Bigfoot Encounters of East Fork Lake, Ohio

In East Fork Lake State Park…

Located about 25 miles southeast from Cincinnati, Ohio, East Fork State Park is a 4,870 acre public recreation area with winding rivers, a large man-made lake and miles upon miles of hiking/biking trails. This beautiful place is perfect for any nature enthusiast. 

I grew up in Bethel, Ohio, which is just a few miles down the road from the main park entrance, and in such a small town (technically a village) there wasn’t much else to do; so, I would spend hours hiking and exploring the woods throughout the park.

There are many Bigfoot Encounters, including my own…

First off, I am not saying this was 100% an actual encounter with the elusive big man himself, only that it could POSSIBLY have been an encounter. There are many elements that I am aware of that could hold the true answers to what I saw, but given the information I have and other stories coming from this state park, this is what has me thinking, about what I saw. I have actually spoken about this encounter on two other platforms, a podcast episode titled “Our Strange Experiences” on The Farthest Reaches Podcast (which I used to cohost) and episode 322 of Into The Fray Radio hosted by Small Town Monster’s own Shannon LeGro.

This potential encounter happened sometime between 2012 and 2014, my timeline is a bit fuzzy through those years of my life. I only know it was before 2015, because that is when I learned of an encounter that was reported on the BFRO (Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization) website. Which, interestingly enough, it seems that every alleged Bigfoot encounter that has taken place in Clermont County on the BFRO site comes from East Fork State Park. 

Bigfoot in the Hills

One day, a friend and I decided to go hiking with her dogs along one of the many trails (at the time of typing this I can not recall the name of the trail but I’ll update once I figure it out) throughout the park. We had been hiking for a couple hours to this point and I’m unsure exactly how far into the trail we were. We spent much of the time talking so the time seemed to have passed by quickly. We entered an area of the trail that goes down a hill into a ravine and then continues up a hill on the other side. This is where the possible encounter took place.

While we were at the bottom of the trail, I saw something big and upright at the top of the hill, moving from left to right. My first thought was “Oh, we’re about to pass someone big on the trail” because I would have sworn this was just some big burly dude. Mainly because sometimes, the scariest thing you can encounter in the woods are other humans, especially that deep in the woods. Out of precaution, I had a pocket knife and decided to just hold it, still folded up, in my hand. I would have bet money on the fact that we were about to pass someone on the trail.

We continued up the trail, and once we got to the top, we stopped. The dogs began acting a little strange, and I turned to ask my friend “Did you see someone while we were down the hill?” she said yes and that she thought we were going to pass someone. While at the top of the hill, I never heard any movement in the woods, or saw any kind of disturbance, which I also thought was weird. Now, I am fully aware that these woods do in fact have a number of homeless people living here, and also that people go off trail hiking all the time, which is exactly why I don’t like saying this was a bonafide encounter, because I truly do not know what I saw.

Bigfoot Sightings Happen Everywhere

It wasn’t until 2015 when I came across the report on the BFRO website that I mentioned above. The encounter was from a grandmother and her grandson who spotted a tall figure by the edge of the road. This is what sparked my “What if?” mindset.

The BFRO has 6 reports from Clermont County, and all of them take place throughout different parts of the park. The encounters date back to 2009, with the latest being September of 2021. I do have friends that fish in the lake at East Fork, and they have found alleged footprints. I also have another friend who does a lot of off trail hiking, and he encountered a print while he spends countless hours researching and exploring the area. Are these all truly just a case of mistaken identity? Are they just people playing pranks? Or are these woods home to one of the countries most elusive cryptids?

Stay tuned for more….