In August 1978, the small town of Minerva, Ohio was thrust into the spotlight when a local family sighted a “monster” in the woods behind their home.
The Cayton family, two parents and seven kids, lived in a home on Lincoln Street, with an old strip mine out back. They were at the epicenter of the encounters.
Ohio investigators at the time ~ Ron Schaffner, Earl Jones, Jim Carnes, Jim Rastertter, Iona Boyce, Barbara Mudrak, James Shannon ~ dug into the case and found the details were credible.
In Mysterious America (1983, 2001, 2007), I wrote that “one of the best cases from the 1970s issued from Minerva, Ohio.”
Ron Schaffner said the Minerva Monster looked life Momo, and he called the case “by far, the most complex and interesting one” in his Ohio files.
While no one ever forgot about the Minerva Monster, it did begin to fade into history. But then a documentary project began in this century to capture the Midwest’s cryptid testimonies before they all disappeared.
The Seth Breedlove-directed Small Town Monsters’ 2015 production of Minerva Monster tells the real story through witness interviews, in the words of those who lived it. (Watch Minerva Monster here.)
Now comes word that something like the Minerva Monster may still be around the area. The account turned up, matter-of-factly, in the local paper’s police log.
The following was published in the Carroll County Messenger, June 12, 2019, on p.A2, without fanfare:
May 31, 2019: Frank L. Trussell, 71, of 101 E. Plain St., Minerva, [Ohio] was making a left-hand turn from Lunar Rd. onto Spring Rd. After turning, Trussell’s Dodge truck went across the center line and off the left side of the road, taking out a fence post and section of fence. Trussell told deputies when he was making the turn, he observed a large yeti standing in the roadway and swerved to miss it. He was cited for operating a vehicle without reasonable control.
If you are in the Minerva area, keep an eye out for the Monster. ~ Loren Coleman
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[...] any other wild animals. Meanwhile, Ohio is becoming more exciting. Loren Coleman reports on the New 2019 Minerva Monster Sighting, along with location details for the intrepid hunters among us. A fellow involved in a recent [...]
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