Recent Bigfoot encounters in the dark environs of Old Hartford Castle

[jim gilreath j220202@gmail.com]

Recent Bigfoot encounters in the dark environs of Old Hartford Castle
There is an isolated, wooded area just outside of the little town of
Hartford, Illinois that has long been reputed to be a very spooky spot
indeed. This is where the old Lakeview Castle was built in the late
19th Century by an eccentric and wealthy Frenchman as the dream home
for his new wife. There is nothing left of this formerly palatial
place now but crumbling ruins, most of it destroyed by fire in the
early '70's. This mansion with real turrets was built right out in the
middle of the woods. The romantic Frenchman even constructed a moat
around it [view Google Earth aerial photo at www.untameddimensions.com
]. He had created his own private fantasy world for himself and his
new bride. They thoroughly enjoyed their life here for a few years
until she died. Then he moved away never to be heard from again [read
the colorful, storybook history of this place at :
http://www.altonhauntings.com/hartford.html]. One might be reminded of
Edgar Allen Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" that once was a
place of bright cheer and happiness until it fell upon evil days and a
deadly gloom descended upon it, an ominous zig zag crack running
diagnonally down its wall as if symbolizing the curse that had fallen
upon the Usher family. This comparison easily comes to mind when one
sees the bleak atmosphere this Hartford Castle location now has
compared with its glorious heyday. Of course there have been tales
told over the years by those bold enough to venture into this
forbidding spot after dark, of having seen the sad ghost of the
deceased wife roaming the site of her once splendid abode. This is all
part of the supernatural lore of "Eerie Illinois" written about in
various ghost tour guides.

But what almost nobody knows about is that this place is also
heavily haunted by Bigfoot. There has been a recent rash of sightings
of this being in the immediate vicinity of the old castle starting
back in late April of this year that never got reported to the news
media or even to any paranormal investigator. A correspondent of mine
who lives about ten miles from Hartford just filled me in on the
details. This man told me that he used to play in the woods around the
castle when he was a kid and every now and then returns to have a look
around. Back around May 2nd of this year, he was wandering over the
property (in the daytime)and spotted tracks of what looked like a
human foot---but were 15 inches long and twice as wide as his own
foot! A few days later he was talking to a friend of his who works the
late night shift at a warehouse directly across the road from the
woods that harbor the remains of the old castle. This person told him
that over the previous two week period she and two other gate guards
on their respective late night shifts had been badly scared a number
of times by what was obviously Bigfoot activity. In her case she had
not actually seen the creature, but had heard over and over again
throughout the wee hours of the night (nearly every night) loud
reports of heavy rocks hitting the side of the building [rock throwing
is a typical Bigfoot retaliatory tactic]. And when this was occuring,
she also smelled an awful odor like that of rotting meat. The Bigfoot
stench is often mentioned by those who have had close encounters with
this being. One can imagine how unnerving this must have been,
especially considering that she was all alone at the time.

Within this same two-week period another guard at the warehouse had
an even more dramatic, up close and personal, encouter with Bigfoot.
This guard had always ridden his bicycle to work. He was riding-in one
night to assume his late night shift, traveling along a lonely stretch
of Poag Road that runs by Cahokia Creek which winds through the woods
and crosses the old castle acreage---when he suddenly found himself
face to face with a 9 or 10 foot tall hairy manlike creature standing
on the side of the road. This thing let out a blood-curdling howl just
as this guy almost ran right into him. I guess it's a miracle that the
guard didn't fall off his bicycle! He somehow continued to manage to
peddle his vehicle---and a lot faster then. He raced on until he
reached the guard gate, and in an extremely agitated state told the
man he was relieving all about his encounter. This man, simply not
believing his story, laughed at him, telling him he was full of sh**!

As fate would have it, on the next night this man who had made fun
of the first guy's fantastic tale of a Bigfoot encouner had his chance
to reconsider the wisdom of his ridicule. During his shift a Bigfoot
came and stood directly across the road from the guard gate and vented
a hideous howl at him. It would have been poetic justice had he
actually messed in his pants, considering the ugly thing he had said
to the other guard. And for all we know this did happen as he was so
shattered by what he witnessed that he quit his job the next day.

Postscript : My friend who found the huge footprints all around the
moat area of the castle ruins tried to talk to the guard who had had
the encounter on his bicycle, but this man refused to talk to him and,
in fact, said he didn't ever want to talk to anybody about it again. I
suppose this is typical of people who have experienced the unknown
much too close for comfort. It's hard for those who have never had
this privilege to imagine how traumatizing it can be.

As one interesting side note, when one looks at the aerial photo
from Google Earth of the castle moat, it is seen as a perfectly
symetrical triangle with curved edges with one of its angles pointing
directly east in the directon of Cahokia Mounds only twenty miles
away. This is the largest Native American burial site in the U.S. It
probaby is situated on a ley line. If this is the case, then the
Hartford Castle due to its proximity to it may be a paranormal hotspot
as well.

The Bigfoot activity in this area continues to this day. I wouldn't
advise going there though to snoop around at night. These awesome,
possibly supernatural, beings apparently don't appreciate people
intruding into their playground. Mark this down as a newly discovered
window area for more sighitngs like the ones described above.
Remember : You heard it first on Night Search! (www.nightsearch.net
http://untameddimensions.com/Hartford%20Castle.JPG

[Destinys...@aol.com]

Wow this is indeed a great read! I want to say that I am beginning to
think that alot of the sightings that are occuring in and around
"window" areas, are paronormal in nature. I have heard that these
Bigfeet are sighted near black panther sightings and ufo's sightings
as well. These Bigfeet also appear to be more aggressive than your
average Bigfoot who wants to run away and hide from people.
I appreciate you sharing this with the group. This one's a keeper, not
only that but maybe I might go online and see what the statistics are
of ufo sightings, black panther sightings, and other cryptid sightings
are in this area. Maybe I will get lucky and be able to form some sort
of graph with what I find!
I wonder if in Seattle and in Canada where there are also many BF
sightings if there are Ufo sightings as well? I tend to believe that
the sightings in the Pacific northwest are more of the flesh and blood
type than those seen in these window areas!
Esther

On Jul 5, 9:45 am, "jim gilreath j220...@gmail.com"