YEAR: 2021

SEASON: Spring

MONTH: April

DATE: 24

STATE: Ohio

COUNTY: Ashland County

LOCATION DETAILS: [Investigator notes: The sasquatch was spotted at the edge of the treeline behind the Warehouse 24 Gym on the outskirts of Ashland.
Longitude / Latitude Coordinates:
40.855698, -82.269722

Or click this link to see a Bing Maps pin for the exact location where the figure was spotted. The Google Maps aerial image for the location is outdated, only showing the gym while it was still under construction.]

NEAREST TOWN: Ashland

NEAREST ROAD: St Rt 250

OBSERVED: My 20 year old step daughter had a visual sighting last night in Ashland, Ohio. The date was 4/24/2021. It was about midnight and she had left a 24 hour gym that has woods behind it. She saw a gray over 7 foot creature after hearing a twig snap. She stated it was way too large to be human and it moved way too fast to be human.

She called us from the local Bob Evans parking lot in tears asking for us to come drive her home because she was so shook up. It was a terrifying experience for her. I went and inspected the area briefly the next day. I found many old deer tracks but no imprints of the creature she saw. I am not a hunter or a tracker and only spent about 10 minutes in the area.

She is one person I would consider an extremely reliable witness. She is a very responsible college student that is very moral and truthful. She does not drink or take drugs.

ALSO NOTICED: No

OTHER WITNESSES: No

OTHER STORIES: No

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Night

ENVIRONMENT: Cool, calm spring evening

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Matthew Moneymaker:

I spoke with the father and later the witness herself. They are both credible. This is not a hoax report. It happened less than a week ago from the time of this posting.

Before calling the father of the witness I had figured out the location and examined aerial photos of the surrounding landscape on Google Maps and Bing Maps.

There are open fields nearby, and a large swamp 100 yards or so north of the patch of woods, but also some businesses nearby including a Motel 6. That made me somewhat doubtful at first, but this is the very edge of town, not in the middle.

The relative lack of contiguous tree cover in the general area, compared to most sighting areas, also made me doubtful before I spoke with the witness and her father. I spoke with the father first. He is a pastor and high school teacher in Mansfield. He mentioned that there were lots of deer tracks in exposed patches of ground around that parcel of woods when he went to investigate the site the day after his daughter's sighting. Deer tracks are likely still visible around there.

I spoke with the daughter later in the day today. She is very credible. She's a nursing student at the nearby University and works as a waitress in town. Nothing about her story seemed unusual except for the location. She was certain the gray furred sasquatch stood at least seven feet tall, possibly eight feet tall. Based on its height she was certain that it was not some other type of animal nor a person in a costume. They way it bolted off when it fled is what frightenned her most. It was very fast.

As she walked out of the gym around midnight and turned to her right in the direction of her vehicle she was walking in the direction of the treeline. She heard the crack of a twig breaking and looked up in time to see the creature turning to run back into the woods about 30 yards away from her, illuminated by the lighting for the brand new parking lot. It ran back into the woods at an angle to the right and was quickly obscured from her view by the corner of the gym building. She only saw a side view of it as it ran off with large arms swinging. She said she most likely would not have noticed it at all but for the noise of the twig snapping, which she assumed was caused by the creature standing on wood debris.

There were no other vehicles parked on that side of the buliding and no vehicles driving on the roads within view.

Whichever way that deer would use to access that island of woods behind the Warehouse Gym is likely the same pathway the sasquatch would have used. If deer or a sasquatch came to those woods from the north then there is only 100 yards or so of exposed field to cross (in the dark) before reaching a large swampy area connected to the Jerome Fork of the Mohican River. So the location is more plausible for a sasquatch than it appears at first in aerial photos. The key element is the presence of deer. That shows that there is both a pathway and a reason for a sasquatch to approach the edge of development late at night.

The swampy zone directly to the north is a good area to look around right now. A specific place to look around for tracks would be where the swampy zone and Jerome Fork passes underneath the 71 freeway. Follow the deer paths in the area.

About BFRO Investigator Matthew Moneymaker:

Matthew Moneymaker is originally from the Los Feliz District of Los Angeles, California.

- Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).

- Juris Doctorate (Law degree) from University of Akron School of Law

- Founder of the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization,1995.

- Writer and co-producer of the Discovery Channel documentary "Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science", 2001.

- Co-producer of the TV Series "Mysterious Encounters" for the Outdoor Life Network (OLN Channel), 2002.

- Producer of the "2003 International Bigfoot Symposium" (Willow Creek Symposium) DVD set, 2004.

- Co-host of "Finding Bigfoot" on Animal Planet Channel, 2010 - 2017.

- Current Director of the BFRO

- Available for private bigfoot expeditions and conferences. To inquire please email ContactUS@BFRO.net