt his hot breath on my face and then a heavy blow on my head knocked me unconscious. I don’t know what happened after that. When I get well I’ll make another attempt, and next time I’ll get him.”

Wednesday, July 26, 1972

Huge, White, Hairy “Monster” Reported Sighted In Cairo

Cairo Evening Citizen

Has the Abominable Snowman lost his love for the isolated mountains in which he so often has been reported? Has he developed a craving for hot, humid climates, and perhaps even a suntan?

There have been several reports of a huge, orange-eyed monster roaming the hills near the small town of Louisiana, Mo., near the Mississippi River.

Tuesday evening a huge monster was reported sighted in Cairo.

LeRoy Summers, whose address was listed as 411 27th St., told Cairo police Tuesday night that he had sighted a 10-foot-tall, white hairy monster standing by a small brick building on the Ohio levee between 28th and 17th Streets.

Summers said he was jogging on the levee about 7:30 p.m. when he glanced up to see this two-legged apparition standing by the building.

He didn’t stay around long enough to observe the monster’s facial features, but he did note that it had a large head.

Summers said the monster’s body was solid white with a bit of red around the middle. He told police he quickly turned and jogged – possibly a bit faster than he had been jogging – along the route he had just taken.

He did not see if the monster moved.

When patrolmen returned to the scene, they could find no trace of any such creature. The police radio dispatcher reported that just as the patrolmen were returning to the station, another report of a sighting was called into the station.

Near Louisiana, Mo., recently, there have been reports of strange growls at night, which could not have come from farm animals; strange footprints; and a rank smell in the air.

Monday, two families in the area told the sheriff’s office they saw a circle of flashing lights in the area Monday night.

The head of a private group called the International Unidentified Flying Objects Bureau camped out in the Louisiana area last weekend but said he neither heard, smelled nor saw the alleged monster.

He did say, however, he believed there was something in the hills around the Louisiana area and wouldn’t rule out the possibility that it came from outer space.

Thursday, July 27, 1972

Local Monster Might Need Good Attorney

Cairo Evening Citizen

If the monster supposedly spotted in Missouri and Illinois. ever comes out of hiding, he’d better bring a good lawyer-the IRS wants to chat.

And when the Internal Revenue Service is through, the Selective Service Administration and the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization are waiting.

For the past several days persons near Louisiana, Mo., have reported seeing something hairy, smelly and more than seven feet tall.

Tuesday, Randy Emert, 18, of Peoria said he’d seen it, and Wednesday a jogger in Cairo, reported a sighting.

Some contend the creature comes from outer space.

Maybe, but it would still have to pay taxes says Thomas Hayes of Chicago IRS office.

“Technically…if it earned income while resident in the United States,” it would have to file a tax return, said Hayes. Failure to file would mean a fine or imprisonment, he said. If Whatever-It-Is is between 18 and 35 years old, Uncle Sam wants it, as spokesman for the Chicago Selective Service office said.

Hairy and smelly it may be, but if it’s a resident alien-alien from where doesn’t matter-it must register for the draft, the spokesman said.

Alien from where is what troubles the Bureau of Naturalization and Immigration, says a spokesman for the director’s office. Every January 1, every alien must file both his old address and his present one-if he doesn’t, he’s subject to $100 fine and deportation, the spokesman said.

However, it’s “entitled to due process and the full protection of the Constitution,” the office said.

Deportation, if it came to that, might pose a problem with an interstellar alien.

“We’d have to get together with NASA,” the spokesman mused. “Our budget is only $143 million and I’m not sure we could afford the fare.”

On the local government level, Cairo Police Commissioner James Dale has announced his policy toward the alien. He said Wednesday he’s going to make anyone seeing it submit to a breathalizer test for alcohol content.