Grassman

Grassman, also known as the Ohio Grassman is a legendary ape-like cryptid that reportedly inhabits the grasslands of Ohio.

Descriptions

Grassman is described as "a Bigfoot type creature" that is 7 feet tall, 300 pounds, and "leaves 3 toed tracks," according to reports from the territory around Cuyahoga Valley National Park "north of the Akron area."^[1]

Loren Coleman writes, "Outside of California, I don't know of another state that has as many 'Bigfoot' investigators." ... "one of the best cases issued from Minerva, Ohio ... in early July and August 1978.... [The sightings] began in ernest on August 21, 1978."^[2] He then quotes three pages of investigator Ron Shaffner's notes on the case. Because of the occasional "two-toned, multicolored hair pattern" found in creatures in this area, Coleman calls them "marked hominids," a term he prefers to "Eastern Bigfoot." He says they are "more human-looking and somewhat shorter than the classic Neo-Giant," such as the Patterson film Bigfoot.^[3]

Don Keating, one of those Bigfoot investigators, self-published a report of Bigfoot sighting and "hearing" reports,^[4] possible-track finds,^[5] reprinted newspaper stories about both,^[6] and a videotaping of an ambiguous white Bigfoot^[7] in an area within a 25-mile radius of Newcomerstown, Ohio in the mid-1980s and early 1990s. Some of the tracks had three or four toes; one of them looked like the Eric Shipton Yeti prints.^[8] (Keating has subsequently published a newsletter and organized Bigfoot conferences.)

Bigfoot Encounters in Ohio by Chris Murphy and others gives a complete rundown of Bigfoot incidents in the state, arranged by county and then by date.^[9] Footprints with 3 or 4 toes are noted on pages 47, 54, 65, 71, and 82.

Popular culture

• An episode of the History Channel's Monster Quest featured reports of the Grassman.
• Episodes of Destination America's Mountain Monsters and Monsters and Mysteries in America both featured the Grassman.
• The Grassman was featured in three episodes of Mountain Monsters

See also

• List of cryptids

References

1. Active Interest Media, Inc. (October 1997). Backpacker. Active Interest Media, Inc. p. 49. ISSN 0277-867X.
2. Coleman, 200–01
3. Coleman, 204–05
4. Keating, 7–40
5. Keating, 41–56
6. Keating, 57–63
7. Keating, 64–70
8. Keating, 46, 50–52, 55
9. Murphy et al., 37–94

• Loren Coleman (2007) [2001]. Mysterious America: The Ultimate Guide to the Nation's Weirdest Wonders, Strangest Spots, and Creepiest Creatures. Paraview Pocket Books. pp. 200–04. ISBN 978-1-4165-2736-7.
• Joedy Cook (2010). Traces of the Grassman: The Search for the Ohio Bigfoot. PublishAmerica. ISBN 978-1448978533.
• —— (2011). Legend of the Grassman. Create Space (self-published). ISBN 978-1466388796.
• Don Keating (2001). The Sasquatch Triangle Revisited. self-published in Newcomerstown, OH.
• Christopher Murphy; Joedy Cook; George Clappison (2003). Bigfoot Encounters in Ohio: Quest for the Grassman. Hancock House. ISBN 978-0888396075.