The first report came in just before midnight on June 25. "There were numerous sightings and people interviewed," he began. Having retired three years ago and having not seen the Big Muddy Monster police reports in years, Manwaring is still able to recount those haunting evenings as if they had happened just yesterday.Īnd he recounts the stories as he would if writing the police report all over again. "It's an unsolved case because I can't tell you what it was," he said. There are only two cases that remain unsolved in Murphysboro, Manwaring said, but after 32 years the case on the Big Muddy Monster still remains open. Letters came streaming in from those as far away as California and New York wanting a piece of information or a piece of the prize. "(Those) are the most copied, most looked-at reports in the history of the department," he said. It set off a media frenzy after the initial reports on those two days, said former patrolman and retired Murphysboro police chief Ron Manwaring. It was later dubbed the Big Muddy Monster because of its indefinable features and mysterious presence. It was in those two evenings that reports came in of a loud, tall, white-haired creature caked with mud being spotted in the woods on the outskirts of town near the Big Muddy River. The two police reports dated June 25 and June 26 relate the sighting of an unknown creature. MURPHYSBORO - There are two dates from 1973 in Murphysboro that still leave some haunted - or at least curious.