Bigfoot Encounter at Crow Creek, Illinois

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And we watched you probably for a
good couple three minutes, and then my

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friend be it. Finally, something
less than just clicked in her head that

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this wasn't something she wanted to see, and she screamed, and when she

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screamed, they both turned and looked
at us, and then she just took

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off on her bike and I kind
of stared back at him for a couple

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of minutes, and I said,
that's probably a good idea, and then

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I took off home my bike and
real portion I'll be in love with twelve

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year old kids. We were all
excited, and I told my dad,

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and she went and told her mom
and dad, and so my dad and

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her dad and my uncle went back. My uncle said it smelled really foul,

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kind of like a little musty basement, kind of earthy. Right there.

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You're listening to The Big Society podcast. I'm Jeremiah Byron. Every week

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I talk to individuals who have experienced
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on a big Foot expedition soon with
Horonymous and others, and I want to

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take a few minutes to thank those
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Also a special thank you to someone
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I've taken far too much of your
time so far, so let's get on

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with the show, all right,
big Faciety. We've got the privilege of

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talking to Mike from Illinois. He
just contacted me via Facebook with a very

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interesting thing that happened to him back
in nineteen seventy seven. How's it going

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today, Mike? Good? Good? Just you know, right not to

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melt? Oh yeah, I hear
that out in Iowa. I mean,

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what we're getting up to like one
hundred and five today and the next three

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days you're supposed to be heat index
lit one hundred and eleven. I know,

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I'm hoping it gets a little bit
cooler. I'm going out into the

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woods in Iowa this end of this
week, so definitely hope that it gets

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a little bit cooler as well.
But we will see. But Mike,

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I'm guessing hopefully back in the time
frame of when your story takes place,

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I think it may have been a
little bit cooler back then. Well,

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it was. It was a it
was a warm summer night. It was

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in August of seventy seven, and
it was we you know, it was

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once I recall it is probably you
know, seventy eighty degrees typical late summer

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day. But yeah, it was. We were it was evening, so

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we were riding our bikes, me
and my friend or my friend and I

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and uh, it's a really small
town that it wasn't really town, it's

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more of a I guess you would
clarify it kind of the village. The

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town was kind of three miles north
of where I lived, and the town

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was Washburn, and I lived in
a full village called Woolburn. And so

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anyway, we had a railroad that
ran through there and it was bracketted on

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the side. On both sides.
One side was an old oil refinery pumping

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station. They used to pump oil
up the line and loaded on the rail

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cars, and it was on it
was abandoned as an oil pumping station and

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a farmer owned it and used it
for the animals and stuff we played in

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at as kids. And then the
other side of the tracks was Crow Creek

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and it had a bridge that we
always played around and on and under and

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everything. And we were just riding
our bikes at night and came across the

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bridge and that's when we kind of
noticed there was something strange down along the

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bank of the creek. So it
turned out to be uh to what we

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saw. It turned out to be
two bipedal creatures. One was probably uh

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eight maybe eight and a half feet
tall, and the animal was shorter,

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probably five and a half maybe six, two different colors. A larger one

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was really a dark kind of a
chestnut brown color. And this was right,

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It was just a four dusk,
so we saw a plenty of light.

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But and then the other one was
kind of a blondish color, the

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smaller one was than They were at
the edge of the creek splashing in the

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water either. I mean, I
never thought about it this time, but

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as I look back on it,
they might have been washing themselves. It

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might have been trying to catch a
fish, because there were catfish and blue

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gill in that creek, and they
were just they're going through the motions of

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being in the water and and didn't
even notice us because we were probably oh,

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we were up on the bridge looking
down at them, and we were

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i'd probably escinate. We were mm
hmmm, probably two hundred maybe one hundred

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pig two hundred feet away from him, so we could we could see them

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and detail, you know, we
could tell that they were fur covered,

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and we also could tell that there
was lighter patches around the faithful in hand

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area. And we watched them probably
for a good couple three minutes, and

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then, uh, my friend be
it, Finally something less than just clicked

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her head that this wasn't something she
wanted to see, and she screamed,

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And when she screamed, they both
turned and looked at us, and then

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she just took off on her bike
and I kind of stared back at him

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for a couple of minutes, and
I said that's probably a good idea,

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and then I took off my bike
and real coursetion. I'll be in eleven

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twelve year old kids. We were
all excited, and I told my dad,

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and she went and told her mom
and dad, and so my dad

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and her dad and my uncle went
back. And when they went back,

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we stayed up on the bridge,
but they went down to the bank,

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and my uncle said it smelled really
foul, kind of like a little musty

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basement kind of earthy smell. They
did find tracks, my dad said they

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were either or I can't there.
He said they were four toad. I

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think he said they were four toad, possibly five toad in the mud.

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And also found some pressed down tall
grass around the area. And it was

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right next to an old damn that
used to keep the water so they could

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pump it to the machinery to keep
it cool while I was plumping the oil.

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Because he swim there his kids and
stuff, and so the water kind

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of that started at you know,
normal bank levels of probably a few inches

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and then slowly descended about twelve feet
or so around the Damn it was deeper.

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But yeah, my uncle and my
my dad and my friend's dad,

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they all confirmed there was something down
there. And then, of course,

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you know that they started to try
to come up with explanations for stuff.

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And I think the funniest suggestion was
that it was a three toed sloth,

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which we know were extremely indigenous to
central Illinois. So other than that,

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we never we never saw anything again. There were other members of the where

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I lived, people lived there,
there were hunters and such, and they

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they said they'd smelled things and they'd
heard things, and but yeah, I

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mean that was that was pretty much
hit. It stuck with in my whole

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life. It was, you know, a pretty amazing thing. And it

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was during a time when that was
a a lot of that type of stuff

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was going on. He had Moment
of the Monster, and he had the

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most these world monster and you know, the big Bogie Creek movie and they

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know. But you know, I
was a little kid and it was interesting

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to me, but I had never
put any real thought into it that these

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could be real. Even though Bogie
Creek gets starre of hell. I mean

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that movie still scares me. But
it wasn't like we were thinking about it,

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It wasn't. It wasn't in the
forefront of our blocks. Oh yeah,

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there's big big foot creatures around there's
I mean, it wasn't just something

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you know, might be talking passing
or whatever. So it wasn't like we

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were blowing on it. And I
really don't think that anybody would have gone

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to the trouble of dressing up in
some crazy costume on a hot August day

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and to hang out by a creek
hoping they'd be seen, you know.

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So I kind of, you know, dismissed that the hoax angle of it.

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But yeah, I mean that was
that's the whole that's the whole story.

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It was quick, you know,
I mean, the whole thing probably

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lasted from the beginning end when we
saw it, when our parents went down

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there and everything, probably less than
an hour. But it was a pretty

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amazing experience. And like I said, it's stuck with my whole life,

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and I have no problem talking about
it. I've never had any problem talking

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about it. You know. I
believe there's things out there we have no

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idea, our concept of that's all
out there, and so and I like

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to think that there are things like
that out there. It makes life interesting,

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you know what I mean? Oh? Absolutely, and that is it's

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such an interesting story, like a
small anecdotal story, but a huge part

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of your life. And just for
context for listeners who aren't aware of that

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area Illinois, that Washburn Wilburn area
is northeast of Peoria. Correct, yes,

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and it's about it's about twenty thirty
minute drive away from Sparland, Illinois.

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Uh huh yeah, right, yeah, we're right between Metamora and Laken

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and then you know you found Sparland
Henry always in probably a good thirty forty

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minute driving each other. Very interesting. When you were looking at the creatures,

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did you get did you get a
good look at the face or did

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you notice anything about the facial makeup
of the two creatures that you saw?

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They were definitely you know, when
I was when she had already taken off

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on her bike and they were kind
of looking at me and I was on

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at them, which probably was only
twenty twenty five thirty seconds maybe, but

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I could definitely see that there was
no fur around the facial area, kind

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of a thicker brow, a fodder
nose, pretty pronounced pretty pronounced bottom jaw,

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and that was the bigger one,
because I think that's why focus on

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was a bigger one, because you
know, if anything, I figured,

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if anything was gonna jump up and
try to get me, it was gonna

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be a bigger one, and the
smaller one the same thing. It had,

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you know, no fur around the
face. It was a lighter complected

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face. I didn't see the eyes, didn't see any teeth or anything like

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that, but from about that distance, I could make out, you know,

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the basic facial structure. I mean, it wasn't it wasn't obstructed by

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any hair or anything hanging in their
face or anything like that. I definitely

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got the feeling that it was an
intelligent exchange. I didn't feel like I

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was looking at, you know,
an animal was strictly an animal. I

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mean, I felt like they were
aware of my presence and I was aware

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of their presence, and and that
was kind of that was kind of a

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creepy but kind of neat thing.
When I talked about it later that it

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didn't come off as I was just
looking at a couple animals. It was

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like two, you know, if
on a sound, I don't know,

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two sentient beings, like we knew
that each of us were like I don't

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know gets you know, real or
you know, we kind of think.

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I think I understood that they were
something I'd never seen before, but I

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never got the feeling it didn't belong
other than they were, you know,

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there, And I didn't get the
feeling that I was threatened or anything like

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that, you know. And that's
when I decided, well, you know,

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maybe it is a good idea to
get to hell out of here and

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go tell somebody. But I never
felt threatened. I never thought I was

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in danger. It was almost like
they were is intrigued by me. I

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was them, you know what I
mean. But yeah, I mean the

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facial makeup was pretty symmetrical eyes,
nose, mouth we're supposed to be.

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But like I said, it had
pronounced brow, deep set eyes, kind

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of flatter and broader nose, and
a fairly prominent jaw. We'll be back

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with more Bigfoot society after these words
from our sponsors. Was it making any

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sounds at the time that you saw
it or did you hear any straight sounds

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around that same time area? No, The only only sounds we heard were

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the splashing that they were doing in
the creek. Birds were still chirping crickets,

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cicadas, whatever, No, those
sounds. They didn't make any grunts

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or anything like that. All of
that was probably you know, one of

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the things that people said they'd heard
stuff with hunting or out out in the

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woods or down by the railroad bridge
by the creek, not the bridge we

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were on, but it's another bridge. A couple uh guys that they heard

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kind of like a screaming kind of
noise. They rode off as a bobcat

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bobcat scream. But no, we
didn't hear anything. The only sounds,

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like I said, were the insects
and the little splashing noises that were making

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in the water. Do you remember
anything about the arms or the hands of

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the creature. The arms were longer. They weren't like, you know,

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big cartoonish exaggerated lengths. I would
probably say they're probably how will we stand?

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I would probably say maybe I have
to a full hand link past the

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knee. But they were definitely a
longer on a shorter in seam or leg

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blinks. They are very corso driven. The torsos were very long. I

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mean that's where the height came from. The head was I would say,

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uh, kind of cone shaped,
but not prominent, not like a big

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egg egg head, but I think
just a higher forehead to accommodate the brow.

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And but it was kind of a
a conish curvature to the top of

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the head. Princen ears the lack
of fur around the pads, the hands

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that looked like the hands looked like
normal hands. I mean, it looks

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like five digits. And I always
said that the fur coming down the leg

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looked like bell bottoms the way it
just kind of kind of went down and

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kind of covered their feet, so
you really didn't see the feet. But

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I would say the fur was fairly
long on the big brown one the small

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blond one. The hair was a
big, shorter body was the same proportion,

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a little less broadened shoulder and hip
area. But overall it was either

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I figured it was either a juvenile
and this is my theason my thoughts later

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as I grew up, but you
know, I think it was either a

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juvenile or it could have been a
mate. I don't know, but it

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was definitely a smaller statured creature than
the large one. Over the years in

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that area, have you ever have
you kind of mentioned a little bit so

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far that you've you've heard maybe hunters
experiencing things. Have there any been any

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more specific reports though that you've heard
of, Not since I had, not

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since I moved away, but we
have had instances in this area since that

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time frame. Another creature sighting is
a coal coal hollow road creature, and

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that happened I think in the seventies. They've had subsequent sightings. That's an

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East Peoria and Kahla Road is kind
of a secluded wooded road in East Peoria,

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which is across Rover from Peoria.
And we've had sightings in Farmer City,

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which is near Bloomington where I'm at
now, bunks Grow which was close

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to Bloomingtonoso. So yeah, Central
and all we've we've had, you know,

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people have said they've seen Bigfoot type
creatures, and like I said,

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being eleven o'clove years old, there
might have been other sightings and stuff.

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Like I said, that was a
big deal back then, but I never

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paid attention to it me, you
know, I mean I might have heard

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people talking about or whatever. But
as I got older, and I think

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this sighting or what happened to me
sparked my interests in this stuff. So

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I've kind of I've kind of you
know, become a sort of a pseudo

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student of the paranormal. I love
cryptozoology and all that stuff, you know,

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Like I said, growing up,
I was that was a big part

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of my childhood. I mean,
everything couldn't throw a stick without a documentary

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about Blockness, monster or the Junior
Triangle or big Foot or UFOs or whatever.

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It was just really big in that
time plane. And it didn't,

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like I said, it didn't occupy
us. We didn't sit around go oh

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gee, I wonder you know wherever
we see a big foot or I wh

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over to see Ufo. We just
you know, it was just part of

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growing up. And so yeah,
I mean this area has had i'd probably

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say within a probably fifty to one
hundred miles square area from where I grew

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up, there were Peoria, East
Peoria, you know, places like that

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all the way, and you're Boom, which is no. Thirty five miles

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north east of Peoria. That's where
a lot of sightings took placed too.

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So yeah, we've always had every
once a while to pop up in the

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newspaper. Matter of fact, I
think the last recent one was oh,

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let's say twenty nineteen, twenty eighteen, over in Punks Grove, which is

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about m twenty miles more than me. So yeah, I mean, it's

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it's a something I heard about grown
up, and it's still, like I

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said, it still pops up today. Something I found really interesting. After

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you had contacted me, I took
a few minutes to do a few searches

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and I did see there as actually
a reported sighting in Spartan near Sparland,

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Illinois, in nineteen seventy four,
so that would have been a few years

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before your sighting. And that's just
on the other side of the that creek

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I believe is where Sparland is,
right, Yeah, it's it's if you

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go follow the creek down, it's
more north to where I am, Sparling

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Lake and Henry, Like I said, that area there, but yeah,

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I didn't know about foland I didn't
know about no one in Sparling. If

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you look up look up Marshall County, Illinois on vfrro dot net and there's

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it's it looks like a nighttime sighting
around a deer hunting season. It's kind

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of interesting. Who knows what's in
the part of the BFO that's not public

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either, But I found it interesting
how you mentioned that Coal Hollow Road creature

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of East Peoria, Illinois. That's
the first I've heard of that. Would

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Would you be able to share any
more information about that just off off the

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come. Like I said, I
think it was back the first Coal Hollow

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creature sightings were back in the seventies. There's a big it was. It

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made the paper. It was a
big deal because they a bunch of guys

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went out with guns hunting port and
somebody got shot during the search for the

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co Hollow Monster. And then as
recently as I want to say, in

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the two thousands, a lady said
that something came out and grabbed the back

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bump of her car and lifted it
off the ground and eventually dropped her car

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and she got out of there,
and she attributed that to the co Hollow

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Monster. So it pops up occasionally
around here in the newspaper. That's really

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interesting, just another mystery to add
on to the list. There are some

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crazy things that happened in the Midwest, as we both know, when you

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start digging. If listeners have heard
more about the Coal Hollow Creature of East

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Peoria, I'd love to hear about
it. Please contact me Bigfoot Society at

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gmail dot com. I might do
a little bit more digging myself, so

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I put on my skeptic hat for
a second as well, and I just

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said, well, well, maybe
it was just something that escaped from the

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Prairie Wild Animal Park in Peoria.
I don't think that would be the case,

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because I'm pretty sure it's always been
North American animals, and I don't

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think they've had great apes in that
particular wild Animal park at anytime, you

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know, Lilif Prairie Park has always
been coyotes, buffalo, deer, occasional

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bobcats. It's really nice, really
nice area out there there. It's i'd

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probably say that is just as nice
as a place as Starbrock as to where

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another nice loaded area, and Starbrock
itself as a pretty good weird history of

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bolt and involved that how it got
its name or anything. And but yeah,

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yeah, I don't think. I
don't think any big foot longer round

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with the buffalo while i's very far. Yeah, well probably not, although

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you never know, but I'm sure
we would have heard something by now if

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they were starting to see a big
foot over there. Yeah, it would

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probably upset the buffalo. Yeah,
No, doubt. This has been a

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very fun chat about an interesting time
in your life. Mike, thank you

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for contacting me today so that we
could chat for a little bit. If

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you have any other things that come
up or that you hear of, it

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sounds like there's a lot of squatchy
stuff that happens in that area of Illinois,

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Please don't be afraid to reach out
again. All right, I certainly

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will. Jeremiad, Like I said, I kind of my Sunli boats are

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kind of the pseudo students of this
stuff around here, we boys. I

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think it's probably because he's my son
and I. You know, you impart

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a lot of your stuff on your
kids, and he's very interested in that

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stuff too. And if then pops
up around punks Grove or the area Purey

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or whatever, I'll certainly snick it
out of the newspaper. And and if

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I can come up with anything links
or whatever to send you down the path

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to some archives stuff, I'll definitely
do that. You guys do a great

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job on your podcast. I was
turned on to it by kind of a

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chain from a crooking out podcasts.
The people like talking through that and then

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Spooks and Creeps when they started their
own podcast. I'm really good friends with

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a few of them, and they
turn me under you guys, and I've

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been listening to you guys every since, and you do a great job.

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I think you're I think you're one
of the better podcasts because the way you

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do approach it. You know,
you're very You're very what's the best word,

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non judgmental, and you're not very
opinionated, you know what I mean

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about. You just let the stories
unfold and you look at all the facts

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from all the angles. You let
people make their own decisions. You just

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the best way to handle that stuff. So I think you guys are doing

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a great job. And I appreciate
you letting me tell my story, and

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it's it's really good to share something
that happened to me, oh my god,

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five years ago, you all,
and that somebody cares enough about it

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to want to hear it, So
I thank you very much. Care about

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it. You're a big Society.
Art goal is to provide a platform for

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those that have encountered Bigfoot to share
their encounter in a safe and respected environment.

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But we need to hear your story. If you've experienced something that you

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just can't explain, please send me
an email at Bigfoot Society at gmail dot

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com. Then we can start the
conversation. And I know a lot of

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you have not shared your encounter at
all. It's been twenty years and it's

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time that you get this off your
chest and then you can get some well

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deserved for rest, because I know
you haven't been sleeping. I understand what

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you're going through, and I appreciate
every one of you listening