YEAR: 1998

SEASON: Spring

MONTH: May

DATE: 24

STATE: Ohio

COUNTY: Defiance County

LOCATION DETAILS: It's the first small island west of the State Route 66 bridge.

NEAREST TOWN: Defiance

NEAREST ROAD: State Route 66

OBSERVED: I live in Defiance, Ohio along the Auglaize River. I was going upriver in my rowboat (with a motor) while the river was flooded. I like to go out to see if I can spot deer. I got a mile or so upriver and was rounding a bend in the river where there are lots of trees piled up from floods. I saw a glimpse of what looked like a small Bigfoot, three or four feet in height. It walked up a log and disappeared over the pile of trees, just then I looked to my right and saw three deer standing there looking at me. I jokingly said to the deer, did you see that? Just when I started to speak I heard a scream that would curdle milk. I just sat there fighting the current watching the deer. They started looking around trying to see what made the noise. For the heck of it I started talking to see if it would happen again. It did, only louder and longer than before. The deer took off and I did to. I have lived on the river my whole life and have never heard that before. Since then I have spotted what seems to be the same creature watching me while I was sitting in a lagoon off the river. It's a good spot to see wildlife. The creature I've seen is small, only three to four feet tall, and is always in the shadows where I can't get a good look at it.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: It was in the evening, the sun was real low. It was getting dark but I could still see.

ENVIRONMENT: Swampy, rocky, wooded area. This used to be the great Black Swamp.

Follow-up investigation report:

** Investigation by S.P. of Ohio **

The witness added that he recollects the date so well because it was the day before his birthday. While he only was able to glimpse the creature, he was certain that it was not a human but that it did walk quickly up the log on two feet. He was not able to describe a color except that it was dark. The distance during his first observation was approximately 30 yards. The other times he would catch a glimpse of it that summer looking at him, it would hide well and always be in the shadows and deadfall along the river. He never saw it after that short period of a few months in 1998, though he still explores the river. It was the scream the witness heard that had the greatest impact and caused him to flee. The second scream was loud and long, well in excess of anything a person could make.