A terrific winter storm moved across Northeast Ohio the night we —staff photographer Jeremy Aronhalt and I — were to embark on an expedition to hunt for the legendary elusive beast. With parts of the Snow Belt receiving up to a foot of snow, the trip was cursed with a sense of doom well before we even began to venture out, a curse I fear might still linger. Initially the trip was undertaken with a jovial air, but as the reality of the situation presented itself, the fun seemed to be stripped from the assignment, weighed down like an ice-covered tree limb. This was supposed to be a fact-finding mission on one of the planet’s oldest mysteries: the legendary Bigfoot creature. The story behind the story began well before that fateful journey. Editor-in-chief Michael Nasvadi received a tip about the sighting of the beast just south of Massillon in Strasburg. One of his sources presented him with photographic evidence (see picture above), captured by a deer cam, of an alleged Sasquatch. Knowing the importance of the story, Mike instantly contacted his staff ace. Unfortunately, Seth Borgen was unavailable, so he called me. History in the Hills Strasburg is a village in northwestern Tuscarawas County with a population of 2,600, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Rural without being destitute, suburban without being overbearing. About a 20-minute drive from Massillon, Strasbourg can best be described as quaint, the type of place to raise a family. It was in this quiet, yet not so out-of-the-way hamlet that we would be conducting our search for the unknown. This is not as unusual as it might seem. Ohio ranks fourth in the U.S. for the number of Bigfoot sightings, according to Mark Maisel, investigator with the Bigfoot Field Research Organization (BFRO). In NEO, Portage County leads with the most reports, but all counties in the region have reports of sightings. “From Ashtabula to Lorain, all the way down to the Coshocton area,” Maisel recounted during an interview conducted prior to our expedition. He said that Ohio has been receiving reports about Bigfoots, or “wild men,” since the 1830s. Maisel explained that a majority of sightings occur around bodies of water, making the Cuyahoga River Valley a perfect habitat for Sasquatch. It might also explain the wide-ranging sightings in this part of Ohio, as the river flows for some 100 miles across the region. On the Scene We arrived an hour or two before dusk at the source’s home (our contact wished to remain anonymous), which lies on a winding road, surrounded by woods and sparsely located neighbors. The time of our arrival was planned to coincide with the activity of our subject: Maisel said Bigfoots are primarily active from dusk till dawn, though not exclusively nocturnal. Our source invited us in to see the original photo sent to our editor as well as other photos of deer he caught on the camera, so we could get some perspective on the size of the beast. In comparison, whatever was captured in the first photo was certainly not a deer, standing roughly six feet tall and with limbs too thick to be confused with the slender appendages of a Cervidae. From the photo, the creature appeared to walk upright, with arms swinging in a motion similar to that of a human. The source also showed photos of animals moving quickly across the camera, which only snaps pictures when it senses movement and heat. These photos gave us an idea of the type of blur trails the camera picks up during low light. It became clear that even a deer, standing upright and flailing its legs, would still not appear to have the mass of the animal caught in the photo. He also explained to us the inability of the camera, in low-light situations, to pick up colors on subjects positioned close to it. While the photo appears to be picking up a white creature, that may not exactly be the case. With an idea of the size and dimensions of the creature in the photo, we made our way to the location where it was shot. Since this was in the far corner of the source’s property, it’s hard to imagine someone finding the place to conduct some sort of hoax. Our source also explained that the only people near him who knew his camera’s location were people he was with that night, celebrating New Year’s Eve. As we approached the scene I let my keen journalist observational skills pick up on any of the clues Maisel told me about, including footprints, stick piles in unnatural places and Bigfoot’s signature odor. “It is a sewer smell,” Maisel said. “A sewery, garbage smell, but not too overpowering.” Of course, the snow that fell the night before would have covered any prints made during the days leading up to our arrival. With no physical evidence about, the source positioned the deer cam to focus on where it was when it took the photo. We took a few photos with the deer cam to further establish size, all while keeping an eye out for other signs of Bigfoots: ape-like grunting sounds, knocking and rock-throwing. BFRO’s Maisel explained that knocking, which is theorized to be Bigfoots pounding on trees to establish territory, announces positions and maybe even runs diversions for their flanking brethren. As odd as that sounds, it is believed that Sasquatches’ elusive nature was formed as a defense mechanism. This also explains rock-throwing, seen as a primate-like sign of dominance and perhaps a way to mark territory, as well. The search for stick formation also continued. “You’re looking for something unusual,” Maisel said. “Like a buddy of mine found in West Virginia. This tree literally had two branches twisted around three different times, just twisted like a rope.” He also told of stick formations taking on a more “Blair Witch” appearance, with branches stuck into the ground, sometimes even in familiar designs. “Look for where the branch came from and the most logical conclusion of it,” he said, explaning how to confirm formations. “If you find a broken branch and it came from 100 feet away, then it’s unlikely that it blew all that way and landed in the ‘Y’ of a tree.” These are seldom acts of aggression, Maisel explained, as, like most woodland inhabitants, Bigfoots’ actions are driven by fear, especially the fear of people. “Man is the alpha predator on this planet, and to survive, species have to evolve,” he said. “Native Americans had bows, early settlers had flintlocks and muskets. For an animal to survive, it would have to develop a strategy to avoid direct competition for resources with humans.” He cites the once-low deer population in Ohio, a result of overhunting, as an example of poor survival planning. This ability to remain largely unseen has led to a debate in the Bigfoot research and cryptozoology worlds as to exactly what this animal could be, and if it was really an “animal” at all. “There are two groups of thought right now,” Maisel said. “Some think it could be an ancestor of Gigantic Pitasis, and the others think it might be a relative of Homo Erectus or Homo Ardipithecus, though no one knows for sure.” Gigantic Pitasis was — or perhaps is — a land-dwelling ape of southeast Asia and China that is believed to have come over to North America on the Bering land bridge during the last Ice Age. The other school of thought suggests that Bigfoot is an ancestor to humans. Despite their aversion to people, Bigfoots sometimes venture into our communities. In fact, numerous reports have arisen of strange creatures eating pet food left outdoors, farm-animal feed, things found in trash bin and the occasional animal. Maisel said that BFRO has received reports of animal carcasses being found in the woods completely intact, save for a missing liver. Sasquatches are known for being much neater in their manners than other woodland animals. For instance, when bears find animal feed or other sustenance, they characteristically tear things apart, leaving bits and pieces scattered in the area. Conversely, Bigfoot researchers find that the legendary creature is notorious for leaving little mess behind and sometimes just carrying off food sources as a whole, causing head-scratching in victims of their pilfering. The Bigfoots’ elusiveness and utter lack of 100 percent verifiable evidence has played in the favor of skeptics, though Bigfoot researchers claim to have plausible explanations. As Maisel explained, with some 16 million acres of forest in the United States and a minimum possible population of Sasquatches of approximately 2,000, finding one would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. With the inherent nature of the creature to hide, coupled with the dense and remote habitats they dwell in, it is not difficult to imagine the logistical problems with finding dead Bigfoots. Besides, how often do you find any animal remains in the woods, especially the heavily traversed trails most humans use? Silence Sinks In as the Sun Sets With daylight receding behind the hills of the valley, our source headed back inside, and we struck out off the beaten path. With the sun fading, I began looking for “eye shine,” as Bigfoots are thought to have luminous eyes that flash in darkness, like those of a cat. We trounced through a low-lying marsh, ears pricked for any foreign sounds. Yet the only thing that seemed to stir up was the mooing of distant cows and the occasional far-off chainsaw, likely a farmer somewhere cutting firewood as a defense against the dropping temperature. Darkness would soon surround us when we made the decision to start back toward our origin. We stopped to climb atop a large wooden tree stand to watch the final bits of sunlight cast its rays upon the valley below. With limited visibility, we would not be able to venture far, and with our investigation waning with no evidence, an ominous feeling set in — mixed with a sense of disappointment, a crushing of the hope that perhaps we’d be the first to find the unfindable, confirm the unconfirmable. Maisel had warned me of this during our interview. He retold the stories of failed expeditions, set up by expectations that were too lofty. Maybe I was too eager to trample through the underbrush. Did we miss something? These are the questions that haunted me as the night stretched on. Whatever it was the deer cam captured was still out there, perhaps no more than a stone’s throw away. Story Photos: Jeremy Aronhalt