QUOTE
Bigfoot in Clermont County?
Local man keeps pursuing the legend
BY CHUCK MARTIN | CMARTIN@ENQUIRER.COM
If Bigfoot rings your doorbell tonight, will you know what to drop in his trick-or-treat bag?
Joedy Cook suggests berries, roots, fresh fish and maybe a raw deer liver.
Cook knows his Bigfoot treats because he's an expert, a volunteer investigator for the Ohio Center for Bigfoot Studies, an organization of three based in Cincinnati. He also contributed to the book, "Bigfoot: Encounters in Ohio" (Hancock House, $17.95).
For more than a decade, Cook, 44, of Sayler Park, has been studying the reputed ape-like creature, recording alleged howlings and looking for gargantuan footprints at the scene of sightings.
On this day, Cook is searching for evidence of Bigfoot in the fields and forests near Newtonsville in Clermont County.
He and others thinks that this monster of folklore - also called Sasquatch - lurks nearby. There are more Bigfoot sightings in Ohio than any state east of the Mississippi, according to the national Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization.
Ohio ranks fourth in the country with 191 sightings since 1965, behind Oregon, California and Washington state. There have been 47 Bigfoot sightings in Kentucky, the organization says, and 49 in Indiana.
Myth or reality, Bigfoot might be the most iconic of American monsters, the subject of trashy tabloids, awful movies and those cheesy "Messin' with Sasquatch" TV commercials.
In 1967, 40 years ago this month, two photographers released the famed "Patterson-Gimlin" footage - the Zapruder Film of the Bigfoot cult - showing what appears to be a tall, hairy creature striding across a riverbank in Northern California.
To skeptics, the image looks like a guy in a monkey suit. To the faithful, it's indisputable proof that Bigfoot - a shy primate they say migrated to North America from Asia thousands of years ago - exists.
Cook, a disabled Iraq War veteran, former host of a cable TV show on UFOs and father of triplet 12-year-old girls, says he's seen Bigfoot up close. He is a true believer.
HOPING FOR SIGNS
On this gray October morning, Cook doesn't expect a Bigfoot encounter. He's just hoping to find signs that the creature might be hanging out in central Clermont County.
The week before, a man told Cook that he was up early one morning hunting, when he saw a tall, hairy thing walk from a field into woods near Newtonsville. Several other neighbors also saw the big thing, said the man, who called himself "Junior."
Cook believed the story to be credible because of the detailed description, and because of the reported "wet-dog" or skunk smell, which is common in many Bigfoot sightings.
The man agreed to meet the investigator, but now, he isn't returning Cook's phone calls - perhaps because Junior heard that a newspaper reporter and photographer were coming along.
On this day, Junior would be as elusive as Bigfoot.
Fortunately, the man provided good directions to the general area of the sightings, on Ohio 131, just east of Newtonsville. Cook pulls into the graveled parking lot of Newtonsville Baptist Church and looks for a place to cross the highway into a cut cornfield.
Walking across the stubbled field, carrying a sketch pad filled with drawings of Bigfoot footprints, a pencil and a camera, Cook recalls an investigation he conducted in 1998 in Scioto County, in south-central Ohio.
An elderly couple reported seeing a creature and found ears of corn neatly stacked outside their windowsill, he says.
"I believe it (Bigfoot) knew they were old and was leaving them food," Cook says.
There have been no reports of the creature harming anyone, he says. As far as anyone knows, Bigfoot is benevolent. Like most researchers, Cook says he would never try to shoot or stun the beast.
Little chance he'll find footprints today, Cook says, because of recent rain. But in a patch of thorny woods near the field, he points out half a dozen or so branches propped against a tree like a small lean-to shelter. Bigfoot investigators call it a "stick-stack."
"Some people believe this could be a way for Bigfoot to mark his territory," Cook says.
A few yards away, he takes photos of another stick-stack.
Apparently, the limbs couldn't have naturally fallen into this pattern. It could've been Bigfoot staking out his turf. Or, it could've been kids playing in the woods.
"You have to be at least 80 percent skeptical when investigating these things," Cook says. "Your credibility depends on it."
A PROBLEM WITH SIGHTINGS
Cook is hesitant to talk about his own Bigfoot encounter, because he says most investigators aren't lucky enough to see their prey. But he will tell his story.
It happened in 1994, when he and four other Army Reservists were returning from a training exercise in northern Michigan. Driving slowly through the dark woods, Cook says he and the others saw something moving in front of them. At first, they thought it was a bear.
It was brown, he says, with a hairless, human-like face and glowing cat-like eyes. Cook estimates the creature stood over 7 feet tall and weighed more than 400 pounds. He remembers smelling a strong odor.
"We saw it for maybe only 30 seconds," he says. "It just kept walking. We were scared stiff."
They all decided that they had seen Bigfoot. But on the way back to the base, the men agreed not to report the sighting to their superiors.
"We were afraid what they might do to us," Cook says. "They would've probably put us through some kind of psych evaluation."
This is a common problem with Bigfoot sightings, Cook says. He has interviewed Ohio Division of Wildlife employees who tremble and cry while talking about their Bigfoot encounters. But the men won't report the incidents to the authorities, he says, because they're afraid that they'll lose their jobs.
SOMETHING WEIRD
There are only squawking jays and darting squirrels in these woods. After finding no tufts of Bigfoot hair and hearing no creepy howls, Cook walks back to the church, where the Rev. John Middleton soon drives up, wondering why strangers are hanging out in his parking lot.
No, the minister hasn't heard of any Bigfoot sightings in the area, but he quickly recounts something weird that happened last winter.
One night, he left some venison in a cooler on his porch for a friend to pick up. But the friend never found the meat, which mysteriously disappeared overnight. If a human stole it, they would've taken everything, including the cooler, Middleton reasons. If the thief were an animal, it would've eaten the venison on the porch, making a mess.
But there was no bloody mess or footprints in the snow.
Is Bigfoot that stealthy?
"We know this: If there is a Bigfoot, God created him," the minister says.
The Clermont County Sheriff's Office and the Ohio Division of Wildlife have no record of Bigfoot sightings near Newtonsville.
In the little town, one man says there was a report of a wolf nearby, another says he heard about a puma on the prowl.
But no one will admit to seeing anything resembling Bigfoot. No one knows Junior, either. This still doesn't dissuade the determined investigator.
"People think I'm nuts for doing what I'm doing," Cook says. "But at this point in time, who cares?"
Local man keeps pursuing the legend
BY CHUCK MARTIN | CMARTIN@ENQUIRER.COM
If Bigfoot rings your doorbell tonight, will you know what to drop in his trick-or-treat bag?
Joedy Cook suggests berries, roots, fresh fish and maybe a raw deer liver.
Cook knows his Bigfoot treats because he's an expert, a volunteer investigator for the Ohio Center for Bigfoot Studies, an organization of three based in Cincinnati. He also contributed to the book, "Bigfoot: Encounters in Ohio" (Hancock House, $17.95).
For more than a decade, Cook, 44, of Sayler Park, has been studying the reputed ape-like creature, recording alleged howlings and looking for gargantuan footprints at the scene of sightings.
On this day, Cook is searching for evidence of Bigfoot in the fields and forests near Newtonsville in Clermont County.
He and others thinks that this monster of folklore - also called Sasquatch - lurks nearby. There are more Bigfoot sightings in Ohio than any state east of the Mississippi, according to the national Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization.
Ohio ranks fourth in the country with 191 sightings since 1965, behind Oregon, California and Washington state. There have been 47 Bigfoot sightings in Kentucky, the organization says, and 49 in Indiana.
Myth or reality, Bigfoot might be the most iconic of American monsters, the subject of trashy tabloids, awful movies and those cheesy "Messin' with Sasquatch" TV commercials.
In 1967, 40 years ago this month, two photographers released the famed "Patterson-Gimlin" footage - the Zapruder Film of the Bigfoot cult - showing what appears to be a tall, hairy creature striding across a riverbank in Northern California.
To skeptics, the image looks like a guy in a monkey suit. To the faithful, it's indisputable proof that Bigfoot - a shy primate they say migrated to North America from Asia thousands of years ago - exists.
Cook, a disabled Iraq War veteran, former host of a cable TV show on UFOs and father of triplet 12-year-old girls, says he's seen Bigfoot up close. He is a true believer.
HOPING FOR SIGNS
On this gray October morning, Cook doesn't expect a Bigfoot encounter. He's just hoping to find signs that the creature might be hanging out in central Clermont County.
The week before, a man told Cook that he was up early one morning hunting, when he saw a tall, hairy thing walk from a field into woods near Newtonsville. Several other neighbors also saw the big thing, said the man, who called himself "Junior."
Cook believed the story to be credible because of the detailed description, and because of the reported "wet-dog" or skunk smell, which is common in many Bigfoot sightings.
The man agreed to meet the investigator, but now, he isn't returning Cook's phone calls - perhaps because Junior heard that a newspaper reporter and photographer were coming along.
On this day, Junior would be as elusive as Bigfoot.
Fortunately, the man provided good directions to the general area of the sightings, on Ohio 131, just east of Newtonsville. Cook pulls into the graveled parking lot of Newtonsville Baptist Church and looks for a place to cross the highway into a cut cornfield.
Walking across the stubbled field, carrying a sketch pad filled with drawings of Bigfoot footprints, a pencil and a camera, Cook recalls an investigation he conducted in 1998 in Scioto County, in south-central Ohio.
An elderly couple reported seeing a creature and found ears of corn neatly stacked outside their windowsill, he says.
"I believe it (Bigfoot) knew they were old and was leaving them food," Cook says.
There have been no reports of the creature harming anyone, he says. As far as anyone knows, Bigfoot is benevolent. Like most researchers, Cook says he would never try to shoot or stun the beast.
Little chance he'll find footprints today, Cook says, because of recent rain. But in a patch of thorny woods near the field, he points out half a dozen or so branches propped against a tree like a small lean-to shelter. Bigfoot investigators call it a "stick-stack."
"Some people believe this could be a way for Bigfoot to mark his territory," Cook says.
A few yards away, he takes photos of another stick-stack.
Apparently, the limbs couldn't have naturally fallen into this pattern. It could've been Bigfoot staking out his turf. Or, it could've been kids playing in the woods.
"You have to be at least 80 percent skeptical when investigating these things," Cook says. "Your credibility depends on it."
A PROBLEM WITH SIGHTINGS
Cook is hesitant to talk about his own Bigfoot encounter, because he says most investigators aren't lucky enough to see their prey. But he will tell his story.
It happened in 1994, when he and four other Army Reservists were returning from a training exercise in northern Michigan. Driving slowly through the dark woods, Cook says he and the others saw something moving in front of them. At first, they thought it was a bear.
It was brown, he says, with a hairless, human-like face and glowing cat-like eyes. Cook estimates the creature stood over 7 feet tall and weighed more than 400 pounds. He remembers smelling a strong odor.
"We saw it for maybe only 30 seconds," he says. "It just kept walking. We were scared stiff."
They all decided that they had seen Bigfoot. But on the way back to the base, the men agreed not to report the sighting to their superiors.
"We were afraid what they might do to us," Cook says. "They would've probably put us through some kind of psych evaluation."
This is a common problem with Bigfoot sightings, Cook says. He has interviewed Ohio Division of Wildlife employees who tremble and cry while talking about their Bigfoot encounters. But the men won't report the incidents to the authorities, he says, because they're afraid that they'll lose their jobs.
SOMETHING WEIRD
There are only squawking jays and darting squirrels in these woods. After finding no tufts of Bigfoot hair and hearing no creepy howls, Cook walks back to the church, where the Rev. John Middleton soon drives up, wondering why strangers are hanging out in his parking lot.
No, the minister hasn't heard of any Bigfoot sightings in the area, but he quickly recounts something weird that happened last winter.
One night, he left some venison in a cooler on his porch for a friend to pick up. But the friend never found the meat, which mysteriously disappeared overnight. If a human stole it, they would've taken everything, including the cooler, Middleton reasons. If the thief were an animal, it would've eaten the venison on the porch, making a mess.
But there was no bloody mess or footprints in the snow.
Is Bigfoot that stealthy?
"We know this: If there is a Bigfoot, God created him," the minister says.
The Clermont County Sheriff's Office and the Ohio Division of Wildlife have no record of Bigfoot sightings near Newtonsville.
In the little town, one man says there was a report of a wolf nearby, another says he heard about a puma on the prowl.
But no one will admit to seeing anything resembling Bigfoot. No one knows Junior, either. This still doesn't dissuade the determined investigator.
"People think I'm nuts for doing what I'm doing," Cook says. "But at this point in time, who cares?"
QUOTE
THE ENQUIRER/MICHAEL E. KEATING
Bigfoot enthusiast Joedy Cook holds a cast of a footprint that he says could belong to Bigfoot, aka Sasquatch.
Bigfoot enthusiast Joedy Cook holds a cast of a footprint that he says could belong to Bigfoot, aka Sasquatch.
