Butler County Gargoyle

by Cole Herrold

Flying Humanoids are perhaps the most interesting of all cryptids. A great deal of this is because, unlike Bigfoot, lake monsters, or thunderbirds, there is nothing we can compare them to in either the fossil record or in the current known zoological categories. They are an entirely alien lifeform; however, they appear in almost every country and culture from around the world. Of all the flying humanoids reported, the most famous is Mothman. When someone pictures a flying humanoid as a cryptozoological being, they ultimately envision a dark winged creature with piercing red eyes. While there are certainly versions of this kind of creature aside from Mothman, such as the Lake Michigan Mothmen and The Owlman of Mawnan, they are not entirely uniform in this description. In Pennsylvania throughout 2011, there was a rash of winged humanoid sightings whose description was by far one of the most bizarre on the books.

This flying freak known as the Butler County Gargoyle or the Chicora Gargoyle as there is a high concentration of sightings near the Butler County borough. This creature first came to the public's attention in March of 2011 and has since gained some fame from cryptid enthusiasts and paranormal researchers, making it by far one of the most famous flying humanoids ever reported. The first “official” report of the Butler County Gargoyle was reported first to Stan Gordon and later Lon Strickler of Phantoms and Monsters and Daniel Hageman of BORU (Butler Organization of Research of the Unexplained). The initial witness, a businessman who would go unnamed until Lon Strickler in a follow-up interview, gave the name RK would be the first and most famous reported sighting of the Butler Gargoyle and would also draw a sketch of the creature he had seen in.

The Butler County Faerie

by Cole Herrold

Faeries have always interested me. The idea of small, allegedly magical humanoids that lived either as avatars of nature or as a parallel society that only occasionally interacted with humans was extremely fascinating, and the older I got, the more I appreciated the lore and myths associated with them. As I began researching Fortean phenomenon, however, I began to realize that the idea of small allegedly magical humanoids was something universal. I soon began hypothesizing a variety of ideas but the one I to this day adhere to is that what people are seeing is dwarf variations of a hominid species, especially since most of the famous cases take place on islands where dwarfism is rather commonplace. Now this explanation could explain humanoids like Iceland's elves or Ireland's Leprechauns, but there is another kind of faerie folk that makes this hypothesis more difficult. This kind of faerie is, of course, the winged variety that has been the poster child of faeries since tales have been recorded. I often dismissed reports or accounts of this as fancy as most reports of faeries that are reported are of small humanoids like gnomes, dwarves, goblins, elves, etc. Yet every once in a while, a case does occur of a strange flying humanoid of miniature stature that for all intents and purposes is a faerie.

I first came across the Butler County Faerie in Lon Strickler’s amazing book of flying freaks Winged Cryptids: Humanoids, Monsters, and Anomalous Creatures Casebook. Which I highly suggest anyone interested in more modernish accounts of flying creatures to get. I was taken back one for the fact that the witness believed it to be a faerie, two for how the witness described this faerie, and three for the fact that it took place not in the land of green in which these tales would seem commonplace but essentially in my own backyard. The encounter with this strange, winged anomaly took place in Chicora, which is located in Butler County. Butler County is a hotbed for paranormal activity and bizarre cryptid encounters, so it would only make sense that one of the good people would dwell there.