Indiana County: Perry County

My name is JET. Beginning around 1978 or thereabouts, the area in which I (then) lived began to report various sightings of what could only be construed as a Bigfoot Sasquatch). I live in southern Indiana, in Crawford County. At that time, I lived in nearby, bordering Perry County. The name of the town of the sighting was Bristow, somewhat near the port of Tell City, Indiana (Ohio River). A young couple sighted one while driving at night and the local newspaper of that time (Hard Times – “The Old Man Was Right”) carried the story. Supposedly, samples of hair and plaster casts were taken by scientists at IU Bloomington Campus (headquarters). Nothing was ever said of what was discovered. Over the next 15 years, I have personally heard fascinating, first-hand accounts from more than 3 people (each from very different backgrounds, ages and from many different places of residence)of Bigfoot sightings since that time. An acquaintance I met at church 20 years ago told of playing hide and seek in a corn field at night and running into one. The story is chilling, believe me. Another gentlemen I used to work with recalled seeing it in broad daylight on his way to a cabin in the woods. My own father saw the creature near Patoka Lake, Indiana (Crawford, Orange, Dubuois counties) We were squirrel hunting near the lake and he was in deep cover. While stalking a squirrel, he saw what he took to be legs standing across a slogh, against a tree. Now, my father taught me to never point a gun, loaded or unloaded, at anything not intended to be killed and eaten. He would not so much as point a telescopic scope (while mounted to a rifle) at a man walking 300 yards away just to identify him. He told me that the creature began to walk away, on two feet, and he IMMEDIATELY brought up his gun (a measly .22 lever-action rifle) and trained his attention upon it. Before he could make a definite identification, the creature noticed he was being watched and strode towards the lake. When I found me Dad later that morning, he was jogging (which was indeed VERY rare) and passed me up on the way to the check-out station. He couldn’t even relate the story to me until we were 10 miles away. He told me to take a .308 rifle back to that area if I even went back there – even to squirrel hunt. This man is also an ordained minister and long time member and pastor of a church. Furthermore, one needs not describe how one knows when one’s own father is telling you the truth: let alone in such detail. Anyway, I hope you at this website are doing all of the most serious research that you can on this creature. People should know that it IS REAL AND DOES EXIST. Whether or not it means harm, who knows? I don’t necessarily think so. According to my own research and documentation of the stories that I have mentioned above, all of these sightings were within the geographical boundaries of the Hoosier National Forest area. Need I say more? Look all of this up on the web: I’ve never witnessed hair or tracks, but then again, I never went looking. Now don’t get me wrong, I hunt just about everything that moves – deer, squirrels, foxes, crows, varmints, etc. I have no qualms about being in and around the woods. I am very familiar with about a 10 mile radius from my home – and believe me, I know what goes on most of the time. I also know that the people who have told me their stories are the same way. These people don’t see a deer and think that it’s a goat and so forth. I don’t want to hunt this thing, I want to get someone to prove that it’s there. I have heard very strange sounds from the dark valley behind my father’s house, but I believe that we finally agreed (after years of debate) that what we were hearing was probably a bobcat (lynx) or something very similar. Stories of what are commonly called “sugar bears” abounded in the English area years ago. Many reports of panthers also exist. Another area of activity is the Hemlock Cliffs area. This is a long forgotten cliff and valley layout that is deep into the middle of nowhere. Many strange things have been sighted and reported thereabouts.

My wife and I had a sighting in June 1981 at Tipsaw Lake in Perry County. We had taken a picnic lunch with us to the park and beach area, only to find it under construction and closed. We did enter the beach area by way of the boat ramp area where we parked our car. The area was closed that day and not a single person or fisherman was on the lake. We had two small boys who immediately began to swim at the end of beach area next to the boat ramp. My wife and I were under a shade tree about 15 yards off the beach watch the boys swim. My wife was putting the picnic together while I was relaxing and looking across the lake. I could see a tall man moving between the popular trees very strangely high on the hill side near the dam to our right. The boys were having a great time, playing in the water making much noise. The tall dark man behind to move down the hillside to the edge of the water looking toward our boys in the water. The strange looking person or bigfoot began pacing back and forth looking in the direction of our boys. I continued watching but could not believe what I thought I was seeing. I then stop my wife and ask her to look toward the dam and tell me what she was seeing. My wife and I observed this being for another minute or two when he stopped pacing and began moving up the dam in a diagonal manner some 1200 yards away. My wife said we our leaving, get the boys and lets get out of here. We then headed back for Crawford Co. and have never forgotten that day. We returned to Tipsaw for the first time this past summer and looked at the spot that invoked all that fear some 27 years ago.

Indiana Bigfoot Awareness Group – Report #0008-2005 Mike’s Notes: This report was submitted by the mother of the August 13, 2005 sightee and is a sister to the sightee of a Nov. 2003 encounter. Both occurred at the same family residence near the far southern portions of the Hoosier National Forest just outside Bristow, Indiana. I’ll let her tell their encounters, then rap up with some additional details from further correspondence. Taken directly from email(s): Okay, lets set the record straight from the get go….I am highly skeptical about whether or not Bigfoot exists….however I can’t dismiss the accounts of two people who have no reason to lie about these things. One is my brother Xxx. Xxx is 19 and when he was 17, he was here at this house (then my father in laws home). He liked to play around with my mom’s car. There is a long drive here that extends about 1/4 to 1/2 mile back along a cornfield and ends in a cul de sac surrounded by trees on 1/2 a side and the field on the other side. It was late one evening and he decided he was going to drive her car out this lane and turn around and drive back. He drove out there and made the swing as far around the cul de sac as he could and then he put the car in reverse and backed it up to continue the full circle. As he looked out the rear window, his back up lights revealed what he said was a creature that stood around 8 feet tall and dark. He looked again and it was gone. He was very scared when he got back and will tell you that he definitely saw “something” that night. He is tired of people laughing at him so he often retracts what he said in order not to be ridiculed, but he did see something. The other person who “saw something” was my 15 year old son. This just happened a couple of weeks ago. We have a travel trailer sitting in the yard at the end of our drive. One side is lit by the garage light about 150 feet away, very clearly. “Yyyyyyy” was out putting the dog in his pen beside the garage. He said he heard a noise like the camper “rocked” and he looked down at it. He described seeing something standing about 7-8 feet tall and oranges. Needless to say he ran like crazy dodging landscaping stones to get back into the house. The time for this was just around midnight. I don’t know about the orange color, that kind of threw me a little. But you cant tell either of these kids that they didn’t see anything. Just thought you would like to know this. We live in Perry County near the Hoosier National Forest in Bristow. I heard an account a few years back that another teen a few miles from here actually saw “something” dragging a deer behind it in the woods. He thinks it was bigfoot as well. He has since moved but those are the stories I know of……..I haven’t found any evidence of anything but I remain open minded and I hope that if there is something out there that me AND my husband get a chance to observe it as well. Xxxxxx [names held by request] THEN ON A FOLLOW-UP EMAIL: Okay, I asked the boys some questions, so here goes with what they told me. Xxx (her brother in first report) said his “sighting” was in deer season so that would be November 2003. He didn’t get a clear view but went back the next day and saw nothing to fit the description of the previous night. He said it was about 8 feet tall. “Yyyyyyy” (her son in second report) said the dog growled a little but didn’t see it. “Yyyyyyy” said he saw it sway a little but didn’t look hard enough to see legs. He said it had one arm up against the camper. He saw a distinct outline and told his uncle when he came in that there was a really tall “man” at the camper. He said the thing was a dark burnt orange color and smooth looking like silk. That sounded weird to me. It was August 13, 2005 on a Saturday. He came in and locked the door and started hunting for the key to the gun cabinet. He also went to a couple of windows but did not get a clear view of the camper. If we happen to find something BIG, you are most welcome to investigate. My husband thinks we are all crazy as does everyone else we talk to except for one of our friends who believes there could be a number of things unknown to man living around us. Hopefully I can get a glimpse if it is really a true thing. We’ll see! 🙂 Xxxxxx Mike’s other notes: I have a few other questions submitted to the family about the August 13, 2005 encounter. I’ll post any other significant correspondence here as it develops. Michael R. Bardsley Indiana Bigfoot Awareness Group www.bigfoot46555.net bigfoot46555@earthlink.net Received/Posted: August 29, 2005 / Sept. 1, 2005 .