In 1972, two police officers in Loveland, Ohio, claimed to have seen a large, bipedal, frog or lizard-like being. The first incident was reported by police officer Ray Shockey, who saw what he described as a being that stood three or four feet tall with leathery skin and a face like a frog or lizard. Officer Shockey was en route to Loveland in his vehicle when he saw the thing on the side of the road, and as he approached it he first thought it was a dog; it was only when it stood up and looked at him, its eyes reflecting his car's headlights, that he saw it was something far stranger. The creature turned away from the startled policeman and leaped over a guardrail, down an embankment, and into the Little Miami River.

Officer Shockey continued to the police station, where he told his story to fellow police officer Mark Mathews.

"Naturally, I didn't believe him…but I could somehow tell from his demeanor that he did see something," Mathews said in a 2016 interview with WCPO in Cincinnati.

Officer Mathews agreed to return to the scene with Shockey, and the two men said they found scrape marks leading down a hill into the river.

Just over two weeks later, on March 17th, Mathews had his own sighting. He said he was driving outside of Loveland when he came upon what he thought was an animal lying in the road. Mathews stopped his vehicle to clear what he assumed was an animal carcass, but the sound of his door opening roused whatever it was in the road. The creature was similar to that reported by Shockey, although at the time Mathews said it was standing more upright than what his fellow officer had described. The frog-like entity watched Mathews warily as it moved out of the road and began to climb the guardrail. Mathews drew his sidearm and shot at the thing, and initially claimed to have missed it.