When most people think of the possibility of sasquatch-type creatures on the other side of the world, they immediately think of "Yeti." However, there is much more information out there by the Russians than anything from the Himalayas. The only problem is that not much of it is widely publicized in English.

There are some publications and some authors that will publish translations. And with internet programs available that will translate, if the material is on the internet, you can get some idea of what is being said.

In the summer of 1973, Illinois became the center of bigfoot activity. For two weeks the Murphysboro Mud Monster, also called  Big Muddy Monster, struck fear into the residents' hearts.

It began around midnight on June 25, 1973. A young couple, Randy Needham and Judy Johnson had parked near the boat ramp on the Big Muddy River near the city of Murphysboro. As they sat there, they heard a strange, roaring cry that came from the nearby woods. They looked towards the trees and saw a huge shape coming toward them, continuing to make the cry. When it got within 20 feet of their car, they realized that this was a 7-foot-tall creature with matted, whitish hair or fur streaked with mud from the river. Knowing that this was "something not human", they fled to the police station.

When men first began to encounter strange "creatures" in the forests and grasslands, they called them "Wild Men". Experiences with these "Wildmen" occur throughout history. Even talked of in classical and preclassical times.

There was almost a romance to the "wildness" of these men. A wildness that called to the hearts of all men, a freedom of the soul, that releases something inside us even today. In the tales, we are warned of this wildness, as it would overtake us. Consume us. Take us away from civilization.

John Green made many contacts who shared the stories they heard in their areas with him. Two of them for the Vancouver area were Bruce McKelvie and Charles Cates.

Bruce Mckelvie was a journalist and historian, who spent time listening to the stories told by the people in the area. He was known to keep silent if asked to and never told of the secret encounters. Charles Cates, Mayor of North Vancouver, also collected stories of these creatures. Both of these men recorded these tales long before anyone thought to keep any sort of systematic records. Unfortunately, most of what they knew was lost when they died in the late 1950s.

The disappearance of Joan Gay Croft is a haunting mystery that dates back to April 10, 1947. Joan, a four-year-old girl, was last seen in Woodward, Oklahoma, after a devastating F5 tornado struck the town on April 9, 19471. The tornado killed 185 people and injured many others.