When Terror Reigned at Gravel Bank

“Not many have shown a desire to frequent the 

moonlit paths of Gravel Bank forests much after dark.”

                                  - The Register-Leader, July 8, 1920

During the summer of 1920, the topic of conversation in most Ohio communities was the upcoming Presidential election. The candidates of both major political parties were Ohioans, with the Republicans nominating U.S. Senator Warren G. Harding and the Democrats being represented by Ohio Governor James M. Cox. The hard-working people of Gravel Bank had other things to discuss, however, when they gathered at the local store or chatted over a back fence: “Is there, or isn’t there, an ape?” they wondered.

The first sighting to be reported in the newspaper occurred on the evening of Saturday, July 3, when Archie Cassady and a group of other residents were walking along the road to Marietta. An ape-like creature squatted in front of the party, blocking their way and “looking at them intently.” Following a quick dispersal to gather assistance, they returned to the spot to find the ape had vanished.

Later that same evening, when passengers got off the train at Gravel Bank and were walking home, several got a look at the animal. When they left the site to obtain assistance, the ape also left. Huge tracks were seen leading into the brush, but stopped where the animal had “taken to the trees.”

About this same time, Bill Fish, a farmer who lived back of Gravel Bank, saw the ape not more than 20 feet from his house. Three shots from his revolver failed to hit the creature and by the time Fish could get a larger gun, it had disappeared. Some of his neighbors were skeptical, saying that Bill started the story just to scare intruders out of his fine berry patch.

The ape was described as being considerably larger than a man, probably close to seven feet tall. It may have escaped from the Cincinnati Zoo, or perhaps from a traveling circus that had visited the area recently. When frightened, it took to the trees, jumping swiftly from branch to branch. It had not attacked anyone or killed any livestock, but appeared to be “well fed.” Strange noises had been heard coming from the fields in the area, and it was believed by some that the large beast was eating wheat. Others laughed and said the weird sounds were being made by a sick cow.

Many families were frightened by the idea of an ape in their midst and kept their small children indoors. Vigilant farmers worked with a loaded gun nearby, prepared to defend their families. Doubters scoffed at the idea that an ape would ever make Gravel Bank its home and claimed the creature was actually a large raccoon. The Register-Leader asserted that a hunt had not been organized, “as half the people are too afraid and the other half refuse to believe in the ape’s existence.”

Along the railroad tracks at Gravel Bank.

If the people of Gravel Bank were not going on a hunt, outsiders were ready to track the beast. Within a week, a party of young men from Marietta visited the community, but to their disappointment, found nothing. A crowd of “big game hunters” from Parkersburg, along with a reporter from the Parkersburg News, were sure they could capture the ape, but their safari was rained out. Several days later the creature was seen in the vicinity of Mile Run, then at Squaw Hollow back of Harmar Hill. Clearly, there was too much activity at Gravel Bank, and it was on the move.

As the long, hot days of July wore on, the ape continued its solitary journey. On Saturday, the 17^th of July, it was spotted about 50 miles upriver, near New Martinsville, West Virginia. On July 22^nd, it startled a car filled with “ladies and children” near Wheeling. Mrs. J. W. Neidert, the driver, thought the ape looked “weary” and slowed her vehicle to keep from running it down. Barber George Mooney saw it in the same area about dusk, and claimed that it “rose on its hind feet, slouched across the road in a most ape-like manner, and disappeared among the trees.” In Mooney’s opinion, the animal “looked as if it could put up a fight.”

By mid-August the ape had taken up residence in southwestern Pennsylvania and was becoming hostile.  It attacked Nettie Schaffer when she was picking elderberries in her garden and terrorized the countryside between Greensburg and Homestead by killing sheep and dogs. At one point it interrupted a poker game at a remote shanty, scared off the players, and stole the “kitty.”

Finally, on August 26, the creature met its match in the form of Constable Eisenbarth of Baldwin Township, Allegheny County. It was sleeping next to a fire when the constable came upon it, and a fierce battle ensued. It tried to sink its teeth into the officer’s throat, but was eventually conquered and captured. According to the Wilkes-Barre Times-Leader of August 26, 1920, the ape was “nearly nude, with matted hair on his face and head six inches long,” and most surprising of all – it was a man! He was last reported sitting in a jail cell making “deep, guttural sounds resembling the croaking of a huge frog.” The final fate of the ape-man that terrorized Gravel Bank and the entire region during the summer of 1920 was not revealed.