YEAR: 2012

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: December

DATE: 14

STATE: Illinois

COUNTY: Montgomery County

LOCATION DETAILS: Near Lake Lou Yeager

NEAREST TOWN: Litchfield

NEAREST ROAD: Illinois Route 16

OBSERVED: So I was sitting here in bed and I smelled this stench so powerful my eyes were watering. So I decided to get up, creep over to the window and I looked out there. My brother had been up here a couple of days before that and was cutting down a tree, well we got the blade stuck in the tree and we couldn't get the tree the rest of the way down.

Well, I couldn't see it at first, I was standing there at the window, and I see the tree start to topple.

And so, I couldn't see nothing outside so I thought "I want to take a picture anyways." When I flashed the camera I seen it out there. I think there was one near the woodline and there is one maybe ten feet from the house. The picture is kind of foggy because of the reflection of the glass in the window. You can tell what it is. I held it close enough to the glass.

It was hunched over, it was all brown. It had to have been bigger than the other one I saw, it was even more massive. And this one's legs were brown. I got a good closeup view of these things, they are freaking huge and I don't want to mess with them.

After I flashed the camera it looked at me.

So I went and got my mom up and I am like "Mom, just get the gun, it's going to come through the wall."

They knocked that tree down and went back out into the woods. I went out the next day and found a lot of tracks and there were a lot of walnuts that had been cracked open.

I honestly think this thing is stalking our woods out here, I think we have a lot of deer activity, I think it is chasing the deer around.

My brother is like 6'8" and weighs 350 lbs and I think they are intimidated by him.

My brother had caught the chainsaw blade in the tree. My brother took the motor part of and had left the chain and bar stuck in the tree. That morning I found the bar laying away from the tree, like it had been taken out of the tree but the chain was still stuck in the tree. It had been a few days from when we got the blade stuck and the tree was pushed over.

The tree is about 100 feet from my bedroom window.

I've got lots of pictures of footprints. I've went out there walking the dogs, I won't go out there by myself. There were also a bunch of tracks. Its muddy around it.

I did hear a strange sound while outside it kinda sounded like a cow but it was like a growl at the same time, it was so loud it was like it shook the house. It was during the day I was out on the deck but after I heard that I went in quick.

OTHER WITNESSES: No

TIME AND CONDITIONS: 2 a.m. security lights

ENVIRONMENT: Lake, woods, farms

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Stan Courtney:

Photo taken by the witness through her bedroom window using a Blackberry 4G phone:



Photo of the tree that had been partially sawed down by the witness' brother previous to the sighting. This is the tree that was found lying in the yard the next morning:



The witness had previously submitted another report, see: Report # 38337

I spoke with both the witness and her brother by phone. Although the home is on private property belonging to a family friend I was able to drive by along the highway and confirm all distances of the report.

The witness emailed me several photos taken in leaf litter and as such were not of sufficient quality to see defined footprints.

• The animal stood taller than nine feet.
• The witness could not judge the weight, saying only that it was huge.
• The hair was solid brown all over.
• There was an overpowering smell of stench.
• The animal was very close to the witness' bedroom window.
• The distance to the tree, that was found lying on the ground the next morning, was 100 feet from the house.

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