YEAR: 1985

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: July

STATE: Illinois

COUNTY: La Salle County

LOCATION DETAILS: Northwest of Vermilionville.

NEAREST TOWN: Vermilionville

NEAREST ROAD: Route 178

OBSERVED: My friend said he was fishing at the Vermilion River which is in central Illinois & flows into the Illinois river. Anyway he was leaving after dark in his truck and his dog was running ahead of him on the dirt road about 50-100 yrds out when he turned the bend looking for his dog he seen it and said it was huge at that point his dog b-lined it strait to the truck and jumped in.

I asked him if it was a bear even though there are no bears around here, I also asked if he got out to see what it was and he said he was scared so bad that they turned the truck the opposite direction & got out asap, this river valley is very remote with trees & of course no lights down there. The fact that he did not get out to see what it was surprised me because my friend is one big dude prob 6.7 250-300lbs.

I told him the ironic thing about this was that everyone else that has spotted bigfoot at the river prob just saw him! he did not think that was very funny. Anyway I'm not making this up , we have both hunt and fish , he was not looking for attention by telling me this.

OTHER WITNESSES: No

OTHER STORIES: NO

TIME AND CONDITIONS: 10 p.m. clear

ENVIRONMENT: River, woods.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Stan Courtney:

I spoke with the fisherman who had the sighting by phone.

In summary:

• The witness was rounding the bend in the road with his headlights on when he saw the animal standing upright in the road. Immediately it dropped to all fours and quickly ran off the road and out of his sight. As his dog ran back towards his truck the witness opened the door so the dog could get in.
• The animal was @ seven feet tall.
• The animal's estimated weight was 300 lbs.
• Hair coloring was black.
• The witness was 100 feet from the animal.
• The witness was unable to see the face

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