This post dips headfirst into the uncanny valley. Pun fully intended. Uncanny Valley is a concept created by Masahiro Mori a Japanese roboticist. The idea is that there is a relationship between how “human looking” a thing can be and how high or low our comfort levels are with it. There is mostly a positive relationship here. That is graphical talk for basically saying: The more human the object in appearance the more comfortable we as humans are with it. However, Mori has observed that just before we reach the point of observing actual humans there is a deep decline in our affinity or comfort with the object. A valley of sorts in the trend line. This dip has been called the uncanny valley and it is an area that has been heavily used in horror novels and movies for years.
Something even scarier to consider is the question about the human-like object we are observing. What if the object is actually truly a human. But still has all the negative attributes of the uncanny valley. We often times experience this as young children when we meet someone missing a limb or who has suffered disfigurement of sorts. Of course, we mature and learn to accept people and their differences. This brings us to our cryptid file today.
Kirtland, Ohio
I apologize in advance for not knowing the exact date of today’s file origin’s. The overall agreed upon legend however is consistent. An orphanage in the woods stands alone surrounded by dense Ohio forests. This orphanage is led by an odd and twisted individual known as Dr. Crow. Crow was not like most doctors. His passion was not helping children unfortunately. But rather using victims of the orphan system at the time to carry out various experiments. The subject of the experiments? The helpless orphans trusted to his care.
At some point it is believed that Dr. Crow gained an interest in children with hydrocephalus. A condition that causes a large increase in fluid surrounding the brain. It often causes many physical issues including many mental unsteadiness issues and the characteristic swelling of the head.
Crow had somehow obtained quite a few children suffering from hydrocephalus. He began torturing them with all sorts of experiments which eventually drove the children to insanity. And unfortunately even past insanity. The children it seems, became feral and dangerous.
At some point the children must have become too uncontrollable. Or possibly Dr. Crow became careless in his already twisted plan. The children escaped. It is said that the children rampaged through the orphanage, tearing everyone inside to pieces, starting with their torturer, Dr. Crow himself.
After the carnage they feasted on the bodies and escaped into the surrounding forest. After the incident many reports of packs of naked bulbous headed children flooded the areas around Kirtland. With some reports even including family’s babies or young children being snatched up and eaten.
Since the incident, reports have been sparse and no confirmed specimens of the feral melonhead children have been obtained.
My Biologist Opinion
While Hydrocephalus is a real condition. The story of the Melonheads draws some questions from the biologist side of my own brain. The main question that summarizes all these questions is this: Why are there not melonhead adults seen running around the woods?
All humans have two options biologically. You can either mature into an adult or you can die. In nature many young offspring of different animals do not live to maturity. With sightings still occurring of Melonheads in many places I have to wonder about a few things. If there are still small bulbous head creatures, is their condition somehow stunting their growth? Or is it that the adults who mature and mate and give birth to more hydrocephalic children are really good at hiding? This is due to the fact that all accounted observations are of children.
The idea of feral humans is quite interesting and equally terrifying. But as this cryptid is about melonheads, I shall give you my opinion from a wildlife biologist’s perspective. Number one, almost all creatures hunt at night when their prey can’t see or escape as easily. So, to avoid Melonheads, maybe don’t go walking around the woods at night. Walk or hike in groups. Any form of restraining the attackers from eating you would be appropriate in this situation. I wouldn’t recommend any lethal actions as these are in fact humans even if they don’t act like it.
One last possibility of these sightings is that they are truly the tortured children from Dr. Crows house of horrors. Only these children are spirits. Ghosts could be the most realistic possibility here. And it would explain why they are always children and never different ages of Melonheads.
Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed this shorter dive into Cryptid Files. Melonheads is more of an urban legend meant to give a little spook to teenagers. There are many places that have different iterations of the story based on their location. What did you think of today’s file? Do you think that it is possible to have Melonhead’s hunting through our forests? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments or in a personal email to me. I always respond and love the conversation. Feel free to like and share the post from today or any other posts. With that, I encourage you to explore previous posts. Do you have an encounter with a cryptid that you would like to share? Reach out to me and your story could appear in a future blog post. Until our next file is investigated, Have a great week! Be safe and stay vigilant out there.
Cryptid Files 