The Loveland frog, also known as the Loveland frogman or Loveland lizard, is a legendary humanoid creature reportedly sighted in Loveland, Ohio, United States. It is typically described as standing approximately tall. The legend originated with an alleged sighting in 1955 and gained renewed attention in 1972, when a Loveland police officer reported encountering an animal resembling the frogman. Following another reported sighting in 2016, a second officer stated that he had shot and killed a similar creature several weeks after the 1972 incident, later identifying it as a large iguana that was missing its tail.
Legends According to legends, the Loveland frog was first sighted by a businessman or traveling salesman driving along an unnamed road late at night in 1955, with some versions of the story specifying that the encounter took place in May. According to one story, the driver was heading out of the Branch Hill neighborhood when he spotted three figures standing on their hind legs along the side of the road, each in height, with leathery skin and froglike faces. In other versions of the story, they were spotted either on top of or beneath a poorly lit bridge, with one holding a wand overhead that fired a spray of sparks.
Loveland police reports At 1:00a.m. on March 3, 1972, Loveland police officer Ray Shockey was driving on Riverside Drive near the Totes boot factory and the Little Miami River when an unidentified animal scurried across the road in front of his vehicle. The animal was fully illuminated in his vehicle's headlights, and he described it as having leathery skin, stretching in length, and weighing roughly . He reported that the animal "crouched like a frog" before it momentarily stood erect to climb over the guardrail and back down towards the river.
Two weeks after the incident, a second Loveland police officer, Mark Matthews, reported seeing an unidentified animal crouched along the road in the same vicinity as the first officer's sighting. Matthews shot the animal, recovered the body, and put it in his trunk to show Shockey. According to Matthews, it was "a large iguana about long", and he did not immediately recognize it because it was missing its tail. Matthews speculated that the iguana had been someone's pet that "either got loose or was released when it grew too large". According to Matthews, Shockey was shown the dead iguana and confirmed it was the animal he had seen two weeks prior. Matthews recounted the incident to an author of a book about urban legends, but says the author "omitted the part that confirmed that the creature was an iguana rather than a Frogman".
In 2016, Matthews commented on WCPO-TV in response to reports of a couple playing Pokémon Go near the river who claimed to see a froglike being standing on hind legs: "It's like Bigfoot and all that other stuff," Matthews said. "I don't believe in Bigfoot either."
In fiction James Renner's science fiction-mystery novel The Man From Primrose Lane features a version of the Loveland frog.
In May 2014, the Loveland frog legend was made into a musical, titled Hot Damn! It's the Loveland Frog!. The musical premiered at the Art Academy of Cincinnati during the 2014 Cincinnati Fringe Festival.
In 2023, a horror found footage film directed by Anthony Cousins, Frogman, was released.
In 2023, filmmaker Lauren Connolly released the documentary, "Finding Frogman", which explored the history and folklore surrounding the Loveland Frog legend.
Commemorations In 2023, the Loveland frog became the city's mascot. The frog, dressed as a "frog prince", debuted at the city's second annual Hearts Afire Weekend celebration and appears at other city events.
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