Brandan Smith stepped outside his house in rural Coshocton on a mild evening in mid July after hearing an unexpected sound outside. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he noticed a huge, imposing figure in his driveway, sifting through the rubbish containers and cardboard boxes he had set out for collection the next day.
“I immediately turned around, went back inside the house and slammed the door,” Smith recalled. “That image of something huge spooked me. And it just kind of dawned on me: It’s a bear.”
Convinced that nobody would believe him without proof, Smith retrieved his mobile phone, summoned his courage and went back outside to capture the animal on video…