Brian Hendrian. Photo Stephen Haas/Staff Photographer

The Journal Gazette and Times-Courier of Charleston, Illinois, has a profile of local resident Brian Hendrian, 34, of Shelbyville, Illinois. While he is noted to be a ghost hunter and a deer hunter, according to the newly published article, he also dips into cryptozoology.

Hendrian reinforces the notion that the primary reports coming to the attention of amateur cryptozoologists in the midwestern America may not be of Bigfoot, but of Mystery Cats.

To help sort through the cases, he’s gathered around him a group of likeminded spirits, so to speak. He’s the founder of organizations that include the Shelby Paranormal Research Society, the United States Paranormal Society and the Shelbyville Cryptozoology Research Society.

The Cryptozoology folks hunt for “hidden animals,” creatures whose existence is not recognized by science: at least, not yet. Hendrian says there’s a lot of fraud in this area, too, but he believes there is credible evidence for the existence for both an “unknown biped” (Bigfoot) and for something large and toothy slinking through the Illinois undergrowth.

“We get a lot of black panther reports in Illinois,” he says. “And I believe there is something out there.”Tony Reid, The Journal Gazette and Times-Courier