The Melonhead legend of Ohio (+ photos)

reply to post by jibeho


Ah, thanks.

Funny you should mention the Police.

There was one 'witness' report I found in my reading where they stated they were going with a group of friends to check out the ruins of the Dr Kroh house, but were stopped by police. The police made a big point of bringing up the melonheads and trying to drill into the kids that they weren't real.

Perhaps they were just trying to stop an accident waiting to happen, and protecting private property, but the conspiracy theorist in me would like to think they were covering up their little 'problem' in the woods.


reply to post by SpeakerofTruth


Yeah, that is one of the things I love about America... no not that rural men like to sever the limbs of their partners, but that every town seems to have its own urban legends. There are some really great ones.

Australia is too young. We haven't got much in the way of local myths yet. Most of it is still rooted in Aboriginal folklore.


reply to post by Bombeni


Ahah. That trailer hurts my eyes with it's badness. The girls, however, do not.

I doubt I could bring myself to watch that movie... even with the eye candy.

I'm from north east Ohio myself. The Melon heads are an old legend. Never seen one, but the area around Kirtland does have a reputation for being odd and creepy. There is a gravity hill in the area, that gives you the impression you are rolling uphill. It's an illusion. You are actually rolling downhill in your car, but the appearance of the treeline and horizon makes you think you are rolling uphill. Then there were the Kirtland cult killings in the 90's. That was real, and just added to towns creepiness. In regards to Helltown, I think you are referring to the old Boston Mills village near the ski resort. Please correct me if I'm wrong. From what I heard, a large number of residences were taken over by the government in the 1970's for the national park in the valley between Akron and Cleveland. Most of these residents were hostile to the takeover, and messed with quite a few people in early years of the park out of resentment to the situation, and that is the basis of Helltown. I have heard they did their best to scare hikers and visitors away. That was 30 + years ago.

"Back in the 1800s there was an unlicensed doctor by the name of Crow, or Crowe."

"Over several hundred years, the same bloodlines of this handful of children is said to have been interbred and the enlarged head and deformed body became ingrained in their genes."



Isn't there a road in new jersey that's haunted and has some weird devilish creature and weird rock formations? Seems to be many of these urban legend roads

reply to post by buckeyefan


Hey, thanks for posting.

Can you tell me anything about the cult killings? Like what cult and what exactly happened?




reply to post by AnonymousMoose


The Jersey Devil?

I don't know about the rock formations though.

Oh, and indeed there are a lot of urban legends in rural America. I think it is great.

I'd assume most are complete fiction, but every legend starts somewhere.

In this case, the Dr really did exist and supposedly did care for orphans with illnesses. Who knows how much more of the legend is true?

[edit on 8-3-2009 by fooffstarr]

reply to post by fooffstarr


I remember reading something years back on the jersey devil, along with this haunted road that had weird rock formations and an old burned out building.

There was a local legend where I live [haunted road/house] that I checked out, seemed to be nothing...another one of this old abandoned mining lodge in the mountains, the last I was there someone was rebuilding it!

It'd be interesting to place motion sensor cameras in the area of the melonheads, see what shows up.

reply to post by AnonymousMoose


Yeah I was thinking of firing off an email to Monsterquest and see if they'd heard of the legend.

In my opinion, it seems like a perfect opportunity for them.

Cheap expedition - Central US, local experts.
Extensive witnesses - Locals can point them in the right direction.
Historical basis and reports - They could do a far more extensive search of local records and newspapers to uncover more of the Dr Kroh story.

Yes, I know Monsterquest haven't got the greatest record of proving things (apart from the Chupacabra episode) but they have the backing and budget to put an expedition together.

EDIT: I just sent the email . I provided them with copies of both this article and the one I did on the Yowie, as well as contact details for Yowie experts.

I think both creatures would make awesome episodes of MQ.

[edit on 8-3-2009 by fooffstarr]

I've watched a couple episodes of MQ and always finish it feeling empty and pissed off lol. They come so close, and don't get jack...or I'm screaming at my television for them to get an IR thermal camera or for pete's sake get a helicopter an fly around taking video!

[edit on 9-3-2009 by AnonymousMoose]

Wow! I had no idea the legend of the melonheads was so widespread! I just thought it was a local legend here!

I'm from Connecticut and have heard from my boyfriend that he himself has witnessed a melonhead when he was in high school. He told me he was out with a group of friends at a bonfire in the woods and one of his buddies went to take a leak and later came back white as a ghost and said he saw a small child of about 5 years of age with a huge "balloon" shaped head that jumped out at him in the woods while he was peeing and ran off laughing it's head off. Of course everyone told him he was crazy and waaaaay too drunk, so a group of people went back to the same location to look for this balloon headed kid. My boyfriend followed the group into the woods to search. After several minutes of nothing the whole crowd heard laughing and screaming across a field, they all ran over to investigate and found not just one, but three or 4 other balloon headed children sitting high up in pine trees gazing at them. It was a full moon so their unusual characteristics could clearly be seen, that they were not usual looking children. The group scattered and ran after seeing these balloon headed children and ran back to the bonfire pit. After that the party spot was pretty much left to these weird creatures. Nobody ever went back.

So thats the story my boyfriend told me of the melonheads. As they have been a legend in Ohio, there's many stories of their sightings here in Connecticut. Not a result of a mad scientist or doctor doing tests or anything like that, just the result of years of inbreeding.

Here's some interesting links for info on the melonheads of Connecticut.
community.livejournal.com...
www.geocities.com...

reply to post by jeepin4x4girl


Great story and links.

Thanks a lot

Yeah the legend seems to span 3 states now. From what I can gather it all started at Kirkland, but it is possible they modified the legend if it was started somewhere else like Connecticut.

Some of these stories are so old it is nearly impossible to trace them back to a starting location.

I happen 2 live in Kirtland right in between the "melon heads".. And the cult killings... Been 2 the melon heads suppose 2 be.. cause my friend happens 2 live on the street. We walk around the street and 2 in the morning with nothing happening.. except for the occasionial animal.. and sounds.. But other then that me and my friends have never ran into any melon heads.

reply to post by Kirtlandrasied


Hey, welcome to ATS

I've asked other people that live in Kirkland too, but I'll ask again.

Do you know anyone that takes the melonheads seriously?

Or do people just regard it as a joke or old fairy tale?

The opinion of the people that have grown up with a legend is always a good way to tell how real or not it is, so that's why I want to know.

A little off topic, but it may entertain or interest you to know that back in the day, there was a short, animated film entitled "The Melonheads."

It featured a musical group made up of stop-motion-animated melons with claymation facial features, singing some sort of rock 'n' roll or R&B song. Today we'd call it a "music video."

Back then (this pre-dates the Web by a couple of decades), it was shown at film festivals alongside other popular shorts, such as "Hardware Wars," and "Bambi meets Godzilla." It may have also appeared on the Night Flight broadcasts in the 1980s, but I can't say for sure.

hi fooffstarr, great post. If you are wondering about Australian urban legends, I may have one for you. Where I grew up was a place called 'The Leap', about 30k north of Mackay, QLD. There are a few different stories about it, the very real story of 'Kowaha' who was an Aboriginal lady chased to her death by farmers around mid 1870 (the farmers were sick of the local aboriginal tribe spearing their cattle) She did not want to be caught so she jumped off the side of the mountain with her baby in her arms, fell to her death but her baby miraculously survived and was raised by a policeman's wife. She stayed in the Mackay district until she died in about 1930.

Another interesting thing about The Leap is that it is a UFO 'hot-spot', many sightings have been reported around there, and I can tell you I have personally seen some strange things in the sky myself.

Finally, the last legend I had heard of whilst growing up there, was the legend of the 'Leap Mountain Hermit' who was a man who lived up on the mountain in one of it's caves. My neighbor had seen him on several occasions, but no one has seen him in years, so it is assumed that he has died in his cave. To the best of my knowledge, no one has found his remains or his cave yet.

So there you go, a couple of Aussie legends for you to check out yourself
I am trying to hunt down a few pictures of the mountain I have but for now I will post this link with a small picture of The Leap Mountain. The pic does not do it justice.

images.domain.com.au...

edit to add another pic that shows more of the rocky top of the mountain:

www.myhome.com.au...

[edit on 16/3/2009 by just_julie]

There has been a report or two on melon head type people in Monroe CT off the major road that cuts through there. They have apparently terrorizing cars with rocks.

reply to post by fooffstarr


damn good post!

ive been meaning to bulk up on some of my local folklore
just dont have the time

this legend sort of reminds me of the dover demon speaking of characteristics of course

but its a fairly good legend, melonheads huh...

[edit on 11-5-2009 by Lincolns_Avenger]

Wow, I haven't heard about the melon heads since 11th grade. I use to live up in Ohio, and we use travel allot through Chardon Township, I've never had the opportunity to see a melon head, but there is still hope that one day I'd be able too, how cool would that be.

This interests me greatly as an Ohioan.

The sad thing is, I always hear about this kind of stuff and never get to witness it because I don't have many friends with the curiosity or spines to travel with me after one adventure with local legends left me laying in the backseat of a flipped car in a ditch near my hometown.

Maybe next time I visit friends in the NE area, I can convince them that we should check it out.

I don't mean to hop topics or steal your thread, but does anyone else know about the supposed cemetery in Columbus that has graves marked as experiments or subject or some such nonsense? I heard the old DMV or something used to be a mental hospital and it had a small graveyard nearby that you can still get to if you know how. I never pressured the girl who told me that story for the exact location or a trip there since I was trying to date her at the time and didn't want to sound insane.

Originally posted by SweetRevenge
I don't mean to hop topics or steal your thread, but does anyone else know about the supposed cemetery in Columbus that has graves marked as experiments or subject or some such nonsense? I heard the old DMV or something used to be a mental hospital and it had a small graveyard nearby that you can still get to if you know how. I never pressured the girl who told me that story for the exact location or a trip there since I was trying to date her at the time and didn't want to sound insane.

I haven't heard of that before, but every town has their own legends.

Some are true, some are exaggerations and some are just plain made up.

Would love to see any photos though if you ever check out any of these places.

Hello.
Thanks for the post!I am originally from Ashtabula,Ohio and later moved to Eastlake,Ohio.My grandparents live VERY VERY close to where the melonhead "myth" exists.As a young girl my father told me the story.He swore when he was in HS(late 60's early 70's) him and his friends went "melonhead hunting" which is very popular for High school kids to do even a few years ago when I was in High School.He claims he saw a melonhead and was terrified and ran away as quickly as he could.As a child I truely believed this story.As I got older I almost forgot about the story until I myself was in High School.My sister and our friends loved melonhead hunting.During the summer months we would go almost every night,and never found anything.
A friend of ours then told us a story that is somewhat attached to the melonhead story.
The bridge pictured is what us "Clevelander's" call "Cry Baby Bridge." There are various stories that are told about the bridge.The first story I heard was that many years ago in the late 1800's a woman who was into voodoo drowned her baby under the bridge because she was sacrificing him to the devil.This story is SO OBVIOUS!I never believed it!Then a good friend of mine who volunteered for the Kirtland historical society told us the "true" story of Cry Baby Bridge and the melon heads.The story of the melonheads is true,Dr.Kroh did live there and he did do experiments on the children.What types of experiments no one knows.The story of the bridge is that Dr.Kroh had been informed that he was going to be investigated by authorities.Since the children had physical evidence he knew the only way to save himself would be to drown the children in the river right by his home.They call it Cry Baby Bridge because if you stop your car on the bridge late at night and turn your car off you can hear children crying.We never did,but I have known people who claim they have.Also when I was 16,the last time I ever went to melonhead hunt,we were on the bridge,we stopped the car and a few minutes later after not hearing anything and getting bored we decided to get back in the car.When my sister tried to start her NEW car it would not start.She tried for over 10 minutes until it finally started.There was nothing wrong with the car.That's why I am so spooked by this story.Am I saying it's true?No,I personally believe experiments were done on these children.The part of the story that the children are "cannibals" and that the melonheads still exist is just preposterous.I believe something bad happened on Weisner Road with Dr.Kroh, but that was many years ago today people live on Dr.Kroh's property and it is a beautiful place.Also I don't recommend going "melonhead hunting" in the woods.You get followed by rangers the whole time and technically it's illegal since the property is private.
Also it's KIRTLAND not Kirkland.

wow never heard about this legend before 0_o sounds like a good strong legend to me XD never ever heard a legend about that :p where i am there are the usual stories about haunted houses, haunted tunnels under the town and ghost dogs nothing special :p