A Real Life Creature from the Black Lagoon?

An encounter with a creature decidedly like the Gill-man of Creature From the Black Lagoon now called the "Green-Clawed Beast" was encountered by two women swimming in the Ohio River on fateful day in 1955.

"It was August 21, 1955. Mrs. Darwin Johnson and her friend Mrs. Chris Lamble decided to go for a swim in the Ohio River near Evansville, Indiana. They had only gone about 15 feet into the river when Mrs. Johnson felt something grab her leg. She said it felt like a hand with 'furry' (perhaps she meant scaly) palms. Whatever it was had come up from behind her, grabbed her knee, and pulled her under the water.

"She kicked at whatever it was and got away from it. She barely had time to go to the surface and get a breath before the creature pulled her under again. Both women were know screaming at the creature, which they could not see, and it only left when Mrs. Johnson hit Mrs. Lamble's inner tube. When the two got back to shore, they saw that Mrs. Johnson had scratches and a green stain on her leg. They could not remove the stain for several days.

"Later, Mrs. Johnson said she was visited at her home by a man who identified himself as an Air Force Colonel. The 'colonel' listened to the story and took many notes, and told Mrs. Johnson not to talk about the incident again.

"Strangely, the encounter in the Ohio River sounds like a real life Creature from the Black Lagoon encounter. That movie had come out only one year before the incident in the river. Is it possible that the 'Green-Clawed Beast,' as it is called, is a real life 'Creature?'"

This post is excerpted from the section on the Green-Clawed Beast, Bishopville Lizard Man, and Loveland Frogmen in chapter five of my book Cryptid U.S.: Tales of Bigfoot, Lake Monsters, and More from Across America. 

Is a gill-man-like creature in the Ohio River?

SEE MORE ON THE GREEN-CLAWED BEAST ON TYLER'S CRYPTOZOO:

• The Green-Clawed Beast
• The Green-Clawed Beast and the Creature from the Black Lagoon