A local urban legend is now set to reach a global audience. A film inspired by a Lake County cryptid is moving to several streaming platforms.
In March 2024, Northeast Ohio native and filmmaker Eddie Lengyel talked to News 5 ahead of screenings of “Melon Heads: House of Crow.”
RELATED: 'The Melon Heads:' Lake County legend inspires film
Thursday, he said multiple local screenings sold out and that audiences were eager to talk about the title.
“We couldn’t believe the legend is still that big in the Kirtland-Mentor area,” he said.
During Halloween week, the film debuted on Tubi and Fandango.
“It’s been on my bucket list, if you will, to do this thing because I feel like growing up as a kid in the 80s and 90s it was such a big thing,” said Lengyel, explaining he grew up hearing the stories of the Kirtland melon heads and even went on adventures to find them himself.
The movie drew inspiration from creatures said to be wandering the woods near Wisner Road in Kirtland.
There are several variations of the Kirtland melon heads story, but Lengyel focused on a sinister version. Legend has it, a Dr. Crow was conducting nefarious experiments on orphan children that caused their heads to swell and grow bulbous.
Eventually, the doctor died, and the “melon heads” were fated to wander the nearby woods, leery of outsiders intruding on their territory.
Lengyel said he hopes bringing the story to a wider audience will help preserve the lore.
“That’s really my goal,” he said. “I don’t want the legend to die out. That’s how it goes. If people don’t continue to pass it down, it just kind of peters out. So I hope this is a resurgence of the legend.”
You can watch “Melon Heads: House of Crow” for free on Tubi or without commercials for a fee on the Fandango streaming service.
