Minnesota Update Of Sorts(Shrug)

[Guest]

Latsch State Park has one of the most beautiful views of the valley if you can make the strenuous climb up the bluff.

I wonder if the WI side has more potential habitat, though. There are some pretty big tracts in the bottoms- Nelson-Trevino State Natural Area near Nelson and Tiffany Bottoms a little further up the Chippewa, as well as a large area between Holmen and Trempaleau. And those coulees and ridges just go on and on.

[Guest Maggie]

You are probably right that the Wisconsin side has more potential habitat. So things happening here, could very well be coming from over there. There is definitely area for all sorts of wildlife!

Oh, headed over to the family place again this weekend, leaving tomorrow afternoon. Will update if anything occurs, though that is not all of the time certainly.

Edited October 14, 2010 by Maggie

[Guest]

It's interesting to hear of goings on in SE Minnesota. An area not normally associated with Bigfoot sightings, but beautiful and hilly nonetheless. Maggie, you brought up some older possible sightings, which prompts me to relay this one. As a kid I heard through my father of a sighting near Henderson,MN circa 1974. It was told by a hunter and the animal sounded "like a freight train" as it rushed by this hunter paying him no mind. I swear this sighting was once on the internet in the 90's but I've never seen it again. Any others sotans heard of this one?

[Guest Maggie]

Squatchaholic, I seem to remember seeing that report too, cant remember what site though?

Yeah, southeastern MN isnt usually brought up as an area for bigfoot sightings. I think many people DONT report incidents and I cant blame them really. Northeastern Iowa is also an area that has had more sightings than people would think.

My daughter is pheasant hunting tomorrow with her boyfriend....but if i tell her to keep her eyes open she probably will try to avoid the subject, .

I think I must have some influence on her though because last year when she went on vacation to Colorado, she came back and told me while she was there, she got to thinking that where she was looked like a good area for bigfoot.

My sister said much the same thing a couple years ago when she was taking her daughter to summer camp, the roads were twisting, winding and the woods were thick.

I cant say either of them is HAPPY to have those thoughts! But maybe it will make them more aware of things.

Returned from the family place today.

About the only thing that happened that was a little different was hearing something walking around the property close to 1 a.m. Friday night. Our dogs and the neighbor dogs were barking/whining like crazy. It DID sound bipedal to me as I lay there as still as I could and listened. I always do that when I am there...

I dont THINK it was a neighbor but I guess one never knows. Of course why would the neighbors own dogs be barking at him?

Anyway, not "proof" but interesting.

A couple years ago in February everyone was staying at the house (I believe I told this incident on the old boards). One night I heard someone/something walking around below my window. I thought it was either my brother coming in or my daughter out smoking.

The next morning my daughter (who was sleeping in the basement bedroom) said she heard walking by the basement window and her little yorkie/maltese was having a fit.

Whatever/whoever it was must have made a circle of the big house because as I said, her room was in the basement and my room is upstairs at the opposite end from where she was.

This weekend, both saturday and sunday morning, I took the dogs out before it was light out but didnt feel at all comfortable doing so though I think I was talking myself into the heebie jeebies!:/

[Guest ChrisBFRPKY]

Keep up the good work Maggie! There's alot of people on here that enjoy your reports. Myself included! Thanks for sharing and please keep us updated. Chris B.

[Guest Maggie]

Thanks! I appreciate it. Nothing very recently has happened, not even slightly suspicious activity, but I will continue to post things here, when or if they occur.

I have been wracking my brain about WHERE I saw that Henderson report? Its likely not the same one as Squatchaholics as he heard it through his father. Unless it was reported. OR I could be mixing it up with another report entirely. I am not perfect and its been known to happen!

On the General Discussion board there is a post about infrasound. I have wondered if that could be the cause of my extreme fright that time.

I dont know very much about it though, just thought it made some sense.

Headed over to the family place this weekend, usually get there every other weekend.

Edited October 27, 2010 by Maggie

[TimB]

I was hoping you were closer, but I am just south of Grand Rapids, so it'd be like 5-6 hours down to your place. What do you think they are drawn to?

Tim

[Guest Maggie]

If I had to take a wild guess? I would say around here (not sure about other areas of the country) they are drawn to this corridor along the Mississippi River because of the relative inaccessibility of the bluffs and river bottoms, plus just my opinion, but I think large areas of water attract them. I havent really decided if they are here all year around or migrate somewhat. Maybe they use the rivers as migration routes, though if they DO migrate, my guess would be it isnt terribly far.(Not like geese for instance.) I had another thought though I dont know how close I am to being correct....people talk about seeing them on the railroad tracks in the area.

Now, are they drawn to the railroad tracks or only there because of the proximity of the river? The tracks might make getting about a little easier. Only a passing thought.

Nothing went on this weekend, but then with the colder weather hitting, I didnt leave the window open all night. Oh well, cant be lucky all the time, probably not even MOST of the time but that doesnt mean I will give up the bit of research I attempt. Its too fascinating a subject.

This was on the old forum, but thought I would just mention this here in case someone in the area, or even state, has had a similiar experience.

This happened here, if I remember correctly, during the summer, I THINK later, before I had air conditioning so had the bedroom window open (second story window). I had been sitting in bed, reading when I heard voices. But not like anything I had ever heard before, its just the only thing I could describe it as.

They were high pitched, sing-song, cartoonish almost. In years after, I have read about people hearing what they say sounds like "samurai" vocalizations. I wonder if we are talking about the same thing?

[Guest nixon]

Personally, I doubt if it was a cougar as they move silently and stealthy. Obviously a creature that is not concerned with the noise it makes when rummaging around. A number of birds picking through ground debris while looking for food can make a awful racket. Cattle make a lot of noise when crashing through bush. Bears are noisy also when foraging. There are many more examples of different wildlife that are noisy.

[Guest]

Maggie, thanks for all the comments. It sure sounds like you have had some interesting times. Can I ask what the strangest experience you have had was ? New here and havent posted much. Might be you put that in another thread. Thanks for any comments Dan

[Guest Maggie]

The strangest was probably hearing those voices. I mean, over the years, for the MOST part, I was thinking this was an animal, not capable of speech? I have heard other sounds that possibly could have been talking but could very likely be explained otherwise. That particular incident set me back on my heels for sure!

Of course I DO have to say since I didnt SEE it, maybe it was something else? After I heard it, I got thinking about what other people had said about "samurai" vocalizations and thats what comes the closest to describing it.

Another time that was really weird was when I was living in an apartment building which was then on the very edge of Red Wing, Minnesota. I had just had my second child. We were on the second floor, it was warm and I had the windows open. I woke up to my baby crying (she was in a crib in the room not far from the window) and heard something imitating her crying and each time it did, it was coming closer. I picked her up to quiet her, shut the windows and went into the dining room area (no windows!)and sat there with her until morning.

I have had some people tell me that cougars can imitate a baby, but I really dont know.

Nixon, I still have no idea what it was over behind the chicken coop. I dont think it was trying to be stealthy, so maybe NOT a cougar. I am no closer to the answer now than I was then. I would say I am 99 percent sure it wasnt birds or a bear and I dont THINK it was a cow.

Edited November 10, 2010 by Maggie

[Guest ChrisBFRPKY]

Thanks Maggie, when I read accounts like yours it gives me goose bumps. I've never heard a cougar/panther imitate a baby crying. I've heard them sound a whole lot like a woman screaming. I've heard foxes make a sound like a baby crying, but they were NOT imitating anything, they were just making that sound. I think these Bigfoot creatures do imitate alot of sounds they hear. You also said something that rings home with me when you talk about going into the dining room area to get away from windows during this experience. People don't know how to properly appreciate a room without windows until they have a large hairy giant outside their home. I won't sleep next to a window myself (not in this area). Chris B.

[Guest]

It's interesting to hear of goings on in SE Minnesota. An area not normally associated with Bigfoot sightings, but beautiful and hilly nonetheless. Maggie, you brought up some older possible sightings, which prompts me to relay this one. As a kid I heard through my father of a sighting near Henderson,MN circa 1974. It was told by a hunter and the animal sounded "like a freight train" as it rushed by this hunter paying him no mind. I swear this sighting was once on the internet in the 90's but I've never seen it again. Any others sotans heard of this one?

I grew up in Mankato and went to Mankato-Wilson, graduating in 76' (Wilson was closed in 78-79, if I recall correctly). Wilson was a Class C HS in the then and for all I know still Valley Conference with Henderson (which is about 40 minutes or so north of Mankato on 169), so we played them in sports. As you went north up the highway, Hendy-Ville was on the left off the highway and on the right was the Minnesota River & it's bottomlands.

My formative years into early adolescence I pretty much used those bottoms outside of Mankato as my own personal playground, until we moved across the valley and out on the then southern edge of Mankato about a mile by foot from the campus of then Mankato State. Even then I would bike to the Rapidan Dam on the Blue Earth to fish and hang out at river. When I got old enough to drive I would travel the riverbottom roads of the Minn, Blue Earth, and Cottonwood late at night/early in the mornings, just to see what I might. Never saw a monkee (by that time, I was looking for them) , but did once see a cougar...

I don't recall this particular report from the time but I can say the Minnesota River bottom and those of the Blue Earth and Cottonwood were some wild bush in those days, and I have no reason to doubt any wouldn't hold monkees if for no other reason than a travel route. As I grew up fishing & hunting the bottoms I recall a number of vague stories of odd things & sounds from the folks who lived down along the bottoms, but any specifics are lost to me in the sands of time...

Edited November 24, 2010 by NDT

[Guest vilnoori]

I had just had my second child. We were on the second floor, it was warm and I had the windows open. I woke up to my baby crying (she was in a crib in the room not far from the window) and heard something imitating her crying and each time it did, it was coming closer. I picked her up to quiet her, shut the windows and went into the dining room area (no windows!)and sat there with her until morning.

Chilling. Reminds me of some of the NA stories about child abductions by possible sasquatches or "wild woman." There's even a story hereabouts of a hunter seeing a sasquatch female in company with a young human boy. Not a happy story, unfortunately.

[Guest]

I might add that my family moved to Fergus Falls after I graduated and I went to college there in 77'. Almost immediately I began hearing stories of both bigfoot and a cult called The Sheets being seen in the Vergas Trails (a large wooded area near Vergas, noth of Fergus Falls, now much more human habitated than it was then). Once again I spent many late night hours driving the trails, looking for a glimpse of either. No joy...

There is a guy named Mike Quast who found & documented suspected sas tracks up in the trails. He did extensive snooping & pooping a bit further north in Clearwater Co and made a number of very interesting suspected sas related discoveries. One of the most interesting was suspected BF bites on creosote treated power poles. He wrote a book laying out all he had found as well as documenting Minn sightings up to that point. I was doing some snooping in Clearwater Co at the time and after reading his book, I contacted him about the bite find. Mike sent me the original photos to examine, which I scanned into my computer and returned to him.

I have a skull from a large male black bear that I shot in Canada in 94', and I compared the span of it's canines to the measured width of the clear canine gouges of Mike's bite find; my bear's bite marks would have been several inches more narrow than whatever chewed on that pole. If it were a bear (the only other viable suspect), it would have had to have been the size of a big grizzly or brown and neither exists wild in Minn.

For me, this has been the most interesting suspected sas related find in Minnesota...

Been years since I have been in contact with Mike but if you can find him, his book is by far the best on BF in MInn that has ever been done, well worth buying...