I received the following anecdote from a woman who had a strange experience while living in Loveland, Ohio:
We bought a little house down by the Loveland Castle Museum back in 2000. It was perched above a ravine and creek, and the back of the house dropped off very steeply. There would have been enough room for a man or a bipedal person to stand behind the house, but the basement windows were eye-level and the first floor was quite far up from the place where one could stand. The reason I point this out is that because it was a very small house, we had to use the basement for our two boys' bedroom. They kept complaining that "something" kept looking in the window at them and my husband and I laughed it off at first. It was a wooded setting, very rural and beautiful, and VERY DARK at night, having no streetlights out there. So it seemed funny that they were thinking something was watching them. We just told them maybe it was a deer (they are plentiful in the fall) and went about our business.
One night, however, I woke hearing a weird sound just outside our bedroom window on the first floor. It faced out back of the house, and I was puzzled as to what it could be because it sounded like a man, breathing heavily. I started to sit up and realized that whatever it was, it was looking in my window, just inches from my head and I was terrified. I did not look out because I knew that I would see it and I kept feeling something urging me to look. We often would hear squeaking noises, screeching (not like an owl) and a crying baby. I woke my husband up and he said whatever it was, it would have had to be 10 feet tall to look in our window. I couldn't sleep that night, but whatever had been there had moved on. I didn't mention it to the kids the next day. The boys came up from the basement, shaken from seeing "the red, glowing eyes" the night before. They were every bit as big as red road reflectors and they heard heavy breathing and the hair on their bodies stood up on end.
This was only ONE experience we had out there in Loveland. It's right down by the Little Miami River, only a stone's throw. Many weird things out there: green glows, orbs, something very large and black on top of the roof of the house very late at night (when light was shone on it, it did not go thru whatever it was on the roof, and it looked like a huge, dark figure.) I'd like to know if you have any more weird stories about this area. We moved a few miles away but still go past that area often. Crystal F.
I assume that Crystal was not aware of the Loveland Frogman sightings. The 1st sighting was in May, 1955, around 3:30 a.m. an unnamed business man claimed that he witnessed three bipedal, quasi-reptilian entities congregating by the side of the road. Later on March 3rd 1972, around 1:00 a.m. an anonymous police officer was traveling along Riverside Road heading towards Loveland, when he came across a frog like creature on the side of the road. A few weeks later on March 17, 1972, Officer Mark Mathews, reported pulling over to assist an injured animal on the side of the road. Upon approaching the creature Officer Mathews was startled by a strange Frogman like creature.
The story of the Loveland Frogmen begins on a barren stretch of road that runs along the Miami River in Clermont County, just on the outskirts of the small town of Loveland, Ohio. (This would probably be in the approximate area where Crystal lived). Around 3:30 a.m. in May of 1955, an unnamed business man claimed to witness three bipedal quasi-reptilian creatures gathered at the side of the road. The business man pulled over to the curb and observed the creatures for what he estimated to be about 3 minutes. He went on to describe the creatures as being between 3 and 4 feet tall, covered with a leathery skin and having webbed hands and feet.
Perhaps the most distinguishing characteristic of these creatures however is there distinctly frog like heads, which the business man reported to have deep wrinkles where their hair should have been. As the anonymous business man watched the three “frogmen” on of the creatures suddenly held up with the witness described as some kind of wand above its head, he further claimed that sparks spewed out of the top of the wand. Upon witnessing this strange site the business man fled the scene fearing for his life.
The next documented encounter with the Loveland Frogmen occurred at approximately 1:00 a.m. on March 3, 1972, when a police officer, who chose to remain anonymous, was traveling down Riverside Road heading towards Loveland. The officer claimed that he was driving slowly, due to overly ice roads, when he saw what appeared to be a dog on the side of the road. Suddenly the creature darted out in front of the cruiser causing the officer to slam on the breaks to avoid hitting the unknown animal. When the cruiser came to a stop the head lights fell upon a crouched frog like creature.
Quickly the creature stood on two legs stared back at the officer; its eyes illuminated by the high beams, and scrambled over the guard rail, down the embankment and finally vanished into the Ohio River. The officer described the creature as being 3 or 4 feet tall and weighing in the area of 50 to 75 pounds. He also stated that the skin had a leathery textured, and that the animal’s resembled that of a frog or lizard. Later that evening another officer returned to the scene but found no signs of the animal, but did report that there where distinctive scratch marks on the guard raid that the creature reportedly scrambled over.
Years after his original sighting, Officer Mathews has some what changed his story. He now claims that creature he saw that night was nothing more than a large reptile which had escaped from its owner. He further insisted that the reason he shot at the creature was to help confirm a fellow officer’s story. Wither or not Mathews changed his story due to ridicule or a fading memory of an event which took place one dark night on an icy road outside of Loveland. In the many years following this small string of sightings there has been no reported sightings of the strange creatures which has become known as the Loveland Frogmen.
These areas in and around the Ohio River Valley have also been subjected to many sightings of Mothman-like creatures. Here are a few of the personal accounts from southern Ohio that were forwarded to me:
Here is a report from Sciotodale, Ohio:
Coming back from the grocery store 12:40am 3/10, me and Veronica got out of the van and were walking to the house.
I looked up in the sky and some movement caught my eye. I pointed to the object and Veronica acknowledge it, and tracked it's movement with me.
We could not make out any details. What we could make out was a wide wing span. There was no movement, no sound. I estimate it was moving approx. 20+ mph. It appeared to be flying about approx 20 ft taller than the tallest treetops - so I'm guessing about 80 ft high. It appeared to me to have a tan color. We followed it over our house, across the road, and then it disappeared in the darkness going a NE direction. I would guess the bulk of the wing span was at least 12/15 ft wide, and possibly much wider given the rough estimate of the height. It appeared that we were only seeing the very bottom of the wing, and there may have been areas on the object that were not visible in the darkness.
After it was gone, I was trying to pull all the information together and form some sort of idea of what it was. At first I thought of the possibility of a UFO/flying saucer etc... but after I thought about it a little bit, it gave me somewhat an impression of being "organic" - if this was a flying creature, it was completely gliding - no wing motion.
So what was it? Never saw anything like that. In the last couple of years I have become a big fan of large birds in the area - Turkey Buzzards, Hawks, occasional Eagles, Owls, etc. It did not travel like an of these birds, and not like a bat either.
These encounters occurred near Middletown, Ohio:
Middletown, Ohio: It was about 8:00 pm and I was driving home after dropping a friend off at her house. I came to an intersection, a red light, and stopped. Nothing out of the normal, just a regular night. The roads were fairly deserted. While waiting for the light to change I saw something that looked like the back end of a deer as it quickly crossed the street. I didn't think much of it except for the fact that when I drive through there I have to be careful because deer apparently like to jump in front of cars. That stretch of road is only a couple hundred feet posted at 40 mph. I slowed to about 30-35 mph to watch and look at the deer.
When I looked to see if the deer was still there I witnessed something quite a bit different. This massive thing was standing back a ways but it was clearly visible. The yard it was standing in has a huge white shed with a light attached to the front though, this didn't help because it cast a big shadow. The figure stood on the ground but its height reached to about the top of the doors to the shed. It had two curved like masses coming from the sides. But the most obvious feature were the deep red, glowing eyes coming from the center of the black mass. It was something I couldn't stop looking at. I continued to drive but all the way home I felt I was being followed. - Liz
A followup from Liz:
Sorry I didn't include that in the original message; like I said, this happened after I sent the email and I keep assuming I had included it when I hadn't. Other than the weird sightings, there wasn't any strange activity I can recall.
I received a following email from another witness near Middletown, Ohio:
I'd like to share an experience my friend and I have unfortunately been dragged into. At approximately 10:30 PM tonight, I received an instant message from my friend about a rather disturbing encounter she had. She had reported she saw the Mothman. I sent her several messages back, asking if she was alright, if she was there, etc. She eventually sent me a text message with a picture that she drew of the creature attached. By this point, I was literally getting sick and trembling due to anxiety and fright. We began talking about it and I noticed a tapping at my window; a very light kind of sound. My dogs both jerked their heads upward and stared at the window for a long time. Being in the state I was in, I refused to look.
For awhile, the tapping stopped...she and I continued to discuss the matter at hand. Suddenly, the tapping began again, but this time the dogs ignored it and so did I. About four or five minutes later, I fought the urge to stare at my computer monitor and looked at my window. My blinds were closed, but I could faintly see something red and glowing, like taillights that had somehow made their way into the neighbor's backyard. I quickly looked away, not wanting to see it anymore. I looked again a couple minutes later, unnerved to see the red glow was still there. Again, I looked away and continued discussing this with my friend. Finally, I turned my head one final time and saw that the glow no longer remained.
As I'm typing this email, I'm really worried, as the tapping has begun again and I'm really too afraid to move from this position. Above this, I've included my friend's side of the story, and, should you post this, we would certainly appreciate if you could put them both into one piece. We'd discussed calling the police, but she didn't want to make a big deal about it. Her parents brushed it off and I have yet to tell anyone in my house about this.
I'm not sure what this was; a frightening delusion or a real situation, but I'm not sure if I'm willing to face the facts and find out. Allie
Another encounter in Portland, Ohio:
I guess I'll just jump into this story that I've only revealed to a few people. My extended family mostly live along old River Road (Rt 124) in Portland, OH. I practically grew up there and spent entire summers there as a youth. It was and remains a special place for me as I loved exploring the areas.
My aunt and uncle live on a hill over looking the Ohio River and we have fished that area forever. I take groups of buddies every summer and we camp on their lower land and spend the night fishing. Some of us just go for the drinking and fun. There are all sorts of little gravel roads around that area and I know them all.
One evening, two friends and I decided to go walking. One of my friends hadn't had anything to drink but he chose to come along. We were just being loud and laughing since we were litterally in the middle of nowhere. Suddenly I caught a light out the corner of my eye and off in the distance was what looked like a house with every light on. I was totally confused and my friends had no idea what I was talking about because it's just a house. There is no house there. As we were walking closer to the "house" something appeared 20 feet in front of us. We only looked at it for a moment before we all turned and ran full blast back to the campsite. In the light of day, I drove down the gravel road we were on and there was no house anywhere in sight as I already knew.
Some months later, a different friend brought a Mothman movie (The Mothman Prophecies) to my house to watch. Surprisingly, I had never heard of the Mothman. I was almost panic stricken knowing this was the thing I saw. I immediately called my friend who was with me and told him to go rent that movie. He eventually called me back almost in hysterics after watching that movie. This happened almost 8 years ago and I still think about it at least once a day. I've never shared this account with anyone on-line and I'll assure you this really did happen.
More recently, a sighting near New Miami, Ohio:
On Monday May 9th, 2011 around 5:45am, I was on my way to work headed north bound in to the village of New Miami on Seven Mile Avenue. I left the traffic light at the southern most edge of town in to a dark stretch of road when a large flying creature swooped in over my car and snatched up a small animal in the road ahead of me at the edge of my head lights. As a construction worker, I feel I can judge the size of objects fairly well. This creature had a wing span of at least 12 feet and was jet black. It completely blocked the view out of my windshield and then some and moved at a very high rate of speed. I was traveling between 35-40MPH. It had to have been traveling at around 70-80MPH. Like I stated before is swooped down grabbed the animal and was gone over the trees very quickly. I've researched large predator birds and raptors indigenous to Ohio and there are none that fit the description of what I saw. If you have any other questions about my experience please feel free to email me back. Tex
NOTE: I had asked Crystal to read the post...I hope I answered her question. If you have an unusual sighting or encounter, please feel free to forward to lonstrickler@phantomsandmonsters.com. Thanks...Lon
Mothman and Other Curious Encounters
The Weiser Field Guide to Cryptozoology: Werewolves, Dragons, Skyfish, Lizard Men, and Other Fascinating Creatures Real and Mysterious
