The Presque Isle UFO Incident

 The Presque Isle UFO Incident

By Cole Herrold

There are some cases that are clear classics. These encounters are often retold and retold, and for me personally, such encounters, while interesting, are often told so much that they become a rather old hat. This is not to say that such encounters are boring or that there isn't further information on the accounts; the Ape Canyon Incident, for example, is one that while there is tons of potential new information on that case, no one seems to cover it and so the same story is told and retold. The problem with this is that for those who are incredibly interested in Fortean phenomena, these cases tend to not get further looked into and instead are left with the already lengthy work that was done. I run into this issue rather frequently hence why most of my articles are on cryptids, aliens, or ghosts that seemingly were only encountered a few times and only appear in antediluvian archives or forgotten books. When I initially wrote about the Uniontown UFO-Bigfoot Incident, I pulled some of my resources that involve similar encounters; among them was perhaps the earliest encounter from Pennsylvania of a seemingly extraterrestrial sasquatch.

The case is rather famous and known as the Presque Isle Incident. Initially, I was reluctant to write about it as the encounter has been written about rather extensively but being incredibly intrigued by such encounters, I dug a little deeper, and after searching through old newspaper accounts, various news videos, and some of the various books on the subject I've come across more information revolving around the case that has not been currently put into an official up to date document.

The incident began on the most unassuming of days on Sunday, July 31, 1966. This encounter began when 18-year-old Douglas Tibbets, 16-year-old Betty Jean Klem, 22-year-old Anita Haifley, 26-year-old Gerald La Belle, 2-year-old Sandra Haifley, and 6-month-old Sara Haifley were out spending the day on picturesque Beach 6 of Presque Isle. The group had traveled to the beach from their homes in Jamestown, New York. They had spent the day eating a picnic on the sand and spending an hour or two swimming and might I add rather hazardously in the waters of Lake Erie (I add the hazardously because the lake is reportedly home to an aquatic cryptid that has on several occasions taken a bite out of swimmers, I hope to discuss it on a later date). As the group was getting ready to leave, they all barreled into the car and noticed that as Doug Tibbetts started the engine and applied gas to the accelerator that the car was simply spinning on the sand, and they were unable to get traction. The group then proceeded to get out and try to push the car off the coarse terrain, but again they were still unable to get their vehicle moving. It was during that time that they had decided to send Gerald La Belle, the oldest of the group, to go and find help. Gerald was able to hitch a ride with another group of beachgoers and made his way to Erie to search for a tow truck or some other help.

It was starting to get dark out and was about 9:30-10:00 pm when patrolmen Robert Loeb Jr. and Ralph E. Clark came to the area where the group was stranded. Seeing the car, they came close and asked the group if they required some assistance; the group told the officers about how La Belle had left to get some help in town and that the officers needed not to worry themselves about their current plight. The officers, however, told them that if La Belle did not come back in around 40 minutes, they would return to come and check to see if they had become free from the sand trap.

The group, as they stared completely bored out of their mind, began to stare upward at the stars. As they gazed into the dark semi twinkling abyss, they saw a bright light that seemingly shot out of the sky. The object, which at first they thought was a star, they noticed, however, that it was moving erratically as it would start and stop moving incredibly fast, occasionally dimming. The light was octagonal in shape with a hollow center and appeared to be a glowing purple and blue. The object came from the north, and as it reached a certain section, it seemed to hover in the sky.  The object, as it came closer, seemed to change shape as it began to slowly descend down to the ground; the object slowly landed onto Beach 7, about some 300 yards from their car. When the object landed, they noticed that the object was mushroom-like in shape. It was an oval structure with three lights on the back atop a narrow base. The object emitted a beam of light that moved in a straight line across the sand. The object seemed to emit a sound like the noise of a telephone receiver but countless times louder. The sound was so loud that it vibrated their car. As the object did this, it seemingly unleashed several rays of light that illuminated the surrounding woods and gave them a clear look at the object. Mrs. Klem would describe it further ‘it lit up the whole woods in the path. It wasn’t like a searchlight. There was light along the ground along the whole path”.

The officers returned to the area at about 10:30pm, and they noticed that La Belle had not yet returned. As they approached the car, the group was talking so fast and panic-stricken that the officers could barely decipher what the group was saying. Eventually, the group was able to calm themselves, and Douglas Tibbetts would utter to the officers, "There's something weird going on here." He would go and tell the officers that something had landed near Beach Area 7 and that the group was hearing several strange and peculiar sounds coming from that area. Tibbetts would add that "…you arrived the lights went out" to the officers as if the object was aware of their presence. The officers looked over at the area and were starting to walk over to the area. Tibbetts feeling the safety of being surrounded by armed individuals, decided to aid them in pointing them in the direction where they saw the anomalous object land. The officers and Tibbetts were heading towards where the craft seemed to land; they only made it a little distance when they heard the horn sound from the car.

The officers and Tibbetts ran back to the vehicle with such a sense of importance that one of the officers lost his service pistol in the sand and chose not to take the few moments to recover it but continued on his path to aid the women and children in the car. Where the remainder of the group was completely freaking out. Betty Klem was in the driver's seat, and when she saw the officers and Tibbetts, she began to run down the beach in a state of hysterics. She was pursued by the officers and eventually calmed by Officer Clark and initially was unable to tell what happened. Once they returned to the vehicle, the officers and Tibbetts noticed that Mrs. Haifley was in a total state of shock and unable to speak of what had occurred. While Haifley was unable to speak, Klem began telling them what happened while they were away. A little after the officers and Tibbetts entered the woods, a figure came from the exact entrance. Thinking it may have been Tibbetts or one of the officers, they weren't too concerned, but as they called to the figure, they soon realized that it was not human. The group stared at the creature and saw as it approached that the entity was some 6ft -7ft tall and had a strong resemblance to a gorilla, yet further specific features were undefined aside from its long protruding fangs. The creature then began to circle the car first from a distance and then much closer. When the creature was right next to the car, it began to reach out with razor-tipped claws and scratch the side of the car, and hit the roof of the vehicle, which left some dents. In the moment of pure terror, all the girls and children could seemingly do was to scream and honk the horn. The creature seemed to react negatively to the sound and, upon hearing it, returned back into the woods. Then right before the men left the woods, the girls saw the craft rise up and speed off into the north.

The officers feeling that this was getting out of hand, began to take the group to the nearest police barracks, where they retold the whole account. They then sent out a party to search the area, and the entire area was filled with officers with every kind of caliber weapon you could imagine, and the beach was littered with the red flashing lights of police cars. It was around midnight when George La Belle returned to the location, and he was in total awe at what he was now seeing. The car was still there, trapped in the sand. All he could think seeing this spectacle was, "my god, what is it, a war going on here." The officers searched the area and focused primarily on the area of the car. They took pictures of the scratches, which every member of the group claimed was not there before the incident. Realizing they weren't going to get far investigating at night, they returned to the barracks and decided to return to the scene in the morning.

At the police barrack, the group was still kept, and Betty Klem's eyes were exceptionally red, which the officers attributed to her crying; however, researchers, later on, would associate with radiation. Chief Dan Dascanio would do the official interview and felt that the witnesses were being truthful and considered the matter no joke. That morning at about 7:00, they let the group return to the beach with them to retrieve their car and belongings, and the group then spent the remainder of their time being involved in the various investigations that followed. The following morning the officers began to investigate the beach, and Officers Paul Wilson and Robert Canfield found several triangular shapes, each 11 ft apart from each other, and skid marks in the area where the object landed about 350-400 yards away from the car. Among them were two diamond-shaped imprints about 18" wide and 6-8" deep, each 10-12ft apart. Also, there was a series of tracks that seemingly were found that led from the site of where the craft landed to about 12ft from where the car was parked. The tracks were conical and similar to a bear's or a person's and about 8" wide, 5-7" deep, and 5-8ft apart. However, it is important to note that Officer Wilson, one of the policemen who found the wave, did not feel that the tracks were from a creature but appeared to be made by some kind of heavy object or objects. Photographs were taken of the triangular patterns on the ground and made wide newspaper circulation. Major William S. Hall of Youngstown came to the location on Beach 6 during this time and took plaster casts of the impressions in the sand.

As a follow-up, they proceeded to check to see if others might have seen a similar object in the sky in which they found several people who starting at 8pm and ending at midnight, reported seeing a bizarre craft in the sky. The witnesses were Stephanie Lupo, Helene Roche, Alain Orcel, Charoly Mango, Sue Karle, Linda Henderson, Janice Dickey, Jane Moran. Reports of these UFO sightings would be covered in the Erie Daily Times and the Erie Morning News. Steve Lupe, another witness who was around during that time, would also claim to of seen a craft on Beach 2 when he and several of his friends and three other individuals saw a craft hovering over Lake Erie at about 8:30 pm. French exchange students Helene Roche and Alain Orcel, who lived at 412 Frontier Drive about a mile away from the beaches of Presque Isle, saw a lighted silvery object flying low that evening. Stephanie Mango of 4704 Homeland avenue also saw a similar craft claiming that the object was round and an undistinguishable color that flew silently at treetop level. She watched as the object moved toward the beach and then changed course towards the Erie's bay area, where it disappeared from sight. Sue Karie, Linda Henderson, and Janice Dickey were sleeping out in the yard of Karie's home at 1012 Shenley Drive around 11:00pm when they spotted a silvery object which they first thought was a star flying from South to North. They noticed that the object was seemingly fading in and out but was noticeably round and saucer-shaped. Ms. Karie reported that she heard a whistling sound and, as she looked up, saw an object moving north as high as the Boston Store (about 138ft). It was very low, and all the witnesses ran and got into their station wagon and proceeded to lock the doors. They watched the object from the safety of the car for only a minute before it ultimately disappeared. Another similar UFO sighting featured two girls, one named Cheryl Coffi, who lived in the lighthouse at Presque Isle State Park, claimed to of had a sighting in the area some three months prior to the sighting but did state that it probably had nothing to do with the incident near Beach 6.

Chief Dan Dascanio would then get ahold of the air force due to the closeness of Wright-Patterson Airforce to determine if some craft was potentially out that way that might have been misidentified. There was a confirmed none, but this led to a follow-up investigation on the Tuesday of that week within a matter of hours by five members of the National Investigation Committee on Aerial Phenomena, better known as Project Blue Book. The researchers named Richard Hobbs, Joseph McGuire, James Reed, Jeffery Gow, and James Sippell did a precursory check of the area for radiation levels which they would state was safe on the August 5, 1966 edition of the Erie Morning News and took a statement from Ms. Klem. Project Blue Book would later classify the Presque Isle case as one of the 'unexplained' cases in their files. After their investigation, La Belle would return to the location and discovered something incredibly odd. The tree where the creature appeared was completely gone, as if the tree was never there from the beginning. It was not laying on the ground or broken, nor was there a stump or roots. In an interview, La Belle would say that he felt that "The air force found things they didn’t want us to know. Betty didn’t even want to talk about it and Doug passed away about 3 years after this happened and then Anita just dropped out of sight…I don’t think they’re from this earth. They have to be from Outer Space, and they sure are smarter than us because we’ve never caught one”.

UFO investigators and newsmen hearing about all that would go on, began coming to the area to investigate and talk with the officers. Dr. Berthold E. Schwarz would discuss at length the encounter with Chief Dan Dascanio focusing primarily on Betty's sighting and said, "I’m convinced that the young people saw something. The girl was a credible person. Of the two individuals she was the most specific about what she saw- she made no attempts to fill in her story when she wasn’t for sure. She was one scared girl when I first saw her. Her hands were shaking, her face was trembling, her speech was more inarticulate, and she had difficulty remaining her composure. Her eyes were red, and she kept shaking her head from side to side”. A year later, the findings of the case were investigated by Dr. Berthold E. Schwarz, and his findings were reported in the October 1968 Medical Times. Schwarz concluded that Betty was being truthful and that the incident was not due to any illness or delusion.

During that time, two police officers reported that they saw a UFO in the area some two hours before the sun rose on August 3, 1966. The officer who initially saw the UFO was Lawrence Park patrolmen William Rutledge who spotted the craft at 4:45 am, and around the same time, Wesleyville patrolman Donald Peck also saw the object. There were a scant amount of sightings in the area that were reported in the Erie Morning Times the next day. After the police and the air force finished their investigations, the beach became a major hotspot for locals and those wishing to catch sight of something unknown. The entire Presque Isle was filled for countless months by those who came armed with cameras, telescopes, picnic baskets, binoculars, all aimed at the heavens in an almost Close Encounters of the Third Kind-like scene.  Yet Beach 6 was one of the most heavily visited locations on the entire Isle. However, during that entire time after the last few sightings at the beginning of the week, no further encounters or sightings were reported. The town still remembers this encounter, and occasionally material revolving around the case will appear in the local media.

Some years later, the case did return to the media through Brian Sheridan, a local ABC news reporter who did a news story on the sighting in 2005. In it, he interviewed Officer Ralph Clark, who would describe the events of the night further based on the interview with Betty Klem. He would add that the craft when it first appeared was very similar to a basketball with red, yellow, and orange lights and a white beam that came out onto the beach as if the craft was looking for something. He also would add that during the initial investigation, they found strange claw-like indentations that led to the water that they associated with a tripod-type object and, upon analyzing the area, came up with nothing. They also found a bizarre liquid that appeared in the sand that they could not identify, but that was safe from radiation.

After his initial report, Sheridan received a call from local truck driver Mr. Kim Faulkner who, upon seeing the news broadcast, felt that he needed to come forward and claim that he was behind the encounter that occurred that night. Mr. Faulkner was an 11-year-old boy at the time claimed that he purchased two 9ft tall hot air balloons made of first-grade tissue paper that had to be glued together and were heated with pie tins from the back of Boy’s Life magazine for $3.50 that he managed to put together at his home. He clamored onto the roof of his house with his modified hot air contraption. The two balloons which were glued together were red and white striped and had cleaner bags in the center of the creation that gave the appearance of windows. As he let the balloon fly, he soon realized that it was moving much faster and further than he anticipated and decided to chase the balloon on his bike. He followed the balloon all the way to 15^th and Pittsburgh Ave before he ultimately gave up as he was unable to come close to the balloon. Seeing he would not be able to recover it on foot or bike, he returned home and attempted to get his dad to drive him to go recover his balloon. His father, however, would have none of it as the balloon he said went way too high and fearing that since they were so close to an airport, there might be legal ramifications if it interacted with air traffic to this boyish whimsy. So, his father sagely told him don't say anything, and he forgot about it, but upon seeing the news broadcast, he felt he had to clear the air about the sighting. He would say, "I believe it landed or close to it, it reheated itself then it regained its height it only went out so far and then it descended into the water and that s why there was no trace it was first grade tissue paper and all they would find is maybe a few pie plates." However, when asked about the evidence found at the scene and the creature seen at the site, he said he had no part of that, only the UFO.

Sometime later, paranormal researcher and holy man Pastor Robin Swope, the Paranormal Pastor of Erie, felt that something was wrong with the statement laid out by Faulkner and proceeded to do some digging. He contacted Sheridan and asked him whether he felt Faulkner had attempted to gain some notoriety by claiming he was a hoaxster. Sheridan replied that he verified the story with Faulkner’s brother, found the Boy’s Life advertisement for the balloon, and even said that Faulkner did not even want to be on the news, did not brag, and he was the only person after they aired the original story that came forward claiming to of caused the sighting. He seemed to be a credible person. While Sheridan felt that Faulkner was telling the truth, there was something about his claim that seemed off. Swope, who is a lifelong resident of Erie, knows that typically during that time, the winds tend to go in a southwest direction, but the balloon would have to of gone in a northwestern direction of three miles to of landed at Presque Isle. Sure, enough upon doing some research into the weather patterns and contacting local meteorologists of the region, he found that the wind indeed was going a southwestern direction on the night that Faulkner allegedly freed the balloon and that the balloon would have been going in a totally different direction. So unless there was some strange weather pattern that night, there is no way the balloon was the object seen by the stranded couple, and of course, none of this explains the physical evidence or creature seen at the site.

Variations of the account do exist, and some are clearly accidental mistakes, such as Loren Coleman, who dates the encounter in his book Bigfoot! The True Story of Apes in America as July 31, 1977.  The show Monsters and Mysteries in America featured an episode revolving around the case, and while not as different as Coleman's date places the incident on July 30, 1966, a day before the actual event. However, other variations occur mostly in regard to the depiction of the creature seen and its behavior at the site. The August 6^th edition of the Pittsburgh Press, for example, describes the creature seemingly as a floating entity. They described the entity as a "formless" creature about 6ft tall with a head and shoulders but no legs and that the entity was about 5ft from Betty Jean Klem. This variation is interesting as the eyewitness sketch that was done seems very similar to this description as it seems to only show a creature's upper torso and arms and a straight line where the creature's waist should be. If this is the case, then I would venture that it's safe to say that the encounter is not that of a traditional Sasquatch variety ET and something entirely different. Coleman would also describe the creature in a different way; he would describe the creature as both neckless and armless that moved sluggishly in the underbrush.

Another frequent variation involves the kind of reported evidence found at the site. There were several burn marks in the ground in the shape of a triangle as that appears in every version of the account, as well as the fact that there were several photographs showing the anomaly. However, the tracks seemingly from the creature were something that is debatable. Some accounts state that there were several footprints from the woods to the car, whereas other accounts do not mention the tracks at all, or more frequently, there was simply a single track found. Some of the accounts involving multiple sets of footprints are occasionally described as starting and stopping in an odd pattern as if the creature seemingly disappeared in mid-stride.

Outside of the infamous Balloon hoax as previously described, there was also an accusation that went out against La Belle that he, in fact, created the UFO by using a flashlight and playing tricks on the people in the car as a kind of practical joke, but after analyzing all the evidence there’s nothing to confirm this and as La Belle is the only surviving member of that night willing to talk about the event he after some 55 years since the encounter is the only person keeping the story alive aside from researchers. However, even with all this information, we are nowhere near coming to a discernible answer.

In the annals of Pennsylvania history, encounters with Bigfoot-like creatures and UFOs are rather common. I recently covered the Uniontown UFO-Bigfoot case from 1973, which is perhaps the most bizarre case of this type. A similar case occurred near Ohiopyle in 1974 and featured several bigfoots that, when shot at, seemingly disappeared as a bright Christmas ball style UFO flew through the sky. These cases are perhaps some of the most interesting when it comes to the phenomenon, for there are many ways to look at it there's for example, the idea that these creatures could be the pets of some extraterrestrial species or that they are the intelligent drivers of such objects, there's also the possibility that they are a completely unrelated phenomenon that just happened to of been seen at the same time. It is important to note that all of these cases are surprisingly different, especially this one. For if any of the variations of the depiction of the creature are the actual description, then that means that the creature seen on Presque Isle does not fit into the Sasquatch category at all and is some bizarre entity. This is also the most technological UFO of the Pennsylvania cases as most seem to be bright lights or something more ethereal. The shape of the UFO is also interesting as it bears a strong resemblance to the Space Penguins of Tuscumbia case, which too was described as being a mushroom-shaped craft, albeit an incredibly small one. Even with all of this, however, whatever happened that night, I'm sure we'll never truly know and thus ends one of the weirdest cases in Pennsylvania.

Quick Facts:

Species/Potential Species: Hominid or Extraterrestrial Hominid

Location: Beach 6, Presque Island, Lake Erie, Erie, Erie County, Pennsylvania

Sighted: July 31, 1966

Works Cited:

Alien Meetings By Brad Steiger

Bigfoot!: The True Story of Apes in America By Loren Coleman

The Bigfoot Files By Peter Guttilla

Real Aliens, Space Beings, and Creatures From Other Worlds By Brad Steiger and Sherry Steiger

Real Monsters, Gruesome Critters, and Beasts From the Darkside By Brad Steiger

Lyon, Debbie “UFO Sightings at Presque Isle State Park, July 31, 1966”. Old Time Erie. July 2, 2012. https://oldtimeerie.blogspot.com/2012/07/ufo-sightings-at-presque-isle-state.html. Accessed December 4, 2021.

Swope, Robin "The Paranormal Pastor: The UFO landing on Presque Isle." The Paranormal Pastor. July 13, 2008. https://theparanormalpastor.blogspot.com/2008/06/ufo-landing-on-presque-isle.html. Accessed December 4, 2021.

Erie Daily Times. August 01, 1966.

Erie Daily Times. August 03, 1966.

Erie Daily Times. August 06, 1966.

Erie Morning News. August 01, 1966.

Erie Morning News. August 02, 1966.

Erie Morning News. August 03, 1966.

Erie Morning News. August 05, 1966.

Erie Morning News. August 12, 1966.

The Pittsburgh Press August 06, 1966

UFO at Presque Isle. YouTube. April 11, 2008.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SO7-v10TG5Q.

UFO at Presque Isle Part 2-Solved!. YouTube. Apr 11, 2008. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjmQgDtDfZk.

Monsters and Mysteries in America Season 2, Episode 12 "Alien Bigfoot, Cajun Werewolf, Lake Pepin Monster." Destination America. March 14, 2014. 

Eerie Erie Sheepman of Waterford

 The Eerie Erie Sheepman of Waterford

By Cole Herrold

Half-human creatures are a constant occurrence in the worlds of Cryptozoology, Ufology, Demonology, and other Fortean studies. Some are constantly pegged into their appropriate categories, whereas others seem to cross the boundaries forming new and difficult to determine classifications. Bigfoot, for example, is generally accepted to be a large unknown ape that resides in the forested regions of the state, yet there are some reports where bigfoot is in fact either directly or coincidentally connected to UFOs or other anomalous phenomena. Other creatures like dogmen, frogmen, fishmen, and lizardmen are regularly reported, and some do teeter in that gray Keelian world of joint phenomenon. But of all the unknown creatures out there, there is one that has brought many to the brink of terror and, in some cases, their own demise and ventures of into both a cryptozoological, Fortean and demonological phenomenon. This unknown group of creatures is referred to as Goatmen.

Goatmen are a peculiar bunch of creatures that exist almost universally around the United States, the most famous cases being the Maryland Goatman and the Pope Lick Monster. These creatures are described as humanoid in form, typically 6-7ft tall with features reminiscent of goat-like horns and hooved feet. These creatures are a mixed bagged phenomenon as they are researched by folklorists, Cryptozoologists, and paranormal investigators. These creatures are considered extremely aggressive some varieties have supposedly been known to carry axes or lure individuals to perilous locations. These creatures are also reported to attack cars, pets, and livestock, leaving dismantled corpses or bloodless bodies behind.

While reading J. Nathan Couch’s book Goatman: Flesh or Folklore? I stumbled upon one particular beast I had never heard of and was very near in location to me. This creature was tucked away in a short chapter called "The Pennsylvania Sheepman". The creature was described in very much the same universal way as the classic Goatman type figure, yet to me, it was interesting as it added another feather in Pennsylvania's already remarkably gaudy cryptid hat.

Waterford is a small town located in Erie County, Pennsylvania. Waterford has a rich early history predating both the English and French arriving in the US. The site where Waterford now stands was at one point a Native American village. The area had some remnants of this previous civilization all the way up to the 1860s. The area was home to two forts created by the French, and a wagon road was developed that interconnected the two. This fort and roadway led to an increase in commerce, which eventually helped build the town. The area had a rich history, some violent and some peaceful between settlers and the native inhabitants. In fact, the first death that occurred on the land was of a boy by the name of Rutledge, who died of wounds from a native American skirmish in 1795.  Waterford today is a sleepy town, not unlike the vast majority of towns and boroughs that exist around the country, has a current population of 1,517 and possibly one sheepish citizen.

The Pennsylvania Sheepman or the Sheepman of Waterford is a beast that made its debut in the town in the70s. America, it seemed, was reaching an all-time high at this point in weird creature sightings, including those of Goatmen like beasts, and Pennsylvania was no stranger to such beasts. Trying to research information about this peculiar creature is very difficult as a lot of sightings were not reported to the police or any other media source. All documented knowledge of the creature comes from later accounts, particularly in October of 2012 when such tales tend to be reestablished by local sources. Before that point, however, the tales of the beast were spread orally in the town's schoolyards and playgrounds and homes, spoken only just above a whisper to keep the beast at bay.

The vast majority of this enigmatic entity's sightings occurred on what is known as the Waterford Covered Bridge or, as it's known locally, the Old Kissing Bridge, which is located on Niemeyer Road. The creature is said to frequent this location, and some of the most violent encounters have been reported to of occurred by this hoofed hooligan. The most famous being a tale told by Herb Kinney, who had a friend who would come face to face with the monster one rainy night. His account would be included in both J. Nathan Couch's Book as well as an article entitled "The Legend of the Sheepman of Waterford, PA" found on the now-defunct Examiner.com website. Attempting to find the original article proves impossible as the site now is linked to a website that sells concert tickets.

Herb Kinney’s friend was out one summer night enjoying a nice little drive with another individual he knew. The night was growing darker as the two traversed down the old road in his dark blue ford mustang convertible. The sky began to swarm with an amass of clouds, and as the two reached a certain point in their journey, the heavens wept. The rain was beating down on the young men's heads due to the fact that the two decided that since it was such a nice night to drive around with the top down a decision, they would most certainly regret it. Herb's friend saw the possible air of protection from the elements in the Old Kissing Bridge and proceeded to go and drive inside. Putting the car in park, the pair left the vehicle and began to lift and adjust the collapsed roof back into place.

 It was at that moment that the sounds of heavy footfalls emanated from the bridge. The two men, probably thinking it was some kind Samaritan who noticed their plight or someone who was annoyed by their halted presence on the bridge, began to turn around unperturbed by the sounds. As the men turned, they realized that this was by no means something that seemed heaven-sent but something that to them seemed to of ascended from the bowels of Old Scratch's lair. The two men stared at this strange anomaly taking in the foul apparition in every detail. The creature was a 6-7ft tall beast covered in wet, dank grayish-white hair on its body, and atop its head, the beast was adorned with large, curled horns like a goat or rams. Its maw was adorned with long sharp carnivorous fangs, and the beast walked upright on hairy goat-like haunches, and its human-like hands were adorned with long sharp claws. Before the duo could even comprehend the strange caprine creature that clambered before them, the beast began to rush toward the men. Herb's friend reached out as he was assaulted by the beast hitting and smacking the creature until it let go. The two rushed back to the safety of their car, but the creature was in hot pursuit. The creature continued its aggravated assault on the top of the vehicle beating its fists and scratching its claws on the roof of the car. The friends struggled to get the car moving, but in a quick motion, the engine roared to life, and the two sped out of the bridge, leaving their unknown attacker behind as it unleashed a series of guttural sheep like sounds.

 The two returned to town, and Herb's friend returned home. He sat in his car for a second, his eyes reeling from the ghastly horror show he was plunged into and, with a sigh of relief, got out of the car. His roof, which was the whole reason for his pause in coming home, was decimated, its frame bent, and rooftop clawed and beaten. He went inside and told his parents all about his encounter with the horned hellion on the bridge. The parents proceeded to go outside and see the carnage. When Herb's friend said about calling the police, the two adults looked down at their offspring and said that nothing of the sort would happen. The idea of their son's brush with the goateed nightmare to them would be embarrassing and not something they would want to be advertised in town. So, the story stayed quiet until Herb would recount his friends' perilous encounter with the beast some thirty-forty years later.

This account is by far the most aggressive and detailed account of the Sheepman in the very scant cases on it. In several sources, there are claims of over one hundred sightings of this creature from the sixties to at least 2012. Yet finding anything about a vast majority of these other sightings has proven fruitless. This tends to be the case with a lot of cryptid sightings, though. For everyone sighting of a strange animal, chances are there are another ten that goes unreported partially out of fear of ridicule and partially out of a lack of places to submit an encounter. While the internet now has countless sites where people can submit their reports like Phantoms and Monsters, Cryptopia, BFRO, Singular Fortean, and with us now at the New World Explorers Society. Back in the seventies and sixties, while there are countless UFO newsletters, magazines, and bulletins, monster or cryptid encounters really only got reported to individual investigators, police, or the local newspapers. These options go back to the reason’s reports went unwritten.

While cases of the Sheepman are difficult to come across, Herb's friend is not the only one to claim to come into contact with this malicious faun. A woman named Marilyn had actually seen the satyr on more than one occasion. Marilyn claimed to grow up on Baghdad Road, which is another area that is a hotspot for Sheepman sightings. Some claim the Sheepman lives in a cave located along the road. Her accounts are interesting, for while they lack the sensationalism that Herb's friend experience, these accounts point to something more biological in origin as opposed to some heinous beast. Marilyn had claimed that she had seen this allegedly horned beast crossing the road twice in her lifetime. The second and most recent sighting occurred on one dark night as she had just pulled into her long stretch of driveway when there in front of her a gray form sprinted in front of the car it looked at her as it ran and without stopping returned to the wild wilderness it called home.

In my research on the subject, I came across one other scant account that appeared on The Pennsylvania Rambler of a boy named Eric who claimed one night to of encountered a tall and hairy beast with horns under the Old Kissing Booth who the boys whom the author of the article heard the account from claimed lived under the structure to come out at night to harass those on the bridge and nearby woods. This account is probably the most recent account if authentic, but the boys who regaled the author with the story also made claim Eric was drunk at the time of his sighting.

Another witness called Sally B. said that the Sheepman had lived along an old dirt road near her family’s farm. She claimed that the creature was part man part sheep much like the other cases reported yet in a strange turn of events claimed that the beast also carried a hook that it would use to scare people out of the areas it would call home as well as presumedly kill anyone it could get its hairy hands on.

This last report tends to shred some of the authenticity of the creature. Goatmen type creatures are often discussed by folklorists for the fact that in many ways, they behave and enact in many of the same or similar manners as other urban legends such as the Hookman or Cropsy. These figures are essentially immortal serial killers rumored to come out of their wooded locals to kill and frighten teenagers stupid enough to venture or make love in their areas. The Maryland Goatman case has many of these same attributes, including coming out to accost teenagers making out in cars. The Maryland Goatman is said to attack vehicles, pets, and teens with a large hatchet or ax. The Pope Lick Monster of Louisville is another supposed ax and lantern wielding Goatman that lurks atop a train trestle. Many who have climbed the trestle either led by the siren song of the beast or by their own curiosity have actually lost their lives, making it a legend with actual danger. These ax wielders are not dissimilar to the Sheepman and his hook in this respect. In Massachusetts and New York, legends of Cropsy and the Hookman reign supreme, and in the legend of the Hookman, the story goes that he was an escaped mental patient who had a hook for a hand and would come out to attack lovers, usually scaring them by scraping his hook along the side of their car. The Pennsylvania Sheepman, in this way, seems to be a weird barrier between the two areas of legends. This makes this creature more than just a physical chimera but a folkloric one.

Another element that seems to point to something folkloric as opposed to Cryptozoological or paranormal is an anonymous email claiming to know the origin of the Sheepman. Paranormal researcher and folklorist Heidi Kirclich LaDow received this email from a local after she was investigating the legend of the beast. The email goes as follows:

“I will let you know that the Sheepman story, as far as I know, started in the vocational agriculture student's heads, and the fable grew until the general public adopted it as a local legend. I heard of Sheepman in the 1970, and as a seventh grader it awed me and others. [the story was] that a man could have sex with a sheep [and produce a sheep-man]. What started as a dirty little story grew into a small town legend. I ain’t telling no more!”

This email is not an original idea. Many times, in the world of folklore, there are countless beasts that were supposedly the offspring of man and animal. In Greek culture, for example, the god Zeus in the form of a great white bull seduced Minos's wife Europa, and the two in a union produced an offspring which would become known as the Minotaur. Many times, in folklore, the idea of two totally separate species producing an offspring is common in places where cryptids are reported. There are several ideas of separate species like alligators and a monkey crossbreeding to form the creature that is seen or terrorizing the area. While we know this is a ridiculous idea, it is not unheard of for separate species to create offspring ligers, zonkeys, and mules; for example, are some common varieties that zoos or sideshows would purposefully create. In human history, our species co-bred with other hominids like Denisovans and Neanderthals resulting in the wide genetic diversity we have today as a species. There even was an attempt at one point where a scientist had tried to create an ape-human hybrid by inseminating a woman with orangutan semen. The results were unsuccessful but possible. There are even reports of the Almas Zana who supposedly had given birth to a half-human half Almas offspring in Russia. Now a man breeding with a sheep, however, is an entirely different ballgame and not possible to occur.

While the Sally B. account does match and points towards a more folkloric kind of beast, Marilyn and Herb's friends' accounts, if authentic, definitely point to something other than the oral traditions that all cultures share. What this creature or creatures could be, those are difficult to determine. Most Cryptozoologists often lump these kinds of reports in with Bigfoot cases as bigfoot is frequently known to attack cars and the sprinting type figure is a common behavior described by witnesses. While Marilyn's account is rather vague as she described it simply as a dark gray form that streaked across the road, so there is the possibility she did see a bigfoot like creature. Herb's friend, even though it's told from a secondhand source however seems to point to something entirely different his liminal space Sleepy Hollow-esque account is something that clearly depicts a half-human half goat-like beast and not a traditional bigfoot like creature. With that said, what could this creature be?

A bear or bigfoot would be the most likely explanation for this creature seeing as the height would be about the same as the creature seen, and it wouldn't take much to think that in the darkness that a bear's ears could be in the right light look like horns. The problem with this hypothesis, though, is, of course, that while bears will walk upright if their front paws are injured, they do not have the fluid movement as seen in creatures that are described as walking bipedally. As sasquatch would be the next possibility, but again there's nothing that would appear as horns on a bigfoot, and while it may be the answer to a select amount of sightings, it cannot be the answer to the creature Herb's friend reported.

One cryptid that does bear a striking resemblance to the Goatman is the Sheepsquatch. These creatures are almost a direct match for the beast seen in Waterford. The color, height, fangs, horns, aggressive behavior are all features that are the same as the Sheepsquatch. Now one feature that is reported in some Sheepsquatch accounts is that of a possum-like tail, but a tail is something not described in any of the accounts. Another possibly misleading aspect that could point to a different kind of creature is Goatman accounts typically are described as a thin creature, not a big hulking monstrosity like what is seen typically in Sheepsquatch accounts.

The idea of a Goatman type creature as an undiscovered species is unlikely but of all the hypothetical answers seems to be one of the only possibilities that could explain biologically what this creature could be. True, there is no evidence for such a creature in the fossil record, but at one possible point in our history, the ancestors of sheep were carnivores. Andrewsarchus was a large animal found in China, which has some debate around it. This animal was at one point believed to be the ancestor of sheep, but some are thinking it could be related to whales.  If the original hypothetical origin is correct, though, it is possible that this could be the great grandfather of the Goatman. As evolution would take its course, the creature’s ability to stand upright for a short period could turn into longer and longer periods and ultimately freeing up the front paws, which could extend the phalanges to the point of fingers. Resulting in what we now know as Goatman and even possibly Sheepsquatch. Yet, as with everything when it comes to hypothesizing this kind of phenomenon, the evidence for this is basically nonexistence.

Interestingly this is not the only time PA has seen a strange goat hybrid beast. A group of sightings from late summer of 1973 of a strange creature described as a goat horned, white-maned, tiger fanged, bipedal beast was seen attacking Amish farms. This creature was seen rampaging from farm-to-farm, devouring wooden tools and grabbing geese with its hands, which it later threw at a brave Amish woman who pursued the beast. J. Nathan Couch hypothesizes in his book that this creature could very much be the same beast and that it managed to move from Erie to the southern section of the state where these sightings took place.

Another article argues that this creature might, in fact, be extinct or if it was a singular entity dead, seeing as how the average life span of a sheep is around a decade. This to the author could explain why sightings after the 1970s were essentially nonexistent. This is interesting if accurate because if this animal is advanced in every other element as it seems to be, it would be unique for it to maintain this primitive aging quality.

A demon is a common answer for this mystery for a lot of people who have researched this phenomenon. While the Sheepman of Waterford does seem to be a physical entity in many regards' creatures like the Pope Lick Monster appear as something more phantasmagorical. Supposedly many mediums have linked these creatures to the infernal realms or as negative entities whose only goal is to kill and destroy humans. I personally do not agree with this assertion into this phenomenon as a lot of our depictions of demons are the culmination of the church taking various cultures' gods and spirits and converting them into the cloven-hooved beasts we see now. While I suppose it is not outrageous for maybe if these spawns of the dark one do exist that one or a few of them could look like a Goatman.

The final possibility is that what is seen is something like a faun, Pan, or satyr. In Greece, there were several myths of half-human half-goat animal and nature spirits. These creatures were a paradox as they were loud, rowdy creatures that would have sexual encounters with humans and have drunken bouts with the god of wine Dionysus but also passive, peaceful creatures who would play music on the panpipes and walk peacefully in the woods. The leader of the satyrs and fauns was the god Pan who could create a sound that would result in humans running away in absolute terror hence the origin of the word panic. These creatures are tied into the faerie world and folklore of a variety of European cultures, and some Fortean researchers believe that some reports of cervine and caprine type humanoids could be these creatures returning to our world to either protect nature or some other as yet undetermined reason.

While I'm open to the idea for a lot of creatures to exist, the Sheepman seems to me to be a heavy mixture of folklore and some potentially real encounters with an as of yet unknown animal. Just what that animal is, is to be debated. It seems that all the answers to what this creature could be are shrouded in mystery. Unfortunately, most of the accounts we do have are from secondhand sources or from online interviews, emails, and comments, so trying to interview the witnesses even more thoroughly is almost impossible. This creature, if real, would be an evolutionary discovery that could change the fabric of what we know about the ancestry of a variety of creatures and how evolutionary change occurs. Yet there are too many folkloric variables to ignore as well and this, of course, just pushes this creature deeper into the shadows of fable and out of the light of science. But perhaps someday we will find the answer to this mystery down Baghdad Road.

 Quick Facts:

Species/Potential Species: Mammal/Hominid/Primate

Location: Waterford, Erie County, Pennsylvania

Sighted: Throughout 1970s

Works Cited

Couch, J. Nathan. Goatman: Flesh or Folklore?. CreateSpace Independent Publishing. 2014.

Styn, Rebecca. “Eerie Erie: Seven Tales to be Told After Dark” Erie Reader. October 17, 2012. https://www.eriereader.com/article/eerie-erie-. Accessed December 23, 2020.

Wanna See Something Weird?. February 7^th, 2019. https://cryptids-of-the-world.tumblr.com/post/182627376451/the-waterford-sheepman-is-a-goat-like-creature. Accessed December 22^nd, 2020.

Fort LeBoeuf Historical Society.http://fortleboeufhistory.com/about/waterford-erie-county-pa/. Accessed December 22^nd, 2020.

“Andrewsarchus”. https://walkingwith.fandom.com/wiki/Andrewsarchus. Accessed December 22^nd, 2020.

“Weirdness in Waterford”, The Pennsylvania Rambler. August 5, 2018. https://thepennsylvaniarambler.com/2018/08/05/weirdness-in-waterford/. Accessed December 22^nd, 2020.