The Illuminous Being of Westmoreland County
By Cole Herrold
When it comes to Fortean studies, there
are some researchers who almost always seem to have countless cases of entities
that defy the realms of traditional Ufology, Cryptozoology, or ghost investigation.
One such researcher is Stan Gordon, who has personally been investigating the
countless mysteries of the Keystone State for over 60 years. He has authored
three books, all of which are incredible and must-haves for any Fortean
library, appeared on countless documentaries and television programs involving
the unknown, and operates a fascinating website that includes up-to-date
encounters and Fortean news that has some of the most bizarre encounters ever
reported. Upon perusing through the site, I came across a bizarre entity that
seems to of been pulled out of Clive Barker's novella The Hellbound Heart
as the being seemed to of been a mirror image to the enigmatic entity Barker
would call the Engineer.
In late August 2017, an unnamed Police Officer
was driving down a dark, secluded road one night in the Southwestern region of
Westmoreland County. The dark woods were pitch black, and the officer could
barely make out anything distinguishable on the path. As the officer continued
to drive down the road, he noticed a bizarre glow on the ground in the road.
The glowing light was a dull white color about 8-10 inches diameter, and he was
rather confused by this because he had driven down this road several times and
remembered that there should be nothing along this stretch of road that would
glow or give off some artificial illumination. As his car approached the
object, he could tell that whatever this object was, it was noticeably round,
almost ball-like in shape, and upon getting within 50 yards of the object, he
saw one of the most bizarre things ever reported. He watched as the ball slowly
began to lift up off the ground and noticed that as the ball did this, that it
was seemingly attached to some other shape or form. The officer watched and
could now see that the glowing orb was actually the head of a bizarre creature
that stood about 6ft or potentially larger in height. Even with the creature's
illuminated head, he was unable to make out further details of the body except
that the creature's body, aside from being tall, was skeletal thin and bore two
incredibly long yet emaciated arms that seemed to have no muscle. The creature
had a noticeable yet small waist as well as a chest that was about 18"
across, and while he was unable to see or notice hands, legs, or feet in the
darkness, it did appear to have such features. The creature's skin tone, from
what he could see, was a dull grayish blue that was only noticeable due to the
glowing of the being's head. The being who the officer now realized was
sleeping or resting on the ground seemed to notice him as the creature
proceeded to turn towards his direction and face him; the creature did this
very briefly before turning towards the other way as if checking to see if
there was any other traffic and then began to run in that direction it now
faced. The officer stared in utter disbelief as the being seemed to have an
unnaturally fast speed; as the creature moved, the officer could see that the
creature's arms were swinging as it moved, and he would describe the whole
scenario thusly “It was the weirdest thing I have ever seen…It was faster than
anything I have ever seen. It was there, then it was gone.” He watched the
bioluminescent creature for some time until it eventually disappeared into the
night; this whole experience lasted around 10 seconds. After the creature was
gone, the officer proceeded to move his car to the spot and searched the area
for some evidence of the being by the light of his vehicle spotlight; however,
he saw nothing indicative. The officer, a short time after his sighting, would
later draw a sketch of the creature and tell the encounter to Stan Gordon. Gordon
would write about the report on his UFO Anomalies Zone website.
Around a month later, a similar creature
was reported around the same area. This second sighting which happened around
Mid-September and was reported by a witness who saw the creature near the woods
by his house. The creature was described very much the same as it had the
glowing sphere-shaped skull and was sickly in form and about 6ft tall. The
creature's skin, however, was noticeably different as it was an Ivory-colored
being. The witness watched the creature for some time until it began to exit
the woods and wander onto his property; realizing that this luminous lurker was
now much closer than he cared to have contact with began to run into his home
and lock the doors. Upon returning to look outside, however, the creature was
noticeably gone. With this encounter, it ends the recorded account of the
Illuminous Being of Westmoreland County.
For those familiar with the 1987 film Hellraiser,
which was based on Barker's novella and also directed by him, some may wonder
why I would compare the creature reported in 2017 to the being which in the
film was a bizarre fleshy abomination that moved by holding onto walls and
walking upside down. However, those familiar with the book will clearly see the
similarities the Engineer who in Barker’s novel was the leader of the Cenobites
and in the novel was a bizarre being who was humanoid in form but whose head
was a bizarre white-colored glowing or fiery light, and after Kirsty had given
Frank to the Cenobites, the entity gave her the infamous Lament Configuration.
This depiction which is quite different from the film, is eerily similar to the
entity reported, and upon attempting to find anything closely similar in both
Fortean literature and literature of Folklore, Mythology, and Legends, I've
been unable to find anything even noteworthily similar except for the skeletal
frame of the creature, which is seen in countless paranormal entities, yet none
have the most important feature which is the glowing orblike head.
While there's nothing similar in the
annals of Fortean studies to this being, where are we to go with this report?
Skeptically speaking, one could point to the novel as being the inspiration for
a hoax perpetrated by the author if he happens to be both a horror fan and avid
reader, yet if one were to perpetrate a hoax from such source material, why
would you pick the most esoteric enigmatic entity of the bunch and not one of the
more classical depictions such as Pinhead, Chatterer, or any of the other
countless cenobites featured on screen or in the novels or comics. Also, the
fact that there was a sighting of a similar creature sometime later also adds
another layer since the fact that you now have two witnesses describing almost
exactly the same entity in a short duration of time at different spots implies
one of three possibilities either the second witness read Stan Gordon’s initial
report on the being and then continued to perpetrate a hoax, That the witness
was also basing the sighting on Clive Barker’s novel and that the witness as
well chose the Engineer as the basis, or thirdly and seemingly where I stand
they both saw a very viable phenomenon.
While the skeptical aspect really doesn't
seem to hold water with this case finding a simple Fortean category to place
this creature in is just as difficult. It's safe to say that it is not a
cryptid as there's nothing in nature that we are aware of that has a seemingly
featureless glowing head. Now, however, to play devil's advocate, perhaps this
entity might be a cryptid perhaps the glowing ball which the officer assumed
was a head might be instead some false feature akin to a lantern fish's light
or some sort of Aposematism or mimicry that serves some as yet unknown purpose.
Perhaps if this is the case, the creature has some other feature hidden in the
torso region that could be more like something we would recognize as
traditional biology. Yet, of course, this is all speculation. I will say in
addition to this if this is a biological cryptid, the implications of it to
other Fortean phenomena that have been reported like spook lights and other
anomalous lights in the woods could actually be these creatures and that the
rest of their forms are hidden in darkness again however this is all
speculation.
The next possibility is that the being
could be an extraterrestrial of some kind. There are countless cases of glowing
entities associated with UFOs, several of which have been reported in
Pennsylvania, so perhaps this entity is just another example of this. Also, the
possibility exists that if this is an extraterrestrial, then it would have
countless chances to have all sorts of evolutionary possibilities that could
result in the entity witnessed. The only problem with this hypothesis, however,
is that the being was not seen in conjunction with a UFO. There are tons of UFO
sightings in Westmoreland County, and it is one of the highest areas in regard
to such sightings in the state. Yet during this set of sightings, there was not
a sighting of a craft in the area, and if there was, it certainly would have
been mentioned in the reports by Stan Gordon.
The next possibility would have to be an
interdimensional or Ultraterrestrial entity if it is from some alternative
dimension once again; much like the ET hypothesis, it has countless
evolutionary possibilities, and also it could have access to our world or
dimension without the aid of a craft. To me, this is perhaps the most plausible
answer to this being simply based on the information reported. The
Ultraterrestrial possibility is another theory that we cannot take off the
table even though the being, in this case, seemingly did not have the effect
that I traditionally associated with such an encounter with these creatures as
their whole goal is to feed on our emotions most specifically our fear. The
short spurt of the sightings also does not seem to be as long as a sighting
with an Ultraterrestrial should be as if these creatures feed off our emotions
the brief 10 seconds does not seem to be an adequate time to even get a decent
snack, let alone a stomach-filling meal of terror. However, once again, one
cannot take this possibility off the table.
With beings such as this, they exist in their
own category, which should be called the "Inexplicables" they are
bizarre beings that seem to just pop into our world and disappear back from
whence they came. This being, as with most of these beings, does not have a
simple answer and, compared to all other Fortean categories, does not seem to
fit in the already teeming files of Cryptids and Aliens and seems to be
evidence of the veracity of some of those other categories that are often
looked down upon such as Interdimensional beings, Faeries, Demons, or Ultraterrestrials
or perhaps this being is an example of something we have no term for yet. I
think about this possibility often and am both fascinated and frustrated by the
possibility, yet I can only speculate as to just what this being is.
Quick Facts:
Species/Potential Species: Extraterrestrial,
Interdimensional, or some other paranormal entity.
Location: Westmoreland County,
Pennsylvania
Sighted: Late August and Mid-September
2017
Works Cited:
Gordon, Stan “Mysterious UFOs, Bigfoot and
Cryptid Encounters Reported Across Pennsylvania in 2017”. Stan Gordon’s UFO
Anomalies Zone. January 15, 2018. https://www.stangordon.info/wp/2018/01/15/mysterious-ufos-bigfoot-and-cryptid-encounters-reported-across-pennsylvania-in-2017/.
Accessed January 29, 2022.
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