May 1st, 2025 – My Trip to the Ohio Bigfoot Conference

On May 1st, I flew to Ohio to meet up with my good friend, Shelly Covington-Montana, who had been invited as a guest speaker at this year’s Ohio Bigfoot Conference—the largest Bigfoot conference in the country!

I landed at the Cincinnati Airport, rented a car, and made the drive to the event. The only people I knew attending were Shelly and Amy Bue, and at the time, Amy wasn’t even sure if she'd be able to make it.

The conference was held at the Salt Fork Lodge and Conference Center, which is a Bigfoot hotspot in its own right. It had been a year and a half since I last saw Shelly, but we picked up right where we left off!

I helped Shelly organize and sell her Citizen Scientist DNA Collection Kits at her table. These kits are medical- and forensic-grade and include:

Hair Sample Kit

eDNA (Water) Kit

eDNA (Solids) Kit

SAV/Prints Kit

Each kit comes with gloves, a notepad, and masks for proper collection and staging. They're incredibly impressive tools for field research.

Shelly was in great company, sharing the weekend with Ranae Holland and Cliff Barackman from Finding Bigfoot, Dr. Jeff Meldrum, Seth Breedlove of Small Town Monsters, and Master of Ceremonies Dr. Esteban Sarmiento.

Throughout the weekend, I met so many amazing people and made some great new friends. We were so busy at the table that I never even got a chance to see any of the speaker presentations—but I still had an unforgettable time.

I left the conference feeling completely inspired—and already looking forward to going back next year. Hopefully, I’ll be able to spend a little more time exploring Salt Fork State Park too!