Sasquatch Chronicles Blog

Apr 15

“You are not welcome here”

I am trying to reach this witness as there is a part two to his encounter. I will go ahead and post part one. A listener writes “I was not a Bigfoot enthusiast by nature. As any other person who has shared an experience likewise can tell you, that all changes the moment you are faced with one.

It was late August 1991 in a small town called East Canton in Northeast Ohio. I don’t have an exact date. That never seemed very important to me at the time.  I know it was during that month. I grew up in East Canton, and knew the surrounding forests quite well, from plenty of hiking time with my dad and friends.

It was not a good day. I had an outrageous argument with my girlfriend and simply had to take off for awhile. I decided to take to the woods for the night. I sometimes liked to hike and camp by myself, but it wasn’t my style at that time. I had just gotten a used Ford Tempo which instantly changed my life. My days of woodland hiking/camping was over, for now anyway. At that time, I would have preferred to hit the mall or something meaningless like that. Thank God, I didn’t. I packed up a small supply of gear to go camping for a night all by my lonesome.

I knew exactly where I was going, the spot was perfect. I had camped there before, countless times. About two miles from my parent’s house was an endless setting of woods. In these woods was a series of old abandoned coal mines. Above these caves was a gorgeous surrounding of pine trees. I am not sure how they was able to root above these caves, but they made for an absolutely gorgeous setting.

Naturally, nothing makes a better bed than pine needles. All I really brought was a blanket to lay on, which was my first mistake. A machete for chopping fire wood and the standard nighttime armor, my trusty flashlight. I always like to travel light and sometimes, later regret it. You start to wish you would have brought a heavier blanket or sleeping bag when it gets cold.

My friends, Randy & Tony came with me to help set up camp. Which there wasn’t much to it, I think they just wanted to hang out. So began the greatest quest of man, starting of the mystical fire. We made a huge clearing of the pine needles so there was no chance of a spark to set it off, and laid rocks around it. We was always really careful about this because we knew the owner of the land and he permitted us to hike or camp there anytime we felt like it.

The sun was setting fast. Randy and Tony had to leave because they had to work early in the morning. I was glad. Not that I didn’t enjoy company, but I needed to be alone to ponder the things that man does wonder.

The fire was going real well. Since it was August, the nights would get very cold. So, fire good. Cold bad. At this point I was finding peace. It was a stressful day and well needed silence therapy. The wilderness can be intoxicating if you set your attention towards it, and a great way of getting away from everyday problems. Well not this night anyway.

At the time I had pop bottle glasses. I mean these suckers were thick. But I had perfect vision through them. Since then I have had lasik (laser correction) surgery and you will read on my purpose for that very soon. So I took my pop bottle glasses, and very carefully laid them very close to my blanket. If you’ve ever owned glasses and cannot see very well, you will understand, this is an insecurity.

A few twigs snapped around me. I’m not going to kid you, when you hear that kind of stuff when you are alone in the deep dark woods, it scares you for a minute. Ultimately, nothing I have not heard before. I then realized it was something small, a little rabbit or squirrel.

I was quite comfortable. I fell to sleep very fast. The doors of the unknown were about to be opened.

At 3AM I wake with a very startled, uneasy feeling. I know I didn’t have a nightmare, but I had a much more intense feeling that I was rudely awaken. Nothing seemed outwardly different with the camp, however, the weird sense was there. I’d felt this peculiar sense before. I am not exaggerating, and I hope that other people that have had the same kind of  experience can relate to this sense. It was the feeling of being watched, on an extreme level. Not your round about chill or alertness, I am talking an intense sensation. That tingly sensation that tells you that you are not alone and danger maybe near. This sensation, was like a physical tingling behind my ears. It was like hypersensitivity. I guess like a Spidey-sense, if you will. I know I am not Spider Man, but if I was, this is probably what it would feel like when trouble was ahead.

As all of you with glasses would know, I immediately rush to find them and jam them onto my face. Dead silence. There isn’t a cricket chirping, a tree frog singing, or anything. Just cold, dead silence. I however pass it off as a bad dream. Mind you, at this point I still have not heard anything, or understand why I seem to have been rudely awaken.

I notice I am freezing. I am very cold and the fire is on its last red coals. I immediately lean over and start blowing on the coals to restart it. That’s when it happened. I heard the most blood curdling scream (or shrill) I have ever heard, to this day. It sounded unnatural. This “scream” will never be able to be documented on paper by anyone, for anybody to understand it, unless they hear it themselves. It was simply terrifying, and unnerving. The kind of sound that shoots right up your spine and seems to peak through your every nerve. The octave levels of this scream was beyond my comprehension. If I didn’t have ears, I still would have heard it.

Let me expand more on this heart stopping shrill. Your first animal instinct reaction is two choices. To curl up into a little ball and hope it goes away, which is what I was feeling at the moment. Or Flee as fast as you can. Those who ever read this, which will be very few, that have experienced this will know exactly what I am talking about. This scream I imagine will haunt us for the rest of our lives. A quick note on the bizarre side. I also had the instinct to yell back. Don’t ask me why. It was one of those feelings I had that I cannot explain. I did have to suppress myself to keep from yelling back. Maybe some kind of primordial defense mechanism? I’m going into weird territory here, but I felt a connection like that. Maybe someone else has felt the same, or else I am totally nuts? I am particularly interested in why I felt this. The fact is, it was a very surreal situation, and I didn’t know how to react.

I remember my first thought, and that was “you’ve got to be “%^*#^&” kidding me.” Because I have never heard anything like it in all my life. It sounded similar to the apes I would hear in old National Geographic documentaries, but much louder. This was Ohio though, not Africa. And it wasn’t just once. This screaming continued in approximately 5-10 second intervals on both ends of my camp. On each end I heard rustling and shrills, as if they were screaming back and forth.

I was shocked once again when I seen something thumping across the land. Fear took over. A large two legged something, thumped its way about twenty to thirty feet away through my camp. I say thumped because if you remember, I was sleeping on top of a series of caves, which essentially was like a floor. So I felt every step this creature made. It didn’t swing its arms around like a gorilla, but had features similar, from what I could tell. However, I can 110% guarantee it was no man.

It was a moonlit night so I could see that is was very large and hairy. The top of its head reminded me of a gorilla’s. It was mostly hair covered with some exceptions much like an orangutan. The hair color looked black, but could have had other colors with it. All dark hair looks black at night, and all hair has many colors that people don’t immediately see without observation.

It was a side view, so I did not see the eyes. I wish I could have. I cannot give you a valid height. I did not see the full height, because it was running on a ledge. So I couldn’t see below its calves. All I could see is it was massive. I am giving you the best description I can give of what little time I had to observe the creature. He/she didn’t pose for me. All I know if it was colossal and I was frightened. My only conclusion at this point was that the ridiculous myth of bigfoot was real. That, or I was losing my mind.

I was still hearing the yell from the rear of the camp as well. Which lead me to believe there was two or more. One thing I should mention is I did not smell the stench that so many encounters have mentioned. Perhaps because it was such a still windless night?

My only instinct from that noise was, get out. Whatever it was. It was saying, “you are not welcome here,” In its own language. I heeded the warning. I obviously picked the wrong place to sleep.

My Dad always taught me not to run from wild animals because they sense the fear. I grabbed my flashlight, and left everything else sit, and fearfully walked out…very fast. When I was about twenty feet away from the camping area, the continuous screaming ended. The silence was comforting, to an extent. I no longer felt in the immediate danger that I thought I was in initially and I did not hear anything following. When I cleared the woods and hit the road, I ran. I ran the entire distance to my parent’s home to what seemed like the hardest haul I ever pulled. My chest hurt from breathing so heavily.

I urgently beat on my Mom and Dad’s locked door (I did not live there anymore). Mom rushed to the door. Naturally I had to catch my breath, but I eventually was able to recite what I just explained. Soon after, my Dad arrived home from work, and then I told him. This is coming from a nineteen year old kid mind you. They were good parents and listened. I am not so sure they believed me, but they agreed, something traumatic happened to me, to set me in such a disturbed mood. My dad had been Morel mushroom hunting for a few decades or more and had never seen anything like that before.”

16 Responses to ““You are not welcome here””

  3. michael n

    Wow. Ohio has some crazy stories. I just spoke to my neighbor today about some closed down pay lakes that the DNR came to inspect. I wondered why they would come check this place out. If you go from these pay lakes straight across the river you end up behind the neighbor hood I used to live in where my daughter saw something she called a bear at the time. There are no bear in my part of ohio. Im wondering if something is going on I dont know about around here?

  4. Tam C

    Wow, I just love this title, and I want to hear more. I’m really grateful that he has both parents to support him, that makes for better landings in these encounters. It helps.

    Keep your ears listening Michael, if there’s something going on you will usually hear about it, even if its further on down the road.

  6. ANDY F

    o man! what an awesome encounter!! I believe I woulda wet myself right then and there. I live in north cental ohio….. Bellville… fifteen minuts from Mohican state park.

    • DrAaron

      I have spent many summers in Butler, Bellville, North Liberty. Family of ours had a farm close to Clearfork, much of my interest in the subject stemmed from stories I have heard after a (now deceased, elder) friend had a spinal nerve root injury falling out of a tree stand while hunting near Loudonville. He never hunted again and, very reluctantly told his story after quite some prodding. Richland county is the perfect habitat for boogers, Andy.

        • DrAaron

          Well here goes: my father had a patient that we have known for three decade and his family is close to nearly everyone in my family. In 2003 he suffered a fall from a deer stand that fractured his T11 vertebrae. My father retired 3 years ago and I began seeing the majority of his patients, Melvin being one of them. Melvin’s family owned the farm that my aunt and uncle lived on and ran with my four cousins. Melvin was in his early 70’s when the fall took place. He hunted cross bow and muzzle loader after his injury contraindicated working on the dairy. He was the type of man that had no intentions of fully retiring, much like our beloved Bobs Gimlin and Garrett, but the compression fracture was too unstable for necessary long days.
          Richland county is a beautiful landscape of rolling hills and the darkest dirt that is rarely tilled and supporting tremendous farms with salt of the earth people that would rather farm than sit at a desk. My cousins were stout enough to allow Melvin to have an easier life by taking over the operation of the farm after his accident.
          About 3 years ago, I spoke to one of my cousins (now in his late 30s). He told me that the tree stand that Melvin fell from was 20 feet off the ground and that he did not fall, but rather jumped substantially terrified into flight.
          What would make a 70 year old man jump from a tree stand would have never escaped Melvins proud presence of mind if it weren’t for his son asking him to take him to the stand so it could be taken down later. Despite the fractured vertebrae, Melvin was able to make his way back to the farm where chores were still underway. He said nothing about the circumstances surrounding the departure from the tree stand and my aunt and uncle brought him to my father later that day for evaluation of his injury. Dad saw the fracture on the lateral thoracic X-ray. There aren’t any productive surgeries for this type of fracture, trust me, so Melvin just had to live with injury avoiding provoking exacerbations, frequent treatment and home exercises.
          After talking to my cousin, I went mushroom hunting with Melvins son on a completely different farm in Richland county. While we walked, Melvin’s son confirmed the “jump” from the tree stand and told me the whole story. He found out the details when Melvin told him that they would not be going back to the location of the accident due to what he had encountered. Melvin described a large animal that walked up the “holler” on two feet with the light from the clearing giving him a good view before it stopped and looked into the woods where he was sitting. The being then slid behind a tree where it waited for a moment then leaned around the tree. When I asked Melvin’s son if he ever gave specifics of the animal, he said it was mostly grey, had no neck separating its head from the wide shoulders attached to very long arms and that the face had no hair except for the broad jaw. Melvin told his son that it made a sound like a deer snort followed by a long low growl while watching him. He said the animal turned 90 degrees with the entire torso and stopped while still behind the tree. When it peeked around the tree again it looked at Melvin and beared its yellow teeth while giving another deep low growl. This is when Melvin jumped landing his backside on the ground when his feet slid in front of him buckling under the force of the landing. He said his feet went numb immediately and had the wind knocked out of him and prohibited him from running as he would have liked. He staggered up the hill away from the animal and towards the farm that was on the other side of the pasture after exiting the woods. He did not see or hear anything following him fortunately. Melvin’s son believed the story because his father had never been one make stuff up or lie and it supported some other activity that took place on the farm. They had several calves that went missing from the calf shed on different occasions and a deer kill left hanging in the barn went missing one night. He also said they found an open bag of feed further away from the house in a separate shed where they stored equipment in the winter months. My aunt and uncle moved to town the following year after they bought a house in Bellville and my uncle took a factory job at Ariel corporation in Mt. Vernon. Melvin sold the farm that my aunt and uncle lived on and moved to a smaller piece of property in North Liberty.
          My cousin sent me a link to Sasquatch chronicles episode 63 after I spoke to him about my discussion with Melvins son. I had never looked into the subject before hearing this from Melvin’s son so my interest was peaked. We have read about all the sightings in Ohio and some not too far from the dairy farm. I had a couple brief conversations with Melvin regarding the event before
          Melvin passed away last fall due to complications surrounding atrial fibrillation. I have never told my father about what made Melvin jump out of the deer stand, but the rest of us believe his encounter. I can’t imagine how many other people out there need to get their story out without fear of ridicule.

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