Octoman: Bipedal Octopus Cryptid Spotted in Ohio
An artist's interpretation of the Ohio Octoman. Image: Cryptopia
In the winter of 1959, at least five eyewitnesses claimed to have seen a huge, bipedal creature resembling an octopus in the area around the Ohio River.
Sightings of the Octoman
In the winter of 1959, the Ohio River and its tributaries became the stage for a series of bizarre sightings. Five terrified witnesses reported encountering a large, gray, octopus-like creature, which quickly gained infamy as the 'Indescribable Octo-Man'.
The creature first made headlines on January 29th, 1959, when a local Cincinnati newspaper ran a captivating headline: "What Is It? ‘Monster’ Churns Up the Ohio”. The article sparked a whirlwind of speculation, leading to numerous sightings of the Octo-Man, many of which were reported to the local police.
The creature was first sighted near the town of New Richmond by an anonymous man who described the creature as “indescribable”. His report was initially met with skepticism by the police until a second caller, a truck driver, phoned in with a similar sighting.
Despite some officers dismissing the reports as a prank, a number of dispatchers, including one Frank B. Heisler, stated that those making the reports sounded legitimately frightened and sober. In a strange twist of events, as the creature reports began to flood in, all the streetlights along a specific avenue, from Lunken Airport to Coney Island, Ohio, were suddenly extinguished.
While the sightings initially caused a flurry of panic, by Saturday the police announced that the calls had ceased and that the creature had seemingly disappeared. However, subsequent sightings of a similar creature were reported near Covington, Kentucky in February, suggesting the Octo-Man was still around.
Investigations into the Ohio Octoman
Renowned expert on mythical creatures, Loren Coleman, stated that no new sightings of the monster were reported until nearly 20 years later. In 1978, Dennis Pilchis, an investigator of UFOs and Bigfoot from Rome, Ohio, released a booklet called "Bigfoot: Tales of Unexplained Creatures". As a local, Pilchis might have had a chance to hear more details from witnesses which were not covered in the press.
Pilchis noted that a woman from Covington reported seeing the creature in a bent over position. She described it as a bizarre, gray being with an uneven chest, 'frightening' tentacles, and layers of fat layered across a hairless head. According to her, the creature, with bulges of fat on its bald head, was an enormous, slimy figure that moved in an awkward manner. It was such a shocking sight that it deeply affected those who saw it.
This state of fear, particularly among the children in the area, was evidenced by a report in the Cincinnati Post & Times-Star. It recounted a phone call from an 11-year-old boy asking if "green men are emerging from the river in groups of twelve as his teacher claimed."
By the following Saturday, local police announced that they received no more calls about the monster, implying that it had left the town. However, it may have been too early to make such a declaration.
In their 1982 book "The Bigfoot Casebook," Janet and Colin Bord mention a report from a driver named George Wagner. He claimed to have seen a large, two-legged creature on a bridge over the Ohio River near Covington, Kentucky, in February 1959. We can assume this happened early in the month. Following Wagner's report, it seemed like the bizarre, hairless, tentacled, two-legged creature had disappeared from our world. Or, it might have just returned to the murky depths of the Ohio River or one of its many tributaries, awaiting a time to re-emerge and cause chaos once more.
Theories about the Ohio Octoman
The Octo-Man, with its unusual, hybrid-like features, became the subject of many theories. Some speculated it was a new amphibious species, unknown to science. Others suggested it was a lost alien, an unlikely human-animal-plant hybrid, or even related to other local cryptids like the Loveland Frogmen or the Green Clawed Beast.
In the midst of the chaos sparked by claims of a monster sighting, a dispatcher from Clermont County, Heisler, suggested the witnesses may have mistaken a tree bobbing in the water for a creature. Local dam worker, William Sprague, agreed with Heisler's theory. "I've been on duty since midnight. I've been keeping a close eye on the river and I haven't seen anything unusual," said Sprague. "There were strong winds all night, causing waves up to eight feet high. This could easily trick someone. The winds also caused a lot of driftwood to break loose. When you're out on the river at night, these floating trees can look quite eerie under the dim light."
Sprague's driftwood theory doesn't account for certain details reported by the witnesses. It doesn't explain how something resembling a tree or wave could have feet or resemble an octopus. It also fails to address the claim of a witness who said they saw the creature jump onto a bridge.
Have you ever seen anything like the Octoman in Ohio? Tell us about your experience in the comments.
If you enjoyed learning about the Octoman you might be interested in similar cryptids like the Oklahoma Octopus or the Tsuchinoko.
