YEAR: 1968

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: August

DATE: 15

STATE: Illinois

COUNTY: Williamson County

LOCATION DETAILS: Williamson County, Illinois. Woods northeast of Chittyville, Illinois, which itself is an unincorporated area north of Herrin. One sighting in the area specifically mentioned "near" Route 148 which runs due north from Herrin to Chittyville, and then off to the northwest from Chittyville.

NEAREST TOWN: Chittyville

NEAREST ROAD: Route 148

OBSERVED: (#1) late July - early August 1968
(#2) 11 August 1968, 8:30 P.M.
(#3) 12 - 18 August 1968

(#1) Residents in the area reported dogs barking louding and "carrying on" at night.

(#2) Tim Bullock, 22, of West Frankfort, and his girlfriend, Barbara Smith, 17, of Carterville, sighted a "creature" while riding northeast of Chittyville. Bullock reported the creature threw dirt at them through the window. Smith saw it and started screaming. She described it as "huge" - about 10 feet tall, with a head as large as a steering wheel. It appeared to be black, with a round "hairy" face. They left the area and reported the incident to police. Bullock returned the next day and found a depression in the grass, as if a large animal had rested or slept there.

(#3) Bullock said a carhop at a Herrin drive-in restaurant told him that someone came into the drive-in "hysterical" and said they had seen the creature. One other person reported they saw "it" near Rt. 148.

ALSO NOTICED: Note should be taken of the fact these series of incidents occurred approximately fifteen (15) miles from the site of the "Big Muddy Monster" flaps of 1972-1974 in neighboring Jackson County.

OTHER WITNESSES: Local residents and the Bullock-Smith duo apparently were engaged in mundane activities, such as driving.

ENVIRONMENT: Chittyville is within three miles of the Big Muddy River. (Murphysboro, Illinois, is in the next county - Jackson - to the east.) The undeveloped area around Chittyville is bottomlands swamp and wooded. Illinois Central Railroad tracks run north-south through the area, crossing Rt. 148 just outside of Chittyville, but before Rt. 148 reachs the Big Muddy River.

Follow-up investigation report:

From the Files of Loren Coleman

SOURCE: Southern Illinoisan, Carbondale, Illinois, Monday, 19 August 1968, page 3.