LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -  It's the center of commerce for some companies and a home for wildlife.

The Ohio River is 981 miles long. In Louisville, its deepest point is around 85 feet below the surface.That's a lot space for things to disappear and for unseen creatures of the water to live.

That's why WDRB viewer Ashley's question makes a lot of sense. She asks "Chris, What is the most unique thing found or still in the Ohio River?"

To get to the bottom of the question and find an answer, WDRB had to pull out all the stops and take a fact finding cruise.

WDRB enlisted the help of Louisville Metro Police. In no time, WDRB was on the water, and officials were suiting up.

LMPD's River Patrol and Dive Team spend just about as much time on the Ohio River as they do on land. If it's been in the water, they've seen it.

Or  perhaps a better way of putting it is they've felt it.

"As soon as we jump in the water, we go straight to the bottom and we pretty much crawl around until we find something," said Sgt. Jeff Artman of LMPD's River Patrol.

The further down they go, the harder it is to see. "It's kind of like going into a dark room blindfolded. Sometimes it's so bad, you can't even see your gauges like for your air gauge or your depth gauge," Artman explained. Divers rely on their other senses to find what's down there.|

First, let's address a big rumor. It's been said Muhammad Ali dropped some of his boxing metals from the Second Street Bridge. "I've heard that rumor, but I don't know if that's true or not," Artman said. Even if it were true, the medals would be close to impossible to find. And the river could've taken its toll on them.

Now on to the real discoveries. Sure, there's trash, barrels and ditched weapons.

But there are other things that may be shocking.

Parts of the Ohio River apparently look very similar to a used car lot. There are submerged cars caked with seaweed and mud. "There's a few down there that we've tried to get out, but they've been down there for so long, when we try to pull them by the wheels or the roof or something like that, it just tears them apart," Artman said.

A small airplane that crashed in the 1970s is also allegedly down on the river's floor. "He hit the guide wires and went down in the water, and I don't believe it was ever recovered," Artman said.

What about the fish? Many people want to know what's swimming around down there. Well, we know there are sauger-fish and paddle fish. But for years, people have said there's something bigger lurking, perhaps a fish the size of a car.

"There are some large ones. I've never seen anything the size of a Volkswagen like people say," Artman said.

One member of the dive team described an eerie experience while in the water. "Something apparently swam away from me, or moved me to the point where I flipped upside down onto my tank," the diver recalled. What was it? No one knows. And, the truth is no one may ever get the true scope of what lies beneath the surface of the Ohio River, because no one can see much of anything.

"I'm sure there are a lot of things that we would never know are down there," Artman said.

Anyone with a question they wish to have Chris Sutter research can contact him:

Twitter: @chrissutter

Email: csutter@wdrb.com

Facebook: Just type Chris Sutter in the search window.

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