Morbid - Episode 431: Cryptids with Caleb!

Episode Date: February 15, 2023

Today we are doing a battle of the cryptids with Caleb of Scream! Ash is out today and Alaina's sick voice couldn't handle a full case, so Caleb swept in on a white stallion and brought us the tale of the Loveland Frogmen. Alaina shares the legend of the Pope Lick Monster along with the tragic and deadly history of the railroad trestle that he haunts. It's some tragedy mixed with some very whimsical frog/humans. Just what the doctor ordered. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey, Prime members, you can listen to morbid, early, and ad-free on Amazon music. Download the app today. You're listening to Immorbid Network Podcast. Hi, I'm Lindsay Graham, the host of Wondries Podcast American Scandal. Our newest series looks at the Kids for Cash Scandal, a story about two judges who stood accused of making millions of dollars in a brazen scheme that shattered the lives of countless children. Listen to American scandal on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey weirdos, I'm Alina.

I'm Caleb. And this is morbid. with a twist. With a twist, it's a special morbid. I don't know if you guys noticed, but that was not Ash. I was gonna say I'm Ash, but then I decided not to. I decided to use my actual name. Yeah, you might think I had an explanation for that, but I didn't. Hello guys, I'm Caleb.

It's Caleb from Scream and Horror Soup and all things that are good. Yeah, I do, if you guys don't know, I do horror movie podcasts. One of them, kind of like with myself and my buds and other people. I got a tough guy and my buddy James. But I also do a horror movie podcast with Alaina right here and Ash, which Ash is, sans Ash at the moment, but Ash is usually here and there. Yeah, that's it.

And go listen to scream if you haven't, because it's fun and we're doing the hellraisers right now. Yeah, we're on the very religious hellraiser right now. It's a very interesting one. We've entered into a real world that I love it. But, you know, Ash isn't here today because she's dealing with some personal stuff and what she'll be back to where she's gonna be right back.

And because I've been super sick and my voice is kind of shit, this is actually the best it's been all day, we decided that instead of doing like a full case episode because I'm honestly not sure my voice would handle all the way through that, we were gonna do a cryptid episode and who better to have on for a cryptid episode than Collib? Yeah, I'm very interested in frogs,

so I think this is gonna be great. So there you go. And we're gonna be covering the Pope lick monster from Kentucky. And then after the Pope lick monster, again, very religious, it seems. I know. I'm on theme. I don't know why we're licking the Pope this time around, but I'm not sure you're there to be quite honest. After we get done licking some popes, we're gonna get into some lovely frogs from the Loveland, their Loveland frogmen. From the Loveland. So yeah, this is gonna be great.

Mine's like, it's kind of twofold to mine because it's definitely encrypted, but it's also a place in Kentucky that just has a lot of tragedy associated with it that's connected to the cryptid in a way. Okay, I got you. My frog people, they are from Loveland, Ohio, so it is from a place that's where the Loveland comes from, but a place. I don't know if there's like frog tragedies really I have some stories. No, no, no frog no amphibious Tragedies to be heard. I mean you could call them that in a way, but yours sound different. I feel minor definitely different. Okay. Okay. Okay. We're on the same thing Yeah, I feel like they're a little different. So I'll get right into mine mine is in Eastern Jefferson County

Which is just outside of Louisville and I'm pretty sure that's how you say it. Louisville Kentucky. Louisville Kentucky. Did I say it right, guys? I know you don't. It's Louisville, right? Yeah, it's not Louisville. It's not Louisville.

It's Louisville. Yeah. No, to my understanding, that's what it is. That feels right in my soul. So I'm going to go with it. I would agree. But in this area in Jefferson County, there's a railroad trussle.

That's like one of those big, really tall bridges that the train goes over, that would be terrifying to go over. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't even like freeways that have like bridges that go over them. I don't like being on the top of that freeway and I don't like being on the bottom. I don't like being on the top of that freeway and I don't like being on the bottom.

I don't like even looking at them from afar. Like it stresses me out. I don't, this one would just, this one would send me because in parts of this railroad trestle, it's 110 feet off the ground. Okay. No.

Well, I will say that I do like the word trestle. Trestle, feels right. Good one. But you know what, this particular railroad trussle is supposed to house one of the scariest and honestly the most destructive cryptids out there. Okay. And that is the Popelic monster. Okay. Can I just like, I know you have a whole story going on, but I can just

immediately, I need to know why public, why the town public, why the why, why is the Pope? I'm honestly not sure why it's called public. Okay. The place. There's, um, I, I would like to know though, maybe we should look it up and see exactly where public comes from. Because there had to be a reason that they named it that. I feel like there has to be. Seems like people don't know, but there are some guesses, educated guesses. Lick has to do with naturally occurring mineral licks, and these occur with some regularity

in the vicinity of the Ohio River, and since they attract wildlife they become landmarks of a sort. Anyway, hope is a relatively common family name in Kentucky. A certain William Pope was one of the founders of Louisville, the city in which we find Pope, and a public creek. So, Pope-lic-reek likely got its name because it was a creek on or near a natural mineral lick on a property owned by the Pope family. I love that. Interesting. Yeah, because I found one that's a Samuel and Nathan Pope. I think I saw something about that too. So, it's okay.

All right, so there you go. Somewhere in that vicinity. So, it's less, you know, it's less salacious. Something to do with minerals and something to do with hope as a name. Sir names and minerals. Yeah, that's interesting. Standard stuff. Yeah, like it definitely sounds like more like, whoa, what's going on there?

Yeah. Then when you hear the actual reason, you're like, all right, that's just, yeah, it's just a reason. That's an explanation. Yeah. Then when you hear the actual reason, you're like, all right, that's just, yeah, it's just a reason. That's an explanation. Whatever. But you know what, the public monster is also known as the goat man. Also known as the sheep man, which we're going to get into because those are two very different things. I was going to say those are very different things. Yeah. And I thought that too. I was like, are we sure? But before I begin, I just want to say if you're interested in this story or things like this, there's this podcast called The Southern Gothic Podcast. It's

really awesome. And they did one on this legend and it has like cool music to it. And it's just really well done. And I just suggest you go listen to that after this because they do a really good job. So there's that. I just enjoy their show. So go listen to them. Oh, yeah. Well, you know, and there,

and I think it's like a brother and a sister. I'm pretty sure that do the podcast. So it's just really good. But there are a couple of different origin stories for the public monster. And I kind of love when there are various and really, like very varied and very terrifying origins for a cryptid, like I love, but when we just,

like these come from all over the place, they don't disappoint at all. Like one of them is that he's a skin walker, a flesh pedestrian. Okay. The other one is that he's an escaped goat human, quote unquote, freak from a circus side show that crashed when a circus train crashed on the trestle.

I'm into that. That one's kind of fun. Also that he could be a farmer who is like deranged and has been sacrificing and or fucking sheep's and goats to make himself into a sheep or a goat. Oh, I wouldn't he? That's an interesting one. There's also one that just goes completely outside of that and says it's just like a headless horseman vibe. And he's just riding around on that trussle, scaring people, making them fall to their deaths.

I mean, I like most of those. Those all sound like very good tales. They're all scary, so there's that. And that's really all you need with a cryptid. Do I get to pick one or? Choose your own adventure. Okay, cool, cool, cool. I'm gonna go with the headless horseman.

So he's possibly, like I said, he's part man, part gop, gop, gop, part gop, and or part sheep. And this is where the legend deviates into two halves, because a lot of people call him goat man, and a lot of people call him sheep man. And I think it's probably to do with when you heard the legend and by whom. Because recently it has turned more towards like goat man. But I found a short study done on the legend of the public, Tresil and the public monster legend by someone at Ohio State University. And they kind of pondered whether the sheep slash goat distinction has to do with how we view goats and sheep

in popular culture and legends. So sheep are usually always seen as like innocent, you know, lambs, cute, gentle, docile. But goats can be associated with like a more sinister devilish vibe to them. So as the legend took hold, as these tragedies happened that were kind of associated with the legend and the trustel itself, it went more towards the sinister of the two. So I think it kind of began a sheep, but it turned into this, which is interesting. Well, once was a goat from Nantucket.

Exactly. You guys can finish that. I can go right in. You guys got it. You got it. But he's supposed to lure people out onto the trestle or lure them to jump off to their depths. Like he somehow, he has some kind of magical pole

where he can lure you out there, either just by you get this feeling and you feel like you have to go out on the trestle and then you get this uncontrollable feeling of jumping off. Or people say he does this by using almost like a siren song kind of thing or by doing like a flesh pedestrian thing

where he uses like a familiar voice to you, to call out to you. You're telling me this guy is calling out to you and you were just walking to the end of a bridge and jumping off of it? According to legend. According to legend, okay, I mean, we should definitely, definitely will say allegedly. Allegedly, yes.

That's crazy. Yeah, it's a lot because there's that, or they say that you go out onto the trestle to summon him. Ah, yes, just some of the go, which I believe more. I mean, that's not to be sure. There's definitely like, you know, some teenagers sitting in their room like doing some witchcraft and whatnot.

And then they're like, yeah, I gotta go to the bridge and some in this goat man in Popolik, you know, that makes sense. Exactly. And that's the thing. And then if you go out there, he's either gonna make you jump off, something bad's going to happen.

Or there's a variation of this that says, he'll just, if he can't make you jump off, he'll just rush it you with a bloody axe and try to kill you that way. Where do you get the axe? I'm not really sure, but it's always bloody. Where do you get the blood? He never cleans it. Where do you get it? I don't know.

His victims, I assume. You get the blood? You never cleans it. You get, I don't know, his victims, I assume. You get the last one on you, I guess. It's right above a creek. I don't know why he doesn't just wash it off between these situations, but that's what I hear. You think you got the edge from the creek too? Maybe. The creek is just giving up access.

That's like here you go. One of those axe creeks I've heard of them. Yeah, just producing murder weapons. Like you know those creeks. You've heard of them. You've been there. But he's also, he sounds pretty terrifying because he's supposed to be very tall and he stands on two legs.

He has a very pale face, big giant horns that come out of his forehead, and his hair is supposed to be long and greasy and dark, and he has hooves. Okay. I mean, that is, I'm not going to lie. That's what I imagined when you, when you mentioned a goat man. That, that sounds like you're very, very standard goat man. Yeah, standard goat man, shit. I don't, I wouldn't want to see that. And I definitely wouldn't want to see that with a bloody axe. I mean, I don't want to have a beer with the guy,

but well, maybe I do. Maybe he has some stories. I was gonna say, honestly, I'd rather just sit down and have a drink with him rather than him just like, surprise me on a trussle. Yeah, you know, even as I said it, I wanted to take it back because he seems like a cool guy. Like as I live in breeze, I would like to sit down and have a beer with him.

I'd want to know how he gets people to walk off the bridges, you know, what does he do? What does he say? What's so enticing about this furry man? Exactly. What, tell me about that creek that's producing murder weapons, will you explain the magic behind it? I mean the creek. The creek. The creek. Come on. Public creek, I'm saying.

Now, he's also known to stock and protect the public trestle. That's like his place. It was built sometime in the 1800s. The trestle was not the goat man. Not the man at its old. Yeah, he was probably born at some point. I don't know. Yeah, what was the Tressel was not the goat man. Not the man at all. And it's all... Yeah, he was probably born at some point, I don't know.

Yeah, what was the man built? Let's get into that. I don't think he was really built until... I want to say the first mention of him is not until... It's not really not until the 1900s sometime. Oh, okay, so he came after. He's a fairly modern man. He's a fairly modern hybrid. Yeah, I would say. Yeah, he came after the

Tressel. He's a young goat. He's a young goat. He's a kid. Yeah. Isn't that what a baby goat is? Is it a kid? I have no idea. Yeah. Sounds right. Yeah, I'm going to go with it. He's a kid. That's all. But the Tressel itself was built in the 1800s. Like I said, it was just outside of Louisville in Jefferson County. It runs over public creek.

And below it is also walking trails that lead into public park. Okay. And according to a bear grass thunder, which it has a podcast as well. Okay, I didn't know if you were naming a person another place adjacent to public creek. Uh, if this was a state, yeah, I have to say I had to I had to verify like I'd clarify what was going on here. It's actually a great resource. Go check it out on the internet. Like they have a really good story about this too. Check it out on the internet, like they have a really good story about this too.

Shout out Glassboot Thunder. They said on bare grass thunder. Okay. But I like how you added blue though. That was every region else. Like you need, you're missing an adjective in there. But they said that there's actually a haunted trail. There too called Legend of Poplick.

The Legend of Poplick, huh? See, this is where things are just getting. They need to reassess how they word the name of this town. They certainly do. The Legend of Poplick just sounds like a really bad article. It really does. Like something terrible happened and they're like, oh, well, here's a legend of Pope Lake.

Like it sounds like a true crime case. It really does. Like Pope Lake is quite a name. It's quite a name. It sounds like... You know what they committed to it? It sounds salacious. Is it just me?

It absolutely sounds salacious. Like absolutely. But then when you hear where it actually comes from, you're like, oh, that's not as salacious. So maybe we ruined the, the, the, I'm trying to think of the word, the, they ruined it themselves, Elena. Let's be completely honest. It wasn't me. This was not either of us.

It was. It was. It was much was much before our time. That is very true, to be honest. But you know what, there's that, don't go on this trestle. Let me tell you that first of all, because this trestle is 800 feet long almost. And like I said, in parts, it's 110 feet above the ground.

Don't go on it. People still go on it. Don't go on it. I'm gonna be completely honest. I'm not going anywhere near the entire city of public. Yeah, don't do it. And because the other thing is it's still in use, like this dressel. And a lot of people believe it isn't because if you look at it, like if you look it up, it's super rusted

and old, it's fucking looking like I assumed when I saw it that there's no way this isn't service anymore, like no railroad is going over this. But it's very active. It's an active trussle. So people will walk out on this unknowingly thinking there's no chance of an oncoming train coming at them. But and then they get stuck in the middle of the trestle and there's nowhere for them to go

if a train is coming. And there can be up to from 15 to 25 trains going through their daily. So it's very active. I mean, I'm surprised that the city is even active. Yeah, I'm saying. That's crazy. But like I said, there's no escaping either. If you're caught,

like you would, there's no platforms on either side. The railroad, you know, planks are super far apart. So you can't run. If a train comes, you wouldn't really be able to run away from it without potentially falling through. So if you did get caught by a train, the only way you could get out of there was by hanging by your arms off of, like by railroad ties as the train went through. And if you've watched Lost Boys, you know, that's a difficult task.

Wouldn't need like a left or right option here. Yeah, absolutely. And this is a build default or this is a build project. It really is. I guess they were they used to have platforms on either side of the the trestle but they removed them because they thought they were encouraging people to come on to the treussle. What if you were trafficked into a cult over shot nine times or fell in love with a vampire or went into a minor surgery and woke up one week later, paralyzed?

What would you do? I'm Whit Missildine, the creator of this is actually happening, a podcast from Wondry that brings you extraordinary true stories of life-changing events, told by the people who lived them. From a young man that dooms his entire future with one choice, to a woman who survived a notorious serial killer, you'll hear their firstperson account of how they overcame remarkable circumstances. Each episode is an exploration of the human spirit and personal discovery. These haunting accounts sound like Hollywood movies, but I assure you this is actually happening.

Follow this is actually happening wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to ad-free on the Amazon Music or Wonder app. Which is like a double-edged sword there. Yeah, now you just have people getting splattered underdraged. Exactly. Now it's like this is bad. But a lot of teenagers used to, especially teenagers, and still do use the tracks as either a place to party. They bring their friends there.

It's become one of those well-known, dare you to go out on the Tressel kind of thing. They'd still bring in the Pope-like monster thing, go out on the Tressel and see if the Pope-like monster comes out. It's really tied to this legend. But the problem is, you know, your real worry here is a train. That's like, you might be going out there being like, let's get the Pope-like monster, but it's like, no, a train's going to come.

Honestly, at this point, now that we've gotten farther into the story, I think the You might be going out there being like, let's get the public monster, but it's like no, a train's gonna come. Honestly, at this point, now that we've gotten farther into the story, I think the goat man is trying to help people. Honestly, he might be trying to be like, guys, stay off the trussle. Yeah, stop walking onto this. He's trying to scare people and they're like, oh, let me go hang out with this goat.

And he's like, no, don't. I'm trying to warn you, stay away from the trussle and then they're jumping off the side because of trains coming. He's literally like, I look revolting and I'm holding a bloody axe for the very reason of keeping you away from this place. Maybe he is the good guy here.

Well, like I said, at first, I thought it was teenagers like sitting in their rooms, just like summoning demons and stuff like that, and they find a goat man now, that I found out it's just teenagers partying on a goddamn trussle. These kids are just drunk or high or something, they're fucking wasted and they see a goat

and they're like, oh, I'm gonna go hang out with this goat and he's like, no dude, stop, but they're blasted. No, yeah, stay off the trestle, everyone. This is my message to you. If you live near this trestle, do not go on this trestle. It is bad. I mean, if you've ever seen any horror movie,

if there's like, you know, drunk teenagers partying and they see a goat man with an ax, they're like, oh, let me go hang out with this guy. And it's always the wrong decision, but I feel like that's what's happening here in public. 100%. It's really bad. And again, the trains are the real risk here. And in an article by the Courier Journal from 1989,

this is like, so a senior in the high school, the local high school, her name was Bridget Bakunowski. She was quoted as saying, it's just a challenge to cross it without a train hitting you. It's like, that's a bad challenge. Don't do that. It's a stupid challenge. That was a meme at the time before we had actual memes that were pictures online and it's always been dumb.

Exactly. Don't do it. But like I said before, they used to have platforms on either side, but they removed it. But like I said before, they used to have platforms on either side, but they removed it. And now it's really like removing a big safety net from the Tressel, but I kind of also understand why they did it in the first place because they thought it would maybe keep people from coming on if they had nowhere to go if a train came, but it definitely hasn't. There has been some Heming and Hying over whether they should put those platforms back on, but they really aren't sure what to do yet.

I'm gonna go ahead and say that they should. I know. At this point, I'm like, I feel like you might as well, because people are not stopping going on this thing. They put up a big, like, a really tall, chain-link fence with barbed wire signs, saying, like, keep out. Don't go on the trussle but we all know that like if people are determined to go they're gonna go. That's what drunk people want. They want signs that say keep out. You're basically challenge. Yeah you're like challenging them to go in the trussle and you know. Yes. It's not gonna work out in your favor. Yeah. And you

know what? I will say that podcast from that website I was talking about the Bear Grass Thunder podcast. They came up with actually a really good idea that could possibly take people's attention away from the trestle. Okay. Because like I said, a lot of people go up there because of the public monster, legend.

That's what's really drawing them out to that trestle. So they talked about whether they should make a statue or some kind of monument of the public monster and put it in the trail, in the woods. That's under the trestle. And maybe that would become like a photo opportunity. You know what I mean? Like a thing people want to go to and take people away from going on the trestle, and maybe that would become like a photo opportunity. You know what I mean?

Like a thing people wanna go to and take people away from going on the trestle, which I was like, that's actually a pretty good idea. As long as, yeah, no, we could do that. Because I feel like people are always looking for Instagram realness here. So maybe it'll take them away from trying to get Instagram photos on a big giant

tressel and you can get one with a public monster statue. Now, that'd be pretty cool. Or, you know, we could build the monster sent about into the world and just let them do his thing. Just build the actual monster. That might be a better idea to be honest. I'm into it. Yeah, I like that. But the public monster legends are terrifying and thinking of this scary ass cryptid chasing people to their deaths or like sirens songing them to their deaths is pretty horrible.

But the reality of this is that there really is a super tragic history to this tressal because of this monster legend. So kids will mostly go out there like I said to find the monster or to scare their friends or it's the whole thing like I'm going to prove my bravery. I'm going to go out there and summon him kind of thing and this is what happens. So that same website I just talked about, they posted a really long list of tragic deaths that have occurred on this tressel and here are some of the most wild ones and really tragic ones. So they

date back to 1984. In 1984, 20-year-old Sean Fleischmann, he actually survived injuries when he fell from the tressel. Somehow he survived, but sustained a lot of injuries. In 1985, 21-year-old John Kay List actually ended up passing away. Him and his friend Randall Graves were shooting crows on the trussle. Okay, that's not activity. That sounds like, wow. That is an activity. You're like that, I can say that. And while they were there,

a Southern Railroad Company train came around the bend unexpectedly. And a lot of times you can't hear the train coming until it's too late. And Randall actually fell, but was able to grab onto and hold the cross-sci and somehow he was able to stay on there. But unfortunately, John Rand and was struck and killed only 30 feet away from the end of the trestle. Jesus. Yeah. It's really sad. And I found a newspaper article from the end of the trestle. Jesus. Yeah, it's really sad.

And I found a newspaper article from the Courier Journal in 1988 where it was talking about this case, and that his parents had actually filed a wrongful death suit saying the train didn't pull the emergency brake. But I'm not quite sure where came of that case, but it was interesting. Wow. Yeah.

And in 1986, 19- old David Wayne Bryant was walking onto the trestle and jumped off when the oncoming train came like barreling at him. The jump was 110 feet and he lived initially, but passed away from his injuries later. Well, what's at the bottom of this trestle that you're able to live after jumping 110 feet? I don't know, but honestly, I wonder if they I don't know if they fall into the creek or what happens, but there's like ground under there too. That's insane. In the courier journal from 1987, had an article about his mother also filing a wrongful desk suit against the railroad. So there was a lot of these happening. In 1987, 17-year-old Jack JC Charles bombed the second. He was struck and killed by a train February 18th while crossing across the Tressel.

There's actually, and it's like really eerie, somebody spray painted under the Tressel, like we miss you JC. So it's just like an eerie monument on there. Yeah, I'm shut up, JC. Yeah. In 1993, 19 year old Christina, I think her last name is Butz.

Butz? Yeah, I think it's Butz. I don't think it's butz. Oh, rest. Pretty sure it's Butz. Rest in peace, Mrs. Butz. No, she actually lived. Oh sure it's butts. Rest in peace, Mrs. butts. No, she actually lived. Oh, shit.

Yep. So Christina was walking the trestle with two other young women and three other young men. They had done it because of the lure of the legend and the spookiness of the trestle, and they were almost at the end when suddenly the lights of a train were coming at them, like in front of them, not behind them. So they had to turn around and try to run back across the trussle, but it was pitch black. So they're all falling and tripping all over the place

and Christina's foot got caught. She said her friend Paul came back to help her, which like, what a gentleman move, Paul. What's crazy. We came back to try to get her. That's pretty iconic, turning around when it's train is coming back. To a train. Like going toward a train, that's crazy. Back to trying to get it. That's pretty iconic turning around when it's praying. To a train.

Yeah, like going toward a train. That's wild. That's what I thought I was like, wow, Paul, like, that was pretty, pretty impressive. Yeah, because I don't know. I'm just, but maybe it's not the right thing to do, but the trains coming at me. I don't know that I'm turning around for anything.

Well, it's, well, it's just like basic human survival instinct. Like your body is telling you do not turn back towards the train. Like that's some real, that's some real impressive shit. I was like, good on you, Paul. I mean, you shouldn't have been out there, but. Yeah, if I turn around and I'm looking dead at a train, I feel like my body would just turn me right back around. Oh, no. I think mine would probably do that too,

to be honest. I would do a full 360 very fast. Well, and what's even scarier is Paul was able to free her foot. Holy shit. But when they looked up, the train was like feet away from them. So they both just rolled to the side, which they rolled off the side of the trestle. Oh, she ended up rolling off the side. And then they ended up both grabbing on to the railroad ties before they fell. This is a movie. Yeah. And this is real. There's like newspaper articles about this. And Paul said in the article I read, quote, we were swinging there, but the train kept coming and coming and the track was shaking, and I started to lose my grip. I couldn't hold on any longer, so I just let go. The whole thing.

But luckily, he happened to be at the perfect spot where he was able to grab onto another metal ledge before he fell. Am was able to get Christina onto this metal ledge with him and they all just kind of held onto ties or ledges or whatever. They all lived, but they had to be rescued by firefighters because Christina was so scared. She couldn't even move. So they had to use like a huge ladder to get her down. And this ladder was like up to 100 feet and they said the firefighters were like, we could barely reach her with that 100 foot ladder,

which was, whoa. Christ. And then I feel bad for the train engineer because he was sure that he had hit at least three of those kids. So he radioed saying, I think I just killed three kids. Oh my God. Like he was like in a panic, yeah. And he hadn't.

And that's terrifying. You're like, that sucks being a train conductor. And like, you know, because you can't do anything. You know, if there's people on a track when you were in the train, it's like, well shit. Like, and it sucks because I get why he'd be like, oh, fuck, like I feel terrible this is on me. And it is terrible, but like, it's not on you.

You know, if you are a train conductor and some crazy like that happened, Oh, fuck, I feel terrible this is on me and it is terrible, but it's not on you. If you are a train conductor and some crazy like that happened, it's not on you. Because sometimes you need up to a mile and a half to stop a train at a certain point. So it's like, there's really nothing that can be done. They can pull that emergency brake, but that also puts the entire crew in danger.

So, this is all just rough. So that was a crazy one. And I will say, Christina was quoted as saying, like, that was the stupidest thing I've ever done. Like, she was very aware of the fact that they shouldn't have been on there. And was like, I regret doing that. Now, in 1994, Michael Wells, who was 14 years old, he was walking the trails with his cousin and another man, and he convinced them to let him go on the tracks.

They actually didn't want him to. They tried to stop him, but he ended up going anyways. And a train came. He fell down as he was running away, and as he fell, he managed to tuck his body under the track to avoid being hit. But it went right over him and he was like under the tracks. Again, the poor engineer thought he hit this little boy. And so he radioed being like, I just hit a boy.

He didn't. So actually criminal charges were pressed against the adults there for trespassing and for putting the train crew in danger by forcing them into an emergency stop. Wow, that's a lot. Yeah. In 1994, a man named James Raderman, who was 35 years old, he was riding his ATV across the Tressel, and it flipped over on top of of him and then a train came and ran him over and he died Which that's just a series of really bad events

um in 2000 19-year-old Nicholas Jewel was on the Tresil at 12 30 a.m. with four friends and they were crossing the tracks and According to friends they were looking for an adventure that night. And he was about halfway across when the train came and the engineer saw Nicholas try to hold on to the railroad track ties, but he fell. And the engineer said he saw him fall. And he passed away. And two more. There was one in, right? There's like a lot of tragedy associated with this. In 2016, 26 year old Raquel Bain was with her boyfriend, David Knee, and they were actively

out there looking for the public monster. They said they didn't know it was an active railroad trussle. They thought it was abandoned. And when the train came, David hung on to the ties and was able to, but Raquel was hit and thrown off the trestle. He survived and she died. Damn. And the last one that I could find that the Bear Grass Thunder podcast mentioned was in

2019, 15-year-old Savannah Bright was killed. When she and another friend were walking on the tracks, both of them are hit by the train. Savannah was pronounced dead at the scene. Wow. So this is all kind of tied into the idea that like this trussle has become a place where people go because of this Pope Blick Monster legend. So the legend has actually caused a lot of tragedy, but it's all connected to don't go on the trestle. Yeah, stop going on the trestle. Don't go on the trestle, everybody. Yeah, stop getting drunk on a trestle,

stop running out in the middle of a trestle. Just maybe hang out next to the trestle or something. I don't know, you don't have to go on the trussle. Now there's like a trail underneath it, there's a park, there's all that stuff, go to those things. Yeah, you don't need to go directly on the trussle. Yeah, and I feel bad because some of these people truly believed it was an inactive trussle,

which like I get, it looks like it was an inactive trestle, which, like I get, it looks like it's very inactive if you look at it. It doesn't look like a new or usable trestle, but it is. But at the same time, I'm like, that's a very dangerous thing to do anyways. Yeah, you shouldn't go on a trestle

unless you can confirm that the trestle is inactive. You don't just assume that something that a train goes hole is an active. You don't just assume that something that a train goes on is an active. Yeah, you don't want to get stuck on that. Yeah, that's fucked up. And it's just so high above the ground. I'm like, that's just scary anyways. Just don't do that.

I don't want you getting hurt. Don't do it. I mean, look, people like me, me personally, I'm not going on it either way. No way. It's just not happening. It's not an option. No trustable. on in either way. No way. It's just not happening. It's not an option. No trace.

No way. No. So you know what? The public monster lives on. People still believe it, and people are still going out there looking for the public monster or evidence of it, but I say stay on the ground. I say record from a distance with a camera with a very good zoom lens. Exactly, there you go.

So that's the legend of the public monster in the really tragic public trussle associated with it. Yeah, well, shit, wrestling piece to everyone who has passed away due to trussle in the public monster, that sounds like it's a crazy place to be. Yeah. Imagine like the vibes on that thing. I mean, yeah. Or near that thing now knowing everything that's happened on it.

People are very die hard about their goats, goat people. Yeah. Seriously. Um, but with that, we will move into my cryptid, which is very frog centric, very frog oriented, very Ohio oriented. So it's basically Kentucky. Um, it's less tragic, less tragic, more frogs. So we're, we're ending on, I think, a slightly better now. So I like that.

The Lublin Frogman, you can find their origins in the year of 1955 in a little town called Loveland in Ohio. Loveland is located in the Claremont County in Ohio. I'd said Ohio like three times and we're going to move past that. Roughly 30 minutes from Cincinnati. Ohio. The Frogman. Men, because there is not simply one singular Loveland frogman. These frog people hybrids are known to congregate

with other frog men and women, and they stand on two legs, very human-like. Was this frog women too? They're also frog women. The name would make you think they're just frog men, but it would seem that they're frog man and frog women. I love that. And as I just mentioned, frog men are unlike other frogs because they stand tall in their

hind legs, they're known as bipedal creatures, and are the only frogs known to stand on two legs and hide around bridges. That's adorable. And as for their build, these frogmen boast the height of your average seven-year-old and have frog hands. They are completely hairless with leathery skin and human-like wrinkles atop of the standard webbed frog hand. Oh, we're not, we're not as adorable anymore.

That's a little, little much. What if I told you they have bright glowing eyes? Okay, okay. So these are possibly attributed to them only seeing it night. I'd equate them to possum eyeballs. If you look at them, you know, like you know how you see a possum's eyeballs glow when they're standing on top of your fence. Yeah. Like when you shine a flashlight and you see a little glowing eyes. Yeah, it's like one of those things. Um, all right, these frog men are very crafty,

and they make use of the common household stick as tools and are even rumored to emit sparks with these sticks, mimicking a wand of sorts. Oh, they're whimsical. I like that. Tell me why I was just about to say whimsical. You took the word from my mouth. Because how else do you describe making wands out of sticks when you are a frog person hybrid?

That's whimsical as fuck. It's very whimsical, incredibly fancy and Magical. Yeah, they're beautiful. Some think that this means that the frogs can control electricity or that they're a type of alien or possibly the frog human crossbreed breed breed maybe their Harry Potter. I don't know. I like that. This was so this specific cryptid was introduced in the year 1955 and I'll go ahead and set the scene for you, all right? Ooh, set it. You're a businessman driving on a road, adjacent of the Miami River in Claremont County. Claremont?

It's 3.30 a.m., and you're right by a little town called Lovlo, no higher. At the witch hour. And you, being the man that you are. That's right. Decide to pull your car over when you notice that there are three large frogs standing upward speaking to each other congregating, if you will. I would absolutely pull my car over.

What did I look like you ask? Well, you should have listened when I explained them a few minutes ago because nothing has changed. They're wrinkly. They have a webbed hands glowing eyes and a wand. All right. I'm back in even though that's kind of weird looking. I'm in. So you being the man of business that you are, you watch these frog people discuss their what have you's for about three minutes until you decide to get going.

You go, you know what? I've seen enough. I've seen these frog men discuss. They're just talking. I don't have anything else, but you studied them. You're familiar with them now. You like these frog people. I love this.

See? So, right as you get going and the going was getting, one of these frog people without their wand because they have ones I mentioned them but you didn't see it yet no but they whipped out maybe you saw you know he got about it in his hand but like it was they were doing it he's holding it but now he activated it it sounds like now he's pulling this wand out and then fucking sparks are flying out. You being the businessman you are?

Yeah. You run away, you get the fuck out of here. I run away, I don't know. You gotta leave. Okay, well I'm sorry, look. Like you're taking the place of this businessman, all right? All right, but. All right.

Maybe in your story, you don't run away, but. Yeah, but this guy. You being in your story, you don't run away. But. Yeah. But this guy. You being the businessman you are at this moment. You run away. Get out of this. It's terrified.

I'm sorry, you're terrified of what you've witnessed. Yeah. Hell yeah, I am. There's frog people, sparks, wands. Yeah. You don't know if he's laying a spell on you. Is this the occult? I don't know. You never know.

The fracult. The fracult. You never know. And this is where the lore of the Loveland frogman was born. Continue along that. Continuing on. Unfortunately, there are hundreds or even really dozens of somewhat relevant

sightings. Some people say hundreds. I feel like it's more like dozens is why I set that. That makes sense. But I was sorry, I lost my place for a second. But we can head forward nearly 20 years to 1972 to discuss the next reported sighting because that was a sighting. That was something that was that was it. You being the business

man you are. And 1972, an anonymous police officer was nearing loveland when he nearly hit what he assumed was a dog with his motor vehicle. He quickly tapped his brakes and thankfully he didn't hit a dog. Good. Well, turns out it wasn't a dog. He hit a large frog. This large frog was found in a crouching position. I think that was before he hit it.

It's probably laying down when he hit it. I was going to say he just crouched. I think it was crouched and then he hit it and then, you know, some of these stories came to me. Yeah, you know, here's the thing. It wouldn't stay in the crouching position too long. No. Because it wasn't the crouching position.

Because the officer said that the frog stood up on its legs, looked back at him and ran over the guard route and headed straight for the river before ultimately vanishing. I love that the frog was like, you son of a bitch and then just ran away. Like he was like, God damn it. You know, he wasn't going to stand for that. Yeah, he wasn't. He said, you know what, you, you people and your cars, you people in your car. I'm not going to exchange insurance information with you. I'm not doing this with you. and your cars. You people in your car, I'm not gonna exchange insurance information with you.

I'm not doing this with you. You hit me. And if I wanna leave, I'm gonna leave because I have frog things to do. Yeah, I got wants to make. Wands to make sparks to fly. You know, I have ribbons to rib. I have whimsy.

Ribs to create. I'm just saying, there's so many things going on in my frog life Yeah, you wouldn't even know about it I couldn't even begin to know what I'd do in my frog life So when questioned about this creature the officer explained exactly what we've previously mentioned the wrinkles Three to four feet tall and very frog-like and while another officer didn't find any such creature and very frog-like. And while another officer didn't find any such creature,

they did report scratches on the guardrails in the area that the frog supposedly was because this frog, you know, he didn't just leave quietly. He had to do a little, you know, that a ruffle some feathers and those feathers being a bridges feathers. Hell yeah, he did. He doesn't mess with any bridges, all right?

Good for him. He does mess with bridges. He scratches them. Only a few... Just kidding, he him. He does mess with bridges, he scratches them. Only a few. Just kidding, he does. Only a few weeks later, a police officer named Mark Matthews, passed by what he at first thought was an injured animal

when it suddenly crouched up. And this is when Mark Matthews decided to pull out his gun and start busing off shots like a madman, which really, yeah, the story takes a turn here because um what's the meaning of this what are you doing mark Matthew? oh mark what are you doing? I was here what do you know what you're thinking? he goes oh animal injured and it moved let me just let me just start firing at it let me just blast a bullet set that is poor suffering animal. Pretty insane. Mark Matthews,

you sound like a piece of shit. Um, but we got some explain. Come on with the story, I guess. He's scumbag. So what he says about this is that he hit it, it wobbled over to the guard rail, wobbled because you fucking shot it. Mark the asshole. Damn it. And then it left the premises all while staring him down because it's probably pretty pissed because you shot at Mark. I would also wobble away, pretty angry, if you shot me. Mr. Matthews.

So when asked for an account of the whole situation, again, the description was the same. The only difference being this one, supposedly, had a tail, which the last one did not. Oh, so he's like a tadpole-y kind of situation. Yeah, because I thought they kind of get rid of them. I feel like, I don't know, this Mark-a-matte, you guys, he's kind of off the rails, so I'm starting to feel like,

he shot a dog. Yeah, he's not a credible source. No, not at all. I think he saw an injured dog and this madman just decided to start blasting. And then now he's just like, oh, well, it's okay because I didn't shoot a dog. It was a frog guy. With a tail. With a tail.

So you know frogs in their tails? Yeah, this guy knows nothing about frogs tails or What two and what not to shoot when to shoot? Yeah, really proper usage of your firearm Yeah, no this guy is why you bearing arms against an injured animal It's an injured frog with a wand crazy. Yeah, just let him live in a tale. So if you're wondering why he shot him, he says it was because he wanted to back up the previous Frogman story that his fellow officer had reported weeks earlier. So he's like, I'll just shoot this thing. He said, you know what? This is that frog that other guy was talking about. I'm just gonna blast it. I'm gonna shoot the

shed out of it. It sounds right. Full proof plan, really. Yeah, seem to work out for him. So, he's guys insane. So we'll soon for the show, Mark's story. But until then, there's one final story we need to get to. We're in 2016 now, and what was the biggest thing to come to 2016? Pokemon Go. Yup.

And a man named Sam Jacobs and his girlfriend were playing Pokemon go and Cincinnati, oh higher When they claimed to have seen the frog man And you know what Sam did in 2016 and you know what Sam did What did he do Sam took a, which you can find on YouTube. Hell yeah, he did. When you find this video, you guys little blowin' eyes, Elaine is gonna look at this right now, and move it on again.

Then the years after the Mark Matthews incident, about 30 years after that is, Mark has since withdrew his claims down to basically every last detail. Huh. Yeah, I can't say I didn't expect this from Mr. Matthews. Yeah, this doesn't surprise me about mine. No, not in the slightest.

So Mr. Matthews said, the dude wasn't wet, wasn't leathery, didn't stand on his legs, wasn't a frog of height, and certainly wasn't a frog man in general. He also says it was all blown out of proportion, but if anything, he seems to be the one that blew. Wow. He blew himself basically is what I'm saying. So it's like you said you wanted to back up your fellow officers, claims. Yeah, he's just an asshole blasting it. So why are you back and off now? And also Sam playing Pokemon Go definitely got a video of a frogman. You see it, right?

And they're cuter than I thought that. You can barely see it, but it's fucking cute. Pretty what I've seen. Pretty cool frogman. You see it, right? And they're cuter than I thought that. You can barely see it, but it's fucking cute. Pretty what I've seen. Pretty cool frogman, huh? I happily would hang with a frogman. You wanna have a beer with a guy? Yeah, I just wanna hang out. And you know what, from all the stories,

I really, they say that there's frog women, but I really haven't seen any stories about it. They don't talk about anything gender-specific, so I think it's just like, hey, there's frog men and women. So like, I want to have a beer with both of them. Yeah. I want to have a beer with a frog family.

I would love to have a beer with a frog family. The three that we're congregating. Yeah, there you go. All those pals, I just want to hear what they were talking about. Yeah, I'm into that. What's the 4-1-1? What are the cool jams? What's going on, guys?

I'm going from Red Dead. Red Dead. So unfortunately, the video evidence didn't go very far because according to this Wikipedia quote, it was later revealed to be a local student from Archbishop Moirler, Moirler, high school, and a homemade frog costume. You know, whatever, man.

You know, people wanna lie, but it's fine. But it's fine. That's fine. So sadly, the Loveland frog doesn't have much evidence to back it up. Multiple hoaxes have been discovered. People went back on their stories and to be fair. I mean, it's a little strange for a four foot tall bipedal frogman to live exclusively

in one small town in Ohio. Yeah, I would say so, but maybe we have one. I think it should, I think it should venture to other places, but you know what, Loveland is about three hours for me. So I think I'm gonna take a trip to Loveland, and then, you know, do some prog hunting. I think you should. You know why not? I hope they have like trip to Lovland and then do some frog hunting. I think you should. You know why not? I hope they have statues and like Lovland frog

like merchandise or like I went to Lovland on high O and all I got was this frog man. Kind of sure. I think that would be amazing. Yeah, I want that. Like the flatlands or the flatwoods monster. Yeah, very. They have a whole museum for him.

Exactly, that's what I want. I want frog merchandise. Oh, hell yeah. So, um, Gretchen and Bob Kessler created a short TV movie called The Legend of the Lovelin Frogman. And while I can't praise the quality of the film, um, I've watched it two or three times now, I can praise the very odd entertainment it gave me. It is the most TV movie I've ever seen. It's the most Ohio movie I've ever seen. It's the most fra... I wouldn't say that. It is a very movie. It's the most movie that I...

It's the most movie that I that I experienced and I loved it. I loved it. It's a movie. And I also want to give a couple shout outs to hot diggery dog. It's the Loveland Frog, which is a 2014 musical based on, you guessed it, our favorite four foot tall bike. That is amazing. Hot Hot digger dog. Hot digger dog. It's the love of a frog. This is the best cryptid ever. And I also want to give a shout out to Hell Comes to Frogtown, which isn't technically related, but it's a 1998 movie starring a rowdy-rody piper that I feel like is very star wars like, but if it was like frog people instead, and it's amazing, and I love it,

and I would also like to give a shout out to the Mexican staring frog of Southern Sri Lanka. He's staring to his eyes, bad things happen. It's just good frog stuff, you know? Shout out to Frog Shit. Love me some frogs. No. You love me some frogs.

I love that legend. It's a very interesting one. And I suggest everyone watch that little movie that I mentioned by Gretchen and Bob because it's a hoot. It's on YouTube and it's a little weird to find. Like if you just search it up, it's not the first one that you see, which is weird.

You got to search up the legend of the loveland frogman. And I feel like I saw it maybe like, I think I got it. I had to scroll down for a while, like 10 or 12 videos down. But then eventually you'll see it by, it's by Utah 444. I was upload 12 years ago. It has, it's in three parts. So it's a legend of the 11th,

frogman part one at a three. And then after that, you know, you'll be able to find the other two. But yeah, the first part only has like 7,000 three. And then after that, you'll be able to find the other two. But yeah, the first part only has like 7,000 views. And I think it should be ran up. And then we should watch the Legend of the Love and Frog because it's kind of fucking hilarious. Like think of just weird movies that you would be shown

in like your high school science class. It's like the equivalent of that. And it's about the Love and Frogman. And it's fucking hilarious. I love that. I want to watch this. Let's getveland Frogman and it's fucking hilarious. I love that. I wanna watch this. Let's get those views up. It's good stuff.

Maybe we'll do it on screen. There you go. There's actually, you know, there's actually a film for the public monster too. It was there. Yeah, it's only like 16 minutes long. Interesting. Yeah, I think the whole Loveland Frogman thing together,

because the first part is 10 minutes, but I think if I remember right, like in total, it's about like 40-ish minutes, but anywhere between like 30 and 40 something minutes. Yeah, we could cover him on screen. That'd be some fun stuff, man. I love that. I love the Loveland Frogman movie.

You know what, I think it was good to end on the Loveland Frogman.. You know what? I think it was good to end on the Loveland Frogman. You know, it's pretty good. He's a good frog. You know, that Pope Likin' One was just like putting me in a dark place, you know? A lot of people falling off of rings. Yeah, that one's rough. Yeah, that one's really rough.

And it's really, I think the movie is called The Legend of the public monster, but they put a warning before it. I think it was done in like 1988. They put a warning before it that was like, don't go on the fucking trussle. Now the sky, like they literally were like, stop going on the trussle, because it got that bad. So what's the movie about like people falling off the trussle?

I mean, they had to, they had to have done something with those people that were like on the edge holding on to it right because that was a movie Yeah, they definitely did I think part of the movie has people holding on to the ties Damn while a train came and which is really sad because one of the One of the moms of one of the victims was saying that she saw the movie. And she said that it kind of made her realize what her son, what his last moments were. Damn. Which I don't know if it was comforting or not to her to like know that, but she said it was, it was something that she knows now. Yeah. That's crazy.

It's just sad. Because all these parents, I mean, there's nothing they could do. Like, no, the teenagers decided to do this. They didn't, you know, we've all been teenagers. We've all done stupid shit that we shouldn't have done. But usually it's not stupid shit that gets you killed. Unfortunately, this is a case. Well, it's not stupid shit that gets you killed. Unfortunately, this is a piece. Well, that's crazy.

You know what? Again, level and frogmen, they have ones that's delightful. Let's, let's stick with that. They just seem like beautiful creatures. They do. I'm into it. I don't know if you've seen those that Instagram account, this lady, I'm gonna have to shout it out because I into it. I don't know if you've seen those, that Instagram account, this lady, I'm gonna have to shout it out because I love it. It's this lady who paints like frogs and they're always wearing like high-heeled boots and like a mushroom hat and it always says like some quote next to it.

And it's the funniest shit I've ever seen. I've never seen that because I'm usually on a very different set of TikTok, but also I got banned off of TikTok recently, and I made a new one, but I think I already added you on the new one. I think we're already on that new train, but really my algorithm has just not been the same anymore. So I haven't really been on TikTok that much lately.

We got it, we'll change our algorithm for you. Yeah, we need something going because it's just, it's not for me lately. We need to get you on the sinister pond babe. Who is this? One of the funniest TikToks ever. She literally just goes like people mention random cities in the United States mostly and she will just Google Earth it and zoom in and just like, tore around and be like, it's just the way she talks and

like jokes about these towns. It makes me fucking die laughing because she has this way of speaking and she calls everything. It's sinister vibe. She always ends it with babe. And she'll be like, oh, this town is sinister vibe. It's dark-sided. And I, it's like, you are providing a service to me because you're like, you're fucking dilaphing.

Anytime I see your video, so I'm constantly telling everybody to go follow because I'm like, make her make money off of her TikToks because she deserves it. Yeah, yeah, it will send me a sinister baby talk or two. Hell yeah. Yeah, doggie. Well, this was a good stuff.

But Caleb, you're the best, and thank you for doing this with me today. Of course, bud, you're the best. Thanks for, I guess, thanks for doing a show with me like every two weeks for the past two years now, three or two, three years now. Hell yeah. I don't know.

It's a happy place. It's good stuff. I'm always, you know, whenever you want me to come and talk about frogs, I'll talk about frogs. Whenever you want me to talk about frogs, man. Hell yeah. I'm gonna have you on a million more times to talk about frogs, so.

Okay, let me know. I'll look up some frog stuff. You wanna do a frog, frog, frog. You want to do a frog, if you want to do a frog, tastic episode. I'll just look up frog things. We'll just talk about frogs. Yeah.

Welcome to morbid frog takeover. All right. I'm here for the frog takeover. If anyone wants the frog takeover, we'll ask you. Yeah, let us know Well, dude, I love your guts and We hope you keep listening and we hope you keep it

Weird but not so weird that you go on this railroad trussle and not so weird that a Pope licks you and not so weird that a frog appears to you in the middle of the night with a wand that sparks all over and then you shoot the frog because you probably shouldn't shoot that frog. No, don't shoot that frog. Don't shoot the frog. Don't do it. Thank you, baby. Hey, Prime Members! You can listen to Morvid, Early, and Add Free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen Add-free with Wondery Plus and Apple podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey.