Friday, June 10, 2016

The Diversity of Ohio's Bigfoot

As I have said previously, I have the great privilege of living in such a diverse state when discussing the weird. Ohio is a hotbed of everything from UFOs, to ghosts, to Bigfoot. Ohio is probably known in most cryptozoology circles for its large number of Bigfoot sightings.
Not only is Ohio in the top five for most Bigfoot sightings in the USA, it also is home to a handful of its own hairy humanoids.

The Grassman is probably the best known of Ohio's Bigfoot creatures. The name pertains to an old folk story repeated to children in order to scare them into behaving. The Grassman was equatable with the Bogey-man, if children were bad, he would kidnap them and devour them. He was known as the Grassman because he was said to lurk in tall grasses.
Grassman reappeared in cultural memory when Bigfooters in Ohio began to find large domes of reeds and grass around Ohio. The domes appeared to be woven like baskets. It was quite logical to dub the creatures making these domes, Grassmen.
Ohio Grassman - Documentary | Bigfoot Research News
Monster Quest's rendition of the Grassman

Another Ohio ape-man is the Minerva Monster. I recently did a blog post reviewing an excellent documentary about the Minerva Monster. You can find it here.
The Minerva Monster was the name given to a large, hairy ape-like humanoid seen in Minerva, Ohio in 1978. The creature quickly became ingrained within the town's culture. There is even a small festival dedicated to the creature every year.
The poster for the documentary on the Minerva Monster

The final weird ape-man I will talk about is called Orange-Eyes.
This creature is best known for its habit of visiting popular teen make-out points and peering into the windows of cars. It is named for its extremely bright, glowing eyes which are a fluorescent orange. The act of probing cars and make-out points is actually common for Bigfoot creatures.

Ohio is full of Bigfoot creatures. If you have another regional name for one or have seen a Bigfoot in Ohio, tell me about it in the comments!

1 comment:

  1. I'll be discussing all of these in the book I'm working on now!
    I've also heard of another called the Wildman of Enon.

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