DATE OF SIGHTING... January 15'th, 1984
TIME OF DAY... 5:30 p.m.
WITNESS(ES)... A friend and myself.
TERRAIN TYPE... Entrance of the Black Hand Gorge. Heavily wooded with small ponds and rock formations throughout the area.
COUNTY... Licking
NEAREST TOWN... Newark
WEATHER CONDITIONS... Sunny and in the low 40's.
HOW CLOSE WERE YOU?... Ten feet at the closest.
HEIGHT OF CREATURE?... Not sure, it was crouched down in the road.
COLOR... Light brown, almost caramel like.
FACIAL DESCRIPTION... When it looked at me straight on, its face had a snout like appearence, kind of like a Baboon. Hair was all over the face.
DESCRIBE THE ENCOUNTER... I was driving down a local State Route with a girlfriend. We were both cheerleaders and were heading towards Licking Valley High School for a game. We were driving fast down the road going towards the Claylick area. As we approached the area we saw something very hairy and very large squatting down in the middle of the road. Since the road was very narrow, I decided to drive towards it so I wouldn't go off the road and into the creek. At a distance of just ten feet away, I waited for an impact but surprisingly nothing happened. Apparently it jumped out of the way or maybe even rolled out of the way. When I looked in my rear view mirror, it was gone. I have no idea where it went and didn't stop to see. When we finally drove about 1/4 mile down the road, we finally spoke to each other. My friend and I tried to decide if it was a dog, bear, etc. but nothing met the description. Judging by what I saw of the animal, it was Baboon like in appearence, but much larger in size.

I went to the area on July 29'th, 2000. The Licking River runs through the same vicinity the witness and her friend spotted this creature, as does a smaller creek. The area is mixed with heavy woods and farm land. I spotted two deer grazing at the edge of a woodline as I approached the Licking River from the north.