'I was just stunned': Peoria truck driver in viral video after seeing 'Bigfoot' in rural Peoria County – Peoria Journal Star
PEORIA — Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor hail shall keep the postmen from their appointed rounds.
Not even if Bigfoot is involved.
A Peoria truck driver — transporting mail for the U.S. Postal Service in a 24-foot truck in rural central Illinois — reported seeing a huge creature alongside the road believed to be Bigfoot while completing his route on Oct. 5.
He was interviewed by Bigfoot investigators, who labeled it as an official sighting of the mysterious massive creature also popularly known as Sasquatch or Skunk Ape.
Troubled by what he saw, truck driver Gary Rutherford Jr., looked for Bigfoot research online, found a community message board, and posted his encounter.
Bigfoot researchers and investigators found him from that report, and now his tale is part of a viral video on TikTok that has 360,000 views and more than 830 comments in less than 24 hours. The information from that video came via a post from Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization founder Matt Moneymaker, who co-hosted the show “Finding Bigfoot,” which aired on Animal Planet from 2011-2016.
“I’m not calling it Bigfoot, the investigators have concluded that’s what it was, and I accept that,” Rutherford said. “All I know is, it scared the absolute hell out of me. I can’t get it out of my mind. I thought about it for days and felt like I needed to tell someone, report it. That’s how I ended up online.
“Now I’m hearing from people all over the place.”
Rutherford Jr., is not alone. The TikTok video is packed with comments from viewers talking about their own encounters with Bigfoot in the Peoria area. One comment noted someone has erected a giant cutout of Bigfoot on the top of a hill between two fields on a road between Glasford and Mapleton.
BFRO (Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization) – est. 1995 | ATTN ILLINOIS !! | Facebook
Gary Rutherford Jr. is a 42-year-old Peoria native. His son, Gary Rutherford III, was a star linebacker for Peoria High School and is now a redshirt freshman at Wyoming.
Rutherford drives for 10 Roads Express, a Peoria trucking firm that moves mail for USPS.
“I have a regular route I’ve been driving now for about a year and a half,” Rutherford Jr. said. “I leave from downtown Peoria and head out to surrounding small towns. I take Route 9 between Glasford and Canton six days a week. On Oct. 5, I was maybe three-quarters of a mile onto Rt. 9, had my low beams on, still fairly dark out at 6 a.m. when I saw it.
“I didn’t process this thing until I was right up on it. I did a double-take. It was standing, two legs, brown fur. I drove past it in about five seconds. In that moment, it locked eyes with me, orange, yellowish glowing eyes. And I realized it was eye-to-eye even though I was sitting high up in a 24-foot truck. So I estimated the thing had to be 8 feet tall.
“I was just stunned, trying to figure out what I just saw.”
He arrived in Canton to offload his mail. Shaken, he told employees there about it. Later on he told family members. He went back in daylight to look at the area, hoping to find footprints, but it was heavily lined by grass.
The encounter really bothered him, so he started to research Bigfoot sites online and found a message board, where he posted his story. Bigfoot investigators contacted him. The TikTok video happened. He got teased by some people, supported by others.
But he has an ongoing mystery to square in his mind and he still drives that route every day. That’s all he can do. The truck is equipped with an exterior camera, but it is only triggered to start taping if there is a collision.
“I replay it over and over every day in my mind,” Rutherford said. “That thing was just so huge. It was walking along the side of the road like it was getting ready to cross.
“And it was just me and him out there. I think it was as surprised as I was.”
The online research group, Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization, interviewed Rutherford and filed his report online, where it can still be seen. Here are other area reports on BFRO.
Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports columnist, and covers Bradley men’s basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on X.com @icetimecleve.
