New bill seeks to make Loveland Frogman Ohio’s state cryptid

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Step aside, Bigfoot.

A new bill introduced to the Ohio House on April 13 wants to make the Loveland Frogman Ohio’s official state cryptid.

This very real bill is being sponsored by Ohio Representative Tristan Rader, who represents district 13 in Cleveland, and Representative Jean Schmidt, who represents district 62 in Loveland.

“This bill is about showcasing our communities,” said Rader in a press release. “The Loveland Frog is uniquely Ohio. It reflects the stories we tell, the places we’re proud of and the creativity that makes our state worth celebrating.”

The bill makes note that Loveland’s beloved legend has inspired books, documentaries, local festivals, artwork, merchandise and local tourism — all contributing to the local economy.

The Loveland Frogman is, as described by House Bill 821, “a frog-like, bipedal creature standing approximately four feet fall.”

The legend also inspired a found footage horror movie released in 2023.

But what is the Loveland Frogman?

The legend of the Loveland Frogman started with the story that, on two different nights in March of 1972, two different police officers spotted the Frogman.

The creature went unseen for decades, until in 2016, when a couple playing Pokemon Go said they spotted something weird between Loveland Madeira Road and Lake Isabella.

“We saw a huge frog near the water,” Sam Jacobs wrote in an email. “Not in the game, this was an actual giant frog.”

Jacobs said he stopped playing Pokemon Go so he could document what he was seeing, snapping some photos and shooting a short video.

“Then the thing stood up and walked on its hind legs. I realize this sounds crazy, but I swear on my grandmother’s grave this is the truth,” he wrote. “The frog stood about 4 feet tall.”

When they returned to Jacobs’ girlfriend’s home, her parents told them about the legend of the Frogman.

So was it the legendary Frogman? Or just a big frog? Jacobs wasn’t sure.

Around a day after WCPO’s story about Jacobs was published, we got a phone call from a man who claimed to be one of the original police officers who first saw the cryptid.

Mark Mathews told us the creature was not a frog at all.

Mathews explained that the first officer to encounter the purported Frogman, Ray Shockey, called him one night in the March of 1972 after spotting something strange on Riverside Drive/Kemper Road near the Totes boot factory and the Little Miami River.

“Naturally, I didn’t believe him … but I could somehow tell from his demeanor that he did see something,” Mathews said.

Later that month, Mathews was driving on Kemper Road near the boot factory when he saw something run across the road. However, it wasn’t walking upright and didn’t climb over the guardrail as the urban legend of the Frogman goes. The creature crawled under the guardrail. Matthews said he “had no clue what it was.”

“I know no one would believe me, so I shot it,” he said.

Mathews recovered the creature’s body and put it in his trunk to show Shockey. He said Shockey said it was the creature he had seen, too.

It was a large iguana about 3 or 3.5 feet long, Mathews said. The animal was missing its tail, which is why he didn’t immediately recognize it.

Mathews said he figured the iguana had been someone’s pet and then either got loose or was released when it grew too large. He also theorized that the cold-blooded animal had been living near the pipes that released water that was used for cooling the ovens in the boot factory as a way to stay warm in the cold March weather.

“It’s a big hoax,” he said. “There’s a logical explanation for everything.”