BFRO #1268: More sightings of a strange creature centering around the town of Ottosen. Other stories told about strange sounds, footprints and animal mutilatation

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Iowa Flap Continues From newspaper account: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------From the Register; September 24, 1978 REPORTS OF HAIRY BEAST, NIGHT SCREAMS HAVE IOWA TOWN ON EDGE By Steven Klaus Register Assistant OTTOSEN, IA. - A fortnight ago Anna Dodrill froze with fear when she looked up from a load of dishes into the "burning red eyes" of a big-nosed, black-faced, hairy-headed creature staring at her through a window a few feet away. Terror tied her tongue. Her brother, who earlier that evening thought he had seen a large and hairy arm reach out from behind a cattle shed, sat at a table with a rifle ready. But he knew nothing of the kitchen scene beyond his view. Seconds passed - slowly, agonizing. The creature's eyes bored in on Dodrill. Frightened as she had never been before, she blinked but could not look away. After three minutes, Anna Dodrill screamed. The creature, whatever it was, fled into the darkness outside her farm home three miles northwest of here. "It was the first time in my life I couldn't move," Dodrill said later. What she saw that night may have been Bigfoot, the beast rumored since July to be responsible for eerie night screams, broken fences, stampeded cattle, chewed-up cats, mangled rabbits and the death of a dog whose neck had been broken while it was chained near the home of its master. It - named or nameless, male or female or something biologically unknown - has been seen since. So have the terror and uncertainty. People here don't know what - if anything - is loose in the countryside. They don't know if they should lock their doors or laugh, buy weapons or rein in their imaginations. They don't know many things about what has happened. All they know is that something is different here. And they know, many of them children will not walk along at night until they know more. SIGHTED AGAIN Early, September 12, only 24 hours after the incident at the home of Anna and Jennings Dodrill, the creature was sighted again. Eighteen-year-old Robert Newell IV was dressing for work in a bedroom of the family home about two miles southeast of Ottosen. From out of the backyard came a deep whining sound. "No horse or pig could have made it," Newell, a rock quarry worker, said later. He looked out the bedroom window toward the barn, located about 35 feet south of the house and illuminated by the yard lights. Newell said he saw a tall, hairy hunchbacked figure go into the barn. It jumped sideways into a manure spreader, got out and stood for a moment, then got into a grain spreader. Newell said the creature appeared to be looking for food. It then stood up in front of the barn for a short time, walked around a grain silo and headed south into a recently harvested cornfield. The whole episode lasted about 3 � minutes. Newell said the creature was between six and seven feet tall, had black hair and walked quite fast on its hind legs. The experiences of Dodrill and Newell are the latest in a rash of such sightings that have occurred in and around Ottosen during the past two months. Since mid-July, the Humboldt and Kossuth county sheriff's offices have received numerous complaints from farmers and residents in the Ottosen, West Bend, and Homboldt area who have seen a large, hairy creature or have been awakened by strange screams and an eerie, high- pitched whistle. Many in the area believe the creature - or creatures - is Bigfoot, a legendary, nocturnal primate that has been reported throughout history as occupying a position between ape and man. It is also known as Sasquatch, Yeti and the abominable snowman. HOAX There are those who adamantly disagree with the Bigfoot theory and explain the sightings as either an elaborate hoax or the figment of fertile imaginations. Whatever the case, the sightings have brought unusual pressures on this close-knit Humboldt County town of 135 persons. Alberta Bennett, wife of Ottosen Marshal Tom Bennett, said the situation has created a division in town between believers and non-believers. "Its left a strange feeling in town", she said. There has been the unusual humor that accompanies such sightings. Someone recently tracked another sign beneath the Ottosen sign on Highway 222, which skirts the town. The new sign reads "Big Foot Country." A letter received last week at the post office was addressed to "Bigfoot Country." Then there was the fellow who walked into the post office wearing a monkey mask. STRANGE FOOTPRINTS But the humor is checked by the stories related by those who gather at Twig's Grocery Store here. There, in addition to stories of mutilated animals, residents talk of being awakened by eerie screams in the night; of strange footprints two-hands wide by three-hands long; of unusual feces found in Marilyn Schmacher's lean-to; and of children so terrified by what they saw that they cannot sleep and who for days wouldn't walk the town's streets - even in the daytime. One man who has heard all these stories i

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