• Story originally published by:
Herald-Times, Bloomington / IN | Kurt Van der Dussen - Feb 06.02

The Mystery of Hardin Ridge - the story that broke last week of a strange, human-sized animal that stood on its hind legs - has flooded The Herald-Times with phone calls and e-mails from across the country.

Since first reporting the sighting of a 5-foot-tall, shaggy black creature by three people in a back yard on Chapel Hill Road Wednesday afternoon, there has been no respite from the phone calls and e-mails.

The stream has poured in from across the country, not to mention the county.

It has included reports from others who have seen the beast in the past to biologists seeking as detailed a description of it as possible to try to identify real-world suspects.

It also has included an Atlanta e-mailer who said his theory is an "evolutionarily mutated cat" that now can run on its hind legs, a creature he said is common in Native American legends.

And there's this, just now on the e-mail: "The mysterious and unidentified beast is a giant sloth, transported to Indiana by UFO beings.

"Has there been much UFO activity in the county of late? Bet there has been," said the unsigned tipster.

Too bad, fella, there hasn't.

But the topper was a voice mail from one "Bigfoot researcher" who said the animal is a "shape-shifter" that can change form and vanish at will.

It was the last that offered far and away the most intriguing explanation.

The caller was from the Sasquatch Research Project, and he said that "we have the answer, we're pretty sure." OK so far.

But then he continued that based on 26 years of field research, they've concluded "it is able to change its shape.

"This may sound really far out for you," his voice mail continued.

"But like it or not, it seems to be a shape-shifter."

Shades of Star Trek
He went on to explain you can't shoot or capture it because it can vanish into thin air. And he said they know this because they've followed tracks in snow and mud that will "morph" from one sort of track into another - and then simply vanish with no explanation.

The caller insisted he be taken seriously because he graduated with honors from Tulane and has a masters degree in business administration from Cal Berkeley.

"I'm in Mensa," he said, referring to a group for very bright people. "I'm not an idiot. These things go on."

At the other extreme was a lady who called from the Chapel Hill Road area with a rational local explanation she was sure was the solution.

"I know exactly what your Bigfoot is," she said. "I've seen it myself up close. It's an emu."

An emu is a large, flightless bird native to Australia that is almost identical to the ostrich. She said a man about two miles down the road from her had three emus. Two got away. One was recovered but the other remains at large and people see it in the woods on occasion, as she did around Christmas.

An emu stands about the same height as the mystery creature. But the emu isn't black, isn't covered with foot-long shaggy hair and doesn't have the four legs the animal's witnesses Wednesday plus other previous witnesses since say it features.

Two callers said they saw a very similar animal, one a decade ago, the other eight to 10 years ago. One sighting was along a small lake near Hardin Ridge, the other along Ind. 446 about three miles north of the lake. Both witnesses were emphatic that it walked on its rear legs.

The one north of the lake, said the witness, was "very agile" in moving swiftly into the woods away from 446. He said he has no idea what it was, other than that it was not a bear.

A third e-mailer from Parke County in west-central Indiana, Kent Ballard, sent a long and articulate report of seeing a very similar animal from a range of 20 feet while driving down a rural road north of the town of Brazil last July 2.

"It was not a bear nor an ape. I do not believe it was a man in any kind of suit," he wrote. He said he was "rattled" for days afterward because nothing in his education or experience had prepared him for such an encounter.

He said subsequent research on his part determined there have been many such sightings in the Parke County area since the 1940s. He said there was a local panic in the mid-1970s after a number of sightings, with people packing guns and guarding their kids at schoolbus stops.

Ballard said he has talked to six people who have seen the creature since 1997. He said there's a growing "underground network" of people who've seen it and won't report it lest they be labeled crazy, but instead serve as "a support group" for each other.

He noted that despite the many sightings, he's unaware of even a single shred of physical evidence to substantiate them.

Meanwhile, a number biologists of varying credentials from several locations have asked for all the detailed specific information that can be sent to them about the animal's reported appearance and tracks.

At least three have suggested it most likely is some sort of bear, with two saying it could be an Asian bear commonly called the sun bear.

But an Internet search disclosed that sun bears inhabit hot jungles, are very bearlike in form as opposed to having any apelike characteristics, and have short coats of light brown hair, not long, shaggy black hair.

• Story originally published by:
Herald-Times, Bloomington / IN | Kurt Van der Dussen - Feb 05.02

Posted Feb 05.02

Strange animal sightings may point to perfect IU mascot

The widespread interest generated by reports of an Unidentified Walking Object in southern Monroe County should be noted by Indiana University Athletics Director Michael McNeely.

McNeely wants IU to have a mascot to pump up fan support and capture the fancy of children who attend athletic events.

The Thing - whatever it is - would be a natural.

It appeared right when the athletics director began ruminating, publicly, about creating a mascot for the Hoosiers.

It seems to be at home in the rugged hills and hollers of Monroe County, giving it a local and organic origin.

And it has everyone talking, which is exactly what a new mascot should do.

Bigfoot? Ape? Bear? Sloth? Emu? All would make for interesting sideline antics.

The Indiana Ape would represent superhuman strength. The Indiana Emu would be distinctive. And the Indiana Sloth ... could hang from the crossbeams above Assembly Hall.

• Story originally published by:
The Herald-Times, Bloomington / IN | Mike Leonard - Feb 05.02