YEAR: 1982

SEASON: Winter

MONTH: January

DATE: 1/15/82

STATE: Iowa

COUNTY: Dubuque County

LOCATION DETAILS: I wish I could remember the name of the park. I don't believe it is there any longer. It used to be located on North Cascade Road. bewteen Highway 20 and before you went down a winding portion of the road to the Knob Hill area. It was an access road on the left by some cornfields. The park may have included a petting zoo in the summer.

NEAREST TOWN: Dubuque

NEAREST ROAD: North Cascade Road off Highway 20

OBSERVED: My girlfriend and I were in a parked car on a rural road leading to a park that was normally closed during the winter. As I got out of the car to urinate, I looked down the road and saw a large boulder or object in the middle of the road (approximately 100-150 feet away from me) leading down to the park. I assumed it was placed there to prevent people from driving down the road to the park entrance. Due to the snow and slope of the road, it would be easy to get stuck.

The night was clear and everything appeared to be illuminated by the moonlight reflecting off the snow. As I continued to do my "business" I looked over again at the boulder when it stood up on two legs!!! Because the moon was behind it, the front of the figure was completely obscured in shadow. It appeared to be very tall and muscular. I couldn't discern any clothing... I was just scared because I didn't know how long it had been there, apparently watching us. It looked at me for a moment, turned around, and loped down the road towards the park. My guess is since it (he)was discovered, no use watching me any longer. The whole encounter lasted from the time it stood up, turned and ran (jogged)away lasted about 5-10 seconds.

I was really scared!!!... I jumped into the car. My girlfriend hadn't seen anything because the windows were steamed. As I started the car and hit the gas, she asked me what was the matter? I told her there was something big out there watching us and I didn't want to find out what it was. All I knew was that it was big and was aware that I knew of it's presence. After nearly wrecking the car leaving the area, I began to calm down and tell her what I saw.

I got her home, I got home and told my brother about the incident. Although I never actually said I saw a bigfoot, I always kept it in the back of my mind to this day. I've probably told about 5-10 people of the incident. Never bragging, but it would come up when we would share frightening events that we could never really explain.

Since then, my brother and I always referred to it as the "hobgoblin incident". I've never actually claimed to see a "Bigfoot". But whenever the subject has come up...periodically... I tell them what I saw.

ALSO NOTICED: I never went back to look for prints.... never reported it to anyone in an offical capacity because technically we were probably tresspassing. We were teenagers in a parked car in a remote area. Nothing odd, other than the sighting. What I saw never made a sound.

OTHER WITNESSES: I was the only witness. My girlfriend was with me but was inside the car. She could not see out the windows because they were steamed. She never saw anything, just my reaction to seeing it.

OTHER STORIES: none

TIME AND CONDITIONS: probably close to 1AM. Very minimal clouds, frost covered snow. Clear field where the road went down a slope to a wooded park. Moonlight illuminated just about everything.

ENVIRONMENT: Corn field access road in winter. Road to park went down a slope to a wooded area in the park.

Follow-up investigation report:

J.S. has a clear memory of what happened that night... he spoke of it as though it happened recently not years ago. Probably the biggest amazement he had was to see the figure
rise up from its squatting position without the use of upper limbs silently and effortlessly. He stated that it was totally unnerving. "Scared the hell out of me." He reiterated that his then girlfriend did not see it but she was amazed by the way he looked when he got back in the car after his experience. I asked him what it was he saw... he stated a silhouette as the moon was behind it... it looked big, like a man with a hood that flowed into the shoulders with a pyramid shape to it, starting with broad shoulders tapering down to its waist.. which was not as wide as the shoulders.. but still not narrow. No neck.
It occurred to him as a complete shock and surprise... he at first thought it was a rock or a barricade. . He felt he may have had a view of it for as long as 15 to 30 seconds. His take was that it was curious and had seen all it wanted to and then it turned very very slowly and loped down the road away from him.
Regarding size, just a really muscular build, the legs looked short compared to the long body. The trunk looked long with long arms as well. As it left, the arms were detected swinging. Part of his view was obscured by the band of trees in the distance.. the legs and part of the body had a background of snow and the top part had the sky... everything seemed gray due to the time of night and moonlight. The subject just looked dark in color. J.S. kept mentioning he did not know what it was but it was not a man.
When he got home he told his brother the same thing... they suspected bigfoot but weren't sure due to the range being pacific northwest... or so they thought. He is in active military at this time and I spoke to him from the east coast where he lives with his family.

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INPUT FROM SITE VISITOR


SUBJECT: Report #2613
COMMENT:
My name is Lee Henderson, I have been preforming some research on the information presented in report #2613 (class A).

I have discovered the name of the park and its exact location. FDR was the name of the park before it closed in the early 80's. Although FDR is officially closed, the public still has access to the trails. It is private individuals that seem to take care of the up-keep of the trails.

I have personally been to the site to verify that it is still there. The park boarders on farmland to the east, south, and west. The northern boarder is being encroached upon by urban growth. The entrance to the park is located behind the 'Storybook Hill Children's Zoo', 12201 N Cascade RD, Dubuque, Iowa. The turn-off is an unmarked gravel road that runs beside the zoo.


FIRST NAME: Lee
LAST NAME: Henderson
EMAIL: Henderson52722@msn.com

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