It Came from Ohio

by James Renner

An investigative reporter looks into 13 tales of mysterious, creepy, and unexplained events in the Buckeye State, including:

• The giant, spark-emitting Loveland Frog

• The bloodthirsty Melon Heads of Kirtland

• The lumber-wielding Werewolf of Defiance

• The Mothman of the Ohio River

• The UFO that inspired "Close Encounters of the Third Kind"

• and more!

Genres: Nonfiction, Horror, Mystery, True Crime

111 pages, Paperback

First published September 9, 2012

About the author

James Renner is an award-winning journalist and author of True Crime Addict, the definitive book on the Maura Murray disappearance. Renner is also a novelist, having written The Man from Primrose Lane and other works of scifi and fantasy. He currently hosts the podcast, The Philosophy of Crime.

In 2019, he founded The Porchlight Project a nonprofit that raises money for new DNA testing and genetic genealogy for Ohio cold cases. In May, 2020, James Zastawnik was arrested for the murder of Barbara Blatnik, thanks to the work of genealogists funded by the Porchlight Project.

Reviews

[Scott Rhee · Rating 4 out of 5]

My one complaint about James Renner’s “It Came From Ohio...” is that it is too short. I read the entire book in one sitting.



Renner, best known for his true crime books, collects some of the well-known legends and campfire tales based in Ohio, from Bessie, the sea serpent that haunts Lake Erie, to the glowing “Red Eyes” ghost of Camp Manatoc in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.



I had not heard of many of these stories, which is odd considering I have lived in Ohio all of my life, but then again, almost every community in Ohio has a story of weird, paranormal goings-on. Every small town in the country probably has a story to tell of a haunted house, a creature dwelling in the woods, an unexplained event.



I hope Renner decides to write more of these, as the book is a fun little travelogue of the weird and creepy things in Ohio. It is a must-read for both fans of “The X-Files” and Ohio history.

[Stephanie *Eff your feelings*]

It Came from Ohio gave me some great day trip ideas.

A collection of paranormal stories and urban myths from across the state. Some I knew, some I didn't, and one in particular blew my mind and freaked me out. It was the last story about Rattlesnake Island, which is right over there, that was not paranormal in the least. It's just straight up, live people, freaky.....and did I mention it's right over there.

I wonder if the author looked into the famousGore Orhanage legend and found it to be nothing at all? Because everyone in these parts have heard the story....

This is a fun read, whether you're from the Buckeye state or not.

[Snakes · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of Renner’s early pieces of journalism. Extremely spare and not really all that informational. Just some weird things from the Buckeye State in almost a brochure-type setting. Marginal and nothing anyone should go out of their way to locate.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I highly recommend you take this book with you next time you go camping and share a story or two with your friends around the campfire at night.

[April Hoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who knew that Ohio had all these secrets. I've never been a believer in strange phenomena...but Renner is pretty convincing. I told the one tale to a lunch table of middle school girls who were talking about how scary the new IT movie is. By the looks on their faces it proves that the truth is stranger (and scarier) than fiction.

[Lauren Stoolfire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Creepy fun urban legends from my home state! These read like stories to tell aloud, preferably around a campfire in the middle of the night. It's especially fun when you have visited the areas in question and have some knowledge of the urban legends beforehand. :)
Personally, though, I was hoping for a little something about the Mansfield Reformatory...I also really enjoyed Renner's Foreword entitled, "In Darkness We Believe." It definitely sets the tone for the collection. However, I felt the final tale about Rattlesnake Island didn't really hold with the rest collection. Although I really enjoyed that tale and would like to hear other similar stories, it simply felt like it belonged in another collection.

[James Crawford · Rating 4 out of 5]

2012, 112 pages.
The contents of the book include the following:

Cops and Aliens (UFOs).
A chapter on werewolves.
The Loveland Frog.
The Mothman.
The Legend of 'Red Eyes.'
A chapter on Bigfoot.
Another chapter dealing with UFOs.
A chapter on people supposedly having their souls sent to Jupiter.
A chapter on SETI.
A chapter on ghosts.
A chapter on 'melon heads.'
A chapter on a Lake Erie cryptid.
A chapter on a secret society,

As can be seen it covers a fairly wide array of topics. It's pretty much a typical book on the subject and is worth reading.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book. I liked the unexplained stories and how the author left things open for the reader's interpretation. I especially like the factoids at the end of each story. They made you think just a little bit more. The only thing I would have liked was for some of the stories to be a bit more in depth. A couple of stories left me wanting more and feeling like the author just gave up on that story.

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Checked this book out from the local library as I haven't read anything in a while and since it is October, I wanted some ghost books and other similar books. I must this book was pretty good. I liked it because it's short and has some little factoids and on the bottoms of some of the pages. And the author did a great job writing it.

My favorite story without a doubt in this particular has to be the deputies chasing the UFO around as I had no knowledge of this incident in any books or anything. And I had no idea that this singular event was the inspiration behind a hit Hollywood film that I will not name as it will give away a lot of the story.

[John Corrigan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw that Larry M had just read this book and growing up in Cleveland and Lorain Ohio I had to check it out. The book is written by a reporter and the short stories have a report feel to them. It is a fun weekend read.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Second-hand paranormal stories around Ohio. Meh, sounds like hooey to me although Renner writes well.

[Marla · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick and entertaining read. I especially liked reading about Rattlesnake Island. As a northeast Ohioan, I had never heard of the goings-on there. Looking forward to Mr. Renner's next true crime book about the Lisa Pruett case.

[April Helms · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would have never pictured Ohio as a hot spot for paranormal activity (the Mansfield Reformatory notwithstanding), but this book is filled with short stories strange goings on in the Buckeye state. The stories range from well-documented to the campfire story told to scare new campers, and all are pretty entertaining. Each short story also has asides, set off in a gray box, related in some way to the main story. Most people are familiar with the Mothman legends, courtesy of the movie "The Mothman Prophecies." Lesser known stories include the Loveland frogs, the Mellon heads, werewolf sightings, Bigfoot sightings and even a couple well-documented UFO sightings (one of which inspired the UFO chase scene from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. A quick and entertaining read for those interested in the more unusual aspects of Ohio's history.

[Linda Wagner · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun book to read even if you are not from Ohio. As it happens, I am, and I am also familiar with many of the places mentioned in this book. James Renner has compiled 13 stories of creepy, strange or otherwise unusual events that took place in and around Ohio, including alien/UFO sightings, the mothman, bigfoot and a real, live (possibly) werewolf. Some of these, I had heard before, but others were completely new to me. Each account gives the background, eyewitness testimony where possible and any other information that was available to the author. Each story is well written, reads like a cross between a novel and a newspaper story and is fun to read. Entertaining and informative.

[Evelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short book is full of famous (and not so famous) spooky, weird and creepy stories of Ohio's paranormal happenings. Makes a grest book to read around a campfire or in the dark with just a flashlight :-) And, I loved the "factoids" posted every few pages. No wonder Ohio has the most Big Foot sightings and these tales are the fodder for sci-fi movies. Ohio's really the heart of "it" all! Maybe other states are just jealous??

[Kat McKay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't read this book yet, but I won this in a giveaway and it didn't come for quite some time and then, yesterday it came in the mail w/a letter of apology from the publisher and a 2nd book published by this author! How incredibly nice of them to go above and beyond the call of customer service!!!

[Kayla · Rating 4 out of 5]

I met this author back in May at a book festival in Ohio. I sat in on one of his panels and the moment he mentioned this book I knew I had to buy a copy. I am a big fan of urban legend and folklore stories.

Once I picked this book up I was hooked. They writing was great, as well as the story telling. It made me love urban legend books even more!

[Betsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun, fascinating read with just a touch of spookiness. My hubby read it first and we read a few of the stories together with our grandchildren, ages 8 and 10 and it was a huge hit! They'd even like us to take them a couple of the sites, which would be a fun outing. I finished it in a day, it's an easy entertaining read. My personal favorite was the Loveland Frog.

[Jenn Swanson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is basically a glorified urban legends book but with Ohio destinations. While an interesting, quick read I had trouble classifying it. It did give some ideas on possible mini vacation spots so it can't be all that bad. Would recommend if you are from Ohio or live there.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stories about ghosts, UFOs and mysterious creatures. Much more interesting to me because they are all set in Ohio. Some stories I had heard before, some I had not. Some new details on some. Some left me wanting more info. All in all, a nice quick read.

[Julie S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really interesting! Favorite stories were those on the Sasquatch Triangle near Salt Fork and the interesting goings-on at Rattlesnake Island.

[April Bush · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone who lives in, or near, Ohio must read this book.

[Melissa Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great E Book from James Renner. Five star read

[Sherrie Saint · Rating 5 out of 5]

James is one of the best writers out there. You can't go wrong with his books.

[Rhina M. Finley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was creepy and good! I'm looking forward to more James Renner!

[Lynne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting. Think I have met them all. Lol. Great local author

[Tim Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very quick reading introduction to various urban legends, UFO encounters, ghost stories, tall tales, campfire tales, and folk tales of Ohio through the years, some I had heard of before, many I had not. Most stories only had something like 6 to maybe 10 pages, most around 7 to 8 pages, and all had some sort of black and white artwork to start the chapter off. Most if not all (I think all) had in gray blocks factoids, notes, or asides about the story in that chapter. Writing wasn’t bad, a little maybe towards a high school level or below to make it quick reading and accessible but demonstrating that the author has obvious skill (I absolutely love and highly recommend his _The Man From Primrose Lane_, one of the most surprising works of fiction I have ever read). The stories weren't written as short stories but more as journalistic stories, presenting a ghost story or a UFO encounter as fact, showing the author's research and interviews.

A few felt like just as I was getting into the story it ended, but it did leave me wanting more. A couple of times some preposterous things were presented as fact, sticking out even in a book with Bigfoot and ghosts, such as researchers at Wright-Pat Air Force base were working on a “gay bomb” (what?) and that Gregor Mendel was known to create “strange hybrids in the lab” like some mad scientist (not according to what I learned in school), though perhaps they are forgivable if this was all about catching the conspiratorial, breathless feel of someone letting another person in on a big secret They Don’t Want You To Know at a bar or around a campfire.

There are thirteen tales in the book, including a UFO story that was said to be a major inspiration for Spielberg in making _Close Encounters of the Third Kind_, a werewolf story, several ghost stories, a write up of Bessie (the “Loch Ness Monster” of Lake Erie), the story of the “WOW!” signal (which I hadn’t known had an Ohio connection), Melon Heads (an urban legend shared with Michigan), Mothman (a cryptid shared with Point Pleasant, West Virginia), and the Loveland Frog (which featured very prominently in _The Man From Primrose Lane_, though Renner’s fictional take on the legend was far, far more intriguing than the “real life” tale in this book).

A fun quick read, if you liked _The X-Files_ this would be fun (and indeed a few of the tales seemed to have inspired writers on the show).

[Ehmbee Way · Rating 3 out of 5]

It Came from Ohio by acclaimed journalist James Renner is the kind of light-reading book that can easily be consumed in one sitting. It is, in other words, short, simple and far from exhaustive.

And while that might sound like criticism—the idea that readers aren’t going to come away feeling adequately knowledgeable about the thirteen, creepy, Ohio-based stories—it’s also a way of saying this is a great entry-point for anyone who wants to learn more about bizarre tales in the Buckeye state.

I, for one, have lived in Ohio my whole life and, until reading James Renner’s book, I’d never even heard any mention of the Rattle Snake Island Club—a private island where the state’s most elite residents are purported to live out Epstein-esque summers. I’d like to learn more about that. Or about the man-hating ghosts who supposedly haunt Howard House, on the campus of Akron University.

In short, the book, while less substantive than I would have liked, did, at least, pique my interest in several different places. And it’s campy, quirky, quick-paced story telling made it a breeze to finish. As such, I’d recommend it for any Ohio waiting room, coffee table or bathroom shelf. Just don’t put it on your nightstand to read it before bed.

[Larry McCloskey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Short and sweet, I think, is how I would put it. Thirteen true tales of the weird, wild, and unexplained in a little over 100 pages. As a lifelong Ohioan, many of the stories were familiar and even for those which I hadn't heard before, knowing the geography allowed me to put myself into the stories. From that perspective, it's a fun and quick read for anyone from the Buckeye state with a little Fox Mulder in their veins.

My biggest knock on the book is its brevity. With stories averaging seven pages or so, it was hard to get into a lot of them. For those which I knew, there were some interesting new facts, but for a lot of them, the writing felt more like window dressing with no substance. I didn't go in expecting thoroughly researched deep dives into all of these tales, but it would have been nice to get more than quick recaps. It's one thing to "leave them wanting more", it's another to whet their appetite and leave them hanging.

[Kathryn Grace Loves Horror · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a brief collection of Ohio-area mysteries and legends, covering everything from UFO's and contact from space to frog-men, lake monsters, ghosts, and a secret island community for the wealthy.

To me, at least, the most interesting sections are those on the Loveland Frog, the ghost at Camp Manatoc, and Melon Heads.

My only complaint is that the accounts, while entertaining, are too brief. I would love to know more about many of these events and creatures. But that's what the internet is for, right? If you're interested in regional folklore and urban legends, this is still a great pick.