Funk’s Grove, IL
“It’s not a bear,” Tom says.
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That’s why he and Chris are convinced they saw a bigfoot.
Chris, who works as a security guard at a Bloomington mall, claims to have seen the creature several times since last summer. He even tried to photograph it in the woods in July. “After Chris took the picture,” his father says, “the camera ceased to function.” Chris’s closest encounter came last August, while he was driving home from his former job as a security guard at the FBI building in Springfield. “I was going slow because I didn’t want to hit any deer,” he says. “But there were no deer around, which was kind of odd. Something hit the back of my car and pushed it down.” He points to several long silver scratches near the trunk of his black 2002 Mustang. “There’s the claw marks. I got out of there quick. I didn’t stick around to find out what it was.”
Debby Funk, who’s lived in the area for 31 years and operates the maple syrup business with her husband, Mike, a fifth-generation Funk, says if there’s a creature out there, it’s never caused them any trouble. “We’ve never seen anything here,” she says. “The only problem we’ve had is squirrels chewing on our tubing.” Marlene Leesman has been a clerk at the Dixie Truck Stop in McLean, about five miles south of Funk’s Grove, since 1960. “People are skeptical,” she says. “I’ve never heard of anything like this, and I’ve lived here all my life.” One family stuck a sign in their front yard that reads, HEY LOOK! GENUINE SASQUATCH DROPPINGS. $3 each, 2 for $5.
