A MonsterQuest Search for the Ohio Grassman

For hundreds of years, the state of Ohio has been the location of numerous Ohio Grassman sightings. The Ohio Grassman is thought to be some type of Bigfoot creature that is native to the Buckeye state. Witnesses describe the creature as being seven to eight feet tall, walking upright, broad shoulders, black or brown hair, very muscular build, large hands and large feet. In the MonsterQuest episode Ohio Grassman, the MonsterQuest team investigated the existence of this creature.

History

Local papers carried the account of a Grassman attack on 23 January, 1869. An Ohio man was walking with his daughter when they were attacked by a Grassman. The creature was described as "gigantic in size with burning eyes and covered in hair". The two were able to escape when the daughter was able to strike the creature in the head with a rock.

Tales of the Ohio Grassman have made their way into popular literature. In William Venable's "A Buckeye Boyhood", the author tells a tale of growing up in Ohio during the early 1800s. In this book, Venable describes a gorilla-like creature that is "...particularly fond of the taste of cowardly blood."

According to historian Christopher Murphy, the tales of the Ohio Grassman are similar to the Bigfoot and Sasquatch sightings from all over North America. Witness accounts describe a hairy ape-man type creature that stands over six feet tall.

In 1996, Pleasant City resident Drema Elkins had an encounter with the Ohio Grassman. She was awoken by the barking of her dog. Elkins spotted a figure lurking outside the window. As Elkins went to get a better look the figure moved away from the window, but she was able to make out what she believed to be the Grassman.

Treba Jahn and her husband Terry were out in Salt Fork State park on the evening of 30 December, 2006. As they were preparing to leave the area for the night, Treba saw an unknown figure near the tree line. The figure was broad shouldered and was seven to eight feet tall. The figure moved off but Treba believes it could have been the Ohio Grassman.

Joedy Cook is a researcher with the Ohio Center for Bigfoot Studies. He has been involved in collecting a large amount of evidence for the existence of the Ohio Grassman. On 19 February, 1995, Cook found what he describes as a possible primate nest. Several photos of the structure show that it was made from a series of smaller branches interwoven among larger branches and then covered in grass. The entire structure was about ten feet by 3 feet in size.

Cook is in possession of another unique piece of evidence that may help in understanding the Ohio Grassman. On 24 February 2002, a hunter found a strange handprint impression in Bentonville, Ohio. The handprint seemed to be from some sort of primate but it does not appear to be human. The hunter was able to make a cast of the handprint. It came out with enough detail that the dermal ridges of handprint are discernable in the cast.

In 2006, Cook discovered another piece of evidence in the Ohio wilderness that seemed to be out of place. He found what appears to be the skull of some sort of large primate. While the exact origin of the skull was unknown, it did not seem to match the skulls of any known Ohio wildlife.

Dan Keating of the Eastern Ohio Bigfoot Investigation Center believes that he may have captured video evidence in August of 1992. Keating was investigating a Ohio Grassman sighting near Kershocktin, Ohio. He was recording his search with a VHS video camera and did not notice anything at the time of the recording. Approximately a year and a half later, he was reviewing the footage and noticed a tall upright figure walking near a gravel road area. The quality of the footage does not provide a clear image of the fast moving creature when the image is blown up.

The Investigation

The MonsterQuest team goes in search of the Ohio Grassman. They send an expedition team to Salt Fork State Park to try to locate the Grassman. They use a team of experts to examine the Cook nest photos, the Cook handprint, the Cook skull and the Keating video.

Nest Photograph Examination

The Cook photos of the possible Grassman nesting site is sent to Liz Cuthbert for examination. Cuthbert is a zookeeper with the Como Park Zoo in St. Paul, Minnesota. She states that while some primates like gorillas and orangutans make nests, they are not as intricate as the ones shown in the pictures. She is unable to associate the nests with any known nest builders.

Skull Examination

The unknown skull that was found by Bigfoot researcher Joedy Cook was sent out by MonsterQuest to be analyzed. The skull was sent to Primatologist Dr. Esteban Sarmiento for analysis. Sarmiento determines that the skull is that of a baboon.

A baboon would not fit the description of the Ohio Grassman. A baboon will usually only stand 3-4 feet tall and will not tend to stand on two legs for any extended period of time. As to how this baboon skull ended up in Ohio, it is unknown.

Handprint Analysis

The Cook handprint cast is sent to Forensic Examiner Jimmy Chilcott for analyses. Chilcott is an expert in primate fingerprints that has developed an extensive database of primate print patterns. He should be able to analyze the dermal ridges found on the cast in order to identify the species that left the print.

Chilcott uses a laser light to show the defined dermal ridges. After his analysis, he is positive that the handprint was from a non-human primate. The exact species can not be determined but Chilcott believes that it was probably from a gorilla. It is unknown as to how a gorilla handprint could show up in Ohio.

Keating Video Examination

The video taken by Don Keating is sent to Peter Schmitz of Motion Engineering for an expert analysis of the upright figure that is seen in the footage. Keating attempts to enhance the image but is unable to recover any quality video of the figure in the video. While the creature definitely appears to be walking in an upright manner, the picture quality does not allow for any further determinations.

Salt Fork State Park Expedition

Joedy Cook and Dan Keating join the MonsterQuest camera team in a search of the Salt Fork State Park for the Ohio Grassman. Salt Fork State Park is a large wilderness area with plenty of food, water, shelter and hiding spots for the Grassman. It has also been the site of previous Grassman sightings.

Chris Bergen of Bergen R.C. Helicopters is joining the search team with his specialized helicopters. Bergen uses military grade remote control helicopter equipped with thermal and high definition cameras. The cameras are able to transmit to the ground operator the images being picked up. It is hoped that the use of these helicopter cameras will help the ground team zero in on the Grassman.

The RC helicopter is used to make overnight flights to help determine search areas. The thermal image camera is able to pick up an unknown heat signature in the search area but the team is unable to determine the size of the animal. The team will focus the ground search on that area.

Cook goes to the area of the unknown heat signature and sets up a decoy and cameras. The decoy used is a fake Bigfoot type figure with a head and body roughly based on Bigfoot witness descriptions. It is hoped that the decoy will pique the curiosity of any unknown primates in the area. Cook places three trail cameras in the area to capture pictures of any animal movement.

That evening, Cook and Keating return to the heat signature area to try to draw the Grassman out. They use wood knocking sounds that are used by other primates. Keating also makes vocalization sounds similar to the ones he recorded in 2007 to attempt to draw the creature in.

The team retrieves the trail cameras in order to check for any evidence. None of the pictures show any unidentified creatures in the area. The team is unable to locate any evidence showing the existence of the Grassman.

Conclusions

The MonsterQuest team was unable to locate any evidence pointing to the existence of the Ohio Grassman. Once again, this History Channel program did a great job of researching the issue and putting the potential evidence into the hands of experts that can properly analyze it. The Ohio Grassman and all other variants of Bigfoot continue to be elusive but that will not stop the search for the conclusive piece of evidence.

MonsterQuest Episode: Ohio Grassman

Original Air Date: 18 June, 2008