The Hampshire Cyclops

 The Hampshire Cyclops

By Cole Herrold

Cryptids and Aliens have appeared in all sorts of guises and descriptions. Oft times, these beings have features or elements similar to those of mythological and folkloric beings that raise the bar as to whether our ancestors' legends or descriptions of these creatures we take as fantasy could be potentially real encounters. The weirdest of these are those beings that not only seem to defy evolution but also seem to be a combination of multiple mythological creatures. One such encounter that seemed to be a cross between the Greek Cyclops and both the Acephali and Blemmyes these figures are beings that are humanoid in form but missing a head and feature facial features on the chest and stomach instead. The latter of these figures are reported in many early manuscripts and were extensively covered before and during the middle ages by such travelers as Pliny the Elder and Herodotus. These figures are almost nonexistent in the annals of modern Fortean studies; however, there are occasionally reports of such creatures or creatures of a similar description in modern times.

It was about 11:00 at night on February 21, 2004, and Emily Parkinson of Hampshire, England, was lying in bed waiting for her husband to come home. As she lay in wait comfortably wrapped in the warmth of the blanket, she noticed a bizarre bright white light that seemed to reflect in the mirror. Thinking that perhaps this was her husband coming home, she got up to go check at the nearby window. As she peered into the darkness, she did notice a bizarre figure standing in the yard, but as she looked closer, she could tell that the figure was far from human. As the figure turned, she could tell that it was about 6ft tall and looked very human-like but where there should have been a head was a smooth layer of flesh that stretched from the shoulder blades making the creature headless. The creature, however, was not devoid of features that one would find on the face, for as Emily looked the anomalous entity over, she noticed a large globular mass protruding from the region of the entity's stomach. This mass which she soon could tell was the creature's eye, was described as having several round black circles in it, each one smaller than the last, which gave it the appearance of some sort of Tim Burton-esque Christmas ornament. The creature seemed to notice that it was witnessed, and as the two stared back at each other, the strange eye-like organ began to create a kind of incredibly high pitch sound that she would claim seemed to penetrate her mind. Whether there was some type of communication or whether this was some sort of mind-reading is unknown, but Emily was certain that it had some sort of purpose. Emily was filled with terror by the strange nature and behavior of the creature and could not look away from the strange being as she watched; however, the entity began to slowly fade away, its flesh becoming more and more transparent before it finally disappeared. Leaving her once again alone on her property, she kept her story to herself for some time before she ultimately reported her sighting to the now-defunct site Iwasabducted.com.

This encounter is exceptionally bizarre as it features many elements that one would associate with an extraterrestrial or faerie encounter; however, there are elements of this case that are not classically associated with either phenomenon. The phenomenon of cyclops extraterrestrials are not uncommon; there have been several semi-famous reports of such beings over the years, such as the Belo Horizonte encounter where several orange-skinned cyclops aliens were reported, and a Cyclops species is included in MUFON’s The Extraterrestrial Species Almanac; however, these species are cyclops in the classical Greek sense of the word they have a single eye in a head even amongst other non-humanoid aliens who also are reported as having a single eye or mass that one would be considered an eye like in the Space Brains of Pelos Verdes case none exactly match the description of the entity seen in Hampshire and again even amongst the widely catalogued space parade almost all have some sort of head.

If this creature did not have the supernatural abilities of a potential mind scan and the ability to fade away, I would entertain the cryptid possibility even though it is less likely. There is a tradition of headless races described in folklore, such as the Acephali and Blemmyes as mentioned earlier; there also are countless creatures that are often reported headless such as the Grafton Monster of West Virginia, which was seemingly devoid of facial features but like the entity, in this case, did release a high pitched noise that was described as a whistling sound. Another headless creature was Mothman, who in the 66'-67' description did have a pair of bright red eyes seemingly placed in the chest region of the body, much like the creature here. Now the problem with this, of course, is that these creatures, except for possibly Mothman, do not have any direct supernatural connection as in the case of the Grafton Monster, there were no UFOs or anomalous lights seen in the area during the sighting and the creature did not have any of the mental or psionic abilities described in the Hampshire case nor did any witness during the flap of sightings report it disappearing in plain sight.

The fact that there was a bright light seen even though it was a form of reflection seems to once again indicate the extraterrestrial angle even though an exact species of this variety has never been reported, at least to my knowledge before. The bizarre behavior of this beast seems to indicate at some sort of sentience, and even the fading away or disappearing element is something that has been reported over the years in other extraterrestrial cases. If one looks at the incredible vastness of the universe, it is not out of the realm of possibilities that some organism could have evolved in this manner on another planet, and so from this, it is one of the most likely, if not the main explanation to this creature.

While the extraterrestrial possibility is more likely the best option for identifying the origin of the being, however, it is not the only one. The other possibility that could explain this creature is the faerie option. Faeries are often associated with bright lights, the ability to fade away or disappear, and anomalous sounds that cause some sort of deliriousness or trance-like state, all of which we see in this case. One-eyed faeries are also rather common in lore and in antediluvian encounters; however, while there is a lot of things similar with the fae in this encounter, there is nothing at least that I'm aware of that matches this being that comes from the Other World or Faerie Land. There is, of course, the possibility that this is some undiscovered or uncatalogued species, but the fact that there are how many thousands of years of recorded encounters and nothing exactly matching makes this hypothesis unlikely.

Of course, as with just about every Fortean case, there is also the chance of this entity being an interdimensional or Ultraterrestrial as both possibilities are plausible in this case. The fact that this entity appeared and disappeared is something we would associate with both these types of beings; if this creature was from another dimension, it, much like an extraterrestrial, would have countless evolutionary possibilities. The fact that there was a definite response of fear from the form the creature was described as would also add to the possibility that this being could have been intentional if it was an Ultraterrestrial for the sole purpose of feeding off fear or some other emotion or even chemical response.

Just what this entity is, we can only speculate; however, this case is incredibly interesting, and I really wish there were further sightings or more information on this being. It's cases like this that make you scratch your head and go, "what the hell" it just doesn't exactly match anything in the classic Fortean literature. There are elements of the fae, cryptids, and extraterrestrials in this case, and yet none are exactly the same as one particular category. This case is just one of those completely bizarre cases that will never be explained and one that more than likely will never be reported again.

Quick Facts:

Species/Potential Species: Extraterrestrial species, Faerie

Location: Hampshire, England

Sighted: February 21, 2004

Works Cited:

The Inhumanoids By Barton M. Nunnelly

Soul-Drifter “UFOnauts: The Strange Ones." Alien Hub. February 28, 2010. https://www.alienhub.com/threads/ufonauts-the-strange-ones.22913/page-30. Accessed January 29, 2022.