By The [Cambridge] Daily Jeffersonian – Posted Feb 11, 2020 at 12:01 AM Updated Feb 11, 2020 at 8:00 AM

It was just a leisurely walk in the woods — one they’ve done many times — but this time was different. This time, they spotted something that they say they’ll never forget. It was Jan. 12 when two Ohio men found themselves staring at what they say resembled Bigfoot or Sasquatch in Salt Fork State Park.

“Should we even be here?” said Eric, one of the two men. Eric did not want his last name revealed.

The figure had the characteristics of Bigfoot — hairy, upright-walking, ape-like creature that dwells in the wilderness and leaves footprints. Depictions often portray them as a missing link between humans and human ancestors or other great apes.

Scientists have discounted the existence of Bigfoot, considering it to be a combination of folklore, misidentification and hoax.

Folklorists trace the figure of Bigfoot to a combination of factors and sources, including folklore surrounding the European wild man figure, folk belief among Native Americans and loggers, and a cultural increase in environmental concerns.

“Bigfoot. Sasquatch. Yeti. Ohio Grassman. Whatever you choose to call it, it really is all the same creature. Very big, hairy and tall, averaging 6 to 8 feet tall. With foot prints averaging from 13 to 17 inches long. It has been rumored to live in Ohio since the mid-1700′s. It has also been rumored to live in Ohio’s largest State Park. Salt Fork. Over 36 sightings have been reported to Don Keating of Newcomerstown since the middle 1980s. With the huge amount of alleged ‘evidence’ coming from Salt Fork’s borders, Keating decided to host the ‘Annual Bigfoot Conference’ at Salt Fork starting in 2005,” according to the Cambridge Guernsey County Visitors and Convention Bureau website.

At Salt Fork State Park, there are three locations where a Bigfoot is said to have been spotted: Morgan’s Knob (where much of an episode of the Animal Planet television show “Finding Bigfoot” was filmed), Parker Road (also known as “Buckeye Trail”), and Bigfoot Ridge — the park’s primitive campground where Kathy Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb filmed an episode of the “Today Show.”

In 2012, the Salt Fork State Park was named as one of USA TODAY’s Top Ten “Squatchiest” Places.

“Seeing the creature was scary,” said Nathan Gray, of Winterset, a crossroads located just east of Salt Fork State Park. “When I couldn’t see it anymore, that was terrifying.”

Source: Beacon Journal