Creature Feature Friday: The Crosswick Monster
If you’re the kind of person who keeps one eye on the woods and one on the weird, you’ll appreciate this little-known slice of American high strangeness. Picture it: rural Ohio, the 1880s, a sleepy town by a creek… and something absolutely massive crawling out of a hollow sycamore tree to drag a boy away. Sounds like the setup for a Stranger Things episode, but this one came from the Rightside Up—and it's terrifyingly real. Meet this week’s cryptid oddity in Creature Feature Friday: the Crosswick Monster.
Image from newspapers.com.
1) The story takes place in Crosswick, Ohio, in May 1882, when two young brothers—Ed and Joe Lynch—were fishing near a small creek. Out of nowhere, a giant serpent-like creature emerged from the brush. Described as a snake with legs, the beast was an estimated 30 to 40 feet long, 16 inches in diameter, and had four limbs ending in lizard-like claws. Its skin was black and white with large yellow spots, and it had a wide red mouth with a forked black tongue. Not exactly your average garter snake.
2) The creature didn’t just slither by—it grabbed Ed with its forelimbs and dragged him over 100 yards toward a massive hollow sycamore tree. Luckily, three nearby men—including a reverend—heard the boys’ screams and came running. As they approached, the creature released Ed and retreated into the tree. Let’s be real—if a 30-foot monster pulled that today, you’d have half of Ohio livestreaming it before the thing even blinked.
3) Later that same day, a posse of 60 townspeople returned armed with axes, clubs, and hunting dogs. They surrounded the tree and began chopping at it. Suddenly, the creature burst from the trunk, stood upright 12 to 14 feet tall, and made a break for it. It crossed the creek, sprinted up a hill, broke through a fence, and disappeared beneath a rocky ledge—never to be seen again.
4) Eyewitnesses included local clergy, a physician, and numerous townsfolk—all of whom described the creature in near-identical detail. This wasn’t just some kid crying monster after seeing a big fish. The descriptions were consistent, detailed, and widespread. Ed Lynch was treated for his injuries by a local doctor, and the story was published in the Western Star newspaper soon after, adding historical weight to what otherwise sounds like a fever dream.
5) So what was the Crosswick Monster? Some theorize it was a misidentified exotic reptile, like a giant monitor lizard that escaped from a circus or private collection. Others suggest it might have been a now-extinct reptilian species, or even an unknown cryptid still hiding out in the remote woods of the Midwest. But here’s the kicker: it walked on two legs, ran like a predator, and lived in a tree. That’s a hard sell for any known reptile—even today.
So was the Crosswick Monster a lost dinosaur? A cryptozoological relic? A lizard from another world?
We may never know. Anyway, Happy Friday—and keep an eye on any hollow trees you pass this weekend. You never know.
