Investigation January 15th, 2002. Coshocton County, Ohio.
By Blake Mathys
I was contacted by Tom Caleodis concerning some tracks that he
had found in the snow. My uncle, Donald Mathys, and I met him on SR 83 and
the three of us proceeded to investigate the tracks. They were located on a
jeep trail that continues straight from Linton Twp. 141 when heading north.
There was a long line of tracks. Unfortunately, they were melted out to
the point of being somewhat shapeless, though on average seemed to be
narrower on one end than the other. They may have been made as much as 2
weeks previous to our visit. They were obviously distorted in the pictures
that Tom showed us; these had been taken the previous Friday (the 11th) when
Tom had found the tracks on a routine check of the area (Tom has been
interested in the Bigfoot phenomenon for quite a while and often checks the
Wills Creek area for evidence). Most of the tracks were still visible despite
extensive melting that had occurred in the previous 4 days. The total length of
the trackway was around 200 meters (estimate, not measured). The tracks came
from a lower area and exited on the same side of the jeep trail from whence
they came. I'm making the assumption that the wider part of the tracks was
the front, indicating direction of travel. The supposed trails that the
trackmaker had followed before entering and after leaving were checked.
However, no evidence was found; the snow and ice had melted in these lower
areas. Conclusions: the step (from assumed right to left foot, from toe to heel) was on
average 15 to 20 centimeters (6 to 8 inches). This raises a strong possibility of these being melted out boot prints. However, the tracks were arranged in a nearly straight line. By stepping in a few of the tracks, I tried out this sort of gait. It was in fact uncomfortable to walk like that, for me at least. I don't know if these were Bigfoot tracks, and we'll probably never know due to the deterioration of the trackway.