
The Crosswick Monster is a reptilian cryptid reported from Crosswick, Ohio, USA.
Description of appearance[]

The Crosswick monster is described as a four-limbed snake-like creature. It is 30 to 40 feet long, 12 to 14 feet tall when upright, 16 inches in body diameter, its legs are 4 feet long, and it's 16 inches wide at the head. Its entire body is covered with scales similar to those of lizards, and its body color is white and black with yellow spots. The mouth is bright red and has a long, bifurcated tongue.
Sightings[]
In May of 1882, brothers Ed and Joe Lynch, ages 13 and 11, were fishing in a creek south of Crosswick. While there, they heard the grass behind them swaying and looked around, curious. The brothers saw a snake-like monster moving toward them through the grass, and they screamed and tried to run away.
The monster thrust out its long arm and grabbed Ed's body, then extended its hidden 4 foot hind limbs and ran 100 yards downstream along the creek to a hole in a sycamore tree. Fortunately, three adult males, Rev. Jacob Horn, George Peterson and Allen Jordan, who were quarrying nearby, heard the screams and ran to the scene, and the monster, startled by them, released Ed and ran into the tree hole.
Caught by the monster, Ed had bruises and scratches but it was not life-threatening. However, he suffered from fear and seizures for a while.
That afternoon, some 60 local residents, armed with clubs and axes and accompanied by dogs, attempted to cut down the monster's nest of sycamore trees. When they launched their attack on the trees, the monster, startled by the attack on its stronghold, emerged from the hole in the tree. The snake-like creature stood upright on two legs like a human, balanced on its tail, and began its escape at a speed comparable to that of a racehorse. It crossed a creek, ran up a small hill, climbed a rail fence, broke it, and after a mile or so of escape, jumped into a hole in the hill and disappeared, never to be seen again.
Explanations[]
The largest existing lizards are the crocodile monitor and the Komodo dragon, both over 3 meters, but the Crosswick monster is three to four times as large. Even though lizards and snakes are metamorphic animals with low metabolisms, they need a lot of food to sustain their huge bodies. Also, as evidenced by the presence of large snakes and crocodiles in the tropics, a warm environment is more convenient for them. The environment in Ohio does not seem to be suitable for the survival of giant reptiles such as the Crosswick monster. Therefore, the story of this giant reptile attack is most likely a hoax, but it is unclear why such a story was invented.