Urban Bigfoot Seriously?(2)

[BobbyO]

Ioyza, I have an apartment on the UIC campus downtown, for a moment there I thought that was where you meant ...;)

 

For me regarding what you said, it can't be Sasquatch, there's nowhere near enough cover down where you are to sustain these animals.

 

Get yourself to that Batchelors Grove Cemetery area though, out west, it's very interesting out there regarding activity.

[Lake County Bigfooot]

While I would agree this area is too hard for a Sasquatch to reach, It might be worth trying to figure out who or what is causing the structure. I have seen similar structures that I would also assume are human, basically a circle of larger sticks in a tee pee formation kind of tightly spaced. Could serve as a blind for a birder or someone observing nature. That would be what I think is the likely cause. I think these creatures need adequate cover and escape routes for them to work into an area, the ones that seem almost too urban to believe around Chicago are the Class A Brookfield Zoo area sighting, and the foot prints found by Morton Grove in the snow, although I found green way and escape routes that made that all possible. The Bachelor Grove stuff is easy for me to accept because the sighting history along rivers that connect by green way to that area in the South Burbs, when you drive through that area there is plenty of woodland cover and hillier terrain to shelter a few secretive individuals. I have no doubt about the creatures using the periphery of many urban areas, but they seem to need a certain amount of cover to venture into any area, that also seems consistent. Darkness is one such form of cover though, and it may surprise us if we knew all the areas they occasionally use.

Edited January 13, 2017 by Lake County Bigfooot

[sheri]

It could be kids too. I grew up on 54th an lake park. Played on the midway and would go ice skating there in the winter. I know that whole area well. There is no place for this creature there. But there is for kids.

[ioyza]

A little update from Chicagoland. I got out to the forest preserves a couple times this weekend, Edgebrook Woods on Friday and Sidney Yates Flatwoods on Sunday (basically the same patch of woods). I found some wood sign at Edgebrook of the more subtle type, but it encouraged me to return:

 

e.g. (sorry for poor photography skills throughout)

 

So returning yesterday to the larger patch of woods, I took a deer trail off the main path and immediately found this:

 

(side view)

 

(view from below)

 

There were some other interesting things along this path, I can post pics if there's interest but I don't want to go too crazy with embedded images here. Suffice to say, arches pinned by downed trees in ways that would be hard to occur naturally, as well as line drawing in the mud of the river bank: an X intersecting a + forming a triangle. I didn't actually photograph that because I was hesitant to associate it, but now I kind of regret it...

 

Anyway, a little walk further down the main path, found this guy:

 

 

I know there's varying degrees of skepticism over this kind of sign here, but for me these are a pretty good indicator of a stop on a travel route. Have you looked at where I was on a map yet? The BFRO Chicago sightings show a route up and down the Des Plaines River, but this is further East along the North branch of the Chicago River. 

 

Let me back up a little further and remind you of those teepees that appeared mysteriously overnight in the rain on UoC campus. I didn't get pics because I was late for a conference, but on Saturday May 6, there were two small stick structures in a similar location; a four-stick free-standing teepee, and a mini-lean-to, both maybe 2-3 ft high, right next to each other. These were across from the elementary school, so it's easy enough that it's kids playing around, I know.... it's also a stone's throw from the Metra tracks. Now, what about this:

 

 

Sorry it's small, I took this sitting in morning traffic on Lakeshore Drive near the Lawrence exit. This was end of March. Sorry, but.... more homeless making a tent frame for their tarp...?? The location of this makes it audacious for Sasquatch, even moreso than UoC, but.... this thing stood there for probably 2 weeks through some serious wind and weather. I just don't know anymore.

 

The slightly crazy, audacious idea that's still kind of kicking around my head that connects all of these things is that they use the North Chicago River forest preserves as a travel route, and actually get up there from the South directly through the heart of Chicago, using a combination of the Metra tracks, lake front, and river corridors. 

[ioyza]

Couple more from today, same woods, other side of the river.

 

 

 

I've been doing a lot of thinking about the trackway found in the railyard in January 2015 (http://www.bfro.net/GDB/show_report.asp?id=47720) and how it might relate to travel routes through the city up to this patch of woods, which is the Southernmost forest preserve of the North Chicago River. There's the canal that connects the Des Plaines River corridor to the cluster of sightings in the forest preserves to the SW, but why go East from that canal into the railyard unless you were actually traveling East? Playing a little "connect the dots" between that class B and the University of Chicago structures yielded a number of possible routes utilizing train tracks and/or wooded canals/river corridors, which I'll share tomorrow when I get back to my work computer's Google Earth.

 

The questions I can't come up with reasonable answers for are how do you get up North from there? and what is the possible significance of the Lakeshore structure near Lawrence. Notably, this structure is the same latitude directly East of the branch of the river that leads to these woods, but there's just no conceivable route between the lake and the river there. So maybe that's unrelated, maybe the UoC ones are too, but again, just brainstorming out loud here.

[MIB]

Question: are you sure it is a through-route and not a destination?   

 

I've got a spot where I've had quite a bit of activity, one time of year only, with some reports from the west and a big gap in them to the east where they should, if continuing onward, have to cross a major interstate.   I've been exploring a 5-6 mile chunk of interstate looking for underpasses or big, unblocked drain pipes.   There are none.   They're either crossing OVER the freeway using a railroad bridge in a series of corners that point car headlights away from the bridge 'til they're too far under to see what is happening overhead, OR they're simply not going any further, the spot I've run into them is end of the trip ... for some purpose or other.  

 

Just a consideration ...

 

MIB

[Guest WesT]

ioyza, the 3rd. pic down looks like an ambush set-up.

 

[Lake County Bigfooot]

It is obviously done by a primate, whether human or other, because of the intentional designs. There are people who like to build stuff this way as primitive shelter or simply art. Hard to really know. Like many situations, it really takes something to confirm suspicion. My situation is no different although I have heard what I can almost positively say was a nocturnal primate using my marsh, and associated wood banging associated with coyotes. My thought, plant a digital recorder out there at night for a couple of weeks, would take a battery pack to deploy long term, or just leave one for the night. I put mine in a zip lock with direction mics poking through holes I make in the bag, I use fabricated wind socks to attempt to filter out the wind distortion. That would be my approach, deploy at sunset with good fresh lithium re chargeable batteries, I go MP3 quality as wave form eats up too much memory for nothing you will ever notice. Position the recorder at about 2-3 feet from ground, not close to tree branches or leaves. If you really want to know, deploy with a parabolic pointed at a particularly suspicious area. That allows you a much wider range to pick up hits. Some of Stan Courtney's best stuff is caught on a parabolic and digital combo. I love the whoop recordings he has captured from wooded areas, whoop 1 and whoop 3 match nearly exactly what I heard in 2013 right adjacent to my yard. The TP structure in my picture is taken from Chain of Lakes State Park, right off a walking trail. One tree pushed over, two others leaned exactly at the same point. Maybe boy scouts draped a tarp around for a real TP. My 210 pound pretty muscular frame cannot budge the two that were placed, so boy scouts might not explain the placement either.

Edited May 19, 2017 by Lake County Bigfooot

[Lake County Bigfooot]

So it might be back on....meaning my backyard sasquatch oddity, my wife was out near the marsh tending to some wildflowers she maintains, native stuff she cultivates. She generally has her eye out for a neighboring business doing anything, which she will generally construe to be illegal and needing her observation. That lead her to enter the marsh to spy on said neighbor. She had not quite entered the marsh when, in her own words, "something heavy" took off through brush and marsh heading to the other side. Cattails maybe standing around 5 foot level. She did not see what this was. The she said from the direction it went she heard a whoo, whoo. When asking her to describe the sound, she had previously heard the whoops I first heard 7/4/13, she said the were pretty much that exact pitch, but cut off, not whoop, but whoo. I had heard the adult make such a whoo earlier which I think means go, get away, or get out of here, to their kind. Anyway, it is just one more thing in a long line of things that always happen around this time till mid July, I heard some banging this morning, not sure where that was coming from. Will be keeping my eyes and ears open, and I guess I dang well better start recording tonight! This predictability is what keeps me convinced we are dealing with an animal although extremely well adapted and intelligent. It's behavior demonstrates that they travel and rely on certain food sources at certain times of year. That seems to be established behavior for this creature.

Edited May 30, 2017 by Lake County Bigfooot

[Lake County Bigfooot]

So last year we heard the wood knocking almost daily for several weeks, always around 4:45 a.m ish, not much after that. We also heard single knocks as we were outside in the area during late afternoon. This spring they seem to be here a bit early, and were apparently spying on my wifes routines, it got disturbed and headed across the marsh bi pedally most likely as it could not be seen but heard and felt. Then lone vocalizations withing a tonality and pitch consistent with the creatures. Seems they have taken an interest in my wife,

today she pulled up in the drive and when exiting the vehicle the creature hollered off in the distance, I think these creatures keep tabs on our behavior, as well as try to learn what makes us tick. We are always surmising about them, but I think they are equally curious and able to decipher.

[MIB]

8 hours ago, Lake County Bigfooot said:

 I think these creatures keep tabs on our behavior, as well as try to learn what makes us tick. We are always surmising about them, but I think they are equally curious and able to decipher.

 

I think they know more about us than we do about them.  

 

MIB

[Guest DWA]

Not that this would be hard, now

 

[Lake County Bigfooot]

My life is really crazy this time of year, added to that I am having a mess of work done to my house, and then trying to keep up with these boogers, yikes I am really stretched. Still I cannot help but sit up on by back patio and try to catch one or provoke one to show itself. Though I know that will most likely not happen, still I sit out there. Makes me wish I had discovered this when I was much more free during this time of year, I would have been able to track it down. I would not have given up without discerning something more than I have. Well for those simple days to somehow return, but now with cell phones and technology work follows me everywhere. Really, at times I just want to go live completely off the grid like the Last Alaskan's, if I were single or married to a woman who could handle the cold I think I would actually do that. So I am looking for a southern fried version of that type of existence. Maybe somewhere in the wilds of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, it remains a thought, frankly I hate civilization and our current manner of existence. I do appreciate running water and electricity though, so maybe I am too wimpy to go the full route.

Edited May 31, 2017 by Lake County Bigfooot

[ioyza]

LCB, that's exciting they're back in your area! It's also interesting because I was back at Sidney Yates a few days ago poking around another swampy section when I came across a recently dead squirrel with its head ripped off (link because gore: (http://i986.photobucket.com/albums/ae349/COBigfoot/20170527_140218_zpsturzrwz2.jpg). Looks like he had a leg ripped out of the socket as well. Could be coyotes I guess? Not sure what other predator could be responsible, certainly not a homeless guy or "bored teenagers." In fact, taking a closer look, looks like both left legs were ripped off, mostly skinned, but quite fresh and uneaten? Could this have been a warning to me, as opposed to a snack? I think I've received a similar message before involving a deer skeleton in Colorado. Just thinking out loud, anyway... if it is the work of the wild folk, it would seem to be a different clan than the ones in your area.

 

This was in the midst of more wood sign:

 

 

Closeup of the break on the right:

 

We also went a little further North up the greenbelt and did a little exploring in the smaller Miami Woods, and though we didn't find any structures per se, there were many of the classic signs, e.g. this little triangle formed by a branch stuffed through a tree;

 

 

and when standing by this structure, looking back toward the river, a striking X through a slot in the trees:

 

 

MIB - no it's not necessarily a through-route by any means! I'm mainly just theory-crafting trying to see if and how the dots might connect to University of Chicago and a route through the city. It's speculative, exploratory thinking, not deduction. But it was this thinking that led me to these woods in the first place! I find it kind of interesting that the structure off of Lakeshore and Lawrence is the same latitude as the branch of the Chicago River that leads immediately to these woods, though it is puzzling that there is really no conceivable route West from there that wouldn't involve basically traversing dark alleys of Chicago.

 

Speaking of structures at University of Chicago though, another set of overnight building occurred:

 

 

Nearby on the ground:

 

 

And now the really weird one; directly across the street from the leaned branches, next to the Laboratory School (private elementary school):

 

 

My heart kind of sank when I realized it was zip tied together, but.... another, smaller structure appeared next to it the following night, then this large one was demolished by the school staff that day. Here's the scene with the smaller one and larger one deconstructed into pile of branches:

 

 

Sorry for the poor photo, it's hard not to feel like a weirdo taking pics of this stuff in such a place, but hopefully you can see it's just a little box frame with a wedge on top, tied together by stripped bark or reeds or something. Similar to the type of ties I found on one of the previous teepees. Anyway, am I wrong for thinking it's a little strange that these things show up overnight, and if they're some kind of art project by the students, then the staff would demolish such a cool piece of work the very next day? The zip ties are hard to get around, but what if there were a full pack lying around in the garden a half block away... and did you notice that some of them aren't actually tying anything together, they're just attached to a single branch in some cases?

 

I'd love to get to the bottom of this and if someone tells me "oh sure the kids did that, it's an art project for the plant sale.." or "oh sure old lady Elenor builds those sometimes, she's talented but a little eccentric.." then I'm perfectly content to accept that. But I'm a little shy about making such inquiries, I don't exactly know who to ask or how to bring it up, and it's sort of weird for me to be asking about stick structures around an elementary school... Still, if the answer is more like "Oh yeah it's really weird, they just show up overnight and no one knows who's doing it" then that's pretty intriguing.

 

Here are some possible routes I've found that could get them from sightings to the SW up to where I am:

 

 

The yellow route continues North on the Metra line as far as there's cover. At that point, I don't know how they'd continue North. You'd basically have to swim for it I think, either in the lake or up the river. Viewing the Sidney Yates area as a destination rather than a through-route though, I have to say it's not that much easier to access it from the North. It still involves traversing golf courses or following rail lines. I lost my Google Earth work on that area so I'll have to redo it and get back to you. A general point of philosophy to consider though: they've been here doing their thing long before Chicago; they may just keep on doing it in spite of us. 

 

Oh yeah and as far as technique suggestions, LCB: I think floating an unknown river from midnight to 4 am through sasquatch territory sounds awesome but a bit outside my comfort level on the water! Don't have any such equipment either. I do think putting a digital recorder out could be a good idea, do you have a model suggestion? I will say my only hesitance is having a strong desire not to be intrusive to them, and still being unsure where those lines are with them - I even stopped taking photos of wood structures for a while after the deer skeleton warning I mentioned above.

[LeafTalker]

ioyza, your pictures are really fantastic, and your attitude about the BF is great. I bet you have some fun times ahead of you.

 

And it will be interesting if you ever do get any more information about the structure with the zip ties, especially. The BF do have a sense of humor, and it wouldn't surprise me at all if one of them thought, "This'll get 'em but good..." The enormous number of zip ties could be a colossal tease, as in, "We KNOW you think we don't know how to acquire (and use) these....... But we certainly DO know how to use these, so it will be really funny -- to US -- if you say, 'Look at ALL those zip ties -- this certainly CANNOT have been made by a BF!'"

 

But some hairless humans have a good sense of humor, too. And they could be making the exact same point. ("You think you know, but you don't.")

 

Really looking forward to what you find out about this (if you are, in fact, able to find anything out).

 

(The sad thing is that, if the creator of this thing IS a BF -- meaning, no human comes forward to claim authorship of it -- some "official" may decide that The People must be protected at all costs and make up a story about the origins of the structure; that is, make up a story about a hairless human "artist" being responsible for creating it.)