Monster of Sister Lakes Michigan

In June 1964, reports of a 9-foot-tall monster made the news. The creature made several appearances in the area, resulting in a "carnival atmosphere".

At the center of this circus was the farm of John and Evelyn Ultrup. Although the media only started to cover the monster in 1964, reports had been made off and on for two years previous. Witnesses included John and Evelyn, Gordon Brown, Joyce Smith, Patsy, and Gail Clayton along with others.

Gordon Brown and his brother tracked this creature over the Ultrup farm and bordering properties and experienced several encounters with the creature. John Ultrup reported seeing the monster standing in his yard with its "big, bright shining eyes" reflected in his headlights.

A Old Bigfoot ©The Crypto Crew

Why History Is Important

My heart always sinks when people in the 'community' have no idea of what's gone before concerning Sasquatch. They don't know the names of those who blazed the trails for fieldwork, how to catalog the information, or broke down some of the barriers with mainstream America. They don't know things to look for, things to be wary of, or even when or where to ask questions.
I feel the pain of those researchers who have been here for a while and I feel the pain of those who are new to this strange phenomenon. That's why I agreed to do a blog. To try to reach out to those who feel a need to find answers, to learn things. To bridge that gap between guessing and knowing.

And that's why today I'm going to talk about why it's important to know your history and why it's important.

Open Minds Update

I saw a couple of things on FB and in groups I belong to this week. One was a very encouraging post from a friend about a Bigfoot meeting held recently. Several area search groups and teams attended this meeting. And they talked about cooperation with each other and about being open-minded to others'  theories and research methods. It was acknowledged that these are small steps of course. The biggest obstacle: Trust.

Trust. That doesn't come easy at any time. And especially in this day. We've all become Fox Mulder. We trust no one. Not even our own mothers. And probably rightfully so. We see people's research and evidence being "borrowed" all over the world. Even down to a "nobody's" encounter. Their story is taken and with a few little changes, or even sometimes no changes, it is shared again and again as the thief's own encounter. Photographs are grabbed and videos photoshopped to reflect the made up or borrowed story.

3 Day Expedition in Kentucky

Just a little over two weeks ago, I had a friend come to visit from Pontiac Michigan for some Bigfoot research in the wilds of Kentucky. This is our adventure.

I had met Lewis a little over a year ago, he is friends with some of our family in Michigan and he had come down with them to Kentucky, to visit. Well, as fate would have it, Lewis is also a bigfoot believer. We had some good conversations about bigfoot and other cryptids. It didn't take long for us to hatch a plan for him to come to Kentucky and for me to take him out bigfooting.

Not actual photo, used for reference only

Bigfoot Evidence In Kentucky

I got the following report submitted a couple of weeks ago. According to the report, there was some good evidence collected after a sighting. But that is not all, there were some other strange events that took place you can read about.

Here is the report

LAND-LOCKED

Choosing who you trust to do your research with can be an arduous task, but when it came to picking my current partner Ken was a shoo-in. He’d little or no experience in Bigfooting, would listen to my stories for hours (Without asking questions), and, and it’s a big and, he had a Jeep. Of course there’s more to Ken than meets the eye and certainly more than I’m letting on, but we’d known each other since Sunday School, always circulated in the same crowds, and tended to agree with each other on most accounts, and he was chosen to be my alternate Caregiver to my wife – by my wife -- in all our outdoor adventures.

My service to the US Army had brought me one unwanted gift… a Combat Related injury –Sarin (GB) Gas exposure that had left me as a 100% Disabled American Veteran after 25 years Honorable Service. The exposure had left me with neurological damage -- cognitive deficit – and taken my sense of inhibition away. Ken was always there to guide me back away from the edge of the cliff, or climbing out over the sunken deserted well, or poking the Bald-faced Hornet nest.

Odd Sound & A Teaching Moment

While on our short vacation to see family I recorded what is sometimes incorrectly called a bigfoot scream/sound. Everyone was in the house and I was outside sitting by the fire pit with a nice little fire going. It was roughly about 10:30pm at night and it was very quiet. Nearby there is a small but swift-moving creek. It was in this area I heard the first sound.

I knew the sound right away as I have heard it many times. Then the sound blasted several more times. I readied my cell phone in hopes of catching the sound. The first attempt was no good, as the sound seemed to have stopped. A few minutes passed and the sound started back and I was able to capture it on video.

Here is the video.

Expedition - Part 6

This was the final day of our expedition, this was day 5. On this day it was raining and the weather forecast was calling for rain most of the day. After 4 days of rough, strenuous exploring, we thought we would make this day a little easier, but there was an unexpected event waiting on us.

Seeing that Guy was from out of the area, I thought it would be a good adventure to take him up to Pine Mountain State Park. The idea was to hike out to Chain Rock and explore some of the other trails.

Day 5

Expedition - Part 5

Day 4 of our adventure continued with us arriving at our second location of the day. I parked the truck and we put on our gear and headed out to the deep dark mountain. It was a short walk before we actually made it to the woods. The terrain in this area is fairly rocky in spots and steep. Parts of the area have some heavy undergrowth, some is rather swampy.

We set out for one of the old coal mine areas. Visiting the coal mine openings was one of the "to do" things on Guy's list.

Expedition - Part 4

The 4th day of our adventure started even earlier than the previous days. The plan for the day was to visit 2 different locations. The first locations was Area 1 and the gifting area. The second location was the old coal mine area, this was one location on Guy's "must do" list.

We arrived at Area 1 and began our hike to the gifting area.

Expedition - Part 2

Day two of our exploration, once again, started early in the morning. We had a basic plan to return to the area where we had poured plaster into foot prints and collect the castings. We also wanted to go to the exact spot were we had our sighting of a bigfoot last year. We wanted to see if we could hike in below the steep mountain and find the area where the bigfoot might have been staying.

Day 2

Expedition - Part 1

For those who might not know, I just spent the last week exploring the forest here in southeast Kentucky. I know some will tell you that there are no Bigfoot in Kentucky, but once again they'd be wrong. Heck, some have made a career out of being wrong.

I felt it would be better to break the articles up into different parts, as I assume they will be rather large. I also wanted to share more pictures and breaking the post into different parts will let me share more of them.

Now, on to the Expedition.