The Green Clawed Beast is an underwater fiend whose single reported encounter has managed to strike terror in the hearts of anyone who has ever gone for a summer swim in the once peaceful waters of the Ohio River.
On August 21, 1955, Mrs. Darwin Johnson had a terrifying encounter with what she claimed was a hideous creature beneath the surface of the Ohio River near Evansville, Indiana. While enjoying a leisurely swim with a friend — one Mrs. Chris Lamble — Mrs. Johnson claims that she was suddenly clutched around the knee by a large, hairy, claw-like hand.
Only 15-feet from shore, Mrs. Johnson struggled to disengage herself and head for safety. Mrs. Lamble could only stare in horror as her distraught friend was yanked beneath the surface of the river. Miraculously, Mrs. Johnson managed to kick her leg free, but almost instantly she was seized again, this time from behind.
Mrs. Lamble’s shrieks echoed down the shoreline as she helplessly watched her friend being pulled below the river’s murky surface once again. After resurfacing a second time, Mrs. Johnson lunged for Mrs. Lamble’s inner tube and the splash of her impact apparently scared her beastly assailant away.
Once back on shore, Mrs. Johnson was treated for multiple contusions on her leg, at which point it was discovered that she bore a green, palm-print shaped stain. The stain could not be removed for several days.
Although neither Mrs. Johnson, nor Mrs. Lamble, were able to get a clear or sustained look at the creature, it seems to bear an ostensible resemblance to the now notorious THETIS LAKE MONSTER, particularly in regards to its hostile nature. Other researchers have even gone so far as to suggest tha this incident may be related to another aquatic, Ohio area mystery beasts known as the LOVELAND FROGMEN, but reported encounters with these creatures have never proven to be violent.
An interesting footnote to this case was reported by Fortean investigator Terry Colvin. Colvin, who had interviewed the Johnsons, claimed that soon after the incident Mr. and Mrs. Johnson were visited in their Godtown, Indiana home by an individual who claimed to be an Air Force Colonel. Apparently this “Colonel” took extensive notes regarding Mrs. Johnson’s encounter with the Green Clawed Beast and admonished the couple to talk no further about the incident.
This epilogue has no doubt caused more than a few ufologists to prick up their ears as it not only bears such striking similarities to classic MEN IN BLACK scenarios, but also because Mrs. Johnson’s bizarre encounter shares the exact same date — August 21, 1955 — as one of the most terrifying cases ever recorded in the annals of ufology, an encounter with strange beings from OUT OF THIS WORLD commonly referred to as the HOPKINSVILLE GOBLIN case.
Mrs. Johnson herself — who was quoted in stories published in the August 23rd issue of Indiana’s “Vidette-Messenger” and the August 24th issue of California’s “Independent” — believed that her leg had been grabbed by: “one of those little green men from a space ship.”
What led her to that conclusion is anyone’s guess — perhaps she had already heard of the harrowing ordeal with alien goblins in the Kentucky farmhouse — still the overwhelming thrust of the evidence seems to link the Ohio River attack to a mere earthbound cryptid.
