Since I'm doing audio recording there, and at least one other member wanted to know about Iowa reports, I thought I would start a thread for this state as currently its only discussed in the general Midwest Sasquatch Activity thread.

Des Moines BF Hoaxers: They may be using a Star Wars Chewbacca costume. Its nice to know that these people are in the area, of course it will raise questions about any new reports. This sort of thing is getting to be quite a cottage industry.

http://www.youtube.com/user/BigGreenUmbrella

I read a good story once about a sighting around Dean bottom, near moulton IA.

Type something like that on yahoo and see what you get.

There have been bigfoot sightings in clinton and scott counties,i'm always walking through the woods looking for clues and sightings.

The last thing this world needs are hoaxers in costumes who are fixing to get shot by an excited farmer or hunter. I believe it is only a matter of time before someone dies because of this. There's a reason hunters wear the "10 Km Orange" when hunting.

I managed to overlook my own thread. Apologies for the delay.

> The last thing this world needs are hoaxers in costumes who are fixing
> to get shot by an excited farmer or hunter. I believe it is only a matter
> of time before someone dies because of this.

Well, hopefully not in the midwest, though I did mention the subject in another thread.

> I read a good story once about a sighting around Dean bottom, near moulton IA.

I think I managed to track the report down (though not any details), and greatly appreciate you pointing it out SBRU.

> There have been bigfoot sightings in clinton and scott counties,i'm always walking
> through the woods looking for clues and sightings.

The BFRO maps doesn't have any reports there, but if I recall my Mangani maps correctly I know of sightings there. If you don't mind me asking are those the counties you are investigating, Bigged40? It would be good to know there is someone to coordinate with down there.

pre fish where are you at in iowa? im in cedar rapids and do a lot of traveling myself around iowa, didnt know there were others here lol. Get back to me i usually pack up and go places on the weekends1 peace!! Todd

See this thread for a report across from Davenport, and maps I've added.

http://www.bigfootforums.com/index.php?showtopic=23664

Todd,

> pre fish where are you at in iowa? im in cedar rapids and do a lot of
> traveling myself around iowa, didnt know there were others here lol.
> Get back to me i usually pack up and go places on the weekends1 peace!!

I don't actually live in Iowa, but I'm trying to keep an eye on activity in NE IA, SE MN, SW WI, and NW IL. Or something like that.

Cedar Rapids is a ways away, but not the other side of the moon.

Todd,

In case you haven't logged in, I sent you a PM. Once my schedule is clear I would be glad to see what we can do.

P.F.

I submitted this report awhile back about something I saw when I in my teens. It's been over 25 years since then but I'll answer any questions you might have.

No idea what the area looks like now. I haven't been back there since 1996.

It's amazing how people think IA is just some rolling hills and alot of cornfields. It's just not the case when you get along the banks of the Mississippi River.

BTW, my ex-wife, the girl with me in the car now works for the CR Gazette.

Take care,

Jason

Jason,

I'm aware of your report, and have been to Dubuque many times, though not in that area.

I'm having a problem keeping up with everything this week. I'm in some pain, not getting much sleep, and have my fingers stuck in too many "pies". Or something like that.

If you want to PM me an email address I can follow up with you shortly, or I'll PM you when I can come up with air.

Let me know if that sounds good. Apologies for the delay. And I greatly appreciate you coming forward.

Regards,

P.F.

PM sent

Jason,

I've always felt the ultimate goal of your BF was to be crossing (or had already crossed) the Mississippi. Obviously what you saw was some distance from the river, but I was wondering what you thought of that idea, how you felt the area you were in (at the time) could have assisted a BF in remaining concealed at night while doing so, and if you have any memory of what direction it was headed in or what landmark it was headed towards when it left (the report says towards the park, but its hard to figure out exact positions and bearings). I can provide a topographic map if you would like, though it might take me a few days to catch up. Is there some particular reason you chose the word "hobgoblin" as description?

Thank your for your help,

P.F.

The theory on BF crossing the mississippi is quite interesting to me. I never did it, but had several friends that did. We were all very good swimmers. When they did it, they ended up a good 3/4 of a mile downstream on the other side. BF would certainly have to plan ahead a bit to do it correctly. What about under currents? They are strong on the miss and I've been pulled under by a couple, even with a vest on. you gotta remain calm and let them spit you out or your in trouble.

I guess since the Army Corp has to maintain an 8 foot depth for the barges, Sasquatch could almost walk across!

> The theory on BF crossing the mississippi is quite interesting to me. I never did it, but had several
> friends that did. We were all very good swimmers. When they did it, they ended up a good 3/4 of
> a mile downstream on the other side. BF would certainly have to plan ahead a bit to do it correctly.

Conservatively, even a fairly juvenile BF would probably have 10 times human strength, larger individuals probably much more so. On a per weight basis ape muscle is twice as strong as humans, and female chimpanzees in zoos have been tested to be about 6 times as strong as a typical man (in terms of upper arm strength). BF would have similar muscles, somewhat similar leverage, and the addition of having heavily muscled bipedal legs. So they could swim faster than humans, their only disadvantage being drag from their hair covering. Primates, in general, don't swim. BF and humans are the most notable exceptions.

> What about under currents? They are strong on the miss and I've been pulled under by a couple,
> even with a vest on. you gotta remain calm and let them spit you out or your in trouble.

With greater strength, they probably can resist currents better. Its fairly narrow at this point. Its possible the "delta" type region north of the city slows down the currents, and that's where I expected them to cross, but the report is to the south.

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> I guess since the Army Corp has to maintain an 8 foot depth for the barges, Sasquatch could
> almost walk across!

Yes, in theory if they get sucked down, it if itsn't too deep they could probably very effectively kick off the bottom and might be able to get free of the current.

If I remember correctly, the river around Dubuque is mostly frozen in January... Perhaps it could just walk across downriver.

From the proximity to the river where I saw what I saw, I could guess the Mississippi corridor could be considered a migratory path, it would move along the outskirts of town. Another possiblity I see to get towards the river from where we were would be along Catfish Creek. I never thought about that route until just now but it could be possible.



The figure I saw seemed to be standing in the center of the road that lead down (elevated in relation) to the park. My guess would be it may have been down in the park, saw headlights and decided to see what was going on. After it realized I'd seen it, it went back down the road to the park.

From this map, it looks like we initially turned off on "Zoo Road". From what I understand, the park has now become popular with the mountain biking crowd.

http://www.infosports.com/parks/IA/452727.html

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=31366.

From what the guy decribes in the thread, we would have been right outside the locked gate... there was a turn around before the entrance but I don't remember a gate then. I had initially planned on going down futher on the road to the park but decided otherwise just in case we got stuck in the snow trying to drive back up the road. I never saw anything that obstructed me from going down into the park. It was later when I was outside the car taking a leak that I looked in that direction and saw the "boulder" in the road and I thought to myself "I couldn't get down there anyway, there's a rock blocking the entrance." That's maybe why I kept looking at it, I didn't remember seeing a boulder in the middle of the road when we first pulled in.

After I told my brother about what I saw..... I think he said "what the hell was it... a Hobgoblin?" The name pretty much stuck after that whenever we referred to the incident to each other.

One thing I want to add about the description. The sillouette I described is very similar to the Marble Mountain video figure.

http://www.bigfootforums.com/index.php?showtopic=5853

It didn't go through all the motions of the MM figure but the outline was extremely close to what I saw and seemed more defined in outline than the video image. What I mean is, I didn't see any discernable clothing lines that have been speculated in the MM video analysis.

When I first read about and saw the MM report I thought "Holy Crap!!! That's the same outline I saw!"..... I wrote that basic description in my original report and a few months later I passed what I remembered about the description to the BFRO investigator who called me. Once he compiled my report and interview, it was posted May 2001... a few months before the MM video surfaced on the BFRO website.

> If I remember correctly, the river around Dubuque is mostly frozen in January... Perhaps it
> could just walk across downriver.

An obvious possibility that I completely overlooked.

> From the proximity to the river where I saw what I saw, I could guess the Mississippi corridor
> could be considered a migratory path, it would move along the outskirts of town. Another
> possiblity I see to get towards the river from where we were would be along Catfish Creek.
> I never thought about that route until just now but it could be possible.

That could explain why it was south of Dubuque. Of course, it could be some completely different reason than any of us have thought of.

> The figure I saw seemed to be standing in the center of the road that lead down (elevated in
> relation) to the park. My guess would be it may have been down in the park, saw headlights
> and decided to see what was going on. After it realized I'd seen it, it went back down the road
> to the park.

Yes, small parks do tend to turn up from time to time in the midwest. As ridiculous as it might sound, they seem to be using any cover available when there isn't much around and a county or even city park with some trees, despite the fact that there will be people there during the day, doesn't seem to be off the table for them to consider.

From this map, it looks like we initially turned off on "Zoo Road". From what I understand, the park has now become popular with the mountain biking crowd.

> I never saw anything that obstructed me from going down into the park. It was later when I was
> outside the car taking a leak that I looked in that direction and saw the "boulder" in the road and
> I thought to myself "I couldn't get down there anyway, there's a rock blocking the entrance." That's
> maybe why I kept looking at it, I didn't remember seeing a boulder in the middle of the road
> when we first pulled in.

Yes, hiding in plain sight. A farmer will be plowing a field and go "What's that stump doing over there?" and after he stops and stares at it the stump will jump up and run off. Of course, if he concentrates on his work, and never notices what's out of place, there wouldn't be a sighting because the stump would never move. The same basically goes for people driving during the day and especially at night: 20-30 feet off the road they are just not going to likely notice a brown, non-descript, unmoving object, even if they are familiar with the area. People tend to see what they expect to see, especially if they are paying attention to something else.

> After I told my brother about what I saw..... I think he said "what the hell was it... a
> Hobgoblin?" The name pretty much stuck after that whenever we referred to the
> incident to each other.

The reason I asked is essentially its a very old term for essentially the same thing you saw.

> One thing I want to add about the description. The sillouette I described is very similar to
> the Marble Mountain video figure.

I'm assuming you're referring to the enhanced image early in the thread (due to the new view settings I didn't take the time to click on all the sublinks to the thread)? Basically it looks a bit like a man with a hooded sweat-shirt on (due to the shape of the head), except the proportions may be different. Or am I misunderstanding?

You're correct.... that's what I meant when I said the person's head flowed into the shoulders. My poin is, if you read the investigator's report about what I described.... it's a almost word for word description what the MM figure looked like. The thing is.... my figure was only about 100-150 feet away and wasn't pixulated.... He would have been close enough to see the defining outline and it wasn't a guy in a sweatshirt.... I used the MM figure to give you an idea as to what my description really looked like.

Seeing it again was almost like a bolt of electricity through me....

I've always said if I would have recognized it as a person... I would have yelled or called over to it..... angry that it was violating my privacy....

I still don't think it was a person.

> You're correct.... that's what I meant when I said the person's head flowed into the shoulders.

Yes, people see what they think is a hitchhiker along the road with a hooded sweatshirt on... until they get closer. The description actually goes back into folklore.

> I've always said if I would have recognized it as a person... I would have yelled or called over
> to it..... angry that it was violating my privacy....

No, I didn't mean to say you probably saw a person, I understood what you meant. Sorry if I didn't make that clear.

I apologize also... I didn't mean to sound irritated or defensive. It's just I've spent alot of time trying to make what I saw fit into what looked like a human being and I keep coming up with doubts.

I have been puzzling for alot of years though about the figure and the possibility of it being a person and a couple of things just didn't add up.

Standard wear for us as teenagers back then was hooded sweatshirts under our jackets... We were always walking around with our hood up so I became very familiar with the sight if it at night. I'd also worked some construction as a teenager and wore carharts quite frequently so I'm familiar with the fit and have worked around others in them. What I saw looked nothing like a person in carharts, overalls, coveralls.... didn't look like any discernable clothing.

The park was pretty remote.... no other vehicles or houses around. We'd probably been there for an hour and would have noticed another car pull up. We were not visible from the main road (part of why we chose the location) so we wouldn't have drawn attention to our location by any passers by.

January in IA is cold as hell to be walking around by yourself late at night in the dark. Most rational people wouldn't do it.

It's reaction wasn't what I'd call typical human behavior. I'd think a person would try and dive to the ground to avoid being seen or maybe yell out when it saw me looking at him. All it did was rise up, turn slowly and sort of jog down the road towards the park. I would speculate it lost interest.

The funny thing is..... I never realized there were other sighting of a sasquatch beyond the PNW until I started getting on the internet in 1996. For almost 15 years, I told myself I couldn't possibly have seen what I thought I saw. That's why my brother said "hobgoblin". Neither of us believed it could be one..... they just didn't exist in IA.
,

Reading this reminded me of a time when I had a great time with a young lady on the way back to Luther College. A few miles south of Dubuque on 52 is a rock quarry where we stopped to, uh, look at some rocks, yeh, lookin at rocks, and well, I just wanted to thank the both of you on rekindling that memory!

Plenty of rolling hills mixed with dark forests for habitat.....places to hide.

Jason,

There were a lot of things not mentioned in the books that puzzled me for years as well, things that didn't make much sense. Then we got the internet, and things loosened up, and we found out a whole bunch of things that BF "shouldn't" be doing were being seen elsewhere.

Griz, you got to watch out at those quarries. For some reason, they like quarries.

P.F.

PF - Maybe they like quarries b/c they are typically colder than surrounding areas? If I was big and hairy, I'd prefer colder areas. Oh crap, I am big and hairy! (There goes my chances at any female BF enthusiasts being interested in me !!)

We're speculating on acoustics and/or minerals.

Its up to you to provide the entertainment. 8)

But actually, yes, parties in abandoned quaries are in play as well.

There's alot of rock quarries in the midwest.... There's alot of everything to sustain either a resident or migratory population in that area.

You guys have opened my eyes to a few prospects I'd never considered.... of course now, I don't live there to investigate.

That's the advantage of choosing BF as your cryptozoological interest: They don't just deliver locally, or nationally, but pretty much globally.

But it may take more than 30 minutes to get one to your door. 8)

Just a couple of stories I've found regarding Iowa. More of those damn escaped gorillas!

"But it may take more than 30 minutes to get one to your door."

Especially if it's armed with a club!

tirademan

Now Tirademan *delivers*, and almost in under thirty minutes!

Am I stretching the pizza franchise analogy too far? 8)

But seriously, thank you very much for always providing good information just when its needed.

Plotted from Tirademan's posts (which is where the credit should go), as best as I could (the green circles). I couldn't find Mosquito Lake, but there was an unnamed lake near Mosquito Creek, so I chose that for the one location. Some dates could be argued to be a day or so off, depending upon interpretation. Others are also best interpretations. Best results would be achieved by saving the files and zooming in.

Strange 'escaped gorilla', following the train tracks like that.

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