Search results
Hunter describes strange encounters and finds a possible footprint near Kickapoo State Park
The witness was bowhunting deer alone from a tree stand in the evening and shot a buck. While climbing down and tracking the deer in near-dark, the witness heard loud screaming-growling noises, smelled a strong pungent odor, and saw a huge silhouette about 30 yards away on a hillside. The witness left the woods while still hearing the noises and returned the next morning to find the blood trail ended with no deer.
Nighttime sighting from a window by a young woman near Lake Lou Yaeger
The witness was in bed around 2 a.m. when a powerful stench prompted a look out the bedroom window. A partially cut tree about 100 feet away began to topple, and a camera flash revealed a large brown hunched figure about ten feet from the house, possibly with a second figure near the woodline. The figures left into the woods, and the next day the witness found the tree down with the saw bar displaced and many tracks and cracked walnuts nearby.
Possible nighttime sighting from a home by a young woman near Lake Lou Yaeger
The witness, staying at a house for a short time, was looking out a window in the early morning and saw a tall figure by the clothesline pole. The figure was described as about a foot taller than the 7-foot-8-inch pole, brown on top with gray speckled lower areas, moving hunched over and scratching its back, with a strong skunk and manure-like odor. After watching for several minutes, the witness saw it take two steps into the nearby woods.
Possible nighttime sighting and vocalizations in a backyard near Old Ripley
The witness was in bed late at night when barking dogs prompted them to go outside. They saw a dog run under the porch and something retreat into the woods. After shouting and tossing a small stone into the trees, the witness heard a shriek/howl and the stone was thrown back to land at their feet. The witness ran inside, then returned with a flashlight to find twisted vegetation and snapped branches and noted a foul smell.
Possible footprint found near Peoria
The witness was walking along a creek bed in heavily wooded terrain when they found a very large footprint with five distinct toes. After photographing it with makeshift scale items, they heard movement and a large branch being twisted on the hillside and left the woods. An investigator later visited the site with the witness and summarized the track as a 17-inch-long left-foot impression.
Hunter finds a possible footprint near Olive Branch
The witness arrived at a hunting area well before dawn and waited in the car, noticing a chill and a faint skunky musky odor. After sunrise he walked to a pond and then east along a fire access road, where he found a single very fresh footprint with visible toes in the dust of a turkey scratch. He photographed the track beside his boot, but wind erased the dust detail by the next day.
Wood knocks, vocalizations and possible footprint found in rural cemetery near Shelbyville
Over a couple months of visits to a small rural cemetery, the witness and companions repeatedly heard wood knocks surrounding them, logs or objects being thrown, and a walnut thrown back toward them. They also heard growls, hissing, grunts, yells and screams on separate occasions, and once heard a large unseen thing charge to the cemetery edge then go silent. They never saw the source, reported no departing footsteps, and described a persistent feeling of being watched and warned from entering the woods.
Mushroom hunter hears vocalizations and finds footprints near Jubilee College State Park
The witness was hunting with a dog on a sunny afternoon when the dog became agitated and a strong odor was noticed. The witness heard grunt-like noises followed twice by a loud scream or yell, plus cracking and movement in trees and brush, while the dog returned frightened with raised hair. After driving to a more open area across a shallow creek, the witness found two very large barefoot-like footprints that seemed too large and out of place to be human.
Memory told of encounters on a farm near Ottawa
The witness was walking back to the house on a relative's farm at night after feeding dogs when a tall, hairy, foul-smelling being stood in the path near the driveway. The witness froze as the being bent down and stared directly. A relative opened the door and reacted, after which the being looked up and walked away.
The "Big Muddy Monster" flap of Murphysboro
In the late 1970s to early 1980s, residents around the Big Muddy River reported a foul-smelling, hairy hominid-like creature. Witnesses described seeing and hearing it near the river and finding footprints, with size and color accounts varying. The writer compiled these secondhand accounts and notes the creature was never reported as violent.
Memory told of a possible encounter and footprint found along Horse Creek north of Pawnee
Two companions walking along a wooded driveway in the afternoon heard unidentified tapping sounds and entered the woods to investigate. They found freshly matted grass and a human-like bare footprint with five toes in dried mud. Shortly after, the companion shouted to run as loud timber-breaking crashes and movement occurred in dense undergrowth behind him. The reporter did not see the source, but the companion reportedly saw something about seven feet tall, after which both fled to the driveway.