The Ohio River Octo-Man

Monster Hunters!
14 February 1959
The Cincinnati Enquirer

I think we've well established that the Ohio River is one weird waterway. From the Parkersburg Sea Serpent of 1893 to the Evansville Green-Clawed Monster of 1955 (and so, so many other incidents), there doesn't seem to be a stretch of the river that doesn't have some type of strange story associated with it. In January of 1959, it was the greater Cincinnati region's turn to experience some aquatic high strangeness.

But it wasn't just the Ohio River. Cincinnati is where the Ohio, the Little Miami, and the Licking River all come together, essentially making it an ideal spot for someone...or someTHING...to travel great distances, mostly undetected. Except in this case, the Octo-Man WAS detected. 

The calls began flooding local police stations in the early hours of Friday, January 30th. The first was from a man four miles outside of the town of New Richmond. This unnamed gentleman called the police to report something indescribable emerging out of the Ohio River. The police did nothing. 

However, when a truck driver en route to Indianapolis called in a short time later saying that HE had also seen something, the reports were taken seriously. The truck driver, calling from a Kellog service station near the Little Miami claims that he was on Ohio 125 when he also saw something climb out of the river that was indescribable and unlike anything he had ever seen before. Police sent out several cars who searched in vain throughout the early morning hours. 

Reports continued to come in to multiple agencies throughout Friday morning. A "scientist working on things out of this world" allegedly saw the creature and gave us the first real description of the previously indescribable monster. He claims that as he was driving across the Licking River, the beast leaped onto the bridge. It was bipedal and large---two or three times the size of a human in its bulk, standing higher than his automobile. He notes it definitely wasn't a cat or dog. 

A further description came from a young lady who had her own encounter with the creature near the Ft. Thomas pumping station. She saw the creature emerge in and out of a creek leading into the Ohio River. In her words, it was 'like an octopus.' Thus, the moniker of the Ohio River Octo-Man was born. 

Although newspaper articles of the time didn't elaborate on this particular sighting, additional details would surface in 1978 when Dennis Pilchis, a ufologist and Bigfoot researcher, published a booklet called Bigfoot: Tales of Unexplained Creatures. The booklet goes on to say that the young woman witness actually saw the creature bent over. She said it was grayish in color, had a lopsided chest, ugly tentacles, and rolls of fat running horizontally over its bald head. 

That sounds absolutely hideous! I'm not sure what that could be, but it certainly doesn't sound like the 'official' explanation given by officials at the time. 

So, while all these reports were coming in during the wee hours of Friday morning, there was another unsettling piece to the puzzle. All the streetlights along Kellog Avenue between Coney Island and Lunken Airport went out. With the streetlights being out and reports of a strange creature being reported multiple times, the first working theory was that a vehicle had crashed along Kellog Avenue, taking out a power pole and ending up in or around the water, with the driver and/or passenger emerging from the wreck covered in mud. But, after patrol cars spent several hours in the area, finding nothing, another theory was presented. 

During this time, the Cincinnati area was receiving wind gusts of up to 40 mph. Cincinnati Gas and Electric Company reported that the strong winds blew a connection on a feeder circuit, causing the lights to go out. Further, swaying trees and logs bobbing down the churning river, all framed by the uncanny darkness led to the belief that one was seeing something...indescribable. 

Whatever the Octo-Man was or wasn't, he had apparently moved on. Reports waned and by Saturday, there were no longer any reports of a bipedal, tentacled monster roaming the Cincinnati region. 

Sources and Further Reading:

Indescribable Octo-Man, by Rob Morphy. Published 07 February 2015. Cryptopia

31 January 1959
The Cincinnati Enquirer

31 January 1959
The Cincinnati Post

30 January 1959
The Cincinnati Post

Cicada Used in 'Armed' Robbery

"Hands up!"

A giant, eerie creature with wings and menacing red eyes. At any other time, such a description found here on Theresa's Haunted History would probably indicate a post about West Virginia's infamous Mothman. However, on this particular Weird Wednesday, we're talking about something quite different, yet arguably, just as strange.

On June 4, 1987 two men in their 20s were accused of robbing the Cincinnati, OH restaurant, Grand Slam. They walked into the establishment and approached Marquisa Kellogg, a 22-year-old cashier. Instead of a firearm, or even a knife...the 'deadly weapon' of choice brandished by the alleged robbers was a big, nasty cicada. Yes, a cicada. 

Despite being a harmless insect, Marquisa fled in terror at having this thing thrust at her, which left the cash register unattended for several minutes while she composed herself. Upon returning to her post, she found the men (and their bug) gone, along with $25 in cash. Unfortunately, there were no security cameras there at the time, and no one saw the men take the money. To my knowledge, they were never identified. 

That summer, the 17 year cicadas were out in full force across the Eastern United States, including in Ohio, where local police would even claim that the insects were to blame for an increase in traffic accidents. In a later article by David Sarasohn of the Flint Journal, a rather tongue-in-cheek discussion emerged as to whether or not brandishing a cicada could qualify as a deadly weapon under the law, and thus, up the charges to first degree armed (winged?) robbery. 

But, is this story too weird to be true? Unfortunately, yeah...but there is a basis in truth to the whole tale, as Marquisa told a local newspaper in 2021. Decades after her story went viral, Marquisa was interviewed about what really happened that summer at Grand Slam. According to her, she and a friend were sitting outside the restaurant. She decided to play a prank on him, and grabbed a handful of cicadas that had accumulated there in abundance, and put them on him. Of course, he screamed and flailed around a bit, while Marquisa laughed. She then went inside to wait on two male customers. She knew these guys from the neighborhood, and considered them friends. While she was with them at the register, her friend from outside took that moment to exact his revenge. He rushed up to Marquisa and tossed a handful of cicadas directly at her FACE. 

Understandably, she booked it out of the way...and out of sight of the open register. When she returned, she noticed that the bills in the till were no longer straight and organized. She counted down her drawer and found that $25 was missing. The two customers swore they didn't take the money, and Marquisa was forced to call the police and make a report of a robbery. A poorly written police report (Marquisa believes the cop sold the story to the media) was picked up and published in newspapers across the country. 

As West Virginia and surrounding areas are currently dealing with our own cycle of cicadas, I can only hope that no one reading this takes a certain inspiration from the events transpired in Cincinnati back in 1987. These poor little creepy crawlies don't have much time here above the soil, so please don't implicate them into a life a crime, nor use them to terrorize your friends while they are at work. 

Stay weird, stay spooky, and watch out for those cicadas. And a big shout-out to the Facebook page, Historian of the Strange, where I first learned about this extremely interesting and bizarre story! 

The Bay City Times (Michigan)
06 June 1987

The Flint Journal (Michigan)
07 August 1987

The Times Recorder (Ohio)
16 June 2021

Phantom Lioness at the Cincinnati Zoo

Photo of Leo the Lion from the Ohio State Archives

On Friday, we're taking Luke on his first zoo visit!  Although this time around we've chosen to visit the Columbus Zoo, I wanted to share a haunted tale from another Ohio zoo...the tale of Cincinnati Zoo's Phantom Lioness.

It all began way back in 1872.

Apparently, the city of Cincinnati was under siege by none other than caterpillars!  So that year, Andrew Erkenbrecher and others organized  the Society for the Acclimation of Birds.  The society was responsible for importing initially around 1000 birds from Europe to take care of the caterpillar problem.  But, just as you can imagine, this led to another problem even after the caterpillars were gone:  what to do with the remaining "exotic" birds?  In 1873, the zoological society of Cincinnati was born.

Two years later, on  September 18, 1875, the new zoo opened.  It was the second zoo in the whole country, opening just a mere 14 months after the Philadelphia Zoo.  And, it was a small endeavor, with only  769 animals, over half being birds.

Over its long history, the zoo has struggled financially but today is regarded as a premiere example of education and conservation.  It has picked up a variety of different species but more importantly to the paranormal world, it has picked up at least one ghost!

This ghost isn't a normal ghost.  It isn't the spirit of one of the few human beings that dedicated his/her life to zoo work.  It isn't anyone associated with a horrible park accident, or even having ties to the land on which the zoo was built.  This ghost is a ghost cat....a lioness to be precise.

The book, Haunted Cincinnati and Southwest Ohio, by Jeff and Michael Morris, contains some of the best information available on this spooky tale of a phantom lioness who stalks her prey among the pathways of the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens.  Many witnesses have come forward with shockingly similar stories:  if they are caught walking alone, anywhere in the park and at any time of day, the lioness will stalk them.  Walking alone, one can hear the soft, yet heavy padded footsteps of four large paws following closely behind them.  If they speed up, the phantom pursuer speeds up.  A deep, low growl will come from behind them, and fearing the worse, the prey starts to run.  When they are sure that they are about to be attacked, they turn around and find....NOTHING!

Others, however, turn around and catch a glimpse of two emerald shining eyes glaring at them.  These eyes have also been observed peering at visitors from the ends of dark corridors and through the leafy green vegetation that spots the zoo's landscaping.  Are these the eyes of the phantom lioness?  And why is a lioness haunting the zoo to begin with?

No one really knows which of the park's many lionesses this phantom could belong to...or even why she might be there, as no lions have ever been involved in any particularly tragic circumstances.  Instead, many believe that she is a guardian of the zoo.

Lions have long been associated with not only bravery and courage, but also of nobility and royalty.  And, interestingly enough, the ancient Egyptians especially held lionesses in high regard, not only as fierce warriors and hunters (its the females that do the hunting) but as protectors.  As "queen" of the animal kingdom, the lioness perhaps is protecting her subjects, long after her death.

German Connection:
The zoo was established by a group of German immigrants and in fact, the first guidebooks for the zoo were only available in German!  There is a strong symbolism with the lion and Germanic heraldry, with two prominent Germanic bloodlines featuring a lion symbol on their crests.  Does this perhaps tie in with the phantom lioness?

It is possible to potentially witness the phantom for yourself!  While some sources say that the only time the lioness comes out is at night, others claim she prefers no time of day....just so long as you are alone.  Since the zoo is often quite crowded during the day, its hard to find a place during normal business hours where you're completely alone, which is probably why after dark is heralded as being favorable.  To get around these constraints, I would suggest going in the off-seasons, or visiting during the zoo's holiday festival of lights extended hours!

Vacationing in Cincinnati and looking for another great haunted family fun spot?  Check out the Ghosts of Kings Island!