Knocking in Washington County, Indiana

My Fiancé and I decided to hike the Spurgeon Hollow Loop Trail in Washington County Indiana. The Trail is a 9-mile loop starting at Spurgeon Hollow Lake looping north towards Delany Creek State Park then continuing east and south connecting to the Knobstone Trail. (The Knobstone Trail is rugged state-maintained trail that winds approximately 60 miles through the Southern Indiana hills). The trail then turns west diverging from the Knobstone Trail to return to the trailhead at Spurgeon Hollow Lake. The Spurgeon Hollow Trail is situated in the middle of the Washington-Jackson State Forest. The Spurgeon Hollow Trailhead is reached from a county road a few miles off state highway 135, then a half mile off the county road down a dirt/gravel lane crossing through a couple of dry stream beds. We arrived around 1:30 pm on Friday June 12, 2020. It was a sunny day with low humidity in the upper 70’s (which is why we chose to hike this day). From the trailhead the path continues for a quarter mile or so and parallels the lake on your right and steep thickly wooded hills on your left. At this point, the trail splits to begin the Loop. You can go left up the steep hillside (several hundred feet climb) or continue on your right along the Lake. On this initial Trailhead path, I heard two distinct knocks. We had gone most of the quarter mile. I heard the first sharp knock. Then a second or two later, the second knock. Both in the same general area – up the steep slope to the left. I stopped at the looked, but could not see anything because of the dense vegetation. There was no other sound. The knocks were sharp and moderately loud. They sounded like the report of a baseball coming off a bat. There were no other people on the trail. No one at the Lake. My Fiancé stopped and looked back at me. I asked her if she heard those knocks. She of course made fun of me and said “Oooo it’s a Squatch”. She hadn’t heard anything. We continued on. We took the left trail up the steep slopes and for the next 6 miles went up and down steep inclines and declines. Crossed several creeks. Then about 3 hours later, the trail turned left diverging from the Knobstone Trail heading back towards Spurgeon Hollow Lake. The trail at this point parallels a large creek bed at the bottom of hills. We had gone a mile or so (about 2+ miles to go to reach the Trailhead). There was a knock. A very loud, very sharp knock. We both stopped dead. My fiancé’s eyes were wide as saucers. She said “that was loud”. I laughed and said “so what do you think that was?” The knock sounded again like the crack of a baseball coming off a bat. A huge baseball and a huge bat! It came from the steep hill top above us. We scanned the ridgeline, but could not see much. It was just too thick. I heard the brief sound of something moving in the brush up high, but that was it. My Fiancé said “Let’s Go”. I asked her “don’t you want to stay and see if something else happens?” She said “No I want to Go”. So we starting walking. A couple of times I would stop and scan the hills. She would say “Just keep walking”. We returned to trailhead with no further incident.