Melon Heads

The Melon Heads are mythical creatures from Connecticut, New England, Ohio, and Michigan. They’re described as hideous mutants with giant bald and bulbous heads. They’re small in stature and have long spindly arms and fingers. They have crooked, blocky, and discolored teeth. Sometimes they have red eyes and they are considered extremely dangerous. Wearing dark, tattered clothes makes it harder for them to see and can prevent an attack and often attack during full moons. Some accounts say they can move incredibly fast, in one account one kept up with a car going 45 to 50 mph. They often make high-pitched screams before attacking. They live in shadows and on the outskirts of towns and various towns claim to have groups of Melon Heads who shun society. People moving through the woods in areas where the Melon Heads live are likely to disappear with only their things being found later. Sometimes they just live off animals and only attack humans when threatened. People have found slaughtered animals in trees and blame the Melon Heads. Often the story of these creatures includes a “Melon Head Road” where they are thought to appear. These roads tend to be isolated and wooded, and children often dare each other to investigate them. Some examples include Zion Hill Road in Milford Connecticut, Velvet Street in Trumbull Connecticut, Edmunds Road in Oxford Connecticut, and Saw Mill City Road in Shelton Connecticut. Many are sighted near the Chagrin River. 

Some stories claim they are escaped mental patients while others believe they are a group of mountain-dwelling people subject to inbreeding, with the lineage going back to colonial times. 

-A story from around 1860 says there was an asylum for the criminally insane that burnt down in 1960. All the staff perished in the fire and ten to twenty inmates went unfound, with some theorizing this fire was a deliberate means of escape. They survived the winter but eventually turned to cannibalism. This cannibalism as well as inbreeding resulted in their swollen heads. 

-Another story from colonial times says that a family from Connecticut was accused of witchcraft and banished. The family was so large they survived and inbred. They eat whatever meat they can, and they love the taste of human flesh. 

-There is a story of a man called Dr. Crow who was responsible for the creation of these Melon Heads. The story goes that he was meant to treat children suffering from hydrocephalus, which causes large pockets of water on the brain, or that he kidnapped children or worked with children who had mental disabilities. He instead performed cruel experiments on them putting more water in them, abusing them, and subjecting them to radiation. The abuse destroyed their minds and made them into animalistic creatures. They attacked the doctor, ripped him apart, and consumed him. Their escape resulted in a fire that consumed the lab. They roam in packs in the woods surrounding this area. Sometimes they are thought to inhabit cave systems made in the 60s.

Modern sightings of these creatures do exist.

-There is an account from Megan O’Connell where Melon Heads stole her car, and some still claim to see these Melon Heads driving along in a baby blue Granada. 

-One story has Mr. and Mrs. Crow taking care of many children afflicted by hydrocephalus. They like her more than him. One day Mrs. Crow fell and hit her head, and the children attacked and killed Mr. Crow, thinking that he killed her. 

-One story from Michigan said that a child with a swollen head was bullied, so his family moved with him into the woods. Here they inbred and came to that society. 

Citations:

Campbell, Susan, et al. Connecticut Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities & Other Offbe. United States, Globe Pequot, 2010.

Citro, Joseph A.. Weird New England (Weird). United States, Sterling Publishing Company, 2005.

Moran, Mark, and Sceurman, Mark. Weird U.S.: Your Travel Guide to America’s Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets. United States, Sterling Publishing Company, Incorporated, 2009. United States, History Press, 2022.

Soucek, Gayle. The Lake Michigan Triangle: Mysterious Disappearances and Haunting Tales.