Stan Courtney has had an interest in Bigfoot/Sasquatch since 1959, and had his first possible encounter near Springfield, Oregon in 1967. Stan has been a member of the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization since 2004 and has interviewed 250 Bigfoot witnesses and posted over 160 reports on the BFRO website. He has also traveled to the 48 contiguous states, recording and researching sighting locations, given talks on the topic of “Bigfoot In Illinois” to various groups throughout the state of Illinois, and has been a guest on numerous radio shows.

When did you first become interested in pursuing Bigfoot sightings in Illinois? Did you have your own encounter with this legendary beast, or has this just been a subject that has fascinated you from an early age?

Although I have lived in Illinois since 1974 I was unaware of the long history of Sasquatch activity within Illinois until the advent of both the internet and the many TV documentaries. Being raised in the Pacific Northwest I have always had an intense in the subject. I had a brief sighting in July of 2005 near Seneca, Illinois.

Illinois isn’t generally known to be a hot spot for Bigfoot sightings, yet as you have documented, there have been hundreds if not thousands of sightings of “wildmen” in Illinois over the past two centuries. Why do you think Illinois “gets no respect” in this area of research?

As I recently wrote on the topic of “Illinois Gets No Respect” Illinois is not the first location to come to mind when you hear the word “Bigfoot”. Perhaps the reasons for this are that the public has the impression that these animals only live in the wilderness, high in the mountains and shun any contact with humans. By looking at the national databases it is soon realized that this is not the case, as there are reports in most of Illinois’ Counties. I have had a slow progression of understanding about what these animals are, where they live, and how they act. I now believe that there is probably a resident group of Sasquatch that passes through occasionally along most of the wooded creeks of Illinois. Illinois has over 87,000 miles of streams and rivers. Most of these are wooded and loaded with White-tailed Deer. So contrary to what the casual observer thinks, Illinois has a large amount of favorable habitat for these animals to live, eat and reproduce.

As preciously mentioned, you have meticulously documented hundreds of sightings and newspaper reports of Bigfoot sightings all over the state. Which of these incidents do you believe provides the most compelling evidence for the existence of such a creature?

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