YEAR: 09-12

SEASON: Spring

STATE: Ohio

COUNTY: Portage County

LOCATION DETAILS: Specific location withheld at witness' request

NEAREST TOWN: Garrettsville

OBSERVED: We have lived in Freedom Township, Portage County Ohio, since 2000. In a wooded area right across from a creek.

We have heard in the spring time of the year a sound like a whoop...it was always at dusk, and into the night. It sounded ape-like...it would just go whoop, whoop, whoop, and just keep doing that. Our family would stand outside and listen! We have only heard it the spring of the year and at dusk into dark.

We also heard a screaming, high pitched howl coming from the creek, late at night! This was in the dead of winter and we could hear it, from inside the house. It was like it was moving up and down the creekbed. We joked as a family and said the howl was must be coming from a manic coyote...we only heard that screaming howl that winter...maybe about 3 or 4 times. It was frightening, as I have dogs and whatever was making the sound, I did not want it coming after my dogs!

My daughter also reminded me of something that happened about 12 years ago...we found a very large footprint by the barn...it looked like a human foot, but toes deformed like...we only found one...she also remember when we found the footprints there had been a sound of screaming and crying and wailing coming from deep in the woods...we all saw the footprint and heard the wailing...Ii think what we are hearing is a bigfoot

We never thought about a bigfoot making these sounds...but my husband was on youtube and and came across a video on bigfoot, we watched it and then he pulled up a video on bigfoot vocals and we heard the whoop and scream...it sounded like what we have heard!

Then I found out Portage County has seen sightings of bigfoot. Just wanted to share this with someone who believes what we have heard.

Thank you,

ALSO NOTICED: dogs would growl or bark...when the screaming howl...quiet when the whoops were being made!

OTHER WITNESSES: 3, in our home

OTHER STORIES: my grand parents in the 1960's who also lived on Freedom Rd...heard screams and odd sounds from the creek area.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: whoops came in the spring at late dusk, dark...sound was ape like...and it make it over and over again...we would listen and I would say that sounds like a monkey

ENVIRONMENT: woods, creek and swamp

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Mark Maisel:

On 1-29-2-13 I performed a site visit. The following can be added to the report.

I found the witness credible and sincere.

The area that the witness lives is less than three quarters of a mile from the Ravenna arsenal. The arsenal has over twenty-eight thousand acres of land that is fenced off and not accessible to the public. It is also near several creeks and ponds that support a diverse ecosystem of flora and fauna.

The footprint that was found measured between fourteen and fifteen inches in length. It was located within a hundred feet of the house and fifteen feet from an out building. It was facing south. Only one print was found and the area was searched for others. At that time they took a picture, but through the years the picture was lost. Also they checked for other prints but none were found. She stated that the toes looked deformed and had no explanation as to why this would be. She was emphatic in her statement that the print did not have any claw marks. I showed her several pictures of bear prints, including overlapping prints that bears make and she stated that they were not the same as the print her and her family had witnessed that day.

The sounds have eminated from the north west and west though the years. The area is all wooded, and the nearest dwellings are well over a mile away to the west.

During my investigation the witness also told me about how an old set of stairs had been moved, blocking a trail where the witness would walk her dogs. They spoke to the neighbors asking if they knew who did that and responded that they did not.

The vocalizations were heard mostly at dusk, but on occasion they would be heard later in the night and on one occasion woke the witness up.

I played several suspected bigfoot vocalizations for the witness asking her if they sounded like what she had heard from the woods. After playing the 1994 Ohio - Moaning Howl she stated that it sounded very similar.

That area of Portage county has had a long history of sightings and reports.