by Cole Herrold
Insects are one of the most extensive
forms of life on this planet. In this vast family of creatures, some of the
most disturbing and exciting species on this planet reside in this clan. While
I have a love of most of life on this planet with few exceptions. I was always
intrigued by these conquerors of all environments. My personal favorites,
though, are their cousins, the arachnids.
I had initially come across this case back in the day on his website Paranormal News. I had written down the main points on a sticky note, which remained in my files at the time, and upon looking for some possible topics to write about, this case stumbled out. When researching for the article, I had found that I could not access the website, which I know believe to be defunct. Searching his current website, which is Stan Gordon's UFO Anomalies Zone, the article is not on there. It was upon reading Strange Pennsylvania Monsters by Michael Newton and later Stan Gordon’s Astonishing Encounters that I was able to find the case.
It was
on June 27th, 2009, on a dark night when four unnamed individuals
were returning home on a road outside of Mount Pleasant in Westmoreland County.
The group, undoubtedly tired and just ready to get from their prior destination
to the comforts of their home, had traveled down this dark path certainly
several times to the point where they would be used to the road in which they
traveled. Little did these people know though is that they would come across
something that would be different than what they were used to. As the group
traveled, one of the group saw something bizarre and pointing to the driver,
the group hurdled to a stop and saw a strange inching form slowly working its
way across the road. The group stopped in the center of the road saw a strange
creature, something that had the appearance of an animal they had come in
contact with certainly several times, that being the caterpillar. Yet this creature
is something that is totally different than what was seen in the average
garden. These creatures had a length of a massive seven inches, which is almost
the length of a human head, and that this creature was a bright white in color
with a bluish tint. The creature seemed to be extremely bright, but the
witnesses all agreed it did not glow. The witnesses could not tell between the
head or the tail nor legs or feet, but they saw as this creature moved across
the pavement from the right side of the road to the left that it appeared to be
segmented. This creature moved by
caterpillaring its way across the street in the same way that the standard
garden variety would, and its body was thicker in the center, and the ends were
skinnier, not unlike a maggot or worm. The group waited for this strange
worm-like traveler to cross the road, possibly coming up with an amusing joke
along the way, but as soon as this slimy voyager reached the other side, the
group sped down the highway. Frantically questioning what they could have seen,
the driver once more began to break. This caused the attention to be drawn by
the other passengers out the windshield and there crossing the road was another
strange white worm, this one traveling in the opposite direction. They watched
in awe and horror as the creature continued inching across the street.
They began down the pavement once again
when, to their frustration and surprise, they saw another seven of these
strange creatures worming their way across the pavement and the possibility
depending on the interpretation of some already on the other side. As these
creatures slowly made their way across one lone worm-like creature straggled
behind the driver, tired of these entomological end to their journey, the
driver took his foot off the brake and began to drive down the pavement going
over top of the worm-like creatures. The driver was lucky enough to time his
drive so as not to hurt the wiggly weirdo. The driver, whether tired of these
creatures or the journey, refused to turn around and, in turn, did not stop
until he reached the confines of the group's home. When they came home, the
group rushed in and turned on the glowing source of just about all information
that now almost everyone owns the internet. Searching the world wide web, they
looked for a variety of entomological specimens that were documented, yet none
matched the creatures they had seen. One particularly observant witnessed
hypothesized that these mothy marauders could actually have been larval forms.
The question is the Larval forms of what? And with that in mind, that is the
case of the giant caterpillars.
This case seems to be more plausible than
a lot of cryptids in both size and species. This is interesting for a lot of
reason, for it indeed removes the possibility of a hoax, seeing as it is so
outside of what a potential hoax would be that it truly is not worth
mentioning. For indeed, if this were a hoax, the length would be something
ridiculous like being 20ft with bright colors and multiple eyes or something
unrealistic like that, not the mere 7" seen in this case. Also, the fact
that these witnesses decided to remain anonymous lends more to the credibility
seeing as they would not try to capitalize their sighting. So, it would appear
that what the witnesses saw was probably an authentic creature.
There are a ton of Cryptid worms that have,
in fact, been reported, but for most of them, they are of extreme size and or
featuring unique qualities, making them different than the typical worm type animals.
One cannot think about cryptid worms without the most elusive and dangerous of
the beast being the Mongolian Death Worm, yet these placid beasts are something
less aggressive than the desert dweller. The Minhocão is rumored to exist in
South American forests. The creature is believed to borrow under the ground and
break the surface showing a dark-colored body with a largemouth. There are
countless species discovered every year, and it is only a matter of time until,
if these animals exist, they will be found.
While there is a strong case that this
could be a new species, these creatures are by far not the most gigantic worm
or insect-like animals. The giant Gippsland earthworm, which can reach an absurd
length of 6.6ft (the average size of a human), is from Australia. For
caterpillars, the Hickory Horned Devil is about 4-6” in length and is currently
the largest known caterpillar species in North America. The Hickory Horned
Devil is also a Pennsylvania resident. One of the largest flying insects is the
Hercules Beetle, and its larval form is just as impressive. Its sizeable white
form does interestingly have a bluish tint to it, not unlike the creatures
seen. The animals seen in Mount Pleasant
are dwarfed compared to the Australian giant and only slightly larger than the
Hickory Horned Devil, so their existence is something not impossible, seeing as
other entomological specimens have achieved lengths close or exceeding that
seen in this case.
One possibility for this creature's
existence could be that this animal is a common caterpillar species that has
grown to an extensive length. In Pennsylvania, there are several caterpillar
species that make their homes in the woodlands. The Spotted Apatelodes Moth
Caterpillar, for example, has a very similar appearance to the ones seen by the
witnesses, Yet these adorably fluffy insects barely scratch an inch in length.
Could it be that a sort of gigantism could be seen here? The idea of gigantic
insects is not unheard of, and at one point in our planet’s history, giant
insects flourished. During the Carboniferous Period, giant insects flourished
and were able to achieve their enormous size was because of the increase of
Oxygen in the atmosphere. While the earth's atmosphere today has less Oxygen
than what was seen back then, it could possibly be enough to generate such
colossal creatures.
One other possibility is that this is the
larval form of a species that once existed on this planet. The Meganuera, for
example, was a dragonfly that could reach lengths of two feet. That is almost
three times the size of these caterpillar-like creatures seen at Mount
Pleasant. With larval forms, they typically appear smaller before they go and
metamorphosis into their winged final forms. So, it is possible that this is
what we see here a similar kind of early surviving species of ancient insect or
possibly a descended variation that is slightly different from its ancestors.
There are not really any other possible
options for what was seen on the road in Mount Pleasant that night if the
account is accurate and authentic. The animals do not give off the impression
of slugs due to the way they are reported to move, and that is the only other
possible organism that would even match their description. Anything more
esoteric really would be pointless, seeing as these creatures really do not
give off any sort of vibe other than that they are biological creatures that
appear to be some sort of giant insect; just what exactly it could be is not
known.
As with most Cryptid encounters, we are left with more questions than answers. I am left wondering if there are any other sightings of these ostensibly outrageous creatures. From my research, there is none reported, but as with most cryptid accounts, there could, in fact, be countless reports that remain unreported either out of fear of ridicule or out of a lack of places to report their sightings. If there is an as of yet species of giant caterpillar or worm residing in Pennsylvania, it could be one of the most important finds in the field of entomology. They truly would-be record-breaking insects, yet if these are simply the larval stage, I shudder to think of what the final form could be.
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