Iowa Bigfoot Newspaper Project: Bigfoot Phenomenon is Very Much Alive in Iowa

- There have been several newspaper accounts of Bigfoot sightings in Iowa throughout the decades and by all accounts, they have been lost to time. As I find them, I will transcribe and post them here, for easy viewing. These articles paint a fascinating picture of historic Iowa Lore and the people who investigate it. -

Bigfoot phenomenon is very much alive in Iowa

By STEVEN KLAUS / Map by STAN KLUENDER

The original article from the Des Moines Register

During the past three months Iowans have heard a lot about Bigfoot, the legendary, ape-like creature purported to roam the countryside at night in search of food.

Some of the stories were generated by Bigfoot sightings reported in July and September near the small town of Ottosen, where several Humboldt County residents said they either saw Bigfoot or heard strange screams in the night.

Many dismiss Bigfoot as a myth. Others, who believe there is a Bigfoot, Yeti or Sasquatch that occupies a place between man and ape, argue the creature lives only in the Northwest and could not possibly survive in the Midwest.

Nevertheless, the Bigfoot phenomenon — whether fact, fiction or hoax — is very much alive in Iowa.

Since last January, Bigfoot has been reported near at least 10 Iowa communities.

Deeds attributed to Bigfoot range from a pile of dead chickens found near the Mitchell County town of Riceville to the dark face that peered at a woman through the kitchen window of a farm home near Ottosen.

There is even one unsubstantiated report from a Sioux City research group that a man wounded a Bigfoot with a deer rifle in 1974 near Stone State Park, on the northwest edge of Sioux City.

In every case, authorities have been unable to establish conclusively that Bigfoot exists. Yet they have not completely accepted other explanations for the events.

Some law officers, like Humboldt County Sheriff Marvin Andersen, are just relieved when the Bigfoot phenomenon moves out of their area.

Andersen, who spent a good part of three months chasing down Bigfoot reports near Ottosen, said last week, “We haven’t had anything now for about three weeks.”

Andersen said he never was able to draw any conclusions from the reports. “I still feel like these people definitely saw something but I don’t know what,” he said.

That was also the opinion of Iowa Conservation Officer Bill Basler of Algona, who talked to some of the people involved with the Ottosen sightings.

“I believe, too, that these people are seeing something, but I don’t know yet just what it is,” Basler said.

Most of the Bigfoot incidents reported in Iowa during the past year have been investigated by members of the Bigfoot Information Center, a group of Bigfoot enthusiasts who joined together last summer under the direction of Kevin Cook, 25, of Des Moines.

The center currently has four members, including Cook, who are collecting data on each new sighting. Cook and his crew believe there are small groups of Bigfeet or Bigfeet traveling by night through the Midwest, generally following the Missouri and Mississippi River basins.

Since last winter, they have checked out Bigfoot reports near Moulton, Harvey, Oskaloosa, Chariton, Clarion, West Bend, Humboldt, Hardy and, of course, Ottosen.

Cook expects more sightings this winter. "Because of the snowfall people don’t want to set tracks, and there’s not the vegetation in the winter as in the spring and fall so the tracks are a lot more visible,” Cook said.

He also is betting that some reports will come from hunters and snowmobilers, especially in the heavily wooded regions of southern Iowa, where the Bigfoot phenomenon has flared up in the past.

Several Bigfoot reports were logged last winter in south-central Iowa, and a sighting was reported in the fall of 1975 near the Jefferson County town of Lockridge in southeast Iowa. At that time, at least three persons said they saw a large, ape-like creature in the Turkey Creek area.

The following is a summary of Bigfoot incidents that have been reported in Iowa since last January:

OSKALOOSA

Matt Ver Steeg of Knoxville, a member of the Bigfoot Information Center, checked a report around Jan. 1 that a woman who lives northeast of Oskaloosa near the Skunk River had seen a Bigfoot. Cook and others showed her the drawing of a heavy snowstorm. She described the creature as weighing 600 to 700 pounds and standing 8 to 10 feet tall. A few days later, another resident in that area heard unusual noises and found strange tracks in his yard.

HARVEY

Around Feb. 20 some residents of Harvey, a Marion County town near the Des Moines River, reported strange howls and tracks in the snow on the edge of town. Ver Steeg visited the area after a 14-inch snowstorm and found tracks that were 20 inches long, 9 inches wide and had a five-toed stride. He followed the tracks in a snowmobile for several miles. “It looked like the creature was moving cautiously the way the tracks were because of the zigzagging,” Ver Steeg said. Deputy Sheriff Dick Gilman said that after analyzing some hair on a fence, authorities concluded the creature was a cow. But Ver Steeg contends a cow could not have made those tracks and set such a pace.

PELLA

Around Feb. 25, Ver Steeg was summoned to the old Pella Bridge, which crosses the Des Moines River a few miles north of Harvey, to investigate a report that a 10- or 11-year-old boy had seen Bigfoot on the road near the bridge. The boy said the creature had stopped to look at him, then disappeared into the woods. Ver Steeg followed tracks into the woods but they filled in with new snow and it was impossible to make any kind of determination. Ver Steeg said the boy was frightened and would not leave the house for several days.

CHARITON

Throughout the year, Ver Steeg and Cook have received numerous reports of sightings and strange sounds in a section of Stephens State Forest a few miles northeast of Chariton, in Lucas County. The sightings have never been verified.

MOULTON

Two Moulton-Udell High School students reported seeing a creature about 10:30 p.m. Aug. 28 on a dirt road in a remote area south of Moulton known as Dean Bottoms. They said it was 7 to 8 feet tall and weighed about 400 pounds. The next day their science teacher accompanied them to the area, where he found a footprint about 14 inches long with three toe impressions, some corn that had been stripped clean down to the cob, and an area where some brush had been trampled. Gary Hagler of Des Moines, a member of the Bigfoot center, visited the area and confirmed those findings.

OTTOSEN

In all, nearly a dozen persons reported seeing a Bigfoot-like creature in the Ottosen area from July through the middle of September. This case received the most publicity of any sighting. There were reports that Bigfoot was seen in town on at least three occasions and in the countryside twice. Farmers in the area also said they were awakened at night by strange sounds made by something that left farm dogs terrified. There were reports of mutilated animals, strange footprints and stampeding cattle.

WEST BEND

During the period of the Ottosen sightings, a fisherman found about two dozen footprints along a bridge over the west branch of the Des Moines River near West Bend. Plaster casts were made of the tracks, which were 16 inches long and 6 inches wide.

HUMBOLDT

In mid-September, a family that lives about three miles northeast of Humboldt reported that something released strange howls while moving through a ravine near their home at midnight. The creature followed the woods to within a few yards of the home. The sound — a hoarse howl — was so loud that Sheriff Andersen could hear it through the telephone when the family called him. Andersen visited the area the next morning and found places where brush had been trampled but no tracks.

HARDY

A few days later, a 16-year-old boy told authorities he saw a Bigfoot-like creature near dike in a Beanfield on a farm near the Humboldt County town of Hardy. He said he scared the creature off by honking the horn and flashing the lights of a pickup. The next day, Sheriff Andersen visited the field and found footprints that looked odd. Ken Taylor of Iowa Falls, another member of the Bigfoot center, looked into that report but was not convinced it was a legitimate sighting.

CLARION

In early October, a Clarion woman told police that a dark image had peered through her kitchen window about 10:30 one night. The window, at the rear of the house, is seven feet off the ground. The next afternoon, police officers obtained a plaster cast of one unusual track in the backyard. Clarion is the seat of Wright County, which is adjacent to Humboldt County, where the Ottosen sighting occurred. The Bigfoot center’s Hagler and Taylor looked into the sighting and determined someone could have been perpetrating a hoax. They reported that the impressions they found were of right feet only.

Des Moines Sunday Register — November 12, 1978

Iowa Lore: The 81-Foot Creature of the South Skunk

By all accounts, it should never have existed.

The year was 1884, and the rolling farmland near Oskaloosa, Iowa, slept beneath winter skies unaware that something ancient stirred beneath the muddy waters of the Skunk River. Farmers were worried about weather, crops, and markets - not monsters.

Yet before the year ended, hundreds of witnesses would claim they had seen a creature that belonged to the prehistoric age. Something enormous and hungry. 

James Wright was not a superstitious man. A practical farmer, he trusted fences, hard work, and the reliability of routine. Late in the year when his hogs began disappearing, he assumed thieves were responsible.

But thieves leave signs. These disappearances left none.

Ten hogs vanished in less than three weeks - animals weighing up to 400 pounds each. The heavy feed lot fence stood intact every morning. There were no broken rails and no footprints. There was no blood.

Most mysterious of all was the silence.

Wright’s bulldog, a fierce and loyal animal known to bark at strangers from half a mile away, never made a sound. Night after night, whatever came to the farm passed within yards of the dog without provoking even a growl. It was perhaps as if the canine sensed something a little higher on the food chain… and chose not to challenge it.

On December 4, armed with a rifle and determination, Wright hid beside the feed lot to confront the thief himself. The night stretched endlessly. Wind brushed the dead grass. Ice creaked along the riverbank. Hours passed with nothing but cold and doubt.

Near sunrise, Wright rose, convinced his presence had thwarted any activity. 

Then came the sound. A violent churning erupted from the Skunk River - water slapping against the banks as though something massive fought its way upward from the depths.

Wright turned, and there it was. By all accounts, it should never have existed.

The Lovecraftian creature crawled from the river like a nightmare given flesh. But 1884 was too early for HP Lovecraft. He wouldn't be born for six more years.

The creature's legs - three feet long and thick as tree trunks - lifted its enormous body onto land. Behind it trailed a tail so long it carved a groove in the mud. Steam rose from its wet hide in the morning air.

Without hesitation, the monster stepped over the fence as easily as a man stepping across a puddle. Its head lowered. Jaws opened. Inside gleamed teeth nearly a foot and a half long. A 300-pound hog disappeared between those teeth in seconds. No struggle and no sound. The beast turned and slid back into the river, vanishing beneath the opaque water as if swallowed by another world.

Wright fled for town, pale and shaking, carrying a story he expected nobody to believe. But they DID believe him. They believed he had seen something, at least.

Curiosity overcame fear. Within days, nearly 2,000 people gathered along the Skunk River. Farmers arrived with rifles. Families stood at a distance, whispering prayers. Some expected a hoax. Others feared judgment day.

The river remained still -  until it didn’t.

With explosive force, the water erupted. The monster surged onto land before the stunned crowd, jaws snapping around a nearby horse. The rider was pulled clear by desperate hands as the animal screamed, dragged helplessly toward the river. Chaos followed.

Gunfire cracked endlessly. Witnesses claimed fifty men fired nearly 10,000 rounds into the creature. Smoke filled the air. The monster writhed but refused to die.

Bullets appeared to be useless against it. Finally, someone shouted an order no one expected to hear on an Iowa farm:

“Bring the cannon!”

Loaded with railroad spikes and packed with powder, the cannon roared. The blast shook the river valley.

For a moment there was silence. Then came a sound witnesses would remember for the rest of their lives - a long, mournful wail rising from the water, neither animal nor human, but something terribly aware of its own death.

The river turned red.

Oxen were summoned and it took twelve to drag the body ashore. Measured from nose to tail, the creature stretched eighty-one feet. Its heart alone weighed eighty pounds. Its skin resembled that of a colossal reptile, thick as leather and ancient as dawn itself.

A physician brought in from Davenport examined the carcass carefully before addressing the crowd: “Gentlemen," he said, "this is no Cardiff Giant. It appears to belong to a species of gigantic lizard believed extinct thousands of years ago.”

For a brief moment, the impossible stood proven before human eyes. By all accounts, it should never have existed.

The South Skunk as it sits today near Oskaloosa, Iowa

Since that cold December morning of 1884, the evidence has vanished from history. There is no skeleton. No verified photographs. Though written about in the Oskaloosa Daily Herald, records faded into rumor and internet newspaper fragments. 

The monster that terrified south central Iowa slipped into legend as completely as it once slipped beneath the waters of the Skunk River. It's rarely discussed today, and most of the town folk in Oskaloosa aren't even aware of it. 

Was the Skunk River Monster a hoax born of frontier imagination? A misidentified animal exaggerated by fear? Was it a case of Yellow Journalism which was so prevalent during that time in history? It wasn't just written about in the Oskaloosa Daily Herald, the story was recounted in other Iowa newspapers as well, including the Earlham Gazzette - which is ironically notable since the town of Earlham sits nowhere near the Skunk River. 

Or maybe something ancient survived unnoticed in America’s waterways - a relic of a forgotten age. 

Even today, some locals claim the river carries an uneasy silence at dawn. And sometimes, the water churns without wind. Occasionally a farmer will report that a cow or a hog has mysteriously disappeared.

The river revealed it once. There is no promise it won’t give it up again.