YEAR: 2012

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: November

DATE: 11/26/2012

STATE: Ohio

COUNTY: Harrison County

LOCATION DETAILS: we live behind the school right before you get to the skating rink. which is right on city limits line, in North township our yard is at the wood line of the forest. scio is on St.RT. 151 and ST. Rt. 646.

NEAREST TOWN: scio

NEAREST ROAD: Elm st./ brown st.

OBSERVED: My name is Christie Sproull, am 39 yrs old. I live in Scio,Harrison Co., Ohio. In the summer of 2011 My friend was staying in a tent in my yard for about 2 months. She said she could hear something big walking toward her tent. Then one night i was in the house on Facebook around 2 am and my girlfriend was on her laptop in her tent on Facebook. She messaged me to come outside right away that something was sniffing loudly and breathing heavy walking around her tent. I walked outside thinking she just was freaking herself out thinking she was hearing things. I kind of laughed it off, open the door and yelled if she was ok. She yelled for me to come to the tent so I grabbed a flashlight and walked down. I didn't see anything. If there was something there it ran away. I told her it was a deer. She was not convinced.

In the summer of 2012 both of my daughters, 16 and 17, came in the house after taking our dog out around 11 pm shaken and scared saying they seen something really big once standing by our tree in the back yard which leads to the woods. Then again walking to the house up the driveway around midnight came in scared and said they had seen the same thing walking around our pool then walked into the woods.
I never really believed them. I tried to convince them that there was nothing there, that it was there imagination because they overheard my friend talking who camped in my yard. I told them the dog would bark and growl if something was out there.
Then on Nov.27th, 2012 around 11:45 pm I took our 5 month old pup outside to go do his thing. I walked out the door turned right with the pup on a leash toward the wood line maybe 20 or 30ft. from the door. As i started to get closer, maybe 3 feet away, I heard something big shuffling in the briers. I turned thinking it was a deer. When i turned around it stood straight up. It was very big, very tall, very wide. My guess would be at least 7' tall. Very broad chest which was all I could see besides the outline of its body. It was very dark and it blended right in with the darkness except the chest or stomach, not sure which, it happened so fast. As it stood up that part of it was light it showed in the moon light. I screamed very loudly and ran to the house dragging the pup behind me which I don't believe the pup even realized it was there. It scared me so badly I was shaking and crying. My husband and 21 yr old son, who also did not believe the stories from my daughters, and my friend, went outside with a small flashlight and a knife for protection to try to find out what it was. My son said it was still out there and that it was behind the tires wing. He seen its shadow and it ran from him toward the spring on the hillside which is nothing but briers. He said he couldn't see it after that but it was there because it quit running but he couldn't see it or hear it. He had this eerie feeling it was staring right at him.
They both came back inside my son had the same description as me very very tall, very, very wide but he only seen the back of it as ran up the hill into the briers. My husband thinks it was curious, whatever it was, because it snooped around but ran away. I truly believe that it was a bigfoot. It was hanging around for over a year that we know of.

ALSO NOTICED: Just during the incident, heavy running steps and it was able to run thru briers with ease. It always stayed a few steps ahead of my son. He said it was like it was hunting him not vice versa but was smart enough to keep enough distance it could not be seen in the dark, just heard.

OTHER WITNESSES: One night 3 of us seen it. 3 others in past incidents.

OTHER STORIES: Only that was reported by my daughters and friend. There has been sightings. I was told at Tappen Lake Park which is about 20 minutes from my house.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Approximately 11:45 p.m. about 35 degrees dry. some moonlight.

ENVIRONMENT: pine, elm, cherry tree forest. a creek runs right thru my yard into the woods, i have several springs in my woods in the hillside.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator James Thompson:

I spoke with the witness by phone. I asked her to take me through the events that led to her report. From the fall of 2011 to the fall of 2012 there were many different events experienced by members of her family.

They lived in the next to last house on a dead end road, on the outskirts of Scio. Behind the house was a vast woods that was only interrupted by a few roads and rural houses until the next town.

In the fall of 2011, her two daughters were returning home in the evening and saw something large, swishing it's arm around in their above ground pool. It saw them and ran off into the woods.
The following spring they had just had a 'hog roast' and a relative was staying in a tent in the back yard. She messaged her that something big was walking around the tent 'sniffing' it. She went out side with a flashlight and yelled but didn't see anything.
In the fall of 2012, she was taking her puppy out to do it's business and was walking back by the wood line. There was some moon light and she was standing by this bush that you would normally be able to see though, when something that was crouching down suddenly stood up behind it. Seeing the outline of a creature towering over her on two legs, she let out a scream and ran back to the house. Her husband and son came to see what was wrong and grabbed flashlights and went out to investigate. They saw something large on two legs running up the hill behind the house and gave chase but it out distanced them quickly and disappeared over the hilltop. These sightings are within a mile of two previous reports in as many years in this area.

About BFRO Investigator James Thompson:

Jim served as a Marine Corps helicopter engine mechanic / air crewman for 24 years. He recently retired as a County Veterans Service Officer. He is a lifetime hunter and outdoorsman. Jim has attended expeditions in Ohio during 2019, 21 & 22.