YEAR: 2006

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: July

DATE: 22

STATE: Illinois

COUNTY: Morgan County

LOCATION DETAILS: South of Jacksonville.

NEAREST TOWN: Jacksonville

NEAREST ROAD: IL 267

OBSERVED: During the summer months of July and August my family has had a number of events that we have heard and seen what we believed to be a big foot here in Central Illinois. We know he has left the area now.

The next year, in 2007, I saw a large off color black thing running across a field, I had my spotting lamp on it. The thing we believed followed us home, we live a short distance from where we have seen and heard it. There was a cornfield across the road from our house and three rows deep into the corn field there was a trail running parallel to our house and road. Corn had been knocked down two to three rows. This ran approximately 100 to 150 yards.

My wife was home one day and heard something breathing very deep behind her while she was standing in the house. The thing was outside the house looking into the window. When she turned it was gone and she heard something running away. It scared her.

The boys have went down into the area where we know he is during those months and have heard his scream and have come back scared to death. One night we heard the scream coming from that direction.

We have asked the old timers in the area about what they know, they just don't want to talk about it. They are very closed lip about it.

I know what I seen and I saw a large hairy thing running across that field. When I went after it, it was breaking branches in the trees. It sound like it was hitting the branches together not like it was running or walking in the trees.

ALSO NOTICED: There was cornfield across the road from our house and three rows deep into the corn field there was a trail running parallel to our house and road. Corn had been knocked down two to three rows.

OTHER WITNESSES: I had the sighting. Three sons and a son-in-law heard the sounds.

OTHER STORIES: My son also had two sightings.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Evening clear.

ENVIRONMENT: Hilly woodlands and farming.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Stan Courtney:

I spoke with two of the sons and son-in-law by phone. I also met the witness, his wife and son at their rural family home. The following on-site interview were conducted by me. The first names of the witnesses have been changed.

Tom - Me and my brother and my brother-in-law were down the road here, we were walking through some brush. We came out, it's like a corn field, it has path for a combine to get down into it. It is all surrounding by trees. We came out of the brush on one side and we were walking in the corn field where it had just been plowed. We saw a deer along the tree line and stopped and sat there and listened. We had a spotlight and the deer definitely wasn't making any noise and he was looking around. It was like nothing I have ever heard and my brother-in-law, who lives in the mountains, have never heard anything like it either. It was weird sounding. If I would have had to guess, something like a bear but louder.

Stan - Was it a growl or a scream?

Tom - More of a scream. It would scream, pause, and we would be looking for it, and then it would scream and pause. We never did find anything and we ended up leaving because we couldn't see anything.

Stan - How many times did it scream?

Tom - I would say four or five screams before we left.

Stan - Did it seem like it was walking away at the time?

Tom - We had the feeling it was watching, it was always in the same direction and it was always the same pitch level, we just couldn't see anything. It freaked us out pretty bad so we pretty much ran back home.

Stan - And what year was this?

Tom - 2006.

Stan - And then a different time you had another experience?

Tom - Yes, I was with a different brother and my brother-in-law. We had taken the path, we went down to where we had heard it the first time. We were walking through beans that were still green about knee level high. We were walking through and we see these three deer come through the little patch of trees and they stop and look at us and they keep looking back. They keep creeping towards us.

We heard a scream and the deer didn't know which to be more afraid of, so they started running at us and then they went off to the left and into the trees. And then we heard it a few more times and we couldn't find it again and so we got out of there.

Stan - And was this after dark?

Tom - Yes, both times was after dark.

Stan - And what year was this?

Tom - 2007.

Mike - They came home and they were all scared, I had never seen my oldest son that scared before. I said "You guys are dreaming, I want to hear it myself." We passed out the weapons, shotguns, deer rifles, high powered rifles and stuff. We took off down there as fast as we could, we got down there and they were showing where all this stuff had happened. We had these big hand spotting lights. We had one, I hadn't turned it on and we started walking by and all of a sudden I just hit this big field on the road, I was lead, and I hit it.

And I seen a big dark, dish-water type dirt, it wasn't black coal like a bear. I have seen bears before, it wasn't like that, it was a lighter color and it had its arms spread apart. And when it ran it spread its arms apart like that, and boom it was gone. Just a split second like that.

Stan - So you saw it using the spotlight?

Mike - Yes, so we could hear something, so we ran down there into the trees. It sounded like it was walking. We didn't hear it again. So we left and came back home. So that is what happened with that and I don't think we've been back over since that. It pretty well scared everybody pretty good.

Stan - How tall would you say it was?

Mike - It is hard to say, it was a rolling hill and I don't know how close it was to the top and it just disappeared like that. It was wide through the shoulders, a good three and half feet, but the thing I really noticed a lot was no neck, really no neck, but long hair from the upper arms.

Stan - From the upper arms?

Mike - Yes, that hung straight down with its arm spread apart, that is weird, nothing like I've read about or anything. (The witness demonstrated to me that it ran with its arms horizontal to the ground, sort of spread eagle style.)

Stan - What about height?

Mike - I really can't tell you, it was big. Just from the shoulders, I thought, that is big. He was tall.

Stan - What about weight, could you estimate?

Mike - No, it was quick, it was big.

About BFRO Investigator Stan Courtney:

Stan Courtney has a special interest in wildlife audio recording. He has attended numerous BFRO Expeditions. See Stan's blog StanCourtney.com for recordings he has collected over the years.

Stan Courtney can be reached at illinois@bfro.net