The Melonhead legend of Ohio (+ photos)

reply to post by jibeho


I have lived in Cleveland my entire life and never heard of the whole Melonhead thing. However the Franklin Castle is an interesting place, it is unfortunate that it has had the difficulties that it has. One of the problems with the renovation is that you pretty much have to be rich to do it, because it is a historic building and in Cleveland it requires alot of permits and such to do anything to it. And if your into Jack the Ripper, we had the Kingsbury Run murders, which were just as mysterious and pretty much killed Elliot Ness's career.

i live on the west side of cleveland and the melonhead stories are completely new to me. perhaps i should go and check it out being so close and all. if i do i'll be sure to take some interviews with the local's.

reply to post by KeliOnyx


me and a few friends broke into franklin castle when we were in highschool. the place is definitely creepy inside. we though we heard a baby cying and got spooked and left. probably our imaginations but i wouldnt recomend going in there it's dangerous the places is falling apart inside.

reply to post by fooffstarr


Awesome thread! It's almost Halloween so I googled the melon heads and found this,
I live literally 10 minutes from wisner road and i have a good story, First off just over the bridge in the pic u posted there was a fresh water spring that was a pipe sticking out the side of the mountain with the coldest cleanest water everrrr flowing 24/7 365, people would come to wisner road from all over with empty milk jugs to get some of that water, long story short there was a drought a few years ago and the water was drying up and becoming tainted with bacteria so they closed it. At the end of wisner road just over that bridge the road hooks left and continues on that way unlit and creepy, then to the right theres a dirt road/driveway on the riverside. A lot has changed down there now so im telling my story from a 1998/1999 perspective. We all piled ij my buddies grandmas jalopy of a car one summer night, we creeped down wisner road real slow looking out the windows, stopped at the water fountain to have a drink of water and look around, then we got back in the car and drove down the rest of the way and cautiously headed into the woods in search of melon. Witches hungout down there too there was those upside down stars spray painted on a few trees and beer cans all over the ground, the occaisonal 40oz bottles and a naked baby doll with the head missing stuck in the mud, also there was a giant chair made out of tree stalks all tied together with rope, known as the witches chair standing 10 or so feet tall this giant chair sitting in the middle of the woods with all kinds of words carved in it, We would always act like we werent scared and its funny cuz we would always all run back to the car and get out of there in a hurry.... But instead of going back down wisner road we took that right hook i mentioned earlier and drive passed the erie looking buldings down the road on the right that i can best describe as cult looking compounds, we called them the cults! Kirtland for sure has cults, in the early 90s a mormon cult leader named jeffrey lundgren and his followers killed a family and burried them in there barn, really crazy story google the name for more details, So anyway we drive passed these cult looking buildings... again freeked out turn around and head back to wisner to head home, but this night as we were driving all of a sudden there was 2 pickup trucks following us really close with there hibeams lights on, so naturally my buddy slows down in hopes they would pass, no such luck the one truck pulled up on side of us driving on there wrong side of the road and the other truck is right on our bumper! The girls in the car are all screaming, these dudes in the trucks have red bandanas tied around there faces and theyre eyes looked phsyco, at this point we are back on wisner and the one truck goes way ahead of us hitting there breaks and cuts a hard right leaving a cloud of dust in the air, and where it stopped it was blocking off the bridge.... Oh myyyy godd everyone in the car is flipping out and they are obviously blocking us in either to kill us, rob us who knows.... As we get closer (going about 50mph) in this little rusty bucket a bolts car thats almost out of gas my buddy yells out to us WE CAN MAKE IT THRU THERS ENOUGH ROOM, there was a narrow spot were the truck wasnt completly blocking the bridge, the truck behind us literally on our bumper and the guys blocking the road ahead of us are now out of the truck ready for there pummel us. We have no choice but to clear this gap. Everone in the cars screaming go go go og lol, so he floors it we clear the gap! the car got all four tires off the ground as we ramped the bridge!! the trucks are now behind us down the hill, so my buddy slams on the breaks gets out and jumps up on the roof of the car and yells F#%* YOU!!!!!!! down the hill at these hill billys! Everone crammed in the car started laughing and he Jumps back in the car and we were gone! Ive been down there recently and its changed a lot. Not the same at all, and im sure cops are always down there waiting to bust people, which is bs, kids need to keep the legend alive! Ive never seen a melon head but we almost got beat and robbed down there maybe even killed. So if your goin down there at night be careful for real, oh ya theres an abondon mental hospital in beachwood ohio not far from kirtland that is freeeaaaky as hell we used to go to as well, not sure if they tore it down by now but that is a million times scarier then the melon heads no joke

I have seen a few Melonheads in Ohio.
First of all, it's Kirtland not Kirkland. These two towns are VERY far apart and both well outside of Cleveland.
Second, the stories really circle around Thomson, Ohio which is out in the boonies.

I have heard all sorts of melonhead stories for many years and saw one here in my well populated, modern town a couple years ago. He was driving a car, looked a LOT like Tobey McGuire and had the notorious huge jug head, Otherwise for all intense purposes he looked "normal". Many years before this I had seen an older melonhead and again, driving a car and the two shared faces that lead me to believe they are related. I've seen the younger one 2 or 3 times.

Many years ago in my teens, a girl I knew told me and a couple friends about the melonhead that lived near her friend. He road this antique squeaky bike, was very small and thin and lived on the dead end dirt road you'll find mention of in countless stories. One night they got drunk and he came around so her friend was messing with him. She came running and screaming in terror as he chased her then turned the tables and began chasing him around this ratty old shed. We sort of thought the story was B.S. because of who it came from but then....
Probably that same year a close friend was going to his cousins birthday party. It was out in the middle of nowhere and he was desperate to get some weed or booze to sneak in to get him through the family affair. He comes back and describes the EXACT same little melonheaded man. The dead end dirt road talked about in so many stories, the shed etc. He wasn't someone to sling B.S. Anyway it must be that the gene runs in this family and everyone knows where they live. There was no horror movie story. Just some very little guy with a massive cranium.

There are a lot of creepy melonhead stories and it's pretty much the same. They took off into the woods generations ago, have encouraged the spreading of the gene through incest and creep around scaring people from time to time. The abandon mental institution and Dr Kroh are also very real as are the stories of him experimenting on these kids and other people. There were jars with baby fetuses found and stolen many years ago, some of which surfaced in my town when I was a kid according to numerous people I knew insisting they had seen them at various houses stashed as trophies. Some of these claims came from people I was inclined to believe. A lot of people used to sneak into the abandon mental hospital and it was straight out of the movies. They just picked up and left. The file cabinets still filled with patient files, desks, bed pans, beds, restraints etc. Due to so may kids sneaking in at night, the local P.D. set up a sub-station there to chase people off. It was well known that if you got anywhere near it, somehow the cops would ALWAYS just walk up on you and stop you.

There's a lot of weirdness here. I've seen some pretty weird looking Amish over the years. They experience some pretty bizarre deformations due to incest. I've seen a few "children" that after taking a good look, realized that I was looking at a 40 year old man who looks the size of an 8 year old child. It literally looks like a 40 year old man shrunk by a shrink ray from the movies! Another guy I've seen looks EXACTLY like Bilbo Boggins and is literally about 4 and a half feet high! These are new order Amish living in a heavily populated area so hang out there for a week or two and you are bound to see these guys and others. I know how this reads, ESPECIALLY on this site but I'm not trying to goof on you. Generally your Amish just look very Dutch European but I've always suspected a connection to the Melonheads. There are areas I've seen Amish that show incredibly strong signs of incest and genetic disease but these are the very distant and unpopulated sects where they rarely ever see cars and walk barefoot down gravel roads. Typically your Amish are very friendly but in these old order Amish areas they just don't like "the English" coming around where as New Order Amish eat fast food, shop at Walmart etc.

Anyway the melonheads are real.
If there's any truth to them, the Hell's Hollow stories, the old girlscout camp etc well just remember this. Crystal Lak AKA Friday the 13th is based on Ohio. There's an old camp and lake that's been shut down for probably 40 years in my town I've long suspected to be the location sitting right on the shore of Lake Eerie.

Interesting and sad story, i've read a lot of interesting stories on this site today, this being one of the most interesting. Never heard of these "melonheads", and it totally reminds me of the movie The Hills Have Eyes, i think because of the interbred/woods thing lol.

reply to post by fooffstarr


i live relativly close to that area i go there at times..its crazy. all i have to say.

I grew up 20 minutes from Kirtland (NOT "Kirkland"). I think just about every kid in the county has gone driving in the night in search of Melonheads at least once. It's a fun tale, but I've never put much stock in it. I can't say that I've ever heard of anyone seeing one of the folks in question. The fact that I never even came across a "my brother's friend's cousin saw one of them..." type story from someone, only further clarifies that it's probably an urban legend and nothing more. Cool to see someone talking about it on here, though. Lived in the area for most of my life.

Although the topic seems a bit strange, i love it, great presentation wish there was some pics of the melon heads though.

It's an interesting tale and I have heard mention of it before, but I live in Cleveland and often drive through the metroparks at night, and other various roads, looking for strange things. I have never spotted a 'melonhead'. I have seen quite a few strange events but nothing like that...and I haven't heard the story from more than one person so it's not very talked about.

It'd be interesting to go check out the actual spot by the bridge perhaps sometime just to see if anything does show up though.

Sooooo, maybe the starchild was just an inbred melonhead. Or just had its head pumped full of air.

I saw this posted on facebook thought it might be one hs anyone seen this pic before ? survival concepts llc facebook

Saw this on Facebook. I grew up and still live about 10 minutes from the location of the legend - BTW, it is "Kirtland" and not "Kirkland" and is located along Route 6 (Chardon Road) and Route 306 Chillocothe Rd.

I am intimately familiar with the legend and don't give it any more credence than just a really good urban legend. As an avid outdoorsman I have hiked, camped and hunted those woods for decades and have never encountered any "melonhead" humanoids. I have had many other weird experiences, but none that align with this tale.

reply to post by broadwaybaby1991

Responding to this post as it moved me the most and to endorse/verify the "stories" told within.
One , completely agree with the term/saying "melonhead hunting". Anyone intrigued and heading to Kirtland to investigate used this ; myself and a select group of friends who researched , noted , drove , walked , and foraged the areas certainly did.
Second , I agree with the use of "Cry Baby Bridge" as a term of endearment/moniker to the bridge in the photo and agree not to the voodoo woman story but wholeheartedly to the drowning of "experimental evidence".
Third , I have heard "whimpers" or "cries" at this bridge and have ruled out native animals to the region and mass hallucination. This I will personally attest to as it was one of our own "tests/experiments" that we did.
Fourth , my suggestion is to NEVER shut your car off anywhere! I can recall two times , very visibly , experiencing the phenomena of a perfectly good running vehicle malfunctioning. Once at this bridge and the other further up the dirt road. I just told that dirt road story not to long ago and remembered it as if it happened yesterday.
Fifth , yes there was a doctor (to which there is conflict as to whether he was actually licensed to begin with , disbarred/discredited , or even a doctor at all - this is in accordance as to how the "urban legend" was told to you) who performed most often and inevitably unbearably painful surgeries/experiments on orphaned and/or abandoned/unwanted (as I came to understand it parents of these children were often ridiculed and looked down upon in social circles) children afflicted with water on the brain. My (our) interpretation of the surgery/experimentation was in essence to find a way to drain the fluid in a constant manner with shunts and/or to drill into the skull where the pockets of water where. I do not recall the findings as it relates to the shunting but the latter resulted in re-accumulation of fluid and in most cases more so then originally was there. As you would expect this caused greater pain due to swelling pressure in the child's head and greater disfiguration. My (our) research also showed that as the number of unsuccessful surgeries/experiments rose , the doctors sanity began to wither away and this is where the accusations of many forms of abuse (through the experiments themselves and physical) cropped up leading to the eventual snooping of law enforcement officials.
Sixth , I do not believe the children were cannibals. I am uncertain though as to how they became inhabitants of the woods. Again , it is all how the story was told to you (children rebelled and killed the doctor , the accidental killing of the wife in the fire etc). All I know is that somehow they made it past the barricades (heavier and sometimes Kati barred doors and shuttered windows) and the fenced in property. Which if I recall correctly was nothing more than a split rail type fence with chicken wire securing the openings it left.
To conclude this response , I without a doubt have experienced many different oddities , occurrences and phenomenon when it comes to the "melonhead" legend as myself and three other friends made this into our hobby/pastime. As much as I'd love to say I still have the maps we drew of the different locations , the notes we took , and even artifacts we found ( I'll cover one of them in a post that I will start under my user name) I will always have the experiences that are my stories , which when I tell them , never fail to give me goosebumps!.........which I think is a combination of the passion I had for this and the recollection of being spooked.

Very well done and a pleasure to read! I love freaky things like this!

Whats up ats just thought id cime in on this subject, as i was born raised and still live in cleveland ohio. I have heard of and in high school indeed did go explore the area with friends. Ofcourse no incounters with the melonheads but non the less still a cool thing to. go check out as a youngster,also wanted to add that thetes a second legend attached to wisner bridge its called cry baby bridge, stoyes go that a women threw her infant ivet the bridge into the river, its said that if u drive and and park on the bridge at night u can hear the crys of the departed baby.if u are from the area and havnt had the pleaser of exploring the legend i suggest u do so its a good time, happy hunting

I'm also from Ohio. Just north of Cincinnati. We too have a ""cry baby bridge"" with the exact same story. Never heard anything anytime I've been there. Leads me to believe, 'specially since there's more than one, that it is an urban legend and nothing more.

What's the best thing to come outta Cleveland? I71 south. Haha. Lil Ohio humor...

reply to post by StandsInTimber


great story i have lived in this area fro 50 + years and heard all the stories was a user of the spring this has to do with a stone, in mentor on the lake just a few blocks from were state route 306 ends there is a city park across the street there is what appears to be a head stone marked (DR. CROWE ) and this allways weirds me out when i pass this just wanted to share so if there were any one intressted in it

reply to post by ickabob


We used to get water from this spring also. Best damn water i ever tasted. Exactly where is the Dr. Crowe headstone you speak of? I live in MOL and am curious.

reply to post by IamAbeliever


it's on the conner of renolds and i belive thunder bird right at the stop sign where the park by the lake is looking at the lake from renolds its on the right in the ground but you can read it from your car hope this helps