Buckeye Bigfoot

With the second annual Hocking Hills Bigfoot Festival slated for early August, we dive headfirst into the legend of Bigfoot in Ohio

By John M. Clark / Story Design by Atlas Biro / Photos courtesy of Hocking Hills Bigfoot Festival

George Hill said he first spotted one when he was about 10 years old, while hunting on the large farm his family lived on in the Hocking Hills area. In the 32 years since, the farmer and 24-hour tow truck driver claims to have made 20 to 30 sightings of a creature many call “Bigfoot.”

Now a resident of Lancaster, Hill talks eagerly about his sightings – and those of his former neighbors – farmers who, together, owned about five thousand acres of farmland near the Hocking River. “It got to be pretty common,” he said. “Sometimes I’d see a full-grown female with a juvenile on its back. Other times,” he added, “they would reach over my neighbors’ fences and steal chickens to eat. Some people I know have even seen calf carcasses hanging from tree limbs.”

So, why the Hocking Hills? Hill surmises it’s because much of the property where the creature supposedly has been seen is undeveloped; it borders the river; and the entire area is in the foothills of the rugged and sparsely populated Appalachian Mountains. In other words, if you want to avoid people, it’s a great place to be.

Exactly, what are they? Hill believes Bigfoot fits on the evolutionary scale somewhere between apes and humans. They’re hairy creatures that walk upright, standing – in his estimation – anywhere from about five-feet-nine to six-feet-five or even sixfeet-nine inches tall. He said the biggest one he ever spotted weighed about 400 pounds. The adults are a grayish color; some of the juveniles appear to have a reddish hue. “And that one I saw when I was 10 let out a loud noise unlike anything I’d ever heard before. He definitely wanted me gone,” Hill said. →

Two other questions that always arise when discussing Bigfoot, or “Sasquatch,” as it’s known in some parts: Why have so few people seen them? And why is there no good evidence of their existence, like photos? Hill has heard the questions many times before, and he likes to answer them with questions of his own. Noting there is a black bear population in Ohio, he asks, “When’s the last time you saw a bear in the wild?” There are upwards of 900,000 deer in Ohio. He asks, “How many deer do you see in an average year?”

As for the lack of photos, he added, “Most of my encounters with Bigfoot, or even a small group of them, have been about a thousand yards away. And they’re fast, too. I have pictures and video, but they’re not very good.”

And, Hill said, he believes there will be fewer and fewer Bigfoot sightings in the Hocking Hills in the coming years. “All the land is being developed,” he explained. “Yes, these creatures, whatever they are, can be aggressive,” he said. “But I think they know better than to hang around where they might be killed by humans.”

From most scientists’ point of view, there is no such thing as Bigfoot. One paper from 2009 notes the overlap of Bigfoot sightings with black bear populations. Researchers note that while black bears usually walk on all four legs, they will occasionally stand on their back ones to get a better view.

Regardless of what they are, Bigfoot sightings in Ohio have been recorded since the late 19th century. And so have sightings of several other so-called “cryptids” – animals whose existence is questioned by science.

In 1913, two fishermen claimed to have netted a strange creature that resembled a sea lion, but with spotted skin and multiple legs. Before they could land the beast, it wriggled free of their net and disappeared. Other reports of this “monster fish” date all the way back to 1817, when two brothers spotted it on a beach near Toledo. As recently as 1990, people have reported seeing “Lake Erie Larry” (or “South Bass Bessie”) swimming near Cedar Point. “Larry” was the inspiration for the name of the “Cleveland Monsters” ice hockey team and even had a beer named after it – Lake Erie Monster IPA.

Another locally famous cryptid is known as the “Dogman of Defiance” or, sometimes, as the “Defiance Wolfman.” This “humanoid-dog” creature terrorized the residents of Defiance in 1972, keeping police officers following up on leads and sightings for the better part of the summer. It was reported to stand upright and threaten people with a stick.

In 1955, witnesses in Hamilton County claimed to see fourfoot-tall frogs walking on their hind legs near the Little Miami River. Known as the Loveland Frog (or Frogs), this bipedal creature supposedly turned out to be a large iguana that was eventually hit by a car one night. But the rumors persist. A young man swore on his grandmother’s grave that he saw one of the giant frogs in 2016. This cryptid was even immortalized in its own stage musical – “Hot Damn! It’s the Loveland Frog!”

Aside from Bigfoot, the most famous of Ohio cryptids would have to be the Mothman of Gallia County. Those who believe in this six-foot-tall, part-human, part-moth creature with blazing red eyes and 10-foot wings originated in West Virginia in the mid-1960s. But he soon crossed the Ohio River and began terrorizing the good folks of southeast Ohio. Some have even connected the Mothman to a famous bridge collapse in 1967. Mothman didn’t get a musical, but a popular 2002 movie called The Mothman Prophecies was loosely based on the tales of his existence.

Whether real or not, Ohioans can’t seem to get enough of their beloved cryptids – as evidenced by the upcoming Second Annual Hocking Hills Bigfoot Festival. Scheduled for August 4th and 5th in downtown Logan, attendance is expected to surpass last year’s count of about 15,000. The event promises lectures, presentations, an arts & crafts fair, live music and more. So far, Bigfoot has not RSVP’d.

Learn more and register for the festival by visiting hockinghillsbigfoot.com