A number of cryptozoological stories deal with bipedal, reptilian monsters. One of these is the Loveland Frog, first sighted in 1955. At around three in the morning, while driving along a lonely road, an Ohioan businessman spotted something under a bridge. He stopped his car and got out, observing three or four humanoid creatures hunching in the shadows.
They were, by his estimate, around three feet tall. Each had webbed feet, leathery skin and the wide-mouthed face of a frog. They had deep facial wrinkles instead of hair, and smelled vaguely of almonds. The businessman watched them for several minutes, only to flee when one of them raised a mechanical wand. This device emitted a shower of sparks, and upon seeing it the observer escaped back to his car.
The "Frog" was not seen again for nearly two decades, though stories of it lived on. But in 1972, two Loveland police officers encountered something in the woods. The sightings occured separately, though only months apart-- and the officers themselves reported nothing to the media. Still, word leaked out to the press that the creature had appeared once more.
According to popular myth, the officers saw an amphibious biped like the one from '55. Unfortunately, this could not be further from the truth. One of the officers, after his retirement, confirmed in an interview that he saw nothing but a large lizard. He believed it to be an escaped pet, and shot the creature to confirm the other officer's sighting. The body was never recovered, but the officer believes that the animal died of its wounds.
Is the Loveland Frog a legitimate cryptid, or the product of an inflated tale? It's difficult to say. The most recent encounters were certainly exaggerated-- and the original also stretches credibility. A frog-like monster is one thing... a frog-like monster shooting sparks from a wand is another. Furthermore, as Cryptomundo notes, the 1955 sighting occured shortly after the release of "The Creature from the Black Lagoon." This movie, featuring an amphibious humanoid, could have inspired the legend of the Frog. However, stories of reptilian humanoids abound in cryptozoology. Their sheer numbers, if not their reliability, may give us cause to reconsider the Frog.
Read more about the Loveland Frog:
http://www.xprojectmagazine.com/archives/cryptozoology/lovelandfrog.html
http://www.cryptomundo.com/bigfoot-report/loveland-frog/
Image from http://www.cryptomundo.com/wp-content/Rana.jpg
No comments:
Post a Comment