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Ohio 01 - Allen County - "Ape-like" face appears in window, startles woman at computer - BFRO report #7436 (see interview below)

Investigator - K.C. Charnes is an independent investigator, a former member of BFRO, a member of AIBR (Alliance of Independent Bigfoot Researchers) and SRI (Sasquatch Research Initiative).

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My introduction to Cathy:

I spoke to Cathy through emails over a period of two months in the spring of 2004. During that time she described the details of her sighting in depth. Using those details, I began a series of sketches. Each sketch was scanned and emailed back to her for changes. She would tell me to change the mouth and make it wider, to put creases across the face, to give the skin a leathery look and so on. In this way, over a period of many weeks, and many sketches later, we arrived at an illustration that she felt was an accurate depiction of the creature that appeared at her window one dark night.

A synopsis of the incident:

At about 11 pm on a November evening, Cathy was sitting at her computer in a relatively darkened room. The desk that holds her computer sits beneath a three-pane casement window. This window overlooks her front yard, garage. driveway, and the porch at her front door. The only light inside the room came from the glow of her computer screen and from a TV set which was behind her and across the room. Light also came obliquely from a single bulb in the small adjacent laundry area behind and to her left.

As she worked at her computer, Cathy had a strange feeling of being watched. She glanced up and saw a "horribly ugly face" just outside the window looking in at her. In shock, she got up to turn on the light switch in the room. The face in the window then disappeared into the night.

My interview with Cathy:

The following is a compilation of many emails between the witness and myself. It's set out in question and answer form. The answers are exactly as Cathy wrote them. Where necessary, for clarity, I put all answers for each topic together under one question.

Q:  Was the overhead light on in the room or just a desk light?

Neither - the only light on was in a room to my left - it is a laundry closet with a 100 watt bulb. The television was on straight behind me about 15 feet. The TV is small but does cast a small amount of light. It was dark, dark, dark outside. My husband had just gone to bed.

Q:  Was this light shining brightly enough to illuminate the animal's facial features well, or were they just half-lit?

Half lit - mostly shadow with some detail. Mostly dark to not so dark contrast. Gosh, that sounds weird - but I know I did not see all of the head. I only saw the face that came momentarily into the dim light that was shining out of the window at an angle. Not that he was at an angle - the light was coming at an angle from the room to my left. The movement was so fast - I have never seen anything appear and disappear so quickly. The term "split second" comes to mind here.

Q:  Was his face in 3/4 view or was it straight on so you could see both of his eyes?

Both eyes. I looked up and our eyes met. The face was above my computer screen which is directly below the window pane.

Q:  How large would you say his face appeared to be in the window frame?

The face fit between the pane. I was looking up into the face. It was about 1/2 way up the window. I didn't see the face above the brows. The blinds were in the way. They were partially down at the time. I pretty much keep them in the same position and very rarely close or open them so I didn't see above the brows. I only saw the skin part of the face. The nose was wide, a bit protruded and flat but without nostrils. If that makes any sense. The face looked angry and upset to me. The eyes were lively, direct, shiny, and very intelligent looking. I don't think he was angry actually - just looked angry and severe. It was the lines of the face that made him look so severe. But I didn't see any whites to the eyes. All I saw was black shiny pupils. The glare on the skin made it look lighter than it was. It was dark skin - I could see that plainly. But the black was really black. Huge contrast. It just left such an image in my brain. Or perhaps it was the shine - yes, maybe that's it. Everything had a shiny glint to it. A sparkle in the eye and a glint of moisture around the left upper mouth. And a shine to the skin. The look on the face was truly unnerving. I will never forget the piercing of the eyes and the lines that made it look so severe.

Q:  Try to recall what directions the wrinkles and creases went on the nose and face.

I didn't see the forehead at all. The skin itself was very weathered like a human would be if badly weathered and old. There was one very deep laugh line that was over the cheeks but not all the way to the nose. The lines were thinner as they traveled to the center of the face and wider and rounded by the cheeks. There were two other very deep creases - one that stretched from the bridge of the nose to below an ear. But I saw no ears. Just to that part of your face. The other crease ran along the nose to the chin. The face had a deep crease along the nose all the way to the jowl. These creases made him look like he was very very severe. The mouth was open making the chin look longer than what it was. The mouth didn't have prominent lips. Prominent mouth but thinner lips. Now I know that the deep ridges were ridges of skin deeply creased but possibly leading to hair on the side of the head. That would explain to me why the face looked oval and had wider areas of dark toward the outside of the face.

Q:  Are you saying that there were three creases on each side of the face?

The third line ran from the outer edge of the nose and to the jowl. All the deep creases were narrower toward the center of the face and wider toward the outer edges of the face. I think the fact that the skin area looked so narrow to me was that the deep creases might have been hair. They were narrow yet getting wider as they went toward the outside of the face where hair would be. There were three. Yes, you are right with it running from the nostril like a laugh line along the edge of the lip to the jowl. The line was thicker toward the bottom of the jowl. It was thinner towards the nose. It kind of fanned out upward and downward and blended into the darkness.

Q:  Was there a heavy brow ridge above deep-set eyes?

I just saw the bottom of the brow just above the eyes. I didn't see the brow above where it connects to the top of the head. Only saw where the eyes were under it. The eyes weren't as deeply set as the eyes of an ape. And not as small and squinty. They were large and intelligent. Not as large as ours would be in proportion to our faces, but yet not as deeply set as what an ape would be. But they were definitely under a brow. The brow was dark and didn't reflect much of the room light. Possibly covered with hair.

Q:  What shape did the jawline take?

All I saw was the shape of the chin. And the edges of the skin area. It was like leather with the creases widening along the face like scalloped edges. The mouth was open making the skin area of the chin look more oval than when closed. I think there was more to the head that was in the shadows.

Q:  Did you notice hair on its face?

There was no hair above the mouth or on the chin. The chin was leather looking - or at least the part of the dark chin that reflected light that I could see. It is hard to explain how dark it was that night. Most of what I am telling you is reflected light only. The sides of the chin were the beginnings of the deep wide creases that reduced in size and ran toward the area where the nostrils would begin. I didn't see the brow above the eyes. It was just black. The window blind was in front of anything above the brow.

Q:  I'd like to get more detail about the mouth. Were the lips very thin, or medium thin?

Medium thin. The edges of the mouth were tipped downward slightly. What it reminded me of was a human scowl. The mouth was a straight mouth, just slightly open with the outer edges turned downward and blending into the dark crease making the face look like a severe scowl. It didn't look friendly at all. The downward curve of the mouth goes straight down from the edge of the mouth and blends immediately into the large dark crease.

Q:  Could you see any teeth with its mouth open?

I only saw one little glint from the upper left side of his mouth. By left - I mean the right side looking at him. His left. I can't say for sure that it was a tooth. It might have just been a reflection of moisture from the light.