Melon Heads

The Melon Heads are American cryptids and figures of urban legend — small, strange humanoid beings with large, bulbous, oversized heads, said to live in the woods and remote areas of various parts of the United States (especially Michigan, Ohio, and Connecticut), and to emerge to attack or frighten trespassers. The large-headed little people of American urban legend, the strange small humanoids of the woods, the Melon Heads are among the famous American cryptids and urban legends, the bulbous-headed beings of the lonely places.

The Large-Headed Humanoids

The Melon Heads are described as small, strange, humanoid beings with large, bulbous, oversized heads — small, often pale or deformed humanoid creatures, child-sized or small, with grotesquely large, swollen, bulbous, melon-like heads (the large heads being their defining feature, from which they take their name), sometimes described as having spindly bodies, large eyes, and a strange, deformed, or feral appearance — the large-headed little people. They are said to live in the woods, forests, and remote areas of various parts of the United States — especially Michigan (the Melon Heads of the woods near Holland and Saugatuck), Ohio (the Melon Heads of Kirtland), and Connecticut (the Melon Heads of various towns) — emerging from the woods and remote places to attack, frighten, or menace trespassers and the unwary. As the large-headed humanoids, the small, bulbous-headed beings of the woods and remote places, the Melon Heads are the strange little people of American urban legend.

The Legends of the Melon Heads

The Melon Heads are the subject of various legends and origin-stories across the regions where they are reported. The most common origin-legends hold that the Melon Heads are the descendants or survivors of people subjected to some terrible fate — the inmates of an old asylum or institution (the patients of a mental hospital or asylum, escaped or abandoned, who became feral and deformed, their descendants the Melon Heads), the subjects of cruel medical experiments (children or people experimented on by a mad doctor, deformed with swollen heads, escaped into the woods), or the victims of disease, deformity, or inbreeding (a deformed and isolated population living wild in the woods). These origin-legends — the asylum escapees, the experiment victims, the deformed wild people — give the Melon Heads a dark and tragic backstory, the deformed and feral descendants of some terrible fate living wild in the woods. The Melon Heads are said to emerge from the woods to attack trespassers, to menace those who venture into their remote areas, to be feral, dangerous, and frightening. As the subject of the legends of the Melon Heads, the figures of the asylum-escapee and experiment-victim origin-legends, the Melon Heads are the strange and tragic little people of American urban legend.

The Urban Legend Cryptid

The Melon Heads are both cryptids and figures of urban legend, bridging the two — reported creatures (the large-headed beings seen and encountered in the woods) and figures of urban legend and scary story (the asylum-escapee, experiment-victim Melon Heads of the lonely roads and remote woods, a classic figure of the local scary stories and the “don’t go into the woods” urban legends). They are famous regional cryptids and urban legends of Michigan, Ohio, Connecticut, and other regions, beloved (and feared) figures of local folklore and scary stories, the large-headed little people of the woods. Skeptics explain the Melon Heads as creatures of urban legend, scary story, hoax, and the power of suggestion rather than real creatures, the legends growing from old local rumours, scary stories, and the fear of the deformed, the institutionalised, and the wild; but the legends endure, famous and frightening. As the urban legend cryptid, the large-headed little people of American urban legend and scary story, the Melon Heads are the strange small humanoids of the lonely places. As the large-headed humanoids of American urban legend — the Melon Heads, the small, bulbous-headed beings of the woods, the deformed and feral little people of the asylum and experiment legends — they stand as among the famous American cryptids and urban legends.

Legacy

The Melon Heads endure as among the famous American cryptids and figures of urban legend, the small, strange humanoid beings with large, bulbous heads said to live in the woods and remote areas of Michigan, Ohio, Connecticut, and other parts of the United States, the deformed and feral little people of the asylum and experiment legends, famous and frightening figures of American local folklore and scary stories. As the large-headed little people of American urban legend — the Melon Heads, the small, bulbous-headed humanoid beings of the woods and remote places, the deformed and feral creatures of the asylum-escapee and experiment-victim legends — the Melon Heads stand as among the famous and frightening American cryptids and urban legends, the strange large-headed beings of the lonely woods, the little people of the American scary stories.