Those involved and area residents took it seriously. If you ever want to actually get into the field and see one yourself, anywhere within a 50 mile radius of that location would be your best bet in Mid-America. But it would not be a good area to go and tell folks their tales of encounters are "folklore". They are a little touchy about being called liars, and that's exactly what you did.
You can draw your own conclusions.I'm only stating what people seen.I think there is something to these types of reports just like there is to bigfoot reports in general.I believe they hold to the key to the mystery.If the creature is indeed paranormal then this is the main reason that conventional research has proven so unsucessful.