Report 43122: Driver startled to see a tall figure next to U.S. Hwy. 151 near Mineral Point

On Tuesday November 26th, 2013 I was driving south on Hwy 151 from Madison, WI going back to Iowa after seeing a concert at the Red Zone which ended around 11:30 PM.  My wife was laying down and trying to get some sleep in the back seat of the car since she had to work the next morning.  I normally work night shift so I had no problem staying awake to drive home. The oncoming traffic on the highway was spaced about one car every 3/4 of a mile to a mile with some farther apart so I couldn't use my high beams.  I'm a former Iowa police officer so I have a habit of periodically looking at the mile markers along the road so that if I have to call for help I can give a better idea of where we're at. I would say about a half mile or so after coming around the large curve southwest of Mineral Point, which I believe would be about mile marker 36, I was in the outside lane and I passed a large black figure standing upright on two legs where the grass meets the gravel on the inside shoulder of the median on my left. The headlights never hit it directly as I approached but the outside area of the light field lit it up as I passed it.  I'm 6'02" and I was able to see the body from the ground up to the shoulder.  I would estimate the shoulder height to be around 6'06" to 6'08".  With the angle of the light beam and how low the car sits to the ground it looked like the head was shadowed by the shoulder so I wasn't able to see its face. The distance between us was about fifteen feet when I passed by.  I was able to see it's hand hanging down along the thigh and it was a lighter color and not midnight black like the color of it's body.  The thickness of it's body looking from the side, it's back to it's chest, was about two feet thick.  The fur or hair was hard to see do to the distance, the light conditions, and the speed of the car (cruise was set at 65mph) but it was short. I thought to myself, "What was that?" even though I know what it was and "I didn't just see that." My immediate physical reaction was extreme anxiety.  My chest tightened and I made excuses to myself to not stop and look at it.  From what I saw I had no desire to stop. A couple miles passed while I tried to overcome the fear then I realized I need more facts on the conditions of the sighting.  I also felt that it was trying to cross the highway from the south that's why I didn't see it up ahead of me in the headlights. Until this event I was always open to the possibility that they exist but never was a big believer in them.  My tune has now changed and I don't care to ever see one again.