YEAR: 2001

SEASON: Spring

MONTH: June

STATE: Ohio

COUNTY: Jefferson County

LOCATION DETAILS: South of State Route just off of Sunset Blvd.

NEAREST TOWN: Steubenville

NEAREST ROAD: State Route 43 (Sunset blvd.)

OBSERVED: My wife and I were newlyweds having just been married about six weeks prior to the incident. Likewise, we had only lived in this house for the same amount of time. The incident occurred on a dry, warm day in early June (late spring). It was around 9:30 PM and I was having my last cigarette of the day before getting ready for bed. I preferred smoking in our garage which is on the backside of our house attached to the basement, directly facing the woods of the ravine. I sat in a chair while I smoked and noticed it was getting dark quickly. Within a minute or two from sitting down, I suddenly began to feel really uncomfortable and could not shake the sense of another presence or the feeling of being observed from the woods. I kept looking into the trees, but it was much too shadowy and dark to make anything out. I then began to feel very nervous and a strong sense of fear developed. My heart was beating rapidly, and I was in a state of extreme vigilance. I felt powerless and vulnerable. It was an awful, dreadful terrible feeling and I could not take it anymore and quickly extinguished my smoke, shut the garage door and went into the house. I immediately felt physically safer in the house, but mentally and emotionally I was still very shaken and upset. My concern now went for my wife, who was upstairs preparing for bed. I did not want her to be scared and decided not to tell her what had happened to me. We went about our routine and finally were in bed with the lights out shortly after 10:00 PM. We were having a conversation, and while my wife was speaking my attention was drawn to sounds coming from the open window in the back room of the house (facing the woods). This whole time I was still in shock from my experience in the garage. The sounds were faint at first and were strange. I thought I could make out words, maybe even hearing my name but it did not sound right or normal. My wife had not noticed the sounds yet and was still speaking when I asked her to be quiet and listen. She heard the sounds also which were becoming more bizarre and diverse. We got out of bed and went to the back bedroom window to have a better listen. It was now pitch black outside and we couldn't see anything. The sounds began to vary from short "bird calls"and babbling to the sound like an infant crying to a higher pitched human-like sounding voice to escalating screaming/screeching with an unbelievable volume. The sounds were extremely disturbing and seemed to be of a supernatural, ungodly nature. Around this time we noticed a flashlight beam coming from a neighbors house. When this happened, whatever was making the screams seemed to became super agitated and the screams were now in a frenzied state. At this point, even though looking out a second floor window, we felt fearful and unsafe and shut the window and went back into our bedroom. Shortly after, we heard nothing else. The whole incident lasted about three minutes. The next day I told my wife about what had happened to me when I went out for my last smoke of the day. This whole incident left us disturbed and spooked for days since we could not come to any explanation as to what could have made the sounds other than they were supernatural and possibly demonic. About a year ago I watched "Sasquatch, Legend Meets Science" and as soon a I heard the supposed Bigfoot vocalizations and realized that there were sightings all across the country I believed that the sounds we heard and the presence I encountered could very well have been a Sasquatch. I discovered the BFRO website and especially researched the Ohio information. Without telling my wife my newfound possible explanation of the origin of the sounds, I played the Ohio "Scream" for her. Instantly chills went down her spine and she said that sounds like what we heard in the back woods. She also believes it could have been a Sasquatch that made the sounds. To this day, we both are leery of being in the backyard after dark. I have been wanting to fill out this report for some time. The recent surge in Ohio reports being verified and posted have inspired me to add this one.

ALSO NOTICED: There have been several times where I felt like I was being watched but no where near the extent of the night of the sounds. On one occasion this past summer, while working in the garage I did hear strange chirping sounds that instantly made me think of Sasquatch. Soon after, as I was mowing the lawn in the back, I smelled an awful rotten meat smell which came in waves.

OTHER WITNESSES: Three that I know of: my wife, myself and an unidentified neighbor.

OTHER STORIES: About eight or nine years ago, before some newer businesses were built, approximately a half mile away in a small wooded area with a larger creek, a friend of mine claimed to hear bloodcurdling screams coming from this area as he was walking past on the road from the mall. He told me the story as both he and I were at the very spot. I started into the area for a thrill and my friend begged me to come back. He was serious and afraid. I did not believe what he heard was a big deal, but now I can surely understand if what he experienced was anything near what my wife and I experienced. One of my brother-in-laws, while sleeping in his truck in a supermarket parking lot which is adjacent to woods and a cemetery, heard horrible high pitched screams in the middle of the night coming from the woods and was really frightened.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: The beginning of the incident occurred around 9:30 PM. The temperature was warm and it was a dry day. The lighting was between dusk and darkness.

ENVIRONMENT: The general area around where we live consists of a system of ridges and ravines. The section of our street runs along a ridge, which is bordered by a ravine on the right side. This is a populated area, a small city neighborhood. Behind our house the backyard slopes down about 40 yards until the tree line of the edge of the ravine. This specific area is like a finger of a larger ravine which can be seen on the aerial view on Map Quest for our address. Directly behind our house, just below the edge of the ravine there is a spring that forms a small stream/creek. The trees in this ravine look older, and decaying with many fallen ones. Concerning wildlife there is a fair sized deer herd for the area. We have counted thirteen deer right in our backyard at one time. We have also seen coons, ground hogs, squirrels, turkeys, and plenty of birds. The deer trails are clearly visible.

Follow-up investigation report:

Although there was no actual sighting, the vocalizations reported seem to be a match to some of the more well known bigfoot screams.