YEAR: 2003

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: November

DATE: 22nd.

STATE: Ohio

COUNTY: Allen County

LOCATION DETAILS: (edited)

NEAREST TOWN: Elida, Ohio

NEAREST ROAD: (edited)

OBSERVED: I was sitting at my computer. My computer is facing a window. I can look directly outside from where I sit at my computer. We own 12 1/2 acres of woodland and live in the hardwoods. There is a creek that snakes through the woods.
Because we live 1/8 mile off the road, and in the woods, I do not have curtains on any of my windows. I enjoy the view and love seeing the natural wood of the window trim. Anyway, It was only about one hour ago -- I felt something watching me -- glanced up -- and just outside the window was this horribly ugly face. Dark eyes, flat wide nose, crinkled skin. Heavy brow. Creases around the nose and eyes. Looked like a very dark ape. I got chills all over my skin and the hair on my arms kind of stood up. I got up from my desk chair and immediately headed to the light switch. It could see what I was doing -- when I flipped the switch there was no one there.
I only saw the face for a second. When our eyes met -- it moved immediately around the corner of the window and out of my sight.

ALSO NOTICED: Not recently. Not sure about after. It's only an hour since I saw the face.

OTHER WITNESSES: No. My Husband just went to bed -- we worked hard cutting firewood all day. He was exhausted. There are only two of us -- I was at the computer.

OTHER STORIES: It has been a while since I have heard the horrible screams. The trees used to shake and some would be snapped about 6 feet up like a huge hand just snapped and twisted them. There used to be a large cat in the area --(80's) I have a plaster cast of a print. When the cat was in the area -- so was this creature. The cat is a large black cougar sized cat. Two migrant workers released two of them years ago when they were in the Van Wert area. The cats were paraded through the streets on leashes. It was reported that the cats got too unruly and were released because they were getting too hard to handle. Reports are that the cats are still around -- or descendents of the cats are still around. Reports have been filed recently with the police dept. in the Spencerville, Ohio area.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: It was about an hour ago. It is 11:00 p.m. right now. It is very dark outside. It's clear, very dark and warm. Today the temperature was in the high 60's. A cold front is due to come into the area in the next 24 hours. Supposed to get major storms as the squall passes through. The weather is to make a drastic change and snow is possible on Monday. Today is Saturday.

ENVIRONMENT: Hardwood forest and small Creek.

Follow-up investigation report:

E-mail and Phone conversations with the witness provide a history going back to 1980 when they moved into this house. They moved there in January, and then early that spring their 5-year-old son was at an upstairs window when he said "Mommy, a great big monkey just jumped over the fence."

Over the years she would think more and more about what he said as they would have experiences that would keep pointing towards the presence of a Bigfoot. Hearing "odd" vocalizations, seeing movements in the woods of something large, seeing the tops of trees shaking violently, and finding trees broken off at 5-6 feet off the ground are some of the experiences the family has had. (It should be noted that the family is more knowledgeable of animal vocalizations and movements than the average person would be due to their business.)

On occasion the two children would report that something would follow them to or from the school bus stop, staying just out of sight in the woods alongside the driveway. (The daughter has since married and lives about an hour away. Her husband had a recent sighting in a field near their house.) Another time the witness was walking near a particularly dense thicket when "something large came running towards me making a lot of noise" with the sounds of branches breaking and feet stomping. She turned and headed back to the house as quickly as possible.

Over time, she has had some "guarded" conversations with close neighbors, and has learned that several have their own stories of encounters, to the point that it is now an "open" secret among several of them. She was driving by one neighbor's house one evening and noticed the shape of a very large man-like figure silhouetted against the house, bending over and looking in a window. When she called the neighbor, there was no particular surprise or concern.

Their barn is often left with the door open at night, and there have been occasions when, the following morning, they will notice tools or supplies have been moved - nothing is ever stolen, but just put in a new location.

This occasion of the Bigfoot looking in her window was especially dramatic, and was the event that prompted her to file a report. She notes that its face surprised her in that it was not as "ape-like" as she had thought it would be. It was a very dark and leather-like face, with the pupils of the eyes being "black." The face was heavily creased and wrinkled. It was so close to the window she thought its nose was going to touch the glass. She did not notice any hair on its face, illuminated as it was from the interior room light any head hair was most likely unseen due to the shadows.

Further follow-up at the site is planned for a future date, and we hope to speak with neighbors as well.


UPDATE: 11-19-04

This Report was chosen for the Bigfoot Witness Illustration Project due to the long term continuing contact with the Witness and the visual impact of her report. Artist Pat Barker worked with the witness over several months, with many emails, preliminary sketches, and phone conversations back and forth, resulting in one of the more compelling and extensively researched reports that this investigator has been involved with. My thanks to both Pat, and our Witness, for all the work involved.

Following is just a brief look at the process that they went through to yield the illustrations, which can be accessed by clicking on the link at the bottom of this report.

Q: Was the overhead light on in the room or just the desk light?
Ans: Neither -- the only light on was in a room to my left -- it is a laundry closet with a 100 watt bulb. The television was on straight behind me about 15 feet. The TV is small but does cast a small amount of light. It was dark, dark, dark outside. My husband had just gone to bed.

Q: Was this light shining brightly enough to illuminate the animal's facial features well, or were they just half-lit?
Ans: Half lit -- mostly shadow with some detail. Mostly dark to not so dark contrast. Gosh, that sounds weird -- but I know I did not see all of the head. I only saw the face that came momentarily into the dim light that was shining out of the window at an angle. Not that he was at an angle -- the light was coming at an angle from the room to my left. The movement was so fast -- I have never seen anything appear and disappear so quickly. The term "split second" comes to mind here.

Q: Was his face in 3/4 view or was it straight on so you could see both of his eyes?
Ans: Both eyes. I looked up and our eyes met. The face was above my computer screen which is directly below the window pane.

Q: How large would you say his face appeared to be in the window frame?
Ans: The face fit between the pane. I was looking up into the face. It was about 1/2 way up the window. I didn't see the face above the brows. The blinds were in the way. They were partially down at the time. I pretty much keep them in the same position and very rarely close or open them so I didn't see above the brows. I only saw the skin part of the face. The nose was wide, a bit protruded and flat but without nostrils. If that makes any sense. The face looked angry and upset to me. The eyes were lively, direct, shiny, and very intelligent looking. I don't think he was angry actually -- just looked angry and severe. It was the lines of the face that made him look so severe. But I didn't see any whites to the eyes. All I saw was black shiny pupils. The glare on the skin made it look lighter than it was. It was dark skin -- I could see that plainly. But the black was really black. Huge contrast. It just left such an image in my brain. Or perhaps it was the shine -- yes, maybe that's it. Everything had a shiny glint to it. A sparkle in the eye and a glint of moisture around the left upper mouth. And a shine to the skin. The look on the face was truly unnerving. I will never forget the piercing of the eyes and the lines that made it look so severe.

Q: Try to recall what directions the wrinkles and creases went on the nose and face.
Ans: I didn't see the forehead at all. The skin itself was very weathered like a human would be if badly weathered and old. There was one very deep laugh line that was over the cheeks but not all the way to the nose. The lines were thinner as they traveled to the center of the face and wider and rounded by the cheeks. There were two other very deep creases -- one that stretched from the bridge of the nose to below an ear. But I saw no ears. Just to that part of your face. The other crease ran along the nose to the chin. The face had a deep crease along the nose all the way to the jowl. These creases made him look like he was very very severe. The mouth was open making the chin look longer than what it was. The mouth didn't have prominent lips. Prominent mouth but thinner lips. Now I know that the deep ridges were ridges of skin deeply creased but possibly leading to hair on the side of the head. That would explain to me why the face looked oval and had wider areas of dark toward the outside of the face.

Q: Are you saying that there were three creases on each side of the face?
Ans: The third line ran from the outer edge of the nose to the jowl. All the deep creases were narrower toward the center of the face and wider toward the outer edges of the face. I think the fact that the skin area looked so narrow to me was that the deep creases might have been hair. They were narrow yet getting wider as they went toward the outside of the face where hair would be. There were three. Yes, you are right with it running from the nostril like a laugh line along the edge of the lip to the jowl The line was thicker toward the bottom of the jowl. It was thinner towards the nose. It kind of fanned out upward and downward and blended into the darkness.

Q: Was there a heavy brow ridge above deep-set eyes?
Ans: I just saw the bottom of the brow just above the eyes. I didn't see the brow above where it connects to the top of the head. Only saw where the eyes were under it. The eyes weren't as deeply set as the eyes of an ape. And not as small and squinty. They were large and intelligent. Not as large as ours would be in proportion to our faces, but yet not as deeply set as what an ape would be. But they were definitely under a brow. The brow was dark and didn't reflect much of the room light. Possibly covered with hair.

Q: What shape did the jawline take?
Ans: All I saw was the shape of the chin. And the edges of the skin area. It was like leather with the creases widening along the face like scalloped edges. The mouth was open making the skin area of the chin look more oval than when closed. I think there was more to the head that was in the shadows.

Q: Did you notice hair on its face?
Ans: There was no hair above the mouth or on the chin. The chin was leather looking -- or at least the part of the dark chin that reflected light that I could see. It is hard to explain how dark it was that night. Most of what I am telling you is reflected light only. The sides of the chin were the beginnings of the deep wide creases that reduced in size and ran toward the area where the nostrils would begin. I didn't see the brow above the eyes. It was just black. The window blind was in front of anything above the brow.

Q: I'd like to get more detail about the mouth. Were the lips very thin, or medium thin?
Ans: Medium thin. The edges of the mouth were tipped downward slightly. What it reminded me of was a human scowl. The mouth was a straight mouth, just slightly open with the outer edges turned downward and blending into the dark crease making the face look like a severe scowl. It didn't look friendly at all. The downward curve of the mouth goes straight down from the edge of the mouth and blends immediately into the large dark crease.

Q: Could you see any teeth with it's mouth open?
Ans: I only saw one little glint from the upper left side of his mouth. By left -- I mean the right side looking at him. His left. I can't say for sure it was a tooth. It might have just been a reflection of moisture from the light.

Q: Were there any small wrinkles above or below the mouth? If there were, which direction did they go?
Ans: Outward and down towards and blending in with the deep creases. Very weathered skin.

Q: Did you see if the brow ridge curved wide around the sides of the eyes, as it does in a gorilla face?
Ans: No. I think it was straight across. I didn't see anything above the shelf of brow directly above the eye.

Q: Did the brow ridge hang over the eyes enough to shadow them?
Ans: I saw the eyes clearly. They met mine but I saw no brow above them. Just the ridge directly above the eyes. There was no ridge to the side of the eyes. And the ridge wasn't super deep to shadow them.

Q: Were there bags under the eyes with small wrinkles inside these bags?
Ans: When I think of bags, they're kind of puffy and circular. No just leather looking wrinkles.

Q: Did the wrinkles around the eyes seem to circle the eyes, or did they fan outward?
Ans: Slight wrinkles like leather that headed outward but the deep creases were dominant to the face.

Q: Did the nose have any wrinkles on it?
Ans: I don't remember any.

Q: Did you see a crease on each side of the nose to distinguish the nostril area like ours is?
Ans: Actually, I don't think so. I think it was straight. I can't seem to remember any flaring nostrils. I didn't actually see the nostril holes at all. It just looked like a straight nose.

Q: How tall was it?
Ans: It is 7 ft. 2 in. from the ground level directly underneath the window to the bottom of the window shade. And I do believe that he was bending over at an angle with his body. I think he was bent toward the window at an angle. The face was straight toward me. The reason that I think so was because of the direction in which the face left. I mean it was just a second in view -- but it left instantly toward the direction of the porch. It didn't move it's face toward the porch -- it withdrew straight back and was gone. All in a second. The face withdrew slightly to the left and I saw no more. The direction to the right is the way he went, I'm sure. Just a couple of steps for him and he'd be around the corner of the garage or house. I keep thinking that in the blackness it could have easily moved from where it was onto the sidewalk and around the corner. It took me a second to mentally digest what had just taken place. Then I went to the door and looked out. I clicked on the light and saw nothing.

Q: Could you measure just the window surface that you can see below the window blind, the width measurement from glass edge to glass edge and the height from the glass edge to the blind's edge?
Ans: The glass area of that pane of glass is 34 inches tall and 13 3/4 inches wide. It's tall and thin. The area below the window blind is 13 3/4 inches wide and 19 inches in height.

After much back and forth discussion with the witness which included taking more measurements and studying photos of the area, Pat was able to estimate the size of the animal's face that was visible to the witness. The glass window pane is 19 inches high to the edge of the window blind. The witness was seated in front of her computer monitor looking up. At that angle, the monitor covered approximately 5 inches of the visible glass area. There were another 5 inches from the top of the monitor to the visible part of the animal's chin. The space its face covered was the remaining 9 inches from the bottom of the chin area that was lit to the upper edge of the brow ridge.

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