The story of the Loveland Frogmen began in May of 1955, just outside of Loveland, Ohio on a road that runs along the Miami river. This was where an unnamed business man claimed to see three bipedal reptilian looking creatures on the side of the road. The man pulled over and watched them for a few minutes, and says they were 3 or 4 feet tall, had webbed hands and feet, and leathery skin.

What was ever weirder than that, is that he claims they also had ‘frog like heads’, which were wrinkled and hairless. He also said that they then held up some kind of ‘wand’ that started shooting sparks, at which point, said businessman got his ass out of there.

There weren’t anymore reported meetings with the frogmen until March 3rd, 1972. This is when an unnamed police officer was driving along Riverside Road, and thought he saw a dog laying by the side of the road. He claims that the animal suddenly bolted across the street, causing him to hit the brakes to avoid hitting it. But when he stopped, he reports that he was actually looking at a large, frog like creature, which then stood up on 2 legs, and jumped over the guardrail and down the hill into the river. His description of the creature was the same as that of the unknown businessman from years earlier. Upon returning to the scene later that night, the officer claims to have noticed scratch marks on the guardrail where the creature went over.

A few weeks later, another police officer, Mark Mathews, said he had his own run in with the Frogmen. According to His report, he thought he saw an injured animal on the road while driving into Loveland. Mathews stopped to remove the creature, but when he approached it, it sat up in a crouched position. Mathews then says he drew his weapon and shot the creature, wounding it, but it still escaped over the guardrail.

Years later, officer Mathews recanted his story, saying what he found was just a large reptile, probably released by its owner, and that he fired his weapon only to add credibility to his tale, and thereby support his fellow officer who originally reported seeing the Frogman.

That’s actually the whole story. There haven’t been any other ‘official’ reports of Frogmen sightings, but the legend has persisted anyway. As far as what or who the Frogmen were supposed to be, no one knows. Some say aliens, others that they were some sort of genetic experiment that escaped.

We actually went to The river in Loveland a few years ago to have a look, as I’m sure many others have, but saw nothing. In fact, the only thing we got for our troubles was a speeding ticket. It was a fun expedition though, so if your feeling froggy, go have a look yourself.