Richard J. La Monica of Akron, Ohio submitted this report to me that he received via e-mail from a woman in northeast Ohio, after reading an article on La Monica and his research into the Bigfoot phenomenon.
Dear Rich, I am writing to you on behalf of a friend who had a Bigfoot sighting. Unfortunately, he died in 1983.
Around 1980 (kinda fuzzy on the year) my boyfriend Bobby and I were kids in High School. Bobby didn't have a car so he walked alot to get to where he was going. One night on his way back from a friends house he cut through the woods in Adell Durbin Park in Stow, Ohio, as he frequently did. The light from the houses glowed into the woods. As he was walking he noticed a very large being standing on top of a rock looking down at him. The distance is forgotten in my mind. He said it was not a human being. It was too big, and hairy from head to toe. He took off running, scared too death. He believed it was behind him the whole time. The next day he called me still scared and his voice cracking that he knows that what he saw was not human. Bobby wasn't a story teller and the sound of his voice had me instantly a believer in what he saw. Needless to say he never cut through the woods again at night by himself. To this day I believe he saw a Bigfoot. Your story in the Akron Beacon Journal, along with my 12 year old son, prompted me to write you and give another location that the creature was spotted. Thanks for your time, and happy hunting! Stephanie (Deleted) Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio.
Here is a sighting that was submitted to a message board. We must remember that with no information such as phone number or name to check on in reference to these kinds of reports, you can take them 'with a grain of salt'. The report is submitted for your review. Remember though, there have been several sightings in Ross county which is where Chillicothe is located.
Sighting in June of 1980 near Chillicothe, Ohio.
Activities of person(s) at the time of sighting: Night fishing with lanterns.
What was observed: I saw a tall dark creature walk like a man down to the creek bank, squatted down to the water and put his hands together to scoop up some water to get a drink. Then stood up and looked at me and turned around and went back into the woods.
Environment: It was on a hot summer night by a creek bank in a wooded area.
Other related reports in area: No.
Additional comments: The palms of his hands and his face appeared to be lighter than the rest of his body.
DATE OF SIGHTING... January 15'th, 1984
TIME OF DAY... 5:30 p.m.
WITNESS(ES)... A friend and myself.
TERRAIN TYPE... Entrance of the Black Hand Gorge. Heavily wooded with small ponds and rock formations throughout the area.
COUNTY... Licking
NEAREST TOWN... Newark
WEATHER CONDITIONS... Sunny and in the low 40's.
HOW CLOSE WERE YOU?... Ten feet at the closest.
HEIGHT OF CREATURE?... Not sure, it was crouched down in the road.
COLOR... Light brown, almost caramel like.
FACIAL DESCRIPTION... When it looked at me straight on, its face had a snout like appearance, kind of like a Baboon. Hair was all over the face.
DESCRIBE THE ENCOUNTER... I was driving down a local State Route with a girlfriend. We were both cheerleaders and were heading towards Licking Valley High School for a game. We were driving fast down the road going towards the Claylick area. As we approached the area we saw something very hairy and very large squatting down in the middle of the road. Since the road was very narrow, I decided to drive towards it so I wouldn't go off the road and into the creek. At a distance of just ten feet away, I waited for an impact but surprisingly nothing happened. Apparently it jumped out of the way or maybe even rolled out of the way. When I looked in my rear view mirror, it was gone. I have no idea where it went and didn't stop to see. When we finally drove about 1/4 mile down the road, we finally spoke to each other. My friend and I tried to decide if it was a dog, bear, etc. but nothing met the description. Judging by what I saw of the animal, it was Baboon like in appearance, but much larger in size.
This is the intersection that the teenage girls spotted the Bigfoot creature. This is in Licking county about 5 miles east of Newark, just to the south of SR 16.
Witness Occupation: school librarian
Witness age: 37
Activity of Witness: In my house getting ready for work.
Date of Sighting: August 15,1985
Time of Day: 8:00
Sighting Location: Our property butts up to The Lorain County Metro Parks. We have approx. 2 acres and the Metro Parks have hundreds. The Bigfoot was seen running through a ravined portion of our property, and back through Park property along a creek. The reason I saw it was our dogs were in a kennel at the back of our property, and they were barking, which alerted me to see what was wrong. This took place in Lorain County.
Other Activity of Creature: jumped down an embankment into the creek.
Alone at Sighting?: yes
Number of Creatures: one
Camera / Video Taken at Sighting?: no
Sounds at Sighting?: no
Odors at Sighting?: no
Creature Description: Reddish-brown shaggy hair, tall, slightly hunched over at the shoulders. I saw it from the side and back as it ran. It's feet and hands seemed to have smooth skin, not covered with hair.
Height?: 6-7 feet
Weight: 250lbs.
Other Comments: I personally know 3 other people in our area that over time from approx. 1970-1984 (my sighting) have seen Bigfoot in our area. When I saw it, we had only lived in our house for 4 months.
"In October of 1987 I presented a presentation to the South-East division of the Ohio Farm Bureau's Youth Conference in Zanesville, Ohio on the Bigfoot phenomenon. At the beginning of the conference, I asked how many people believed such a creature existed. About 65% of them, or two thirds said they did believe such a creature existed. I was surprised, to say the least.
I gave my presentation of about 45 minutes and then took questions from those in attendance. Afterwards, a young boy of 16 years of age came up to me and told me he had a story he'd like to share with me. I asked him where he lived and he said Marietta, Ohio. His story follows.....
'I was out in the woods not too far from my home in December of 1986, near the Wayne National Forest. There was snow on the ground. I had my rifle with me as I was doing some target shooting.
I came to this area where there were several, large humanlike bare footed prints in the snow. I would say they were at least 16 inches long. I followed them and they led to a cave. I had my flashlight with me, so I decided to see what was in the cave.
I went just a few feet into the cave when I caught a set of eyes with the flashlight. They were very high off of the ground. Then this creature made growling type noises, so I decided to get the heck out of there.
After I got outside, I turned around and saw this eight-foot tall, white hair covered creature walking out of the cave. I turned around and left the area as soon as I possibly could.' "
This report has been related many times by me to other researchers and individuals alike. It is, in my opinion, the 100% truth. The young man spoke to me, Betty Parks and Tom Archer. None of us had any doubt that he was telling the truth.
At the November meeting of the Tri-State Bigfoot Study Group, a new member attended and related a story to the group about a sighting that a friend of his had encountered. Reportedly, Stark County, Ohio resident Thomas Brindley sighted a Bigfoot creature with two other friends during the 4'th of July weekend in 1987. The time of the sighting was between midnight and 1 a.m. The incident took place just off of US Route 36 in Tuscarawas County, between the communities of Gnadenhutten and Gilmore, Ohio. The weather at the time was hot and humid. The creature was observed at between 75 and 100 yards away. It was estimated to be at least seven feet in height. It was estimated that the creature weighed about 500 pounds. At the December meeting of the TSBSG, the witness's friend once again attended and handed me a detailed report of what happened that night in 1987. Following now is what the witness, Thomas Brindley, wrote about that encounter, in his own words.
"My father had taken myself and two friends to his hunting cabin. He had forgotten his keys, so we decided to sleep in the car. Earlier in the day, my dad had stabbed a stick into his leg when jumping over the creek, but insisted on staying. He had laid down early in the front seat of the car and went to sleep due to his leg. My friends and I were hanging around the fire, goofing around and listening to the radio. (NOTE; you could shut the power to the camper on and off at a utility pole, so we had power to the exterior outlets and had my radio plugged in).
The incident started before the true sightings, but I never really connected them until years later, after learning more information on the creature. It started when we heard what sounded like someone tapping bottles together, over by the creek. It was kind of scary, but at the time, we really didn't think much about it. I remember making jokes about a crazy hillbilly, who was hiding and watching us. After about 20-30 minutes, the noises stopped and left our minds, as we were listening to the radio.
We decided to take a walk to the end of the drive by the road, and throw rocks into the creek or something. The drive went between three trees, over a bridge, and let out into the main road lighted by a security light at the corner. My friends and I were standing on the bridge and throwing rocks and talking about the crazy hillbilly over in the weeds, when we saw a bunch of sparks fly up from the fire. When we looked over, we saw someone squatting in front of the fire. I thought it must have been my father, and told the guys we should go back to camp and see how his leg was feeling. We had just crossed the bridge when IT stood up. It was so big that we all stopped because there was no way it was my father. Around the camper, the only light was from the fire pit, so all we could see was a silhouette of the creature. We couldn't tell what color it was or how much hair it had, but you could tell it was very hairy from its figure. By now we were whispering to each other and thought it was a bear. Then the creature turned sideways and it was definitely not a bear so we took cover behind the trees to watch it. It walked with a slight forward hunch; it headed straight to the camper and smacked my radio off of the table sitting in front of the camper. Then it walked behind the camper and sounded like it punched the outhouse. Scott and myself had been hunting for years with our fathers and had seen about every animal that lives in this area including bears in PA. This was no bear and like nothing we had ever seen before. We finally got enough courage to run to the car and got inside and locked all the doors. We did look around the fire pit the next morning but the ground was too hard to see evidence. Also we did smell a strong smell when we got back to the car but at the time we thought the thing just stirred up the outhouse, but now I wonder if it was the creature we smelled.
We tried to wake my dad at the time but he sleeps like he's in a coma. The next morning we told him what happened and he didn't doubt us. He said he had heard a story in a town a few weeks before about a woman who claimed she had hit a Bigfoot with her car and it limped away into the woods. Everyone said it was probably a bear, but she insisted it wasn't."
After having lived in the great state of Alaska for ten years, and never seeing a forest wild man, I was totally amazed at actually seeing an alleged Sasquatch here, in Ohio where I was born.
Although, at a distance of about 150 to 200 yards, I am absolutely sure the individual was not a human figure. It's enormous size would dispute any thought I had, at it being human. Also, at that time of day, which was about 4:30 to 5:00 PM, it didn't make any sense to me that a person would be ENTERING the woods, as it was growing increasingly darker outside. This sighting, occurred in 1988, while I was at the wheel of my produce delivery truck. This particular individual was moving at a rather rapid pace, faster than any man I had ever seen walking or even running, for that matter, in the woods. It's gait was fluid and it seemed to have no trouble whatsoever, navigating through the leafless scrub and briar bushes, that inhabit much of this section of Southeast Ohio. It was moving so fast, that by the time I got my truck stopped, it was already out of my view.
It was not until I read a New Philadelphia Times Reporter news article, proclaiming a meeting of Don Keating's Newcomerstown, Ohio Bigfoot enthusiasts, that I decided to come forward and describe my incident to the group. This was in 1992, and up until that point, other than what I saw in 1988, I did not know anyone else who could also make a claim for the creatures’ existence in Ohio.
Here is a sighting that was submitted via Richard La Monica's Sighting Submit Form on his web site. Thanks to Rich for allowing us to add this to our collection of reports.
(Name of witness) Jim
(Occupation) self employed
(Date of incident) '88 or '89
(Time of incident) 12 - 3pm
(Location of incident) Streetsboro, Ohio
(Details of incident) I was 14 or 15 at the time living in a small trailer park. Behind the park is a very big field with many man-made paths. Behind the field is a Wildlife Preservation area with some clearings made by some of the residents of the trailer park, who used the area for some partying and shooting of firearms. One day I walked back to the field behind the park and was just looking at the tree line where the Wildlife protected area was. I noticed a shiny object that looked like a kite stuck in the trees. I walked back to the tree line and tried to find the string attached to the kite so I could try to get it down. In the middle of my search that eerie calm feeling came over me as everything seemed to get very quiet around me. This was soon followed by the worst smell one could ever imagine, almost worse than that of a dead animal. I glanced over to my left and saw something out of the corner of my eye which seemed to resemble a bear. I was very scared and I tried to ignore it, hoping that it really was not there and would just go away if I didn't look back in it's direction. I reluctantly looked at it-face to face. It stood about what seemed over 7 feet tall, very broad shoulders and covered with hair. What stood out was the facial features. It was a flat face with some hair and was very dirty. I do remember seeing some teeth which were large but not the same structure as in an animal, but in a human. I didn't see the entire body, only from the chest up because it was behind some thick brush. It stared at me with the same shock, fear, curiousness, and excitement that I stared at it with. I slowly began to walk backwards towards the field and away from the animal before breaking into an all out sprint for my safety. When I first saw it I was about 10 yards away. As I backed up to about 30 yards I must have startled it because it ran through the woods like a deer being chased by a hunter. As I ran back towards the trailer park, it let out a weird half-howl, half-scream that scared the you know what out of me. I told some hunting friends of mine about my encounter and their father said it might have been a bear. Over ten years later, I know what I saw was not a bear. That was obvious by the facial features. It took me quite awhile to go back to those woods again and I never went back alone.
(Description of the creature) 6'7" -7'2", broad shoulders, thick hair covering it's body and thin hair over the face. Human-like teeth that were dark in color but very large, almost horse-like.
(How tall do you think it was?) 6'7" to 7'2"
(What color was it?) dark hair color
(How much do you think it weighed?) over 400 lbs.
(Did it leave any footprints, hair, droppings, or any other evidence?) Didn't check...too scared
(Please describe other evidence and its location.) Don't know...
(Did the creature make any sounds?) yes
(Describe the sounds.) A howl like scream
(Did the creature have an odor?) yes
(Describe the odor.) worse than a dead animal
(Please describe the landscape where the incident occurred.) 50 yards from a very large swamp, in thick woods that had some clearings for a party area
(Have you heard of other incidents of this nature in the same area?) no
(Do you have any other comments to add?) I am convinced that it was a Bigfoot.