BIG MUDDY MONSTER ENCOUNTER, 1988 - Murphysboro, Illinois. On the evening of June 9, 1988, Bob Reiman was called to his Murphysboro salvage yard by his night watchman, Charlie Straub, who claimed that a trespassing someone - or something - was heard to be moving amongst the bushes behind the yard. After arriving, Reiman and Straub took their flashlights and began to investigate the property’s perimeter. They soon encountered the strange visage of a creature called “The Big Muddy Monster,” or “The Murphysboro Mud Monster” (reportedly last seen in the area in 1973-75), snarling its way through the brush. It stood over 8 feet-tall, weighed 400+ lbs., and was a white-furred “Bigfoot” with glowing red eyes. And it smelled horrible. In fear, the men fled to the yard’s metal shop building, where they were soon joined by Joyce Juerge and Cheryl Reiman. Disbelief soon turned to terror as something large began to forcefully pound on the shop’s metal walls from the outside. Luckily, the fearsome assault soon ended and the mysterious assailant retreated back into the dark night. In the following days, local media lauded the “Return of the Big Muddy Monster” and showed photos of the Bigfoot-sized prints found along the tracks near the yard. Photo by Michael Huntington - July, 2022. @Huntington_Strange_Travels #StrangeTravels #MichaelHuntington #HuntingtonFamily #HuntingtonAdventures #MurphysboroMudMonster #MudMonster #BigMuddyMonster #Mongo #BigMuddyMonster1988 #ReimanEncounter #Bigfoot #IllinoisBigfoot #AlbinoBigfoot #Cryptid #StrangeIllinois #BigMuddyRiver #MurphysboroIllinois (at Murphysboro, Illinois) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cgc7m6bM78Q/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

BIG MUDDY MONSTER FOLK ART - Murphysboro, Illinois. Some Murphysboro Mud Monster folk art / yard decorations seen poking out of some barrels on Illinois Route 149 heading into Murphysboro. The town holds an annual beer fest and a comic con in honor of the Bigfoot-like, albino, cryptid creature reportedly seen in this area of Southern Illinois over the past half-century. The Big Muddy Monster, aka Mongo, has allegedly been encountered on Route 149 on occasion. Photo by Michael Huntington - July, 2022. @Huntington_Strange_Travels #StrangeTravels #MichaelHuntington #HuntingtonFamily #HuntingtonAdventures #MurphysboroMudMonster #MudMonster #BigMuddyMonster #Mongo #Bigfoot #IllinoisBigfoot #AlbinoBigfoot #Cryptid #CreatureFromBigMuddy #StrangeIllinois #BigMuddyRiver #MurphysboroIllinois (at Murphysboro, Illinois) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cgc03BlpmDY/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

THE MUD MONSTER AND THE SHETLAND PONIES - In the dark, early morning hours of July 7th, 1973 - the town of Murphysboro, Illinois was fast asleep on this warm Summer's Night. Many townsfolk had attended the carnival that was held in Riverside Park that day - at the location, near the Big Muddy River, where a strange encounter with an "albino Bigfoot" had been reported just over a week before. At around 2 a.m., carnival workers Ray Adkerson, Wes Lavender, and Otis Norris noticed a disturbance coming from the carnival's Shetland ponies which were leashed nearby. Upon investigation, the carnies observed a tall, hairy "Bigfoot-like" creature lurking in the shadows and curiously watching the ponies. This "Monster" was soon witnessed by other carnival people before it disappeared into some brush. After another sighting occured on a nearby farm that same early morning, groups of armed hunters quickly gathered at the Park to try to track the creature. While cries were heard and tracks were found, the bizarre cryptid, once again, was able to elude identification or capture. Each year, the town of Murphysboro honors it's famous mysterious "Mud Monster" with the "Big Muddy Monster Brewfest" - a light and fun event - held on the very same grounds where the Beast frightened some tiny horses and a group of surly carnies over four decades ago. Photo by Michael Huntington - October, 2016. #StrangeTravels #MichaelHuntington #HuntingtonFamily #HuntingtonAdventures #MurphysboroMudMonster #BigMuddyMonster #MudMonsterCarnival #BigMuddyMonsterBrewfest #Mongo #Bigfoot #IllinoisBigfoot #AlbinoBigfoot #Cryptid #StrangeIllinois #Cryptotourism #MurphysboroIllinois (at Murphysboro, Illinois)

THE MURPHYSBORO MUD MONSTER: FIRST ENCOUNTER - Murphysboro, Illinois. At around midnight on June 25th, 1973, a young couple - Randy Needham and Judy Johnson - were parked at the foot of the 23rd Street boat ramp in Murphysboro's Riverside Park. This local "Lover's Lane," overlooking the Big Muddy River, was a popular spot for young lovers seeking a bit of intimate privacy. The solitude of this evening was soon to be shattered, however, when a nearby "screech" prompted Needham to hit his car lights to see the source. The couple was shocked to observe what they described, as an "8-foot-tall gorilla" with "white, muddy and matted hair" coming out of the brush and lumbering towards their vehicle. Quickly exiting the horrific scene, the couple raced to the local police station to notify authorities of their encounter with the strange, frightening beast. Police officers soon arrived at the location and did find "peculiar tracks" in the mud and noticed a "strong aroma" left from some sort of undetermined creature. Movement and howls along the banks of the Big Muddy - heard during the investigation - prompted an all-night hunt involving multiple officers and civilians - with more muddy tracks being found (and subsequent casts being made) of whatever unknown "hominid" was lurking in the shadows. This night, the creature would elude it's pursuers. What would come to be known as the mysterious "Murphysboro Mud Monster" - also called "The Big Muddy Monster" or "Mongo" - would be seen by dozens of witnesses over the following weeks and years, but would never be caught or truly explained. Photo by Michael Huntington - October, 2016. #StrangeTravels #MichaelHuntington #HuntingtonFamily #HuntingtonAdventures #MurphysboroMudMonster #BigMuddyMonster #Mongo #Bigfoot #IllinoisBigfoot #AlbinoBigfoot #Cryptid #StrangeIllinois #MurphysboroIllinois (at Murphysboro, Illinois)

WOODS OF THE MUD MONSTER - Murphysboro, Illinois. It was here, in 1973, in the woods behind Westwood Lane, where a monster was allegedly seen...and hunted. It was the warm, summer evening of June 28th, just a bit past 10 p.m. A few days earlier the town was abuzz with talk of a "white Bigfoot-like creature" having been seen near the Big Muddy River in Murphysboro's Riverside Park - just beyond the woods. But, such fanciful tales soon leave the mind as life goes on and talk of strange creatures quickly fades. Tonight, however, the Monster would make it's second appearance in Murphysboro, this time in the town's Westwood Hills - sparking a string of sightings and creating a wave of monster frenzy. A young boy, Christian Baril, was gathering lightning bugs in his yard before running inside claiming to have seen "a big ghost" in the woods behind the fence. Minutes later, a teen couple - Randy Creath and Cheryl Ray - spot a "7-foot-tall, ape-like creature" with "white, sheep-dog-like hair and red eyes" in the very same woods, from a backyard porch in the Westwood subdivision. After watching the beast trod into the brush, the couple notifies police who soon arrive on the scene to investigate. Officers find a broken path into the woods - and a weird trail of "smelly black slime" - and realize that they have something they can track. A posse of 14 officers - and a tracking dog with his owner - is organized and they track the mysterious creature through the dark woods to an old barn. But the hunters fail to capture their elusive prey as it somehow manages to escape the barn and disappear into the night. The mysterious Murphysboro Mud Monster, also called The Big Muddy Monster or "Mongo," would be seen over the following weeks and years, but it would never be caught or fully explained. Photo by Michael Huntington - October, 2016. #StrangeTravels #MichaelHuntington #HuntingtonFamily #HuntingtonAdventures #MurphysboroMudMonster #BigMuddyMonster #Mongo #Bigfoot #IllinoisBigfoot #AlbinoBigfoot #Cryptid #StrangeIllinois #MurphysboroIllinois (at Murphysboro, Illinois)