A family in White City, Illinois, reported hearing strange, mournful cries and later witnessing a black, fur-covered creature running on all fours before rising to its hind legs and scaling an embankment with ease.

I'm writing to you from West Central Illinois. My wife, daughter, and I used to spend countless hours playing in a creek near our home in White City, Illinois. This is a primarily rural, wooded area situated between St. Louis, Missouri, and Springfield, Illinois. I never expected to have such experiences in this area, but here are our encounters in my own words. 

The first few encounters occurred in late spring and summer. We would ride our side-by-side vehicle down the road and park near a bridge over Cahokia Creek. This area was very private, allowing us to spend the afternoon wading through the creek, searching for arrowheads, old glass bottles, and more. After heavy rains, the layout of the creek would change, so there was always something new to discover each trip.

On a typical day, we brought a bucket to pick up trash. My wife and I would sit on the sandy banks while our daughter splashed around and played in the water.

On multiple occasions, we heard what we thought was a cougar. The sound was strange to us, but we never considered that it could be one of the forest people. The only way I can describe it is that it sounded like a sad Wookiee (the character from Star Wars). We initially attributed the noise to a cougar, which is not common in the area but could be possible. I always carried a weapon, so we weren’t very concerned, just aware. This occurred two or three times.

I drove over that bridge daily for work. I believe it was in 2019, and I was working seven days a week because of the flooding from the Mississippi River. One afternoon, around 4:00 p.m., I was crossing the bridge and heading along the road. The creek is situated at the bottom of an area that is half wooded and half farmland. As I came down, I saw trees forming a canopy on both sides of the road, and the sun was shining through the lush foliage, providing clear visibility.

Suddenly, I saw something run out from the trees on the left side of the road on all fours. It was solid black, covered in short to medium-length hair, and about the size of a black bear. The encounter happened so fast that I only have a vague memory of it. The creature ran out from the left and across the road to the right side. On the right, there was an embankment that would require strength and grip to ascend easily. While running on all fours, this being stood up on its hind legs and climbed the embankment with ease.

The whole experience was disorienting. A few minutes later, I called my neighbor, who had lived in the area for almost 50 years. I asked him if he had ever heard of bears being in the area, and he mentioned that some had been released to help control the cougar population far to the south. However, he assured me that there were no bears around and suggested I was crazy. I’ve discounted my experience for several years, but the only crazy part is his assertion about releasing bears. 

I’ve been watching your channels for almost two years now, and I’m confident that what I saw was neither a black bear nor a cougar. The speed and agility of that creature, along with the sounds my family and I heard, are unmistakable. I’m thankful our experience wasn’t as traumatic as others have reported, and I wish the best for those who have had negative encounters.

We no longer live in that area and are currently in a 100% rural setting, where we only hear coyotes at night and the occasional fox along the tree line behind our house. I've attached some aerial photos of the area; the location of our encounters is in the center of the photographs. The Google Map street view is the exact location from where I saw the being cross the road and ascend the embankment.” J

Source: Transcribed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0XiCAwn-Hg