YEAR: 2011

SEASON: Spring

MONTH: April

DATE: 15

STATE: Illinois

COUNTY: Hardin County

LOCATION DETAILS: Shawnee National Forest

NEAREST TOWN: Equality

NEAREST ROAD: Hwy 142

OBSERVED: The evening of April 15, 2011 I was with fellow BFRO investigator Eric L. and BFRO enthusiast Sam. We were on a trail in the Shawnee National Forest southeast of Equality, IL. We were using Sam's thermal imaging monocular (L-3 Comm. X200xp ). We had traveled on the trail up a slight incline and occasionally either doing a howl or some whoops. When we got to our point before we decided to turn back. During our return we started getting some return howls four to be exact over about a five minute period. This was confirmed by several others in our camp. Shortly after, on our way back to base camp, I saw a heat signature. This was rather a bright heat source, different from any of the deer heat source we had observed both before and after this. This "Heat source" was behind a tree first observed on the left side of the tree. It then disappeared only to reappear on the right side. This continued for about a minute or so and it was playing "Peek a Boo" more or less.

During this observation Sam looked through them and all he said was " Oh My God". He said it was a squatch. Both Eric and Sam decided they wanted to move closer to the heat source. As they got closer to it, it got smaller and then moved from right to left through thickets or something. It then was gone. I was not able to make out any thing other than what appeared to be the head peeking out from behind different trees.

ALSO NOTICED: Before spotting the heat signature, we had been doing whoops and howls, and we got four return howls heard by multiple people.

OTHER WITNESSES: two other witnesses

OTHER STORIES: Bfro Investigators have found unusual activity in this area on several occasions in the past.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Close to midnight

ENVIRONMENT: Wooded area, slight hills, rock outcroppings.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Harold Benny:

Storms, tornadoes, and torrential rains hampered us somewhat. I talked with the witness a few hours after his sighting and several times afterwards. He did an excellent job of describing what happened.

The seven plus foot tall bipedal figure was attempting to hide behind a tree but portions of it's body were protruding out from behind the tree on both sides. The "peek-a-boo" behavior often seen with bigfoot was a giveaway to it's presence and identity. We were unsuccessful a few nights later when we watched the general area with a camera.

About BFRO Investigator Harold Benny:

Harold Benny holds two degrees in Zoology and was a Biology teacher for several years. He participated in the following BFRO expeditions: Michigan UP 07, Arkansas I 07, Arkansas II (Oklahoma) 07, N. Florida 08, Missouri 08, Tennessee 09, and Ohio 09. Harold has organized several private Illinois expeditions and in 2006 recieved the IDNR Volunteer Of The Year Award as part of the Montgomery Co. Hunter Education group.