Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Ed and Joe Lynch. Two boys, brothers and the best of friends, just 13 and 11. One day, in this rural place, they went out fishing in Satterthwaites Run, a small stream passing through Crosswick, the fish few but the day bountiful spent under the glorious Sun. This was the south side of the village when, suddenly, the boys heard a stirring, a frightful noise from among the reeds, something large, something they had never heard before. Emanating from the tall grass behind, the noise louder, louder ever more. Curious. What could it be? Slowly, slowly, they began to approach.
‘After sitting on the bank a short time they heard quite a stir among some old reeds, grass and brush behind them, and on looking round they saw a huge monster approaching them rapidly.’ The Cincinnati Enquirer.
There! What the hell is that! The young boys, frightened, let out a shout and a holler as they saw, right before their eyes, a gigantic monster emerging with haste from in front of their very eyes. A gigantic lizard, bursting through the brush, four thick legs, angered and tempestuous. 30 feet long, a ‘snake with legs’, black and white in color with dull yellow spots across its fearful, hulking body. Its feet were 12 inches long, its head wide and its tongue, long and forked. Terrified, the boys ran and ran fast.
‘They screamed and, paralyzed almost with horror, started to run when the snake or whatever it might be – for they never saw aught like it before; came close up to the older one, and suddenly, throwing out two long arms, or forelegs, seized the boy in its slimy embrace, simultaneously producing two more legs, about four feet long, from some mysterious hiding place in its body, and dragged the boy some one hundred yards down the creek to a large sycamore, 26 feet in diameter at the base, hollow, and with a large opening on one side.’ The Cincinnati Enquirer.
With fear riddling their bodies, the two boys had turned to run toward their homes for safety, but the beast had caught Ed, grabbing him, capturing the little boy in his mouth and pulled him to the ground. Joe SCREAMED as loud as one could imagine as he watched the terrifying monster drag his brother to a watery doom.
Surely, Ed stood no chance… The Struggle
Joe felt powerless, no idea what to do… the largest lizards on Earth are nowhere near this big, this was not ordinary, this was extraordinary and from the witness of a small child, deeply upsetting. What could Joe do? He watched as the monster dragged his screaming brother away and at pace, Ed screaming as loud, tears streaming, his fingernails as claw marks in the dirt… and Joe watched as his brother was consumed by a hollowed out sycamore, presumably the den of the beast. But help was coming. Their screams had been heard and at once, three men of the village came running…
‘Through this aperture the monster attempted to enter with the boy who by this time was almost dead with fright and [no longer able] to make any resistance.’ The Cincinnati Enquirer.
The three men, then. Reverend Jacob Horn, George Peterson and Allen Jordan, the screams of children so chilling they feared the worst. And indeed, what greeted them was about as bad as one could fathom. The boy was lifeless, his body limp and the beast guarding this catch with a furious hiss. The boy was still in the mouth of the monster, but the three men were brave and they raced into danger to rescue the child.
‘Three men… were quarrying stone a short distance above where the boys were fishing and hearing their screams and seeing the creature yanking one off, hurried in an attempt to rescue the child. They reached the tree just as the snake, who, failing in its first attempt to drag the boy into his den, became alarmed, probably by the cries made by its pursuers, unfastened its horrible fangs and dropped the more than half dead child to the earth. The little fellow was picked up and carried home.’ The Cincinnati Enquirer.
The men had no idea was that was. A lizard? A salamander? A type of snake they had never seen? Its slimy body vanished into the tree as the attention of the three men turned to the badly injured Ed. They summoned Doctor L.C. Lukens of nearby Waynesville to aid the poor child but they were not satisfied with this, oh no. The creature nearly killed one of our own. At once, they demanded revenge.
And so they gathered a mob and went on the hunt to kill the beast… The Mob
At once, the three men started knocking on the doors of the village and the nearby Waynesville residences, trying to round up a mob to hunt down and kill the horrific fiend that had tried and failed to kill Ed. And they were not short of volunteers, no, 60 men armed to the teeth were so outraged they volunteered for the hunt. Axes, clubs, just about anything that could be a weapon was to be the vehicle for their ire, anything they could get their hands on, including well-trained hunting dogs. And the group of 60 marched toward the tree. They were ready and willing to defend Crosswick.
‘In the afternoon about 60 men, armed… gathered around the sycamore tree and concluded to cut it down and destroy its fearful tenant.’ The Cincinnati Enquirer.
Indeed they did, the 60 men hacking at the tree for minute after minute, chopping down the den of the beast, trying to smoke it out to kill the predator. The dogs, they started growling. They started barking – they had picked up the scent of a beast inside the hollow tree and inside, a scurrying noise could be heard… the beast! The beast is in there!
The men waited. It was an anxious wait for the monster to unveil itself. Suddenly, out of the dying tree sprung a mighty reptilian beast, slithering away, leading the mob predominantly of farmers to chase the creature into the hills. Here, a large pile of rocks, where is it? Where has it gone!
The creature had stood on two legs, a giant bipedal lizard, balancing itself with its mighty tail and had vanished into the rocks. Some of the group were so frightened they scattered, the sight of something so large and impossible nothing as they had expected. Others chased the monster without a second thought, chasing, chasing for over a mile over fences, through streams, up hills and around trees. The beast escaped into the pile of rocks, the group surrounding the rocks with their dogs, waiting for the beast to emerge, keeping watch for hour after hour. But it never resurfaced. And the beast was never seen again.
‘They began cutting, when, becoming alarmed for his safety, the formidable snake leaped from the aperture, threw out its fore and hind legs, erected itself about 12 or 14 feet, and, with the velocity of a race horse, crossed the creek and ran… the braver portion followed until the frightful thing made good his retreat underneath the ground. It will be watched for and killed if possible.’ The Cincinnati Enquirer.
This is a report I read recently from cryptids in Ohio, the article was in the Cincinnati Enquirer newspaper.
Cannot imagine what this creature may have been? Definitely no kind of alligator or monitor lizard.
Its also strange that there was only the one incident with this thing, no other sightings were reported, (kind of strange), usually in cases like this, you would expect lots of people to start having their own sightings...but apparently, not so with this thing!
This is a report I read recently from cryptids in Ohio, the article was in the Cincinnati Enquirer newspaper.
Cannot imagine what this creature may have been? Definitely no kind of alligator or monitor lizard.
Its also strange that there was only the one incident with this thing, no other sightings were reported, (kind of strange), usually in cases like this, you would expect lots of people to start having their own sightings...but apparently, not so with this thing!
Can you give a link please?
I cannot understand why, if this thing is a real event, why they dont follow up. So, either this is a made-up story by the paper or else there is something wrong with these guys. First the tree and then the rocks. Where did it go? Maybe just another inter-dimensional being, but may be the basis for the dragon legends perhaps?
This is a report I read recently from cryptids in Ohio, the article was in the Cincinnati Enquirer newspaper.
Cannot imagine what this creature may have been? Definitely no kind of alligator or monitor lizard.
Its also strange that there was only the one incident with this thing, no other sightings were reported, (kind of strange), usually in cases like this, you would expect lots of people to start having their own sightings...but apparently, not so with this thing!
Long ago newspapers frequently published fiction, both short stories and serialized novels. This is an example. The nineteenth century writing style is rather obvious. The aforesaid notwithstanding, we seem to have at least one believer.
The Cincinnati Enquirer has been published since 1841.
This story is so outlandish in so many ways. I can't believe any adult would even consider it as being anything but a joke.
By the way, a sycamore tree with a 26ft diameter trunk never existed. The largest sycamores ever discovered anywhere in America might have trunks about 10 ft in diameter. Sure, why not? As long as they're making up a story about a 30ft lizard, why not throw in a sycamore with a 26ft diameter trunk?
Wow, you might as well copy and post the fairy tale of Jack and the Beanstalk. That one is more believable than this and far more entertaining.
Last edited by marino760; 03-27-2021 at 05:25 AM..
This story is so outlandish in so many ways. I can't believe any adult would even consider it as being anything but a joke.
By the way, a sycamore tree with a 26ft diameter trunk never existed. The largest sycamores ever discovered anywhere in America might have trunks about 10 ft in diameter.
Wow, you might as well copy and post the fairy tale of Jack and the Beanstalk. That one is more believable than this and far more entertaining.
This story is so outlandish in so many ways. I can't believe any adult would even consider it as being anything but a joke.
By the way, a sycamore tree with a 26ft diameter trunk never existed. The largest sycamores ever discovered anywhere in America might have trunks about 10 ft in diameter. Sure, why not? As long as they're making up a story about a 30ft lizard, why not throw in a sycamore with a 26ft diameter trunk?
Wow, you might as well copy and post the fairy tale of Jack and the Beanstalk. That one is more believable than this and far more entertaining.
That applies to almost every singe post in this section but WOW is it great entertainment.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Solly says — Be nice!
