WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:01.040 Now one of your pudding. 2 00:00:01.919 --> 00:00:04.320 I got a stream going on here, something just cause 3 00:00:04.480 --> 00:00:04.879 my dog. 4 00:00:05.160 --> 00:00:07.320 Something killed your dog, my dog. 5 00:00:07.360 --> 00:00:08.960 We're flying through the or over the tree. 6 00:00:09.039 --> 00:00:13.640 I don't know how it did it, Okay, Damn, I'm 7 00:00:13.640 --> 00:00:15.919 really confused. All I saw was my dog. 8 00:00:15.720 --> 00:00:17.519 Coming over the fence and he was dead. And once 9 00:00:17.519 --> 00:00:19.359 you hit the ground like, I didn't see any cars. 10 00:00:19.359 --> 00:00:21.320 All I saw was my dog coming over the fence. 11 00:00:37.679 --> 00:00:38.960 Sat, what are you putting? 12 00:00:39.920 --> 00:00:43.320 We got some wonder or something crawling. 13 00:00:43.000 --> 00:00:51.759 Around out here? Did you see what it was? Or 14 00:00:51.920 --> 00:00:54.159 was it was? Standing enough? I'm out here looking through 15 00:00:54.159 --> 00:00:55.960 the window now and I don't see anything. I don't 16 00:00:55.960 --> 00:01:03.880 want to go outside, Jesus quice you bick Hello, get 17 00:01:03.960 --> 00:01:06.079 the boddy out here? What quent on out there? 18 00:01:06.079 --> 00:01:08.599 I thought of a bench about tex forty nine. I 19 00:01:08.640 --> 00:01:10.159 don't know easy out there? 20 00:01:10.319 --> 00:01:11.480 Yeah, I'm walking right. Hey. 21 00:01:12.400 --> 00:01:14.879 There are places in America where the veil between the 22 00:01:14.959 --> 00:01:19.799 known and unknown grows thin, small towns tucked into forgotten 23 00:01:19.840 --> 00:01:22.840 corners of the country, where the forests press close against 24 00:01:22.920 --> 00:01:26.799 backyard fences and the darkness beyond the porch light feels 25 00:01:26.840 --> 00:01:31.359 alive with watching eyes. Minerva, Ohio, is one such place. 26 00:01:32.120 --> 00:01:35.359 A quiet village about twenty miles east of Canton, where 27 00:01:35.400 --> 00:01:38.200 generations of families have made their lives in the shadow 28 00:01:38.280 --> 00:01:41.760 of abandoned strip mines and dense woodland, where the earth 29 00:01:41.840 --> 00:01:44.719 remembers the weight of industry and the trees have reclaimed 30 00:01:44.760 --> 00:01:47.560 what was taken from them. It's the kind of place 31 00:01:47.599 --> 00:01:50.519 people passed through on their way to somewhere else. A 32 00:01:50.599 --> 00:01:53.560 dot on the map between Cleveland and the Pennsylvania border. 33 00:01:54.120 --> 00:01:58.519 Unremarkable in every way except one. In the summer of 34 00:01:58.599 --> 00:02:01.640 nineteen seventy eight, something emerged from those woods that would 35 00:02:01.640 --> 00:02:05.599 thrust this sleepy township into the national spotlight and force 36 00:02:05.640 --> 00:02:08.800 its residents to confront a truth most Americans had relegated 37 00:02:08.800 --> 00:02:12.919 to campfire stories and late night television. What happened to 38 00:02:13.000 --> 00:02:15.840 the Caton family that August didn't happen in some remote 39 00:02:15.840 --> 00:02:20.719 wilderness accessible only by helicopter and hiking boots. It happened 40 00:02:20.719 --> 00:02:23.680 in their backyard. And whatever stalked them from the tree 41 00:02:23.759 --> 00:02:27.960 line didn't ask permission, didn't wait for investigators, and didn't 42 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:31.680 seem particularly concerned with whether anyone believed in its existence 43 00:02:31.759 --> 00:02:35.319 or not. This is the story of the Minerva Monster. 44 00:02:36.400 --> 00:02:39.599 Paris Township sits in the southeastern corner of Stark County, 45 00:02:40.039 --> 00:02:43.680 a patchwork of farmland, scattered homes, and thick woods, cut 46 00:02:43.719 --> 00:02:47.560 through by old mining operations that left the landscape scarred 47 00:02:47.599 --> 00:02:51.400 with deep pits and artificial hills. The Great Trail once 48 00:02:51.479 --> 00:02:54.560 ran through this area, used by Native Americans for centuries 49 00:02:54.560 --> 00:02:59.800 before European settlers arrived. Later, the Transcontinental Lincoln Highway brought 50 00:02:59.840 --> 00:03:02.840 travelers threw on their way west, and trains carried coal 51 00:03:02.879 --> 00:03:06.759 from the mines to Cleveland's power plants. It's old land, 52 00:03:07.039 --> 00:03:09.599 layered with history, and if you talk to the people 53 00:03:09.599 --> 00:03:12.599 who've lived there for generations, they'll tell you the woods 54 00:03:12.599 --> 00:03:17.080 have always had a strange quality, especially after dark. The 55 00:03:17.120 --> 00:03:19.879 Caton family had lived at fourteen one eighty six Lincoln 56 00:03:19.879 --> 00:03:24.240 Street Southeast for years without incident. Herbert and Evelyn Cayton 57 00:03:24.319 --> 00:03:28.199 were plain, hard working people. Herbert worked the midnight shift 58 00:03:28.199 --> 00:03:31.879 at dee Bold and Evelyn kept the house. Their children 59 00:03:31.879 --> 00:03:36.479 and grandchildren visited often, and the property, while modest, felt 60 00:03:36.520 --> 00:03:40.759 like home. Behind the house stretched an abandoned strip mine, 61 00:03:40.800 --> 00:03:42.919 a deep scar in the earth left over from the 62 00:03:43.000 --> 00:03:46.520 area's coal mining days. The pit had filled partially with 63 00:03:46.639 --> 00:03:49.560 water and thick brush and trees had grown up around it, 64 00:03:49.919 --> 00:03:53.120 creating a dense wall of vegetation between the Caton property 65 00:03:53.360 --> 00:03:56.360 and the deep woods beyond. It was the kind of 66 00:03:56.360 --> 00:03:59.280 place kids might explore during the day, but nobody ventured 67 00:03:59.319 --> 00:04:02.800 after sunset. The cadence had gotten used to the sounds 68 00:04:02.800 --> 00:04:06.520 that came from those woods at night, the usual forest noises, 69 00:04:06.960 --> 00:04:10.800 animals moving through the undergrowth, branches cracking in the wind. 70 00:04:11.680 --> 00:04:15.800 But that summer something changed. It started subtle, the way 71 00:04:15.800 --> 00:04:19.399 these things often do, strange noises in the backyard that 72 00:04:19.399 --> 00:04:22.879 didn't quite sound like anything the family could identify. The 73 00:04:22.959 --> 00:04:26.879 kids heard it first, talked about it among themselves. Maybe 74 00:04:26.920 --> 00:04:30.240 a hermit living rough in the abandoned mine, maybe some 75 00:04:30.360 --> 00:04:32.920 crazy mountain man who'd set up camp in the woods. 76 00:04:33.720 --> 00:04:36.319 It was almost a joke at first, something to give 77 00:04:36.360 --> 00:04:38.800 the younger ones a little thrill when they told stories 78 00:04:38.839 --> 00:04:42.319 on the porch as dusk settled in. But the family 79 00:04:42.360 --> 00:04:45.560 dog didn't think it was funny. Their German shepherd went 80 00:04:45.639 --> 00:04:50.160 absolutely berserk whenever those sounds drifted across the property, barking 81 00:04:50.199 --> 00:04:54.959 with an intensity that suggested genuine fear rather than territorial aggression. 82 00:04:55.800 --> 00:04:58.959 Dogs know things we don't. Anyone who spent time around. 83 00:04:59.040 --> 00:05:03.279 Animals understand this instinctively. When a dog that's never shown 84 00:05:03.319 --> 00:05:06.319 fear suddenly refuses to go into the yard after dark, 85 00:05:06.800 --> 00:05:08.959 when it stands rigid at the back door with its 86 00:05:08.959 --> 00:05:11.920 hackles raised and a low growl rumbling in its chest, 87 00:05:12.439 --> 00:05:16.560 you pay attention. The catons paid attention, but they didn't panic, 88 00:05:17.319 --> 00:05:21.240 not yet. Strange sounds in the woods could be almost anything. 89 00:05:21.839 --> 00:05:24.639 A bear, maybe, though bears weren't common in that part 90 00:05:24.680 --> 00:05:28.800 of Ohio. A deer moving through the underbrush, some kids 91 00:05:28.839 --> 00:05:34.000 messing around. The rational mind seeks rational explanations, especially when 92 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:37.480 the alternative is something you don't want to contemplate. Then 93 00:05:37.519 --> 00:05:41.079 the grandchildren saw it. On a hot day in early August, 94 00:05:41.160 --> 00:05:43.319 some of the cat and grandchildren were playing near the 95 00:05:43.360 --> 00:05:47.160 old gravel pit behind the house. The abandoned strip mine 96 00:05:47.160 --> 00:05:51.079 created an eerie landscape of artificial hills and sudden drops, 97 00:05:51.519 --> 00:05:53.879 places where the earth had been torn open and left 98 00:05:53.879 --> 00:05:57.279 to heel on its own. The kids knew the area well, 99 00:05:57.600 --> 00:06:01.759 had played their countless times in this particular afternoon. They 100 00:06:01.759 --> 00:06:03.759 came running back to the house in a state of 101 00:06:03.839 --> 00:06:08.079 absolute terror. They'd seen something at the pit, something big, 102 00:06:08.639 --> 00:06:12.199 something that shouldn't exist. The adults assumed the kids had 103 00:06:12.199 --> 00:06:16.199 spooked themselves, let their imaginations run wild the way children do. 104 00:06:17.040 --> 00:06:20.240 But when Evelyn Kton, her son how and her daughter 105 00:06:20.319 --> 00:06:23.600 Vicki Keck, walked back to investigate, they saw it too. 106 00:06:24.639 --> 00:06:27.879 Standing near the gravel pit, partially obscured by the uneven 107 00:06:27.959 --> 00:06:32.279 terrain and scattered brush, was a creature that defied easy description. 108 00:06:33.160 --> 00:06:35.480 It stood upright like a man, but was far too 109 00:06:35.639 --> 00:06:39.319 large and far too hairy to be human. The witnesses 110 00:06:39.360 --> 00:06:42.319 would later estimate it stood about seven feet tall and 111 00:06:42.360 --> 00:06:46.439 weighed somewhere around three hundred pounds. Its entire body was 112 00:06:46.480 --> 00:06:50.160 covered in thick, matted hair, dark brown to black in color, 113 00:06:50.560 --> 00:06:52.879 and the hair was so dense and shaggy that they 114 00:06:52.879 --> 00:06:57.000 couldn't make out any real facial features. From where they stood, 115 00:06:57.040 --> 00:07:00.160 frozen in shock and disbelief, all they could see was 116 00:07:00.199 --> 00:07:05.040 this massive, hair covered form that radiated wrongness. This wasn't 117 00:07:05.040 --> 00:07:08.000 a bear standing on its hind legs. This wasn't a 118 00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:12.079 man in a costume. This was something else, entirely, something 119 00:07:12.120 --> 00:07:14.959 that looked at them with what seemed like intelligence, before 120 00:07:15.000 --> 00:07:18.959 turning and moving back toward the deeper woods. The family 121 00:07:19.000 --> 00:07:22.720 didn't immediately call the police. How do you report something 122 00:07:22.839 --> 00:07:25.920 like that? What do you say? We saw a monster 123 00:07:25.959 --> 00:07:30.120 in our backyard? They'd be laughed out of the sheriff's office, 124 00:07:30.240 --> 00:07:32.959 so they kept quiet. Told a few close friends in 125 00:07:33.040 --> 00:07:37.079 hushed tones, tried to process what they'd seen. Maybe it 126 00:07:37.079 --> 00:07:40.720 had been passing through, maybe it was gone, but deep 127 00:07:40.800 --> 00:07:44.720 down they knew better. The sounds in the woods continued, 128 00:07:45.160 --> 00:07:50.360 grew bolder, and the smell started. August twentieth, nineteen seventy eight, 129 00:07:50.480 --> 00:07:53.079 was a hot summer night, the kind where the heat 130 00:07:53.160 --> 00:07:56.839 refuses to break even after the sun goes down. Evelyn 131 00:07:56.920 --> 00:07:59.439 Kyton sat at the kitchen table with family and friends, 132 00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:03.399 trying to find some relief from the oppressive temperature. The 133 00:08:03.439 --> 00:08:06.279 windows were opened to catch any breeze that might drift through. 134 00:08:07.079 --> 00:08:10.199 The outside lights were on, casting a yellow glow across 135 00:08:10.199 --> 00:08:13.079 the back porch and a few feet into the yard beyond. 136 00:08:13.399 --> 00:08:17.079 Before the darkness swallowed everything. They heard the noise around 137 00:08:17.160 --> 00:08:20.319 nine o'clock, a sound from the backyard that made everyone 138 00:08:20.360 --> 00:08:23.120 at the table stop talking and turned toward the windows. 139 00:08:23.800 --> 00:08:28.319 It was scratching, clawing, the unmistakable sound of something large 140 00:08:28.360 --> 00:08:32.240 moving near the house. Then they smelled it, the odor 141 00:08:32.320 --> 00:08:35.240 hit them like a physical force, seeping through the open 142 00:08:35.279 --> 00:08:38.279 windows and filling the kitchen with a stench so powerful 143 00:08:38.519 --> 00:08:41.960 it made their eyes water. It smelled like ammonia mixed 144 00:08:41.960 --> 00:08:45.600 with sulfur, like rotten eggs, combined with something animal and 145 00:08:45.679 --> 00:08:49.080 feral and wrong. And then they saw it at the window, 146 00:08:49.679 --> 00:08:52.639 illuminated by the outside light, pressed close enough to the 147 00:08:52.639 --> 00:08:55.559 house that its breath would have fog the glass stood 148 00:08:55.559 --> 00:08:59.240 the creature. Its face was right there, just feet away 149 00:08:59.240 --> 00:09:02.960 from where they sat, paralyzed in terror. The matted hair 150 00:09:03.000 --> 00:09:05.279 covered most of its features, but they could see the 151 00:09:05.320 --> 00:09:08.639 general shape of a head, could sense the eyes watching 152 00:09:08.679 --> 00:09:12.399 them from within that mass of filthy, tangled hair. It 153 00:09:12.480 --> 00:09:15.519 was looking in at them, studying them as if trying 154 00:09:15.519 --> 00:09:19.080 to understand what it was seeing. The creature's body filled 155 00:09:19.080 --> 00:09:22.759 the window frame, massive shoulders, blocking out the night beyond. 156 00:09:23.559 --> 00:09:26.519 One of the women at the table started crying. Several 157 00:09:26.559 --> 00:09:30.720 people gasped or shouted. Someone knocked over a chair, scrambling backward. 158 00:09:31.600 --> 00:09:35.200 Evelyn Caton's daughter, Rebecca Manley, twenty seven years old and 159 00:09:35.240 --> 00:09:39.080 not given to hysteria, later told investigators she'd never felt 160 00:09:39.080 --> 00:09:43.039 fear like that before. Her sister, Vicki Keck twenty five 161 00:09:43.519 --> 00:09:47.600 was shaking so badly she could barely stand. Scott Patterson, 162 00:09:47.799 --> 00:09:50.440 eighteen in, a friend of the family, had been skeptical 163 00:09:50.440 --> 00:09:54.679 of the earlier reports. He wasn't skeptical anymore. The thing 164 00:09:54.720 --> 00:09:59.759 at the window was undeniably real, undeniably there, and undeniably 165 00:09:59.799 --> 00:10:03.519 not something that should exist in any rational world. But 166 00:10:03.600 --> 00:10:06.679 here's what made it even worse. The creature didn't run 167 00:10:06.720 --> 00:10:09.639 when it was spotted. It didn't immediately flee into the 168 00:10:09.720 --> 00:10:14.120 darkness like a startled animal. Wood It stood there, continuing 169 00:10:14.159 --> 00:10:16.480 to look in at them, as if their fear was 170 00:10:16.519 --> 00:10:20.840 irrelevant or perhaps even interesting to it. Herbert Cayton wasn't 171 00:10:20.840 --> 00:10:23.799 home that night. He was at work pulling his shift 172 00:10:23.799 --> 00:10:26.720 at the Diebold factory. The others at the house had 173 00:10:26.759 --> 00:10:29.840 to make a decision hide inside and hope it went away, 174 00:10:30.440 --> 00:10:34.080 or venture out and confront it. Looking back, it seems 175 00:10:34.080 --> 00:10:37.480 insane that anyone would choose the latter option, but fear 176 00:10:37.480 --> 00:10:40.759 and adrenaline do strange things to people. A group of 177 00:10:40.799 --> 00:10:44.879 them grabbed flashlights and, with more courage than sense, went outside. 178 00:10:44.960 --> 00:10:47.679 They needed to know what this thing was, needed to 179 00:10:47.679 --> 00:10:50.720 see it more clearly, needed some kind of answer. Even 180 00:10:50.759 --> 00:10:54.679 if that answer was terrifying. They saw it in the headlights. First, 181 00:10:55.159 --> 00:10:57.279 someone had the presence of mind to get in one 182 00:10:57.320 --> 00:10:59.639 of the cars parked near the house and flip on 183 00:10:59.679 --> 00:11:02.919 the high beams, using the vehicle as a mobile spotlight. 184 00:11:03.759 --> 00:11:06.679 The creature was there, near the abandoned chicken coop at 185 00:11:06.679 --> 00:11:09.759 the back of the property. The headlights caught it full on, 186 00:11:10.279 --> 00:11:13.159 and for a few seconds they got their clearest look yet. 187 00:11:13.879 --> 00:11:16.799 It was enormous, moving on two legs with a gait 188 00:11:16.840 --> 00:11:20.360 that was neither quite human nor quite ape like. The 189 00:11:20.519 --> 00:11:23.600 arms were long, the body covered in that same matted, 190 00:11:23.679 --> 00:11:26.759 filthy hair. Then the thing did something that sent the 191 00:11:26.879 --> 00:11:31.240 entire group sprinting back toward the house. It moved toward them, 192 00:11:31.279 --> 00:11:34.720 not a way toward them. The creature came at the 193 00:11:34.720 --> 00:11:38.360 car with the headlights, moving with a purpose that suggested aggression, 194 00:11:38.679 --> 00:11:42.159 or at least an unsettling lack of fear. Everyone ran. 195 00:11:42.919 --> 00:11:45.679 The person in the car threw it in reverse, tires 196 00:11:45.679 --> 00:11:49.120 spinning in the dirt driveway. The others made for the house, 197 00:11:49.320 --> 00:11:52.639 stumbling over each other in their panic to get inside. 198 00:11:52.679 --> 00:11:55.440 Once through the door, they locked it, backed away from 199 00:11:55.480 --> 00:11:58.360 the windows, stood there in the kitchen breathing hard and 200 00:11:58.399 --> 00:12:02.159 staring at each other with wide eyes. Someone suggested calling 201 00:12:02.200 --> 00:12:05.320 the police, but what would they say? How would they 202 00:12:05.320 --> 00:12:09.879 explain this without sounding insane? Evelyn Cayton made the call anyway. 203 00:12:10.399 --> 00:12:12.799 The thing was still out there. They could hear it 204 00:12:12.840 --> 00:12:16.879 moving around the property, and that smell, that awful ammonia 205 00:12:17.000 --> 00:12:21.399 and sulfur stench seemed to permeate everything. She told the 206 00:12:21.440 --> 00:12:24.120 dispatcher they had some kind of creature in their backyard, 207 00:12:24.600 --> 00:12:29.240 something large and dangerous, something they couldn't identify. To the 208 00:12:29.279 --> 00:12:33.080 dispatcher's credit, they didn't laugh or dismiss the call. This 209 00:12:33.279 --> 00:12:37.159 was rural Ohio, and strange animal sightings weren't unheard of. 210 00:12:37.879 --> 00:12:41.679 A deputy would be sent out to investigate. Deputy James 211 00:12:41.679 --> 00:12:44.720 Shannon arrived at the Caton property not knowing what to expect. 212 00:12:45.360 --> 00:12:49.519 A bear, probably maybe someone's idea of a prank. He'd 213 00:12:49.519 --> 00:12:52.360 been with the Stark County Sheriff's Department for years and 214 00:12:52.399 --> 00:12:55.000 thought he'd seen just about everything the job could throw 215 00:12:55.039 --> 00:12:57.519 at him. But when he stepped out of his patrol 216 00:12:57.559 --> 00:13:01.440 car and approached the house, he immediately smelled it. That 217 00:13:01.519 --> 00:13:04.720 odor the Catens had described. It was real, and it 218 00:13:04.759 --> 00:13:08.279 was powerful. Shannon, who would later retire as a captain 219 00:13:08.320 --> 00:13:11.360 after thirty years in law enforcement, would call that night 220 00:13:11.440 --> 00:13:15.720 the most bizarre investigation of his entire career. He spent 221 00:13:15.799 --> 00:13:19.200 several hours on the property that evening, interviewing the witnesses, 222 00:13:19.519 --> 00:13:22.799 searching the area around the house with his flashlight, trying 223 00:13:22.840 --> 00:13:25.960 to find some rational explanation for what these people had seen. 224 00:13:26.840 --> 00:13:31.240 The witnesses were genuinely terrified. These weren't kids making up stories. 225 00:13:31.679 --> 00:13:35.200 These were adults shaken to their core, describing the same 226 00:13:35.279 --> 00:13:39.039 thing in consistent detail when he questioned them separately. Seven 227 00:13:39.080 --> 00:13:43.120 foot tall, three hundred pounds, covered in dark matted hair, 228 00:13:43.679 --> 00:13:47.279 walked upright, came to the window, moved toward them when 229 00:13:47.320 --> 00:13:50.679 they went outside. Shannon didn't find the creature that night, 230 00:13:51.080 --> 00:13:55.080 but he found evidence. There were unusual footprints near the house, 231 00:13:55.639 --> 00:13:59.200 large impressions in the dirt that didn't match anything he recognized. 232 00:14:00.039 --> 00:14:02.600 He noted them in his report, measured them at fourteen 233 00:14:02.639 --> 00:14:05.679 to sixteen inches long. There were marks on the old 234 00:14:05.759 --> 00:14:09.240 chicken coop places where something large had clearly been sitting 235 00:14:09.360 --> 00:14:13.159 or leaning, and that smell it lingered in certain spots 236 00:14:13.200 --> 00:14:16.399 around the property, concentrated near the kitchen window where the 237 00:14:16.399 --> 00:14:20.679 creature had first appeared. Shannon photographed what he could, took 238 00:14:20.720 --> 00:14:23.960 detailed notes, and promised the Catons he'd return in daylight 239 00:14:24.240 --> 00:14:27.360 to conduct a more thorough search. He didn't tell them 240 00:14:27.399 --> 00:14:31.080 they were crazy, he didn't suggest they'd imagined it. In 241 00:14:31.120 --> 00:14:34.440 his gut, Shannon knew they'd seen something real, even if 242 00:14:34.440 --> 00:14:38.480 he couldn't explain what that something was. When dawn broke 243 00:14:38.519 --> 00:14:41.960 on August twenty first, Shannon returned with four other deputies. 244 00:14:42.480 --> 00:14:46.000 They brought army surplus jeeps and horses equipment for a 245 00:14:46.039 --> 00:14:49.799 serious search of rough terrain. For six to seven hours, 246 00:14:49.840 --> 00:14:52.799 they combed the woods behind the cat and property, riding 247 00:14:52.840 --> 00:14:56.639 through the dense brush, checking the abandoned strip mine, looking 248 00:14:56.720 --> 00:14:59.159 for any sign of what had terrorized the family the 249 00:14:59.240 --> 00:15:03.360 night before. Stay tuned for more sasquatch ott to see 250 00:15:03.399 --> 00:15:10.200 we'll be right back after these messages. What they found 251 00:15:10.360 --> 00:15:13.960 didn't provide easy answers. Behind the house, cutting through a 252 00:15:14.000 --> 00:15:17.600 dense thicket of brush and thorn bushes, they discovered a tunnel. 253 00:15:18.200 --> 00:15:21.360 It was seven to eight feet long, carved through vegetation 254 00:15:21.519 --> 00:15:23.840 so thick that a person would have needed a chainsaw 255 00:15:23.879 --> 00:15:26.559 to get through it, but There were no saw marks, 256 00:15:26.919 --> 00:15:30.440 no sign that machinery had been used. The tunnel opened 257 00:15:30.480 --> 00:15:34.000 into a small clearing, almost like a nest or sleeping area. 258 00:15:34.799 --> 00:15:38.159 Barbara Galloway, the reporter from the Akron Beacon Journal who 259 00:15:38.159 --> 00:15:42.480 would cover the story extensively, later examined this area. She'd 260 00:15:42.480 --> 00:15:45.799 grown up on a farm and new animal behavior. Bears 261 00:15:45.799 --> 00:15:49.039 make dens, but they also mark their territory by clawing 262 00:15:49.080 --> 00:15:53.200 trees and leaving scattered debris. This wasn't like that at all. 263 00:15:53.840 --> 00:15:57.519 The tunnel was too clean, too purposeful. It looked like 264 00:15:57.559 --> 00:16:01.120 something large had simply pushed through the brush using raw strength, 265 00:16:01.639 --> 00:16:04.320 creating a path to a resting spot. In a secluded 266 00:16:04.360 --> 00:16:07.720 area behind the Caton home, near the chicken coop, they 267 00:16:07.799 --> 00:16:11.000 found tufts of hair clinging to the weathered wood. The 268 00:16:11.080 --> 00:16:15.240 hair was dark, coarse, and unlike anything the deputies recognized. 269 00:16:15.879 --> 00:16:18.840 It was collected and sent to Malone College for analysis. 270 00:16:19.639 --> 00:16:22.200 In one of the pits behind the property, they discovered 271 00:16:22.200 --> 00:16:25.679 part of a skull, large and weathered. It appeared to 272 00:16:25.679 --> 00:16:28.799 be from a cow or similar large animal, but its 273 00:16:28.799 --> 00:16:32.840 presence in that location raised questions what had brought it there? 274 00:16:33.360 --> 00:16:36.480 Had something been feeding on it? The skull was also 275 00:16:36.600 --> 00:16:39.679 sent for analysis, first to Malone College and then to 276 00:16:39.759 --> 00:16:43.799 the pathology laboratory at Altman Hospital, but the hospital refused 277 00:16:43.840 --> 00:16:47.399 to examine it. To this day, nobody knows what happened 278 00:16:47.399 --> 00:16:52.440 to these samples. They vanished into bureaucratic limbo, either lost, destroyed, 279 00:16:52.519 --> 00:16:56.080 or sitting in some forgotten storage room, their potential answers 280 00:16:56.120 --> 00:16:59.679 forever out of reach. Herbert Cayton, who'd been at work 281 00:16:59.759 --> 00:17:03.399 during the initial encounter, told investigators he'd actually seen the 282 00:17:03.399 --> 00:17:06.799 creature twice before, but hadn't wanted to alarm his family. 283 00:17:07.519 --> 00:17:10.079 He'd spotted it moving through the woods near the property. 284 00:17:10.400 --> 00:17:13.480 Watching from the edge of the tree line, he'd convinced 285 00:17:13.559 --> 00:17:16.160 himself it was a bear, or perhaps a very large 286 00:17:16.200 --> 00:17:19.039 man in dark clothing, seen at distance in poor light, 287 00:17:19.880 --> 00:17:22.519 But after hearing what his wife and the others had experienced, 288 00:17:22.759 --> 00:17:26.400 he couldn't maintain that denial anymore. This wasn't a bear. 289 00:17:27.079 --> 00:17:30.480 He knew what bears looked like, how they moved. When 290 00:17:30.519 --> 00:17:33.160 a bear leaves an area, it drops to all fours 291 00:17:33.200 --> 00:17:36.480 and lumbers away. This thing had swung itself up and 292 00:17:36.519 --> 00:17:38.559 over the edge of the strip mine, walking on two 293 00:17:38.680 --> 00:17:41.640 legs like a man, but far too large and powerful 294 00:17:41.680 --> 00:17:44.880 to be any man Caiton had ever seen. The sightings 295 00:17:44.880 --> 00:17:50.119 didn't end, if anything, they intensified. On August twenty second, 296 00:17:50.359 --> 00:17:53.720 just two days after the kitchen window encounter, Mary Ackerman, 297 00:17:54.000 --> 00:17:56.559 another of the cat and daughters, drove to her parents 298 00:17:56.640 --> 00:17:59.519 house to pick up her daughter and a friend. It 299 00:17:59.559 --> 00:18:02.400 was around nine o'clock in the evening, still light enough 300 00:18:02.400 --> 00:18:05.799 to see clearly. As she pulled into the driveway, she 301 00:18:05.880 --> 00:18:07.880 saw it standing on top of the hill next to 302 00:18:07.920 --> 00:18:11.440 the abandoned strip mine. The creature was in full view, 303 00:18:11.799 --> 00:18:15.759 impossible to mistake for anything else. Mary stopped the car 304 00:18:15.799 --> 00:18:19.440 and just watched, too shocked to move. The thing stood 305 00:18:19.480 --> 00:18:23.119 more than six feet tall, had stubby, powerful legs, and 306 00:18:23.240 --> 00:18:25.720 was covered head to toe in dark hair so thick 307 00:18:25.759 --> 00:18:29.400 and matted that no features were distinguishable. It didn't seem 308 00:18:29.480 --> 00:18:32.839 bothered by her presence. After a moment, it turned and 309 00:18:32.880 --> 00:18:34.880 walked toward the woods at the edge of the mine, 310 00:18:35.519 --> 00:18:39.759 moving with that same disturbing bipedal gait. Mary would later 311 00:18:39.799 --> 00:18:42.279 tell reporters that it was shaped like a man and 312 00:18:42.359 --> 00:18:45.759 walked like a man. The movement was wrong for a bear. 313 00:18:46.480 --> 00:18:49.119 When a bear moves away, it does so on all 314 00:18:49.200 --> 00:18:52.519 four feet. This creature swung itself up and over the 315 00:18:52.599 --> 00:18:56.039 terrain on two legs, using its arms for balance as 316 00:18:56.039 --> 00:19:00.119 it climbed the hillside and disappeared into the forest. Next 317 00:19:00.200 --> 00:19:04.039 night brought the most dramatic encounter yet, August twenty third, 318 00:19:04.039 --> 00:19:07.200 around eleven o'clock at night. The Catons were in the house, 319 00:19:07.519 --> 00:19:12.680 doors locked, lights on. The earlier encounters had everyone on edge. 320 00:19:12.799 --> 00:19:16.079 Nobody wanted to venture outside after dark. The sounds from 321 00:19:16.119 --> 00:19:19.720 the woods had been constant, strange vocalizations that didn't match 322 00:19:19.759 --> 00:19:23.240 any animal the family recognized, and the smell would come 323 00:19:23.240 --> 00:19:26.839 and go, drifting across the property like some invisible reminder 324 00:19:27.079 --> 00:19:30.720 that they were being watched. How Caton heard something near 325 00:19:30.759 --> 00:19:35.759 the house, movement, heavy footsteps, that distinctive sound of something 326 00:19:35.839 --> 00:19:38.839 large moving through the yard. With no attempt at stealth, 327 00:19:39.640 --> 00:19:42.279 He looked out and saw the creature much closer to 328 00:19:42.319 --> 00:19:45.160 the house than it had been before. Illuminated by the 329 00:19:45.200 --> 00:19:48.440 porch lights, Hal grabbed a gun and fired it into 330 00:19:48.519 --> 00:19:51.759 the air. The blast echoed across the property and into 331 00:19:51.759 --> 00:19:56.119 the woods beyond. The creature bolted, moving with startling speed 332 00:19:56.160 --> 00:19:59.200 back toward the strip mine and the forest. But how 333 00:19:59.240 --> 00:20:01.720 had gotten a clear look clear enough to know with 334 00:20:01.799 --> 00:20:05.680 absolute certainty what everyone had been seeing. This was no bear, 335 00:20:06.160 --> 00:20:09.200 This was no man in a costume. This was something else, 336 00:20:09.839 --> 00:20:14.480 something that shouldn't exist, but undeniably did. The gunshot seemed 337 00:20:14.519 --> 00:20:17.160 to make the creature more cautious, but it didn't drive 338 00:20:17.200 --> 00:20:20.799 it away entirely. Over the following days and weeks, the 339 00:20:20.839 --> 00:20:25.200 Catons continued to experience strange occurrences. Rocks were thrown at 340 00:20:25.200 --> 00:20:28.920 the house at night, small stones pelting the roof and walls. 341 00:20:29.640 --> 00:20:32.799 This is behavior that's been reported in bigfoot encounters across 342 00:20:32.839 --> 00:20:40.319 North America, and researchers still debate what it means, territorial warning, curiosity, aggression, 343 00:20:41.079 --> 00:20:44.319 whatever the motivation, the Caton family was being harassed by 344 00:20:44.319 --> 00:20:47.759 something that apparently had both the intelligence to use projectiles 345 00:20:48.079 --> 00:20:52.839 and the boldness to approach and occupied dwelling. On September eighth, 346 00:20:52.880 --> 00:20:56.000 Mary Ackerman had her second sighting. It was around six 347 00:20:56.039 --> 00:21:00.000 o'clock in the evening, still daylight. She saw two creatures 348 00:21:00.119 --> 00:21:02.720 near the Strip mine, moving through the area with what 349 00:21:02.799 --> 00:21:06.200 appeared to be deliberate purpose. They were too far away 350 00:21:06.240 --> 00:21:08.200 and the terrain was too uneven for her to get 351 00:21:08.240 --> 00:21:11.440 perfect detail, but she could clearly see they were ape 352 00:21:11.599 --> 00:21:15.200 like in appearance. There were two of them, one larger, 353 00:21:15.599 --> 00:21:19.640 one smaller. The implication sent chills through the family and 354 00:21:19.680 --> 00:21:23.319 the investigators who would later interview them. If there were 355 00:21:23.319 --> 00:21:26.599 two creatures, that suggested this wasn't just some lone animal 356 00:21:26.680 --> 00:21:31.079 passing through the area, it suggested a presence, maybe even 357 00:21:31.119 --> 00:21:34.680 a family group. The two creatures moved around for several 358 00:21:34.720 --> 00:21:38.079 minutes before disappearing back into the dense woods, and that 359 00:21:38.240 --> 00:21:41.279 was the last clear sighting the Caton family had of 360 00:21:41.319 --> 00:21:44.759 the Minerva monster. But the story was just beginning to 361 00:21:44.799 --> 00:21:48.720 spread beyond the family and the immediate neighborhood. When news 362 00:21:48.720 --> 00:21:52.400 of the Caton's encounters hit the papers, it exploded. The 363 00:21:52.400 --> 00:21:55.519 story made the front page of the local repository newspaper 364 00:21:55.599 --> 00:21:58.680 four times in the span of two weeks. The first 365 00:21:58.759 --> 00:22:03.359 headline read deputies seek six foot beast. A few days later, 366 00:22:03.400 --> 00:22:06.079 the banner across the top of the paper proclaimed, be 367 00:22:06.240 --> 00:22:11.079 still loose, but noises odor persist. The story spread beyond 368 00:22:11.119 --> 00:22:15.480 local papers. The Akron Beacon Journal sent reporter Barbara Galloway 369 00:22:15.519 --> 00:22:19.079 to cover it. Wire services picked it up, and suddenly 370 00:22:19.119 --> 00:22:24.119 this small family in rural Ohio was national news. Within days, 371 00:22:24.160 --> 00:22:29.400 the Caton property transformed into a circus. Media crews from Akron, Cleveland, 372 00:22:29.599 --> 00:22:34.559 and even international outlets descended on Lincoln Street. Bigfoot investigators 373 00:22:34.640 --> 00:22:38.839 arrived from Florida and California, and the hunters came. Lots 374 00:22:38.880 --> 00:22:43.920 of hunters armed with high powered rifles, shotguns, night vision equipment, 375 00:22:44.119 --> 00:22:47.839 and packs of Doberman pincers. One van full of hunters 376 00:22:47.839 --> 00:22:51.559 pulled directly onto the Caton's front lawn, the occupants jumping 377 00:22:51.599 --> 00:22:53.880 out with their dogs and heading straight for the woods 378 00:22:53.920 --> 00:22:57.319 without so much as asking permission. People camped out in 379 00:22:57.359 --> 00:23:00.799 the forest behind the house. Cars line to both sides 380 00:23:00.799 --> 00:23:03.920 of the road. Herbert Cayton would later recall days when 381 00:23:03.920 --> 00:23:06.240 there were between one hundred and one hundred and fifty 382 00:23:06.319 --> 00:23:10.039 vehicles crammed into their driveway, on their lawn and along 383 00:23:10.119 --> 00:23:14.039 the roadside. Strangers tramped through the property at all hours. 384 00:23:14.720 --> 00:23:18.359 Evely and Cayton, already shaken by the encounters themselves, was 385 00:23:18.359 --> 00:23:20.599 pushed to the edge of a nervous breakdown by the 386 00:23:20.640 --> 00:23:24.480 invasion of privacy. The family erected a fence and posted 387 00:23:24.519 --> 00:23:28.680 no trespassing signs, but it did little good. The publicity 388 00:23:28.680 --> 00:23:31.400 had taken on a life of its own. The attention 389 00:23:31.519 --> 00:23:35.200 came with a price. Not everyone believed the Catons, and 390 00:23:35.279 --> 00:23:39.319 those skeptics made their opinions known in cruel ways. At 391 00:23:39.359 --> 00:23:41.599 a high school football game, when members of the Caton 392 00:23:41.640 --> 00:23:44.559 family entered the stadium, the crowd stood up and began 393 00:23:44.680 --> 00:23:48.559 chanting Bigfoot, Bigfoot at them. A local restaurant put up 394 00:23:48.599 --> 00:23:52.720 a roadside sign that read Bigfoot eight here, mocking the story. 395 00:23:53.400 --> 00:23:56.039 People yelled things from car windows when they drove past 396 00:23:56.039 --> 00:24:00.000 the house. The family became a joke in some circles, 397 00:24:00.039 --> 00:24:02.839 missed as attention seekers or fools who couldn't tell the 398 00:24:02.839 --> 00:24:06.440 difference between a bear and a monster. Herbert Caton took 399 00:24:06.440 --> 00:24:09.440 the ridicule and stride as best he could. In a 400 00:24:09.480 --> 00:24:13.599 newspaper interview years later, he said, there were doubters, those 401 00:24:13.640 --> 00:24:16.720