YEAR: 2020

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: August

DATE: 18

STATE: Ohio

COUNTY: Ashland County

LOCATION DETAILS: Pleasant Hill Lake Park, 3431 State Route 95, Perrsyville, OH 44864 Primitive Campsite #417

[Investigator (MM) note:
GPS coordinates for camp site: 40.650995, -82.335747

NEAREST TOWN: Perrysville

NEAREST ROAD: SR 95

OBSERVED: This report was taken from an official MWCD (Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District) Park Ranger - Incident Call Record Report #CL-21-010216. Field notes filed on August 18th, 2020 at 22:50 hours by Pleasant Hill Lake Park Ranger McLellan #915.

On 08/18/2020 at 22:50 hours, Ashland County Sheriff's Office received a 911 call for unknown subjects throwing items at them from the woods at the Primitive Camp area located at Pleasant Hill lake Park in Ashland County, Ohio. Park Ranger McLellan was dispatched and arrived shortly on scene at campsite #417 and met with the caller Faith Steele and her family (husband and two kids).

Witnesses advised that someone in the woods behind their campsite was throwing sticks or (rocks) at them and around their tent. Due to it being dark the witnesses could not see who was throwing things at them. The husband went on to say he first thought it might be kids messing around in the woods, but when he yelled into the woods he did not hear any voices or noises indicating children, so he did not believe it was kids.

The witnesses said a few minutes later they heard strange loud or weird noises coming from the woods, at which time he made his young children go into the tent while he stood outside the tent with his small pocket knife out "just in case".

Witnesses went on to say a few minutes later they heard a loud bang (or knock) as if someone had smacked or punched hard the side of the (wooden) outhouse restroom located nearby on the other side of the primitive camp. When they turned and looked in that direction they observed something run into the woods. The witness described what he saw as a tall, dark and hairy figure run and disappear into the woods. Witness said the first thing he thought of when he saw it was a Bigfoot.

Park Ranger McLellan checked the area and was unable to locate anyone in the wooded area and did not observe any damage to the outhouse structure. These witnesses were the only people camping in that area of Pleasant Hill Lake Park at the time. No further investigation was warranted at the time.

OTHER WITNESSES: Four (4) Witnesses - Mother, father and two children who were camping alone in the primative camp area of Pleasant Hill Lake Park

OTHER STORIES: Yes three (3) additonal incidents ocurring at Mohican State Park. There were other Ashland County sightings reported on April 24, 2021 and June 9, 2021.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Night, dark, low light in deep wooden area

ENVIRONMENT: Mature hardwood forest with some pine. Located along stream and hill ridge in a park.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Matthew Moneymaker:

This incident definitely happened. There were multiple witnesses. The witnesses were definitely afraid and called the sheriffs. There were no other people camping in that most primitive section of the park. The father definitely thought it was a sasquatch.

The camp harassment they described is not uncommon. It has been described in many parts of North America. This time it happened near a densely wooded gorge where various BFRO investigators (including me) have either encountered or heard sasquatches over the years. The surrounding area is one of the historical hot beds of sasquatch sightings in Ohio.

This official report is a historical first, as far as I know. This is the first time a sighting report of a probable sasquatch was taken by a park ranger and then offered for public posting, to appear among other sasquatch sighting reports from the area. It took a while to move through the chain of approvals but they eventually asked the BFRO to post it.

This official sighting report was provided by managers of Pleasant Hill Lake Park, which is part of the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District (MWCD), "a political subdivision of the State of Ohio."

Ohio is definitely the leading state in the US in terms of officially acknowledging the potential existence of sasquatches.

It's not just this report, nor is it just Salt Fork State Park's annual hosting the of Ohio Bigfoot Conference (which set off a rush to organize similar events in other states). More importantly it is the open interest of Ohio's Department of Natural Resources. They are not shy to suggest that sasquatches are real animals that may be residing in their state.

Find the official YouTube channel for the "OhioDNR". Click the Videos tab to show the whole list of their videos. Sort the list by "Most Popular". It's very telling to see which of their videos have risen to the top of the "most popular" list. Look at the number of hits of their bigfoot videos compared to others.

The OhioDNR videos are a bit homespun but their bigfoot videos are significant in that an official government agency isn't held back from talking about the bigfoot subject, and teaching the history of the bigfoot subject, and doing their own serious field investigation. No other state DNR is doing that.

Pleasant Hill Lake Park is taking it to the next level in September 2022. After approaching the BFRO to ask for assistance, the Park has agreed to host a weekend event coordinated by the BFRO to fly thermal drones over their woods, and neighboring Mohican Memorial State Forest (a hotbed of sasquatch sightings and sounds) to survey for large mammal targets -- coyotes, deer, sasquatches, etc. -- assisted by some ground spotters with handheld thermal imagers. It will be very organized and well connected and in a large gov controlled area.

Live hi-res thermal video from the drones will be projected onto large screens in the Mohican Lodge and Conference Center on the Friday night of the event (dates TBA), and then to a larger crowd the following night near the Pleasant Hill Lake Welcome Center.

Anyone who cannot attend in person will be able to watch live through their phones for free with the ARKnet app, which will livestream both the hi-res aerial thermal drone video, and a QuickMeetups room (zoom-like conference) wherein people can speak out to the pilot-cameraman to direct his attention to heat blips in the distance — live targets of interest he may not immediately spot on his handheld monitor.

There may or may not be any sasquatches in the area during that weekend but this organized attempt to spot and record them from above will demonstrate the impressive potential of some amazing new technology -- new optics and new drones and new phone app -- for surveying mammal populations from the sky at night, and particularly for locating herds and counting deer over a large area in a few hours.

Fact: In forests with a mix of woods and clearings, deer herds tend to emerge from tree cover around sundown and graze in the clearings and fields where they are visible to the sky.

The working hypothesis: Sasquatches shadow deer herds and prey upon deer. If BFRO thermal drones can find where deer herds are most concentrated in this area at that time of year, then we have found the targert area to scan for predators of deer, whatever they may be.

Pleasant Hill Lake Park will be releasing more details on or around March 1, 2022. The link for more information on the Park's web site will be posted on the Twitter feed @BFRO_Updates and on the offical Facebook Group for "BFRO 1995". Note: There are a handful of phony BFRO groups on Facebook (which Facebook allows as "fan groups" but which deliberately confuse many people). Don't get stuck on one of those Facebook groups. You won't like them. They are either empty or dirty.

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

• Explanation of the report classification system
• Submit a report for the sightings database
• Please send any comments or inquiries to ContactUs@BFRO.net