Classic Mysteries—Alternate Perceptions Magazine, February 2018
Strange Bigfoot stories from Ohio
by: Madeline Teagle
On to Bigfoot, who has been rather active in the state of Ohio, in our particular locality, for the past several months. Mogodore Dam saw an encounter in the early part of 1978 with two young men planning to camp the weekend by the lake side. At some point, during the night, around 10:30, they saw a very large bright light far to the one end of the dam, beaming down great beams of light, as though looking for something. Being of a curious nature, they shot their own high-powered flashlight skyward in regular, Morse-Code like flashes – and lo and behold – suddenly that object left its activities and shot over to hover directly above them, bathing them in a brilliant white incandesence, with in this, they thought they saw a strange hairy, four foot creature either slide down a beam, or somehow arrive at the foot of a tree beyond them. It appeared not to want them to see its face, but what they did see of it did not impress them as being very beautiful. In fact, it downright scared them. Enough noise was present to give them the idea that more than one was around, so they headed for their car which was some distance away, and lit off for home. Arriving home, they each felt nauseaus, headachy, watery-eyed, and the next day they had red eyes, flushed and blistered skin, and were still not well.
While these two young men were having their encounter, across the dam two youngsters about 15 years of age were playing in the heavy bush around the waters edge, when they saw the same large object (or so we assume) with its wide sweeping beams of light, seeming to be seeking out something on the ground. As they watched, fascinated, it suddenly dipped over to their place of play, and began the beaming. Hastily, they crawled into the overgrowth and hoped it would pass them by. They did think it may have been aware they were there, because for a long moment the beam hung in the air just above them, then moved on. As soon as they were certain it was going elsewhere, they too, lit out for home base. These two boys described the object as a disk shape, with a rounded edge on the top and very brilliant lights around the bottom, and every now and then a long slender orange beam of light would dart out from it.
Further to the west of this, a young couple living behind Tallmadge, with property bordering on the swampy portion of the lake, heard terrific ruckus in their backyard, stepped outside to see what was going on and saw outlined in the brilliance of their spotlight on the back porch hairy something walking upright and weaving in and out of the garden rows. Needless to say, they too hastoned to find cover. Again several couples driving both east and west on Rt 18, saw a very large light crossing the sky and seeming to hover directly over the lake. Not similar to a copter – speculated as to what it might be. They said it was far too close to the trees and much too big to be a copter without hearing the beat of the blades.
And the police??? Well, that night they admitted to at least seven or eight calls on the whatever was out there. But next day they said they did not know what we were talking about. A few days after this incident, the gas company had a leak spring in one of its very old pipes in that same exact location, spraying the greenery all along the waters edges with a volatile liquid...which, of course, would make it unpalatable for anything like Bigfoot. We think all of this is rather interesting side happenings. We are not saying they have anything to do with the Bigfoot. But are simply saying it is interesting how they developed, and it would be interesting to watch for similar patterns of action to take place in the future with this creature.
Within weeks, after this, the animal was sighted in Butler, Ohio, and again, much excitement, but in the end, not too much to go on. However, we happened to be fortunate enough to know of two people in that area, or rather, a hundred mile radius of Butler. One individual plays with electronics, and the other is a ham operator. The electronics person saw some very strange things happening on his recording devices, and he relayed to us some two days beforehand that a UFO was in the area of his locale easily perhaps fifty miles to the south...and to expect something on the ground if his calculatins were correct. Days later, he indicated his machines gave evidence of a craft down and discharging something...and he pinpointed the general location of where Bigfoot was eventually reported...this was a good 24 hours prior to the report. Following that, he felt it kept in touch with the craft with a ground to air communication...and this was confirmed by the ham radio operator who tuned into some very strange goings on on a channel seldom used. He did not understand the language, but he did distinctly feel it was a two way coordination of some sort which he finally put together too, as meaning that something was happening in an area south of him. He distinctly heard the words 'National Park section'...and 'very small farm community'...but mostly he said words were unfamiliar or garbled. He was not sure which and this, too, was prior to the Butler incident. We are not saying this proves anything, but we think it is INTERESTING in view of what happened immediately after these experiences. So...ham operators keep a sharp look out...and you people working with electronics, you might do some experimenting and let us know what your results are.
And then, of course, Bigfoot came to Paris Twp, south of Canton, Ohio. But it seems he has been there some time, even though he has just become a celebrity. Like Mrs. Ward, Mrs. Cayton feels he has been around for easily ten or fifteen years. No less. The country there is beautiful, simply breathtaking, but it is not isolated. There is a very busy highway very near the happenings, and a large trailer park nearby, and considerable activity. However, he does not seem to mind the action. It has been suggested that this was a bear. It may have been. We would not know, not having captured it, but in our excursion there, it was definitely not our feeling that we were looking for a bear. We do not believe the Caytons feel this either. After all, if you had heard those screams for nights on end, it is doubtful even if someone brought a bear carcass, that you would go along with that answer. We talked to Mrs. Cayton and her husband and we feel she knows what she saw, and if she does not feel it was a bear, we will go with that decision. Furthermore, in our wanderings around in the back and up on the hill, what we felt and experienced did not fall into that category. There were some definite inner feelings that lent a rather strange air to the whole experience.
During our inquiries about the Paris Twp incident, we stumbled onto some interesting things. One was that there had been a landing of a craft on Rt. 62 only weeks before our arrival there, which was the middle of September, that NASA had had some representatives there, that there was some discussion of the creature being – of all things – 'supernatural'!! and that both Akron and Canton news sheets had a reporter and photographer there nearly every night (this we got from credible sources; reporters themselves). So we believe this, and that pictures had been taken of it, but although the background had developed, the Bigfoot had not...a lot of interesting scuttlebutt...isn't it??? Several months from now, we do wonder what will be happening there, or in Butler, or Mogodore Dam, for that matter.
