Posted to BFRO

DATE: Mid June 1988 Very dark night between 11:00-12:00pm

LOCATION: This happened in Sandyville Ohio in Tuscarawas county just off of Jenny Brick Road (I forget the county road number).

OBSERVED: My friend Marvin and I were on a double date with our girlfriends. We had planned to take them to an old collapsed train tunnel. We had gone there earlier to "set up" a little scare for them in the way of fake blood and an old torn shirt that we hung from a tree branch. I lot of teenagers hung out there on the weekends to party. No one I knew of had ever gone into the tunnel to where it had collapsed. There was about 10-12" of standing water in the tunnel all the time and it was very dark inside. To access the removed railroad tracks leading up to the tunnel you had to go up a dirt road past a gas well and through some very deep brush. I made it up to within a quarter mile from the tunnel when I couldn't go any farther in my Ford Granada with its tall snow tires. It was about 11:00pm on a Thursday night. We all got out of the car and with one flashlight started for the tunnel. The area leading up to the tunnel is heavily wooded with high banks all the way around. We made it to the tunnel entrance conveniently shining the flashlight on the fake blood and the torn shirt creating a scream from the girls. My friend and I came clean with our prank and talked the girls into going on top of the tunnel opening with us. We climbed up the hill to the left of the opening and sat on top of the tunnel for awhile. I guess it was around midnight when we decided to leave. I didn't acknowledge what happened for the hour we were there then but the next day I realized how they were all connected. My girlfriend heard twigs snapping while we were sitting on the tunnel and I told her what did she expect we were in the woods. Next was the awful smell. We all smelled it and laughingly blamed it on each other. The smell was overwhelming. I again offered a reason in my most manly country knowledgeable voice. " It must be the stagnate water in the tunnel ". Well the movement in the woods continued and the stench hung in the air but we didn't notice much while "making out".

Anyway we decided to leave and made our way down the left side of the tunnel. I guess we were about halfway back to the car and Marvin said " Did you guys hear that?". We all stopped to listen and heard it. It sounded like a herd of elephants coming through the trees. We all looked at each other and the next thing we heard was a split second of silence and then a very loud thud. We started running to the car. It sounded like a giant dog running behind us. A low growl and these foot steps that I swore I could "feel". We got to the car and I opened the door.

The girls dove into the back seat and I heard Marvin's door close. It was then that I glanced back toward the tunnel. I don't recall who was carrying the flashlight but whomever it was had dropped it about 150 yards back. What I saw will forever be in my memory. These huge legs covered in reddish brown hair and one hand came into view. The size of the legs were enormous but the hand looked like it could completely wrap around a basketball. The nails were long and blackened and the palm was hairless and appeared to be very callas. Well I jumped into the car and slammed my door. Someone yelled lock the doors. One of the girls was looking back and yelling " There's something coming at us " . I had gotten the car started and was standing on the gas pedal. My heart was racing and the girls were screaming. Marvin was yelling something about a turn to the left when the car pitched to the right. I don't know for sure but it sounded like something hit the car when it slid. Well I got the car righted and drove like Jeff Gordon for the next fifteen miles. When we finally slowed down and our heart rates slowed down to normal we started to talk about what had happened. My girlfriend said we were all probably running away from a deer that was more scared than us. They all started laughing and talking about how scared they were. Marvin and I dropped off the girls and went back to my house. I asked Marvin over coffee what he had seen. He said he didn't see anything. He figured the crashing through the trees was a deer and was glad I played along since the first attempt at scaring the girls didn't work as well as planned. I didn't say anything about what I had seen feeling I would be teased if word got around. I sure am glad I found this site.

ENVIRONMENT: Train tracks that had been removed at the entrance of a collapsed train tunnel. Steeply rising wooded banks on either side of the former tracks. The nearest house is about 6 miles away. The area is about 9 miles away from RT.800 between Sandyville and Mineral City Ohio.

ALSO NOTICED: Something walking through the woods and an awful smell

ACTIVITIES OF WITNESS(ES): Laughing, joking and making out

DATE: Between 1:30pm and 2:45pm on July 3rd 1997

LOCATION: The United States, Ohio. I am not sure of the county, but it was along a branch of the Mohican river while canoeing outside the town of Loudonville.

OBSERVED: I was on a canoe trip with a bunch of friends from school. There were five canoes, each with two people in them. We had canoed about a mile, when we came to fork in the river. According to the map, the two eventually link up about 1 to 1.5 miles later. So we decided to race. Three canoes went down the fork on the left hand side, that had the road next to it. My canoe and another went down the fork that was in the woods. Upon entering the fork, we became aware of a very pungent smell of decaying materials. Soon we were in the middle and the trees all but blocked out the sky. We stopped for a bathroom break along the river, and on the opposite side noticed a shadow in the trees. We passed it off as a deer. When we continued our trip, we noticed that the smell had gotten closer, and when a female companion glanced toward the smell she silently froze. She said she saw a black 6.5 to 7ft creature observing us. We double the speed, and noticed that it was following us behind the tree line. Soon, we noticed a bend in the river. That is when the creature took off and ran towards the bend. We idled in the river, waiting and then heard a big splash. We began to paddle towards the bend, and noticed just in time to see it coming up onto the opposite bank of the river. It had to cover over 200yds in 30 sec. We thought our encounter was over, but later saw that it crossing an open clearing casually. That was the last we saw of it.

ENVIRONMENT: It was along a branch of the Mohican river, very murky and eeire feeling, big temperature change and quiet.

ALSO NOTICED: We thought we heard shrieks changing from a high to low pitch about 20min after the last visual sighting.

ACTIVITIES OF WITNESS(ES): Canoeing casually and having a good time