YEAR: 1981

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: July

STATE: Ohio

COUNTY: Lake County

LOCATION DETAILS: Paine Falls Metro Park located at the merge of Taylor Road and Paine Road on the left side of the road.

NEAREST TOWN: Leroy Center

NEAREST ROAD: Paine Road

OBSERVED: It was the middle of the day on a summer day when I pulled into this park that we used to frequent as teenagers, frolicking in the falls. There were only two cars in the parking lot including mine. This park was never known to be crowded. I went and sat on top of a picnic table that was parallel to the start of the winding path toward the falls/creek. I lit a cigarette and was only sitting there for about a minute when I felt this urge to turn around. About six feet from where I sat I saw this Yeti from the waist up only because there was a four foot drop-off where the winding path continued. When I saw it, I turned back around in disbelief then turned around again to confirm that I did see this thing. It's eyes were a gold/yellow, it was covered in brown fur, and in a hunched position. I was so scared I couldn't move. I was frozen in fear! Just at that precise second a bus full of disabled teens with their caretakers were exiting their bus and proceeded to walk on the path a few feet in front of me. I tried to open my mouth and tell them not to go down there, but I was still in shock by what was so close behind me. Once their group had passed me I somehow got up and ran to my car which was only about 100 yards from me. I have never been back to that park since that day.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Middle of the day. It was bright and warm out.

ENVIRONMENT: Thick forest, remoteness, and a creek with a good size water fall.

Follow-up investigation report:

The witness noted that the creature's eyes were gold/yellow in color and looked almost luminous. The face was flat with hair on the cheeks and the skin was a light brown in color. Since the creature was standing behind a four foot wall it was easy to estimate the animal to be between eight and nine feet tall. It was very bulky, with medium length hair. When the group of disabled teens and their caretakers walked by nobody noticed the creature behind her.

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