Every Town - Freaky Humanoid Frog Sightings - The Loveland Frogmen - Loveland, OH

Episode Date: November 18, 2022

Cryptozoologists consider them as cryptids which means that their existence is based on alleged sightings with varying degrees of supporting evidence. They are thought to be extinct, but some believe that they still exist as in the case of the Loveland Frogmen if the witnesses’ accounts were truly factual. 💥 Watch On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/scarymysteries🎧 Our Other Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1235579💀 Follow Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/scarymysteries 💀 Follow Our Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andrew.fitzg👁 Follow Our TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@andrewfitzgerald💥 Follow Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scarymysteriesofficial Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Every town has a dark side. side. Since his introduction in 1955 by the multi-talented Jim Henson, the Muppet character, Kermit the Frog, has been a beloved character on television, stage, and film. Kermit is now well known all over the world, but did you know that in the very same year that he was introduced to us, a more interesting and freaky frog tale unfolded

in the once busy railroad town of Loveland in Ohio? Only, this was in a small, bright, green puppet. No, this was a giant humanoid frog, touted as an authentic cryptid by those who encountered it. There have been multiple sightings of a lovelin frogman throughout the decades, most recently in 2016. And they are considered some of the most intriguing cryptozoological mysteries in all of America. First, let's discuss what these legendary lovelin frogmen are exactly, who are also referred to as the Loveland lizards. Well, cryptologists consider them as cryptids,

which means that their existence is based on alleged sightings with varying degrees of supported evidence. It's a situation where many people think that they're extinct, but others believe that they still exist, as in the case of the Loveland Frogman, if the witness's accounts are truly factual. Their origins can be traced back with their existence, Highlighted in myth and legends.

It's also possible that these cryptids have evolved from previously existing creatures and mutated into a completely new one. The frog man is bipedal, so it uses only two legs for walking. And when standing, it's said to be around four to five feet tall. It has thick, leathery skin, webbed hands and feet, and lipless wide mouths. But its most distinguishing characteristic is having a frog-like face and hairless head cover with deep wrinkles. With such an outlandish appearance, it is no surprise that the businessman, policeman, farmer, and young man who had allegedly saw the creature in Loveland were in disbelief of what they encountered. Whether their stories are true or not is up for you to decide. The Loveland Frogmen are known to live in Ohio's Clermont County.

part of which is the town of Loveland, where the sightings have taken place. It's considered part of the Greater Cincinnati area, and borders Sims, Miami, and Hamilton Townships, and straddles the Little Miami River. That river and the Loveland Bridge have figured prominently in the sightings of the Loveland Frogman, and they become the setting for this baffling mystery. It was May 25, 1955, when the early stage of the legendary tale of the Loveland Frogman started to take shape. It was close to 4 o'clock in the wee hours of the morning.

And Robert Hunicut, a traveling businessman, was combing the lonely stretch of road that runs along the little Miami River, just on the outskirts of Loveland. Then he spotted three manlike trolls kneeling by the roadside. He described the creatures as bipedal, quasi-reptilian with gray skin, frog-like faces, normal eyes, but without eyebrows, and long hair. with slender limbs. As in most legends passed on through generations, this part of the story has other versions. One states that the frogmen were sitting on the bridge, while another situates the creatures beneath the bridge just down by the riverbank. Nevertheless, though, the narrative of all versions continues in the same direction. So the businessman's acute curiosity let him

to do some sleuthing, something I'd probably do if I encounter the same thing. Perhaps Robert's thoughts were running wild. Are they ghostly entities? Are they highway robbers disguised as hideous reptiles? Or have aliens invaded Ohio? Summoning all his guts, the man pulled his car to the curb. He spent the next three minutes scrutinizing the trio of creatures. He noticed that the frog man stood between three to four feet tall,

giving him a clear picture of their physical appearance. He also remembered the area admitted the part. pungent smell of combined alfalfa and almonds. Terrified of what he discovered, Robert scrambled out of the area, but before he could do so, a seemingly magical stun unfolded, much to his disbelief. One of the frogmen held a dark object above his head, something imperable to a magic wand, and outspue blue flashes all aglow from the tip of the stick-like object. Without missing a beat, the stunned Robert left straight away, exiting Branch Hill, which was

community bordering the southern end of Loveland. Almost unconsciously, he drove straight to the Loveland police station and reported his encounter to Chief of Police John Fritz. Evidently, the strange story was taken seriously as Fritz had one of his armed deputies, keep a vigil at the bridge, and an FBI investigation ensued after that. And thus, the legend of the Loveland Frogmen was now born.

For 17 years, there was silence about the source, stories of these alleged humanoid frogs. The people of Loveland, at least those who believed in the story, thought that the Frogman had probably disappeared or retreated and shied away from getting any more exposure. But their silence was broken when three succeeding accounts of their sightings were recorded in 1972. And what a comeback for the Loveland Frogman, as these sightings indeed became some of the most significant encounters in the anals of cryptozoology. Thus, the legend surrounding their existence was suddenly resurrected. The first one occurred on March 3rd, 1972, which involved Loveland police officer Ray Shockey.

He was patrolling around 1 o'clock in the morning on the icy East Kemper Road near the Tote's Boots Factory, which winds along the Little Miami River. When he drove past the river, Officer Shockey saw what he thought at first was a dog sitting on the roadside, on that clear, cold night. He slowed down to check on it, but it quickly became apparent that his impression wasn't correct. But he initially perceived as a dog turned out to be something totally different. From its crouching position, it stood up on its two limbs. Its eyes were illuminated by the police car's headlights.

Naturally, it shocked the officer, especially when the creature suddenly darted in front of his police vehicle. For a few minutes, it was like a staring match between Officer Shockey and what became clear to him as a frog-like creature. The frogman then quickly crossed the road, jumped over the guardrail and became invisible in the darkness of the Little Miami River. The bewildered lawman immediately drove to the police headquarters and filed a report of his astonishing sighting. He was convinced it was something monstrous.

He calculated that it weighed about 50 to 75 pounds, stood around four feet tall, and had leathery skin, and looked like a cross between a frog and a lizard. Officer Shockey, this time accompanied by fellow police officer Mark Matthews, headed back to the site to look for more evidence of the frogmen, and what they saw were claw marks on the guardrail and down the embankment, but no other physical evidence of the frogman.

Two weeks later, then, police officer Matthews had his own taste of the Loveland Frogman encounter the third sighting of the legendary cryptid. His experience was quite parallel with that of Officer Shockies, but with a strange twist. On March 17, 1972, Officer Matthews was driving outside of Loveland when he saw an animal lying in the middle of the road and thought it was dead or at least injured. He decided to move the animal as it was an obstruction in the already icy covered pavement. But when he climbed out of his cruiser, the frogman suddenly got up into a crouching position. startled by the creature's physical features and behavior. Officer Matthews pulled out his gun and shot it.

The frogman limped its way to the roadside and stepped over the guardrail while still keeping an eye on the officer. His depiction of the frog man matched Officer Shockey's description up to the last detail with the exception of the tale. One skeptical of his fellow officer's story of seeing the humanoid frog, Officer Matthews was now convinced that the Loveland Frills, Frogman did in fact exist. The alleged fourth sighting happened later that March and was reported by an anonymous farmer. He was inspecting his fields located adjacent to the Little Miami River when he saw four bizarre creatures, presumably the Loveland Frogman. He recounted that these creatures had large circular eyes with pale greenish-gray skin and wide mouths filled with sharp teeth.

It was a brief encounter as the strange figures ran and disappeared into the river when they spotted the farmer staring at them. I have to say that Ohio is a hotbed of stories involving cryptic encounters, and the Loveland Frogmen sightings are one of them. On March 28, 1959, a terrifying sighting of a huge monster-like creature happened in Charles Mills Lake, located in central Ohio, specifically in both Richland and Ashland counties, about 100 miles away from Loveland. The lake is a quiet place where people can have a relaxing time fishing, boating, hunting, or hiking. But that all changed after an incident happened, which was only documented once. Three teenage buddies, Denny Patterson, Wayne Armstrong, and Michael Lane were frolicking near the shores of the lake. When they came face-to-face with a monstrous creature that emerged from the seaweed-strewned waters,

they were petrified as the beast towered over them. A seven-foot-tall, armless humanoid with luminous green eyes and large webbed feet. Needless to say, the friends wasted no time running away, and then they reported their unusual encounter. More than a century earlier, the account of the Crosswick Monster Grip, Ohio. It's an unincorporated community in Central Wayne Township in Warren County around 20 miles north of Loveland. In May of 1882, 13 and 11-year-old brothers Ed and Dund, Joe Lynch were out fishing and Saturday Threat's run, a stream that passes through Crosswig. They then heard a loud, unknown sound coming from the tall grass behind them and approached the area

to find out what it was. And suddenly there, a gigantic, four-legged lizard sprung from the small trees and shrubs and ran after the scared boys. Alas, the creature caught Ed in its mouth and pulled him down to the ground as Joe screamed like crazy for help. But helpless Joe saw his brother being dragged by the giant reptile along the stream towards a large hollowed-out sycamore tree, which was apparently the creature's den. When three men arrived at the scene, Ed was still in the monster's mouth and almost completely pulled into the tree. But the men retrieved Ed after being dropped by the creature before it climbed further up into its hollowed-out home. The three men summoned 60 villagers to destroy the beast,

but after chasing it for over a mile over fences, through streams, up hills, trees. Their efforts proved futile. The description of this creature would surely create an image of a monster in your mind, 30 to 40 feet long and could stand up to 12 to 14 feet. It was 16 inches in diameter with four foot long legs and a 16 inch wide head. It was covered with black and white scales with large yellow spots like lizards. It had a long forked tongue. It had a long forked tongue the inner mouth was in deep red. The Crosswick Monster was never seen again, but it's remembered as one of the most believed cryptic experiences in all of Ohio

as more than 60 men claimed to have witnessed it. In the case of the Loveland Frogmen, their sightings have been witnessed by four people in 1955 and then again in 1972. In 2001, now retired Loveland police officer Mark Matthews surfaced after nearly three decades since he witnessed the alleged humanoid frogs. In an email interview, he wanted to set the record straight about that incident back in March of 72. And he stated,

There's absolutely nothing to the incident that relates to monsters or the paranormal. This entire thing has been habitually blown out of proportion. Obviously, he retracted his original claims. Matthews further clarified, It was and it is no monster. It was not leathery or had wet matted fur. It was not three to five feet tall. It did not stand erect.

The animal I saw was obviously some type of lizard that someone had as a pet that either got too large for its aquarium, escaped by accident, or they simply got tired of it. It was less than three feet in length. ran across the road and was probably blinded by my headlights. It presented no aggressive action. So then, why did he shoot the creature?

Memory can be a funny thing, as well as being afraid to be ridiculed by your community. Matthews had apparently attempted to fire a bullet at the reptile in order to support the account of then Officer Shockey's prior sighting, but it didn't kill the lizard and they escaped. most likely died from its injury or from the bitter freezing cold. Matthew's retraction gave rise to speculations that he did it due to the ridicule he and Shonky suffered, or it could have been a cover-up for a larger mystery.

Matthew's statement should have settled the Loveland Frogman mystery, but a 2016 report of another citing supposedly pertaining to it with the spotlight once again on the humanoid frogs. In July of 2016, a newly released augmented reality mobile game called Pokemon Go sent the smartphone-bearing population into a frenzy. The game uses the mobile devices GPS to locate capture, battle, and train virtual creatures called Pokemon, which appears as if they are in the player's real-world location. So in August 3, 2016, Sam Jacobs and his girlfriend were playing the game between Loveland, Medera Road, and Lake Isabel. when their night of fun turned into terror.

No, the virtual creature Pokemon didn't come alive and turned to a monster or anything. But Sam and his lady saw a strange frog-like creature in the water of a nearby river. Sam detailed the incident and said, We saw a huge frog near the water. Not in the game, this was an actual giant frog. Then the thing stood up and walked on its hind legs. I realize this sounds crazy, but I swear on my grandmother's grave, this is the truth.

Not sure if it was a frogman or just a giant frog. Either way, though, I've never seen anything like it. They actually managed to take a video clip of what they witness, something standing waist deep in the water with large, bulbous, glowing eyes. Over the grainy and dark footage made it difficult to decipher what it really was. But the couple were still unbending, and it was a loveland frogman that they had probably seen. In response to this story, retired police officer Matthews resurfaced and added more details to his retraction in 2001.

He contacted WCPO News in Cincinnati and revealed that the creature he and fellow Officer Shockey encountered in 1972 was simply a large iguana. Suddenly, he was appearing to have answers. He said he actually shot it as proof of his encounter and showed it to Shaki, who identified it as the one he had seen in his. well. It was actually an iguana, about three or three and a half feet long with a missing tail, which was why he didn't immediately recognize it. Matthews believed that the iguana might have been a pet that had escaped or released into the wilderness after it had grown too big to be kept as a pet. As to why the cold-blooded reptile was spotted twice along the roadside, Matthews assumed it took refuge near the warm pipes of a cooling facility at a local boots factory in order to stay warm in the

cold March weather. The ex-police officer told his discovery of the alleged loveland frogmen to a local author who had written a book about the urban legends in Ohio. Unfortunately for everybody, the writer had concluded the story after Matthews shot the mysterious creature and omitted his revelation that it wasn't actually a frogman but an iguana. Matthews ended his statements with certainty. It's a big hoax. There's a logical explanation for everything. With that said, people in Ohio can perhaps lay the six-decade Loveland Frogman legend to rest in peace, hopefully. So that's going to do it, guys, for this week's episode of Everytown. Thanks so much for tuning in.

If you want some more stuff from us, go check out our Scary Mysteries podcast or our YouTube channel. And tune in next week for another episode filled with Scary Strange and Mysterious Stories. Because you never know. Your town might be next.