144. The Loveland Frogmen

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Imagine that this line
represents the time present 1985

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Future Past.
Prior to this point in time

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00:00:15,800 --> 00:00:18,640
somewhere in the past the
timeline skewed into this

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tangent, creating an alternate
1985 alternate to you need an

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Einstein.
Reality for?

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Everyone else.
The lovely frog men are one of

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the darling children of American
cryptozoology, and although they

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seem to be specifically located
to one particular geographical

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area, we can't say for sure
that's exactly true.

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Of course, there are other
things to look at here.

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And we're going to do just that.
On our very first installment of

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The Infinite Rabbit Hole
presents mini docs Loveland

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Frogman.
In.

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July of 1955, Robert Honeycutt,
A civilian defense volunteer,

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was driving on a dark and
secluded Rd.

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At 4:00 o'clock in the morning
in Loveland, OH, northeast of

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Cincinnati, when his headlights
illuminated a group of three or

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four small humanoid creatures
under the bridge.

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In his curiosity, Honeycutt
pulled over and watched the

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small bipedal creatures who he
claimed only stood 3 feet in

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height.
The oddity stood on 2 legs, had

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large lipless mouths and very
wrinkly skin.

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He must have been watching too
long for comfort because one of

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the creatures looked in his
direction and held up a stick or

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wand of sorts that seemed to be
giving off bright blue sparks.

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He left the scene after the
creature seemed upset at his

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presence and went directly to
the Loveland police station,

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where Police Chief John Fritz
reportedly went out to the

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bridge to investigate.
It is unclear as to what he may

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have seen there, but some of the
stories I have found say that he

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posted an armed patrolman there
and some added that the FBI even

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took an interest in the upcoming
hours. 17 years later, on March

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3rd 1972, Officer Ray Shockey
was driving along the Little

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Miami River when he thought he
had seen a dog on the side of

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the road.
It was cold out and the pavement

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was icy in spots, so he
continued towards the dog

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slowly.
As he got close to it, whatever

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it was stood up and darted
across the road immediately in

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front of his cruiser.
Officer Shockey described the

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creature as short stature,
running on two legs with a.

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Frog like face and leathery
skin.

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He slammed on the brakes and
stared the frog as it seemed to

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be waiting on the Bank of the
river for a few seconds before

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jumping in and disappearing.
Shockey claimed to have had

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plenty of time to look at it as
it made its way across the

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street and over the guardrail.
He said it couldn't have weighed

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more than £75.
Two weeks later, patrolman Mark

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Matthews drove directly up to
some sort of creature as it sat

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directly in the middle of the
road.

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As Matthews stepped out of his
car to get a better look, the

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thing jumped towards and
Matthews pulled out his sidearm

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and fired three shots.
It's unclear as to how many

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shots actually hit the creature,
but it was hit for sure.

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The creature convulsed and fell
over into the river.

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The description of the creature
that Matthews gave matched that

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of Shockey's, except that
Matthews was 100% certain the

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thing that he saw had a tail.
Both officers were consistently

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ridiculed for years after the
events.

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Matthews would eventually say in
a 1999 interview that the news

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blew it away out of proportion
and that all he saw was a pet

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lizard, but rumors are that he
said this only to stop the

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harassment that he received for
years.

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Shockey, on the other hand,
became very upset, depressed due

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to the ridicule, and eventually
shut down a few years after the

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incident and refused to talk
about the creature ever again.

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A few months after Matthews's
encounter, a high school kid

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would come forward and claim to
also see the same creature.

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The unnamed student claim that
the creature was just shy of

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four feet tall and weighed
approximately 150 pounds.

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Later in the same year, a local
farmer claimed to have seen four

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more of the creatures and
described them as also being

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short.
He would elaborate in his report

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that the creatures had grayish
screened skin with large eyes

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and a mouthful of sharp teeth.
He only witnessed them for a

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short period before they ran on
two legs over toward the river

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and disappeared into the brush.
In 1999, two more accounts came

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in, but this time from anonymous
witnesses who admitted to

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heavily drinking.
The first was in August and the

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witness, only known as Steve,
was very intoxicated near the

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old Wendell place near the
Little Miami.

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The man claimed that he was
close to passing out in the

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grass when he witnessed a giant
frog.

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A month later.
Two friends were surprised while

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walking along the river at night
when they heard a lot of

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commotion in the water.
The only thing that was given in

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the report was that it was a big
green thing.

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Many reports of this incident
also claimed that the two were

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very intoxicated at the time.
On July 4th in 2002, Jew Tillery

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and a friend were rafting down
the Little Miami in an area

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about 26 miles up river from
Loveland when he too reported

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seeing a big frog looking dude
on the Bank of the river.

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Quote UN quote.
By the way, big frog looking

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dude, Jude was willing to admit
that he had been drinking.

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He was convinced that what he
saw was not a hallucination.

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The most recent event involving
the Loveland Frogman took place

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on August 3rd, 2016, when Sam
Jacobs and his unnamed

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girlfriend were playing Pokémon
Go on their phones between

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Loveland Madeira Road and Lake
Isabella, the ABC News affiliate

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in the area, WCPO reported Quote
we saw a huge frog near the

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water.
Soon after they noticed it, Sam

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stopped playing his game and
began taking photos and a video

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of the creature.
Then the giant frog stood up on

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time legs and walked away.
The young man described the

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creature as standing roughly 4
feet tall and claimed to not

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know anything about the Frogman
legend until the two went back

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to the girlfriend's house and
her mother told them about the

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mysterious stories of the
Loveland Frogman.

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The photo that Sam Jacobs took
is being used for the cover of

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this episode and the video is
very dark and highlights 2 large

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reflective eyes staring back at
the cameraman.

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There are many possibilities of
what these frogmen could

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actually be.
The first place to look is in

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native lore from the tribes of
the area.

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The Shawnee who lived in the
area has stories of a creature

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that they referred to as Shana
Hook or.

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River Demon which was
specifically tied to the Little

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Miami River.
Stories tell of attempts to

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battle such creatures, but the
Shawna Hook were completely

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unfazed by physical weapons.
The stories were so well

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believed and followed that the
Shawnee stayed away from the

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Little Miami River and thought
of it as a place that was the

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home of either a demon or a
guardian spirit of nature, but

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some of the more common thoughts
for that this is either a hoax

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or a case of misidentification.
Even if it was of another

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crypted side note, the movie
Revenge of the Creature, which

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was a direct sequel to Creature
from the Black Lagoon, was

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released just two weeks prior to
Robert Honeycutts encounter.

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Crypto zoologist Chris Orrick
believed that this could have

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been a misidentification of the
Great Gray Owl.

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Orrick explains that this
particular owl is known for

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having the largest and roundest
face of all birds of prey in

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North America, and this feature
alone could have checked a few

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boxes for what people were
reporting with the Loveland

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Frogman.
But in addition to the owl's

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face, it was also a grayish
color and so roughly 3 feet

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tall.
But many have come forward

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against the possibility as owls
have beaks.

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Not lipless wide mouths and the
Great Great Owls Natural habitat

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is hundreds of miles away from
anywhere in Ohio.

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Now there is one possible urban
legend that may be the blame for

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the Loveland Frogman, and that
would be the Melon Heads.

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The melon heads have local
stories in various locations

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throughout the United States,
one of which is based just 224

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miles northeast of Loveland.
OH.

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It was said that in the early
1900s, an orphanage located in

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Kirkland, Ohio, had a nasty
habit of conducting experiments

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on unwilling children.
Eventually the mutant children

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would rebel against Doctor Crow
and killing, burn down the

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orphanage and escape into the
Ohio countryside where they are

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said to eat babies and other
strange acts.

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Now we will dive deeper into the
melon heads in a later episode,

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so I don't want to spend too
much time on that, but to give

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you a quick physical
description, melon heads are

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said to look awfully human.
As in most cases, they are

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believed to be human, but they
are shorter in stature and have

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enormous roundheads which give
them the moniker Billin.

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It's but yet one more common
belief is that the Loveland

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frogmen are either close
relatives to the Japanese Kappa

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or Kappas themselves.
For more information on the

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Kappa, check out our episode
simply titled The Kappa Jake.

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Did a great job on that.
By the way.

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So travelers, what do you think?
What are your opinions on the

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Loveland frogmen?
And do you think they could

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possibly be something that we
discussed it in the latter half

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of this episode, or possibly
even something that we discussed

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in our previous episode on
lizardoids and cryptozoology?

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I for 1:00 AM always happy to
look into and discover all that

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I can about these great pieces
of American lore, and not much

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can hold a candle to the
following love that the Loveland

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Frogmen have received since
their time in the limelight.

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For more on the lovely Frogman,
I would highly recommend

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checking out the annual Frogman
Festival, which was held this

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year in 2023 at the Great Wolf
Lodge Conference Center in

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Mason.
OH, go check out

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frogmanfestival.com For more
information.

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00:09:33,200 --> 00:09:35,880
And while you're there, check
out the lineup of speakers from

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2023.
I bet that you've heard of at

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00:09:38,560 --> 00:09:41,000
least one of those people if
you've been listening to The

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00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:42,440
Infinite Rabbit Hole for a
while.

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00:09:42,830 --> 00:09:47,710
Ashley Hill AKA Ashers joined us
on a four part series on our

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coverage of the injured cold
story and from what I hear she

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did a great job as a public
speaker at this event.

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I would like to thank you all
once again for stopping in and

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checking out the new series, the
Infinite Rabbit Hole mini docs

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where we take some of the
smaller stories speckled

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00:10:02,030 --> 00:10:04,390
throughout the world and the
unknown and give them the love

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00:10:04,390 --> 00:10:07,510
that they deserve.
Until next time travelers, I'll

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00:10:07,510 --> 00:10:09,630
see you in the next bath in the
infinite rabbit hole.

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00:10:10,550 --> 00:10:14,290
Bye bye.
I would like to thank you once

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00:10:14,290 --> 00:10:17,450
again for tuning into the
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on until next time, travelers,

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I'm Jeremy and I'll see you at
the next fork in the path of the

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infinite rabbit hole.
As the timeline, you into this

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tangent, creating an alternate.
You need Einstein for everyone

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