Geographical Index > United States > Illinois > Saline County > Report # 72110
(Class B)
Submitted by witness Kyle Tetley on Sunday, January 16, 2022.
Two hikers describe hearing bigfoot-like sounds near Indian Point (Garden of the Gods)
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YEAR: 2021
SEASON: Fall MONTH: October DATE: 2 STATE: Illinois COUNTY: Saline County LOCATION DETAILS: The hiking trail of Garden of the Gods.
[Investigator MM Notes:
More accurately the trail was Indian Point Loop
GPS for general area where sounds were heard:
37.594410,-88.383808 ] NEAREST TOWN: Harrisburg OBSERVED: My friend and I went hiking in Illinois at a place called Garden of the Gods. Beautiful country by the way. Normally we hike pretty deep down in the Shawnee National Forest to avoid other people and just listen to nature. A few times we stopped we heard rocks being thrown and wood knocks and even heard a tree being knocked over. We brushed it off and kept moving.
About 2 hours passed and we decided to head back to the car. That’s when we heard 4 very clear whoops and howls that both had us frozen in place. The first noise we heard sounded like a growl then soon followed a loud howl-like whoop, then other another one just 500ft away. I took my phone out and managed to get a recording of one howl but unfortunately it was too far away to hear in the recording. My friend was a skeptic of sasquatch and never believed in it until that day. He asked me if it felt like we were being watched and I agreed.
My wife and I have had a few experiences there many times before with strange animal noises and even found a footprint. I took a picture of it. There is definitely something in the Shawnee National Forest. ALSO NOTICED: Just the sound of woodknocks, rocks being thrown, something running through the Forest. OTHER WITNESSES: My buddy was with me and we were both hiking. OTHER STORIES: No. TIME AND CONDITIONS: A bit rainy but it was on an off. ENVIRONMENT: Forest mixture of trees
Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Chris Callahan:
I spoke with the witness over the phone. The following may be added to the report:
Around 3-4 rocks were thrown, but not at the witnesses. There were 2 wood knocks. The tree that was knocked over was 100 to 200 feet away and it sounded like it was pushed over.
A chirp was heard followed by 3 whoops, which sounded like howler monkeys from the zoo. The whoops were 300 feet away to the front, 500 to 600 feet to the right, and behind from 1/2 a mile or so away.
After the whoops the witnesses's friend felt as though they were being watched for about 10 minutes.
The running sound occurred after the tree was pushed over. It sounded like a person running, then stopped dead in their tracks.
About BFRO Investigator Chris Callahan:
Chris is a professional Fire Captain and EMT. He holds a BA in History/Anthropology, an MA in Historical Archaeology, and has attended numerous public and private expeditions.
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