New Book Records Mystery Creatures Of Kansas[Original headline: Sasquatches? Sea serpents? They're here in Kansas]
In 1869, Crawford County residents spotted a gorillalike wild man.
And in 1886, a newspaper reported that a hair-covered "wild family" had been captured by a search party in Washington County.
Bigfoot in Kansas?
Well, maybe.
Through research, a Kansas author has discovered that in nearly every decade in every Kansas county, there is a story of weird, bigfoot-type creatures, or Sasquatches, as they are sometimes called.
Consider these Kansas reports:
In 1978, the chief of police for Chetopa, in Labette County, reported finding 2 1/2 miles of animallike tracks with footprints measuring 17 inches long and 55/8 inches wide.
And in 1984, a Sedgwick County woman and her daughter reported being followed by a large animal as they walked along a dark, country lane.
Topeka resident Lisa Hefner Heitz, author of the 1997 book "Haunted Kansas," is working on a book of strange and unusual sightings in Kansas.
"It seemed like a natural progression from ghosts," Heitz said. "As I was collecting all those stories, people also started telling me stories of other creatures, UFOs and even sightings of a sea serpent in a sinkhole by Inman."
"Just as I am a ghost agnostic," Heitz said, "I am a bigfoot agnostic. I can't tell you why these stories exist. I don't know what these people are seeing. But there is a sort of eternal fascination about the mysterious creatures that reside in dark areas. Things that normally exist in our imagination, when they show up in reality, are not only frightening but fascinating. These types of hairy humanoids are reported all over the world."
Could it be that Sasquatch is in Kansas?
Go back to an Aug. 15, 1869, article in the St. Louis Democrat. The newspaper reported that nearly every resident of Crawford County had seen a beast nicknamed "Old Sheff."
"Several times it has approached the cabins of the settlers, much to the terror of the women and children.... It has a stooping gait, very long arms with immense hands or claws; generally walks on its hind legs but sometimes on all fours."
In October 1978, The Wichita Eagle reported that an 8-foot-tall, bigfootlike creature was seen twice in three weeks roaming by the Kansas Turnpike near Lawrence.
Heitz said her collection of Kansas stories won't be limited to bigfoot tales.
For instance, in the 1950s residents near Inman developed a fascination for "Sinkhole Sam," a rather large snakelike creature that inhabited a local sinkhole.
"Folks speculated that Sam could have been living in an underground cavern and, when the sinkhole filled with water, crawled up and made his home in the big sink," Heitz said. "They said he looked like a big snake or eel and was reported to be 15 feet long and 21 inches in circumference."
Heitz has already collected more than 350 stories for the book, and she is looking for more Kansas legends and strange creature stories to research.
"This is part of our folkloric traditions," she said. "And besides, these stories fascinate people.You don't have to be a believer to be fascinated."
• Story originally published by •
The Wichita Eagle / KA | By Beccy Tanner - December 18 2000
