Ed and Lorraine Warren vs Bigfoot

by Cole Herrold

Before I begin to tell this account, just let the title sink in. This is not some fan fiction born from the growing increase of interest and love of the pair of demonologists but an actual event that had occurred. The event known as Casefile: Bigfoot first was first written in the 1989 book Ghost Hunters by Robert David Chase. The book, which covered some of their most infamous cases, such as the Amityville Horror case, is not the kind of book one would expect a cryptozoological excursion to be included, but it is indeed to be the case. This case, however, is just as weird and just as strange as almost all of their other cases.

The account in their book begins with an introduction to the case by Lorraine Warren; she says, "We had never paid much attention to the stories about Bigfoot. I wouldn't say that we dismissed them as fictitious, but Bigfoot didn't hold much interest for psychic investigators. That changed one spring when we were lecturing in Tennessee, and a reporter from the Elk-Valley Times contacted us and told us about some hill people who kept insisting that something was threatening their children…”.

The Yellow What-Is-It

by Cole Herrold

In October of 1879, Berks County, Pennsylvania was home to one of the strangest creatures that have ever been reported. This creature which has no comparison to any known animal or hominid is something that has mystified all those who have come across it. Over the course of several days, several witnesses came forth to describe in vivid detail a creature that has gone unnoticed by a majority of paranormal researchers and cryptozoologists. The creature has been recorded only a few times in literature, making it one of the most obscure accounts in not just Pennsylvania history but Fortean history in general.

The Yellow-What-Is-It, as the creature has been called, was sighted in Ruscombmanor and Muhlenberg Townships which is nestled on the east side of Berks County. The Sightings of the creature were initially reported in The Indiana Progress on October 16th, 1879. The paper describes three eyewitnesses to the beast and in which two of the witnesses actually seeing the beast twice on the same day. The Yellow-What-Is-It was first brought to the world’s attention by the prison inspector’s son Schmehl and his friend Jared Rissmiller who was helping Schmehl in driving some cattle. While out driving the cattle in towards the property, they noticed near a particular gate a strange form bunkered down in the grass. Thinking maybe this was a stray cat, dog, or some other local resident animal, they were not too concerned with this creature as it would seem unlikely that something predatory would be napping in an area full of potential prey. Yet as the two came closer to the creature, they began to notice that it seemed off; it seemed weird and not like anything they knew to hang out around the area. The pair stopped right by the strange sleeper when as they looked, they could tell this was not anything they had ever seen in their countless years on the farm and woods.  The creature, apparently feeling the stare of the two men and thereby also realizing its discovery reared up, and it was at that moment the two cattle drivers saw the beast completely. The creature was about four feet tall with a dirty yellowish colored skin. Which the men felt was due to the creature rolling around in clay. The beast had long arms that jutted it out into hands with two fingers which sported long talon-like claws. The feet of the creature was large and flattened and had no toes. The creatures head was covered in what the men described as "furrows", yet the rest of the body was smooth. The men took note that the creature was naked, and some sources describe the creature as being male. This obviously implied the creature bore some kind of noticeable genitalia. Whether it bore a resemblance to a human's or another species is anyone's speculation.

Medford Flying Lizard Man

by Cole Herrold

Reptilian cryptids are a surprisingly common phenomena. They have been reported in almost every state from New Jersey to California, and most of their appearances are very uniform, implying they are one in the same species. However, as with all lifeforms, there are examples of diversity that seem to go far and beyond what the novice would consider to be relatability. Near the city of Medford, one of the most unique variations of this kind of cryptid was reported; the creature looked very much like the typical reptoid with one major difference it had on its back, a pair of large leathery wings.

It was in July of 1996 when one of the most bizarre reptilian reports would occur with one of the most reputable witnesses to come forward with their account. While the official name of the witnesses is not revealed, what is revealed is that the first sighting of what has become known as the Medford Lizard Man or the Highway 13 Reptile Man was seen by a warden for Wisconsin's Department for Natural Resources (DNS). His account adds a patina of extra intrigue due to his occupation. The warden was travelling south down Highway 13 late one night when his attention was drawn to a strange figure that appeared to be standing in the middle of the road. The warden stared at the dark form attempting to make out who and what the individual was doing. The warden came closer and closer to the figure, getting so close that he almost hit the bizarre form. In the glowing headlights, the warden realized to his horror that the figure was not a human as he had previously thought but instead a repulsive reptilian that loomed large over his car. The creature had shiny green scaly skin and was 6 to 7ft tall. The size itself would have been alarming enough, but unlike other bizarre creature accounts, the creature was not facing towards the woods but instead was staring right at the driver. This supernatural stare down gave the warden more details to the creature's form as the creature's humanoid form, while covered in scales, had human-like arms and legs with long claws on the hands and feet. The warden, still slowing down as he continued to make eye contact with the bizarre beast's would come to be even more surprised as the reptilian unfurled a large 10-12ft pair of wings and flew straight up over the warden's car. The warden reeling from his sighting had thought that this was the last he would have seen the creature, but as he looked in his rearview mirror, he saw the winged weirdo descend in an unnatural way and land behind the car, still staring at the warden as he sped off into the night.

La Crosse Man-Bat

by Cole Herrold

Flying cryptids are by far one of the most bizarre and interesting categories of unknown creatures. They are creatures that defy evolutionary logic and oft times seem to teeter on the verge of being full-blown paranormal entities. The most common variation of this is the thunderbirds, both the saurian and avian varieties, and they are often closely followed by giant bats in commonality, but the most unique and ever-growingly sighted variety is the flying humanoids. Flying humanoids is a lump term for any figure that bears the slightest resemblance to a human being. Some, like the Mothman or Owlman, are giant man-sized birds with human-like legs. Tech-savvy flying humanoids which venture more into the field of Ufology are also included in this lump group. Yet the most difficult to categorize is a category that includes creatures like the Butler County Gargoyle or the Nasa Gargoyle; these bat-winged monstrosities are just some of the slew of bizarre creatures reported throughout the world, and their features differ from one to the other. Yet with every encounter, each is surprisingly similar in some features, almost always that being the fact that the creatures are bipedal and having leathery bat-like wings. One of the hub stations for sightings of these creatures is the Midwest, with an extreme focus on Wisconsin, Michigan, and Illinois. Unsurprisingly one of the most frightening encounters with one of these creatures would occur on a backroad in Wisconsin during 2006 and since has gained some fame in recent years for being discussed rather erroneously on the MonsterQuest Mothman episode.

The winged weirdie known as the La Crosse Man-Bat, Beast of Briggs Road, Wisconsin Man-Bat, Holmen Man-Bat, and the Briggs Road Man-Bat was first reported on Tuesday, September 26^th, 2006, when a 53-year-old musician and Cherokee father Wohali or Awohali as it sometimes appears on some sources was being driven by his 25-year-old son. The pair were driving home on Briggs Road from their band practice around 9:15-9:30 pm. The pair noticed a strange, winged form near the road. The form soon seemed to move upwards from the ground, and there, is a moment of absolute horror, the two were plunged into an almost seamless recreation of an infamous scene in the Mothman Prophecies film. The creature picked up speed and was coming right at them. It was in this flight that Wohali would get the best view of this avian anomaly. "First thing I saw were the eyes and maybe the teeth", he would say in an interview on MonsterQuest. The eyes of the creature he would describe as being the size of road sign reflectors and were yellow whether this is naturally yellow or a glowing yellow is not elaborated on. The creature’s canine-like face was in a snarling expression with a wide mouth with rows of sharp teeth. The creatures head was also topped with large, pointed bat-like ears. The creature had a pair of leathery wings with a wingspan of about 10-14ft. The wingspan was so large that it covered half of the road. The wings were connected to the body, and extremely interesting, the arms and hands of this creature were fused to the wings. The hands-on the wings bore sharp claws. The creature was about 6-7ft tall, and its body was sparsely covered in gray/dark brown hair and had extremely pronounced ribs that jutted out. The creature's man like legs ended in feet with claw-like toes. Wohali would say the following about the creature: "It (had) distended ribs, long sort of human legs with claws, huge bat-like wings with 'arms' sort of attached, I remember the teeth and the scream we heard was terrifying. I've been living in this valley all my life and have seen some strange things, after all the Mississippi Upper Wildlife Refuge is the largest in the country and right out my back door. It hides lots of strange creatures. But I've NEVER seen anything like this. Rent the movie Bram Stoker, Dracula, the Dracula creature looks like it or better yet like the one in Van Helsing".The creature seemed hungry and angry. The pair were more terrified about the bizarre beast than the fact that more than likely, this creature and the two musicians would end up in a mechanical head on cryptid head-on collision. Yet this would not be the case; the creature, as it was windshield height slowed in midair and within mere seconds of the collision, the creature proceeded to flex its wings in a way that seemed unlike any other animal and shot straight up into the air and away from the vehicle. The creature left a reminder, however, as it unfurled a high-pitched scream. The pair continued to drive a short distance until a feeling of nausea overtook the two, which ultimately ended in the son pulling over and throwing up no less than seven times. Wohali as well got out of the vehicle, and he too tossed his cookies on the side of the road.