YEAR: 2021

SEASON: Winter

MONTH: January

DATE: 9

STATE: Illinois

COUNTY: McHenry County

LOCATION DETAILS: I was walking westbound on Hiawatha at 2:55am. The row of houses is on my right, north and the cornfield is just behind the row of houses. It sounded as though the howls were going north through the cornfield. When I reached my front door I decided to just go in and not hang around to see if it was coming back my direction. I was 3 or 4 houses east of mine when the howls started. There is no fencing between the cornfield and the houses that I had just walked passed.

NEAREST TOWN: Wonder Lake

NEAREST ROAD: Hiawatha Dr

OBSERVED: I was walking down my street and heard what sounded like a guy off in the cornfield yelling, approximately 600 feet away. It was sort of a grunting yell, very deep and it echoed through the neighborhood. It sent the hair up on my neck and scared me a little because the only thing between me and the yelling was a row of houses.

This is not the first time I've heard what I think might be a Bigfoot in the area. I have heard what seemed to be three of them sort of locating each other the week before Thanksgiving. Again, I was out walking late at night in my neighborhood, around midnight. I heard a fox call at the end of my block but that sound was cut off by what sounded like a woman trying to imitate her from a little further away. Then a few seconds later, a "man" let out a yell about 3 blocks away. This yell was a deep guttural long yell, too long to be a human. It made the hair on my neck stand up and it also echoed through the neighborhood. Not a few seconds later, a faint "howl" came from what sounded like across the lake. By this point, I had gotten back to my porch and entered the house to find all three of my cats wide eyed and standing in the middle of my living room. Out of curiosity, I decided to go sit on my porch to see if the howls continued.

The sequence of howls and yells continued on for about 20 minutes. First the "woman", then the "man", then the faint one across the lake until they were far enough away that loud vehicles drowned them out and I went back inside. I wish I'd have thought to use my cellphone camera to record it.

ALSO NOTICED: I thought I had heard it walking through the snow just before it let out the first yell. Deer herds and coyote packs come through there so I didn't think to much of the loud walking sound at first.

OTHER WITNESSES: Not that I'm aware of, I don't recall seeing anyone else out at that hour of the night.

OTHER STORIES: Yes, see my initial report.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: 2:55am, dark, some porch and some Christmas lights were on.

ENVIRONMENT: Rural neighborhood surrounded by cornfield. Wonder Lake itself is about 4 or 5 streets west of the location.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Chris Callahan:

I spoke with the witness by phone.

She described the first sound as an "OOMPH" ...maybe one second long, but heard three times. It originated from the cornfield behind her residence. She also heard one or two footfalls (squishy sounding) from the reaped field.

The backyard of her house (and neighbors) are between 110-120 feet deep. The footsteps the witness heard were therefore only 200-300 feet from her house. The next week, her neighbor saw a huge human shaped shadow cross by their front window. The witness heard another OOMPH the following night.

The November incident (2020) occurred when the witness was walking home from a friend’s house. She heard the neighborhood fox make a call, followed by what she stated sounded like a drunk guy trying to imitate it a couple of blocks away. Then, even further away, a female voice tried to imitate it too. Then in the far distance (possibly across the lake), a childlike version of the Ohio Howl was audible. This was followed by the male deep guttural yell that echoed through the community and caused the witness’s hair to stand up on her neck. Next, a feminine sounding short version of the Ohio Howl was heard, followed by a childlike voice in response. This went on for 20 minutes, occurred a little after 2300 hours, and as the sounds progressed they got further and further away til drowned out by vehicle noise.

About BFRO Investigator Chris Callahan:

Chris is a professional Fire Captain and EMT. He holds a BA in History/Anthropology, an MA in Historical Archaeology, and has attended numerous public and private expeditions.