Monsters of Ohio

by J.C. Raphael

A large, black, prehistoric serpent that makes its home in Lake Erie. A titanic hairy humanoid with glowing orange eyes who spies on any teenagers brave enough to park near its lovers' lane home. A giant owl the size of a tree so adept at camouflage it can practically disappear. A nocturnal race of tiny, melon-headed feral humans who roam the woods looking for victims to feast on. These are but some of the creatures of cryptozoology, folklore and urban legend that readers will meet in the pages of Monsters of Ohio, the first book of its kind to completely chronicle the state's population of mystery animals and the stories told about them. In addition to thirteen Buckeye State monsters-from infamous ones like The Lake Erie Monster, The Loveland Frogs and The Grassman, to lesser-known local legends like The Crosswick Monster, Bighoot and The Defiance Wolfman-the book also includes a parade of mysterious creatures that were only sighted once before disappearing...if, of course, they were ever really there at all. J.C. Raphael was born in Ashtabula, Ohio. He earned a bachelor's degree in English from Gannon University in Erie, Pennsylvania. He began freelance writing at age 17 with a film review of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein for The Plain Dealer, and has continued writing reviews of stuff ever since. He worked as a staff writer for a small suburban newspaper and as a writer and editor for a small, independent altweekly in Columbus, Ohio. He now works as a public library clerk and freelance writer. He lives in Mentor, Ohio.

242 pages, Paperback

Published November 10, 2021

Reviews

[Brianna · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars, will round up to 3.
Pro's - Articulated documentation of monsters in Ohio. Fantastic references of the sources to find further information. Witty at times.
Con's - I wasn't aware I would be reading a textbook, which made it hard to read more than several pages at a time; I was expecting more storytelling. I struggled with how several areas of the book were written i.e. there's one massive paragraph where every single sentence starts with the word 'and'. I then found myself googling if this is even a proper sentence structure since it was ingrained in me as a small child to not start sentences in this matter. Apparently it is okay to do so but it left me cringing and feeling the 'ick' for quite some time after. That very well could just be a me problem, but I find it worth noting. There are several times where an adjective is used in the same sentence twice or in a preceding sentence and this too gave me an 'ick'.

Overall, I learned a lot and got to read this in the month of October which was neat. If you pace yourself appropriately and have a strong desire to learn more about lore and monsters then this book is for you!

[Dawn Dagger · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been doing a lot of research on cryptids in Ohio for a podcast, and J.C. Rephael's website has been invaluable as a starting place, and his book even more so. His writing style is very enjoyable, and he does lots of research. All of his chapters have sources, and he discusses the "Orange Eyes" phenomenon well, describing other books of the same nature as 'a game of telephone' and understanding well where stories have gotten conflated by those who do not live in the state.

Raphael clearly cares for Ohio and it's stories, and it shines through the pages. An excellent book all around!