Ross County, Ohio

Near Clarksburg

Open Map

Ross County Ohio (Class A) BFRO

July 1980

I remember the year well enough. It was in the summer of 1980. The reason I remember that so clearly, is because all of the talk that summer was about the eruption of Mt. Saint Helens. I'm not sure of the month of the sighting, but I know it was later in the summer, after the eruption. My father, cousin and I were wading Deer Creek fishing for smallmouth bass. We had waded up the creek approximately one mile or so, and we were heading back down the creek to the car. I had stepped out of the creek, for a few minutes, and my father and cousing were a little ways ahead of me. I stepped back into the creek, and headed down the creek towards them. We were keeping a pretty steady pace, with my father in front, my cousin second and myself in the rear. I remember my cousin asking me what the hell I had just stepped in because of a horrid smell that suddenly filled his nostrils. I laughed and said that I had stepped in some mud along the creek bank. "Mud doesn't smell like that" he replied, then I smelled what he was talking about and he was right. This smell was indescribable. The closest way I could hope to describe it would be to say that it smelled like a mixture of something that had been decaying in the sun covered in rotten eggs. It was after our brief conversation about the smell that I noticed my dad had stopped walking and was not fishing, but looking ahead concentrating on something along the left bank. "What the hell is that?" he asked, more to my cousin than to me. My cousin looked for a moment and replied, "A dead snag" meaning an old dead tree. I looked up the bank trying to see what my father was looking at. Just then I saw it. I too thought it was a tree, but as I looked at it closer I could see hair moving in the slight breeze along it's side and head. It was a reddish/brown color and not extremely long, but long enough that I could see it moving. The creature was standing amid some brush that was growing along the creek, and was visible from just above the waist to the top of it's head. It was very tall, my guess would be about 8 feet high or so. I was 12 at the time, and it was definetely the strangest thing I had ever seen. My father suddenly tensed up and in a very desperate voice, said something I won't repeat here, followed by "That's bigfoot!" Just then, whatever was standing on that bank turned it's head, and looked straight down the creek at us. We scrambled up the right hand bank as fast as we could and started out across the field to the car. To this day, my cousin still says he saw something but doesn't know what he saw. I didn't know what it was either, but to me it just looked like a very hairy, slightly stooped man, especially when it looked towards us. I do know one thing though. I'll never forget it.

View Full Report and Investigation

Discuss report

Tom Whiteside 2307 days ago

I had an encounter while camping in Pickaway Co. It was in a very close time frame. It was the fall of 1980. I remember it was after the eruption of Mt. St.Helens. Myself and 5 friends were camping close to the Big Darby river bottom. I was 14 years old at the time. The encounter lasted about 2hrs. Myself and 1 of the friends saw the Bigfoot beside a tree at about 30 feet. The Bigfoot tried to hide behind a tree. I had a bright flashlight on it. The Bigfoot turned and looked at us. The eye shine was red. We hustled back to the fire and tried to explain to the other 4 friends what we had just saw. We quickly built up the fire. And we were quickly being circled by the Bigfoot it crashing thru the woods. It seemed aggressive, it let out a very loud and deep beller. The entire area became saturated with a stench that to me smelled very much like a red fox,kind of skunky but very strong. The Bigfoot continued to circle and crash thru the brush and trees. This went on for a long time. We finally decided to walk out of the woods as a group. The Bigfoot paralleled us all the way out of the woods. It only stopped when we got to open farm fields. In about a week I will turn 53,I have never got over this. I work as a duly sworn law enforcement officer. I hope to see the day when people everywhere understand that Bigfoot does exist.


Got a sighting to report?

Ross County Ohio (Class A) BFRO

A young hunter witness's a seven foot tall creature less than 25 feet away

I was hunting in the area and was coming back down the trail when I looked up and saw something in the trail walking into the woods and looking up the trunk of a tree. I walked closer to see what it w...

December 2002

Ross County Ohio (Class B) BFRO

Camper describes trees shaken and possible encounter near Waverly

I've been an avid outdoorsman in the Pike and Ross county areas for years. (Bow Hunting) On many, many occassions I have heard the growls, screams, holwls, and drum-like beatings; mostly in the early ...

September 2002

Midland County Michigan (Class A) BFRO

witness describes an "ape-like" creature along a road.

Sighting on Nov 15, 1997 I was driving north around 6:45 and saw a creature coming out of the ditch. Hair on arms and head approx 8 inches hanging down face was facing forward then head turned when I ...

November 1997

Dixie County Florida (Class A) BFRO

Five or Six foot tall ape looking creature observed picking up road kill.

At 5 am Feb 9 1998 Heading north on 349 a small redish long haired ape looking creature about 5 foot five-6 foot tall, picking up road kill in the middle of the road ran off in to the woods ...

February 1998

Monroe County Michigan (Class A) BFRO

Two boys, out "hunting" with BB guns, witness a seven foot tall creature on two legs.

(no entry)...

October 1983

Pendleton County West Virginia (Class A) BFRO

Witness sees a large creature crossing the road

I was traveling early one morning in January, in snowy conditions, when I spotted a large, upright, dark-colored creature just off Rt.55. Very tall, fuzzy looking, with primate features, similar to an...

January 1998

York County Maine (Class A) BFRO

Creature seen by witness

I was gathering cut firewood on my grandmothers land in southern Maine. I heard a noise behind me and turned around expecting to see a moose as I was in moose country. At first I saw nothing and resum...

January 1985

San Bernardino County California (Class A) BFRO

Sighting along Lytle Creek

Heard whistling and wood-chomping noises and looked towards sounds and saw hairy man-like creature (very muscular). It saw me and stayed there for approx. 2 min. Then walked into the treeline by the e...

July 1950

Trumbull County Ohio (Class A) BFRO

Prints found following sighting near Mosquito Lake

At about 5:45pm I was walking out back and saw a large black creature out by the road. I yelled at it and it ran down the street. I think it went into the woods. When I walked up by the road I didn't ...

February 2000

Beltrami County Minnesota (Class A) BFRO

Beltrami County, Minnesota; sighting and tracks found by logging crew.

saw a mnlike creature on an island in a bog. Tracks seen by District Forester quoted because of the deep snow conditions and temperatures no human cpuld go that way and survive. ...

November 1978