Loveland Frogman

Loveland Frogman is an appellation for a reportedly humanoid being with frog-like (or amphibian-like, sometimes lizard-like) features, both groups and individuals of the type having been allegedly sighted in the environs of Loveland, a tri-county (Hamilton, Clermont, and Warren) city in southwestern Ohio.

Loveland Gnomen (1955)


"Before the Hopkinsville 'little green men' story broke over the nation, CRIFO had silently gathered some unpublishable facts concerning such orgish encounters near Cincinnati. As it is our policy not to publish names in connection with many of these events we should like to cite a case involving a prominent business man, living in Loveland. Occurring several weeks ago, this person, who is a non-drinker and church-goer (we must add these virtues, it seems, for credibility) saw four 'strange little men about three feet tall' under a certain bridge. He reported the bizarre affair to the police and we understand that an armed guard was placed there. A similar event supposedly had taken place near Batavia east of Cincinnati."

R. H.'s Encounter


"About 4 a.m. on a March night in 1955, while driving through Branch Hill on his way to Loveland, R. H. saw in the beams of his headlights, what appeared to be three men kneeling at the right side of the road. His first impression was that 'somebody was hurt or some crazy guys were having fun.' Curious, he stopped his car and got out for a better look. To his surprise, he discovered that the figures were non-human and about three feet tall. They were not green, R. H. stressed but rather a 'greyish color' including the garments. These, tight-fitting, stretched over a 'lop-sided chest' which bulged at the shoulder to the arm pit. Over this bulbousness hung a slender arm, noticeably longer than its opposite member. Save for only a fleeting impression of 'something baggy,' the legs and feet were obscured by weeds and brush. 'Their heads were ugly,' said R. H., reminding him of a 'frog's face' mostly because of the mouth which spanned, in a thin line, across a smooth grey face. While R. H. thought the eyes, 'without brows' seemed normal and the 'nose was indistinct', the pate of the head 'had a painted-on-like-hair effect, like a plastic doll'. He added, 'It was corrugated or like rolls of fat running horizontally over a bald head'. According to R.H., the middle biped, and the one closest to him, was first seen, with his arms upraised. 'They were raised a foot or so above the head,' he said, 'and holding a dark chain or stick, which emitted blue white sparks jumping from one hand to the other'. As R. H. approached, he said this biped then lowered its arms with the chain 'as if to tie it around its ankles'. R. H. said he wanted to get closer, but by the time he had reached the front fender of his car the 'little men' made a slight 'unnatural' move toward him, 'as if motioning me not to come any closer'. For about three minutes R. H. said he stood still, just watching &mdash; too amazed to be afraid. Next thing he remembered he was on his way to [Loveland Police chief John Fritz]'s office."

In addition to the account of  R. H. , Stringfield also reported that he had been told there had been a police investigation of the incident, that an armed guard had been temporarily assigned to the unnamed bridge, and, further, that he had learned "from a member of the school board of that community that the incident had been investigated by the F.B.I."



One of Stringfield's co-investigators on the Loveland gnomen case, Ted Bloecher, published a more detailed version of the story in his segment of Close Encounter at Kelly and Others of 1955. In the particulars: the formerly pseudonymous R. H. was identified as Robert Hunnicutt, a short-order chef at a Loveland area restaurant at the time of his sighting (and a maitre d' at a Cincinnati restaurant when he was later interviewed); the sighting was reported as having taken place at 3:30 A.M. while Hunnicutt was driving northeast on Madeira-Loveland Pike, near Hopewell Road in Branch Hill, part of the Symmes Township; while the incident itself was as previously described, with the addition of the detail that there was a "strong and penetrating odor," which was compared to "a combination of 'fresh-cut alfalfa, with a slight trace of almonds." From the local police side, chief John K. Fritz told Bloecher that he had taken Hunnicutt's report and driven to the area indicated, seeking evidence, but came away with nothing concrete, only a "peculiar" feeling and the thought "he might be 'the biggest fool in Loveland.'"

Figures Under a Bridge


Hunnicutt's earlier encounter shares some similarity with the far briefer sighting, also described by Bloecher, of C.F., then a nineteen-year-old volunteer with the local Civil Defense group, who had been crossing a bridge in the Loveland area, and very briefly sighted "four small figures on the river bank beneath," described as being "more-or-less human-looking little men about three feet high." The area, he said, was permeated by a "terrible smell." C.F. subsequently reported the incident to the local police, but his story was apparently not taken seriously and there was no indication that any follow-up was made. Bloecher could not find any evidence that this incident had been reported to the FBI.

Patrick Gross's URECAT identifies C.F. as Carlos Flannigan: https://ufologie.patrickgross.org/ce3/1955-usa-loveland.htm

"Smelly Little Man" of Loveland Heights


Bloecher detailed a third case of similar character that occurred in the same time period, this being related to him by Frank Whitecotton, head of the Loveland Ground Observer Corps. (GOC): Emily Magnone and her husband of Loveland Heights were awoken by their dog barking, at which time they noted an "extremely strong and penetrating odor, 'like a swamp,'" but witnessed no other activity. The couple, however, per Whitecotton's account (of their account), were told by a next-door neighbour that said neighbour had seen a "'little man' of very strange appearance," about three feet tall and "entirely covered with what looked like twigs or foliage," "standing motionless" about fifteen feet from her porch; the neighbour switched her porch light on and off several times, causing the being to disappear and then reappear each time. No further information was uncovered by Bloecher about this incident.

Nights of the Iguana (1972)
The story goes: On 3 March 1972, at around one A.M., Loveland P.D. patrolman Raymond Shockey sighted something near the Little Miami River. This creature was described as having leathery skin and the face of a frog or lizard.



Some weeks later, Shockey's partner, patrolman Mark Matthews, was quoted in Goldstein's newspaper article as saying he had seen the creature in the area a week after the original incident, and that he fired four shots with his .357 magnum service revolver at a "thing about three-feet long and with a face like a frog," but never got a close look as the creature hopped over a guardrail and fell into the river, washing away. The report also adds that Matthews said "he doesn't believe in monsters and thinks that what he saw that night was an iguana."



Years later, per Russell's 2001 article, Matthews stated that the "thing" 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," and that, while he had shot it, there was no dramatic final hop and fall into the river, only that it escaped and presumably died.



And again, fifteen years later, per Legatte's 2016 news article, Matthews told a reporter that he had, in fact, recovered the remains of the large, tailless iguana and showed them to Shockey, who confirmed it was the creature he had seen, adding that the author of a book of Ohio urban legends had misrepresented his story. Quoting Matthews: "It's a big hoax."

"Pokemon Go" (2016)


"'We saw a huge frog near the water. Not in the game (Pokemon Go), this was an actual giant frog. I took a couple of pictures and a video 'cause I'd never seen one that big. Then the thing stood up and walked on its hind legs.'"