Friday, July 26, 1929 Gorilla Scare Ends Oshkosk, Wisconsin, Daily Wisconsin Freeport, Ill. – (AP) – The terrible gorilla which yesterday, had Elizabeth, Ill., agog, astir and aghast had shrunk today to a monkey, if that. The farm women who locked themselves indoors, and their men folk who went forth with guns and grim determined faces were breathing [...]
Friday, July 26, 1929 Illinois Village Now Engaged In Big Gorilla Hunt Middlesboro (KY) Daily News Elizabeth, Ill., (U.P.) – This community was engaged in a great gorilla hunt today. Posse of farmers searched the countryside for a huge Simian. The “big boy” first observed in a big patch of woods just outside of this [...]
March, 1946 Hoosier Folklore Vol. 5, p. 19 Another type of story that is of much more concern to us here in Southern Illinois nowadays is the “strange beast” legend.… Every few years some community reports the presence of a mysterious beast over in the local creek bottom. Although it is difficult to determine just [...]
Monday, March 30, 1942 Mass Hunt For Animal Fails To Solve Mystery Carbondale Free Press The mystery of Gun Creek bottoms still is a mystery. Not even 1,500 Southern Illinois hunters could flush the mysterious animal with a ‘wildcat’s scream’ and “paws like a hugh raccoon” yesterday, although they combed the bottoms with shotguns and [...]
Saturday, December 07, 1985 Reliving the tale of the Big Muddy Monster By Ann Schottman Knol The huge creature was the stuff of nightmares. Monster sightings ————————————————————————————— July 16, 1972: A jogger reported seeing something like the Big Muddy Monstrer near the Ohio River levee at Cairo. (Alexander County) June 26 – July 1973: Nine [...]
early June 1988 The legend Within the wilderness of the Shawnee National Forest in Southern Illinois, near the sleepy little town of Murphysboro, lies the legend of The Big Muddy Monster. A distant relative of Big Foot and the Yeti, the Big Muddy Monster is a shy, furry, man-like creature – a declining survivor of [...]
Sunday, September 24, 1978 Have you seen Muddy ‘monster’? By Dan Hubble Southern Illinoisan In the 1970′s, the Big Muddy River seeped into Southern Illinois folklore when it provided a home for a mysterious creature now dubbed ‘The Big Muddy Monster” The monster was first reported in June of 1972 by a couple living on [...]
June 1988 Muddy Monster Returns Group reports Murphysboro encounter By Norm Heikens Southern Illinoisan Several people are claiming to have seen something near Murphysboro that resembles the Big Muddy Monster, the stinking, dirty hulk with matted hair that shrieks and leaves large footprints. The latest sightings are said to have taken place early Friday morning [...]
Thursday, November 8, 1973 Big Muddy Monster makes the big (New York) time About the article Murphysboro’s Big Muddy Monster of last summer has attracted nationwide attention. Radio stations in New York and Massachusetts and a national magazine have made recent inquiries about the monster. New York Times News Service reporter Andrew H. Malcom visited [...]
Tuesday, July 8, 1975 Is Big Muddy Monster back? Is the Big Muddy monster active again in the Murphysboro area? It’s that time of the year, and reports indicate another unexplained sighting Sunday night in the Harrison area, north of Murphysboro. Jackson County authorities and Murphysboro Police checked the area near the Pentecostal Church grounds [...]