Bigfoot: Ghost of the Indiana Woods

The state of Indiana is made up of thirty-six thousand four hundred and eighteen square miles, with a large portion being native forests. In the deep parts of these seldom-seen places, some say lives a beast known by many different names such as Sasquatch, Wild Man, Man of the Woods, Genosqua, or simply Bigfoot. Stories of this beast have been recorded for hundreds of years. Witnesses say that it stands up to nine feet tall with wide muscular shoulders and is covered with gray to brown hair. It has ugly yellow teeth, if not fangs, and eyes that glow in front of a flashlight like a wolf. More often than not, it smells like rotting fish. For many reports, witnesses say they smelled the beast before they even saw it. Bigfoot’s stories are even part of ancient Native American oral traditions in petroglyphs carved or painted onto rock. These terrifying images go back 500 to 1000 years ago, and these stories continue to this day, with modern sightings recorded all over southern Indiana. But is it just folklore, a campfire story created to entertain people, or is there something more to it?

Southern Indiana has so many Bigfoot stories that it’s difficult to know where to start. There are some great hoaxes by people in Bigfoot costumes, and yet other stories defy explanation. Such as here, Crosley Fish and Wildlife Area is located south of Vernon, Indiana, and if the stories are true, it’s the home of a Bigfoot known to locals as the Crosley Monster. There’s an office where hunters and hikers sign in as a safety precaution. For if someone doesn’t come back, a search party can be sent. It’s a mostly wild and undeveloped place, heavily wooded with an area of 4288 acres. It is filled with deep valleys, abandoned mines, tunnels, and caves. It’s a lot of space to live and hide if you were a Bigfoot.

There have been Bigfoot sightings at Crosley that go back to 1958 but have been largely discounted. However, there are also news stories from 2001 and 2006 that, at face value, seem quite credible, yet it’s unclear what to believe. As I drove deeper into the woods, knowing there were no cars in the parking lot and that it was just me in total seclusion, I have to admit it felt very creepy, and that feeling didn’t go away the entire time I was there.

It was August of 2001, and three friends were looking for a cave at Crosley. They’d followed a stream about a half-mile into the woods when they started smelling something that smelled like very strong urine. It was then that a creature about eight and a half to nine feet tall was spotted by two of the three friends. It was described as very large and hairy, with a head as large as a cow’s and eyes the size of silver dollars. The friends started throwing rocks at the monster, but it seemed unfazed. They started backing away and walking faster, throwing rocks as they went. The monster, or whatever it was, continued to slowly follow them. It disappeared into the thick foliage of the woods as swiftly as it had appeared. The three friends were very shaken by the encounter but to this day do not know what they saw.

In July of 2006, four young men decided to camp and fish at Crosley. They expected to catch a few fish and some memories, but they got a whole lot more than they bargained for. As they fished into the evening, they got the strange feeling that they were being watched. Lots of things in the woods can spook a person, from deer to raccoons or even birds, but it was none of these things. The boys aimed a flashlight into the woods to see if it was just their imagination. They received the shock of their lives. In front of them stood a creature about eight feet tall with eyes that glowed in front of their flashlight. It made horrible sounds and shook tree limbs as if it was angry. The boys ran for their lives, the large beast got down on all fours and pursued them through the forest. But by the time they reached the road, it was all over. Whatever had followed them disappeared into the cornfield in the darkness of night. A few weeks later, one of the young men went squirrel hunting at Crosley, but this time armed with a 12-gauge shotgun. The day had been uneventful until he heard a horrible scream from the woods.

The next moment, there stood a very large, hairy creature, about eight feet tall. It circled him and threw leaves as if to intimidate. The boy ran as fast as his feet would take him, not once thinking that he had a 12-gauge shotgun in his hands. When he finally looked behind him, nothing was there.

It’s hard to say what really walks the thousands of acres deep in the woods at the Crosley Fish and Wildlife Area, but if you go, definitely keep an eye open.

Mill Race Park in Bartholomew County is the last place you’d expect a Bigfoot sighting, being just blocks from the Bartholomew County Courthouse and buildings designed by internationally known architects. The park is situated on 83 acres, has a graceful covered bridge, and beautifully landscaped grounds along Flat Rock River. However, that did not make it immune to something that’s still unexplained to this day.

It was around 3 p.m. on Friday, November 1st, 1974. Four teenage girls visited Mill Race Park. They were near the boat ramp when, between two trees, they saw what they described as a large creature with hair all over its body and a green face. It absolutely terrified them.

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They immediately took off and raced to the Columbus Police Department, where they frantically filed a report. They were visibly shaken by whatever they saw. Police made a patrol of Mill Race Park but found nothing unusual and certainly not a monster. But that was not the end of the story.

Later that evening, two women grabbed dinner and drove to Mill Race Park to talk in the car.

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Sitting there, it seemed like any other night, but it would be an evening that they would never forget. Something about seven feet tall, hairy, with a green face attacked the car. It tried busting the glass to get inside. It had fangs for teeth, claws, and left scratches on the car. Absolutely terrified, the women struggled to start the car. They sped off to the police station and filed a report. Another patrol was sent to the park but found nothing. If it was a hoax, it was now out of control.

After the story hit the newspaper, four more people saw the creature, and when these additional sightings were also published in the newspaper, a large number of people descended on the park, more and more every night in hopes of seeing the Mill Race Monster. They came armed with everything from baseball bats to shotguns. Part of them wanted to see a monster while others wanted a trophy. The Columbus Police Department had to make people go home, not because of the monster but because of endangering each other.

Whatever it was in 1974 both terrified and mobilized the people of Bartholomew County. The monster was never seen again at Mill Race Park, at least not yet.

On the far southern end of Johnson County is Camp Atterbury. It’s a massive tract of land over 30,000 acres, that’s nearly 47 square miles. It’s a fenced-in secure military training center. Lots of unusual things have happened here over the years, and just beyond its borders, there have been many reports of unidentified flying objects. These are speculated to be high-end drones or other advanced military aircraft. But also in the realm of the unexplained are numerous Bigfoot sightings, both formal and “don’t use my name, but I saw something.”

Soldiers training for night missions have had sightings in the field, as well as civilians living on Camp Atterbury’s borders. It was May of 2002 in Nineveh, Indiana. A man walked into the woods behind his house to shoot his rifle. It was chambered in .223, a moderately powerful round that will kill a large animal like a deer. In fact, this round is used in many military rifles across the world.

As the man walked deeper into the woods, he smelled something very strong, something that smelled dead. He figured it was a large dead animal and walked in that direction to see what it was. He walked only a short distance when in front of him, he saw it. He saw a huge fur-covered beast, at least nine feet tall, and it was staring right at him. It was so large that he didn’t dare shoot; he didn’t think the rifle he had would kill it.

Instead, he slowly tried to edge his way away from the gigantic creature. Suddenly, it blew past him at an enormous speed, breaking high up tree branches as it passed. While it traveled onto legs, it was not a man, a bear, or anything else that he’d ever seen. The experience frightened him so badly that he would not return to the woods for another eight months and never without a shotgun and deer slugs.

West of Columbus, Indiana, on Highway 46 is Brown County, and this bridge takes visitors to Brown County State Park. It’s nearly 25 square miles of both walking and horse trails, much of it deep into the woods. Brown County has a wonderful downtown for shopping, eating, and people-watching. You can even catch some entertainment at the Brown County Playhouse. It would seem like a very unlikely place for Bigfoot sightings, but just the opposite is true.

In addition to Brown County State Park’s nearly 25 square miles, there is Yellowwood State Forest, nearly 37 square miles, making over 60 square miles of woods. It’s interesting to note that Yellowwood and Brown County State Park are virtually continuous forest, with the Morgan Monroe State Forest to the north, Lake Monroe to the south, and several hundred square miles of the massive Hoosier National Forest. It should be no surprise that with a wooded area this large, this is the biggest concentration of reported Bigfoot sightings in the entire state of Indiana.

It was March of 1998, south of the Brown County State Park border. A hiker was making camp and dinner along a horse trail deep in the woods. He heard something that sounded like maybe a deer in the distance, rustling leaves and stepping on branches. He decided to investigate. Down by a stream, he saw a very tall, hairy seven-foot-tall creature with dark hair all over its body, large dark eyes, and a conical head more like an ape than a human being. As the hiker had no real weapon, he chose to yell and hope to scare it away. He ran a short distance and hid behind a tree before deciding to completely move on. Understandably, the hiker could not sleep the rest of the night and waited for daybreak to hike back to his vehicle.

In May of 2012, a couple rented a cabin at Greenbrier Lake for themselves and their two dogs. It had been raining, so the couple settled in for a quiet evening in Brown County. However, it would be anything but. Around 11 pm, the dogs started barking at something outside the cabin, and the man opened the door to investigate. He could see nothing in the darkness, but he could smell a very strong odor and hear heavy breathing at the end of the porch. It sounded like a very large animal, and he told his wife to get a flashlight and his pistol. The man chambered a round and cautiously stepped outside, shining the flashlight at the end of the porch. There were large wet footprints, but whatever made them was gone. For the rest of the night, the dogs paced the floor, and although they were housebroken, they instead soiled the cabin floor. They did not want to go outside for any reason.

In May of 2020, a man and his 11-year-old daughter were turkey hunting at Yellowwood State Forest. It was a typical spring day, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. But as if from nowhere, they both saw what looked like a creature, at least six to eight feet tall, very muscular, and covered in gray fur. The arms were described as very long and almost reached the knees. As soon as it saw them, it bolted out of their sight at an immense speed. After the sighting, several odd footprints were found at the creek not far from where the sighting occurred.

Many people in Brown County who have lived there for years talk about strange howls in the night that are not coyotes or other known animals, shadowy figures in the woods that quickly vanish, and others prefer not to talk about it at all.

Lake Monroe is the largest lake in Indiana, at almost 17 square miles. It is surrounded by heavy forest and some of the most remote land in the state. For whatever reason, these Monroe County woods are the epicenter for Bigfoot sightings. In fact, there is no county in Indiana that comes close to the number of reports by credible witnesses. The following stories are just a few that stand out.

In November of 1979, a group of cavers were exploring a pit cave near Harrisburg on the western edge of Lake Monroe. One of the cave explorers exited the cave and waited for the others at his jeep. While waiting, he noticed a shadowy figure walking just inside the tree line. At first, he thought it was a landowner or hiker. He both called out and waved, but there was no response. He did this a few more times, also without any response. It was only when the shadow walked across a small clearing that the caver saw a frightening creature. It was easily about seven feet tall, walked upright, and was covered in fur. It stared the man down for about 10 seconds and then continued into the woods as if nothing happened.

In November of 1988, a man had been hunting near Hindustan in the Morgan Monroe Forest. He just put his shotgun and backpack in the trunk and was getting ready to drive home when a large, very muscular, fur-covered figure crossed the road in front of him. It had very long arms, and the hands were even with the knees. It either didn’t notice or care that the hunter was there. It just kept walking until it disappeared into the woods.

In October of 1989, a similar but peculiar incident happened near Unionville. Two sisters were driving home around 2 am when some kind of creature walked in front of the car. Although it was fur-covered and had long arms, it was only about four and a half to five feet tall, a huge difference from the typical eight and nine-foot reports. Both women said that it looked very much like an orangutan; however, no zoo or private owner is known to have lost one. Just one more twist in the Monroe County Bigfoot story and surely not the last.

Lawrence County is known as the limestone capital of the world, and for very good reasons. Beautiful structures made of limestone and hundreds of miles of limestone underground, deposited by an ocean in ancient times. In this limestone bedrock are over 1,200 limestone caves. It’s a perfect habitat for anything wanting to get lost and stay that way, and some say that’s why Bigfoot lives here.

In 1981, a Marine came home from the military and took a woman for a ride down Penaltan Road. It had been a pleasant afternoon with good weather. They made a turn down a gravel road and traveled east into some backcountry, and something walked across the road. It was covered with long gray to brown hair and looked about seven feet tall. It stopped and stared at them. The man slowly took out his M1 carbine, loaded a round into the chamber, and cautiously walked toward the creature. However, whatever it was did nothing to appear hostile. It simply ran through the briars and into a cornfield, disappearing from sight. This is but one of many sightings that have happened in Lawrence County over the years. Many people have said, “I’d like to tell my story, but people would think I was crazy.” After all, who believes in seven to nine-foot-tall creatures that live in the woods?

Cave River Valley, located at Campbellsburg, Indiana, is located in a fairly remote part of southern Indiana. A long, steep trail takes visitors to the bottom, going deeper and deeper into the interior.

A spring feeds a creek that divides the land in two. It’s been a popular place for camping, hiking, and caving for a very long time. As the name would imply, Cave River Valley has a large number of caves, which translates into many places to live and hide.

There’s River Cave, which was once a tourist attraction where you could rent a raft and float deep inside the cave. Not too far away is Endless Cave, which goes back over a mile into the darkness. With many caves, lots of seclusion, and clear spring water, it has been a hotbed for Bigfoot sightings.

In August of 1998, four friends parked their van on the land above the trail and decided to sleep in the van overnight. It was dark, and before everyone settled in, they heard what sounded like someone walking through the woods around them but saw no flashlights. This was very odd due to the remote location in decently rugged terrain. It would not be safe to walk in the dark unless you could see in the dark.

A few hours later, the campers heard an unusual and unsettling scream that echoed across the valley. It was so loud that all the other animals remained quiet after it occurred. After what seemed like a long time, the group settled down and fell asleep for the night. However, during the late watches of the night, one of the campers saw a long, hairy arm reach inside the van and take food that was sitting in the passenger seat. The witness remained silent until they were sure they could hear no sounds outside the van. No one slept well after that.

The next year, in 1999, the same four friends put up tents in the valley next to the stream. By about 1 am, everyone was in their tents, settled down, and the fire had gone out. The four friends again heard something that sounded like someone was walking all around the valley. Moment by moment, the footsteps got closer and closer, and no one dared to go outside. And then silence.

Later in the night, one of the campers heard footsteps in the campsite and finally could see the head of a giant animal staring into the tent. After what seemed like an eternity, it walked off into the darkness as if it was never there.

Earlier that same year, in June of 1999, at New Pekin, a 13-year-old boy had a daytime sighting. It was along Falling Creek Road near a cornfield at his aunt’s house. His mother had sent him to the car to get her cigarettes, and when he did so, he saw a large towering figure with dark fur. It had very large arms that swung as it moved, and no sooner had he seen it, it moved away very quickly and into the forest, where it disappeared.

With abundant woods and clean water, there’s plenty of room for a Bigfoot in Washington County. Some Bigfoot reports are more startling than others, especially when it portrays what seems to be an angry or agitated monster.

In June of 1981, a man, his wife, and two boys went to Lake Tipsaw to swim and have a picnic. When they arrived, they found that they were all alone and had the entire place to themselves. As the boys swam in the lake and the mother prepared lunch, the father set up a chair to watch the boys. It seemed like an ideal day at the lake, but they were mistaken.

The father noticed a large dark figure high above the hill that overlooked where the boys were swimming. At first, it paced back and forth, and then it started making a deliberate path down to where the boys were swimming. As it got closer, he could tell it was not human. The father told the boys to get out of the water and for the mother to get everything together quickly so they could leave. Now.

To this day, they have no idea what that was. A walk into the woods around Tipsaw Lake reveals an ideal habitat for a Bigfoot.

it’s similar to brown and monroe counties heavily wooded
and a creek with clear flowing water possibly even some caves
But strangely, no large footprints on trails or in the creek bed, or even in the lake mud where the water has greatly receded. It appears that Bigfoot is always one step ahead of the rest of us, and not just here, but all of southern Indiana.

Harrison County is a very old place. It was the site of the very first Indiana Territory capital, but before that, it was inhabited for thousands of years by Native Americans. They passed down Bigfoot-type stories from generation to generation. They told them to European settlers, and they passed them down to the present generation. If you were to drive to Harrison County today and ask locals if they believe in Bigfoot, a large number would likely say yes. Generations have lived here and have seen and heard things that are hard to explain. It seems everyone has a Bigfoot story.

The forest here is immense and includes O’Bannon State Park and the largest cave in Indiana, the over 30-mile-long Binkley Cave system. In fact, Harrison County is home to over 600 caves, an ideal habitat for a creature like a Bigfoot.

Don’t be surprised if you see bumper stickers and other Bigfoot merchandise; the furry beast is beloved and practically family. But that doesn’t mean that the creature is always on its best behavior.

It was the summer of 1991 along Corydon Ridge Road, and two brothers were living in a cabin. Sometimes in the night, they would hear unearthly screams in the woods that would unnerve them and their dogs. It was not something that they recognized, and the forest would become strangely quiet soon after they heard it.

After many times of hearing these howls, one of the brothers shot his rifle into the woods, intending to scare away whatever it was. This was a huge mistake. Instead of making the howls go away, they seemed to get closer every night.

One of their friends, hoping to see what was making the sounds, camped in the woods behind the cabin. However, he didn’t stay there long. A very large, hairy creature walked into his campsite, setting him running back to the cabin.

The next night, under cover of darkness, one of the brothers looked out the window and saw a very large creature looking back at him. It was about eight feet tall and covered in fur, and then it disappeared into the woods.

On the following night, the creature returned, but this time howled at the cabin so loudly that it sounded like it was on the inside. The dogs hid upstairs and whimpered in a corner, soiling the floor. But just as swiftly as the creature had come, it disappeared into the woods.

The next morning, the brothers looked for footprints but found nothing. What they did find was the door jamb was broken, as if something very, very strong had tried to force its way inside the cabin. They moved out the following day.

Without a doubt, something attacked that Harrison County cabin, and whatever it was is nothing to trifle with. Despite hundreds of Bigfoot encounters, you don’t hear of anyone ever getting hurt, and that seems pretty remarkable for something that’s supposed to be wild, massive, and up to nine feet tall.

People rarely find large footprints, and when they do, they look like smudges with no defining features, such as toes. We’ve yet to find a dead Bigfoot laying in the woods, and if they use the forest as one big bathroom, surely the evidence would have piled up by now. And with more and more trail cams, you’d think we’d have a picture.

With no concrete evidence, skeptics have further confidence that Bigfoot is only a myth. However, there are other explanations. Some point out that gorillas were not discovered until 1847, a few decades before the Civil War. It’s possible that Bigfoot is just an unknown primate. Some have speculated that Bigfoot is nothing more than a large ape that escaped a zoo or private owner, and some reports do sound like orangutans.

Others have theorized that Bigfoot is a humanoid like us but not as evolved. They might even bury their dead. Some have suggested that Bigfoot has supernatural powers, allowing it to shape-shift and disappear at will, which is why we’ve never found one. On the outer fringe, it’s been suggested that Bigfoot might even be some kind of alien.

The theories are endless. In reality, even though we don’t really know what to make out of Bigfoot, the creature is more admired than feared in southern Indiana. You can see this at places like the Concrete Kingdom in Clarksville, where you can buy yourself a Bigfoot statue for the yard, showing your support for southern Indiana’s undisputed hide-and-seek champion.

People often buy Bigfoot statues for over three thousand dollars. For a long time, Bigfoot gas stations were all over southern Indiana. You can go online and buy all kinds of Bigfoot merchandise, from t-shirts, bumper stickers, and figurines. You can even buy a Bigfoot air freshener for the car.

All legends have a grain of truth, and in the case of southern Indiana’s Bigfoot, there are simply too many stories for all of them to be a hoax. Something out there is very large, covered with fur, and makes strange howling noises in the woods. If we’ve yet to identify every creature in the ocean after all the time we’ve been on this planet, it’s more than possible that we don’t know everything that roams in the southern Indiana woods.