I love horror movies. Not the gore and slasher type movies that seem to be popular today. Genuine scary movies like the original Halloween and the remake Halloween. 

The horror movie The Hills Have Eyes reminds me of this week’s cryptid article. The movie’s plot is mutant creatures created from nuclear testing. My essay is about Connecticut’s Melon Heads.

The Melon Heads is a well-documented prolific urban myth. There are many different stories about these legendary people. No one knows how this myth originated.

One such story is that the Melon Heads live off Connecticut’s heavily wooded roads. Monroe, Stratford, Seymour, Weston, Easton, Oxford, Southbury, Fairfield, New Haven, and Trumbull have reported sightings.

They are small strange humanoid creatures with large misshapen heads. Stories say these creatures survived eating small animals. They ate small animals like cats, dogs, and even human flesh, like children and teens.

There have been reports of the legendary Melon Head as early as the 19th century. One story has a family of Melon Heads that lived in Bavaria, Germany. Another story has a family rumored to live outside Risbury, England. Melon Heads, known as weeble heads, lived in 19th century England.

One theory is that the Melon Heads descended from the Melungeon. The term Melungeon describes the mixed-race people populating the Appalachia.

The Melungeon is a race of people with European, Black, and Native American heritage. History shows the United States hasn’t been friendly to children of mixed blood. It isn’t surprising they stayed to themselves because of that intolerance.

Stories leaked when families moved into the isolated country from busy cities to rebuild. Tales of Connecticut’s creepy family spread during the second world war.

So, how did the Melon Heads get to Connecticut? One theory is that they came from a family of accused witches. They escaped the witch trials and persecution by living isolated and inbreeding. The continual inbreeding caused the melon head mutation. 

Another theory is they are escapee’s from a mental health institute. The now-abandoned institute Fairfield Hills Hospital. Correctional Institute, which specializes in inmates with mental health problems. The interesting thing is the stories are about a family of Melon Heads. 

You don’t hear of entire families committed to a mental institute. It makes a good story, but not a believable one. 

The same story, with a slight variation, has the family escaping the mental institute. In the 1960s, the institute burned down, and it was during the fire, they escaped.

In the 1980s, a group of girls went joyriding after a football game. Once the Notre Dame High Scool Fairfield game was over, the girls piled into a Blue Grand Torino. They were driving up Velvet street in Trumbell on a Friday night looking for Melon Heads. 

The girls pulled onto the side of a road leaving the lights on in the car. Late at night, they ventured into the woods, continuing their investigation. While they were strolling on the paths, they heard a door slam. 

Then a car engine started, and they saw the Torino heading towards them. The girls saw figures of children inside the vehicle. The children had large heads, rags for clothes, and orange-glowing eyes. 

The story is the Melon Heads are still driving around in that blue Grand Torino today.

Other stories talk about mysterious figures hiding in the woods. Road workers from Shelton paved the Saw Mill City Road heard voices. Voices drifting out from the dark recesses of the Connecticut woods.

Connecticut foresters report strange figures flitting amongst the trees. Strange dark shadows lurk in the underbrush, spying at them as they went about their jobs.

The exact origin of Melon Heads is hazy at best, but it seems they popped up first in Ohio.

The legend is that Melon Heads are abandoned children adopted by Dr. Crow. He then experimented with these children in his Kirtland facility. He injected chemicals into their brains, causing their craniums to grow to an abnormal size. 

The continued experiments caused hydrocephalus. After years of abuse, the Melon Heads killed Dr. Crow and burned the institute down.

Somebody burnt a mental institute to the ground in 1960. Then another mental institute is burnt down in Kirkland, Ohio. Two different institutes with the same events during other times. Two different institutes sharing the same legend of the Melon Heads.

Coincidence?

There is a fascinating theory touching on the subject of aliens. Witnesses describe Melon Heads as small, frail creatures with Melon Heads. Long spindly arms and legs with crooked teeth. 

Witness’s reports match the physical characteristics of aliens. That would make an excellent theory if Melon Heads were aliens. 

It can explain why the story of the Melon Heads have popped up in Ohio, Michigan, and Connecticut. There are reports of feral mutants running loose in the New England forest today.

Then again, they could be aliens. Intriguing thought that the Melon Heads could be from another planet. Or even from a different galaxy. How beguiling that concept is. 

Aliens visiting or staying on earth hiding in the New England countryside. Haunting the dark cloistered forests scaring the locals at night.

No reports that these Melon Heads are dangerous. No attacks or deaths, only sightings. Witnesses report seeing these elusive people during the daylight hours as well.

What is the story about Melon Heads and their origins? Escaped mental creatures, inbred witches, or aliens – it makes a fascinating story.

If you decide to go hiking in Connecticut’s woods one night, keep an eye out for Melon Heads. They could be flitting around watching you in the darkness.