YEAR: 1999

SEASON: Summer

STATE: Illinois

COUNTY: Fulton County

LOCATION DETAILS: Cuba, IL cemetery, at and near the edge of town

NEAREST TOWN: Cuba

NEAREST ROAD: IL 97

OBSERVED: Some friends and I used to like to scare ourselves silly so we used to walk out past the graveyard in town late at night sometimes. We had a couple strange experiences in a short period of time. The first time, there were four of us. We were out very late, close to 3 AM. We were telling stories and trying to scare each other as we walked past the graveyard. At one point we stopped and were standing around talking when one of us noticed a very large object in one of the trees. After sitting and looking for a couple minutes we pointed a flashlight at the thing. We didn't see anything clearly, but we didn't have much time. It dropped out of the tree, maybe 20' or more. It had been resting on a particularly large branch up in a very large tree. It was gone so fast it didn't seem possible. It took off straight to the patch of woods behind the graveyard. A few hours later, when the sun came up, we went back to the scene. I have been a hunter and in and out of the woods my whole life and know a thing or two about tracking. I found impressions in the grass, very large ones. I tried to match the stride and wasn't able to come close, neither was my friend who is over 6' tall. Later one friend helped me measure my stride at a dead run and my height and I was able to use algebra to determine that the creature must have been between 7-9' tall.

A second night during the same period one friend and I went to go see if we could see it again but we were stopped by a large Rottweiler that was running loose a couple blocks from the graveyard. It kept corralling us to the center of the street under the light then turning and barking and growling viciously towards the graveyard. It would not let us go. It was quite frightening. I knew the dog and was disturbed by its actions. It had never acted that way before. We were unable to go to the graveyard that night to see anything, though we heard some strange noises that night.

ALSO NOTICED: We have gone back and tried to see it again, alone, or with others, and have been unable to witness this again. I cannot say that it was a Sasquatch with any certainty, but it was definitely not normal. Watching your show on tv made me think of this and it felt report worthy.

OTHER WITNESSES: Myself and 3 friends on the first occurrence, myself and one friend for the second.

OTHER STORIES: Yes, but unsure of the details.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: It was right after I had graduated from high school or the year after, I don't remember know.

Late at night. The town is very quiet at night, almost no one is out that late.

The weather was very nice and clear.

ENVIRONMENT: Rural town, very small. Surrounded by patchy woods lakes and gov't property (MSD or Metropolitan Sewage Disposal) We have the highest deer population in Illinois, possibly the country. Most people will tell you there are no large predators anywhere near here, but I have personally witnessed 3 mountain lions (2 adults, 1 cub) over the last 10 years. The area has sustainability for large predatory animals.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Stan Courtney:

Photo showing the extensive fields and woods close to the small village of Cuba, Illinois:



I spoke with two of the witnesses, both of whom today are in their early thirties.

In summary:

- The animal that jumped from the tree was estimated to be eight feet tall and always ran bipedally.
- The witnesses were unable to guess a weight other than the animal was huge.
- There are street lights in the area and the boys had flashlights with them.
- The witnesses were about sixty feet from the animal.

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