Vern sorry for not getting back to you have been busy. I am new to this forum though I have been reading it for a few months. I was not aware that so many people were interested in the subject of Bigfoot till I wondered online a Year ago. My story begins in the summer of 1970 I was 14 years old at the time. My brother had just rented a 320 acre farm that winter and moved on too it with his wife and five kids that Feb. This land borders both sides of the Nodaway river in SW Iowa. In June of that year I was staying with them to help with the farm work during the night it rained also that morning. Too wet to work in the fields or make hay my brother and his wife went shopping taking the two youngest with them and leaving us four boys to raise a little cane. We decided to ride our horses over to the back 120 and go crawdad huntin mainly to kill time. We got there and tied up the horses to an old windmill shucked our shoes rolled up our pant legs and waded in, this soon degenerated into a full scale mud fight. my nephew Bill and climb the west bank to get and avantige shot on the other two, this was near 20 feet high clay bank with a row of Bur oaks running north and south beyond to its west was a open unused cow pastuer. As I top the bank I noticed these weird tracks in the mud, as Bill made it up to the top I was nelt down looking them over these tracks were like nothing i had ever seen before or since Three toes and perfect toes I mean imagine if you had three big toes on on your feet just perfect like peas in a pod.A nice athletic looking foot curved in sole but no arch almost flat footed. Any way Bill says what ya lookin at I said come here and look at these His eye got fair big and looked at me and said what is it I said i don't know its damnest beaver that ever lived or the devil!! We then folowed them tracks south to the nieghbors fence line where we lost them in the thick grass. We did find a spot where it got close to the edge and slipped with its left foot leaving a slide mark and a deep perfect impression. Their were maybeen 20 or so tracks and clear easy to trail. I wore size nine shoes then it was near two inches longer than my barefoot and another thing those tracks were in line by which I meen they was one in front of the other no curve out like a humans like pigeon toed, no side spred to speak of. Can't describe or put into words the human looking quality of these tracks and very fresh looking. as for stride not much farther apart than you or me walking barefoot. Soon the other boys hollured at us wondered what we was doing, I told Bill not to tell the others what we found cause they was younger and didn't want them freaking out. one more detail about that day as we were warring our way down to that spot we had herd dirt falling down the bank into the creek were we being watched, I've all ways wonderd you know if that thing woulda fell down that bank in front of us we may have solved this mystery but I bet you would have seen four boys making tracks for home real quick. Looking back on it from all these years later I still see them tracks burnt into my mind, what was it? maybe a young one watching us who knows but I'm still looking. Thanks for letting me share this with you. Their are other weird stories that happend here and I will save thoughs for a later date. Hank

*note*...split this into its own topic,by request..and after reading it it seemed to me to be a good idea..

My grandma used to live in that area a long time ago when she was a litte girl.

Great story. Thanks for sharing, Hank.

I think Hank was hoping for some comments on what he saw. I am no expert on these three-toed tracks, and I hope someone who has first hand experience with them will chime in. I have only seen photos and two supposed casts. The casts weren't real good ones with a lot of detail. But I will make a couple of comments in the hope that it might stimulate a few others to chime in.

Hank, three-toed "humanlike" tracks have been found at least from the late 60s up to the present in various locations in the South and Midwest. I don't recall reading of any claims which predate that time frame, but that doesn't mean such claims aren't out there. Enough of these things have been found in widely separated locations over at least 30 years, that a lot of folks are misinterpreting what they see, there's a whole lot of coordinated hoaxing going on, something strange is making the tracks, or some combination of these factors.

As I've said elsewhere, these tracks bother me a lot, because they don't fit in with my ideas of how they "should" be if they are bigfoot. That doesn't mean there are no real ones.

Two things in what you said caught my eye. One is the lack of a distinct arch. I think it is pretty clear that this is a bigfoot trait. If you've followed any of the discussions on any of these forums, you've heard of Jeff Meldrum at Idaho State U. He is an anatomist, and one of the few academics who have investigated bigfoot seriously. He sees evidence of a flexible midfoot joint rather than a fixed arch. I know he did a paper on it, and I think it is available somewhere on the internet.

The other thing of interest to me is the fact that the trackway was linear--one foot almost directly in front of the other. That is another trait of tracks that I think are the real deal.

It sounds like you are pretty confident about what you saw. You didn't say how many of the prints showed good evidence of toes. Did you note any change in the relative position of the toes--splaying for example? I'm assuming that the chance that anyone was funnin' you is pretty remote?

These observations are the ones which jump out at me. As I said, I hope that someone here who knows a lot more than me will chime in.

Tell us the rest of the story when you have a chance.

-Vern

good to see someone else on here from Iowa.

Well, at least this gives the three-toed Fouke Monster some validity!
Thanks for sharing your story, Hank!

Hi all! Vern to answer your questions yes the toes were visible in every track and yes the mud was ridged between the toes and the toe marks were maybe even a little deeper in the prints. No evidence of webbing and no claw marks. I have looked at a few of these websites with no avail have seen some of their track photos but those ones where the heal in nearly pointed are nothing like these I found. The only one that ever came real close was of a man holding a plaster cast in a news paper out east somewhere that was one that came the closest to matching them. I belive this gentleman has a group in Penn or Ohio this was a year ago last fall maybe some folks here would remember it? If i remember correctly he was putting on a bigfoot conference. Shoulda saved it I guess. Somebody mentioned boggy creek yes I remember seeing that at our theater in 72 or 73 and yes the tracks found by that old farmer got me too wondering about these too, up untill that point I never equated them with a bigfoot as he was suppose to have five toes. and Vern as far as somebody trying to trick us woulda been fool hardy because there was a big chance these would never have been found, I'll admit we had some strange neighbors but none aflicked with feet like these lol. I would like to hear from other Iowans as to there sightings or anyone having an opinion on this. There were many sightings up around Manchester, Olwein and Fort Dodge Iowa back in the late seventys, the Raccoons and Des Moines river drannage basin appear to be good places to look. later Hank

Hank, you might try sending a PM to bigfootboy who posts here. He is from PA and can probably help you out.

Three toes? Have farm mishaps been ruled out?

Actually Hank, I am joking. That is an interesting story. I'd have loaded my drawers and been out of there as quick as possible.

Is your brother still out there? And heck, he must be a bit older than you.

Jon

Did it look like this?

Jon he is 19 years older than me and no he moved off the place in 1982 we did rent the farm untill 1985 its was bought by out in the early 90s and dozed flat most of the trees are gone and the buildings also it looks barren and sad. I live four miles from the site now on the home place. Oh Jaylee I did contact him last spring he says it was not him I was looking too find out, so far no luck. Hank

the Raccoons and Des Moines river drannage basin appear to be good places to look
----------
Yup, I'll be over in the pella area this spring doing some looking around...

Hank,

A little late, but welcome from another Iowan.

Justin

this might be the paper. great images. http://www.isu.edu/%7Emeldd/fxnlmorph.html ALSO, take a look at the 3 (possibly 4) toed foot casting here: http://www.n2.net/prey/bigfoot/articles/bfat50.htm

Bf 43 thanks for that article, never seen it before. Number six photo looks quite similar too what we saw in shape minus the toe difference. I am still looking for that photo of that fella in the east holding a plaster cast that was as close as any I ever seen. SgtWarren also good to see another Iowegian in here send me an E-mail. I used to talk to a fellow from Clinton on Pal talk havent seen him for months. Also good too see others from Iowa and our Nebraska neighbors let me know where your all from. Its commencing too snow again reminds me of what our winters used to be, global warming right!! not fit here for man or beast. Thanks Hank