YEAR: 2013

SEASON: Spring

MONTH: May

DATE: Sunday 5th

STATE: Ohio

COUNTY: Guernsey County

LOCATION DETAILS: It was in Salt Fork State Park itself on Shadebush Trail.

NEAREST TOWN: Salt Fork State Park

NEAREST ROAD: Shadebush Trail

OBSERVED: I was a vender at creature weekend at Salt Fork State Park on May 4th. And at 9:45pm a fisherman that was in a tournament came in all shook up and said at first I thought you were a bunch of nuts until now so he started to tell his story to other venders. So this grabbed my attention so I went over to listen and there were about five of us that decided to go out the next morning at 6am to check out the site. So I got there at 5am and waited and said to myself if they are not here by 5:30am I'll start without them and maybe they will catch up with me. So I started to head down the sagebrush trail and headed to where he got the picture. The wind was from my left to right and the sun was on my left shoulder and half way down the path two deer must have smelled me because they were on my right and started running. So I kept walking and the sun started to come up and when I hit the first turn on the Shadebush trail I heard something like talking on the ridge on my left. At first I thought it was Friend A and Friend B with Friends A's black shirts on. So I hit a tree and yelled hey guys wait up then they started to walk faster and I yelled very funny guys this is when I got a great look at them. Then I knew what I was looking at on the ridge it was two bigfoots and they were black and huge. I tried to catch up with them and get a picture these things were walking fast and once they got to the bottom of the ridge they took off into the brush but I did manage to get one good picture. You can see in the picture the one turned to look to see if I was still trying to follow them. When the one turned to look back he had to turn his whole top half of his body with his left arm going a crossed his chest to look back at me. I tried to follow them but once they got in the brush I could not hear or see them. But I got a great look at them they were black as coal and the hair length was as long as a bear and well groomed. At anytime they could have stopped and tore me in half but all they wanted to do is get away as fast as possible.

ALSO NOTICED: The only thing that made me look up on the ridge was I heard something like someone talking but could not make it out. It sounded like someone outside your home talking but could not make it out. Kind of like an 8 track tape player that was eating the tape. I did not smell anything like a wild animal but this could be because the wind blowing on top of the ridge. I looked for footprints or hair samples but came up empty handed.

OTHER WITNESSES: Just me and my camera.

OTHER STORIES: My six year old son did find footprints last June that we sent to Cliff Barackman.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: The sun was coming up fast it was about 6:30am, the weather was perfect when I fist spotted them. "I got a great look at them" and I know what I was looking at.

ENVIRONMENT: A lot of brush and pricker bushes and fallen trees. But they were walking like there was a path because they made it look so easy. But there was no path anywhere up on the ridge.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Mark Maisel:

A site visit was performed in this area on 6/15/13, and the following can be added to this report.

The sighting took place on the Shadebush Trail in Salt Fork State Park. It was about a 3/4 mile down the 2 mile trail. At the point of first seeing these animals, the witness was approximately two hundred feet away on a ridge that was mostly cleared of brush. When I went to that spot he stated that they were much bigger than myself. I am about six feet tall. He also stated that they made me look small.

The two animals were dark in color and the witness describes them as huge. The witness describes the arms as long, longer than a human. Their walk was weird as they were sort of squatting as they walked. The closest that he was to the animals was upon the initial sighting. The witness was not able to discern any specific features on the animals as he was not close enough. He did note that the hair was not matted and had a slight shine to it.

When the animal turned to look at the witness, the animal turned its whole body. The witness also did not notice a neck and describes the turning motion as stiff.

Photo taken by the witness using his cell phone:



The witness looked for and did not find footprints or hair.

There is a small gulley that needs to be traversed to get to this location. From the ridge, which is about 50 feet higher in elevation than the trail he was walking on, it is easy to pick up movement and see clearly.

The witness crossed the gulley and proceeded to follow the animals. He followed them approximately one thousand feet along this ridge line before they went out of sight. The area on either side of this ridge has ravines that are thick with vegetation. They also lead down to the lake to the northwest. Deer sign was noticed in several places along the ridge line.

The surrounding woods:



Interesting eyeshine captured while in the area at dark:



Possibly some type of structure:

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