INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. Do you believe in Bigfoot? Tales and sightings of the hairy creature have been around for years, and despite major scientific evidence, some claim Bigfoot exists right here in Indiana.
Bigfoot is the source of decades of bewilderment – a hairy creature, 600 or more pounds, and walking on two feet.
“Still, I get funny feelings when I come down here,” said Tyra Cataline.
Cataline returned to the place where she said she faced an Indiana Bigfoot.
“We thought we were going to die. All three of us thought we were going to die,” she said.
It was 41 years ago, this November, at Mill Race Park in Columbus, when Cataline said she and two other girls were inside a car. They saw movement from afar, and then the creature ran up fast.
“That thing was throwing itself at the car. It was the most horrible thing you ever looked at. Its face was all slimy and everything,” she said.
Cataline and the girls drove away, terrified and hysterical. The days that followed brought a search for the “Mill Race Monster,” later believed to be someone in a costume.
“It was something. I don’t know what it was, but it wasn’t somebody wearing a costume,” she said.
“Here in Indiana, people do claim to see a creature known as Bigfoot,” said Chris McDaniel, a self-proclaimed paranormal investigator.
McDaniel runs a website called Indiana Bigfoot Reports. It tracks Bigfoot sightings by Hoosiers. Most he said come from across the state, with many near Terre Haute and Brown County. Spring and fall are a hot time for the reports, according to McDaniel.
He often goes out to investigate for himself.
“We get three to four reports a year,” he said, “I’ve had people come right out and say I’ve seen this eight foot hairy creature, and I know it was Bigfoot.”
He said many people are afraid of ridicule and don’t know who to call.
“We had a local law enforcement officer come to us sometime and claim to have seen the creature, but he needed to stay anonymous because of his position,” McDaniel said.
The most recent report came just a few weeks ago, on October 10. A man said he was hunting with two other people in Morgan-Monroe State Forest in Martinsville. He was separated from the group but then heard a howl that terrified him.
“I heard a sound that still haunts me to this day. It was the loudest howl I have ever heard. And I have grown up in the woods, I’ve heard numerous animal noises including the crazy coyotes, and this was not a coyote. It was almost as if I spooked what I believe was indeed a Bigfoot, and he was letting me know that was his territory. ”
The man took off running.
“One of the interesting things with stories like this or experiences like this is that they challenge our sense of what’s possible. They challenge our sense of what the world’s really about,” said Dr. Donald Braid, Director of the Center for Citizenship and Community at Butler University.
Braid has a PhD in Folklore.
“We tend to interpret things from our perspective of that’s how the world works,” he said.
He’s tracked the legends of Bigfoot or Sasquatch, stories that likely originated in the Pacific Northwest, with Native Americans. Braid likens Bigfoot to the idea of the Asian Yeti or Abominable Snowman.
“They’re probably connected to other stories in other parts of the world,” said Braid.
So is Bigfoot real?
“We may come up with evidence of something like this, or we may not,” he said.
Braid studied Physics as an undergraduate. He is a scientist at heart and still said he doesn’t know.
“Truth is a very difficult thing here,” he said, “I don’t want to say I believe, or I don’t believe. That possibility, that mystery is intriguing to me as well.”
“A lot of times, I’m on the fence about it myself and try to look out for the logical explanation, but I’m not going to be closed-minded, and I’m going to leave that possibility out there that people might be seeing something,” said McDaniel.
Cataline says that Indiana Bigfoot changed her.
“I believe there’s things out there now,” she said.
Skeptics of Bigfoot point to the lack of fossil evidence or real scientific proof that the creature exists.
Braid said people gravitate to legends like this because the human mind is inquisitive, and we always want to know that something exists that we can’t explain.
Source: http://fox59.com/2015/11/09/hunting-bigfoot-does-the-creature-exist-in-indiana-2/
Farrell Stormcrow
I still find it hard to believe, that a Sasquatch could be found around here, but I have heard stories. I am very near too, and hunt in the Morgan Monroe forest, that was mentioned (Same area that the Finding Bigfoot Indiana episode was on. ) There are areas of large woods and forests, but its crisscrossed with roads, and its had to find an area that you have to walk more then a mile or two to hit a road. Still, this is my home area, and I do keep on the look out. Who knows, but I might be surprised one day.
PATRICK
Hopefully not a bad surprise. Good to see you about.
bill l
well all I can say to Moe ,Larry & Curley from the news brodcast, plus Prof. Knowitall, is this. Get off your butt and go out in the wilderness. We here at this site can put you in touch with someone who will take you out there. Bring clean underwear.
michael n
I live in SW Ohio and I know they are around here. I’m not far at all from Indiana, maybe 25 minutes. I’m sure they have bf there. I mean really, there aren’t too many places they don’t roam.
Gumshoguy
Yup, you might be surprised one day. There are hundreds of thousands miles of roads within United States and there at least 1,986 reported Bigfoot/ Sasquatch sightings all across the country.
Carol F
Morgan Monroe Forestry is where I had my sighting. My family lived on a farm on Hacker Creek Road which is an access road to the state forestry and there was an incident with my brother’s boy scout troop which was camped out in the area back in 1960 or 61.
My sighting was last June on Gose Road which is also in the Forestry.
My husband and I are the founders of the Sasquatch Field Research Team of Paragon Paranormal Shadow Chasers, located in Morgan, Monroe, Owen, Johnson and Putnam Counties, all south of Indianapolis. We have had credible citizens from all these counties contacting us for several years with their stories.
Yes indeed! Bigfoot is in Indiana.
(We had been contacted by Chris McDaniel to find out if we wanted to be on the show too, but we gracefully declined.)
PATRICK
Thanks SFRTPPSC. Thx for your work Carol and Hubby.
Robert H
Well I live in Indiana and know very well all that’s in Indiana is corn…. Just kidding I had a weird thing happen at McCormick’s Creek. I think there’s a bigger population then most people think.
Paul M
These people seem to think it takes mountains and redwoods and rivers and great forests to support the beasts. Not TRUE. Creeks and scrubby patches of trees and brush. Coolies and foothills. Swamps and ponds. Areas where people just don’t like to go thru or can’t go into is all good for BF. They are out there. Yes Indiana.
David D
To Mr. Phd. Braid.. How does one become a Phd, in folklore? Interesting. “and we always want to know that something exists that we can’t explain”? Wow! I guess I need someone to explain that to me; or perhaps I’m just a little to inquisitive.
As far as fossil evidence, when old, fossilized bones are found, all anyone really knows is, something died and was buried rapidly under tons of mud and debris. (lots of pressure). Gotta go back to Genesis. And if anyone did happen to dig up a complete, fossilized human like giant, those fossils would disappear in a flash; “nothing to see hear!” Giants have been around for a looong time, in one shape or another. The ones that are with us today are copies of a copy, of a copy, all the way back, to nearly the beginning. Good time to get into some of Rob Skibas, or Steve Quales research. That would blow their minds, and may even get rid of some of their doubt. Or maybe, that is exactly what they desire to avoid.
david a
I live in southern Indiana near the east fork of white river. I grew up in those bottoms. they are there. they don’t live there, but i know they pass through.