Illinois: Look for Bigfoot near Pyramid State Park

This just in – from Ed, a Bigfoot Sightings reader, about his 1994 sighting near Pyramid State Park.

“Back in 1994, at about 4:30 in the morning, about three miles south of Pinckneyville, Illinois, I was driving toward the town on Rt. 13 when a coyote ran in front of my car. He seemed to be scared to death by something. As I hit the brakes, I looked in the direction that the coyote had come from, and the hairs on the back of my head and neck stood straight up. Something was running at a pretty fast pace, as if it was chasing the coyote.

This creature stood about 7-8 feet tall, was covered in hair and literally jumped up out of the field and crossed behind my car…

The body was massive. It never lost stride as it jumped up from the field and onto Rt.13 and crossed behind my car.

I sat there in amazement and fear thinking if what I saw was really what I have been hearing about for years. This was no bear. I know what a bear looks like, and I know that a bear can’t run as far as this creature did, on two legs…

I never told anyone about this encounter for about one year. Then I told a Conductor, who worked for AMTRAK, what I had seen.. I asked [him] … if he was going to laugh at me. He said no, there are a lot of things running around down here with SHAWNEE NATIONAL FOREST so close. This was the only time i have experienced this creature, but I do believe in them now!!!”

Thanks, Ed, for sharing that sighting with us! A few months ago I reviewed a web page about Illinois sightings and was amazed to find that Illinois has a lot of Bigfoot activity! Shawnee National Forest sounds like the right place to find them.

Here’s the map showing Pinckneyville.
The sighting was very close to Pyramid State Park.
The Shawnee National Forest is south-east of there.

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Filed under: Bigfoot Sightings,Illinois — Linda Jo Martin @ 9:17 pm

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August 31, 2009

Bigfoot in Illinois

Bigfoot in Illinois is an article posted on the Prairie Ghosts website. After reading about the Illinois sightings, I believe there’s an infestation of Bigfoot in that state. Actually, from Bigfoot’s point of view (and he was here first, right?) there’s probably an infestation of humans. The run-ins people have had with a huge hairy creature there give me the impression that he’s so used to being around people he’s become very curious and takes risks on being seen.

This is a heavily populated state but still, Bigfoot has been seen in various parts of central Illinois including Effingham, Decatur, Clinton, Pekin, Peoria, and Farmer City; south to Centreville (and St. Louis,) Murphysboro, Enfield, and Chittyville, and north to Elizabeth. There was even a sighting in Westchester, Cook County! Weldon Springs State Park and Shawnee National Forest are sighting locations. Most recently, in 2000, there was a sighting in Essex. So if you’re in Illinois, by now you probably feel like you’re surrounded by Bigfoot encounter locations. Perhaps many of the sightings are of one rogue, lost Bigfoot roaming through Illinois, not knowing how to get out of the populated areas. Or… maybe there’s nests of them here and there with entire family groups.

To the man who emailed me on August 9, 2009 about finding Bigfoot footprints near Murphysboro, Illinois… yes… they’re in Illinois and at least one has been seen in Murphysboro before! Here’s another link on the same site with more information: The Murphysboro Mud Monster.

I looked on Google Maps for all these places. I saw how skimpy the wooded areas of the state are. I can only feel sorry for the poor Bigfoot who is trying to maintain cover when there are so many people all around.

One strange sighting was the Cole Hollow Road Monster, nicknamed Cohomo. Starting in May 1972, in East Peoria, there were multiple sightings of a tall white hairy being suspected of living beneath an abandoned house. On May 25 the police took over 200 calls from people who had spotted Cohomo.

One man said he spotted the creature nearby in Fondulac Park and stranger still, said that “a set of strange lights … seemed to descend vertically and land behind some trees.” Hmmm…

The last sighting of Cohomo was on July 27 that year when two people said they saw him swimming in the Illinois River. The site says, “They got close enough to him to know that he smelled awful and looked like a ‘cross between an ape and a caveman’.” Seems strange that he was swimming and still smelled bad! The map below shows the area where Cohomo was a resident in 1972.

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