Caption: Random abandoned farm off the back roads haphazardly discovered and explored by Noah, Chad, and Kevin. Photo credit: Noah, or Kevin, but maybe Chad.

Sure, there’s a certain undeniably attractive energy that goes along with some of our edgier cases; “Missing Person Vanishes Off Moving Bus,” “Cannibal Monster On The Loose,” or “Child Abducted." If, for example, a missing person's cold case has variables that land in our specialized skill set, we do what we can, when asked, as we have in the past and sadly will assuredly have to do in the future. The same goes for scouring a crime scene for the more obscure signs of a singly unique serial killer. For a video example, you can go and watch right now, our most recent web series episode for Back Roads Lore featuring our expedition in -40 temps. We were a full day's hike to any sort of help, should we have needed any. Our aim was reaching the reported lair of a cannibalistic monster who was rumored to have left several bodies steaming on the ground – skin hanging above in the trees. It is, however, thankfully, not always about life and limb with us. Giant hairy beasts terrifying the countryside with their howl is a day off for us.

Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Illinois sometime around 2015?

Sandwiched between two tons of steel that make up the Challenger, it was a typical short week down nearly 2,000 miles of back roads. Folks keep asking her name, the Challenger, that is, but I've never been one to name my vehicles. I suppose 'she' gets called baby more than anything else. As in I have to keep baby clean, as I'm on my way to wash (apparently my car is a she?), or I have to change baby's tires. You get the picture. Now that I think about it, "Baby" is probably the most commonly used 'name' for my car – or maybe any car.

There is no shortage of classic road-trip things to do in Illinois. We’ve paid homage to past hunters with a spin down historic Route 66 grabbing a pint of Union made beer at a literal island-town in the Mississippi River. Staying a night in the cliché if not once-glamorous neon-lit motels. Pulling a beer from the trunk of the car at the world’s largest ball of twine, or countless other roadside oddities along the once Main Streets, now relegated to back roads status.

One big win came while digging into another pint at a backwoods bar. With the right questions, softly asked at just the right moment, a new adventure can be afoot. For us, the moment was perfect after the bravest in the bar asked us from a safe 10-foot distance if we were in a band. As an actual hush fell, each of the 20 or so patrons turned to hear the answer. One of us throws out the usual "yes if the price is right.” Frankly, we could use the extra money, even if none of us plays any instruments with any proficiency. We reluctantly share that we are authors traveling through the area following up on our next story. The standard questions that follow lead us directly where we wish them too – their local legend that brought us to the pub in the first place…well, maybe the second reason we walked into a place that serves beer. It doesn't always work, but this time it leads to a phone interview with the family of Marlon Lowe. When ten years old, he was witnessed by his mother to be attacked and carried a short distance in the air by the legendary Thunderbird. More miles and more pubs to support, we slip back into the Challenger, and through the darkness, Baby’s headlights leading the way.

We make a few extra turns in Farmington, Illinois, ever aware of the purportedly millions of dollars in stolen gold that lies in the nearby hills. That discovery would surely let us each spend the rest of our lives hunting things, saving people – while, of course, supporting even more of the forgotten back road motels and pubs. Farther down the road, we visit the locations of past hairy-biped sightings in and around Peoria, Illinois. Now we are in the Murphysboro Mud Monster mood.

Of course, no adventure through Illinois is complete without hitting the classic Mad Gasser of Mattoon. This mystery attacked the area leaving many of the more than two dozen witnesses unconscious and more than a little unnerved across two states. We all agree that there are more than a few peculiar parallels to our Van Meter Visitor case. That investigation would later become the first book of our Back Roads Lore series and helped spur the town to create an annual monster festival now, as of this writing, in its sixth year. Closer still to Murphysboro is the mind-bending Enfield Horror sighting. This creature, first found scratching at the front door of Henry McDaniel, was described as a three-legged monster, with short arms and glowing pink eyes. Mr. McDaniel was only able to dispatch the beast after he unloaded his shotgun, causing it to unleash a bone-chilling scream in its retreat. The creature would be sighted again on several occasions, and its unnerving cries even recorded throughout the area.

A bit further down the lush green back roads now dripping with the black of night, we finally land at our destination.
 

Caption: Chad Lewis, Noah Voss, and Kevin Lee Nelson in a graveyard off the back roads with Noah's Dodge Challenger and Kevin's Dodge Charger.

We all have our own priorities that we'd like to see accomplished this adventure.

Topping Kevin's list is the fact that this is BBQ country. We also have some interviews scheduled and some that become impromptu as typically goes. Any competent investigator will get at least a few new leads from a conversation that goes well, and as it happens, even we were able to snag a few. Retired Murphysboro police chief Larry Tincher and Retired Murphysboro police chief Ron Manwaring top the list in name recognition. Both were on the police force during multiple sightings and later oversaw the entire department – two facts that make us cautiously optimistic about uncovering a clearer picture. But first, the all too often overlooked interview prep work. Let me explain. So, I've been interviewed once or twice over the last two decades. Little organizations have occasionally taken an interest; for example, the Associated Press, CNN, the most extensively circulated newspaper in the Netherlands and the widest syndicated radio network in Spain…no big deal (seriously, this example is likely the most useful thing I've gotten out of any of them). One continual shortcoming, if I may for a moment longer, is the lack of pre-interview research that journalists of all stripes seem to be able or interested in doing. Make no mistake, I am fully aware that I am not much more than a seasonal fluff piece when it comes to standard media. For our prep work, we know the Mud Monster legend. We've read the investigations of those that have left their sweat here before us like Loren Coleman. Of course, we've all physically been through the area before. What we need to do right now, before our interviews, is to grab a cold drink inside ‘cause it's hot outside.

Large maps spread out on a small pub table. Frosty cold beers in one hand I jot notes in my hunter-journal with the other. No GPS allowed on adventures – seriously. Paper printouts of satellite imagery, atlases, topographical maps, and gazetteers gladly take the place of those otherwise now digitally anesthetized abilities. The tangible feel alone of a well-used map, breaths tangential volumes of life back into my body with each use. There are a few locations that we know the monster has been sighted thanks to previous researchers and news folk alike. Just like every adventure should have, we have nothing more than a few leads to go off of for the rest of the sighting locations.

A more precise picture of those areas is painted with each day's work. Back in the car, we find ourselves twisting back and forth down the same city streets assuredly more times than most neighbors feel comfortable noticing. It is an essential step in the research. Even worth the all too often police showing up to inquire as to our moral character. Putting a real material place, and a current one, to historic monster sightings, adds so much to our understanding of the case and our ensuing interviews. It brings forward in the interviewer's mind, our minds, new lines of intrinsic questioning. For example, some of the neighborhoods can be observed to have different home construction; materials, designs, lot sizes, trees, and landscaping maturity. This creates a pretty clear picture of the scene during a sighting that happened, for example, in 1973. These observations can then be corroborated later during the interview. The retired police chiefs both confirmed that one sighting epicenter was indeed a new neighboorhood development at the time of the 1973 wave. As such, it was surrounded by woods and farm fields, not as it appears now, in the middle of a very populated area. This fact can help answer questions such as why maybe more people didn't sight the creature. This technique can also later be used to assess witness memory with mundane factoids. By comparing their recollection accuracy with general facts to how precisely they may be recalling experiences that you are unable to verify. It helps to begin to give an appropriate and somewhat objective perspective on a witness's memory, if not overall testimony.

We meet every interviewee where they had their sighting, if at all possible. Again this tactic helps us draw the most from each interview as is possible from precise locations and accurate distance estimates. A quick few hours and our key interviews are complete. A stop at the local craft brewery, Big Muddy Brewing, allows us to talk out all the meetings and formulate a game plan moving forward. Besides, we like to support local small businesses, and much to our surprise, they have beer!  During our interviews, we get some stories verified that until then were insufficiently documented to include. One of the more humorous ones is that Officer Nash did indeed drop his gun after getting scared while investigating a monster sighting. From all of our interviews over the following days, one thing was omnipresent – all the people involved from the 1970s were convinced that something genuinely unexplained was happening. A few pints of Big Muddy Monster and Pumpkin Smasher brews both sporting a sizeable classic Bigfoot on the label, and we are rejuvenated for our next task in the field.

Caption: The actual beer in question during this adventure down the back roads of Big Muddy Monster brown ale beer in Murphysboro, Illinois.

Caption: Food, Cocktails, and Motel Lodging off the back roads with Noah's Dodge Challenger. The sign reads, "The Ranch House Finest Food Cocktails Open."

Morning for us usually arrives in our backwater motel only a few moments after sunrise. There is much to do in a monster hunter's day. For Kevin and I, that usually begins with a beer breakfast. We are not nearly as optimistic as Chad that today will be any different than all those battled ones before it. The sun continues to rise and so too does hope for the day, admittedly fueled by massive doses of delusion inducing caffeine. We whirlwind our way through a few more locations pertinent to the Big Muddy Monster around the Murphysboro area and then ask Baby to turn back north. Secretly each of us hoping Baby will somehow disobey, forcing the adventure to continue. We are facing a solid eight-hour drive straight back, and our drives are never non-stop.

There are a few mysteries that deserve our attention.

We will be forced, as any quality monster hunter should be, to make time for the unexplained. A report of vampires in a remote countryside cemetery almost ends in a shallow serial killer's grave. Two more Bigfoot sighting locations and a great triangle UFO flap that had dozens of sightings, including many officers of the law. The eight-hour drive slowly turns into a 15 hour one.

Once back between my own four walls, it is all too easy for the mind to fall back into the grind, the deadlines, the day job, and the responsibilities of any 'responsible' adult. I likely take more solace than I should as I think back on my adventures. The moments, resting on the cold steel of my muscle car, peated scotch finishing on my tongue. The endless stars above and the wet earthy scent wafting from the forest. Fog forming before our eyes covering meadows clearly visible only a moment earlier and experiencing it all with family – these moments that indeed can make a life worth living. Even as few and fleeting as they may be. There are still mysteries, and here there may be monsters.

Caption: Chad Lewis, Kevin Lee Nelson, and Noah Voss at the entrance of a cave after a successful exploration on the trail of the next legend and book - The Wendigo.