Wednesday, October 17, 1973

… or a hairy gorilla-type near St.Joe

Champaign-Urbana Courier

Four St. Joseph youths today are wondering if seeing is really believing.

The four said they spotted a hairy, gorilla-like creature between 9 and 9:30 p.m. Tuesday just off the township road which leads to Sidney. The unidentified creature was sighted when the youths got out of a car south of St. Joseph to investigate what they thought was a campfire near the bridge on the Salt Fork.

Bill Duncan, 17, a St. Joseph – Ogden High School student, said the boys saw the 5 feet tall creature from a distance of about 15 feet when one of them lit a match.

Duncan said he and his companions, Bob Summers, 18; Daryl Mowry, 17; and Craig Flenniken, 17 did not discuss the creature until much later after they fled the scene. “None of us believe in that outer space, stuff” Duncan said today, and “I wondered if I was nuts or something.”

“I thought it was a bear at first,” he said, but “I couldn’t really say.”