“Fence Fiend” Just Sighted

This “Fence Fiend” was seen in Illinois merely days ago. It may still be out there. What could it be?

There’s a breaking sighting that just occurred in the 309 Area Code region. Some encounters don’t easily sort out as a Bigfoot versus some kind of other cryptid, without going through hours of work, including site examinations, eyewitness background checks, interviews, comparisons with other reports, and more.

Taking that all into account, nevertheless, I thought I would share the initial wave of early notes on this encounter, as a Cryptomundo demonstration of how word often comes to me and how a cryptozoological investigation begins.

This sighting occurred on May 22, 2006, to Lindsey H., at about 1 AM, and was first told breathlessly to me this way:

I live in Central Illinois and I think I saw something the other night on my way home from work. I didn’t get off till really late and I was on my way home on a really dark stretch of road. I was listening to classical music and really relaxed when out of the corner of my eye, I saw something coming over the guardrail. I would have thought it was a deer or a dog except that it used its front arms like we would to brace itself while climbing over the rail. I actually swerved my car because I thought it would jump in front of me. The road I take home is right along the river and there is a creek on the other side where whatever it was was crossing.

Asking the eyewitness to calm down and describe the creature more clearly to me, here is part of what I recorded from her:

It was probably between 3 and 4 feet tall, but very stocky, and I don’t know if it was bipedal or not. It could have been because it was coming over the guardrail like you or I would. Its head was kind of like a hyena, longer face and furry, but it didn’t have a long snout or anything. Its face wasn’t flat like ours, but like I said, it didn’t have a long snout either, I guess I might compare it to some kind of primate. It had dark longer hair all over it. I didn’t look for tracks.

Next, obtaining a drawing (above) of what she saw, she remarked upon her own reaction to her sketch:

This is the best I could do. It looks like a five year old drew it. This is just how it was coming over the railing with both hands and one foot over. Its face was long like this.

The “Fence Fiend” investigation is open, developing, and ongoing. If anyone has any recent similar sightings of something like this in central Illinois, near Henry, let me know.

Loren Coleman 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.

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