Urban Bigfoot, Seriously?

[Lake County Bigfooot]

So far the highlight of my recording for the fall of 2014 is simply a set of wood knocks.

While a human could be responsible, the location and the time suggest it is not human. My

neighbor is up all night coughing, elderly and he smokes. Well I hear him all hours of the

night, but he sits in a chair on his porch. He is near 80 and is not wandering off into the

woods knocking on trees. I think he knows about the activity and sits out there waiting and

watching. I will bring it up to him when the time is right, but he is fairly guarded and I

do not want to scare him off. Perhaps it is his presence that draws them over to our side

of the marsh. We have 4 houses isolated and backing up to a pretty secluded marsh, bordered

by corn or soybean field, plenty of deer and coyotes. I know the pattern of behavior of my

neighbors real well, and I think I can rule out anyone sneaking into the area, as that might

trigger gun shots from several of my armed neighbors. Well suffice it to say that Sasquatch

frequenting an area is really a difficult task to document, especially if they are not leaving

prints. I just do not think they are stupid enough to step in soft ground, at least not when

humans are near or present.

five wood knocks.mp3

Edited November 3, 2014 by Lake County Bigfooot

[JKH]

Those are great recordings, really. I agree with you about that strange howl, and those are some powerful knocks.

 

In the last month I've recorded sounds that resemble a distant fast drumming on two separate nights. Of course there are woodpeckers around, but would they drum in the middle of the night in fall? They don't repeat either. Strange.

Edited November 6, 2014 by JKH

[LeafTalker]

I agree, nice recordings, LCB!

 

A quick Google search seems to suggest that woodpeckers are not nocturnal, JKH. So yes, strange.  

[Lake County Bigfooot]

Weather is really changing rapidly and getting cold, I hope that I can record tonight in calmer conditions.
I did see a return of coyote and owl activity, and with tonight's full moon I would expect a fairly active
night, well that is if we don't get slammed by another front. This fall started out way warm and has gone
to the opposite extreme. I fear another winter like last one, as that was enough to test even the hardened
Northerners. My Wisconsin blood runs pretty thick, especially on Sundays, but even that was not enough to
get me outdoors. I submit this picture of what could be five toe running shoes, but I have never had a definitive conclusion. I think it odd that someone would be running in the snow with those shoes, but people are odd. I walked this path the night before and they were not present till the next day. I regularly cross country ski or walk these trails and look for any types of prints, you know just in case. Oddly enough several snow prints have been observed around Chicagoland, one set in a western forest preserve, another crossing a yard(which correlated with an earlier sighting), and one to the east of me near the lake. So winter activity and presence is not out of the question.  The picture is from early 2013

Edited November 7, 2014 by Lake County Bigfooot

[coffee2go]

Get ready for it LCB.  We are expecting snow in the central and southern Minnesota area on Monday.  I would think that a light snow covering would be helpful in finding any tracks around your area.  

[LeafTalker]

Holy moly! Great pic, LCB!

[Guest lightheart]

That looks like a pretty long stride in the picture. Did you get a chance to measure it? Also the two.tracks are more directly in line with each other. If it were a human track the second track would be a little off to the side instead of in line.

Also from the picture it looks like the trackway heads in one direction and then returns. Where were they going and why did they return? Those questions might provide a little insight into what they are up to when they pass through your area. Also I notice canid tracks. Do you have a good sized dog or does a neighbor?

[Sasfooty]

Some BF tracks that I found in the back yard had canine tracks along side them, too. About the same amount of snow had fallen into them as in the BF tracks, leading me to believe that they were made at or about the same time.

 

LCB's tracks seem to have been made at the same time, also.

 

Pet coyote or wolf........?

[Guest]

Many have spoken about the apparent correlation between BF and coyotes.

 

I'm not too sure what to believe anymore.

 

I don't think they coyotes are *pets* for BF as much as I think the correlation may be more related to the availability of food and the relationship between the two that might arise from that.

Edited November 9, 2014 by HRPuffnstuff

[Sasfooty]

Their relationship with animals, especially canines, appears to be about the same as ours. Some have them for security, some to help with the hunting, & some just for friendship.

[Lake County Bigfooot]

The track way above did go in both directions and ended near a building, but as I was considering it I just wrote it off as human

and did not pursue it to it's conclusion, dummy dummy dummy, I know... Well suffice it to say this was before I had my backyard

vocalizations and was not at all thinking realistically about them being in the area.  Realize this trail is only a mile or two as the

crow flies from my house, and the same area I found a tee pee structure.  The same area I have had strange objects seemingly

placed to be found.  I know it is all hypothesis but the pieces seem to fit.  It may take years but I will document this activity and

somehow prove to me, and me alone, that I am really dealing with this creature.  All of this borders a river and lakes and this is

the travel corridor.  I think they move south as the weather changes, and sightings several towns south on the same river could

even be the same individuals.  Then even further south where the rivers empty into larger rivers even more activity and sightings

have occurred.  The picture is slowly coming into focus as more information reaches me.  I think a similar pattern exists on many

rivers across the country, they travel along these waterways and have many haunts.  My situation is taking place along the Fox

river in northern Illinois in case you were wondering, and the Channel Lake State Park is where the snow prints came from, and

many dogs walk those trails, but also many small animals and coyotes and deer.  Sightings have occurred near Algonquin and

further south in La Salle area.  Many greenways extend from the river valley outward, one in the Barrington area has had two

sightings on the BRFO.  I see the pattern of movement and I think that it must be a few individuals, not any numbers.  Just a lot

of movement during the fall through spring months depending on the weather.  My guess is they move further north again in the

summer months as extreme heat sets in, say July when I heard the vocalizations.  Our area is generally 5-10 degrees cooler than

the southern end of the river during those months, and the opposite is true in the winter.  Also there is a large nuclear cooling

pond near to the southern sightings which would attract a lot of wildlife in the winter months as the warmed water is discharged.

Just some theories at present, and all subject to revision.

Edited November 9, 2014 by Lake County Bigfooot

[Sunflower]

Nice photos LCB!  The one closest to the camera would have made a great cast!!!   Maybe next time.....

[Lake County Bigfooot]

I know for sure I would study the toe patterns more closely, and also figure out where and when they started and stopped. 

Cliff Barakman saw the photos and thought they were interesting but most likely a running shoe, said he saw some tread

in the print, which truthfully I do not see, it seems that they were snow blown a bit, as you can see in the small prints below,

and that points to a nocturnal origin of the print. The lack of a larger big toe may point to the shoe theory, but I do see small

amounts of animation in the toes.  I guess a test is in order later this winter if I can find a pair of them things in a store or

online, and can stomach the cost.  The print itself was very close in size to my shoe size of 10, and the pole I laid down was

roughly around 48"  So the heel to heel stride was somewhere around 40-44"  Which could fit with a smaller individual, say

a juvenile...hmmm

Edited November 9, 2014 by Lake County Bigfooot

[JKH]

Pretty human look to me, but that will be a good experiment. Do you record when it's very cold?

 

Last night I recorded a strange high-pitched sound between 3 and 5 am.  Have listened to some animal sounds, but I really don't know what it could be. Closest I could get was barn owl, but it goes very high and doesn't sound small to me. Needs headphones and high volume. Tap sound is rain from an earlier shower.

 

Scream.wav

 

 

[BobbyO]

Not sure about the "friendship" thing, that in my opinion is the anthropomorphism kicking in again.

 

Some animals tolerate other animals being around, but that doesn't equate to them being what humans define as "friends".

 

Animals that are top of the food chain would most certainly tolerate other animals being around, so long as they're fed, if not the other animals that are around can become food.

 

"Lesser" animals would follow animals around that are higher up the food chain because they would invariably, at some stage, mean a free meal.

 

Take this for example.

 

 

Then this

 

 

There is a common denominator in the animal kingdom and it isn't friendship, it's food and survival.