London Flood Troll

 London Flood Troll

By Cole Herrold

In February of 2014, London was starting to prepare itself for the oncoming deluge from Storm Ruth. During this time, the city was hit with a massive onslaught of rainclouds that, on several occasions, seemed to overtake the city. On one of these days, the rain hit hard and resulted in excessive flooding in London as well as the rest of the Southern portion of the country. During this time, many people were active in preparing not to be dislocated during the storm. Apparently, all were not so lucky as a 25-year-old student would find as the storm seemed to of not only affected the people in the area but at least one Fortean beast that had made itself seen during the deluge.

An unnamed 25-year-old student was visiting his parents in a rural area and assumedly was helping in any way to stop any damage to his parent's property or simply to make sure that they were safe and prepared for the incoming storm. He had initially planned to stay with them for a little bit but realizing the possibility of the trains to London being stopped due to the weather decided against it and upon finishing his visit with his parents. Proceeded to head towards the train station to book a train to get back to his home in London. This trip home was a long one, and during the ride, he proceeded to fall asleep several times; and on one occasion of waking from deep sleep, he happened to look out the window and had an almost Twilight Zone-esque surprise that would shock him for the rest of his life. It was getting dark out, and as he began to gather his bearings from waking up once more from a restful nap, he, upon looking out the window to his left, saw a strange dark figure running next to the train at a rather close distance. He at first thought that this figure was a person, but as he stared at the strange runner in the flooded landscape that the train slowly trudged through, he soon realized that this was not the case. As the figure came exceptionally close to the train, he was able to note that the being was an astounding 9-10ft tall and that it was running in a strange erratic fashion, not like how a person normally would. He also noted that the figure was exceedingly large and notably "fat" in form, and the man noticed that the water from the flood barely touched the being’s knees. This, however, was not the strangest part of the creature's appearance; as the man peered closer at the figure, he could see that the creature bore no clothes but was covered in long shaggy hair all over its body with the exception of its face and chest. As he stared at the figure's head, he noted that its eyes reminded him of a gorillas, but this would be the end of any similarity to a primate as the creature also bore two short white horns and had large and long wolf ears. As he stared at this anomalous apparition, he had wondered whether he actually was awake and whether this whole scenario was not some dream within a dream. Yet as he looked over to his fellow passengers, he noted that others had seemingly noted the strange being yet were hesitant to openly draw attention to the being running alongside the train. Even if those who did see the creature spoke up, however, it would be for naught as there was barely anyone on the train, and so it was a secret they all must share.

The 25-year-old witness would, during the event, talk to two other witnesses who were in the same car, a young boy and his mother, but just what they discussed went unreported. As they sat, however, the train started to speed up, and they could tell that this new acceleration was too fast for the creature to keep up with, and so he watched as the creature was left behind to waddle in the flooded mire. When asked about his encounter further and asked why there were no photos, the witness said the following “No, I wasn’t dreaming, mate. I also know what a bear looks like, and it looked more like a troll. Remember, from the Lord of the Rings?...” Well mate, I was quite surprised, like I said. You just don’t have got any time to reach your phone and take a picture. Things happen fast, that’s what people don’t get. So, unless you are a trained journalist or similar…and you are expecting something to happen, you’ve got nothing,… “Friends and other people say it’s rubbish, but I know what I saw,”.

As far as this case goes, this is all we have. None of the others on the train seemed to of come forward with their sighting. There were no photos or any other follow up outside of the initial report, which the anonymous witness had that was later uploaded onto Cryptozoology News. Yet the encounter at least has enough information for us to attempt to break down his sighting. Obviously, starting off skeptically, it could be possible that this was some internet hoax. This is fairly common with creature reports of all kinds, and we see more of this now arguably than ever before. Another reason one might point to the hoax angle is even the description of the creature. The witness said that the creature reminded him of a troll and that it specifically would be reminiscent of one from the Lord of the Rings. Now clearly, as a Tolkien fan, I would at first venture and say that this depiction makes no sense as being compared to trolls or any of really the other creatures in Tolkien's World. The Trolls in the book are more or less giant humanoid creatures that, much like the folklore they’re based on, turn to stone when in contact with sunlight. Other than that, there's not much of an official description, yet early artwork in Tolkien books tends to show them as giant human-like creatures with sharp facial features. In the Peter Jackson films, trolls are hairless, colossal, and have unique, almost pug-like faces. This is very different from the gorilla-furred horned creature reported, and while this could lend credence to an actual sighting, I offer this other option the witness might have gotten the wrong Tolkien creature to describe it as. In the animated sequel to both Rankin Bass's The Hobbit and Ralph Bakshi’s Lord of the Rings, Rankin Bass once more returned to the helm and directed The Return of the King. In this animated classic, as well as the original Rankin Bass Hobbit, even though the presence of them is not as prevalent in that one, there are creatures that bear a strong resemblance to the creature seen by the witness; these are the Orcs and Goblins. In the film, they had large bulky gorilla-like forms, they were incredibly fast, they had no hair on their faces with some exception on the top and sides of their heads, and also they had large protruding horns. The only major difference between these creatures and the troll reported in this case is the excessive amount of hair reported, which could have been an extra detail placed to remove the overall fantasy appearance of the creature that it could have been based on.

Top image Orcs From the 1980 Rankin Bass Return of the King

Bottom Image Goblins From the 1977 Rankin Bass The Hobbit

Now while I've really gotten into how this case is possibly a hoax inspired by the classic film adaptations of Tolkien’s work, there is always the chance that what was actually reported in the account did occur. If this is to be the case and not the ramblings of an animated Tolkien fan, then what are we to make of this account. My first thought would be that this creature would be a cryptid as the timing of the sighting and the storm would seem to indicate that this creature might have been displaced by the storm or that the overall storm would increase the creature's activity as it searches for food. Horned sasquatch-type creatures, which would be the closest type of creature that would match the entity reported, do occur, yet oftentimes they are lumped in or misinterpreted as other cryptids. One of the most famous horned cryptids I covered, which gets lumped into the bigfoot category, for example, is the Wood Eating Amish Country Goose Grabber, which is more of a horned Were-lion as opposed to a bigfoot. Yet let's say for argument sake that Sasquatch can get the same or a similar disease as the Shope papilloma virus (SPV). This disease creates growths that one could compare to as horns and is primarily found in certain types of rabbits, and is most likely the inspiration for the lore of Jackalopes. Now we do know that Bigfoot-type creatures are reported in England; there have been several interesting cases and findings primarily in the area of Cannock Chase, so perhaps if SPV is applicable to other species in the same way that Rabies is, then its possible that reports of Goatmen and other horned humanoid cryptids could be examples of bigfoot with SPV. Yet, of course, this is also speculation.

Another possibility in the Cryptid department is that this could be an example of a Goatman with mange or old age. Now Goatmen are a highly debated cryptid, and the phenomena, in general, sits at the tri corners of both the cryptid, Faerie, and Demon categories as there are reports that are reminiscent of each different category. Now when one looks at how a witness describes any phenomenon, it is always important to remember that the witness is putting their encounter together in their words the best way they can, and that does not always mean that what they are describing is 100% accurate hence why we have some issues with descriptions with even famous cases like the Flatwoods Monster where multiple witnesses described the creature as mechanical whereas others felt it was a completely flesh and blood being. So perhaps, in this case, the witness humanized the creature more than it actually was, or perhaps the creature was seemingly more primate-like or human-like, but that this was caused by a disease like mange. This could explain the ultimate lack of hair on the face or chest and the bizarre behavior of chasing a train. Now granted, if that's the case, then this would be the first case, at least to my knowledge, of a Goatman with mange as unlike Sasquatch, where we do have reports with mange, there has never been a Goatman one, so if that's accurate, this is a revolutionary report in the annals of Goatman research.

Now other options for this creature are seemingly lessened as opposed to other cases as this does appear to be a very physical creature, at least from the description. If this is the case, one could always entertain extraterrestrial, but this case does not have a UFO, or any other element that one could point to that would indicate that this entity comes from off-world. There is no history, at least to my current knowledge, of this entity or a similar one being reported with UFO or alien cases, so it's safe to say it does not match that category. I would argue the same for some sort of paranormal entity in the way of a demon or ghost; the fact that this being seemed physical and that it interacted with its environment in a very tangible way does not seem to imply something supernatural in the way that we associate ghosts or spirits with.

With that said, though, there are some other options; the first and, to me, most important is the Faerie category. Now I’ve covered the Fae extensively in other articles, and they are something that constantly keeps coming up with these stranger cases hence why I feel its an option we as researchers need to focus more on but let's say that the witness was not using the word troll as semantics but that the witness either had some insight or knowledge that what he was seeing was from beyond the hidden veil. Now I've covered countless Troll cases from all over the world, and I will say this entity has many features reported in other troll cases, but the horns are new. Trolls typically are described as humanoids of varying sizes and shapes, and they are excessively hairy and are connected to people of a certain pagan origin or the landscapes they are connected with. They have many abilities that involve growth, weather-controlling, disappearing, and that is simply from what has been reported over the years with other cases. Now, as stated, I’ve over the years only found one official case of a Troll with horns, and that involved, interestingly enough, another case where the creature was seen in water, this time in America. So perhaps River or water trolls have this feature; yet again, I will say I have never come across any reference to this outside of modern artwork of Trolls from individuals like Brian Froud or other artists.

Another possibility is that this creature could be from another dimension, Ultraterrestrial or tulpa, as they are sort of the answers which function as the ultimate answer for how any phenomenon could occur. Now, needless to say, there are problems with all of these topics, especially since they are also the most difficult to gather evidence or data of. Also, of them all, the only one that would make sense would be an interdimensional being since on another world or plane of existence, there are countless evolutionary possibilities that are out there, and therefore, it is almost impossible to claim that at least in one of these worlds that one did not create a creature like this. If this is an Ultraterrestrial, it really did not seem to do what the traditional Ultraterrestrial is known for, as the entity did not exactly attempt to generate fear in a more aggressive manner or attempt to confuse or make the witness out to be ridiculous in some insane scenario as how some felt Woodrow Derenberger was made out to in his encounters with Indrid Cold. It just seems that this encounter is purely random and bears no true significance, and that, of course, would be if this entity is an Ultraterrestrial.

This case is interesting on multiple levels, both in not only the analysis of witness testimony but also in general data regarding other Fortean phenomena. Just what this entity is and whether this is a true case or not is obviously debatable. I tend to lean more towards the skeptical on this case simply due to just how the creature was described and the mention and focus of Tolkien in the original testimony, yet that does not obviously mean it's a hoax by any means. The world we live in is stranger than fiction, and so it's very possible that this witness had access to a once-in-a-lifetime experience with the unknown yet just what that being might have been is truly anyone’s speculation.

Quick Facts:

Species/Potential Species: Mammal. Faerie, Paranormal Entity

Location: Outside London, England

Sighted: February 2014

Works Cited:

Humanoid Encounters 2010-2015 By Albert S. Rosales

“British student comes forward with close-range account of troll-like creature chasing train” Altered Dimension. February 12, 2014. https://www.altereddimensions.net/2014/british-student-reports-troll-creature-chasing-train. Accessed March 22, 2022.

"The Troll of London" UFOlogy and More. April 7, 2014. https://ufohotspot.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-troll-of-london.html. Accessed May 24, 2022.

"Troll Runs After Train in Flooded London" Before Its News. February 13, 2014. https://beforeitsnews.com/paranormal/2014/02/troll-runs-after-train-in-flooded-england-2464210.html. Accessed May 24, 2022.

“Troll Runs Train Flooded England” Cryptozoology News. February 2014. http://cryptozoologynews.com/troll-runs-train-flooded-england/. Accessed March 22, 2022.

“Strange creatures that people report seeing.”. MissionQuest. February 12, 2014. https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/missionquestfpb/strange-creatures-that-people-report-seeing-t1176-s220.html. Accessed March 22, 2022. 

The Vegetable Man

 The Vegetable Man

By Cole Herrold

Some cases are classics, and then there are cases that, even though they are rarely mentioned by the Fortean community, are destined to be such. The case of the Vegetable Man is one such case. As the years grew, more and more became aware of this bizarre, monstrous mutant freak flora. It has gained both love and jeers from those who have heard the encounter and, interestingly enough, may be interconnected with a wider phenomenon reported cross-culturally and not just in the hills and hollows of West Virginia.

It was a warm summer day during Mid-July 1968 when Jennings Frederick had begun to traverse through the woods near Rivesville and Fairmont in West Virginia near his father's property. His intent of being in the woods on this particular day was to hunt woodchucks with his bow and arrow. After almost a full day of searching for the game of his choice, he had decided to return back home before nightfall. As he was traveling back the path, his thoughts were troubled, and so he proceeded to stop under a set of Red Maple trees to adjust his 45lbs bow before moving on, but his deep contemplation would soon be broken by a bizarre sound. The sound he heard to him sounded strange; it was not an animal call or something he was familiar with, and the closest he could explain as to what it sounded like was akin to a record played at an extremely fast speed. This sound caught his attention, and as he listened, he soon was able to decipher that this was some sort of words or communication which seemed to say, " You need not fear me. I wish to communicate. I come as a friend. We know of you all. I come in peace. I wish medical assistance. I need your help!" Jennings proceeded to reach down into his pocket for a handkerchief because during this whole excursion, he had become rather sweaty, and as he reached down, he suddenly felt a sharp pain on his hand, and as he looked over to see if his hand had been caught in a brier brush, he saw that there was a strange green form grabbing onto him by the wrist. Following the green form up, he noticed that this was not a typical brier brush but instead a colossal creature that defied explanation.

There standing exceptionally close to him, was a 7ft tall creature bright green in color with features that were eerily human in its face. The most noticeable feature of this creature's face, however, was its bright, piercing yellow eyes and its long ears. As he scanned the creature's body, he noticed it was carrot-shaped but was green, almost like a plant stalk. The body had noticeable shoulders and arms, but these arms were only about as thick as a quarter. The arm's eerie thinness was not the most disturbing feature of this portion of the body; however for, the creature's hands stretched down into three incredibly long fingers with 7" needle-like protrusions that were enveloped by a kind of suction cup. It was the right arm of this peculiar creature that had encapsulated his arm, and as he watched, the creature seemed to grip even tighter, and he noticed that through this, the creature punctured one of his blood vessels. As the creature continued to do this, he could hear a sound almost akin to sucking that instantly told him that this creature was draining his blood. Pain from this motion shot up his arm, and as he continued to stare at the creature, a peculiar thing began to occur; the creature's yellow eyes suddenly began to swirl with red creating almost a spiral type effect and where the two colors would meet in the center orange circles appeared. This sudden change in eye color and motion had a hypnotizing effect on Jennings, and he soon realized that he no longer felt any pain from the creature's grasp as it did this. As the creature did this, it once more released its message that Jennings had heard before, but he was unsure if the creature was communicating telepathically or whether the creature was speaking it audibly. This otherworldly transfusion lasted at least to Frederick's for only a minute, but the drainage could very well have lasted much longer. After the creature seemed to have its fill, it suddenly released him extremely quickly, and the creature then, at incredible speeds, began to jump away and sprint up a hill in jumps or leaps that were 25ft in each leap. Jennings was able to estimate the height of these jumps after he watched the creature clear a 5ft tall fence with still 3 ft to spare.

Sketch of the Vegetable Man which appeared in Time Life's UFO Phenomenon

Once it reached the hilltop, it ultimately disappeared, and as he stared in the direction of where the creature left, the pain in his arm suddenly returned, and as he stood there holding his arm in pain, he then heard a high humming and whistling sound which he instantly felt was the creature's UFO coming back to pick it back up. Jennings, after no longer hearing the sound, began to work his way home and, after washing his wound and bandaging it, decided to not speak a word about his encounter or go to a doctor for fear that no one would believe him. Yet as time went on, he began to develop a friendship with Gray Barker and told the tale to him, but this would not be Jennings' last brush with the unknown. Sometime before or after this event, Jennings' mother would encounter a strange entity that was seen around the house.

Image of the Vegetable Man encounter from Gray Barker's Newsletter

While Jennings was still in school, his mother would have a bizarre encounter with a tethered entity from a UFO. This she experienced after she had dropped her husband off at work, and as she was washing the breakfast dishes, she glanced out of the family's window and noted what she at first believed to of been a child playing in the field on the hillside by their house. Her motherly instinct kicked in because she was concerned the child might go and touch the nearby electric fence on their property, and so she began to head out onto her porch to warn the child. Once she got onto her porch, however, she noticed that what she initially thought was a child was not a child but a strange creature that was small and black or dark green in color. The creature bore the appearance of almost a little devil to her as it had long pointed ears and a tail, but she was unable to see a face on the creature. The strange entity as she watched was as she watched grabbing clumps of dirt from the hill and shoving the clods into a bag in its hand, and as she looked over, she noticed that beyond the creature nestled in the grass was a large cream and silver-colored craft on the ground. The object was about 10ft in diameter and about 5ft tall and had several windows under the dome of the craft. The creature was seemingly connected to the craft by some sort of cable or wire, and the object seemed to rotate in a clockwise motion and seemed to release a humming sound. Mrs. Fredericks was deeply disturbed by this apparition and the potential satanic origins that she rushed back inside and jumped into bed, covering herself up and hoping for the entity and its craft to disappear. She waited for some time until finally gathering enough courage to peek out of the cover and out the window upon which she just caught sight of the craft leaving and noted that the object made an even louder humming sound before it finally departed. Mrs. Frederick told no one about what she had seen until Jennings came home from school because Jennings had either before his encounter with the Vegetable Man or afterward suddenly developed a keen interest in UFOs and had an idea of just what to look for.

Jennings, upon coming home and hearing his mother's account, proceeded to go out onto the hill and investigate upon which he found a depression on the ground and, based on the impression and soil consistency, was able to estimate that the craft weighed a ton. As he searched the area, he also found claw-like tracks from which he was able to gauge that the creature weighed some 45lbs. As Jennings observed the area, he also found hair samples that he managed to collect as well as managed to make plaster of Paris casts of the creature's tracks. He proceeded to send all of this evidence to an unspecified sect of the air force, which, upon analyzing the data, claimed that it came from a weather balloon, and they never proceeded in returning the samples he sent to them.

Sometime later, Jennings would later join the air force, and after his discharge, he was living with his parents once more in their family home where his previous encounters had occurred. One morning sometime between one and four in the morning, he was awakened by a bright flash of red light. Jennings, instinctively and certainly concerned after his previous excursions with the unknown, withdrew his .38 service revolver that he kept under his pillow and left his room to investigate the strange illumination. At first, he believed the source may have been caused by the gas furnace. Yet suddenly, a small canister about the size of an apple dropped to the ground and began to bounce around the living room floor. Suddenly as he was watching this strange device, he felt a hand grab him as well as the prick of a needle in his left arm. Afterward, he was confronted by three bizarre men wearing black ski masks, turtleneck sweaters, and slacks. Upon which they began to talk amongst themselves, saying, "the dogs have been darted, and everybody gassed!" "what about this one?" "he's going out soon- he's half asleep" "don't worry about the needle; it'll make his arm sore for a day or two, that's all." Just as the canister was about to reach Jennings, the strange men proceeded to put on gas masks, and the last thing Jennings remembered was that one of the men put the jumping canister into his pocket. The men then began to put something over Jennings' head and began to ask him about UFOs and exactly what they were. The men also asked what time it was and also what he had thought of the future, but after that point, Jennings remembered nothing and was sure he had passed out. Jennings remembered nothing and slept soundly until the next morning and no one else the following morning seemed to remember or comment on anything strange.

Thus ends the strange tale of Jennings Frederick, which is more or less what this tale is about. Now breaking down this case, I'm only going to focus on the Vegetable Man portion of his encounters since that is arguably the most important and easiest to break down. Now going fully skeptical, there is a lot to point out. First up would be the source, and that is that this case is given to us by Gray Barker. Now Gray Barker was a hoaxster, and there's no denying that even though he has covered other seemingly legitimate phenomena like the Flatwoods Monster, Mothman, or Grafton Monster and, in part, the Men in Black but still one must recognize that as with all of his writings one needs to take it a grain of salt. Especially with a case like this, since there's no peer review of the case as in the others, it's literally just his account, so we have to either assume he's being honest or fabricating a tale.

Now upon initial reading of this tale, there are a lot of similarities to films that would have been easily accessible to Barker, and if we go, Jennings fabricating the tale access to. The most recognizable is Howard Hawkes the Thing From Another World. While most are familiar with the John Carpenter reboot, the original based on the short story "Who Goes There?" is still a classic and important in regard to this case. In the film, the extraterrestrial being who goes on a murderous rampage in the frozen environment that serves as the setting of the film is a tall humanoid shape with strange knuckle protrusions akin to thorns or claws. Yet as the film discusses the morphology of the entity, it is revealed that the alien is, in fact, a kind of humanoid plant that feeds, and this is the most important part of blood. There's a scene where the creature kills several of the outposts dogs and hangs the bleeding carcasses over the plants in the greenhouse to essentially feed them all off-screen, of course. The features on the creature's hands (granted, they’re on the wrong section) and the creature's need for blood and vegetable connection are very similar to the Vegetable Man. Add this to the films of Dracula and even the 60s Batman, namely with the villain the Mad Hatter, where hypnotism is utilized through the eyes to stop a person from feeling or being easily manipulated, and it would be so easy for someone to be influenced by these films and shows to create a false story that seems believable. Now it must be said that while this is very likely, the creature's overall description does not exactly match anything, at least that I'm aware of, that would match the description of the creature given, especially with such specific lengths and measurements as a quarter thick arms or 7” long fingers.

Now with that said, perhaps this creature is a cryptid. Clearly, there's nothing in the known botanical or zoological categories that would match, but there are a few different possibilities that I think need mentioned. The first is that perhaps this creature is a highly evolved version of insectivorous plants. These species of plants like the Venus Flytraps, the Sundews, Cobra Lilys, etc., developed this need to consume other organisms as a way of getting their mandatory need of nitrogen to survive in the environments that they reside in. These species are extremely fascinating, and perhaps over some million years of evolution, one became more mobile, no longer needing the nutrients of the ground as much, and, in turn, crossed the line into a species almost akin to an animal. Now granted, this is pure speculation, but there have been other cryptids reported of the plant variety that are similar; the Ya-Te-Veo, for example, is an alleged south American tree sort of like a short tendrilled tree that does attempt to capture humans, a similar type of tree is also reported to exist in Madagascar. Now obviously, there's a big issue with this; for one thing, neither the Ya-Te-Veo nor the Madagascar equivalent, which seem to be megafloral versions of insectivorous plants, have been found, and again, the lore of these plants is that they grow in the ground and do not move in a sentient way like the Vegetable Man.

Now while this creature might not be a plant, it may be an animal. We know in nature that there are insects that mimic plants, there are beetles that look like leaves, there are stick insects, and so on. So perhaps the creature that was seen was some sort of colossal equivalent of such a creature. In nature, animals always find unique ways to camouflage themselves or find ways to better their chance of survival, such as through Batesian Mimicry. A creature that could essentially blend in so well with its environment that it would appear part of the natural flora would be perfect for catching any number of prey as well as remaining elusive for countless years. Now, of course, the problem with this is that this creature, if real is far more advanced than an insect, and its abilities and features are, in fact, more plant-like than animal, so it simply could not be a traditional animal as far as we know it or even from a speculative standpoint unless its that this creature is something altogether new from everything we currently know that somehow managed to evolve.

It is also important to note in regard to a potential undiscovered species of plant-like humanoid in West Virginia that this is not the only report. I had written about a case that appeared in Monsters and Ghosts of West Virginia by one of the authors who, while working in his/her garden, encountered a strange stalk-like entity with yellow eyes that was lurking in a field of sunflowers. The author watched the anomalous two-fingered green entity run through the flowers before ultimately disappearing in the surrounding woodlands before ultimately disappearing. The author instantly compared his/her sighting to Jennings Frederick's, and perhaps this entity might be a juvenile or male/female version of the species since it did not have the same number of digits or the long ears as reported by Fredericks. Or perhaps this is something altogether different and a part of a wider belief of moving plants reported from most countries.

Now the next possible option to this is the same assumption that Gray Barker and Jennings Fredericks came up with, and that's that this creature was, in fact, an extraterrestrial. Now a lot of the interactions one could compare with that of an ETS. Aliens seem intent on causing pain, and then once they realize that they are doing so, the witnesses stare helplessly into the eyes of the beings, and in doing so, the pain goes away. Another thing is the possible telepathic interaction between Jennings and the creature, as such interactions are common in extraterrestrial lore. The strange sounds described two of a high pitched record, and whistling is also something frequently described in UFO reports. Now the thing about this that seems to not point to such a possibility is that there is no UFO reported. There's plenty of noise associated with UFOs, but no craft reported, and whistling sounds are very ambiguous; they're seen in hauntings and in cryptid accounts as well as from people, so perhaps such sounds are totally unrelated. Plus, in alien cases, encounters that involve transfusions are not done in the wilds but again on a craft unless this entity was actually in some dire distress, as his message stated. Yet again, there's nothing to indicate that this being came from outer space. Barker, it is important to note, made a similar comparison to the Grafton Monster case, which also involved a whistling noise, but again no UFOs were reported directly in that case.

Now there is another possibility with this case, and that is that what this entity might be is a faerie. Now the fae are often described as humanoid plant elementals, the most famous example being the Green Man, which is often described as a humanoid figure with a man-like face that symbolizes rebirth. The fact that this creature was humanoid in almost all aspects aside from its obvious plant-like features is important for this possibility for unlike cryptids, this is an intelligent creature (non-animalistic intelligence) that has plant-like features, is aware of us as a species, and appeared and disappeared at superhuman speeds these are all things associated with the fae. Now, much like any Fortean topic, the fae has never been viewed as a plausible or even worthwhile subject, but I do find it interesting, especially when comparing the overall description of the entity to reports of plant-like fae that there are some stark similarities. Yet, of course, it's not the only possibility.  

The final possibility of just what this entity could be is that it could be either an interdimensional being or an Ultraterrestrial one. Now, these are sort of the catchall theories as if everything Jennings Fredericks and Gray Barker said is true and that none of the other hypotheses turn out to be accurate that they still allow for this creature to exist. If this creature popped in, for example, another dimension that opens up countless possibilities not only for evolution to work but also for why it has never exactly been seen since or why we don't have further evidence for it. The same goes for Ultraterrestrials, yet with Ultraterrestrials, they are supposed to be tricksters or entities that exist amongst us manifesting for the sole purpose of either feeding off our emotions or to mess with us for some purpose we have yet to see or understand. Now with this creature, it did leave alleged physical traces of itself via wounds to the wrist; if Gray Barker is to be believed so, chances are this creature would not be an Ultraterrestrial as they are more akin to less violent Pennywises from IT. If this creature is from another dimension, though, it would fit all of the boxes, but again, with how extensive our universe is and the universes around us, if String Theory is to be believed is accurate with at least one planet or dimension some entity like this would have to exist.

Now there are a ton of ways to interpret this case, and those who know Gray Barker's personal life will notice some Freudian elements to this tale that they can interpret as being examples of a fictional story. Yet there are so many intricate details that if this is a piece of fiction and not an actual account and was perpetrated in the mind of Barker, it is incredibly detailed, and he belongs up in the annals of one of the greatest Science Fiction-horrors writers. Yet as with all encounters, there is a chance of reality, and so I leave it to the reader to decipher their own ideas of just what Jennings Fredericks encountered on that warm July day in 1968.

Quick Facts:

Species/Potential Species: Plant/ Carnivorous Plant, Extraterrestrial, Faerie, Paranormal entity

Location: Near Fairmont and Rivesville, West Virginia

Sighted: Mid July 1968

Works Cited:

Alien Meetings By Brad Steiger

Humanoid Encounters: 1965-1969 By Albert S. Rosales

The UFO Phenomenon by Time-Life books

Gray Barker’s Newsletter March 1976

The Blackwood Centaur

 The Blackwood Centaur

By Cole Herrold

Blackwood, New Jersey, seemingly is an unsung Greek Monster breeding ground as, over the years, at least two creatures from the Myths of the Mediterranean Sea seemed to of appeared in the small community. The earliest account was a strange pigman/minotaur hybrid reported in 1976 known as the Blackwood Pigtaur (see its entry for more info). Sometime later, however, in the winter of 2000, another Homeric beast was claimed to dwell in the nearby community. This account I had originally come across several years ago on About.com's paranormal archive “Your True Tales," and unfortunately, at the time, I was not able to acquire a copy as I had some naïve notion that the account would be there forever. This was not the case and it, along with several other bizarre cases, seemed lost to time, that is until I was doing research on another New Jersey native and found the entry in the Messiah of Fortean filing Albert Rosales’s mandatory-to-own book series Humanoid Encounters which has managed to save most of the cases. So, a personal thank you to Albert Rosales for his incredible resources and hard work. Now on to the encounter.

One night an unnamed witness was driving home from a nightclub in a heavy snowstorm. It was about 2:00 in the morning, and the witness was returning home from a late night of partying at a nightclub that was not from his home. He was in his Ford Explorer and was about to turn onto Erial Road, where his house is, when a strange figure began to run out in front of his truck. The creature was only about 20 yards from his vehicle, and he could see that it was dark gray and seemingly four-legged, which at first made him think that it was a deer. Yet as he looked out into the darkness and up from the lower portion of the creature, he noticed that the quadrupedal body grew into the trunk of a man’s upper torso. He stared in absolute shock and with a twinge of terror at the man-like appendages and took note that not only was the creature's equestrian or cervine lower quarters graying from assumedly age, but so too did the creature's man-like face. The witness watched as the elderly creature stared at him with eerily human eyes before it began to run once more into a nearby wooded lot that was adjacent to his backyard. The witness proceeded to return home completely terrified, dripping with sweat and trembling. He then, after running to the assumed safety of his home, proceeded to lock the patio doors and watched the woods from the backyard just in case the creature decided to make a comeback. As he waited and watched, however, the creature never did return, and as far as being reported, it was never seen again.

Humanoids and specifically creatures known as Manimals have always interested me cryptids like Mothman, Owlman, and of course, Bigfoot, for example, are some of my personal favorites, but these entities, while bearing some human-like qualities, do tend to be more reminiscent of animals very few have features that one could point to as truly human. With creatures like the Centaurs or Flying humanoids such as the Butler County Gargoyle or Butler County Faerie (See entries for more info), they seem to be eerily human and not something such as a bipedal ape, reptile, or bird that is man-sized. So, it raises the question, especially in this case, just what could this creature be as it does not seem to match the known realms of Zoology or Paleontology.

Skeptically speaking, this creature evolutionarily should not exist. When looking at chimeral beasts and creatures such as flying humanoids, some merfolk accounts, and of course my personal favorite, the Jersey Devil, the main problem with their existence is that their bone structure defies our current understanding of how species evolve. Wings, for example, are essentially highly modified hands that are adapted for flight as opposed to walking or grasping. Currently, in nature, no vertebrates have multiple appendages that one would associate with this feature; insects, arthropods, and the like do, but their bodies are built extremely different compared to how we currently understand bilateral symmetry and in general skeletal development in vertebrates. So with cases such as classic Chupacabras or the Jersey Devil, for example, which are described as having both wings and small front legs, this is currently an impossibility as we have no evidence of multi-winged organisms in the fossil record. This same argument also includes Centaurs as basically what is described is a similar skeletal structure of a human's but fused to that of a horses; this would have to imply that there would be three sets of appendages, two that developed much like a horse's and one that continued to function or evolved to be like a set of human arms. This evolutionarily is impossible at our current understanding of how organisms develop, even though such features would be advantageous.

From a not so skeptical standpoint, horse-humanoids that are seemingly fused at weird angles or in almost perfectly cut ways are actually surprisingly common, while one can easily point to the Centaur from Greek Myth as a reference, sightings of similar creatures have been reported elsewhere and in modern times. In Scotland, there is a rather nasty creature that is a variation of centaur-like creature known as the Nuckelavee; this abhorrent abomination is described as having the full form of a horse head, hoof, and tail but also having a humanoid figures upper torso including arms and head growing out of the middle of the back like some sort of macabre tree. All this is even more disturbing when one also mentions that the creature has no skin and that the horse head has a single cycloptic eye peering out of its skull. This creature, unlike centaurs in the Greek myths, which were a mixture of both savage and wise, is completely nefarious; it would ruin crops and genuinely cause unspeakable horrors to any who would run in with it. Reports of centaurs or centaur-like creatures have appeared from time to time in other countries and states as well such as Mexico, Ireland, Virginia, Arizona, Michigan, and another sighting of a similar creature in the Sourland Mountain also of New Jersey. So perhaps these reports are extremely small populations of a kind of cryptid. Perhaps there was some early hominid population or something like that that either through some genetic mutation or altered homeotic hox gene developed an additional set of legs or even arms and that over the several millions of years perfected this feature into enabling it to move faster while still being able to utilize its hands for toolmaking or foraging granted this is a serious long shot, but perhaps it could have happened. Fossils are notoriously unreliable in the sense that while they are factual in the existence of creatures that lived on our planet, they do not sum up all the life that existed on our planet. For an organism to become a fossil, it needs to be in an ideal location at an ideal time, or else it'll just decompose to nothing. For example, most of our early hominid fossils are incomplete are partial skeletons, and for most fossil species, partial specimens are all we really know of them. There are most certainly entire fields of partial remains or entire small populations of organisms that never became fossils or even more probable when one looks at the early methods of paleontology either destroyed, lost, or placed in the vaults of the Smithsonian until some scientist just happens to stumble upon it. The amount of data they have that has not been gone through is staggering hence why some of the most groundbreaking finds in recent history were discovered under their very noses. Perhaps some bizarre evolutionary offshoot of multiple jointed organisms is still buried somewhere, be it in the vault of the Smithsonian or in some desert or under some building, and if or when it's discovered could prove that such creatures did exist or are at least possible.

While the cryptid route anecdotally seems to be the only possibility for these beings, it's by far not the only one. It is unlikely that these beings are ghosts or Extraterrestrials, but I will say that for the extraterrestrial route, there is always the chance that in these cases, there could be some craft hidden in the nearby woods or underground. One popular possibility that was written about in Dante Alighieri’s epic poem Inferno as part of his Divine Comedy features centaurs as a kind of denizen from hell. In Dante's hell, many mythological creatures are claimed, such as Charon, Cerberus, Geryon, the triple bodied creature featured in the 12 labors of Hercules, Medusa, the Furies, the Harpies, the minotaur; of all these classic monsters, however, Dante also encountered three specific centaurs Chiron, Nessus, and Pholus. It's from works as Dante and the general demonization of pagan figures that many views such creatures solely as demonic, but to play devil's advocate, what if they are correct. Perhaps these entities are, in fact, infernal beings who had over the course of centuries in those ancient times convinced people to hold them as gods are in reverence for some malicious purpose and that these beings are authentic demons. Now while one cannot take such a possibility off the table, I do not feel that this is the case. Christianity, Islam, and Judaism are relatively new religions, and it's from these Abrahamic religions that most of our perceptions of demons come from and for me to view any phenomenon from this lens which would place almost any phenomena as godly or demonic is frankly just too biased and simplistic for how the world and every other aspect of life is. Plus, those religions, while important, make up only one portion of a wide web of beliefs that ALL need to be taken into consideration; this includes native beliefs, Shinto, Hinduism, paganism in all forms, etc. In this case, this being, even from a considerable demonic identity, did not behave aggressively or do anything that one would associate with the infernal kingdom.

There are two other major possibilities that stick out in my mind as to where this being comes from and, in doing so, just what it might be. The first is, of course, this being could be some interdimensional entity that comes from some dimension where such forms of evolution are common, and for some reason, either intentionally or unintentionally, it ended up here. This would explain the countless sightings over the years and why there's never been official physical evidence of their existence as well as how such a creature could come about.

The other possibility, which depending on your interpretation, could be just an extension of the interdimensional aspect, is that Centaurs are a kind of fae. The fae or faeries, in general, are several species and races of countless types of supernatural beings that are linked to nature. The fae are often linked entirely to Europe, especially in Ireland and the United Kingdom, but almost every culture has some version of them. In Japan, the fae exist in the Yokai as these beings are a colloquial term for bizarre entities that seem to exist for specific purposes, usually for no clear reason, and many bear many similarities in behavior to their European brethren. Native cultures in North, Central, and South America also have tales of diminutive humanoids and bizarre beasts associated with nature; these entities range in shape, size, and purpose but all have almost identical features and abilities to those seen in Europe and Asia. The creatures from Greece are often linked as their own kind, but there are many parallels to the fae, namely with entities such as the dryads, naiads, nereids, and the like, and when one looks at the satyrs, fauns, and centaurs, they too are a kind of being of the woods and interconnected with nature beings that are separate from the divine and the human world. It's from this that perhaps Centaurs are a member of the fae as well. The more I research Fortean cases, the more I think there might be something to the fae or the Fae hypothesis and that it is perhaps it is a much wider and deeper phenomenon than we currently are aware of. However, as with all cases that I mention, the hypothesis is mere speculation.

Centaurs are a bizarre mystery as one does not expect to see one running around in modern times and in a location so far removed from the islands around the Mediterranean Sea. I have several theories as to just what these creatures are, but none are conclusive, as with almost all the creatures that exist in the realms of Fortean studies. I have hopes that eventually, these mysteries will be answered and that these entities, whatever they are and wherever they come from, are part of our knowledge of our world, yet I have doubts that I will see it in my lifetime. Its cases like this that not only pique my interest but also show that once was old is new again and that our monsters and gods are not dead but still living amongst us, hiding in the shadows of the night just out of our sight but on those rare chances just maybe we’ll see them and the legends will continue for generations to come.

Quick Facts:

Species/Potential Species: Mammal

Location: Blackwood, Gloucester Township, New Jersey

Sighted: Winter of 2000

Works Cited:

Humanoid Encounters: 2000-2009 By Albert S. Rosales

The Toven Troll

 The Toven Troll

By Cole Herrold

It should be no surprise by now that I'm a huge film buff, and one of my favorite films ever made was a Norwegian film about the existence of Trolls. The film called Troll Hunter mixed both Cryptozoology and Faerie folklore in a perfect creature feature film that hypothesizes on how these creatures could exist in a particular environment system and, more importantly, how they've "evaded" detection by the majority of the public. Ever since I watched the movie sometime in the early 2010s, I began to study potentially real encounters with trolls. Trolls are from a folkloric standpoint, a muddied term the word Troll initially in the original term of the word simply meant any kind of malevolent magical being, and in classic old Norse, there are two variations of the spelling, each meaning widely different terms; however, there was always one connection, and that was whatever was described with the term was defined as being malevolent. It wasn't until 1852 that folklorist Jon Arnason would go and taxonomically sort out all of the different creatures in Scandinavian folklore and determine what creatures typically would fit that category. This is where we get the concept that Trolls are hairy humanoids, often with hunched backs and long protruding noses. These creatures also sometimes were described as bearing long ox or cow-like tails and had a great repulsion to sunlight and churches. This category then was broken down into several different species of trolls such as Forest Trolls, River Trolls, Mountain Trolls, etc., with each one slightly different in description, behavior, and size.

Now with all that said, finding authentic Troll sightings is rather difficult as many tales involving the creatures revolve around parables or mythology and are heavily associated with bardic tales. I've managed over time to come across several, however ostensibly real Troll encounters, three of which I've already covered: The Staffordshire Trolls of Slitting Mill, The Friendly Troll of Oslo, and The Trolls of Sorenson's Wood and while doing research for another project I came across another account. This account originally appeared in the November 12, 1937, issue of the Norwegian newspaper the Nordlands Avis and describes an encounter that occurred in Toven in Nordland County, Norway.

The encounter began when two boys from Leira were searching for stray sheep for sheep breeding on the high hills and steep cliffs of a Norwegian mountain. The two boys were exceptionally tired, for they were walking all day and had managed to get all the way over to the other side of the mountain and were now returning home since it was getting dark. The pair was approaching Toven when they suddenly noticed a large creature down in a scree (a mass of small loose stones that form or cover a slope on a mountain) not too far from them. At first, the boys were unsure of what the creature was, but as they came closer and closer to where the figure was, they could tell that it was not an animal that they were familiar with but instead something that seemed to of stepped out of folklore. The two boys saw a creature that to them resembled both a troll and man, and they noticed that the peculiar beast was staring at them from its rocky stoop. The pair, while fairly certain that this was not a human, felt that they had to be 100% certain, and so the pair began to shout at the creature to see whether the creature was human or not. The creature seemingly did not understand or was unable to answer the inquiries; the boys hollered down to it and gave no reply. One of the boys had a shotgun with him assumedly for protection in the frigid and potentially hazardous environment, which was the mountain they were on, and they shouted once again at the creature and threatened to shoot the being, but again the boys received no answer. The boy then fired a warning shot over the head of the creature, and the creature seeing the potential danger it was in, started to sprint down through the boulders. As the creature continued to clamor down the rocky outcroppings, the entity made loud noises as it ran out of sight down the mountains. The boys terrified by the creature they had just witnessed ran home as fast as they could and would never see anything similar to the creature for the rest of their days.

While this encounter is exceptionally brief and less extravagant than the other Troll cases I covered, it is very interesting. For one thing, this encounter is the first time I've come across a creature described as a cross between a troll and a human outside of folklore. Troll human hybrids have been written about for some time, but oftentimes they are seemingly at least from the stories that are written about them indistinguishable from either Trolls or humans depending on appearance, but most tend to be more troll-like. It's also particularly interesting because Trolls typically are described as overly large or small humanoids, just extraordinarily hairy ones, so it's a rather odd description when one tries to decipher what was more human or more troll-like about it or even what the boys meant by including the term troll to describe the creature. As stated previously, trolls were placed in an accepted taxonomy in 1852, and this encounter took place some 85 years later, so the idea of what a troll essentially is should be ingrained in the cultural zeitgeist of the time. Some for me, this is both particularly interesting and particularly confusing.

While I mention that this is a Troll encounter, there is also another possibility as this creature could be something other than a fae. This creature, based on its description and the added human element to it, could be a child’s way of describing a Bigfoot-like creature. A similar creature from Denmark, another country in Scandinavia that some scholars feel to be such a creature, has been cataloged by Loren Coleman and Patrick Huyghe in their book The Field Guide to Bigfoot and Other Mystery Primates. This book's first European reference is of the fictional monster Grendel from the epic poem Beowulf which Coleman and Huyghe, and other researchers see as a potentially undiscovered hairy hominid and that the tale of Beowulf. These researchers feel that the story of Beowulf could be based on several actual events that were dramatized and that the encounter with Grendel, in particular, was a potentially real interaction with an unknown species. In the epic poem, Grendel is described as a descendent of Cain, the first murderer according to the Bible. While an official description of what Grendel looks like in the poem is not stated, the poem does state that Grendel was "a creature of darkness, exiled from happiness and accursed of God, the destroyer and devourer of our humankind." And while I would love to delve more into the Anglo-Saxon epic and the various in-depth alternative interpretations of the tale from Tolkien to Zemeckis, it is important to note for simplistic sake that many folklorists and scholars, as well as artists, tend to draw and depict Grendel as a large-eared hairy humanoid typically of gigantic stature. Now, if this is to be the case, could it be that the creature seen in Toven could be the Norwegian Sasquatch.

Now the Troll/sasquatch hypothesis I've never been a huge fan of for most Troll encounters typically have some sort of supernatural element to them such as incredible growth like in the Sorenson's Wood Trolls case or Weather control in the Friendly Troll of Oslo case or weird time loss like in the Staffordshire Trolls of Slitting Mill case. This tends to be the majority of reports, unlike the Sasquatch, where the supernatural element is in the minority. This case, however, does seem to smack of something more biological as the way the creature behaved one could associate its reaction with an animal or something that knew it was reasonably in danger. Something that seemingly supernatural would not care about.

While I can only speculate as to whether this creature could be a cryptid or fae, a lot of the issues with this account is that there was no follow-up. The account was so short, and that there were no quotes from the witnesses makes any sort of truly in-depth analysis of the encounter incredibly difficult. For someone who is deeply interested in the fae and cryptid encounters, it is extremely frustrating as upon reading this encounter, I'm left with hundreds of questions with no real hope of a follow up as the case which now is almost 84 years old, and the chances that the witnesses are still alive are unlikely, and of course, the language barrier would be an additional problem. I managed to find the initial article, and I had attempted to translate it, but even then, I only managed to loosely translate it, and there was barely any additional information from the article. So this case, it would appear, is simply going to have to remain a brief mystery which is unfortunate, to say the least, but as with most cases, that is the nature of the beast.

The original text of the article from the November 12, 1937, Nordlands Avis.

Quick Facts:

Species/Potential Species: Hominid/Faerie

Location: Toven, Nordland County, Norway

Sighted: November 1937

Works Cited:

“Troll på Toven!” Nordlands Avis November 12, 1937

Humanoid Encounters: The Others Amongst Us: 1930-1949 By Albert S. Rosales

The Field Guide to Bigfoot and Other Mystery Primates By Loren Coleman and Patrick Huyghe

Beowulf By Anonymous

The Electro-Hopper of Lancaster County

 The Electro-Hopper of Lancaster County

By Cole Herrold

Lancaster County is a peculiar area in the realm of Fortean studies. The most famous area is Chickie's Rock which has tons of cryptids, ghosts, and UFO encounters such as the Albatwitches and the hauntingly eerie Chickie's Hill Mummy. Yet perhaps the most interesting cases in the County come from the humblest of people, namely the countless Amish communities that dart the green fields and surrounding woodlands. Reports of cryptids like the Wood Eating Amish Country Goose Grabber (see entry for more information) and the potentially paranormal Goat Baby have caused terror for any who come across them; however, in 1979, one of the most bizarre creatures was reported, and the effect it had on four members of an Amish community would haunt them for the rest of their lives.

In August of 1979, four unnamed Amish men were working hard in a field one warm day when they noticed something in the field nearby. The group looked up and were shocked to see what they thought to be a naked man seemingly walking in a bizarre hopping fashion towards them. As they watched the bizarre figure in front of them, however, the more they stared, the more they realized that this was not some streaker or free-minded nudist but something far more bizarre than they ever could have realized. One of the men would describe what he saw in front of him in the following: "we simply had no idea what this thing could be. But we were suddenly afraid. It had arms and legs, and a face with semi-human features. It was covered with coarse, sandy hair, and bounding along in this strange hopping fashion. It occurred to me that the thing was hopping like a kangaroo, but of course it wasn’t one of those”.

They watched as the creature continued to meander its way towards the group continuing its bizarre hopping. The group was trying to rationalize what in God’s Green Earth this anomalous abomination could be, but they soon would find out that whatever this entity was, it was something well beyond the natural order or even the holy ordained order. As the creature got within 100ft of the men when one of the men felt "a stabbing sensation, like an electrical jolt." Upon feeling this electrical charge, there was suddenly a bizarre, almost overpowering sense that entered one of the men overtaking him to the point that he did something completely unexpected. The witness would describe the feeling in the following: “I had this eerie feeling that something was inside me. I felt strange things happen to my brain and nervous system. I could hear myself crying out, shouting words that made no sense to me. I couldn’t understand where these words came from. Then the creature opened its mouth and began shouting at me in the same foreign language”.

The group was terrified beyond the point of rational thought, especially after hearing their comrade speak in what to their religiously centered mindset could only be interpreted as speaking in tongues and then hearing the monstrous mutant speak in the same language. While horrified by this entity, they could not move and proceeded to watch the creature as it continued its bizarre hopping in the area. The group, however, did not have to wait long in the area; however, for a short time later, the creature ran off at superhuman speed in the same hopping fashion as it came, eventually disappearing into the nearby woods, never to be seen again.

This case is incredibly bizarre, even for the already insane number of high strangeness encounters reported in the state. If you look at the description of the creature, one instantly would think that this creature is some sort of Bigfoot, yet the hopping walk and all of the added paranormal paraphernalia that the creature did seem to not point to the classical Bigfoot. Now with that said, there's always the Supernatural Bigfoot as an option; it is interesting that this encounter occurred during the 70s, which was when there were countless sightings of a seemingly paranormal primate; in 1973, there was the infamous Uniontown UFO-Bigfoot sighting where a man saw a red craft that changed to a white dome shape and in the area where it landed there were two incredibly tall green-eyed Bigfoot-like creatures (for more information see entry). There also were sightings of Bigfoot that were shot and turned into glowing balls of light, Bigfoot that were hit by cars and seemingly disappeared upon impact, a white bigfoot was seen holding a glowing orb, and a UFO then went over the woods where it ran into, and a bigfoot case where the creature had mange but could seemingly teleport at incredible speeds. There are scads of encounters of this type from PA, and there's always the chance that this is yet another example of that. Now with that said, there's never been an encounter that exactly matches this case. The description of the creature's motion does not typically match that of a sasquatch or even a supernatural one, and the creature's effects, while similar to claims of extraterrestrial psychic communication, still are not exact in its description.

There are not too many other possibilities for what this creature could be; it's safe to say the creature is not an extraterrestrial since there was no UFO seen in conjunction with this sighting. There's a chance that the creature may be a faerie, but in the countless cases reported of ostensibly real faerie encounters and I've never heard of one where the creature seemingly controlled a person and made them speak from far away like something from Beetlejuice even though there are several cases where faeries seem to speak in a strange language. An interdimensional creature is more plausible as a possibility since a creature from another dimension could have countless abilities that we could only imagine, and the electro-communication/control could be one such example.

The final possibility that could explain this creature is that it could be something demonic. While I personally do not think demons are what religions say they are if they exist. It is interesting that this creature appeared before several highly religious people and proceeded to what, for all intents and purpose, we could call "possess" one of the witnesses. The fact that the creature spoke in a language that none were familiar with is similar as well to what demons are supposed to be able to do since they can make people speak in tongues. Perhaps this creature came to the community to test the faith of those involved. It is interesting to note that John Keel had made the comparison to demons and creatures similar to Bigfoot in several of his book but used this idea to help form his Ultraterrestrial hypothesis, but perhaps there is a direct connection to these creatures and the lower realms. I must admit this is pure speculation, and I personally do not think it to be the case, but I feel it is important for the sake of completeness to be brought up.

This encounter is extremely bizarre, and I have no definitive answer as to what occurred in 1979. I do think that this encounter definitely needs to be brought to the attention of more researchers simply because of how bizarre this is and that it seems to fit right along with all the other bizarre Bigfoot and high strangeness cases that are out there. I also have to wonder where those men who encountered this creature are today, sure almost 40 years have gone by, and chances are they are long since gone, but if they're not, there are tons of questions about their encounter that id love to pick their brains on. Unfortunately, I'm sure that, as with most cases however there will be no follow up and we'll be left wondering just what truly happened in the field that day.

Quick Facts:

Species/Potential Species: Mammal

Location: Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

Sighted: August 1979

Works Cited:

America’s Nightmare Monsters By Phillip L. Rife

Beyond the Seventh Gate By Timothy Renner

Humanoid Encounters- The Others Amongst Us: 1975-1979 By Albert S. Rosales

Strange Pennsylvania Monsters By Michael Newton

Ideal’s UFO #9 pp. 27-28

Amoeba Mummies of Lomo De Ballena

 

Amoeba Mummies of Lomo De Ballena

By Cole Herrold

The more one delves into the world of extraterrestrials, the more there are not only more bizarre encounters to read but also some interesting connections to other more famous cases. Perhaps the most famous is the rash of sightings of entities that seem similar to the Flatwoods Monster that occurred in Frametown. Similar cases occur today, such as when the show Hellier tried to link the Hopkinsville Goblins to a few anomalous photos of a creature and footprints they received. Its cases like this that in some way adds a patina of authenticity as others from various countries and from various decades describe encounters with the same or similar beings. This case from Peru is potentially is one such case as it bears some hallmarks in the appearance of the extraterrestrials to those of an infamous U.F.O. abduction case.

It was around 4:30 pm on February or March of 1952 (some sources state 1947) when a witness known only as "C.A.V." (assumedly initials) was driving along the Pan American Highway heading northbound towards the city of Lima. The witness was driving along when as he approached a desert area near Lomo De Ballena when something shiny seemed to catch his attention in the sky above. As he looked to see what this glaring object was, he noticed that it was a large object that appeared oval in shape. The object slowly began to descend, and "C.A.V.," curious about this strange craft, began to leave the safety of the road and, leaving his car, headed towards the now resting object. As "C.A.V." came closer to the object at a full sprint, he noticed that from what appeared to be a seamless object, a glowing door which opened along the side of the craft. He started to slow down as he saw this and came to a complete stop as something started to emerge from the now open vessel.

From this opening came three bizarre entities; each of them was approximately five feet tall, and their form was described as appearing like that of a classic mummy. They had noticeably joined legs that ended in a large round foot, and their form was covered in a towel-like texture for skin. When "C.A.V." looked into the face of the creatures, he noticed that they had no noticeable eyes, nose, mouth, or ears but where the eyes would have been a large transparent jelly with a large bubble in the middle. The trio of extraterrestrials proceeded to look at "C.A.V." before the entities began to speak to the understandably frightened man and ask in perfect English whether they were in North America. The entities stared at the man who could only respond with no, this is South America. The entities continued to look at the man and just then begun to speak fluent Spanish and say to the continuously surprised man, "take us to your chief." The entities seeing that the man was surprised by this request, soon explained that they were from another star and were concerned about the dangers this planet could cause with atomic energy. The man continued to listen and stare in disbelief at the entities when suddenly, for no true apparent reason, the entities decided to give him a lesson in the birds and bees on their species and state that they as a species were asexual and that they reproduce by fission. As the entities were explaining all this, one suddenly started to split in two like an amoeba resulting in now four identical mummy-like creatures.

After this conversation, the entities, seemingly now unconcerned with finding a leader, began to head once more to their ship. As they did this, one turned around and asked him if he would like to come aboard. Apparently no longer frightened by these visitors, “C.A.V." approached the craft cautiously and slowly began to enter the craft. The first thing he noticed was that the craft was transparent from the inside, and he could see everything around him. The next most startling thing about this object was that the object contained no machinery. "C.A.V." entered the craft, and the door closed; the craft proceeded to take him on a quick drive along the coast. What happened after this went unreported, but something had happened to "C.A.V." to the point that this entire encounter was erased from his memory and would be brought back to remembrance through the aid of hypnosis.

As with most South American cases, there appears to be nothing else written about this case. I came across this case in Albert S. Rosales masterpiece Humanoid Encounters: 1950-1954, and the only source listed for this case was simply listed as Richard Greenwell. I've been trying to see if this came from a book or article, but the lack of source outside of the researcher makes further follow-up on this account extremely difficult. With that said, it is extremely interesting, but to me, the most interesting aspect of this case is a similarity to a groundbreaking and infamous case.

In 1973 a similar group of extraterrestrials was responsible for abducting two individuals out fishing on the Pascagoula River. The case known as the Pascagoula Abduction featured three strange extraterrestrials who abductees Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker would describe as having elephantine-like skin with legs that connect into a single round foot. The creature's arms were long with mitten-like hands and also had featureless faces with one exception they bore three long carrot-like projections, which appeared where the ears and nose would be. Those features were the only facial features the creatures had. These abductors are almost identical to the Amoeba Mummies except for the faces of the entities, which while both are basically featureless, the Pascagoula abductors did have the long carrot-shaped protrusions, whereas the Amoeba Mummies had that black jelly with a bubble. Perhaps the Pascagoula Abductors are the same, and that what appeared to be spiky protrusions were some sort of technology or helmet that hid the black goo from view.

Pascagoula Abductor- Similarities to the Amoeba Mummies in almost all features but the face

Even with the similarities to the Pascagoula Abductors, these entities do seem to be very different; they talk as opposed to the Pascagoula entities, which only were reported to make beeping sounds adding to the hypothesis that they may have been robots or something similar. The Amoeba Mummies reproduce something the Pascagoula Abductors, at least from what was reported, did not or were incapable of. The Mummies also had a very different style of craft compared to what the Pascagoula Abductors came in, so this difference in technology could also mean that they are different culturally and species-wise.

While there might not be a connection with the Pascagoula Abductors, these aliens might be connected to a wider series of U.F.O. flaps that had occurred throughout South America during the 50s and 60s. These encounters had several areas of high concentration, but one particular area worth noting and, of course, important to this case is the Pan American Highway. The Pan American Highway had tons of cases of people reporting crafts as well as several bizarre entities which may have been connected or are directly connected with U.F.O.s. One particular case is the Martian Shrub which occurred in 1962 when two men had almost hit a nearly 3ft tall entity covered in silver and gold strips with several eyes over its plant-like body. Perhaps this entire area has some features that appeal to these visitors that we have not discovered yet.

From what I have so far discovered, there have, after the Pascagoula case, never been any other similar entities reported. These entities, much like the rest of the Space Parade, leave us with a variety of questions, especially with their concern about our atomic usage. Are these entities concerned with our welfare or our capabilities of stopping an invasion, or is it that this is some resource that never should have been utilized? We perhaps will never know the truth since most of these entities disappear, never to be reported or seen ever again.

Quick Facts:

Species/Potential Species: Extraterrestrial (potential Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species undeterminable)

Location: Pan American Highway, Lomo De Ballena, Peru, South America

Sighted: 4:30 pm February or March 1947/1952

Works Cited:

Humanoid Encounters: 1950-1954- The Others Amongst Us By Albert Rosales