YEAR: 2011

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: June

DATE: 4th

STATE: Ohio

COUNTY: Summit County

LOCATION DETAILS: Edited at the witness' request.

NEAREST TOWN: Peninsula

NEAREST ROAD: Rt 303

OBSERVED: I saw Bigfoot from the chest up just below my house, it was in a wooded ravine below my house. This was on June 4th, 2011. It arrived there with a great deal of crashing and breaking down of trees. I was looking to see what was coming when it stood up and looked at me. It had greyish brown long hair, particularly over the face, wide set eyes, ears on the sides of the head, and a huge chest and shoulders. It looked at me for maybe 1 minute, then went back down into the ravine. Later that day it was making lots of sounds, like low grunts, my friend heard this as well.

After that, it stayed in the Cuyahoga Valley area all summer, and I would often hear it calling, smashing rocks together, knocking on trees, and one day it sneezed a lot.

Another day in September my cousin was using my large tractor to mow under the trees behind my house, and as I walked to my car from behind my house, I heard a terrific crash to my right, and there it was again, it had knocked over a tree and then I saw it run back into the ravine.

I did not see any tracks, because since I knew it was down in the ravine most of the time I left it alone.

It only recently seems to have left the area.

I heard something like it about 2 years ago but never saw it that time.

OTHER WITNESSES: My friend heard the animal grunting, another heard it calling.

OTHER STORIES: No

TIME AND CONDITIONS: About 11am on through the rest of the day and summer.

ENVIRONMENT: Heavy forest and areas that are returning to forest because of the park.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Mark Maisel:

I visited the sighting location on January 10th 2012. The area of the sighting is typical of the Cuyahoga National Park, which encompasses 34,000 acres. The area has a ravine which goes off to the south west and merges with a creek about a mile away. On the site visit, I noted that the location that the witness saw the animal was on a game trail with a couple of other trails in the area and about ten feet from a water drainage creek. Many fresh deer tracks were noted at this time. Several miles to the east is the Cuyahoga river, and there are also several smaller ponds between the property and the river. There are a several small farms in the area, which produce locally grown produce in the summer months.

From measurements that were taken the animal was about eight feet tall with a shoulder span in the four to five foot range. The witness also noted that when the animal ran away, that it ran with its head and shoulders sloped forward.

Also that day vocalizations were heard on and off for about three hours, they consisted of grunts, and rocks being moved.

About BFRO Investigator Mark Maisel:

Mark Maisel is employed in the medical field in Ohio. He has attended the following expeditions: West Virginia, New York Adirondacks, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and North Carolina. Expedition organizer of the 2009 Ohio expedition and assisting with both of Eastern Ohio's in 2012 and Michigan UP 2012. Attended WV 2013