YEAR: 2010

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: November

DATE: 16

STATE: Illinois

COUNTY: Cook County

LOCATION DETAILS: I was headed north on 1st Avenue (IL - 171). I remember seeing the sign that said Zoo Woods. It was about a mile north of that sign, east side of the road and south of Cermak Rd.

NEAREST TOWN: Brookfield

NEAREST ROAD: S 1st Avenue

OBSERVED: I am going to be honest, before this happened, when it comes to bigfoot, I have been very skeptical, because there is not enough evidence that would make me even consider that there could be a bigfoot.

It was about 8:15 in the morning, I was just driving the car. I was on 1st Avenue, I had gotten off I - 55, I was heading over to visit my mother at her job. I was driving near Zoo Woods, which is some sort of forest area. I was driving and I was on the phone and I looked to my right and I saw something very, very tall, like between 8 and 9 foot and hairy. It was running through the woods.

I remember the sun reflecting off the outside of the fur and it gave it like an orange tint. A Golden Retriever has that color hair, make that a little darker and with a little bit more copper-tone, more red-head feel to it. I think that would be the color I am trying to describe.

I stopped in mid-traffic, I put my hazards on, I pulled over right away. I had just seen something moving through the trees, nine foot tall, orange fur, it just kind of ran through about five feet of brush. The trees were moving, I saw it. I slammed on my brakes, got out of my car, put my hazards on, I ran over to where I saw it, because I had already passed it over, passed by it. I had to run back a little bit to go in the area where I saw it.

There were broken tree branches. I couldn't see any prints, no fur, no evidence besides the broken trees. There was a terrible odor, like a musky, wet dog smell, maybe worse than that, more putrid.

It was like if you are running through the woods and you are nine feet tall and you are about ten feet into the woods before the outside of the woods stopped, that's how far into the woods it was. It had arms, it was running and it was very big.

I only told a couple of people, and then I let it go.

ALSO NOTICED: Terrible odor, like a musky, wet dog smell.

OTHER WITNESSES: None that I am aware of.

OTHER STORIES: No.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: 08:15 a.m. Clear weather.

ENVIRONMENT: Wooded.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Stan Courtney:

I spoke with the witness by telephone.

In summary:
- The animal was close to nine feet tall.
- The animal was very big and very muscular.
- The animal was as wide as a gorilla.
- The hair color was orange-ish, copper-tone.
- The witness was unable to see the face.

It was difficult for the witness to be precise about the exact location. He had noticed the Zoo Woods sign while driving north on 1st Avenue (IL-171). He had the sighting within about a mile of that sign. He also was sure that it was south of Cermak Rd. There are also many municipalities in this area, so it is difficult to ascertain which jurisdiction he was in when the sighting took place.

According to the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, Illinois website, the forest preserves contain over 67,800 acres. Although the forests appear to be a patchwork most of them are interconnected by wooded creeks. As in another recent report from this area , Report # 28525 it is apparent that animals are able to travel corridors from one wooded area to another in this large network of county forest preserves.

The area does have a large population so I reviewed a satellite map (see below). The area of the sighting location is (circled in red).

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