Illinois Man Hunts Black Panthers
Posted by: Loren Coleman on December 1st, 2008
Brian Hendrian. Photo Stephen Haas/Staff Photographer
The Journal Gazette and Times-Courier of Charleston, Illinois, has a profile of local resident Brian Hendrian, 34, of Shelbyville, Illinois. While he is noted to be a ghost hunter and a deer hunter, according to the newly published article, he also dips into cryptozoology.
Hendrian reinforces the notion that the primary reports coming to the attention of amateur cryptozoologists in the midwestern America may not be of Bigfoot, but of Mystery Cats.
To help sort through the cases, he’s gathered around him a group of likeminded spirits, so to speak. He’s the founder of organizations that include the Shelby Paranormal Research Society, the United States Paranormal Society and the Shelbyville Cryptozoology Research Society.
The Cryptozoology folks hunt for “hidden animals,” creatures whose existence is not recognized by science: at least, not yet. Hendrian says there’s a lot of fraud in this area, too, but he believes there is credible evidence for the existence for both an “unknown biped” (Bigfoot) and for something large and toothy slinking through the Illinois undergrowth.
“We get a lot of black panther reports in Illinois,” he says. “And I believe there is something out there.”Tony Reid, The Journal Gazette and Times-Courier
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
Hello All!
This summer I worked with a guy who has a clubhouse near Iuka, Illinoios. He said he has seen a black panther near there. He also has seen lots of bobcats, including finding their den.
There are also some who swear that the Illinois Department of Natural Resources has released pumas into the Shawnee National Forest. But between the cats showing up in Chicago, and armadillos now seen north up to the St. Louis area, I don’t think the DNR had anything to do with it!
Great post, Loren!!!
I also believe there are Black Panthers in Illinois.
Good luck to Mr. Handrian in all of his endeavors!!!
Illinois and Indiana both have a long history of Black Panther sightings (which of course Loren is well aware of and has commented on in many of his books). Being also interested in paranormal research I’m glad to see Mr. Hendrian did a very good job with the interview as newspapers usually try to make people in these fields look like nuts. Good luck to Mr. Hendrian!
I can’t believe anyone, including my father-in-law, seriously thinks the Illinois DNR secretly releases mountain lions in Illinois. Where is the farm that breeds them for release? And why would they release them anyway? ”To control the deer population”…yeah, because the 1000s of locals running around here shooting anything that moves can’t do that. And since I’m the only guy in southern Illinois that doesn’t enjoy killing things for fun, why hasn’t anyone shot one?
It’s always ”a guy I work with said he has a relative who knows someone who seen one”’. Not even a photo.
Personally I think there’s a correlation between the the number of ”black panthers” and black labs (plus keystone light) in southern Illinois…and general boredom.
My uncle who lives near Beardstown, IL just sent me information that a possible black panther was recently sighted. I told him that I read cryptomundo and would love to hear more. This is what he wrote me:
“Will check out the cryptomundo site sometime. As far as articles, their was one about the same time of the cat siting here about three years ago. They mentioned a few dead farm animals and a horse in a barn that got clawed. Dont know of any recent articles. Only have heard of the sightings and one caught on a trail camera a few weeks back. The … Read Moreclose sighting here was 2 minutes down our road maybe one third of a mile, when two repairmen came here to work on our oven 3 years ago. The guy that bought Jeremys house, next door, is the guy who just told me tonight that he and a friend that was turkey hunting this week both saw the black panther near Littleton, Il., that is maybe 15 miles from my front door. His friend made a plaster cast of a footprint from that cat, about the size of a large dogs foot. He , my neighbor also thought they recently saw a smaller panther, so maybe more than one. So this is very believable to me.”
to planettom; response; verifying that info given to you, of your post dated april 23 2009. Big Cat sightings continure in west central illinois. most sightings in 2009 and 2010, yet still a few since then and just one sighting this year january 2012. The sightings go back several generations of local families. Both Black and Tawny Brown in color, most often the Black.