Hey weirdos, it's Ash here, ready to share a little secret.
Have you heard of Wondery Plus?
With ad -free episodes and one -week early access, it's like having an all -access pass to our light -hearted nightmare.
So come join us on the dark side and try Wondery Plus today.
You can join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or in Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
You're listening to a Morbid Network podcast. Listening on Audible helps your imagination soar.
Whether you listen to stories, motivation, expert advice, any genre you love, you can be inspired to imagine new worlds, new possibilities, and new ways of thinking.
Listening can lead to positive changes in your mood, your habits, and ultimately, your overall well -being.
Audible has an incredible selection of over one million audiobooks, podcasts, and Audible Originals all in one easy app.
Find the genres you love and discover new ones, explore bestsellers, new releases, places, plus thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and originals that members can listen to all they want, with more added all the time.
Right now, I am listening to The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix, and I just cannot get enough of it.
I never want to pause it.
I'm literally, like, loading the dishwasher listening to it, on the treadmill listening to it, constantly.
It's so awesome. I love being able to listen anytime, anywhere I want to.
And there's more to imagine when you listen.
Sign up for a free 30 -day Audible trial, and your first audiobook is free.
Visit audible .com slash morbid.
They say that time waits for no one, neither should payday.
To keep your money moving in the direction of your dreams, get Earning.
What is Earning, you ask?
Honey, Earning is an app that lets you access your pay as you earn it up to $150 a day with a max of $750 between paydays.
Earning is the app that is helping millions of Americans take charge of their pay and avoid falling into debt traps.
Earnin's mission is to make financial momentum accessible to everyone.
It's your money, so put it in your own hands with Earnin.
I just feel like Earnin is good for so many things.
Like, you know, every now and again you get in your car and you say, oh wow, who knew that I was on empty?
I should have known that, but I didn't.
And then you look at your bank account and you're like, oh crap, I haven't been paid yet.
Well, you'll never run into that problem if you have Earnin.
An unexpected trip to the vet will not ruin your day because because you'll have the money to pay for it.
Download Earnin today, spelled E -A -R -N -I -N, in the Google Play or Apple App Store.
When you download the Earnin app, type in Morbid under podcast. When you sign up, it will really help the show.
Morbid under podcast. Earnin is a financial technology company, not a bank.
Access limits are based on your earnings and risk factors.
Standard cashouts take one to two business days with no mandatory fees.
Expedited transfer is available for a fee.
Tips are voluntary and don't affect the service.
Available in select states.
Terms and restrictions apply.
Visit Earnin .com for full details.
Download Download Earn It Now and take control of your pay.
Hey, weirdos. I'm Alayna.
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 caleb you might think i had an explanation for that but i didn't uh hello guys i'm caleb it's caleb from scream and horror soup and all things that are good yeah i do uh if you guys don't know i do horror movie podcast one of them uh kind of like with myself and my buds and other people my guy tough guy and my buddy james um but i also do a horror movie podcast with elena 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 hell raisers right now yeah we're on the very religious hell raiser right now it's a very interesting one we've entered into a real a real world and i love it but you know ash isn't here today because she's dealing with some personal stuff and but she'll be back don't worry she's going to be right back um 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 going to do a cryptid episode and who better to have on for a cryptid episode than khalib yeah i'm i'm very interested in frogs so i think this is going to be great so there you go and we're going to be covering the pope lick monster from kentucky and then after uh the pope like a 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 either to be quite honest after we get done licking some popes we're gonna get
into some lovely frogs from the loveland they're loveland frogmen from the loveland so yeah this is gonna be great um mine's like it's kind of twofold to mine because it's definitely a cryptid 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 um my 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 mine are 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 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'll tell me it's louisville right yeah it's not louisville it's not lewisville it's louisville yeah no to my understanding that's what it is that feels right in my soul so i'm gonna go with it i would agree but in this area in jefferson county
there's a railroad trestle that's like one of those big really tall bridges that the train goes over that would be terrifying to go over 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 no 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 um and but you know what this particular
railroad trestle is supposed to house one of the scariest and honestly the most destructive cryptids out there and that is the the pope lick 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 popelik why the town popelik why the why why is the pope I'm honestly not sure why it's called popelik okay place there's um I I would like to know though maybe we should look it up and see exactly where popelik 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 um 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 um anyway pope 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 Popelik Creek.
So Popelik Creek 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 says Samuel and Nathan Pope.
I think I saw something about that too, so it's...
Yeah. Okay. Alright, so there you go.
Somewhere in that vicinity.
So it's less, you know, it's It's less salacious.
Something to do with minerals and something to do with Pope as a name.
Surnames and minerals.
Yeah. So 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 a reason.
That's an explanation.
All right, whatever.
But you know what? The Pope Lick Monster is also known as the Goatman.
Also known as the Sheepman, which we're going to get into because those are two very different different things I'm just gonna say those are very different things yeah and I thought that too I was like are we sure uh 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 um the Southern Gothic podcast and 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 so there's that i just enjoy
their show so go listen to them but you know and there and i think it's like a brother and a sister i'm pretty sure that do the podcast it's just really good but there are a couple of different origin stories for the pope lick 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 they're like these come from all over the place they don't disappoint at all like one of them is that he's a he's a skinwalker a flesh pedestrian okay the other one is that he's an escaped goat human quote -unquote freak
from a circus sideshow 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 sheeps and goats to make himself into a sheep or a goat no why wouldn't he that's an interesting one uh there's also one that just goes completely outside of that and says it's just like a head like he has like a headless horseman vibe oh and he's just riding around on that that trestle 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, 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 goat and or part sheep.
And this is where the legend deviates into two halves because a lot of people call him Goatman and a lot of people call him Sheepman.
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 Goatman.
But I found a short study done on the legend of the Popelik trestle and the Popelik 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 sheeps 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 and that were kind of associated with the legend and the trestle itself, it went more towards the sinister of the two.
So I think it kind of began as sheep, but it turned into this, which is interesting.
Well, it once was a goat from Nantucket.
Exactly. You guys can finish that.
I can go right ahead.
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 deaths like he somehow he has some kind of magical pull 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 flush 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 yeah i mean yeah we should definitely we'll we'll say allegedly allegedly yes um that's crazy yeah Yeah, it's it's a lot because there's that or they say that you go out onto the trestle to summon him.
Ah, yes. So there's like, which I believe more.
I mean, I'm 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 got to go to the bridge and summon this goat man in public.
You know, Yeah, that makes sense.
Exactly. And that's the thing.
And then if you go out there, he's either going to make you jump off, something bad is 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 at you with a bloody axe and try to kill you that way.
Now, 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 last one on you i guess like he's it's right above a creek i don't know why he doesn't just wash it off between between these situations but that's what i hear you think you got the action the creek too maybe that's all creek has just given 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 gonna 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 like 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 trestle yeah you know as even Even as I said it, I want to take it back because he seems like a cool guy.
Like, as I live and breathe, 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. Tell me about that creek that's producing murder weapons.
Will you explain the magic behind it?
I mean, the creek. The creek.
Come on. Hopeless Creek.
I'm saying. now he's also known to stalk and protect the public trestle that's like his his place um it was built sometime in the 1800s the trestle was not the goat man not the man 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.
Okay. So he came after.
He's a fairly modern man.
He's a fairly modern hybrid.
Yeah. I would say. Okay.
He came after the trestle.
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'll take it.
I'm gonna go with it.
He's a kid. That's all But the trestle itself was built in the 1800s Like I said it was just outside of Louisville In Jefferson County It runs over Popelik Creek And below it is also walking trails That lead into Popelik Park Okay And according to Bear Grass Thunder Which has a podcast as well Oh okay I didn't know if you were naming a person Another place adjacent to Popelik Creek Yeah I was going to say I had to verify like 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 shout out glass blue thunder they
said on bare grass thunder okay but I like how you added blue though colors everywhere you know 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 Popelik.
The Legend of Popelik 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 Popelik 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 Popelik.
Like it sounds like a true crime case.
It really does. Like Popelik is is is quite a name it's quite a name it sounds you know what they committed to it it sounds salacious is it just me it absolutely sounds salacious it's like absolutely but then when you hear where it actually comes from you're like oh yeah that's not as salacious so maybe we ruined the the uh i'm trying to think of the word that they ruined it themselves elena let's be be completely honest this was not either of us it was happening much much before our time that is very true to be honest um but you know what go 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 Popolak.
Yeah, don't do it. And because the other thing is, it's still in use, like this trestle.
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 as fuck looking.
Like I assumed when I saw it that there's no way this is in service anymore.
Like no railroad is going over this.
But it's very active.
It's an active trestle.
So people will walk out on this unknowingly thinking there's no chance of an oncoming train coming at them.
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 there daily.
Wow. So it's very active.
I mean, I'm surprised that the city is even active.
Yeah, I'm saying. That's crazy.
Like I said, there's no escaping either if you're caught.
There's no platforms on either side.
The railroad 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 lost boys you know that's a difficult task we need like a left or right option here yeah absolutely i think i think this is a build default or uh this is it really is I guess they used to have platforms on either side of the trestle, but they removed them because they thought they were encouraging people to come onto the trestle.
In 1920, a broke immigrant in Boston became one of America's richest, most infamous men practically overnight.
night he swindled the modern equivalent of a quarter billion dollars and etched his name into history as the mastermind behind one of the most notorious scams ever the ponzi scheme hosted by maya lao and featuring award -winning comedian and actor sebastian maniscalco this is easy money the charles ponzi story an apple original podcast produced by at will media follow and listen on apple podcasts you know what time it is it's time for a fresh approach to dog dog food and that's where the Farmer's Dog comes in.
Developed by board -certified nutritionists, which is pretty impressive, the Farmer's Dog is human -grade dog food that's made with real meat and veggies and gently cooked to preserve those nutrients.
Traditional pet food is highly processed and difficult to portion correctly, but the Farmer's Dog, it's changed that with their freshly made food.
They take the guesswork out of serving sizes by precisely portioning your dog's food based on their very unique nutritional needs.
Sydney and Blanche are eating the Farmer's Dog right now, and we absolutely love it.
What's really fun is each packet has their name on it, so it says Blanche's food, Sydney's food, which is just fun.
They love it. They can't read, but I kind of pretend that they do.
Maybe they can. Maybe they can.
Who am I to say? Get 50 % off your first box of fresh, healthy food at thefarmersdog .com slash morbid.
Plus, you get free shipping.
Just go to the farmersdog .com slash morbid to get 50 % off.
That's thefarmersdog .com slash morbid.
Which is like a double -edged sword there.
Yeah, now you just have people getting splattered exactly now it's like this is bad but a lot of teenagers used to especially teenagers and still do use the tracks as like either a place to party um they bring their friends there it's become one of those like well -known like dare you to go out on the trestle kind of thing you know they'd still bring in the popelik monster thing like go out on the trestle and see if the popelik monster comes comes out so it's really tied to this legend but the problem is you know your real worry here is a train like that's like 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 trestle yeah stop walking onto this he's trying to scare people and they're like 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 trestle.
And then they're jumping off the side because a train's 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.
But like I said, at first I thought it was teenagers like sitting in their rooms just like summoning, you know, demons and stuff like that and they find a goat man.
And 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 going to 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 axe, 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.
One hundred percent.
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 and in the high school, the local high school, her name was Bridget Bakanowski.
she was quoted as saying it's just a challenge to cross it without a train hitting you and it's like that's a bad challenge like don't do that it's a stupid challenge it wasn't that was like a meme that's really bad time before we had like actual like memes that were like pictures online and it's always been dumb exactly like don't do it um but like i said before they used to have platforms on either side but they removed it um and now it's really like removing moving a big safety net from the trestle, 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 hemming and hawing over whether they should put those platforms back on, but they really aren't sure what to do yet.
I'm going to 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 trestle.
But we all know that like if people are determined to go, they're going to go.
That's what drunk people want.
They want signs that say keep out.
You're basically challenging them to go in the trestle and you know, it's not going to work out in your favor.
Yeah. Yeah. And you know what?
I will say that 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.
Because like I said, a lot of people go up there because of the Popelik 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 i mean like a thing people want to 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 trestle and you can get one with a pope like
monster statue no that'd be pretty cool or you know we could build the monster send him out into the wilderness let him do his thing the 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 think of this thinking of this scary ass cryptid chasing people to their deaths or like siren songing them to their deaths is pretty horrible but the reality of this is that there really is a super tragic history to this trestle 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 trestle.
And here are some of the most wild ones and really tragic ones.
So they date back to in 1984 in 1984 20 year old sean fleishman he actually survived injuries when he fell from the trestle somehow he survived but maintained like sustained a lot of injuries um in 1985 21 year old john k list actually ended up passing away him and his friend randall graves graves were shooting crows on the trestle.
Okay, that's an activity.
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 tie, and somehow he was able to stay on there.
But unfortunately, John ran 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 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 what came of that case, but it was interesting.
Wow. Yeah. And in 1986, 19 -year -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.
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 don't know if they fall into the creek or what happens, but there's like ground under there too.
That's insane. And the Courier -Journal from 1987 had an article about his mother They're also filing a wrongful death suit against the railroad.
So there was a lot of these happening.
In 1987, 17 -year -old Jack J .C.
Charles Baum II, he was struck and killed by a train February 18th while crossing across the trestle.
There's actually, and it's, like, really eerie, somebody spray -painted under the trestle, like, we miss you, J .C.
So it's just, like, an eerie monument on there.
Damn, shout out, J .C.
yeah in 1993 um 19 year old christina i think her last name is butts but she was yeah i think it's butts i don't think it's buttes i'm pretty 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 trestle, 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.
Yeah, that's crazy.
He ran back to try to get her.
That's pretty iconic.
Turning around when a train is coming at you.
To a train. 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 look maybe maybe it's not the right thing to do but uh if the train's coming at me i don't know that i'm turning around for anything well 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 if i turn around 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 go oh no like i think mine would probably do that too to be honest i would do a full 360 very fast well and what's 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, shit. So he ended up rolling off the side.
And then they ended up both grabbing onto 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 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 they all just kind of held on to 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 hundred foot ladder which 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 he was like in a panic yeah and he hadn't and that's terrifying to like that sucks being a train conductor and like you know because you can't do anything you know 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 You know, if you are a train conductor and some crazy like that happened, like it's not on you.
Because sometimes you need like up to like a mile and a half to stop a train.
Yeah. 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 it's crazy. 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.
ways 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 um for 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 trestle, and it flipped over on top 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 trestle 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 ties but he fell and the engineer said he saw him fall and he passed away way yeah and two more there's a lot of bad 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 Nee and they were actively out there looking
for the Popelik monster um they said they didn't know it was an active railroad trestle they thought it was abandoned and when the train came David hung 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 um 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 with by the train savannah was pronounced dead at the scene wow So, this is all kind of tied into the idea that this trestle
has become a place where people go because of this public 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 truss hole or something i don't know you don't have to go on the truss hole 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 you don't need to go directly on the truss hole yeah and i feel bad because some of these people truly believed it was an inactive truss hole which like i get it 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 on is inactive.
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.
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 way. No. So you know what?
The Popelik monster lives on.
People still believe it and people are still going out there looking for the Popelik 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 Popelik monster and the really tragic Popelik trestle associated with it.
Yeah, well, shit. Rest in peace to everyone who has passed away due to trestle and the Popelik monster.
That sounds like a crazy place to be.
This message is sponsored by Greenlight.
With school out, summer is the perfect time to teach our kids real -world money skills they'll use forever.
Greenlight is a debit card and the number one family finance and safety app used by millions of families.
Helping kids learn how to save, invest, and spend wisely.
Parents can send their kids money and track their spending and saving.
While kids build money confidence and skills in fun ways.
Start your risk -free Greenlight trial today at Greenlight .com slash Wondery.
That's Greenlight .com slash Wondery.
Hey, weirdos, we need to tell you about something that has completely blown our minds collectively.
There's a new show called Lawless Planet that's uncovering true crime stories so massive they're affecting the entire planet.
Post -Zack Goldbaum is investigating real cases where environmental destruction meets murder, conspiracy, and cover -ups.
We're talking about activists who disappear in the Amazon rainforest. whistleblowers who risk everything to expose deadly corporate secrets, and communities being silently poisoned while powerful people profit.
What makes these stories truly terrifying?
They're happening right now.
This isn't history.
It's a massive criminal conspiracy unfolding in real time with consequences that affect us all.
Each episode feels like opening a case file into the darkest corners of corporate and government power.
Trust us. Once you start listening, you will not be able to stop thinking about these stories.
Follow Lawless Planet on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.
You can listen to new episodes of Lawless Planet early and ad -free right now by joining Wondery+.
Yeah. Imagine like the vibes on that thing.
I mean, yeah. We're near that thing now, knowing everything that's happened on it.
People are very diehard 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 note so i like that the loveland frogmen 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 gonna move past that roughly 30 minutes from cincinnati ohio the frogmen men because there is not simply one singular loveland frogman oh
these frog people hybrids are known to congregate with other frogmen and women, and they stand on two legs, very human -like.
Oh, there's frogwomen, too?
There are also frogwomen.
The name would make you think they're just frogmen, but it would seem that they're frogmen and frogwomen.
I love that. And as I just mentioned, frogmen are unalike other frogs because they stand tall on 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 7 -year -old and have frog hands.
They're completely hairless with leathery skin and human -like wrinkles atop of the standard webbed frog hand.
Ooh. We're not as adorable anymore.
That's a little much. What if I told you they have bright glowing eyes?
Okay. Okay. So these are possibly attributed to them only seeing at night.
I'd equate them to possum eyeballs, if you look at them.
You know how you see a possum's eyeballs glowing when they're standing on top of your fence?
Yeah, like when you shine a flashlight and you see the little glowing eyes.
Yeah, yeah. It's like one of those things.
All right. These frogmen 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...
That's cute. Mimicking a wand of sorts They're whimsical I like that Tell me why I was just about to say whimsical You took the words 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 Oh, magical Yeah, they're beautiful 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 um breed breed um maybe they're harry potter i don't know i i like that this they went dogwarts so this specific
cryptid was introduced in the year 1955 and i'll go ahead and set the scene for you all right oh set it you're a businessman Man driving on a road Adjacent of the Miami River In Claremont County Claremont It's 3 .30am And you're right by a little town called Loveland, Ohio At the witch an hour And you Being the businessman 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 do they 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 webbed hands Glowing eyes and a wand Alright 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 yous for about three minutes Until you decide to get going And 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 So Right as you get going And the going was getting
One of these frog people Whip out their wand Because they have wands, I mentioned them But you didn't see the wand yet You didn't see it yet no but they whipped it out maybe you saw you know he could have added his hand but like they weren't 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 there i run away i don't know okay well i'm sorry look Like, you're taking the place of this businessman, all right?
But maybe in your story, you don't run away.
But you being the businessman you are at this moment, you run away.
Get out of there. He's terrified.
I'm sorry, you're terrified of what you've witnessed.
Hell yeah, I am. There's frog people, sparks, wands.
You don't know if he's laying a spell on you.
Is this the occult?
I don't know. You never know.
For Colt. The for Colts.
You never know. And this is where the lore of the Loveland Frogmen was born.
Continuing on. I love 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 said that.
That makes sense. But.
But we can head forward nearly 20 years to 1972 to discuss the next reported sighting.
Because that was a sighting.
That was it. You being the businessman you are.
In 1972, an anonymous police officer was nearing Loveland when he nearly hit what he assumed was a dog with his motor vehicle.
Oh, no. 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 is he okay i think that was before he hit it's probably laying down when he when he hit it i was gonna say he just crouched i think it was crouched and then he hit it and then you know Some of these stories.
Here's the thing. It wouldn't stay in the crouching position too long.
No. So it wasn't in the crouching position.
Because the officer said that the frog stood up on its legs, looked back at him, and ran over the guard rail 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.
He was like, god damn it.
He wasn't going to stand for that.
yeah no he wasn't he said you know what you you people in your cars you people in your car i'm not going to exchange insurance information with you i'm not doing this with you you hit me and if i want to leave i'm going to leave because i have frog things to do yeah i got wands to make wands to make sparks to fly you know i have ribbits to rib i have whimsy ribs to create i'm just saying and 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, 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 had to 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 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 busting 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
matthews mark what are you doing what was your what do you what are you thinking he goes oh animal injured and it moved let me just let me just start firing at it let me just blast bullets at this poor suffering animal pretty insane mark matthews you sound sound like a piece of shit um but you got some explaining to do mark go on with the story i guess you scumbag so what he says about this is that he hit it it wobbled over to the guardrail wobbled because you fucking shot it mark you asshole damn it and then it left the premises all while staring him down because it's probably pretty pissed because you shot
it mark Mark. I would also wobble away pretty angry if you shot me, Mark.
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'd kind of get rid of them.
I feel like, I don't know, this Mark Matthew guys, he's kind of off the rails.
So, I'm starting 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. Because you know frogs and their tails.
Yeah, this guy knows nothing about frogs, tails, or what to and what not to shoot.
when to shoot when not to shoot really proper usage of your firearm yeah no this guy is why are you bearing arms against an injured animal it's an injured frog with a wand crazy yeah just let him live in a tail 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 that other I'm just gonna blast it I'm gonna shoot the shit out of it It's full proof plan Really Seemed to work out for him This guy's insane
We'll soon finish up 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 friend were playing pokemon go in cincinnati ohio when they claimed to have seen the frog man and you know what sam in 2016 in 2016 and you know what sam did what did he do sam took a video which you can find on youtube hell yeah he did when you find this video yeah you got some little glowing eyes, Elena's gonna look at this right now, and moving on again, in 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 Mark.
No, not in the slightest. So, So Mr. Matthews said, the dude wasn't wet, wasn't leathery, didn't stand on its 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 at anything so why are you backing 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 like barely see it but it's fucking cute from what i've seen pretty cool frogman huh i happily would hang with a frogman you want to like have a beer with the guy yeah i just want to hang out and you know what from From all the stories, I really like they say that there's frog women, but I really haven't seen any stories about 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 were 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 ribbit 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 uh archbishop moeller oh moeller yeah high school in 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 uh 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 uh tall bipedal frog man to live exclusively in one small town
in ohio hey weirdos you know ash and i have covered some seriously dark tales about romance gone really wrong oh yeah there are so many cases where too good to be true turns out to be exactly that well get ready for a love story that's gonna blow your minds because this one is happening right now and get this it's hosted by our friends Hannah and Saruti from Red Handed.
Meet Travis he falls head over heels for Lily Rose she's gorgeous she's understanding and she's literally perfect and she's not human.
That's right Lily Rose is an AI companion a computer program designed to be Travis's dream woman and at first it seems like a perfect relationship but when Lily Rose's behavior starts getting strange this love story takes a dark and twisted turn that no one saw coming.
follow flesh and code on the wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts you can binge all episodes early and ad free by joining wondery plus yeah i would say so but maybe we have one i don't know i think it should i think it should venture to other places but you know what loveland is about three hours from me so i think i'm gonna to take a trip to loveland and then you know do some frog hunting i think you should why not i hope they have like statues and like loveland frog like merchandise or like i went to loveland ohio and all i got was this frog man kind of shirt i think that would be amazing
yeah i want that like the flatlands or the flatwoods monster yeah they have a whole museum for him exactly that's That's what I want.
I want frog merchandise.
Oh, hell yeah. So Gretchen and Bob Kessler created a short TV movie called The Legend of the Loveland Frogmen.
And while I can't praise the quality of the film, 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 frog...
I wouldn't say that.
it is a very movie it's it's it's the most movie that i the most movie 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 a hot diggity dog it's the loveland frog which is a 2014 musical based on you guessed it our favorite four foot tall Bipedal frog man that is amazing Hot diggity dog it's the loveland frog this is the best cryptid ever and i also wanted to give a shout out to hell comes to frog town which isn't technically related but it's a 1998 movie starring rowdy rowdy 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 if you stare into its eyes bad things happen it's just good frog stuff you know shout out to frog shit love me some frogs you know 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 on YouTube and it's a little weird to find if you just search it up it's not the first one that you see which is weird you gotta search up the legend of the loveland frogman and i
feel like i saw it maybe like i think i gotta 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 uh utah 444 uh it was upload 12 years ago it has the it's in three parts so it's the legend of the loveland frogman in part one out of three and then after that you know you'll be able to find the other two um but yeah the first part only has like 7 000 views and i think it should be ran up and everyone should watch the legend of the loveland frogman because it's kind of fucking hilarious like think of uh 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 loveland frogman and it's fucking hilarious i love that i want to watch this let's get those views up it's good stuff maybe we'll do it on scream there you go there's actually you know there's actually a film for the public monster too is 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 it's pretty good uh he's a good frog and you know that that pope licking one was just like putting me in a i mean a dark place you know a lot of people falling off that one's rough yeah that one's really rough and it's really i think in the um i think the movie is called the legend of the popelik 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 trestle damn this guy like they literally were like stop going on the trestle because it got that bad so what's the movie about like people falling off the trestle i mean they have 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 that wrote itself 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 um 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 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 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, 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 the case well that's crazy you know what again loveland frogmen they have wands 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 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 no and it's the funniest shit i've
ever seen i've never seen that because i'm usually on a very different side of tiktok but also i got banned off of tiktok recently and i made a new one but um 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 your algorithm for you yeah that we need something going because it's it's not for me lately we need to get you on the sinister pawn 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 like zoom in and just like tour around and be like it's just the way she talks and like jokes about these towns it makes me fucking die laughing okay because she has this way of speaking and she calls everything thing it's sinister vibe she always ends it with babe and she'll be like oh this town is sinister vibe it's it's dark sided and i it's it's like i'm like you are providing a service to me because you make me fucking die laughing 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 heck yeah dude we'll send me a sinister babe talk or two hell yeah heck yeah doggie well this was 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 uh i i guess thanks for doing a uh show with me like every two weeks for the past like uh two years now two three years two three years now 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 going to have you on a million more times to talk about frogs.
So get ready. You let me know.
I'll look up some frog stuff.
You want to do a frog, frog, frag.
You want to do a frog?
You want to do a frog -tastic episode?
I'll just look up frog things.
We'll just talk about frogs.
Frogs. Yeah. Welcome to Morbid Frog Takeover.
Yeah, I'm here for the frog takeover.
If anyone wants the frog takeover, let us know.
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 trestle.
And not so weird that a pope licks you and not so weird that a frog appears to you in 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, doggy.
If you like Morbid, you can listen early and ad -free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
Prime members can listen ad -free on Amazon Music.
Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery .com slash survey.
