It was the early morning hours of July 1994, and the Berlin Lake State Wildlife Area in Ohio was quiet in the way only deep wilderness can be. The air was heavy and still, and the darkness felt complete, broken only by faint starlight and the distant sounds of insects. Around 2:30 a.m., Brian Jones was moving through the area, alert but calm, expecting nothing more unusual than the usual nighttime wildlife.
As he continued forward, something ahead of him caught his attention an outline that didn’t match the shape of a deer or any animal he knew well. The figure stood upright. Tall. Too tall.
Jones stopped.
The distance between them was short about fifteen feet close enough that his heart began to race. Acting on instinct, he raised his flashlight and switched it on, the beam cutting sharply through the darkness.
The light revealed a large, human like figure, massive in build, standing still. For a brief moment, neither of them moved. Then, as the beam struck its face, the creature reacted. It raised one long arm, bringing it up to shield its eyes from the sudden brightness.
Jones held the light on it, frozen in place. Seconds stretched out. The forest remained silent.
Brian Jones Drawing From 1994
After a short time, the creature slowly lowered its arm. When it did, it looked directly at Jones. There was no wild movement, no sudden charge just a steady stare. Jones later described the expression as serious, focused, and calm, as if the creature was assessing him as much as he was assessing it.
The flashlight remained trained on the figure for a total of about thirty seconds. The encounter felt intense but strangely controlled, with neither side making a move toward the other.
Then Jones made a decision.
Sensing that the moment had gone on long enough, he backed away and soon left the area, choosing distance and safety over curiosity. The creature did not follow.
Nearly a month later, after replaying the encounter repeatedly in his mind, Jones sat down and drew a sketch of what he had seen capturing the posture, proportions, and face that had stared back at him in the beam of his flashlight that night.
Whatever the figure truly was, the moment stayed with him a silent meeting in the Ohio wilderness, brief, clear, and impossible for him to forget.