THE SEARCH FOR BIGFOOT

I’ve heard about Bigfoot for years, but it wasn’t any concern of mine. From what I’d heard the creature was mostly spotted in the Pacific Northwest, especially in Washington State. Although one of my sisters and her husband live out there, they’d never seen one even though they’re often hiking in the mountains and forests. Of course, that might be because they’re members of the Washington Native Plant Society and spend their time looking for flowers and plants and not for Bigfoot.

Then this past fall, there were four sightings just south of Salem, Ohio in Columbiana County, not too far from where I live and where some of my siblings live. From the several articles printed in our newspaper about this unusual activity – the first I’d ever heard that Bigfoot is in Ohio – I learned there are several societies in Ohio devoted to finding Bigfoot. There is The Genoskwa Project, a Bigfoot research and investigation group founded by Paul Hayes of Canton and Dan Baker of Sebring. According to Baker, the group is seeking more information about the sightings.  Baker claims Bigfoot typically stands 7 to 9 feet tall, while the Genoskwa is not only larger, it's a more hostile cousin of Bigfoot with a stone appearance and red eyes. Frightening!

Dave Waller of the Southeastern Ohio Society for Bigfoot Investigations came to Warren, the city nearest me, to talk about the search for Bigfoot. I didn’t attend, but the Tribune reported a sighting seen in Ashtabula County north of me. Apparently a woman in her car thought she saw someone on a

dirt bike in a field. She reported when the large creature came closer to her vehicle, it was long- waisted and stood upright, but covered its face when it saw the headlights. Later some investigators went to the field and saw some 18” tire tracks. There was also a brush pile that may be a possible nesting area. The property owner said he saw nothing in the field. Hmmm. Bigfoot can ride a dirt bike? How interesting is that?

I decided this topic needed to be checked out. If Bigfoot creatures are getting closer and closer, I need to know about it. It was cool knowing a bear was in my woods last summer, but Bigfoot? I’m not looking forward to that. So I Googled Bigfoot and discovered all sorts of cool pictures, even some that looked believable.

I found out The Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization has a database with 4,500 reports of sightings broken down by state and county. Washington is #1. I wasn’t surprised by that, but I was surprised to find Ohio is #5 in Bigfoot sightings. Oh, my! Pennsylvania next door to me by not many miles is #12 in Sasquatch sightings, and the first in the NE. So apparently it’s safer to live in New York or New England. However, I also learned that the county in PA with the most sightings is Allegheny County where two of my sisters and I camped over a long Labor Day weekend this past year – in a rather primitive campground with very few campers there that weekend.  We camp in tents, too. But we neither saw or heard any cries, whoops or howls like a property owner heard south of Salem nor when we walked to latrine at night did we see large golf ball sized eyes glaring at us as was reported, too, when the man said his dog went crazy.

                

One of the most interesting accounts of a Bigfoot problem was from a man in Michigan. He claims when he bought his 17-acre property in 1997 he was breaking up sticks by banging them against larger trees. Apparently doing this, he awoke the spirit of Bigfoot and has been plagued by this shape-shifting, pizza eating creature ever since. He finally went to the local sheriff’s office with numerous pictures, a pizza box and scat he claims belongs to the Bigfoot that has been tormenting him. The sheriff’s department wouldn’t test the DNA claiming it was only for serious crimes. There was more to his story, but I’ll have to admit that instead of feeling sorry for the guy, I was laughing out loud.

So do I believe in Bigfoot, Sasquatch or even worse, Genoskwa? No. But wouldn’t it be fun to create a character, who did believe in Bigfoot. For a fascinating search Google Bigfoot and see what comes up and while you're there you can create an email alert for Bigfoot sightings in Ohio, or I imagine for whatever state you live in.

 What about you? Do you believe? Why do you think so many people do?