YEAR: 1976

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: August

STATE: Ohio

COUNTY: Stark County

LOCATION DETAILS: i live at the end of the street its leander st it connects into trump rd

NEAREST TOWN: canton

NEAREST ROAD: trump rd

OBSERVED: i went to feed the dogs at about 1100 pm an something was coming towards me threw the corn field i thought it was a deer it stopped about 75 feet from me and stood erect it was aclear night and the corn had a bright haze over it i could see it very clearly i turned and ran into the house the next day i went into the cornto look for foot prints but the soil was very dry there were scuff marks and some ears of corn were missing it went straight back the way it came the corn was 6 feet high it cleared the corn by 2 feet it had squared shoulders and no neck shoulders were about 36 inches wide

ALSO NOTICED: nothing

OTHER WITNESSES: none

OTHER STORIES: supposedly big foot was seen at the strip mines in east canton in 1974

TIME AND CONDITIONS: 1100 pm very clear

ENVIRONMENT: corn field

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Cathy Betz:

I spoke to TF over the phone about his encounter, which occurred during August 1976.

He stated that at approximately 11pm on a clear, moonlit night, his dogs began barking at something. He states that he went outside to feed them in order to quiet them down. Right after giving them their food he noticed the sound of something moving through the cornfield next to his property. TF stated that it was approximately 75 feet away, moving perpendicularly through the corn, and that it sounded big. Thinking it was a large buck, TF stood quietly looking towards the source of the noise that was moving slowly nearby, when ‘something’ raised up from the corn. TF described it as the silhouette of something standing between 8 to 9 feet tall, with a big, slightly pointed head sitting directly on top of ‘huge’, 3 foot wide, squared shoulders. TF could not make out any facial features in the dark and stated that he saw no ears. He could tell that it was looking straight at him. TF estimated that the corn was approximately six-foot tall and that it came up to the creature’s upper chest, near the nipple line. He stated that it made no sounds and that he didn’t smell anything unusual.

When asked if it could have been a bear or a man, TF was adamant that it could not of been either. “This thing was just too big”, he commented. “The only thing that would explain what I saw was a bigfoot.” “Besides,” he added, “the biggest bear ever seen around here was only 6 feet long.”

When asked if he could see any color, he thought it might have been a uniform dark, brown color. When asked about seeing any hair on the creature TF stated that it was hard to tell, but his overall impression was that it was covered with a uniform length of dark hair. When asked about the phase of the moon, TF was pretty sure that it was a full moon, or nearly a full moon. When asked why he couldn't distinguish the features, or the hair color since the moon was bright, TR stated that although the area was brightly lit, the creature's features were dark and that the bright light of the moon blocked them out since it was behind the creature. All he could see was its silhouette.

TF said that after approximately 30 seconds of staring quietly at each other he ran back to the house, locked the doors and huddled behind his lazy boy chair, with his 12 gauge shotgun in hand. He said that one of the thoughts that kept going through his mind was that “A 12 gauge shotgun wouldn’t be enough to bring a creature of that size down if it decided to try to break into his house."

When asked about the dogs, TF stated that after they were fed they quieted down and never barked again. This led him to believe that the creature had left soon after the encounter.
TF told me that the next day he found ‘scuffle’ marks on the ground where the creature was spotted. He stated that the ground was hard and dry and that he could find no prints. He did find a path through the corn where it came in and he thinks it left in the same direction. He also found several places on the stalks where the corn had been pulled off.

TF commented that a bigfoot was seen two years prior to his experience in a strip-mine, a few miles from his property. He also told me that Roger Patterson, the deceased bigfoot researcher and the same man that had shot the ‘Patterson-Gimlin Film’ in 1967, had visited the town after the strip-mine sighting. This cannot be substantiated but according to TF, Patterson had told one of the locals that the area around Canton, Ohio, in the 1970’s, was ‘good bigfoot territory’.

The area around the sighting in the 1970’s was mostly composed of strip-mines, woodlands and crop farms. The Ohio River is approximately 30-40 miles away. There are also several other encounters reported from this same area in the 1970's and 1980's.

About BFRO Investigator Cathy Betz:

Cathy has been a nurse for over 27 years and currently works in a busy ICU. An amateur naturalist, Cathy has been intrigued by the bigfoot phenomenon from an early age.
Attended the following expeditions:
- The 2006 Florida Expedition
- The 2007 North Carolina Expedition
- The 2008 South Florida Expedition
- The 2008 North Florida Expedition
- The 2009 Central Florida Expedition
- The 2009 Utah Expedition
- The 2010 TN Survey Expedition
- The 2011 East Texas Expedition
-The 2012 North FL Expedition
-The 2013 Michigan Upper Peninsula Expedition
For more information, please see the Florida BFRO