In the summer of 1973, Illinois became the center of bigfoot activity. For two weeks the Murphysboro Mud Monster, also called Big Muddy Monster, struck fear into the residents' hearts.
It began around midnight June 25, 1973. A young couple, Randy Needham and Judy Johnson, had parked near the boat ramp on the Big Muddy River near the city of Murphysboro. As they sat there, they heard a strange, roaring cry that came from the nearby woods. They looked towards the trees and saw a huge shape coming toward them, continuing to make the cry. When it got within 20 ft of their car, they realized that this was a 7 ft tall creature with matted, whitish hair or fur streaked with mud from the river. Knowing that this was "something not human", they fled to the police station.
Officers Meryl Lindsay and Jimmie Nash were sent to check out their story. They found a number of footprints in the mud that were approximately 10-12 in. long and approximately 3 in. wide. They returned to the station.
At 2:00 am Lindsay, Nash and Officer Bob Scott and Needham returned to the area again. They found even more tracks in the area. Lindsay left to get a camera. The others began to follow the tracks that were leading along the river. Suddenly about 100 yards away, the men heard a scream. They didn't wait to see what had made it but fled quickly back to the patrol car. After a while, when everything remained quiet, they emerged from the car and began to investigate. The men spent the rest of the night trying to track down a "splashing sound" heard in the distance. When they left at daylight, everything was quiet.
The next night, the creature returned. It's not quite clear the timing of the sightings, but one witness was a 4 yr old boy, Christian Baril, who informed his parents that he had just seen a "big white ghost in the yard". The parents did not believe him at that time.
Randy Creath and Cheryl Ray were sitting on the back porch of her house at around 10:30 pm. They heard something moving in the woods near the river. When it emerged they saw a muddy, white creature staring at them. Cheryl insisted that it had glowing, pink eyes. She claimed they glowed; it was not reflected light. They estimated it at 350 lbs and 7 ft. tall, with a rounded head and long ape-like arms.
Ray turned the porch light on and Creath went towards the woods for a closer look. The creature seemed not to care and ambled off into the woods. They called the police. The Baril's, upon speaking with the investigators, now realized that their son had really seen something in the yard and shared their information with the police.
Large footprints were found, along with broken tree branches and crushed undergrowth. There was also a strong odor that then faded. Officers Jimmie Nash and Ronald Manwaring were among those checking this story. Manwaring started following the footpath through the woods. He noticed the stench and a slimy film on the tree branches. "I saw this substance and smelled the smell myself," said Manwaring.
They brought in Jerry Nellis and his German Shepherd dog, trained to search and track. The dog tracked the creature through the woods, down a hill to a small pond. Eventually the trees and underbrush became too thick for the dog and Nellis to get through and the dog was pulled from the track. As the officers searched the area with flashlights, the dog appeared to find another part of the trail and proceeded to lead them to an abandoned barn. Once there, the dog refused to go into the barn, remaining outside shaking with fear and barking. The officers finally entered the barn only to find it empty. The search was called off for the night.
There were two more encounters reported to the police that summer. On July 4th, some traveling carnival workers claimed to have seen the monster looking at their Shetland ponies. On July 7th, Mrs. Nedra Green heard screaming coming from a shed on her farm. She did not investigate it.
Jerry Nellis maintained that "in my opinion . . . we were tracking a bear." He then added, "We never got a good view of any tracks. Is there a Sasquatch? I don't know -- it makes for a good story, though."
Police Chief Toby Berger summed it up. "A lot of things in life are unexplained, and this is another one. We don't know what the creature is, but we do believe what these people saw was real."
Nancy
"I'll spark the thought; what you do with it is up to you."
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