The setting is a section of the Ohio River where many locals enjoy fishing, swimming, and boating. In the calmer close to shore waters swimmers enjoy the water of the Ohio as well as fishermen who throw their lines in offshore or from the docks. Others use aluminum skiffs to fish in the deeper waters. It is in these areas that an ominous chain of events has happened. Something lurks there, unidentified, never encountered before, and capable of inflicting wounds that are unlike any bull shark that has swam upstream from the gulf or any alligators that most locals are familiar with. In fact, most experts claim that Ohio River is too cold for alligators or sharks even though these have been eye witness accounts. It’s something terrifyingly different!

A man who was fishing along the shoreline late one afternoon and spotted something strange-a creature that looked part humanoid and part aquatic creature with clawed hands and a yellowing flesh! Th sight of the unnatural entity scared him so badly he fled! Children wading in the river described what they called “Yellow things” that seemed to be catching and eating mollusks. They couldn’t describe what they had seen. These occurrences happened as early as 1891 when a local newspaper article released as news called these unknown creatures, “Mud Mermaids.” A high-ranking former Confederate officer, well-educated and hosting an art exhibit in the area spent several days seated at the banks of the river attempting to get a glimpse of the creatures that locals had described.

After a few days of patient observation, he finally made a sighting. It was early evening when he watched as two beings emerged from the Ohio waters and began foraging for mollusks which they could crack open with their powerful clawed hands! He described them as having disturbingly human-like faces with a mane of course hair, but having webbed and clawed hands and feet. He claimed that at first, they did not notice him but when they did, they did not panic and jump into the water. One seemed to be a male and the other a female. One stared straight at him and opened its mouth revealing large teeth, perhaps meant as a warning, and the two slid back under the darkening waters of the Ohio! His report led to the article in the newspaper.

Skeptics claimed that the former Confederate officer had mistaken the sighting for otters who are known for coming ashore and hunting and eating mollusks along the banks, but a well-crafted sketch that the man made of the creatures quickly gained notoriety and a legend was created. Since then, there have been intermittently reported incidents where swimmers, or fishermen who have ventured into the water to retrieve a catch have been attacked by something that claws them leaving wounds on their bodies! One housewife and mother back in the 1960’s reported that while watching her children swim one early evening she waded into the water and was grabbed by something that tried to pull her under! She managed to break free, but was hospitalized from deep claw marks on her back and legs. She got a glimpse of the thing saying it had huge clawed hands and the body of a fish-like skin, and having a face that was partly fish and human! She made the description almost like the famous “Creature of the Black Lagoon” movie monster!

Caddo Lake in East Texas is the scene of a disturbing number of fisherman disappearances. The lake, named after a local Indian tribe, has been a popular fishing spot and recreational boating enticement, but hazards do exist there. The lake has high mercury levels and invasive species of aquatic plants that can foul fishing boats! A large alligator population exists in those waters too. Local Indian tribes are superstitious of the lake, claiming that evil spirits have influence over certain areas of the large stretch of fresh water and vast surrounding swamps! Although thousands of acres of lake water cover the basin, the average depth is only 10 feet with the deepest area a little over a hundred feet in depth.

With inter connecting bayous, swamps, and boggy waterways, the lake takes on an eerie and mythical topography of paranormal proportions. The mornings begin hung in mist while during the day the overhanging limbs of Cypress trees form a darkening canopy even in broad daylight. The uncanny atmosphere just adds more weird effect to the legacy of disappearances! Some people report screams that resonate in the fog that hangs over the lake. Others claim that a porthole between worlds exists where people can disappear into the future or the past! A great Steamboat tragedy occurred in 1869 when the Mittie Stephens carrying passengers, cargo, and kerosene fuel departed New Orleans headed for Jefferson, Texas. A leaking oil lamp ignited the kerosene stores causing a fast spreading, deadly blaze that forced passengers and crew to leap into the cold waters of Caddo Lake. 60 people lost their lives that night. Many claim the lake is cursed!

Recently, a fisherman, a veteran and local resident who knew the lake well, failed show up back home after heading out into the waters for an afternoon of recreation. Park rangers, sheriffs, and Texas game wardens set out to find the missing man. Rescuers located his boat in pristine condition a day later with no sign of the owner. Everything in the 14-foot aluminum skiff was neat and in order showing no sings or struggle! Sonar scans revealed a shocking discovery! Underneath the vanished fisherman’s boat were 5 others submerged in the green waters of Caddo. Divers inspected the boats and found the contents to be undisturbed like the one they had just found, but somehow, they had sunk! What happened to the owners? Is Caddo Lake another of the cluster zones of missing persons described by David Paulides?