PREBLE COUNTY'S WHITE BIGFOOT
Subject - Encounter with large, white "Ape-like" animal
Date - May 18, 1977 Time - 8:30 PM
Witnesses - Two 13 year-old boys whose parents request confidentiality
Location - Preble County, south-east of Eaton, Ohio; U.S. 127 and Old Camden Pike near the Roberts Covered Bridge
Investigators - Ron Schaffner & Betty Parks
Case Data:
The following circumstances was related to Schaffner from the one boy, whom we shall call T.L.:
"We were walking our dog and she got excited about something. She got away from us and I ran after her. When I picked her up, we smelled this awful stink, like rotten eggs. When my friend and I turned around, we saw this creature that was about 9 ft. tall and weighed somewhere around 500 pounds. It had dirty brown hair and what looked like white eyes. It's arms were real long and hung almost to the ground. It chased us down by the bridge, across a soybean field towards my home. It seemed like it was right behind us, as it took very large steps. When we reached the railroad tracks and the highway, it vanished from our view."
When the boys arrived home, they told Mrs. L. what had happened. She immediately notified the Preble County Sheriff's Department and two deputies responded. The boys accompanied the Officers to the scene. They refused to get out of the cruiser while the deputies searched the area. Mrs. L. told us that for the next week, her son would not let anyone open his bedroom window.
Evaluation:
Mrs. Parks interviewed the other witness, D.B. at a different location. He told her the same basic story as heard. When Betty and I later compared notes, we both agreed that the stories matched.
I was impressed with T.L.'s testimony. The boy was really scared during our interview. The description of white eyes seemed odd, so I questioned him very carefully on this matter, but he stuck to his story.
A local farmer and police officer contacted a researcher (Richard Hoffman) in Dayton, Ohio concerning two unusual foot- prints on his property. His farm is located about 1/2 mile northeast of the reported encounter. Hoffman notified us and we went to investigate. Two prints were discovered along a creek bed. One was in good shape, while the other was very weathered. We estimated them to be about a week old. It had five toes and measured 14 inches long, by 7 inches wide. The distance between the prints was roughly 6 1/2 feet.
A deputy told us that some strange thing things have happened over the past several months.
"I haven't seen a deer in these parts lately. Just doesn't seem right, as they are usually plentiful in these parts. Also, we have reports of a wild goat or something roaming about", he stated.
We also learned of a cattle mutilation in the neighboring town of West Alexandria. Other members of our research team investigated that situation, but found no relationship to this incident.
The vigilante factor was at an all-time high. Locals were on their C.B. radios talking about the Preble County "Sasquatch". Someone had left manufactured footprints underneath the covered bridge. In a later sweep of the area we found a cardboard sign on a fence that read: BIGFOOT DRINKS BEER HERE. Everyone was talking about Bigfoot; some in a joking manner, while others were seriously trying to track the creature down.
With the combination of eyewitness testimony and some soft evidence, we can speculate that some sort of hominid creature was seen in Preble County. However, the terrain is not heavy forest to support a habitat for a large primate. Since the locals all knew about Bigfoot, its worth noting that this could have been a hoax pulled on the two boys. Our feeling is that something scared those boys and their dog and they believe it was something other than a prank. The case is still unexplained.
Original newspaper articles:
SOMETHING IS ROTTEN IN EATON, TWO 13-YEAR-OLDS REPORT; 'BIGFOOT' TALK STARTS
EATON - Two 13-year-old boys walking through a Preble County woods Wednesday said they saw something that "had dirty brown fur, smelled like rotten meat, was about nine feet tall and weighed about 500 pounds."
Around the county, people have come to call the thing the Preble County Sasquatch, sheriff's dispatcher Greg Boerner said this morning.
Boerner said a small legend of a "Bigfoot" sighting is growing, although two deputies searched a thick woods about three miles south of downtown Eaton on Old Camden Pike and found nothing. The boys, whom deputies have not identified, report seeing the "thing" about 8:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Boerner said people in the county are unsure what to think about the report, but the boys are more decided. "They're scared to death," said Boerner.
"Whether they saw it or not, I don't know," he said. "Their mother called us and said they swore on a stack of Bibles that they saw it."
Source: Dayton, Ohio; Daily News; May 20, 1977
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PREBLE AUTHORITIES GET REPORTS OF 'BIG FOOT'
EATON, Ohio - Preble County sheriff's deputies have received several reports of the county's own "Big Foot" apparently seen in the area of the Roberts Covered Bridge on Old Camden Pike, two miles south of here.
Reports have been taken from persons who said they have seen a large, shaggy, foul-smelling creature. No one has obtained any photographs to substantiate the reports.
Source: Richmond, Indiana; Palladium-Item; May 25, 1977
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NO "BIGFOOT," AUTHORITIES SAY
Two claimed sightings of the legend "Bigfoot" near the Roberts Covered Bridge have proven unfounded. The first sighting came last Wednesday when two 13-year-old boys told sheriff's deputies they saw something that "had dirty brown fur, smelled like rotten meat, was about nine feet tall and weighed 500 pounds."
Deputies conducted a through search of the area and "couldn't find a thing," according to Ron Hayes. He admitted, however, that the boys who reported the sightings "were really scared."
Another unconfirmed sighting was reported Saturday by some Eaton High School students.
The Register-Herald has learned that some youths were putting masks on Sunday and Monday and walking the area, three miles south of Eaton near Old Camden Pike.
"Somebody could get hurt by doing that kind of thing," a sheriff's deputy said.
Deputies have stepped up patrolling in the area, not because of the sighting but because youths are trespassing and walking on newly planted crops.
Source: Eaton, Ohio; Register-Herald; May 25, 1977