YEAR: 1978-1990

SEASON: Unknown

STATE: Indiana

COUNTY: Perry County

LOCATION DETAILS: Hoosier National Forest, Patoka Lake State Recreation Area, Birdseye, IN, Bristow, IN, English, IN, Leopold, IN, intersections of State Highway 37 and Interstate 64

OBSERVED: My name is JET. Beginning around 1978 or thereabouts, the area in which I (then) lived began to report various sightings of what could only be construed as a Bigfoot Sasquatch). I live in southern Indiana, in Crawford County. At that time, I lived in nearby, bordering Perry County. The name of the town of the sighting was Bristow, somewhat near the port of Tell City, Indiana (Ohio River). A young couple sighted one while driving at night and the local newspaper of that time (Hard Times - "The Old Man Was Right") carried the story. Supposedly, samples of hair and plaster casts were taken by scientists at IU Bloomington Campus (headquarters). Nothing was ever said of what was discovered. Over the next 15 years, I have personally heard fascinating, first-hand accounts from more than 3 people (each from very different backgrounds, ages and from many different places of residence)of Bigfoot sightings since that time. An acquaitance I met at church 20 years ago told of playing hide and seek in a corn field at night and running into one. The story is chilling, believe me. Another gentlemen I used to work with recalled seeing it in broad daylight on his way to a cabin in the woods. My own father saw the creature near Patoka Lake, Indiana (Crawford, Orange, Dubuois counties) We were squirrel hunting near the lake and he was in deep cover. While stalking a squirrel, he saw what he took to be legs standing across a slogh, against a tree. Now, my father taught me to never point a gun, loaded or unloaded, at anything not intended to be killed and eaten. He would not so much as point a telescopic scope (while mounted to a rifle) at a man walking 300 yards away just to identify him. He told me that the creature began to walk away, on two feet, and he IMMEDIATELY brought up his gun (a measly .22 lever-action rifle) and trained his attention upon it. Before he could make a definte identification, the creature noticed he was being watched and strode towards the lake. When I found me Dad later that morning, he was jogging (which was indeed VERY rare) and passed me up on the way to the check-out station. He couldn't even relate the story to me until we were 10 miles away. He told me to take a .308 rifle back to that area if I even went back there - even to squirrel hunt. This man is also an ordained minister and long time memeber and pastor of a church. Furthermore, one needs not describe how one knows when one's own father is telling you the truth: let alone in such detail. Anyway, I hope you at this website are doing all of the most serious research that you can on this creature. People should know that it IS REAL AND DOES EXIST. Whether or not it means harm, who knows? I don't necessarily think so. According to my own research and documentation of the stories that I have mentioned above, all of these sightings were within the geographical boudaries of the Hoosier National Forest area. Need I say more? Look all of this up on the web:

I've never witnessed hair or tracks, but then again, I never went looking. Now don't get me wrong, I hunt just about everything that moves - deer, squirrels, foxes, crows, varmints, etc. I have no qualms about being in and around the woods. I am very familiar with about a 10 mile radius from my home - and believe me, I know what goes on most of the time. I also know that the people who have told me their stories are the same way. These people don't see a deer and think that it's a goat and so forth. I don't want to hunt this thing, I want to get someone to prove that it's there. I have heard very strange sounds from the dark valley behind my father's house, but I believe that we finally agreed (after years of debate) that what we were hearing was probably a bobcat (lynx) or something very similar. Stories of what are commonly called "sugar bears" abounded in the English area years ago. Many reports of panthers also exist. Another area of acitivity is the Hemlock Cliffs area. This is a long forgotten cliff and valley layout that is deep into the middle of nowhere. Many strange things have been sighted and reported thereabouts.

ALSO NOTICED: Not too many reports of these types of things. Again, I don't know anyone who went back looking for something afterwards

OTHER WITNESSES: Driving down a road at night, walking with their children and admiring the construction of a new, small lake, driving a truck through a field and proceeding to a cabin, squirrel hunting (stalkinig, stealthily).

ENVIRONMENT: Check near the area of Louisville, Kentucky. We are due west of Louisville, about 45 miles out towards St. Louis. Look on the map at where State Highway 37 runs North to Indianapolis. One was in a cornfield, one was walking around a small lake, one was in a hay-field near a forest, and the other was near Patoka Lake in southern IN (8,880 acres at maximum water pool).

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