YEAR: 1998

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: September

STATE: Illinois

COUNTY: White County

LOCATION DETAILS: My family's rural property.

NEAREST TOWN: Carmi

OBSERVED: My fiance and I were visiting my family for a week from New York. We went outside for a smoke, while the rest of my family was in bed asleep. We stood under a tree in the yard, talking quietly for a bit. We then heard a long, low sound that scared me quite badly. It sounded like a cross between a human moan and an animal cry, in long howls. I had lived in the country, on that piece of property in Illinois, for more than 20 years, but had never heard anything like this. I've heard deer, coyotes, foxes, cows, horses, even peacocks. It also seemed to last much longer than a human's lung capacity would allow. I was frightened, and grabbed my fiance, listening with him. I remember telling them that we had to get inside and began to run towards the house. When I reached the driveway, I stopped and turned back to find that my fiance was still at the bottom of the hill. I called to him to get into the house. I noticed that the moaning sounds were still continuing. I wasn't sure whether they had continued or not until that moment, because I was making a good deal of noise running through the leaves. I ran to the door, and waited for him to catch up. Once we were inside, I could no longer hear the noises. I would estimate that the sounds lasted at least two minutes before we got inside, and sounded as though they were coming from behind the neighbor's house.

Two nights later, we were outside under the same tree smoking again, when we hear something crashing through the woods. The property isn't huge, but whatever this thing was, it covered three sides of the property in a matter of seconds. We heard large branches snapping, tree limbs smacking. Again, I have never heard an animal make noises like this in the woods, and the speed was beyond human. Deer are the largest animals around there, but they don't make that kind of noise running through the woods. It didn't seem possible to either of us that a deer or any other animal indigenous to the area could move though around the property so quickly. I was again quite scared, and hightailed it to the house before whatever it was could decide to head our way.

ALSO NOTICED: Just prior to hearing the sounds, I got a very uneasy feeling. I expressed to my fiance that we needed to get in the house immediately, as I didn't feel good about being outside any longer. He told me he wanted to finish smoking. This occurred minutes before the sounds began.

OTHER WITNESSES: One, my former fiancé, who was smoking and chatting with me just before.

OTHER STORIES: Yes. In 1984, when I was nine, and my brother was 7, we were hanging clothes out on the line. I finished with my load before him, and went inside the house. A short time later, I was at the door, going out to get him so we could play, and he came running around the side of the house, terrified. I had never seen him so scared. He could not talk, and was crying and couldn't tell mom or me what had happened. Later, he told us that he had seen a monkey man in the woods, but wouldn't elaborate further. He was not a tall tale kind of kid, so I believed him immediately. My mom checked the yard, but found nothing. Mom told us that it was probably an insurance man checking up on her after her recent back surgery, which was due to a fall at work. Sounded pretty far-fetched to me. After that, my brother began checking out Bigfoot books from the library, a surprising number of them. I asked him repeatedly if he thought that was what he saw, but he wouldn't talk about it. I continued to ask him about it over the years, but got similar short responses. I persisted because I often was scared to be in the side yard by myself, and often felt watched. I knew he saw something, and I was pretty sure what it was. When we were in our early twenties, I asked him about it once again, and this is what he related to me: My brother was hanging up a sheet, and stepped out from behind it to face the fence (about three feet away from the woods) and felt someone watching him. He looked up directly into the eyes of what he described as a cross between a man and an ape. He said it was very tall, much taller than any man he'd ever seen, and covered in black hair. He said the eyes were piercing and yellow. He did not feel that the creature was going to attack him, but was just observing. He said he was frozen in place for what was probably only a few seconds, but finally got up the nerve to run, and did not look back.
My brother is a quiet, fairly reserved and honest man, and has always been this way. Seeing him the day this happened, I firmly believe it occurred, just as he related it to me.
I asked my mother and father if they have had any experiences, either. Both related that they have had feelings of being watched, and sometimes felt uneasy on the property for no apparent reason, but neither has ever seen anything.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: 11:30 pm approx

ENVIRONMENT: 40 feet from house, at bottom of small hill, under a tree

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Rachel Luffman:

I spoke with the witness for some time. I was not able to speak with her ex-boyfriend or brother. From our conversation she added the following details:

- The vocalizations she heard were extremely loud and had a lot of lung power behind them. They sounded louder than a person could vocalize.

- The sounds were coming from less than a quarter of a mile away. This is one reason she became so afraid.

- She has listened to the recordings on the BFRO website and says the 1994 Ohio - Moaning Howl is closest to what she heard.

- When they heard the creature running through the property, what struck her was the speed. It sounded huge but covered so much ground. It also was snapping branches as it went, and just in general making a lot of racket in the underbrush and trees.

- Her brother's encounter made a big impression not only on him but her also. It has been in the back of her mind ever since and she expressed relief at being able to talk about it, as well as the things she heard years later.

From talking to the witness, and my own experiences around the same time growing up in this area, I believe that this is a credible account.

About BFRO Investigator Rachel Luffman:

Raised with a love of the outdoors, avid camper & hiker, fascination with the Sasquatch mystery since childhood.

BFRO Expeditions attended:

- Oklahoma 2008
- Missouri Ozarks 2008
- Florida 2009
- Oklahoma (Spring) 2009
- Oklahoma (Fall) 2009
- Missouri Ozarks 2009
- Iowa (Spring) 2010
- Illinois 2010/2011

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