YEAR: 1957

SEASON: Winter

STATE: Illinois

COUNTY: Tazewell County

LOCATION DETAILS: Presently location is in Farmdale Park, but when I was a kid it was private rural land.

NEAREST TOWN: East Peoria

NEAREST ROAD: Illinois Rt 8

OBSERVED: Bigfoot in Farmdale park E. Peoria Illinois.

I was about 13 years old. I'm 72 now.

Snow on the ground I was carrying a gun in the woods hunting for birds, rabbits anything just killing time. I came over a hill at the creek and saw a black hairy figure about 8 feet tall walking around a round hut built with sticks and branches in the middle of a blackberry patch. I had never heard of Bigfoot at that time but I'm sure it was him now. He didn't see me at first, I watched him picking berries terrified wondering what should I do. Then he saw me, looked straight at me and just disappeared!

I was gone 3 or 4 hours and don't know why. I don't remember leaving or walking home. All of a sudden I was walking up to my door at home.

Mother was mad because I was gone so long. I told her why and she just shrugged it off as if oh yeah sure you did !

OTHER WITNESSES: None

TIME AND CONDITIONS: 1 pm

ENVIRONMENT: Wooded, creek bottom

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Stan Courtney:

I spoke with the witness by phone.

• The witness was 13 years old at the time of the sighting.
• The witness was 50 yards from the animal.
• The witness estimated the animal as being huge and the height at about 8 foot.
• The witness described the animal as being very humanoid in appearance.
• The witness stated that the animal moved away very quickly after seeing the witness watching him.
• He was only able to see the eyes because of the large amount of hair covering the face.
• The animal had medium length black hair.

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