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.

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!

Minerva Monster Documentary Review

I recently went to the wonderful event, Creature Weekend, and while I was there I got a chance to meet the producer and director of a documentary which has become very popular, Minerva Monster. The documentary was made by a team known as Small Town Monsters, who also have a documentary on the Beast of Whitehall.
I was excited about getting the documentary because I live about 45 minutes away from Minerva and when I began to be interested in cryptozoology, the Minerva Monster was one of the first creatures I looked into.
I was not disappointed. The documentary was level headed, open minded, and was very respectful of the witnesses. It was similar to any documentary on a small town and an important event within the town. It reminded my of one of Lyle Blackburn's books except in a documentary format.
I especially liked that the team treated the event as history, which it is.

Overall, Minerva Monster is a great examination of a small town and its claim to cryptozoological fame. I recommend this to anyone who lives in Ohio and to anyone who is interesting in cryptozoology.

Respected Bigfooter John Green has Passed Away

We all woke up to somber news this morning, John Green passed away. He left us on May 28 but news didn't get released until just now. I have always respected Mr. Green immensely and am very sad about his passing away. We are loosing more and more of the people who were the first in the field.

I don't think I could do an article about Mr. Green that would be worthy of his contribution and significance to the field, but here is Loren Coleman's article about him. 

Fairies.... In Ohio?

Fairies have been getting increasing amounts of attention in the field of the unknown. More and more people are examining reports of fairies from around the world. I recently received two reports from someone I know. He would prefer to remain anonymous so I will refer to him only as "Paul".

Paul has been hunting almost all of his life, and he swears up and down that he has never seen anything like that since.

Paul's first encounter happened on April 19, 2010 at around 6 AM. He was turkey hunting in thick brush and since the sun had not come up, the area was cast with a greyish tint. He was facing a dirt road when he saw "Small white cat or cat-like mammal coming down [the road] toward me, followed by 2 small independent blue orbs of light." He described the orbs as "blue, about 3 ½ to 4 feet off the ground, moved in single file and followed the white creature," he also specified that the orbs moved independently of each other. The cat slowly turned down the road and walked away, the orbs followed.
Paul said that he felt that the area was protected. He even said that he, "shot 2 tom turkeys later that month. Both got back up and ran away. I have not experienced that since, I have killed a total of 15 turkeys in my hunting career and I have never had that happen."

His second story is even more strange.

On September 26, 2010, Paul was deer hunting in a tree stand, on a friend's property. He was surrounded by weeds and trees. Around 4:30 PM, he began to hear a strange buzzing sound near his head. After a split second, a large, brownish tan winged creature flew close in front of his face. He said it was larger than a Dobson fly or dragonfly. He described it as a small, 8 inch tall, humanoid with two sets of wings. He said the wings were moving extremely fast. The encounter lasted about five seconds and then the winged creature flew away into the woods. He got the impression that the creature did not want him to shoot anything and was protecting the area.
Paul said that the elderly woman who owned the property passed away later that year. In her will, she wanted her son to plant a ring of trees right in front of where the 'fairy' was seen by Paul. The son also, after being told about the encounter, said that there have been previous encounters and that he wasn't surprised, given his mother's enthusiasm for the Little People.

This is the sketch by "Paul" of the fairy creature he encountered in September of 2010

I think these two stories are very interesting. Paul is an experienced hunter and still says he has no idea as to what he encountered those two days.

Something I think is very interesting is that both sightings have the element of a sense of protection for the wilderness, which is commonplace in fairy lore. Also, note the face of the winged creature, it resembles that of a Grey alien. 

Interesting stories. Let me know what you think in the comments!

Creature Weekend

I have gone to a lot of paranormal conventions and conferences; the Mothman Fest, Pittsburgh and Erie MUFON conferences, the Butler Paranormal Conference, and now Creature Weekend. Out of all of those, Creature Weekend has managed to take all of my favorite components of all the others and improve upon them. I had a blast!

The speakers were all extremely nice and great to hang out with. I already knew Ron Murphy and Ken Gerhard so we got to hang out more. I did get to meet Ron Morehead who is very laid-back and cool to talk with.

With my good friend, Ron Murphy

With the one, the only Ken Gerhard

With the infamous Ron Morehead

The Center for Cryptozoological Studies was also there, of which I am a proud member. Brian Seech and Terrie Seech are some of the nicest people you will ever meet.

I got to run the Center for Cryptozoological Studies' evidence table

At the evidence sharing event with Brian Seech

The Ohio Bigfoot Co-Op was there as well. They gave an interesting presentation about their research in Salt Fork State Park.

The esteemed Steven Blair and Mark Hudak of the Ohio Bigfoot Co-Op

I also got a chance to see the new Beast of Whitehall documentary from Small Town Monsters, which was great. I purchased the Minerva Monster documentary which I will be reviewing soon.

The Creature Weekend was an awesome event, one of my favorites. The atmosphere was super laid-back and everyone was awesome to hang out with. I loved every minute of it. I am definitely coming back next year.

Creature Weekend is soon!

I try to go to as many paranormal conferences as I can. I have gone to two MUFON conferences, the Mothman Festival, and the Butler Paranormal Conference. I love meeting all the different researchers and witnesses, having discussions, buying books, and attending talks on a wide range of topics within the weird. This weekend has an upcoming event which I have anxiously looked forward to since I had heard about it.
So what is the long awaited event? Creature Weekend.
Creature Weekend is a chance for lovers of cryptids and monsters to meet, talk, hang out, and learn lots about every creature you can think of.

This year has an awesome set of speakers;
Ron Murphy... Ron is a really good friend of mine, he is an expert on fairies and is a seasoned cryptid researcher. He has numerous crypto-focused books, all of which are highly, highly recommended.
Ken Gerhard... Ken is an awesome researcher who always brings something new to the table with each of his books. He is a great guy who is really cool to hang out with.
Ron Morehead... Ron is a seasoned Bigfoot researcher. He is best known for his astonishing recording of supposed Bigfoot vocalizations, known as the Sierra Sounds.

The Center for Cryptozoological Studies will also be there, Brian Seech is always fun to talk to.


Needless to say, this will be an awesome weekend.
I cannot wait. I will write a short post about the event when I get back.
You can find information on the event here.

Tips on Finding a Bigfoot from a Seasoned Hunter

Edward Ovian is a seasoned hunter and a good friend of my family's. He was kind enough to write a short list of tips for finding Bigfoot for my blog. Here is the list in Ed's own words;

• Stealth, keep your clothes, body, and equipment (as much as possible) scent free
• Set up with wind in your face or crosswind with a natural barrier behind you. Don't get winded or snuck up on.
• You're in ambush mode, not 'tromping-and-making-noise' mode 
• Moving around constantly with a video crew will lead to failure
• If the creature exists, they must have acute smell, hearing, and vision. Set up down wind or crosswind as stated above
• Although you are not killing, you are hunting
• Wear camouflage from head to toe and stay still
• Tree knocking will give your position away, in my opinion. No one knows their vocabulary, just a hunch, but that one is answering back is them busting you
• I have learned to call deer/turkey into close range
• Call wrong or too often and game over
• Remember they live out there 24/7, we don't. Think about terrain and movement points like they would. Set up and be patient. 
• Call very sparingly

So what do you think? Is this an accurate list? I think it is. If you have anymore tips, let me know in the comments!