Messin' With Sasquatch

When I was about 8 I bought a book from one of those school book orders. Sadly I can't remember the name now but it was one of those books about strange creatures and weird goings-on. Not only did this forgotten book hook me on mysterious entities such as Springheel Jack and the Mad Gasser of Mattoon; it also began my obsession with Bigfoot.

I can recall sleeping out in my cousin's pop-up camper and, as boys will do, telling stories of monsters in the woods behind our houses to freak each other out. I remember riding horses through the woods around Table Rock Lake in the Ozarks and hearing the locals tell stories of the creatures that roamed those woods. Mostly I remember just wondering how, if such a beast existed, could it live undetected for so long?

While my interest in the paranormal took me in another direction; my love of the great ape-creature has never waned and, in recent years, I've renewed that interest with enthusiasm.

This stems from a couple of different things. First, a wide variety of reports I've heard centered around central Illinois. Second was my introduction to Stan Courtney. Stan is a serious researcher. He records nature sounds and that is how he stumbled onto the Sasquatch. I follow his blog, check it out and listen to these recordings yourself and tell me what you think. Some chilling stuff!

When I met Stan he offered to take me to some of his favorite "hunting grounds" and on March 19, 2010 the logistics panned out so I was able to meet him for an excursion into an area of he's had significant luck in over the last few years. I feel I must be vague here and not be too specific as to where we went but, suffice it to say, it was a deeply wooded area in central Illinois.

I've spent my share of time in the woods growing up and I've had my share of weird experiences there but I've never, to my knowledge, encountered a Bigfoot. At times I've felt I was being watched, I've had large animals of some kind follow me...I've even, looking back, heard the sounds of "claps" and rocks and sticks banging out there in the woods. All of these, according to researchers, are potentially signs there is a Bigfoot in the area.

All week the weather was beautiful. Mid-sixties, sunny. Of course, Saturday dawned overcast and cold with an 80% chance of rain. I had agreed to meet Stan at his home at eight that evening so all I could do was hold my breath and hope for the best. Of course it rained the whole hour drive to Stan's house and there were wind gusts of 30or so miles per hour!

Fortunately things had calmed by the time I got there and, while it was still cold and windy, at least the rain had stopped. We loaded into Stan's jeep and headed out. After winding our way through miles of country back roads, we arrived at our destination and disembarked. We took nothing into the woods with us save red flashlights, my camera and Stan's recording devices...and Belle, Stan's dog, who ran ahead of us to (hopefully) clear the way should a large ape be lying in wait across our path! Our objective this night was only to listen and, hopefully, record the sounds of a Sasquatch in it's natural environment.

As we drove to the spot Stan explained that there have also been sightings of large cats, panthers, in the area. I will admit this made me far more nervous than the Bigfoot reports. The idea of being mauled but a panther didn't appeal to me at all! Hopefully, I thouhgt, the dog was up to the task!

The woods were silent save for the constant wind and the loud chirping of hundreds of frogs who couldn't have been happy with the natural conditions of the night. No other animals made themselves known as we trekked through the dark, wet woods. Stan told me of events that had occurred while he, and other researchers, had explored these woods in the past.

There have been sightings here, he told me. One dramatic incident occurred a few years ago while the researcher was getting his equipment out of the car. He heard a noise behind him and, turning, noticed the creature scurrying down a large tree nearby. It his the ground with a plop and crawled on it's belly off into the woods. Other sightings have been far less dramatic, just fleeting glimpses of huge, hairy creatures hurrying across the flats or disappearing into the woods.

Footprints, some as large as 18 inches, have been catalogued here as well. None that were very castable unfortunately. The ground is swampy through most of the area we covered. Researchers have found evidence of nests, they have heard the creatures around them, they have experienced the oft-reported "foul odor" said to be a natural defense of the Sasquatch. And then there are Stan's recordings.

On these tapes coyotes yip and something is obviously mimicking them in the distance. Stan, himself, has bellowed through a bullhorn only to have his own voice returned to him 45 seconds or so later (it's on his site). We did try sound blasting later during our attempt but the strong winds made it almost impossible.

Stan and I walked through these woods for a couple of hours, listening. At one point I heard a weird squeal off to my left, another time we both heard an odd, warbling howl that may or may not have been feline.

As we made our way back, near midnight, we paused in a clearing and waited for Belle to catch up. From directly ahead of us we both heard two (for lack of better terminology) "coughs". Two quick, clear, "ack, ack". I've never heard anything like it, nor had Stan although he suggested it could have been a raccoon. Hard to say but it was the most unexplainable thing about our night.

Stan's recordings revealed all the odd sounds we heard but the wind distorted them and they're too indistinct to be of use. I guess hunting Bigfoot isn't that much different than hunting ghosts! Lots of time in your area of study with very little to show for it in the end.

But, like ghost hunting, patience is a virtue when it comes to the elusive Sasquatch and I intend to revisit the area with Stan in the near future. Stay tuned for more...