YEAR: 2021

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: June

DATE: 9

STATE: Ohio

COUNTY: Ashland County

LOCATION DETAILS: Adjoining roads Township Road 1714,
County Road 1754, and Township Road 655

[Investigator Notes: Coordinates: 40.8113889, -82.2680555

Google Maps link: click here.

NEAREST TOWN: Ashland/Hayesville

NEAREST ROAD: State Route 60 South

OBSERVED: The incident occurred on June 9, 2021 at approximately 5:15pm. It started raining around 3:30pm and ended around 5pm. I had to get the grass mowed because it was already too long. Usually, when I mow, I have my cellphone in my shirt pocket. But, since it rained, I didn’t want to take the chance of it getting wet. So, I left it in the house.

I was mowing in the direction of north to south. There are several large farm fields behind my house. In between these properties are three large depressions in the landscape where a large vehicle could park in there and no one would see it. Through these particular spots are cart paths that run along the bottom (also running from north to south). As I was mowing, a dark figure appeared down by the corner of one of the fields, approximately150-200 yards out. I stopped and looked and was wondering if it was the neighbor checking his trail cam that points to the north.

I took my mower over to the wood pile which is approximately 35 yards closer, to get a better view. The field was just planted with soybeans, so I couldn’t go in the field with the mower. At that point, the dark figure was just east of the trail cam and I was hoping it would cross the path of the trail cam, but it seemed to avoid that area. This dark figure was following the deer trail that are 40 yards east of the trail cam. I asked myself, “What am I looking at?” knowing it had just rained. Who would be back there?” I idled the mower down and noticed the toadstools around the wood pile and thought maybe it was a mushroom hunter. But, this “person” was black from head to toe and mushroom season is basically over by now.

This large figure started to move across the second field heading northeast along where the deer usually go, down into the large depression in the field. As it was moving across the field, I knew there was no way I would have enough time to get my cell phone or binoculars in time to view it. I sat there and observed it following the deer trail...knowing it was not a black bear walking on two legs. The whole time I was thinking, “No one is going to believe me”.

It seemed to cross the field without any trouble and cleared the field within a matter of a minute and a half. As it disappeared into the chest-high weeds, I sat there for approximately five minutes waiting to see if it would appear on the other side or head toward the large section of woods which have several trail cams along the perimeter of the woods. I also scanned the treeline for any vehicles that might be there from someone out walking, but there weren’t any. I could not figure out what I had just seen. I finished mowing and didn’t even tell my wife about it until a few days later.

At my first opportunity, on June 12th we took our golf cart back into the area to see if we could find any prints or tracks. To our disappointment, the field had been no-tilled (Roundup) where the field was filled with weeds, grass, and corn stalks where it made it very hard to find footprints. We also followed the path that it took up to the large part of the depression in the field where you can see game trail going in and out of chest-high weeds. We also took the cart down into the lower part of the depression via the mowed paths that are back there.

On June 13th, we conducted a re-enactment with our 15 year-old son. He is about 5’11” and 235 lbs. We had him dress in a black Adidas sweatsuit that had white lettering and stripes on it. My wife took him on the golf cart to the area where I saw the black figure. I sat back at the wood pile on my mower to watch for him. Through cell phone conversations with my son, I had him put up his hood and walk the same path, three quarters of the way through the field, all in black.

My first observation was that what I saw on June 9th was much bigger and moved through the field easier than my son did. He was trying not to walk on the newly planted soybeans and trying to miss the old corn stalks in the field. Because of this it took my son longer to cross the field. He was close enough that I could actually see the white parts of my son's sweat suit with no problem. Because of that, I know that what I saw was all black.

Note in May, we saw less deer in the area possibly due to the farmer tiling the field. And for the month of June, we have taken cart rides and have seen less deer in the area.
I haven’t told too many people for fear of being made fun of. My wife didn’t really believe me until we did the re-enactment. She even says that there is no way you could miss something all black from head to toe back there. I just can’t seem shake it from my mind.

OTHER WITNESSES: No

OTHER STORIES: There was a sighting in Ashland, Ohio back in April which is about two to three miles away as the crow flies.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Close to 78 degrees that day, humid because it rained for the last hour and a half. Approximately 5:15pm. Lighting conditions were good.

ENVIRONMENT: farmland and wooded areas with nearby creeks and ponds

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Matthew Moneymaker:

This location of this incident is roughly 5 miles south of the midnight encounter behind the Warehouse 24 gym on the outskirts of Ashland. That incident was also documented in the Richland Source web site by reporter Carl Hunnell. Click here for BFRO report 69065.

I've spoken with this witness a few times prior to posting this report. He is very credible and works in law enforcement for the state of Ohio. Because he works in law enforcement he is barred from speaking to the media as an identified law enforcement officer. That's a common thing for most of the country. Thankfully he agreed to meet with a prominent local jouranlist who was willing to document the incident for a local news story but without revealing the witness's name, though the journalist was allowed to verify that he was a law enforcement officer as part of his due diligence.

The witness did not get a Class A view of the figure walking across the field but he was able to observe it for a while. The photos below show the grassy field and demonstrate why there were no clear footprints afterward.

As stated in the report, the witness investigated the incident himself not long afterward by asking his adult son to stand and walk where the figure had walked. See his comments about that in his report.

For the first time we have a witness who is willing to take questions from people about the incident and/or the photos shown below. The link connects to the BFRO Facebook Group page and specifically the posting about this sighting report. The witness will reply to the comments about the posting with the name "Ashland Witness".
Below that Facebook link is a link to the local newspaper article about the incident. The article was written by Carl Hunnell for the RichlandSource web site after Carl met with the witness at the property where the incident occurred.

BFRO Facebook Group Page for discussion and questions about this incident. Click here.

Richland Source web site article about this incident: Click here https://bit.ly/3fPxdfg

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