Bigfoot Society - Garden of the Gods Bigfoot! | Illinois

Episode Date: January 25, 2025

Join host Jeremiah Byron on Bigfoot Society as we dive into an eerie Bigfoot encounter with Shelly, a hiker and avid traveler, who experienced a series of unsettling events in the Garden of the Gods within Shawnee National Forest, Illinois. Shelly recounts her camping trip on August 24, 2015, where she was followed by a bipedal creature during a night hike. The silent, yet terrifying, pursuit left a lasting impression on her. She shares her detailed account of the footsteps, broken branches, and strange occurrences that night. Hear how this event has influenced her life and led her to delve deeper into the world of Bigfoot research. Additionally, hear insights from Harold Benny, a zoology expert and Bigfoot enthusiast, who has investigated the Shawnee National Forest area and its mysterious sightings.Resources:Harold's article: https://icl.coop/brushes-with-bigfoot/Harold's other episode: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/what-i-found-after-the-siege-at-honobia--58791196If you've had similar encounters or experiences, please reach out to [e-mail]. Your story could be the next one we feature!🔴 Subscribe to our Youtube channel and leave a comment here: https://www.youtube.com/@BigfootSociety?sub_confirmation=1Want to call in and leave a voicemail of your encounters for the podcast - Check this out here - https://www.speakpipe.com/bigfootsociety(Use multiple voice mails if needed!)Share this video with a friend: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5v75Od-X38Watch more episodes of the Bigfoot Society podcast here – https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3t1vwtsKh-MGeHs0XglFJE5LwUHpmJm_&feature=sharedRecommended Playlist – New Jersey Bigfoot Encounters - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3t1vwtsKh-Mk4032IyZtWgP6LVPU8uat✅ Help me help others share their Bigfoot Encounter by joining the community on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/thebigfootsociety✅ Hear ad-free episodes early by joining the community on Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8Qq45W6iaTU8FE9kelxT7Q/joinLet’s connect:Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/bigfootsociety/Twitter – https://twitter.com/bigfoot_societyTiktok - https://www.tiktok.com/@bigfoot.societyAffiliate links mean I earn a commission from qualifying purchases. This helps support my channel at no additional cost to you.My Audio Interface: https://amzn.to/3L1q8XYPut some pep in my step by buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/bigfootsocietyPick up some merch here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/bigfootsociety/?etsrc=sdtSend mail here:Bigfoot Society125 E 1st St. #233Earlham, IA 50072Send business inquiries to: [e-mail]

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All right, Bigfoot Society. I've got the privilege of talking to Shelley today. Shelly's an individual that reached out to me through my TikTok account for Bigfoot Society with some interesting things that she had experienced down there in Southern Illinois. So, Shelly, welcome to the show. How are you doing today? I'm doing great. How are you? I'm doing great, too. I'm just having a nice day, you know, talking to different people and looking at Bigfoot stuff. I mean, you can't get any better than that. So you have a really interesting thing that you're going to share because on the podcast yet,

we haven't had a lot of people come forward about this particular area. We were talking just a few minutes ago that there's a lot of things that get reported about this area, but on this particular podcast, not a ton yet. So maybe that'll change after this. But, you know, Shelley, before we get started, is there anything that listeners would all also need to know about you before we get going. I'm a hiker. I started actually running trails at a very early age about high school.

I guess I could give you my age, gives you an idea if I was, I'm 52 years old, graduating 92. So I've been on running and hiking trails for quite some time now. And I'm an artist and an avid traveler. Fantastic. Shelly, I'm going to go ahead and I'm going to give things over to you. Feel free to take us back as far back as we need to go to when things first started happening for you regarding this subject. Well, I had this goal of camping and hiking in a national forest.

I was trying to get to a different forest each weekend. And the first forest I chose to travel to with a friend was the Shawnee National Forest. And I chose this particular spot, Garden of the Gods. You know, I drove down from Indiana, northwest Indiana. And we got our last camping spot. There's only 12 camp spots. The Barrow's Campground, which is about a half mile from the hiking area of Garden of the Gods. The Garden of the Gods takes the lower portion of Illinois going into Missouri.

It's a pretty large national forest, extremely beautiful. Garden of the Gods is an amazing, interesting area. It used to be the bottom of a lake bed. And so the cave system and the bedrock, I mean, just think of like the Flintstones, if you were to go there, all this type of bedrock that you can, walk out on and hike along. It's just absolutely gorgeous. So this is August 24th of 2015 that we had traveled down there to camp. We went and hiked the Garden of the Gods, you know, it took some hours to get through. It's just absolutely beautiful, watched the sunset. Then we walked back to our camp

spot had dinner. And as night fell, you know, I'm a curiosity adventure type of person and was like, well, let's go Stargays on Garda of the Gods area. So we, you know, we decide to do that. And so we walk in it, it's dark, it's dark. And I'm going to say that this is probably about after 10 o'clock when we had down the road and back into the hiking area of Garden of the Gods from Pharaoh's campground. And so we were, you know, on this bedrock, stargazing. It's just absolutely beautiful. You can see the Milky Way. And we were there for well over an hour. Then we decided to walk to the parking lot. So we made our way through the, the forest on the trail mark trail of course and we you know found ourselves you know spit out into the

parking lot and we're stargazing and we i don't know this kind of crossed the lines i guess on some levels but we saw some things in the sky that had caught our interest pretty quickly and i don't know if i could really even venture into that subject but they were definitively unidentified flying objects So we're watching this And for at least 45 minutes And My friend turns to me And this is pitch black

You know, there's There's no street lamps here There's no one around She turns to me my friend and says Let's go And her voice is kind of quivering a bit And I looked at her and I kind of like to push things a little bit. And I was like, you know, let's stay.

Because I'm watching basically this in the sky, which would be six aircraft. And we stayed about another 15, 20 minutes before she turned to me again nervously and said, we got to go. I'm not feeling right. And I finally acknowledged that I wasn't feeling right either. You know, I get this feeling in the pit of your stomach and that something is off. And so we proceeded to walk back to the campground down the road.

And not too long after we had started on our walk from that park, lot of Garden of the Gods. It's a beautiful summer night. I'm in shorts. It's clear. The forest is dead. Silence. Silence.

Now, I've camped in Brown County. I've done lots of camping, Wisconsin. I know what to listen for, but I found silence. As we're walking, I'm hearing these steps. I'm hearing footsteps,

but it's up in the woods, to my right, about 15 to 25 feet back behind me, staggered. I'm hearing footsteps. I'm listening and I'm gauging this, and every sense of my body is on fire. I'm listening to this,

and once I heard a branch break, Like, snap, I stopped. I'm flashing my light into the woods. I'm yelling out, who's there? Who is there? These footsteps had stopped. When we had stopped. Oh, my gut.

Everything on me is saying, run. But you don't run. We started up again, walking very quickly. very, very quickly. And again, I'm hearing the footsteps, and I'm hearing, again, a branch break. Stop again. It stopped. Now, what's bothering me here is when I stop, whatever this bipedal is, and no doubt, because I turned to her as I said, this is bipedal. Now, I want you to understand at that time, you're just, I'm just scared. I'm not thinking about what it could, be, I understand it's not a bear. I've seen bear on horseback in the smoky mountains. This wasn't

bear. This wasn't, there's no other animals in the Shawnee Forest. There's very rarely a bear there. And, but again, I'm not, all I know is that when I'm hearing is I feel like I'm being tracked. I'm being followed. and we had made, you know, but it followed us at least for a good half mile. Now, I didn't smell anything. I didn't hear any grunts. There were no other sounds, but of those footsteps, branches breaking, as far as I know, if a branch is breaking, that's something enough to put weight and snap.

And whatever it was, there was weight to it for these branches to be snapping. And I also need to add that this area, this national forest is untouched. These woods and these limestone formations that come up out of the ground is not anything that you can, I, could just walk through. This is thick. When I was shining my flashlight into those. woods, all I saw was foliage and just black. Whatever had been following us was consciously stopping as I was stopping. And what bothered me was, it knew that I knew it was there.

Like, I'm flashing my light off into the woods, yet it still picked up after we had stopped. it wasn't like I've been challenged by gear on the trail meaning you're stomping and snorting at me you know this is my territory

I've seen fucks I've seen turkey I've hiked all up in the northern part of the dunes of Lake Michigan Kohl's bog I've hiked the Hoosier National

I was hiking the Luzer National Forest the next weekend and growled it by a coyote in the dark But again, yet to this day, I've never had anything like that ever happened again. And I've hiked a lot of miles. I used to run eight miles every other day on trails. I've never had anything like this ever happened again. It stopped right as, like, right when we walked, got to our campsite,

which is really the very first campsite to that loop. So this half-mile walk, we're being followed, kind of stopped by the end. entrance, nothing but woods in front of us. All these campsites are on a loop. So we're all back to back to back. Mind you, 12 rustic. Everybody's asleep. This is 12.45 at night that this had happened.

I never felt right at my campsite either. I never felt, quote unquote, like safe, so to speak. She had went to bed. I had stayed off. I'm watching everything in the sky. I'm stargazing. I went and changed clothes in my car. A car somehow relocked itself.

I don't know. And this thought kept coming through my head. You could disappear and nobody would know. I got into that tent so fast. Beth, this experience has stuck with me for many. years. It's been over nine years now. And I only went in Rieset, really, after some research. And of course, there's a Sasquatch statue outside our campground. So, I mean, this kind of adds, like, a little bit of woe to it, like a little, like a little preemptive. I mean, we're taking pictures with Sassie,

the Sasquatch statue outside Garden of the Gods. We, you know, we have to like we're being chased. Bigfoot Society will be right back after these messages. It may just be the world's greatest eraser. Mabelian Instant Eraser Concealer is your secret weapon for erasing signs of a sleepless night. Instantly

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I mean, I had no idea. When I selected this area, I didn't know what I was getting into. Now, we went and hiked another section of the Shawnee. I felt fine. I didn't feel like I had to really look behind my back or anything, but I will tell you that in this spot of Garden of the Gods, which is lots of caves. And now I want to mention to our phones were acting weird.

Like my, I had a brand new Sony Xperia phone and it was draining while it was off. So whatever is within this area is, is, was just intense. To see what was happening in the sky and to have something like that happened on ground is mind blowing. And it's taken me, like I said, almost nine years to be able to really be able to say, you know, I think this is what this was. I'm not one to jump to conclusions. Even then, her and I were like, what happened? Like, what was that? Well, no doubt was bipedal.

I had taken anthropology in college and had studied the apes at Brookfield Zoo. I had written a long paper studying the whole troop and the silverback and everything. And, I mean, I just have such an interest in that. And when this happened in the forest, my brain just immediately went bipedal. There's a predator around. There's no sounds coming from the forest, no crickets, no nothing. Sure, we could probably go maybe, you know, two girls, two women, young women, you know. I think that was probably about 38, 39 when this happened by themselves, probably being followed by some man in the woods.

And sure, I mean, you think, well, but the fluidity that these footsteps were following her and I, mind you, I'm like 5'7 and at that time, I like 115 pounds. She's like 5'4, you know, very petite, we're both petite women. I felt frightened. I mean, to be followed like that in the woods, footsteps, pitch black, stop when you stop, start when you start. You know, I'm the daughter of a combat Vietnam veteran. One thing comes to mind is I'm being tracked. And that's what my dad would have told me. That's what my brain went.

And I was on guard. I couldn't turn my back. I kept flashing my light out, letting it know that I'm. I knew it was there. It knew I knew. Whatever it was definitely not scared. I've had deer run off. I've seen fox run off with its kid.

I've had a pack of turkey run off from me. The following weekend, I was looking for wood and the pitch black and the Hoosier National Forest. I had a growl happen. That was no doubt a coyote. We heard a wild boar outside our campsite and Hoosier National Forest. Never. I've footsteps, bipedal, sounds. No. No. Never happened again. And so what happened

what brought me to, to share my story today and to really come to understand as to, most likely, as to what happened to me was I had joined TikTok recently and decided to start exploring. And it was this podcast that I came across and started listening to. And it was other podcasts and videos. And then I started researching. And I thought, you know, I think there's really only one answer here as to what happened. And I had a friend, a close friend from Beanblossom that had shared. some things with me that were really intimate.

And I told her my story. You know, I think I actually was followed by a big foot. I actually think this happened in the Shawnee National Forest this night. And I proceeded to share my story with her, which my mom and dad had never even heard me talk about this. I'm very close. You know, my husband, I've never shared it. this story with him until recent. So I told my friend that lives in Bean Blossom,

and she called me up immediately and said, I've got something for you. And I've actually lost friends because of this. She told me about what it happened to her in Bean Blossom, which is Southern Indiana. And that's where I'm at in Lafayette, about an hour and a half from me. And she was living on a horse farm.

And she had been out partying one night drinking at a bar and came home, you know, 3.30 a.m. I said, you know what? I'm not going to make it down to these horses at 5 a.m. You know, I'm just going to go take care of this now, her chores. Walk down this trail and what she saw was the arm, a hairy arm, ducking into a tree, like passed into a tree to hide. She said, Shelley, I know for a fact I saw a juvenile Bigfoot, which explained a lot of things have been happening around on the horse farm,

such as 300-gallon, three-300-gallon horse troughs were coming up empty with water. And we know horses don't chug water. She was hearing yells and screeches at night. She said that were odd. But now that after she had seen what she had seen, it all made sense to her, she said. Very massive, a big horse farm in Beanblossom.

I know a footprint came out of Beanblossom just about five, six weeks ago, on X and TikTok a good mud print. So she shared that with me and I shared my story. And I recently have traveled to two high, hot areas, Manitow Springs, Pikes Peak area. I was in Colorado. And then I just spent three, four days in Shelter Cove, Jumbo Camp County in California over Christmas.

So it's been fascinating to be able to talk. about my story within recent for for my friend to open up about her story and then to travel by accident mind you to these areas that seem to be big hotbeds for for saskatch I mean there's stores I mean you really can't go into a shop without seeing a saskwage mug but there are stories too and I did talk to a gentleman who shared a story that had come out of Michigan at Manitope Springs. So there are people out there that do believe it has become a really big topic. I think with the advent of technology here, we're able to record sounds, we're able to find the DNA. I know as a recent, if we're all following all the research ourselves,

that Rangentain DNA has come out of Vancouver Island. I myself just visited the Discovery Museum, Bigfoot Museum, in Santa Cruz, California, saw quite a few casts, talked to the owner of that museum who's going to be retiring. All those Bigfoot casts are being sent up to, I think it's Washington. So, you know, when we look at things and I looked at the area, And I thought after some research and after reading a couple of people that have reported their sightings or experiences were very similar to mine. And that really then led me to really think also that, you know, I'm not the only one here.

You know, back in the day, probably about 30, 40 years ago, and we've often heard people talk about this to talk about this or talk like this. You know, they want to take you off in the panic again. But it happened. No doubt happened that night, August 24th, 1245. Stomach has dropped. I'm even talking about it right now. I'm nervous and my hair is standing. When I do hike now, I do look back behind me,

probably more so than I did before. But I've never experienced it. anything like that again. I did have a weird experience in Humboldt County, though, with there has been a couple of sightings on the mountain that was in Shelter Cove, which takes one hour of white knuckle driving off of the 101 in California to get to Shelter Cove. Something had knocked over a massive steel double, bare trash can. And then I was woke up the night before.

again, by something. It sounded like it was angry, smashing the can. I don't know. We were told that there's a bear that comes around, but I also know for a fact that there's a couple of sightings on the mountain right in front of our inn. I honestly was not even aware of that until after we left. Like, I'm not trying to put anything into my mind here for things to happen. It's like, okay, now I'm leaving this area.

Now I'm going to investigate. Has there been anything? I was like, whoa, as we were heading back down to the coast. So that is, that's my story. It was a lot. It was so intense that night. It took a long time for me to be able to go to sleep. Legitly scared.

Legitly scared. Now, did I feel maybe threatened for my life? No, I, you know, maybe if I, I'd heard a growl or something, then I would have felt maybe like, oh, my God, you know, then I would have been sprinting. But with no other sounds, I just wanted to maintain a cool, calm, get back to my campsite as quickly as I can, as effectively as I can. But I also know that sometimes when you run from animals, they chase you.

So I was trying to be kind of smart about that. too. Like, obviously something following me and tracking me. I'm not going to sprint. I'm also trying to show not as much fear either with my actions. Like, whoa, what's out there? Kelly, that's just incredible. I mean, so I do definitely have a few questions for you, but I just want to say, thank you for sharing what you experienced on the show today. Definitely. This Garden of the gods area in Illinois looks very interesting. So I mean, the first, the first question I have is why is there a Bigfoot statue in this campground randomly? Is there a story behind it? From what I know now, if you look up Wikipedia, you know, Bigfoot, that picture of that

bigfoot, her name is Sassy, the Sasquatch, actually comes up for Wikipedia. Now, the people that owned some cabins nearby Burrell's campground, erected Sassie the Sasquatch. And that has become a popular spot in itself to visit the statue. But those people that own that have not said exactly why they decided to, it would be a Sasquatch. I don't know if it was out of here or being that they live in that area, that they're aware of things themselves.

I have researched that, and that's what I've come up with, all together than me going there and asking them personally, why was it? Why have you erected this? And it was a big deal to even install it. So these people definitely went out of their way to install the statue and was looking for one. So that is interesting.

and then after our experience, it just makes you scratch your head on it and go, okay, there's a statue outside this campground. I had this happen to me in, not the campground, but, you know, half the, half a little outside the campground, but followed us back to. Whoa. Whoa.

It was almost like a little preemptive, I don't know, I try not to manifest things, but wow. I didn't mean for that to happen. We were being funny and taking pictures, and again, you know, this is 2015. You know, I have been interested in Bigfoot since I was a young girl. I mean, I remember being in elementary school and getting the book out of the library and looking at the Peterson photograph, which amazingly reads. recently has been really digitized beautifully. And if you look at that now, wow. I mean, it is clear as day that she has breasted. This was a female walking. And so, you know, all I could think of is such an area with all these caves. I mean, there was a big cave right by our campground below us. There's so many, it's a kind of a no-brainer. It's, it's done the line.

It's thickly forested, hardly anybody around. There's water. And from my research, too, because obviously now I've really just become so interested in all of this, is that they're around in areas where there's water, and that's the Pacific Northwest, that's Colorado. And Shawnee and that, you know, lots of rivers and that going. through that forest. And so wherever there's enough food, well, national forest, obviously,

there's a food source. There's a water source. So I think it's very realistic, absolutely. And from what happened with me, that that area is hot. And I mean, even within the past couple of years, there's been a report that was very similar to it. And I have reported mine officially as well, too.

Bigfoot Society will be right back after these messages. It may just be the world's greatest eraser. Mabelian Instant Eraser Concealer is your secret weapon for erasing signs of a sleepless night. Instantly cover dark circles and undereye bags in a tap, swipe, blend, leaving a bright, refreshed look without feeling heavy. Instant eraser does more than cover and conceal. With 24 shades, you can correct, highlight, or sculpt. From a subtle brow lift to defining your pout.

This is the multitasker that keeps up with you. The best part? The formula delivers flawless results for up to 16 hours with crease-resistant lightweight wear. Instant Eraser won't settle into fine lines and stays smooth, breathable, and hydrating. No cakey vibes here. Just a natural, skin-like finish

that looks fresh from morning coffees to late-night RSVPs. Mabeline Instant Eraser. Find your shade of Instant Eraser concealer at your local retailer. Mabelene, New York. By the time I hit my 50s, I'd learned a few things, like how family is precious. Work can always wait.

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I've official reported that that that happened and the date and time. That's fantastic. I'm I'm looking at a picture of Sassy right now, and I have actually seen pictures with this Bigfoot a lot over the years. I just didn't know what it was. But yeah, I'm definitely going to reach out to the owners of these cabins in the area. Sure. And that might be an interesting lead that comes from that. But, you know, something else I want to ask you, which you kind of just maybe answered in a ways. After this happened, did you kind of start doing your own research to see if other people had experience?

weird things in this area as well. Well, at the time, I think I was more interested in what happened visually with the sky. So I sort of researched about that. I think I kind of did. And it's like it's almost like I put it on the back burner. Throughout the years off and on, I've kind of gotten on YouTube and looked at Bigfoot videos or listened to the calls and try to be like, correlate. my incident with someone else's.

You know, it's almost like you're, you're in a support group and you're, you're all trying to share your stories because they're so unique. And, you know, what happened with you or, you know, this happened with me. And so I have started to research off and on throughout the past like nine years, but more so within the past like two months. I finally said, you know what, I'm old enough now.

I'm just going to tell my story. I have nothing to lose. I think it's important. I'm a stats person. I actually studied stats in college. I think numbers are important. I think that coming out and sharing what it happened helps to place my incident. And maybe others will come forward with their incidents as well.

And then with that data, we can start to make concrete decisions as to how hot or not that area would be. So it's a one-off or is this not. And I am interested in those numbers and those areas. And like I said, I was just up in Plumboldt County. I went all the way up into Eureka, California, up by Will Lake. And that is all just, you know, people have come forward with their incidents. It's March. It's registered. We can look back and go, oh, yes, and let's add in this incident. And I think the more we, everyone comes out with what their stories, the more brave we are, we can really get to the bottom of this.

I personally don't want anything to happen to any of these animals. I think they're hidden for a reason. But, God, the evidence, it's out there. And we've got more than 2,000 sightings. I'm not the only one. It's intense, the amount of sightings that are coming out, especially in previous years. Have you ever used Bigfoot mapping project before? I have looked at their stuff. Yes, absolutely.

And I think I actually follow them on TikTok. That's awesome. Yeah. There is a really interesting report on it that. was from September 2016, also in the Garden of the Gods. I think I saw that report. You saw that one where they were trying to,

they were camping on a bluff overhang, and then they heard whoops and chatter, and they also found footprints as well. Nope, and I do not know that report. You should really check that out. It is intense. And then there's also a few BFRO reports.

from the Shawnee National Forest as well. There are things such as potential sightings with a thermal imager where it's kind of doing a peekaboo back and forth behind a tree. There's also another one where it says there was a nighttime sighting by two witnesses. And these are to do, I believe they're to do with BFRO, people on BFRO expeditions as well. But I mean, that alone tells me that. Yeah, that's a great hunch that you have that you're not the only one that's been having issues in this area.

No, and I mean, again, you know, we felt, now what she said to me is I feel like we're being watched. My friend said to me, I feel like we're being watched. And I look down it and I remember saying her softly, I do too. Now, we're walking back in silence because we're scared. And, you know, with everything being as quiet as it was, they had let me know that there was something around. Once those branches started, it let me know that I was correct. And that there really was something there.

And there's no doubt. I mean, that area, too, is just, wow, intensely just, like I said, the caves systems and that in there are just a great. area for anything to hide. And so, you know, one experience, I'm, I'm, I'm drenched and sweat. I want everyone to know that I literally have probably just like, it soaked my clothes talking about this. I literally almost flashed back to that night. And when I was at the Bigfoot Discovery Museum in Santa Cruz, which by the way is going to be closing it yet again. I'll add the gentleman's going to be retiring, which I got to meet him and take my picture with him.

Oh, you got to meet Mike Rug. That's awesome. Yeah, yeah, the picture's up. And I told him my incident and my friend's incident, which, you know, boy, his eyes shot up, especially about the information about the horse troughs, the water missing out, the horse troughs. I mean, wow, you know, because my friend was going, what is going on here? like these horses aren't drinking on she couldn't figure it out and so you know meeting him and seeing those casts it was a bit emotional for me because the scene in reality the size of all of these casts the concept the size of this animal that possibly was not i'm just going to say was tracking us is intense. And I feel, honestly, I do want to say this publicly too, and I've heard good and bad stories about,

about Sasquatch about Bigfoot is, you know, there's some not good stories that have come out. There was an Alaskan mining town that was emptied because of 35 plus people that had went missing, women and children, I want to count ourselves pretty lucky, really, that we weren't threatened in any way. I mean, threatened enough to be followed, obviously. But that could have went south really quick, really. You know, that's the reality of that. And I think that for those people out there tracking them, we all need to take that pretty seriously, too. We don't need to be losing

lives over this, but we know what's out there and respect their space too. So I personally believe that they come from the Ice Age. I believe it's a DNA that's been left over. I really do. And it's a very interesting, it's, it's an interesting thought. The great thing about the people I get to talk to is that there are so many, different ways to look at this. And there is not, you know, we're just not there yet where we know what is the correct. We haven't been able to study them like Diane Fosse. Yeah, it could be so many, so many different things. Shelley, I just want to say, thank you so much for coming on. There is another question that I had. After this happened to you, you know, you probably have heard

because it sounds like you listen to it. You know, you've been researching by listening to things in other ways, but after you had this experience, were there any out of the ordinary things that started happening in your life, like at home, or did it hopefully just once you left that area,

it was out of your life? Well, it seemed that once I was out of the area, it was out of my life. The experience, of course, is with me until I stopped breathing. As for what I had cited in the sky, I've seen more after that. UFOs. So that hasn't stopped. I haven't seen anything as close as I did in the Shawnee.

That was intense. And he must understand, too, that it took me nine years to come to grips. again, I want to reiterate for what I saw, what was happening in the sky, and then when it happened on the ground is a lot. It's really a lot for anyone to really comprehend and then come to the conclusion that this is probably what happened, you know. But it feels good to say that and to admit it and, you know, call me crazy. I don't care, but I absolutely know what happened. And wow, Wow, pretty, pretty lucky. Very, very lucky, really. And also, one experience for anything like to, you know, again, I wasn't looking for it. Just happen to happen. Usually that's what does happen. But it's out there. There's something out there and it was so cautious and it was making conscious decisions that it adds to, to the space that was keeping from us.

It just led to me, it led me to believe that whatever it was was definitely smart. Oh, absolutely. And do you feel like, so are you going to continue going to other, you know, wilderness places like you continue to go? And is it a thing where you might continue to look into different Bigfoot areas or only if it just happens to happen by itself?

Well, I do have word as to an area and being blossomed that I can be taken to. Right. So I have thought about going on a couple of hikes like that. But I'm also reading and studying, and before I was to do anything like that, I'd have to really just be on my top game. But I am interested in that. I, I, but you know, also to be careful of what you look for, I don't want to become one of those lost and never found stats. And from what I understand that, you know, there's a certain boundary here that we cross or don't cross.

So I do have the opportunity to go into an area that is considered hot in southern Indiana. And I am thinking about it. Now, my last trip here up in the Colorado and California, that was all kind of accidental, but maybe it wasn't psychologically. Right. We were very interested in the Pacific Northwest anyway. But boy, those redwoods, I mean, I don't blame Sasquatch for wanting to hang out those redwoods.

It's amazingly gorgeous there. Absolutely. Just wait until you get up to Oregon, maybe someday. Oh, we will. We want to get up on the sequoias. I want to go to Will Lake and obviously check out that museum. Yeah, it has become a thing. I mean, I'm putting a sticker on my car.

I'm letting it out there. So, yeah, who knows? If I find anything, I'll definitely share that with you. It'll be the first to know. Well, definitely. Well, Shelly, thank you so much again for coming on the show. you've given me some interesting things to look into. And I know this has been very helpful for yourself to share what you experienced almost 10 years ago. And just, you know, thank you for coming on the show. And hopefully what you shared will give people that are listening that have had things happen in the same area, the courage to reach out as well to share what they've experienced in the Garden of the God's area. But thank you so much, Sheila. Yeah. Thank you so much.

coming on. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. So I'll go ahead and I'll start recording. So this is Harold Benny. We talked to him about a year ago. We had a really good conversation about ONAW, Oklahoma and a few other things. You have a few degrees in zoology, a lifelong Bigfoot or enthusiast researcher. But I was calling real quick because I saw your name on a BFRO report about the Shawnee National Forest. And so I'm curious, did you have any thoughts about Bigfoot in the Shawnee National Forest or Garden of the Gods specifically? Well, I've been, and I've been a speaker twice at the Murphy Borough celebration they have about the Big Mighty Monster down there. And there's another one this year, but I don't have

the date yet. Anyway, I read the story of the Big Mighty Monster in a publication that the, the, let's see, the publication that used to be put out by the conservation department. But they quit putting it out. But they ran a nice article, a little bit of depth to it, about the Big Buddy Monster. Big Buddy Monster occurred. Down there was seen by several people over about a week's time. Bigfoot Society will be right back after these messages. It may just be the world's greatest eraser.

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virus that causes shingles. Not everyone at risk will develop it, but I did. The painful, blistering rash disrupted my life for weeks. Don't learn about your shingles risk the hard way. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist today. Sponsored by GSK. in 2003. I think it was about the 20th of June in 73. And anyway, I got was was real, real curious. I wanted well that really had been something that went on down there. And so I started spending a lot of time down there. And I took some people down there to help me out. And actually, one of the one of the persons I took down that was a young guy. And he, and he took, he was a young guy. He had a charged siting on a trail area down there that I got special information to use. And another person at the party also saw something, but he really didn't see it long enough to identify it. So all the time I've spent down there, I'm pretty sure there is something or more than one

somethings down in that area and it had been down there for quite a while. and I've looked through different areas down in the Shawnee. And, yeah, I've seen some things, but some of them I really couldn't identify. And my feeling there definitely was something going on down there in the area south of where I was down there. And there's definitely something going on. There's no doubt about it that there's something in there. And I haven't been able to last couple years, haven't spent as much time as I'd like to. Sure.

down there and I haven't had any more people or any more personal sightings down there but there's a lot of people that that have some stories I met one lady down there through one of my friends that lives down there and she has actually has a plaster cast footprint that her dad took years ago back in the 70s and it was kind of the situation and the truth that she got, you just can't get much better. It seems there was a teenage couple that saw an animal, big furry animal, and they were down around Gorham, and they saw it real, real, close, and the word got out, and this woman's mother worked, I believe it was at a, like a nursing home. She worked the night shift.

and she was driving home through this area where this siding had occurred just pretty early in the morning when she got off. I don't know if it was seven or whatever. And she saw this big, big furry bipedal animal. She saw it down there walking along the road. So she got home and she told her grandkids and she told her son what she saw. And her son grabbed up all the, the plaster and similar products that he had and went down there and sure enough he found a string of tracks

and he made a cast and his daughter there still has the cast and she takes it to grade schools and it's all something she's you know she's pretty proud of and i went down and i saw it and somewhere around i've got some pictures of it and matter of fact i saw it again two summers ago when they had the Big Bunny Monster Festival down there. We had the speakers and the movie theater down there, and she brought the cast down there, and everybody that came in to listen to the speakers, had a chance to look at the cast that came from down around Gorham. And she adds quite a bit to it. That is fascinating, Harold.

So Shawnee National Force goes pretty much across the bottom of Southern. Illinois, correct? Yeah, it's one of those like a lot of forest and a lot of states. It's got a lot of patches of ground that are in the middle of it or on the edges of it and that are under private ownership. But for the most part, it goes across southern Illinois. And in most places, you can tell where the, you know, where the boundaries are. And it's park.

Park areas, like I said, like that, are. You know, are kind of hard because they are kind of spotty. So you kind of have to watch where you're going. So you don't want to trespass on anybody. I better just make everybody upset. Oh, absolutely. And have you heard anything specifically from over the years from the Garden of the Gods or Eastern, like the Shawnee National Forest on the eastern side of Illinois down the corner?

Okay, well, the Garden of the Gods, I had, when I first saw the Gardens of the Gods, was one of the young girls that I met on one of the actually was that trip to a Honeby that we talked about last time. That's where I met her, I think. And she showed me garden to the gods. I had never seen it. This was way back. This was like 18 years ago. And we hikes some areas and looked at it.

And she didn't live too far away. So her and her dad made a lot of trips down there. And they made one of their early trips. They went down and they did some knocking and tried some yells and stuff. And they went down once in November and parked the car there. And actually it was at Indian Point, I think it was called. That was right right next to the Garden of the Gods. And they got their response was they heard frog crow.

But the same night, they also. saw eyeshine and something came up and left some kind of prints on their cars too is real unusual so they you know they had a pretty good experience there we were down there that time and we took one day and went to garden to the gods and we went i think it's like west of the rocks basically where they've got a big trail and a big hiking area. And there were maybe six of us guys. And they were pretty much all BFRO investigators. And one of them saw something he thought was a big foot way back there in the brush.

And we saw, well, some tracks back in there. And definitely something's using that area. So it's pretty active. there's a little place where you make your northern turn off a carver ridge trail or our carbo ridge road i think they call it and when you when you turn to go to garden of the gods there's they go oh i don't know if they call it an outpost or whatever but it's an ice cream shop and they've got all kind of southern illinois souvenirs and a pretty good collection of bigfoot souvenirs and stuff right there so it's a real nice little place to stop. And if instead of turning north, if you turn south at that same point, you can get down into some real, real brushy areas. I've been down there a few times,

but it's so hairy and kind of spooky. I don't know if I'd want to spend a lot of time down there at night. I think it's some really rough areas. But they tell me that supposedly there was some geological activity or something down there. It'll, you know, you know, thousands of years ago. And it's kind of a little valley. And the road runs around the edges of this valley. And it'd be a really great place to spend a lot of time. But just a lot of places down in Shawnee.

You can spend a lot of time looking for any kind of animal that you chose to. It's a really good area down and through there. Harold, thank you for, I mean, this information is invaluable. And I'm sure that as someone listening in that area might be able to make some good use of it. But I really appreciate you spending a few minutes of your time and letting us know what happened a few years earlier in the same area. Okay, that's great. Yeah, it's a real good spot. It's well worth the trip down there.

And like I said, most years, I spend a lot of time down there. but last year I think we did four different like big foot conferences or whatever and we're pretty busy it took up took up a lot of our time where normally we you know would be out in the fields but anyway I'm good good to talk to you again yes sir and that'd be great thanks a lot you too sir and bye bye just want to take a few minutes to say thank you to you all my listeners for listening to the podcast please take a minute to help the show by subscribing on YouTube, making sure you hit the bell so you don't miss any notifications and share the episode on YouTube with a friend. Also, if you're listening to us on a podcast,

thank you so much. Make sure that you're subscribed. Share the show with a friend. Really, it's all about sharing the show wherever you can. If you've had a Bigfoot encounter related to the following or know someone who has, please reach out to me at Bigfoot Society at GML. or pass on my email. Here's the list. Number one, encounters from Franklin County, Texas. Number two, encounters from the entire state of Iowa. Number three, encounters from Oak Ridge, Oregon, or the surrounding area.

Number four, any individuals that know about Bigfoot being flown off after the Mount St. Hallen's eruption. Number five, individuals that have had a Bigfoot encounter while in the military. Number six, those that have had a Bigfoot encounter in the southern New Hampshire, or north central Massachusetts area, including Franklin County, Massachusetts. Number seven, individuals that have had a Bigfoot encounter in a Bible camp or Boy Scout camp setting. Number eight, individuals that have had Bigfoot try to enter their house forcibly while they were living inside. Number nine, individuals that have actively have a Bigfoot living on their property.

And lastly, any sightings that are in the Wachita National Forest Area of Oklahoma or Arkansas. a special thank you to all the Bigfoot Society Patreon and YouTube channel members. It's your support that helps keep the show going, and I extremely appreciate it. I'll see you back next time, listeners. Satuitz Summerfest, this year, July 11th through the 12th, it's going to be fantastic. July 11th through 12th in Greenwater's Park in Oak Ridge, Oregon. And listeners, if you're going to go, you can get a two-day ticket for the cost of one. if you use the code BFS, like Bigfoot Society, but BFS, and it'll get you some off your cost.

Priscilla was nice enough to provide that for my listeners. So there you go. I look forward to seeing you there, so make sure you head over to www. Sasquatch Summerfest.com and pick up your tickets today. It may just be the world's greatest eraser. Mabelian Instant Eraser Concealer is your secret weapon for erasing, of a sleepless night. Instantly cover dark circles and undereye bags

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