Toledo Magazine: Bigfoot
BY MATT MARKEY - BLADE OUTDOORS EDITOR
MILLERSBURG, Ohio — A capacity crowd sandwiched into the Holmes County Public Library on a recent Friday evening, but not to talk about the works of Chaucer, Steinbeck, Vonnegut, or Hemingway.
The sole topic was Bigfoot.
Earlier this year, tickets went on sale for a special event next month at the lodge at Salt Fork State Park in eastern Ohio. In 82 minutes, all 376 seats in the main hall were sold out.
The topic will again be Bigfoot.
The manlike, apelike, large, hairy, and as yet unacknowledged species has been the subject of thousands of observations across the North American continent and around the globe. Legends of an ultra-reclusive giant primate exist in the folklore of Native American tribes — the Lakota called it Chiye-tanka, meaning “big elder brother.”
It’s been called Yeti, while Sasquatch is another tag associated with the being. The word is derived from what the Coast Salish Indians called the creature — “Sesquac,” which means “wild man.”
That tribe inhabited what is now British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon, a heavily forested region with plenty of wilderness and remote areas that remains a hot zone for sightings.
Somewhat surprisingly, the much more developed states of Ohio and Michigan rank in the top eight in the United States for the number of Bigfoot sightings that have been investigated and deemed credible enough to display to the public by the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization, a consortium of scientists, journalists, and specialists from diverse backgrounds that studies the phenomenon.
Marc DeWerth is an Ohio-based investigator for BFRO, and it was his talk on Bigfoot that packed that library in the heart of Ohio’s Amish country nine days ago.
“We’re just a group working to promote an awareness of Bigfoot in Ohio,” Mr. DeWerth said. “Ohio has more than its share of activity, and whenever we hold an event, people fill the place."
He said the 2016 Ohio Bigfoot Conference Weekend, the three-day Bigfoot extravaganza at Salt Fork in May, is likely “the biggest event of its kind in the world.” They will bring in leading Bigfoot experts from across the country to the main hall, plus vendors, authors, and displays will line the remaining space at the lodge and welcome the public.
“If we had five times the capacity, we could fill it,” Mr. DeWerth said.
The fascination with Bigfoot seems to be partially rooted in the experiences of hikers, hunters, campers, and rural residents who have caught a glimpse of something. Or they have experienced sounds that were out of place. What they knew as normal paused for a brief moment, with no explanation.
“Many people have had experiences but keep quiet due to the potential for ridicule,” said Mr. DeWerth, who added that he became interested in the Bigfoot phenomenon as a child after watching a TV show on the subject with his grandfather.
“I tell people keep your skepticism, but look at all of the information, do the research, and then make your own conclusions.”
Don Peer is a BFRO investigator in northern Michigan, and besides looking into dozens of reports of sightings or experiences, he was nearby when his son encountered a Bigfoot in a swampy area in the Upper Peninsula in 2008. Mr. Peer has also found 20-inch-long tracks near Oscoda.
“Everything that goes bump in the woods isn’t a Bigfoot, but certainly there are things that happen that you can’t just brush off,” he said. “You don’t need all of the mountains and the most remote places to have these things — just a combination of good cover, food, and water — and Michigan has a lot of those areas.”
Mr. Peer already owns a small fortune in equipment used for surveilling the woods for Bigfoot, but he just added an $8,000 thermal imager and plans to use it often when he moves to the Upper Peninsula in the near future.
“There are so many reports from so many people — there just are not a lot of other possible explanations,” he said.
Mr. DeWerth said many members of the scientific community vigorously resist even considering the possibility that Sasquatch, Bigfoot, or some similar hominid-like creatures could exist.
“If this thing becomes a known animal, that’s going to throw a kink in all of the theories of how primates and humans
evolved,” he said. He added that the testimony of a single witness can bring about a conviction in court, so he sees no reason to discredit every individual who has had an encounter with a Bigfoot, Yeti, or Sasquatch.
“And we’re talking about thousands and thousands of reports that are out there,” he said.
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One would think it would be the other way around. 
🏔 
