Hi, I wanna know is anyone on this board living here in IL., and if so have you seen a Bigfoot creature here? I've tryed looking for some IL. reports online, but it seems this is a state that gets fewer reports than most others.

I'm not from Illinois, but I live just across the Wabash River in Indiana. There are few credible sightings in Illinois, just like in Indiana, because I don't think there is a sustained population here. If anywhere in the state would seem like good territory for me it would be extreme southern IL; the woods are pretty dense, very hilly and the people don't like to talk to outsiders. Of course this is just my opinion, I could be wrong.

Usafmedic, thanks for the response. I'm actually looking for northern IL. reports mainly though, since I'm way up north. But they'res not too many forests a creature could hide up here though.

A lot of people on this list seem to have the idea that just because they live in an area that they want there to be bigfoot there too. I take a very cautious approach to any report I see and I don't immediately assume that sasquatch are found all over the place. Check out Wisconsin, I believe they have a few sightings up there.

I've read of reports from Illinois & states bordering Illinois on several websites. Illinois DOES have alot of corn, smack dab in the middle of it! I guess it depends on where you're from & where you want to look in the state. I also agree that just because you want to find one somewhere, that doesn't mean you're in the right place!

Some of the reports for some states/areas are really old, too. Does that mean that they were there but left for greener pastures/forests, or whatever? (I wonder alot about that one...) Areas change. People are moving in all over where it used to be, if not actual wilderness, then @ least natural/sheltering/etc. Where I live we used to see deer on the fringes, in the woods & fields -- natural areas that could support them & shelter them. Now I see them in my yard, crossing paved roads, along the railroad tracks... Places where they're not so comfortable! Last week I saw one in a suburban area about 2 miles out of town, and headed that way. A bigfoot walking through your yard is a bit more spectacular than a deer... They're BIG! And they aren't supposed to BE!

I believe they're real animals. I think they're smart. They have basic needs that have to be met. Find an area that suits those conditions & that's a good place to start. I do believe that they migrate (or used to) from area to area, but paths can, and HAVE to change as people intrude. In a vast national forest it's easier to avoid contact than in a farming area or semi-residential area. It can happen, but its pretty risky... not to mention uncomfortable!

As a bigfoot mommy, I can picture myself saying, "Now Sweetie, if I catch you anywhere even NEAR the before midnight, you're GROUNDED for a month!! No car, no cell phone, no chatting on the internet! You're going to college in a couple of years, and you darned well better LIVE to GET there". I'm a vereran mom. No... MOM.

I have to sign off now -- gotta get some work done. There's a sighting listed, I think on gcbro about the Wabash River Reserve (check out state wildlife departments--not the correct name of it) which runs from northeastern Illinois into northwestern Indiana and there has been an encounter with a possible BF in I think 1985 in the LaPorte area, south of LaPorte, Indiana in the Kingsbury area. There's a very rustic campground & bird sanctuary within a mile or so of that report. Been there. Camped there. However, I think the sighting was never really researched, but reported. Could be... It might be close to a viable migration route. More sightings/encounters reports east of there...

Nothern Indiana DOES have activity. Alot of comotion happened in North Webster this last winter. Indiana does not have a large BF population, but never the less it does have a population going from Lake Michigan to the Ohio River.

I beg to differ.....the problem with your theory is the territory between Michigan and the Ohio River. Yes, I think there is a small transient poplutation in EXTREME NORTHERN Indiana (near LaPorte, etc and then only as aberrations from the established population in Michigan) and in southeastern Indiana, but I do not believe, nor has any evidence been brought forth (and I think anyone who has read my posts is pretty clear on my stand on unsubstantiated eyewitness testimony and even on unexamined track finds) to support that these animals range throughout the state. If there is any north south communication between the Michigan and Southern populations, it is through Ohio.

USAF,

Who are you differing with? Did I miss something.

With you Goofy,
There is no evidence to support a population from Lake Michigan to the Ohio River (which would put it right in my area).

Hey guys,the Missouri River bottoms and Maple island below Alton,Il. and near St.Charles,MO.,have a huge unmolested tract of wilderness that is perfect for a group of Sassy's to live in.That's where i had my "not sure" encounter.Check it out on terraserver or GlobeXplorer.Most of the land is posted.So it is pretty much untouched.

USAF,

Please PM me sometime. Hopefully we could get on the same page and instead of differing we could share info and move forward.

I have a toll free number you could call and we could chat too if you want.

Hello:

If I was going to look for Bigfoot in Illinois, I'd be looking around the creeks, streams, and rivers that dump into the Ohio River Valley. These creatures are obviously using the waterways to travel from point A to point B. Of the many Bigfoot reports I've investigated in Ohio and West Virginia, the majority of them either have a large pond or lake in the area, or a small creek/stream that eventually leads to a a larger river. In area's where forest cover is not plentiful your best bet is the water sources.

As for Indiana, I have colleagues that have had some serious Bigfoot activity south of Indianapolis including a sighting of two creatures at once. Tracks of many different sizes have been found in the area on many occasions. A good area to check out is Morgan Monroe State forest and the Wabash River Valley.

Any state that borders up to the Ohio and Mississippi River Valley definitely has Bigfoot coming and going on a regular basis. Concentrate yourself in an area with historical reports and start picking the local folks mind. Good luck!

Sincerely,

Marc A. DeWerth
Columbia Station, Ohio

Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization
www.bfro.net

My not sure encounter happened in Southern Ill.

There's a big difference in terrain between south of Indy and the area around Terre Haute (Wabash River Valley.....I'm currently sitting within 150 yds of the Wabash as I type this).

Everyone need to stop assuming that just because they (the investigator) lives in the area, that there are sasquatch there as well. I am sorry to be a hard nosed SOB when it comes to this but there is simply no evidence to support the existence of sasquatch in the West Central part of Indiana (a few scattered sighting reports (eyewitness testimony is notoriously unreliable) and a track find in 1967 (uncorroborated tracks mind you; uncorroborated track "finds" are worthless, as worthless as video with an unnamed source) do not constitute any hard evidence in my mind). Sorry....even the sighting in Knox County is questionable as it smacks of sensationalistic journalism.

Let's not waste our time looking in places where the animal either is not, or is not at very often. Concentrate on places where things are known to be happening and not where you would like them to be. I guess my standard of proof (or whatever you want to call it) is just a little higher than most I guess.

USAF,

I'm going to try to meet up with you tonight.

I just want to get something clear before I try to hook up with you. Are you of the opinion that the Terre Haute/Wabash River valley is more condusive to a population compaired to the Hoosier Nat'l Forest/White River Corridor? I think they are one in the same, but that's just me.

Gotta mow the lawn and take the kid to VBS and I'll try to find you around 7:00.

Hopefully we'll meet up.

Actually Goofy,
I have the exact opposite opinion. I DO NOT think there is a population in the Terre Haute area.


I think there is a population in the southerneastern part of the state POSSIBLY extending as far north as Bloomington.

Is that clear?

I'm keeping an open mind. I think it's possible for these creatures to be in the Wabash River area, in my opinion. Perhaps it's a way to get from one place to another.

USAF, do you have an area where you research? Just wondering how to evaluate an area for possible activity. .. There's alot of wilderness & open area (farmland) in this country of ours. I don't know how to flat out rule something out. That's why I read the reports & frequent this forum.

Sorry :rolleyes: I also meant to add that I don't think you need a national forest areas to come across a BF.

I don't have an area I research because I don't live close enough to the range of this animal to do any practical research. I agree you don't need a national forest to have BF, but you do need sustainable habitat and food sources (we have the latter, but not the first) there is simply not enough forest this far north to support a population. There is the off hand chance that animals may wander outside their normal range in search of food,etc., but that doesn't mean I need to be conducting searches here to try to find somehting that may (with MAY being the operative word in this sentence) only once every few years or decades. I have seen no compelling evidence or heard any convincing witness statements to back up the possibilities that they are here. However this is not to say that I will not doggedly pursue and investigate any report that comes in from the surrounding area.

The one sighting I did investigate around here turned out to be nothing. The witness was not necessarily outrightly attempting to hoax us, but the story was not supported by the location and there was no evidence brought to my attention that supported this report.

I would rather be overly conservative on estimating the range of this animal rather than overy liberal.

Yes, there is.....

.......see, here again, I think we keep talking about the same thing in different ways...

in my county, Kosciusko, I've been able to dig up 9 other reports of sightings besides ours... but noone is suggesting they live here... but again, if you only read what the BFRO says, you'll not find many reports... but if you look at several of the different organizations who've had reports submitted to them, there's significant history following the Wabash, Eel, and Tippecanone Rivers which flow over to LaFayette and then down the west side of Indiana into southern Indiana, of which many southern counties, especially around the Hoosier National Forest have had seasonal and yearly history of sightings.

year round residents ? Maybe, but probably not. Moving thru the state along waterways, rivers, lakes, heavily wooded areas.... common sense says "yes"... that's why people report them.

What are the chances, do you think, that sighting such as those are of "transients" or migrants, moving back and fourth between a more likely established population in Michigan/Wisconsin/Minnesota, and another one in S.E. Ohio and the Mountains of the south and east?
I believe that "core" populations likely exist in a handfull of areas in the east.
The Upper Midwest,(northern Minn. Wisconsin, and MI.), the Mountains of Pa-WV, KY(and associated Ohio)..the spine of the mountains, The far N.E(north. upstate ny to main), and possibly a dispersed population from east Texas to Florida north to southern Mo.
Basicaly..those areas supporting a population of Black Bear and at least 70% forest cover. Even within those area, I bet the "core" populations are small, covering only a fraction of the available territory, and are as far off the beaten path as possible....
Outside of these areas, I certainly think you could get transients, and even short term residents..but I don't think areas of primarily Agriculture can support a permenant long term population.
If they were as widespread as some claim...this forum would be be unnnessesary.
JMHO..based on sighting reports and a measure of what I think would be needed not only to survivie..but to survive unseen for as long as they have.

Absolutely.... I've never said nor do I personally believe they are here year round. Otherwise, there would be more likely some other sightings.

The general sighting up here in Northern Indiana takes place in the fall into the winter months. But the reality is, I think they're quite capable of hiding year-round regardless because it's part of their instinct and they've been doing for such a long freakin' time.

These aren't just "dumb animals" we're talking about here.

As I have said before, and I will say again, I am hesitant to believe alleged eyewitness reports as evidence, because they are notoriously unreliable and reports "dug up" to support a contention are not necessarily reliable (we have all seen false sighting reports come out of the woodwork after a publicized sighting). I am not questioning your credibility here GuyinIndiana, only requesting that more information be provided on where you are finding this information. Other websites on this topic are notorious for being filled with false reports and/or with, at very least shoddily investigated reports.

Kosciuscko County is hardly evidence of a southward trend (it's barely 50 miles from Michigan). Show me the reports, put me in touch with the other witnesses, show me track casts (or at very least clear photos) and then let me draw my own conclusions. You, like I, can preach until your blue in the face and one of us will never convince the other to switch opinions until that person's burden of proof is met. Since there is no likely way for me to prove to you that they are not there, the burden lies with you (after all you are the one making the extraordinary claim here) to provide evidence that these animals are present in the populations and area that you state they are.

I would expect everyone to hold me to the same standard if I were making a claim that sasquatch lived in this area as well, just either someone provide supporting evidence for your argument or let's stop wasting bandwith and time arguing a point which a concensus can not be agreed upon by the parties involved.

Of course this is just my opinion.....

Man we have done a good job of hijacking this thread. NW, you know I like you and respect you opinions. Indiana surely is not the U.P., but the areas we are talking about are vast wilderness. Other Hoosiers here could say if I'm wrong or not, but the Nat'l Forest and State Parks we are talking about are adjacent to eachother and cover about 15% of the state (IMO).

We also currently have 1 whole black bear being hunted after down there. Does that constitue a population?

I honestly don't buy into the theory of seasonal migration, at least over any great distance. There are just too many problems associated with such a pattern. They would be being seen far more often if they were doing this as is being suggested.

Never said they "Lived here"... only that they have been sighted on a seasonal basis...

A "report" of a sighting is just that... a claim by someone who believes they've seen something they can't explain. I'd expect that in the areas where there are bears, there's a higher likelyhood many bigfoot reports are false due to the chances being higher that a bear is exactly what they saw.

We aren't exactly dealing with a subject that there is a working dictionary or manual with conclusive answers.... just 50 years of speculation and confusion.

Guy,
I apologize if I am seeming a little (or very) bullheaded....I don't mean to diminish what you saw and experienced (and from what Goofyfooter has told me, it was quite traumatic), just I am attempting to understand what is going on and to prove what is being said is actually correct.

I come from a medical background and have a rather stringent standard of proof. I am trying to become one of the more thorough investigators out there and many times that seems to come across as being a non-believer. I actually think (especially after what Goofyfooter told me) there may possibly be sasquatch in your area (even if it is on just a seasonal basis; you are close enough to an area with a known population (Michigan) that it could be feasible for them to come down in search of better habitat or more food), but I would still like to find evidence to back that up. If things start back up later on this year, I will be first in line to help find the evidence I requested (it would be rather short sighted of me to request you do something and then not at least offer to help you fulfill my request).

The part I took difference with is your statement that they range up and down the river valleys in West Central IN.....I am pretty familiar with most of the case reports that have been widely publicized over here and I was not impressed by any of them.

Decatur, IL. 1965 and 70 I lived on Apache Dr. in Montezuma Hills off of Hickory Point Road. The BF that became known as the Farmer City Monster chased the waterways and greenery for miles and miles and was still moving North East when last sighted. If you know the area you can see how they moved just like a Coyote following a fence line. 10 and 11 foot corn also make for great cover if you're on the tall side. Regarding speed, I used to live on an Aircraft Carrier, I learned to walk fast, very fast. I still do, I mean fast like if I'm taking long deep strides you have to jog a bit to keep up unless you walk exactly as I am. I think of the strides these guys are taking with crotch height; and you can cover great distances in a relatively very short time. I think the change in overall weather patterns will bring back many things we haven't seen as much of thru the mid 70's and into part of the 90's. I still am in Decatur and I can tell you they quit selling Snowmobiles around here long ago. Every year the climate is more even; warmer winters and cooler summers. I think the Panthers/ Cogaurs, BF, Thunderbirds will come up North More Often and hang out or at least pass thru. Our water levels have been good for a few years now too. Play the weather and the cover and keep your eyes open.
Driving back from Springfield I saw something big and brown in a corn field chewing on the top of some corn just for a second before being obscured by a tree line. This was about 150 yds from the Sangamon River. My vantage point while brief was good for looking into the now 8' corn because the corn field was on a hill and somewhat laid before me so to speak. I'm pretty sure it was an adult dear but who knows, the point is I was looking. In 70 the 11 footer that was sighted in Decatur was on the Sangamon side of the damn heading North. It really is a logical pathway for this area. But I believe the weather will eventually have them wandering thru again on a larger time scale basis. Not because they don't have warm fur coats but I think they prefer a little warmer over snowdrifts and as the local wildlife swells so to will their propencity to travel.
Just my 2 cents to the Northern Illinoisian, keep your eyes peeled.

Gees Hickory, talk about small world: Your Name isn't Huson is it????I'm from Oregon and have never been to Ill. But 30 yrs ago, I was serving on an aircraft carrier,(Kennedy) and there was a fellow named Huson from Decater Ill...One night, on midwatch, the subject of BF came up and he described an encounter with a BF which haunted a lovers lane type area out side Decater in the late 60s.....As I recall the story, ( It's been 30 yrs), He and three other teenagers piled into his brothers car one night, and went out to the lovers lane area looking for the local monster...Something slammed the trunk lid and then the rear of the car was raised up...The boys panicked and the driver floored it, which only spun the wheels...He said one of the boys had a rifle between his legs which discharged blowing a hole in the cars roof whereupon the big hairy monster dropped the car and they sped off....At the time I was sceptical, believing that even if BF existed, it was only in the PNW......

No that's not me. But it sounds like he was telling this story from a '65 encounter.
http://www.prairieghosts.com/bigfoot.html
with a little added...
I was born in '65 but lived in Montezuma hills in a house that had it's back to Hickory Point Rd. on Apache Dr., Stephens Creek runs right thru the area I lived there from the age of 5 until I was 18. I still live in Northern Decatur my old house is just down the way. I saw a Large Leg out the window of the ground floor of something that had to be at least 10' tall looking in our upstairs window. The way the house was built into a hill the basement was only a "basement" for about 3' deep in the front which put the windows about 1.5 or 2' off the ground; the back was level with the ground and had a sliding glass door- I was 7 then in '72. In fact I found that the creature was also traveling NW. I just learned recently my friends who lived on the north west edge of Forsyth at the time, after speaking with the youngest son; he told me oldest his brother saw it out in the pasture behind the house in the tall grass. Funny we never talked about the subject before. It was a different country then, I don't see them coming this way again; but you never know. I saw a rather large white wolf the other day in my neighborhood- I still live by stephens creek, I thought it was my silver siberian getting loose again; but when it cleared the hill it was coming over I could see it was the better part of 4' at the shoulder. But the people who live at the bottom of the hill there have deer statues in their yard and put out salt blocks for them so the food chain follows.... Oddly enough I was in the Navy also (CVN-71 Theodore Roosevelt Plankowner) You never know he could be a goofball that highjacked a popular story or somebody that had another encounter. Between Woodland Hills and Montezuma Hills there was a small community that was fairly isolated at the time (late 60's and early 70's). There were many kids running around, the people that lived out there then were mostly families with children to raise them in the rural arrea away from decatur and it's schools. Some retired people as well. So it's possible I guess but if I know my Navy story tellers... well I ran into a bunch of flaky people one chronic liar comes to mind, seems like there's one in every crowd. Who knows.

There were a few interesting reports in the '60s and '70s in northern Illinois, just south of the Wisconsin border. Also the infamous Deltox marsh incident in middle Wisconsin. Not any good tracks that I'm aware of, but a lot of supposed sightings of something apelike.

Loren Coleman's "nape" track is from Decatur and looks nothing like an ape print or Laetoli (which is like a tiny human foot without an opposable toe). The big toe seems to branch off not at the basal metatarsus like in all primates with an opposable toe, but at the base of the first digit...this could not possibly function as an opposable toe. It's pretty obvious someone tried to make this print look like an ape's but they didn't really know the anatomy of an ape's foot well enough to pull it off.

Considering the sightings of a cougar earlier this spring, and the fact that some animals migrate hundreds (even thousands) of miles in short periods of time, it's not at all unreasonable that a huge bipedal hominid would once in awhile pass through the area...if such a thing exists

Hey guys I lived in the Illinois-Wisconsin Stateline area from 1951 until I moved to Oregon in the late '90s.

Some people have suggested that Bigfoot may possibly be migratory, and moves through specific areas dependent upon the season. This may be a good year to really keep your eyes open in the field, especially in the months of January and February where you can find any open water in the Northern-Central Illinois area. Word from back there from my Mom and Siblings is that you've had an unseasonably cool summer. If the weather patterns don't change, Wisconsin is going to freeze up tight. Having been an avid fisherman, including ice fishing when I was there, I've seen the southern Wisconsin lakes freeze with up to 3' of ice cover, and even the major rivers freeze almost entirely shut.

I would think Bigfoot would find it to his advantage during years like that to move further south where he can find open water. Just a thought you may want to consider.

Boy, I think if this happened to me I would die of heart failure!

Apache



Campers have lengthy nightime encounter near Seneca, Illinois


http://www.bfro.net/GDB/show_report.asp?id=11911

hi apache thats a very interesting sasquatch sighting from seneca,illinois. i realy like the sketch of the creature drawn by the eyewittness. i hope the bfro researcher thats researching this sighting does a follow up research trip to the sighting location. thanks bill

Hello Sakrum. I haven't seen a B/F yet, but something is moving and answering B/F calls with whistles, wood knocks, peacock calls and whoops. We have a pattern set now. We begin the calls the same way and leave the area the same way. We never shine any lights, we wait until we have the truck headed out of the area before we even turn on the headlights (no, we're going down a road with our lights off). We're trying to make whatever is out there feel like it is in control. Like I said, we have a good pattern, now it's time to make our first attempt in this area with a camera count. This is all happening about 1 1/2 hours south of Chicago. Later, Xjay