Brentford Griffin

 Brentford Griffin

By Cole Herrold

In the annals of Cryptozoology and Fortean studies in general, there are creatures that appear to of been ripped straight from the pages of classical mythology. There are countless cases, many of which I had covered in the past, from Blackwood, New Jersey’s Pigtaur and Centaur, to the Tangipahoa River Cyclops and, of course, the countless reports of more human-looking Goatmen, which are mirror images of their faun, satyr, and Pan mythic counterparts that seem to indicate if these reports are accurate that there may be more to our myths than just tales to explain natural phenomenon or simply to entertain a group when things like film or Dungeons and Dragons were not around. It is interesting to note that a lot of these beings are reported not in the country from which their tales originated but instead in areas with little to no real direct connection with these legends. Of all of these entities from the Mythic Menagerie, there is one in particular that had for a time captured the attention of a nation and remains one of the most interesting cases in Fortean history simply from the fact that this heraldic beast is one of according to legends the noblest albeit aggressive flying freaks ever written about since the early epic poems and playwright days.

In the middle of 1984, 28-year-old telephone technician Kevin Chippendale had left his home on Brooke Road South and was strolling along Braemar Road. Upon this walk, Chippendale, out of boredom or complete adoration of the current state of weather, proceeded to look up into the sky but upon doing so, he was greeted not just with the marshmallow mists commonly referred to as clouds but also a strange dark form that was beating its way through the azure sky. He could tell that whatever this dark form was, it seemed to be some sort of animal flying some hundreds of feet up in the air and was coming from an area known as the gasworks and was just about to pass a group of tall apartments which coincidentally was known as the Green Dragon Towers. Chippendale, as he strained to make out just what the creature exactly was, could soon tell that this being was far from the traditional fauna said to inhabit, at least to his knowledge, the United Kingdom. The creature was about the size of a large dog, yet an exact height and length were difficult to the distance the creature was seen, and he said there was a likelihood the creature was larger. He noticed that this creature could not have simply been a bird because while he noted large feathery wings flapping in the wind, the overall morphology was off as they appeared to come from the shoulder area and that the way the creature flew was almost as if it was in slow motion. Chippendale could soon see why there was a noticeable displacement of the wings, for dangling below the body of the creature were four legs that appeared to end in features similar to paws. As Chippendale followed up the creature's neck, he noted that the creature had a strange head similar to a birds in most respect, except that there was no noticeable beak but instead a kind of muzzle that had some sort of strange nose at the end. The creature's skin also was not what he expected either as he watched, for there were no feathers on the body itself but what appeared to be a smooth texture to it that made the creature look aerodynamic in flight. Kevin could not make out any further details from this creature but did feel that he had seen the creature’s eyes as well as a kind of tail.

Chippendale was completely flabbergasted at just this strange flying anomaly and had no clear indication as to just what it was that he saw, but he remained quiet about his sighting for fear of being labeled “unbalanced” and moved on with his life until several months later in February of 1985 he was out walking, and upon looking up again into the sky near the Green Dragon Towers he saw the same creature flying again. This time Chippendale, however, had an inkling as to just what the creature could be. During both of these walks, Chippendale passed a pub known as the Griffin Brewery and, upon thinking about the design of the creature on the sign, felt that this creature was fairly close, if not identical, to a Griffin. He would say the following "The first time was last summer when I saw something flying low across the ground in the gaswork. At first, I thought it might be a plane, but it was too low and made no noise. I was intrigued to know what it was and, as I walked past the Griffin pub, realized it looked like the animal on the sign. I saw it again a couple weeks later in exactly the same place". Chippendale realizing he was not crazy due to his second sighting, felt comfortable enough to open up about his encounters but even then, only to his close family and friends, yet as time went on, he would be put into the center of the storm of reports that would flood and engage the area throughout this time period.

Word soon spread about Chippendale’s sighting even with the discreteness of who he told, and it was then that a short time later, one of Chippendale's coworkers, a woman by the name of Angela Keyhoe, would go to him and also claim that she too had seen the strange creature. Angela claimed that she had seen a large, winged animal perched on top of the gasworks, a colossal utility tank that has served as a Brentwood landmark. She had seen the creature while seated on the top floor of a No. 65 double-decker bus, and apparently, she was not alone as others seated allegedly also had seen the flying freak of nature. Angela could not withhold her excitement after her encounter and as she began to tell several local arts center workers about what she and those on the bus had witnessed.

Also, during this time, a psychologist by the name of John Olssen came forward and said that he too encountered a strange flying creature. He encountered what he described as a colossal bird-like creature while out jogging along the Thames River in the early morning hours. It was from this that many felt that the creature was living on one of the many islands that darted the river, Thames. And John Baroldi of the Waterman's Art Center would come forward with several firsthand accounts from people who told him that they too had seen the creature. One of these sightings involved a woman who came from a nearby park along the street of the Art Center who he noticed was in a terrified state. When he asked her what was troubling her, she said that she had seen a large dark-colored bird in the park that scared her so bad she couldn't stop shaking during the sighting.

During this time, the press had picked up the stories, and for several months recounting of the sightings would be told along with several artistic renditions throughout the millennia of just what the creature was supposed to look like. During this time, the interest of the Griffin even led to a Griffin Spotting Club that searched the area of the sightings for any evidence of the creature as well as attempted to catalog any further sightings of the creature. During that time, only one sighting came forward, and there was barely any detail or information on that encounter.

Robert Rankin, the towns poet in residence at the Waterman’s Art Center and writer, took great interest in the Griffin, writing about it in the May 1985 edition of the Magonia Newsletter. He also started to organize a UFO symposium upon which he discussed the Griffin and stated that reports of the creature could be traced back to at least pre World War II. Yet he did say all of the sources that mention the creature was ambiguous at best.

After 1985 sightings of the Griffin completely disappeared, and it remained a strange little chapter in the colossal book of Fortean subjects. Until in 1995 when Robert Rankin came forward attempting to claim that the Brentford Griffin was a hoax perpetrated by himself and several other friends of his and members of the Waterman's Art Center. For many, this killed the idea of a Griffin in Brentford, and so history became legend, legend became myth, and the creature stayed in the shadows of lore for a time. The creature, in fact, was practically forgotten about until a man by the name of Martin Collins wrote a letter which later appeared in an issue of  Fortean Times (specifically issue 110 from May 1998) He wrote: “I first encountered the story of the Brentford Griffins while I was at St John’s School in the 1950s (note: some thirty years before the first sightings!). St John’s in those days sat in the shadow of Brentford’s football ground, Griffin Park. Inquiring why there were so many griffin references in Brentford, I was told that it was due to the family of griffins that lived on Brentford Eyot, an island in the Thames.

The story of how they got there was that the first Griffin was brought to Brentford by King Charles II as a gift for his mistress, Nell Gwynn, who had a house in the Butts at Brentford. One day the Griffin was playing on the banks of the River Brent, which flows past the Butts, and fell in. The hapless creature was washed down the Brent into the Thames, finally being washed up on Brentford Eyot. As it was assumed to have been killed, it was left alone and was able to live on the Eyot for many years – griffins having a lifespan of centuries.

Then Sir Joseph Banks brought back a griffin from a Pacific island where he had been with Captain Cook. This Griffin was originally housed in the Pagoda in Kew Gardens, which is on the opposite bank of the Thames from Brentford Eyot, where it found a mate awaiting it.

There was soon a whole colony of griffins, and they spread out from the Eyot all over the town of Brentford, where they can still be seen to this day if you look closely enough.

This story has stayed with me…it is a nice bit of Brentford mythology.”

With this letter, the story of the Griffin was much like another mythical bird, the Phoenix reborn from the ashes of the alleged hoax, and many speculate now that there might have been some truth to the legend and hoax after all. Even Rankin though his testimony needs to be taken with a grain of salt, to say the least, wrote about other Griffins or Griffin like creatures in the area that appeared in his Magonia article:

This is the Magonia Article in its Entirety

 “Throughout history, the gryphon has been a symbol evocative of power and majesty. As an emblem, it is employed by nearly 200 companies in the UK alone, from the Midland Bank to Fuller's Brewery. Jung once stated that "it is a subconscious symbol of such encompassment that it is unlikely to be the product of mere myth; we are dealing with something born from folk memory." Although a seemingly impossible hybrid of eagle and lion, there now appears little doubt that the gryphon is a Jiving reality. Up until a few months ago, zoologists would have ridiculed the possibility of such a chimera, but the recent spate of sightings coupled with the gryphon skeleton currently on exhibit seems to have added the flesh of reality to the bones of myth. "I went along suspecting hoax," stated Attenborough, "but came away convinced. This discovery has set the zoological world upon its heels."

Reports of gryphons crop up with startling regularity throughout the pages of history. Dr. Johnson records one he saw at Brentford's Bull Fayre: " ••• it was somewhat smaller than I had expected, but the proprietor assured me that it was 'yet young'... it had the body of a lion cub and the neck, head, and forelegs of an eagle ... curiously formed wings issued from its shoulders." Johnson was in no doubt that the beast lived "and was not the product of the gypsies' craft ."No further mention of is made of the gryphon in his writings, and one is left to wonder what became of it. Possibly it was the same live specimen my father saw at Olympia before the war. He was informed that it was several hundred years old and was shown old showman's posters as proof. From the substantial body of information, I have on my own files alone, I am inclined to place the Brentford Gryphon alongside the Yeti and the Loch Ness Monster 'as yet unsolved'. The local sightings have been too widely reported to require further mention here, and I have no cause to doubt the testimony of the witnesses I have interviewed. Having been scrupulous in discounting sightings which might be misinterpretations of natural phenomena, we are still left with statements such as "unlike any living creature I have seen •.. ", "rising from the Thames on outspread wings. •• ", " the front half looked like an eagle, I saw a long tail and claws like a cat." London Weekend Television's 'spoof send-up' on 15th March fell flat on its face, with Cockney 'personality' Danny Baker openly admitting before an audience of several million that the witnesses he had interviewed were genuine. Such unprecedented honesty on his part seemed more than at odds with LWT's obvious intention to send the whole thing up. Since the television coverage, Brentford has found itself playing reluctant host to all manner of fringe elements. Andy Collins of 'Green S tone' notoriety arrived hotfoot, with ghetto-blaster, Instamatic, and the usual bevy of nubile lady acolytes. Viewpoint Aquarius stated that it was a 'genetic mutation' escaped from a government establishment, and the Chiswick Wildlife Trust offered the considered opinion that it was noth1ng more than a four-legged vulture blown off course! In fact, Speculation on all sides led to such an astonishing plethora of 'logical explanations' (the logic of which defies all explanation) that one is left to consider the indisputable fact that it is a gryphin pure and simple - a species of animal as yet unstudied and therefore considered non-existent. One can certainly discount John Rimmer's recent ' authoritative article,' which suggests that it is Brentford's old friend, the giant feral Tom, making yet another of its unwelcome nocturnal appearances. Mr. Rimmer would do well to explain how the famous 5-foot pussy manages to grow upwards of 8-foot, sprout wings and fly across the Thames. I note with growing alarm the plan of some local stalwarts to instigate a gryphon hunt one night in the near future. I hear talk of a flotilla of small boats, tracker dogs, powerful searchlights, steel nets, and tranquilizing darts. The plucky Brentonians would do well to exercise extreme caution, as the beast is notorious for its ferocity and love of human flesh. It is my feeling that the matter should be placed in the hands of the experts. But I am sure also that it will require private backing, as the local council has shown its customary reticence in raising the necessary funds, even for so worthy a cause. Whatever the eventual outcome, I cannot contain the thrill that rises at the prospect of a successful capture. Such would be a rare achievement indeed. I look forward with great interest to future developments. Magonia welcomes any correspondence on this interesting subject and is eager to contact anyone who has had a personal experience with a gryphon or any other form of creature previously believed to be mythical”.

Skeptically speaking, there are many ways to interpret this case. Robert Rankin, one of perhaps three main players in the saga of the Brentford Griffin and the one who wrote the most about the case, was a comedic fantasy writer best known for eleven books known as the Brentford Trilogy, which deal with all sorts of paranormal and supernatural events that affected Brentford. It is known that Robert Rankin, who focused heavily on publicizing the Griffin, came forward in 1995 and said that most if not all of the reports of the Griffin were perpetrated by him as a kind of joke. So taking just that report at face value, most if not all the information on the Griffin straight out, is a hoax. The reason for this hoax was said to be that Robert Rankin and several other locals had planned to hold a Festival in the Waterman's Art center on July 13, 1985. Yet this date would coincide with Live AID, which was taking place at Wembley Stadium, and to raise awareness of their event, they concocted the story about the Griffin being seen around the arts center with all of the witnesses being involved in Rankin's joke and Rankin then proceeded to write a historical background of the creature. Now, this would seem to be the final nail in the coffin for the Griffin, except that in 1985 during these sightings, Andrew Collins investigated and interviewed as many eyewitnesses as he could and felt that they were indeed truthful. He ended up publishing his findings in a 42-page pamphlet entitled The Brentford Griffin: The Truth Behind the Tales. So, it’s possible that at least the initial encounter with the Griffin was based on an actual sighting.

Another possibility is that at least with Chippendale's sightings, if they are not a part of Rankin's acclaimed joke that perhaps he predisposed the image of the Griffin on a natural bird or plane or kite having passed by the Griffin Brewery, which also is near the Griffin Stadium where Brentford's football team play and also that two Griffin's are on Brentford's coat of arms so perhaps he had Griffins on the brain and affitted the description to something mundane. Or even possibly hallucinated the creature due to all the surrounding Griffin influence but this seems less likely compared to being either interconnected with a hoax or having seen a real creature since a lot of Chippendale’s description while Griffin like is not 100% how a griffin is supposed to look and if one were to generate a hoax why wouldn't they go full out and describe the creature as the classical depiction? This, too, would, of course, add to the joke hypothesis even more if one was to say they saw a classic regal griffin and not the more flying canine or lion-type creature. Yet, of course, this still does not rule out Chippendale being interconnected with a hoax.

Now assuming that, at the very least, Chippendale's sighting is authentic, what are we to make of it? Well, the most obvious answer would be that this would have to be some sort of cryptid. There's nothing really to indicate any other major categories, such as there's no UFO sighted in connection with the creature as it quite is its own Unidentified Flying Object, so it's safe to take an extraterrestrial angle off the table. Griffins, from a folkloric or mythological view, first appeared primarily in the literature of the Greeks but first appeared in Aristeas’s lost epic poem the Arimaspea in 675 BC and then showed up repeatedly in the works of Greek playwright Aeschylus in his tragedies like Prometheus Bound. Griffins also showed up in Scythian artwork and gold dating from 3000-100BC, implying that these creatures, if real, were well known or prominent in Mediterranean and Asian culture for countless years. Griffin-like creatures are not entirely unknown in the world of cryptozoology; one of the most famous examples would be the 1925 flap of sightings of a creature that has come to be known as the Vermont Awful. This creature terrorized the towns of Berkshire and Richford as it tromped on rooftops, stole milk cans, and stared at residents through their windows. The creature even reached the ears of cosmic horror author H.P. Lovecraft who was so interested in the creature that he went to the area and interviewed the residents who had seen the creature.

A similar creature was reported sometime later, but this time it was lumped into a different cryptozoological identity, and that was the Jersey Devil. In the late 1920s, there was a report of another quadrupedal flying creature that the press were quick to call a "flying lion" that was seen in West Orange, NJ. This encounter led to the creature being chased by several would-be monster hunters who allegedly not only chased the creature away but also found and captured one of the creature's offspring. Yet further information on this case is scant, to say the least. It is interesting, however, to point out that a flying lion is very similar to what was reported in Brentford, as well as in the Griffin lore, the Griffin is half eagle and half lion, so this report might very well be another example of a Griffin sighting. And as a sidebar, note the fifth example, at least to my current knowledge, of a creature from Greek Myth being reported in New Jersey.

Another creature slightly similar to what was reported in Brentford is the Beast of Barrisdale. This tri-legged flying Waterhorse tormented the area of Loch Hourn on the land while a colossal black serpent frolicked in the lake. The Beast of Barrisdale was described as about the size of a horse or ox and with a myriad of similar features to what we see on the Brentford Griffin, such as large wings attached to the shoulders, smooth skin, a long muzzle like feature, pawed hands and a long tail so perhaps they may be the same species or a related one. For more information on the Beast of Barrisdale, definitely check my February 2, 2021 article on the creature.

Now, of course, while all of these creature reports seem to indicate a biological flesh and blood animal, and while there always is the chance something evolved to be like what these creatures seem to be, the problem with this is that we have nothing in the fossil record or known zoological record that matches. Wings are essentially modified arms and hands to allow the capacity of flight with creatures like the Beast of Barrisdale, the Awful, and the Brentford Griffin; this is not what we're seeing, as this would imply that all of these creatures would have evolved with 6 limbs four which evolved like legs and two that were modified as wings. This is something unheard of in vertebrates as it goes against everything we know about how evolution works. The only way something like this could exist is if these creatures were not mammals, birds, or reptiles but instead colossal insects, which totally goes against their descriptions. So, needless to say, there are some problems with the earthbound cryptid theory.

Now the next possibility for the existence of the Brentford Griffin would be if this is an interdimensional entity. This theory is sort of an extension to the cryptid theory, but instead of them coming from our world, these creatures somehow, through some fluke of the universe or dimensions or whatever, somehow end up entering and being seen in our world. This theory could explain just how a creature like this could exist as with multiple dimensions, there are an infinite amount of possible evolutionary lines and "worlds" where a creature like this could exist.

The next possibility seems kind of slim, but it's one that I speculate all the time about with such strange cases, and that is the Fae option. Faeries are a mixed bag of phenomena and involve creatures of an animal nature like the Cu-Sith or Cat Sith as well as the Kelpie and Each Usiage and even the Dobhar-Chu. Now some folklorists and faerieologists will include the Griffin as well as Dragons and Unicorns into the classification of Fae due to the alleged mystical and magical abilities they are said to have and the fact that they occasionally are seen with, in service of, or in some connection to more traditional Fae like Elves or Dwarves. Now with a creature like a Griffin, if this is an example of a faerie beast, they would have some of the same abilities seen with others, like the ability to vanish. Now there's nothing exactly to indicate that with this case, nor is there any direct faerie connection, such as in the case of the Bridgemont Gnome Race where the faerie horses are seen with gnomes.

Now there’s one possibility that seems so off the track for a phenomenon like this but does occasionally become interconnected, and that is the demonic. Irish paranormal investigator Elliot O'Donnell in his book "Dangerous Ghosts," wrote about a curious encounter with a pair of homicidal supernatural griffins from around the 1660s; he wrote the following regarding the incident where a Mr. John Luck encountered the entities:

“(Mr John Luck) a farmer from Raveley, set out on horseback one morning to the annual fair at Whittlesea. On the way he met a friend, with whom he had a drink at a wayside inn. After drinking somewhat heavily Mr. Luck became very merry and perceiving that his friend was getting restless and desirous of continuing on his way to the fair, he said, "let the devil take him who goeth out of this house today ."The more he drank the merrier he grew. Forgetful of his rash saying, he called for his horse and set out for the fair. The fresh air seemed to have a sobering effect, for he had not travelled very far before he remembered what he had said. He was naturally superstitious and became so perturbed that he lost his bearings. He was endeavoring to find the way home- it was getting dusk and far too late to go to the fair- when he espied ‘two grim creatures before him in the likeness of griffins’. They handled him roughly, took him into the air, stripped him, and then dropped him, a sad spectacle, all gory, in a farmyard just outside the town of Doddington. There he found himself lying on the harrows. He was picked up and carried to a house which belonged to a neighboring gentleman. When he had recovered sufficiently to talk he related what had happened to him. Before long, he 'grew into a frenzy', so desperate that the inmates of the house were afraid to stay in the room with him. Convinced that Luck was under evil influences, they sent for a clergyman of the town. No sooner had the clergyman entered the house than Luck, howling like a demon, rushed at him and would have torn him to pieces had not the servants of the house come to his rescue. They succeeded with great difficulty in overcoming Luck and tying him to the bed. No one was allowed to enter his room, the door of which was locked".

The following day Luck was found dead. His body was contorted, and his neck was snapped; he was covered in black and blue marks, and his tongue was dangling from out his gapping maw. A scene not unsimilar to what those seeing Anneliese Michels had seen. Now, this is the only official instance I found of a demonic griffin, but the idea of a mythological creature as a demon is something that has been referenced time and time again by some religious Forteans. So, needless to say, it is a hypothesis we need to include.

With creatures like this, we are left wondering just how could something like this exist in our world. It would be easy to accept the whole series of encounters as hoaxes, but there's so much gray in this encounter that I'm open to saying that there probably was something there, at least in regard to the Kevin Chippendale sightings. Just what this being could be, I have no conclusive idea, but I would lean more towards the cryptid hypothesis seeing as similar creatures have been reported elsewhere, but even then, there's nothing to confirm that hypothesis either. Perhaps the interdimensional route is the more appropriate. I've mentioned that there have been several creatures seemingly ripped from the pages of myth; perhaps there is a dimension where all of these entities originate from, and it is a world where mythology as we know it is reality, yet as with everything this is just speculation. In conclusion, I feel that the story of the Brentford Griffin will continue to be told as long as people still hold mysteries in their hearts and as long as there are researchers to write and keep the story alive, but the answer to this mystery will never truly be discovered.

Quick Facts:

Species/Potential Species: Mammal/ Bird/ Possible Hoax

Location: Brentford, England

Sighted: Mid 1984-1985

Works Cited:

Encounters With Flying Humanoids By Ken Gerhard

London Urban Legends By Scott Wood

Mysterious Creatures Volume One by George M. Eberhart

Paranormal London By Neil Arnold

Shadows in the Sky: The Haunted Airways of Britain By Neil Arnold

Fortean Times Issue 110, May 1998

Magonia 19, May 1985

Acton Gazette (Ealing, London, England) March 15, 1985

Acton Gazette (Ealing, London, England) August 16, 1985

Ealing Gazette (Ealing, London, England) March 22, 1985

“The Brentford Griffin” Beasts of London.April 6, 2007.http://beastsoflondon.blogspot.com/2007/04/brentford-griffin.html. Accessed May 25, 2022.

“The Brentford Griffin and Other Mysteries”. St. Margarets.7 May 2009. https://stmargarets.london/archives/2009/05/the_brentford_griffin_and_other_mysteries.html. Accessed May 25, 2022.

 

 

Raystown Ray

 Raystown Ray

By Cole Herrold

Sketch of the Creature by Author

In my article on the Wolf Pond Monster, I had written about the struggle I had in trying to find a Pennsylvania lake monster. The Wolf Pond Monster was the only creature of this variety ever mentioned and for many years thought that this was the only creature that we could truly count as a Pennsylvania Nessie. It wasn't until some years later when reading Ken Gerhard's, A Menagerie of Mysterious Beasts, that a new page would be added to my knowledge of aquatic Pennsylvanian monstrosities. The book described a creature in Raystown Lake dubbed Raystown Ray.

Raystown Lake is a lake nestled in the wooded regions of Huntington County. The lake is twenty-eight miles long or 8,300 acres and can reach a maximum depth of two hundred feet. The lake was made in 1905 by the US Army Corps of Engineers when a dam was created to help maintain flooding. In 1971 the dam was updated. The lake stretches like a long winding serpent, and both the Susquehanna River and the Juniata river connect the man-made lake to the Atlantic Ocean. The lake is an ideal fishing and water sports location and home to striped bass, trout, catfish, Atlantic salmon, perch, crappie, muskellunge, panfish, walleye, and possibly something mysterious.

Photo I took of Raystown Lake during my first trip to the lake in 2018

The creature known as Raystown Ray is described as a large serpentine type creature that is said to be approximately 20ft in length. The creature is often described as slow-moving and dark in color. Not unlike most known reported lake monsters. Ray is believed to be either a vegetarian eating the known vegetation at the bottom of the lake or a carnivore feeding on the fish that dwell in the lake. Yet Ray has not been known to be too shy of people, unlike other lake monsters.

Ray was officially first sighted in 1962.  This sighting almost resulted in the canceling of the Raystown Ski Club Water Show. The creature was described as approximately fifty feet in length and was seen swimming in the area where the show was supposed to occur. The creature is often described as a stereotypical lake monster with a long serpentine neck and reptile-like head. On a website called Raystown Ray, which is dedicated to researching and sharing information on the lake monster, has two photos of something large and dark swimming in the water. One is black and white with an old-time boat in the foreground and a dark figure in the back under the water. The second appears to of been taken in the 60s or 70s and also shows an undefined figure under the water. While all this is interesting and should be included as a portion of the evidence for the beast, it does need to be said that we live in a technological age where videos, photos, and even audio can be faked extremely easily with tools like photoshop. So, I take these particular images with a grain of salt.

 While the 60s water ski sighting is the most regurgitated in the few books that do manage to mention him, Ray's history is as shrouded in darkness as the water he dwells in. Aside from this account, in the 60s, Ray was supposedly seen on and off throughout the time all the way to the modern-day, but any sighting from 1963 till 1994 is unaccounted and uncatalogued. Whether these accounts were told in hush tones by the townsfolk and city-goers that surround the lake is likely, but unfortunately, there are no written accounts detailing these encounters. Many who are locals acknowledge that the creature was seen during this time, but no one seems to have any specifics.

July of 1994 marks the first of modern accounts of Raystown Ray. John R. Pendel of Pittsburgh at 9 am was out on a boat cruise on the placid lake on this July day. It was his first time on the lake. He had come up to enjoy the rich woodland areas around the lake and do some camping. His friend commandeered him, his wife, and his friend's wife and mother, and father-in-law to join him on his boat. Surely not wanting to miss such an opportunity on such a warm day, the six-set off on the nautical trip. The boat coasted through the water at 20 knots. He and his wife stood on the stern of the boat, looking out at the tranquil water while his friend and his family were on the bow. His friend navigating the boat was truly in his element, drinking coffee and even having idle chit chat with him while he steered the floating vessel. They had been on the water for a mere twenty or twenty-five minutes when all of a sudden, there was a disturbance on the water about forty or fifty feet away. Dark ripples occurred and broke the stillness. It was then that the ripples extended, and a large black, slimy, form arose and seemed to spin on the surface. This dark form was as long as at least 10-12ft long. The creature, after a short time, descended and returned to the murky abyss below. John's friend shut the boat off in amazement of this maritime visitor. Three of the six saw the creature and were at a loss for words after their encounter. Returning to the shore, they told the other campers about their encounter and were unsurprisingly ridiculed about their "fish story." Yet evidence of the creature would appear partially vindicating John's account; it would just take twelve years.

A photograph was taken in 2006- 2007 by a fisherman who saw the creature from the other side of the lake on a marina. It has since become famous and, in many ways, is the Mansi Photo of PA. Those who believe in the existence of Ray point to this particular piece of evidence as to the best evidence for the creature. Yet there are those who, upon viewing the photo, believe it to be a hoax or, much like the Mansi photo, believed to be a piece of serpentine driftwood. Regardless of the conclusion of the photo, though throughout 2006, Ray had a decent string of sightings during the spring and summer months. Adding a touch of verification to the photo.

On May 14, 2006, an individual known only as John reported that at 2:00 am. He noticed a long dark form swimming approximately forty yards away. He and his friend stared at this slow-moving monstrosity and estimated its total length to be about 8-12ft. The two attempting to get a better look at the creature since they could not make out ahead or any other feature, decided two shine a flashlight at the unknown beast, and upon doing so, the creature proceeded to duck back down into murky brine.

 On June 16^th, 2006, Lee, Lea, and their family had a sighting of what they believe to be Raystown Ray on the last day of their vacation in the area. While on their boat, which was docked near Panther Cove. They saw a strange shape approximately one hundred yards behind their boat. The object slowly swam away from the boaters and proceeded to make its way just behind what is known as Marty's Island—finally disappearing out of sight as it entered a small inlet. Unlike many who encountered the strange and unusual Lee, Lea and their kin were extremely thrilled by their encounter, finding it to be an appropriately fitting end for their vacation.

On June 20, 2006, a witness known as Walter G. was out fishing across from the 7 points marina. It was early in the day, and the sun had just started to make the lake seem like a lively world as opposed to a dark, dank stagnant pool. The fish were beginning to jump as though in tune with the song of the sun. While enjoying the sight and setting up for the day, he noticed a very peculiar fish that began to surface. It caught his attention, for this particular animal seemed to have risen to the surface and grab a stick floating in the water in its mouth. Originally thinking it might be a musky, he began to watch it closer and took several notes about its size and description. He noted that the stick was around three to four feet in length itself.  He could see the creature was around the same length as the stick out of the water. He described it as though a massive leg had come out of the water and grabbed the branch.  

The next Ray sighting would take place a little over two years after Walter’s. On a bright sunny August 3, 2008, Mike Seiber, his girlfriend, and parents were just getting off the lake after enjoying the day water skiing. As they began taking the skis out of the water to dry, Mike heard his girlfriend cry out, "Look its Raystown Ray! "spinning around to see what she was talking about, Mike ran in to the shock of his life. There out in the water, was the picturesque visage of a head and neck sticking three to four feet out of the water. The animal was moving serenely towards a boat coming into a no-wake zone at the 7 points marina. They watched the animal for about three minutes observing wakes coming from the head and neck and wakes coming from some unseen section of the body 15-20ft behind as the creature grew closer to the boat whether its curiosity was satiated or that it was done being admired proceeded to dip back down into the darkness.

In late August 2008, Penny Foor had an encounter with the creature, which could have ended badly. One night she and an anonymous cohort had decided to go out on the lake for a little night fishing. They were near what is known as the Senoi sites, which is just a short distance from the 7 Points Marina. Penny and her companion had, in the way of turning the tides in their favor in their fishing, decided to try and use what is known as a "fish drawing light." Essentially it is a bright-colored light that attracts fish. The light is held with a weight and a 30ft rope to hoist the light back when the fishing has concluded. The two dropped their light into the murky depths and proceeded to do the patient waiting that all who have done this outdoors activity know. The water that night while they waited looked like black glass, reflective yet still obscuring the world underneath. It was as though the world was holding its breath while they waited. There was only calm. No breezes to distort the surface, just silence, and serenity.

It was around 11 or 12 that night when the two friends had decided they wanted to head in from the night as there seemed to be no fish out in this area. The two getting up from the stern were about to pack everything up when all of a sudden they heard a great whooshing sound as though water had been dispelled by something. The two, thinking it was a boat, paid no real mind to this oddity. Until the sound continued, and as they looked into the murky darkness realized that there were no lights or motorized noise or anything that would indicate that a boat was drawing near. Just the whooshing sounds of something moving in the water. Penny's friend got up, grabbed a spotlight, and there about 100 feet away was the answer to their query. There coming towards them was a large mass like an overturned canoe. It was enormous, but the most unsettling thing about it was that it was picking up speed and coming straight for their boat. It was at that moment that Penny's compatriot had yelled, "Penny, get the fish light up now! Get it up!" In the ruckus, Penny had forgotten about the fish light, but in a swift motion, her hand grabbed the coarse rope and frantically began to trudge the rope up as the creature continued to get closer and closer to their boat. Her friend monitored the beast's movement with the aid of the spotlight and watched as the creature kept coming nearer. Penny struggling to get the rope and light into the boat, eventually manage to feel the cold, wet plastic and grab it aboard. As soon as the device was in her hands, she shut the glowing tool off. The two stood there watching the beast as it got within 30 ft of their boat. The creature seemed to slow, and as suddenly as it came, it dipped back down into the darkness. The boat rocked from the waves as this creature submerged. The boat bobbed and rocked and was moved by the force of the wake of this beast that they were almost to shore. The two, then on the safety of dry land, tried to make sense of their encounter, yet even with all their experience on the water and with rod and reel in hand, they had no idea what it could be.

 In March of 2009, another supposed photo of Ray was taken. This photo shows the back or the hump of a strange creature. It is similar to sketches drawn by Tim Dinsdale of the Loch Ness Monster's back, as well as bearing a strong resemblance to the Van Lake Monster video. The dark gray slick or slimy color, however, is much like that seen with videos of Canadian lake monsters like Ogopogo. Now I must say while the photo is interesting, there is the chance it could be an otter diving in the water since the motion is similar to what has been reported with lake monsters swimming.

On August 29^th, 2009, a father and son from Altoona were out fishing on the lake one cool summer evening. It was around 6:45, and the two, after a long day of enjoying the tranquility of the Snydertown section of the lake, had decided to call it quits and proceeded to return to their boat launch. While crossing the section heading south on the lake, the father had noticed that his son was trying to get his attention. His offspring was pointing towards where the western shore on this particular section of the lake was where there appeared a great disturbance on the water. The terrified son and father watched in awe as a black serpentine form was seen writhing up and down in the water. The father to observe this anomaly proceeded much to the discomfort of his son to approach this strange object. Turning off the motor and grabbing his binoculars, the man, through the magnified view, proceeded to see the creature in full detail from fifty yards away. The creature he said moved with a great many humps or snake-like coils swimming, not unlike the stereotypical sea serpent. The animal, interestingly enough, bore no fins and had a diamond-shaped head much like an eel or snake, however with however the son would later add catfish like barbs or whiskers of a brighter color on the face and bottom of the jaw. Yet unlike these aforementioned species, this particular creature had small dark slanted eyes that were located on the front of the face and not on the side like a reptile or fish. The animal he said was around twenty feet in length and was silent as it moved its head from side to side as it came up from the depths. The father, during this time, had attempted to take a photo of the beast, but due to the distance and color, the creature seemed to blend into its environment, and the subject of the image became indiscernible. The father and son watched this monstrosity for about two to three minutes before the creature just as quickly and silently as it came submerged into the calm lake.  This account is perhaps the most detailed and interesting account I have come across with this particular aquatic enigma. The description is very hodgepodge. It is similar to a black snake, catfish, eel, and of course, plesiosaur.

In May of 2015, Stephen Holoviak, while camping near Senoia, would report seeing a strange occurrence that fateful spring. Holoviak, who had often thought the tale of Ray was a cute bedtime story for children and a quaint folktale, had spent several times out near the lake and decided while camping to go look for other spots for him and his wife to set up camp for later trips in the summer. When reaching the top of one particular hill, he stopped and stood to enjoy the view. While looking out on the lake and the surrounding woodlands, his attention was drawn to a disturbance on the lake. This long-form was slowly meandering its way towards the closest marina. He stood awestruck and, when posting his account on the Raystown Ray website, summed it up like this "Lots of room for doubt here for anyone reading this.  But it creates a space for adventure while I keep an eye out on all my subsequent visits.”.

A lot of explanations for what Ray is have occurred over the years, and of course, they've gone from log or branch in the water, boat wakes, natural optical illusions like otters swimming in tandem, fish, a swimmer, vegetarian plesiosaur, catfish, sturgeon, musky, and of course the whimsy and overactive imagination of man.

One supposed explanation for Ray's existence is a common one for cryptids, and that is the old circus train motif. Most people familiar with cryptids will know the tale, but for those who don't, it goes a little something like this. Apparently, circus trains were the most accident-prone trains in locomotion history. The resulting cataclysms ended with the circus's animal occupants escaping their cages and boxcars and meandering their way into the woods to breed with each other or start colonies. It’s an old folkloric trope; it even shows up in pop culture like in The Rugrats Movie, and it has been used to explain creatures as varied as big cat sightings, the Pope Lick Monster, the Beaman Monster, and of course Raystown Ray.

Ken Gerhard, along with Bill Hoolahan, Phil Abernathy, and Dr. Cheska Burleson, had conducted a search for the creature at one point. Their entire expedition was briefly cataloged in A Menagerie of Mysterious Beasts, which is probably my personal favorite book by Gerhard and a must-have for any wanting a truly useful tome. Their expedition came up empty, and their quarry, it seems, managed to evade them. Lake monster research is much more difficult than one would realize; true, the animals are technically trapped in one location, but they are still moving targets not bound to any of our whims.  It was after reading this investigation that I had decided at one point or another to try to research this phenomenon at least once in the field.

It was 2018, and I had just gotten back from a paranormal road trip, which was down to Kecksburg, PA, Point Pleasant, and Flatwoods, West Virginia. I was tired but receiving my schedule for the next week at my job, I had discovered I had off for an additional two days. I figured I'd take a day research trip to a location near me. Going through my files, which at the time was about four manilla folders and an ungodly amount of post-it notes and notecards, I came across the waterways folder, which included all the aquatic denizens supposed to dwell in the state and while flipping through beasts like Ogua and Lake Erie's monster I came across my file on Ray. Raystown lake is about two hours from my home, and I figured it would be a nice time out in nature and a unique chance to study something not focused on by a lot of researchers.

My first stop on my research trip was the Raystown Lake Visitor's Center. Which much like a variety of wildlife visitor's centers I had visited either for other cryptozoological or camping trips bore an exquisite amount of exhibits about the formation of the lake, the local flora and fauna, and of course, a gift shop. While entering and looking through the pamphlets for some information, I was approached by two younger women working at the front desk. I told them my reason for visiting the lake and asked them whether they knew about a supposed footprint that was on display. One of the girls led me to the gift shop where hanging on a wall alongside the famed 2006 picture was a plastered three-toed track of what was supposedly Raystown Ray's big foot.

The track was interesting, but my thoughts were similar to what Ken Gerhard wrote in his book; it seemed suspicious and totally unlike what had been reported. True other lake monsters like Champ and Nessie have been reported on land from time to time, but this track was more dinosaur-like than a marine reptile. The track reminded me almost of those Mokele-Mbembe were supposed to make in shape but dwarfed in size and certainly not as deep as a creature Ray’s size should be. The cast, though, was odd for another reason, unlike the countless tracks of bigfoot where you can hold it, and it looks like a footprint. This looked more like a mold, as though someone made a copy of a cast. I inquired about the track a little bit more to the girls, but they really couldn't tell me too much about it in particular, but they did tell me that many people see this animal in the summer and not in the winter, which I took a note of and found interesting.

Photos of the Alleged Track of Raystown Ray. Top original photo. Bottom the outlined impressioned track

While there, I had also examined the photo of Ray, and it looked too good. There's a real Sturgeon's Photo-esque quality to it when you see it either online or in person. It looks just detailed enough to possibly be a real animal but just undefined enough to possibly be a misidentified log. It has none of the quality that the Bodette film or the Sandra Mansi photo, which to me are the BEST evidence of a large yet to be discovered aquatic lake monster. Yet the photo is interesting none the less.

In 2010 the SYFY television show Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files actually did an episode attempting to recreate the famous 2006-2007 photo as well as investigate the lake. When recreating the photo, they made a very close duplicate with a log, so there is a very good chance that was the answer to the photo’s mystery. However, even though it was a close match, there is still the possibility that it could have been a biological creature. I tend to think it probably is not Ray, however, and that the team probably came to the correct conclusion.

The alleged photograph of Raystown Ray

One thing I did notice about the area where the footprint and photo were kept was that there was a surprising lack of merchandise for Ray. When researching the sightings, I came across the Raystown Ray website, and my skeptical ears perked when I saw that the creature's name was both copyrighted and trademarked—arriving at the center though I found two patches that had drastically different depictions of Ray, one depicting a cartoon sea serpent and the other an herbivorous otter like plesiosaur type creature. Of course, I purchased both for my collection, yet looking everywhere else in the gift shop, there were no t-shirts or bumper stickers or plushes or anything else to market the creature that might give off an air of commercial tourism.

While visiting places like Lake Champlain, Flatwoods, Whitehall, and Point Pleasant, it seemed you couldn't walk five feet without running into some merch plastered with the town's local legend. While I love it, and I believe in all the towns and locales mentioned that they did encounter the creatures supposed to live in the area. I can see why people can be skeptical that these creatures are made to make a quick buck by the town. Raystown lake does not seem to be doing that, at least in the area where I visited, which adds a curious bouquet of potential authenticity to it.

Leaving the visitor’s center, I began searching the wooded areas around the lake. There were several paths made by the forest service, but due to logging, the area in some sections was in total upheaval. My main focus was to look for any extremely large game trails. If Ray is a semiaquatic creature, there should be areas where he'd frequent to come in and out of the lake or for food. I found very little indications of anything as big as what Ray was supposed to be coming ashore, at least in the area where I searched. I picked an area where the trees were thinly spread, and marsh plants grew so I could see out onto the lake as well since this creature has almost entirely been seen in the lake. I kept glancing up at the water, searching for anything strange or peculiar, but nothing ever occurred, at least while I was there.

While there, I found plenty of evidence of animals in the woods and along the coast like deer, various birds, squirrels, and all the other usual forest dwellers. I looked out upon the waters and, taking the glorious view in. began the long trek back to my car and to go get something to eat. Sitting at the restaurant, I looked through all the evidence, accounts and began to formulate what this creature could be. I looked at all the pre-established possibilities, and I decided the creature could be narrowed down to the following possibilities.

I knew right away a plesiosaur or some other prehistoric marine reptile was off the table. While I'd love for that to be the case with this creature, it would be an impossibility. A large marine reptile, even if it came up from the ocean, swam through the Susquehanna, and somehow made its way to Raystown lake, would have several obstacles. The main being the countless dams the creature somehow would have had to pass. The second being able to escape the attention of the countless people on the Susquehanna. The third being that this creature would need a breeding population to survive, and with all the previous obstacles, a pod of Plesiosaurs or Elasmosaurs would be even more difficult that someone would have seen or reported at least one sighting. The Susquehanna has had its share of strange mysteries from reports of alligators to aquatic humanoids but nothing like a prehistoric reptile.

Another thing is this creature either spends its entire life in water or is semiaquatic, coming into the water only for food and to cool off. Most of the sightings, while skeptically speaking could be sticks or debris of some kind, seem to appear to be a long dark overturned boat or serpent shape. These accounts are not unlike some reports of Nessie and other aquatic lake monsters. Yet some sightings, primarily the August 29^th case, the witnesses had an excellent look at the creature, so this clearly is some kind of biological species. So, with that said, that opens a lot of doors.

Looking for suspects for a creature yet unknown to science is kind of like playing Guess Who? where both players are blindfolded. There's a very good chance you can come up with a possible option that would work, but then there's a whole section of gray of things you've never even considered or thought about. This seems to be a constant trend with cryptids, yet those that live in aquatic biomes seem to have tons of possibilities. If you look at a lot of the older books on the loch ness monster, the possibilities were everything from eel, snail, plesiosaur, ancient invertebrate, giant fish, salamander, giant seal, elephant, and so on. Some clearly are very good possibilities, and then there are others that are truly a shot in the dark.

With Raystown Ray, I tried to think of what would be the most plausible and seeing that this is a man-made lake, what could have been either introduced or through mutation or even natural processes reach the length Ray is supposed to grow. My list ultimately was brought down to five possible subjects, but even with these, there is room for other possibilities, just not a plesiosaur.

One major possibility that I'm very fond of as an explanation for a lot of lake monster sightings, in general, is that of a giant turtle. The giant turtle is a hypothesis with some cryptozoological history in regard to lakes. The most famous giant turtle was an account with a creature known as the Beast of Churubusco or Oscar of Falk Lake. The turtle was described as a giant snapping turtle with a shell as large as a dinner table. The giant turtle theory could explain the shape of the creature’s body, which appears like an overturned boat, and the footprint, if authentic, that resides at the visitor center. I have entertained the giant turtle theory on more than one occasion for other lake monsters like the Lake Leelanau Monster of Michigan. Now, this on the further end of the table in regard to a possible answer to this creature mainly because Ray seems to be more serpentine in form than round or box-like like a turtle. Also, when looking at the most detailed encountered by the father and son, the head had a kind of "whiskers" for lack of a better word. Now turtles are not known for having whiskers, but these whiskers might not be something actually attached to the body and maybe some river scum or vegetation the creature was eating but taking the encounter as is this most likely is not the answer.

A more likely answer is that Ray could be a kind of giant snake. Pennsylvania is riddled with cryptid serpents. The amount of supposed giant snakes in Pennsylvania is enough to fill up every reptile zoo in the continental united states. From the most famous member of this serpentine squadron, the Broad Top Serpent, to the Devil's Den snake in Gettysburg, to the Wolf Pond Monster, which is another aquatic denizen, to countless giant black snakes that have supposedly been killed by those who had encountered them. Pennsylvania is probably the cryptid snake capital of the United States. A giant snake could really explain what people are seeing in Raystown Lake. Ray's color is usually described as a dark black or gray. Many reports of the giant snakes in Pennsylvania coincidentally enough are also typically described as solid black in color. Snakes do, from time to time, enjoy slithering and cooling off in the water and the most famous species being the Anaconda. Ray, though seems more aquatic than the typical snake and usually dives or only has its back out of the water as opposed to the entire form. Also, much like with the giant turtle hypothesis, when looking at the father and son's account of the face, it bears some resemblance to a snake in the shape of it but has two features that sort of don't match. The eyes being placed in the front is more of a predatory mammal quality than a reptile as snake's eyes are set almost on the sides. Also, much like turtles’ snakes do not have anything that could be perceived as whiskers.

With the most detailed encounter, the whisker feature seemed to be the most startling and hard-pressed answer to this creature. So, viewing it in these standards, I looked at it this way this creature usually comes to the surface it looks like an upturned boat. It has a whiskered face and eyes that seem to be towards the front of the face. The shape and whiskers seemed to indicate that this creature could be a kind of giant catfish. Giant catfish are a common cryptozoological creature reported in a variety of locations around the world. They are a product of both fact and fish stories, and the cryptozoological variety is in the gray area in between. Pennsylvania is no stranger to cryptid giant catfish. The Monongahela River is home to one such beast the creature dubbed Ogua is either described as a semi-aquatic reptilian beast or a giant catfish, yet most reports seem to be of the latter. Catfish are native to Raystown Lake and would be a logical answer to this mystery, especially if one grew to the twenty feet that Ray is supposed to be. Another reason this might be the answer is with Penny Foor's encounter. In this encounter, the "fish light," if authentic, attracted the animal until it was brought aboard the boat and subsequently turned off. If this device does attract fish, a giant catfish, too, would be prey to its siren's song. While there are a lot of reasons, this could be a plausible answer. There, of course, are reasons that it cant. Catfish cannot come onto land, so if the footprint is authentic, a catfish simply cannot be the answer. Another thing is that the general shape that the creature is seen is serpentine in form and that there is no report of a dorsal fin, which catfish do have. A sturgeon would be more plausible in that way, but sturgeon are not native to the lake and also do not match the reports seen.

Another fishy contender to what Ray could be is a giant eel. Giant eels are a classic explanation for lake monster mysteries. In fact, a recent eDNA study of Loch Ness seems to hint that this might be the case. Their appearance is serpentine, and many have a kind of whisker-like appendage that protrudes from the sides of the mouth. These match a lot of the depictions of Ray. Eels assumedly would also be attracted to a light specifically made for the attraction of fish. Eels, though, tend not to swim with their necks up in the air like what has been reported in a few of the sightings. Also, the footprint paradox of a more terrestrial beast makes the eel an unlikely candidate. The father and son's account also seemed to indicate, and an excessive amount of whiskers, which is different than what eels of this variety would have.

While aquatic and reptilian contenders are a possibility, there is one other that I feel is a bit of a stretch but could be what is seen, and that is a giant otter. In Ireland, there is a creature known as the Dobhar-Chu it is essentially a massive otter around six feet in length and extremely aggressive. A similar aquatic creature seen in old petroglyphs of Mexican and Central America is of the Ahuizotl, a semi-aquatic otter-like creature with a penchant for consuming the eyes, teeth, and fingernails of its victims. A giant beaver-like creature is reported to lurk in Bear lake along with its serpentine inhabitant. So, a giant aquatic mammal is something not unheard of in the world of cryptozoology. There's even a hypothesis of what is called the Seal-serpent, the idea that a lot of the plesiosaur type creatures are actually giant seals or other pinnipeds and that that could explain both why and how they can live in such frigid environments and why they bear a resemblance to plesiosaurs. A giant otter could fit the bill seeing as that Ray is supposedly semiaquatic and that its shape is long serpentine and sleek, not unlike the otter. Even the father and son's description or whiskers and forward-facing eyes seem to depict something more mammalian than what is classically depicted. With that said, if this were a 20 ft otter, it would be frequently seen more on land, and almost all of the sightings of Ray are in the water. If Ray were a mammal, he also would have to come up to breathe much more than what the sightings seem to indicate, which seem to be a more fish-like creature or something with better lung capacity than an otter.

The final possibility is an as of yet undiscovered species more different than any of the other options. This seems to be the least likely plausible option. I would bet that this creature if it does exist, is something previously mentioned a giant new species of a similar species we already know exists. A semiaquatic long-necked whiskered tri clawed creature is something that does not fit nicely into anything we know exists. If this creature, though, is something new and yet uncatalogued, it would be an important scientific find. A species that possibly evolved in a similar way to marine reptiles, now whether this is an amphibian, mammal, reptile, or even some kind of strange lungfish or mudskipper is anyone's guess. It is a possibility that one must entertain until either a more mundane answer can be found or that one of the previously stated alternative possibilities proves to be correct.

The idea of a new undiscovered species in a man-made lake is something that really has a lot of problems. This is extrapolated to an even bigger issue when dealing with Ray or Rays. Yet this would not be the first time a man-made lake has supposedly harbored a monster. The most famous man-made lake monster would have to be Normie of Lake Norman. Approximately ten feet long and described anywhere from a crocodilian type creature, giant fish, or plesiosaur type creature. Normie has been seen frequently enough that its garnered attention from a variety of researchers. Yet much like Ray, the arguments for Normie's existence are very much debated, especially since it's reported in a man-made lake. Yet, interestingly enough, several nonindigenous animals have made their way into Lake Norman. Animals as bizarre as freshwater jellyfish have taken up residence in the man-made lake, and just how is a mystery since the species seen in the lake originates from the Yangtze river in china.  Alligators, while indigenous to North Carolina, have also been seen to take up residence on occasion in the lake, and how they got there is also a mystery. Some specimens removed from the lake had reached lengths of 5-6ft. Invasive species are at times a part of the greater biological world.

 Emigrating and migrating animals are a common occurrence in the animal kingdom. Even Homo Erectus, an early hominid, managed to leave Africa and travel around to Asia and Europe. So, the concept of a species moving from a different location is not unheard of. If whatever kind of creatures Ray and Normie are, they clearly had to of migrated into the lake since that is the only way they would be located there. Clearly, if this is the case, these creatures are not invasive as they seem to not cause damage to the ecosystems they currently reside in. Making them mysterious members of the known flora and fauna of their respected lakes.

The final option for what Ray is needs to be brought up, and it is the skeptical killjoy of the mystery. Ray possibly could simply be a mixture of folklore and misidentification. The 2006-2007 photo, the "best" evidence of Ray when reproduced, was very similar to a log. It also does not help that all of Ray's sightings come from the internet, where it is always open for anyone to spin a good yarn. While some of the accounts are fascinating reads and really interesting in describing what Ray and it is not right to call someone a liar right out without proof of that. It's something that does need to be put on the table. I mentioned the fact that Raystown Ray was trademarked and copyrighted on the website that is the headquarters for the creature. This does not bold well for the authenticity of the creature.

 I love a good monster story; it's something that adds mystery to a world where we make everything black and white. That touch of gray in the middle makes life interesting. So even if coming up with Ray was invented for positive goals like to attempt to brighten people's lives or better the local economy, which is a solid reason for doing so, someone should simply come out and say this is folklore. In Rhineland, Wisconsin, the Hodag is a known fictitious beast, and yet the town is still booming because of it. So, addressing that it's a legend would not hinder any of the goals. And much like the people who believe the earth is flat or the moon is a projection, there would even still be people to believe in it.

I, however, after reviewing all the data, going to the location, and looking at the history of similar phenomenon, do not believe Ray to be a straight-out hoax. Maybe some sightings could be misidentified logs or known animals. Some of the less detailed accounts could very well this case. Yet there are those few that, if they are factual, seem to indicate that something strange and different is down in Raystown Lake. I have my hypotheses, of course, but none of them is concrete or conclusive. I plan on doing in the relatively near future some more research on the lake, looking for some evidence to the possible answer to this riddle. With the available sightings, there's even a direction to try to check out, seeing as the 7 Points Marina area is a favored hangout of Ray based on the sightings. This is, to me, indicative of something more flesh and blood. Champ, for example, has often been seen in Bulwagga Bay, and Ogopogo has been known to frequent the areas near Rattlesnake Island. If all these creatures are similar in some way, one would also think their behavior would be too. It's all just a matter of finding the patterns. Until then, Ray is a mystery and an important part of Pennsylvania history and legend, which someday may have an answer that comes to the surface.

End Notes:

I had initially wrote this article towards the end of 2020 and had only been up to the lake once at that time. When 2021 hit however I had traveled to the lake an additional three times and continued to ask around about whether or not there was any sightings of the creature at the visitor center and to some of the more seasoned fishermen in the area. From what they told me Ray seemingly dropped off the radar and even upon going to the visitor’s center the display of the footprint was gone. The footprint still hung in its spot but the photo and the plaque describing just what is hanging on the wall was removed. Perhaps my theory is correct, and Ray has left the lake or perhaps the legend is dying for some reason. Most researchers seem to feel that the creature is a hoax and not worthy of studying so perhaps researchers like myself who have been attempting to study the phenomena missed our particular window to investigate or encounter the creature. Taking a survey of the area including hiking and one potentially perilous canoe ride onto the lake where I almost capsized multiple times to my absolute terror I saw no indication of a large creature the size of Ray being in the area.

Quick Facts:

Species/Potential Species: Mammal, Reptile, Fish, Amphibian

Location: Raystown Lake, Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania

Sighted: 1962-2015

Works Cited

Coleman, Loren and Patrick Huyghe. The Field Guide to Lake Monsters, Sea Serpents, and Other Mystery Denizens of the Deep. Tarcher.2003.

Gerhard, Ken. A Menagerie of Mysterious Beasts. Llewellyn. 2016.

Hagerty, Andy. “Raystown Ray, Huntingdon County Pa”. Night watch Paranormal. https://www.nightwatchparanormal.com/raystown-ray.html. Accessed December 18, 2020.

Hoover, Stephanie. “DeBUNKED! Raystown Ray™ - A Monster Mash of Fact and Fiction”. Hauntingly Pennsylvania. 2016. https://www.hauntinglypa.com/Raystown_Ray_debunked.html. Accessed December 18, 2020.

Michaels, Denver. People are Seeing Something: A Survey of Lake Monsters in the United States and Canada. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. 2016

Newton, Michael. Strange Pennsylvania Monsters. Schiffer Publishing. 2012.

Offutt, Jason. Chasing American Monsters: Over 250 Creatures, Cryptids, and Hairy Beast. Llewellyn. 2019.

O'Toole, Katie. “Raystown Lake Legends: Which ones are true?” 6WJAC. November 9th, 2017, https://wjactv.com/news/local/raystown-lake-legends-which-ones-are-true. Accessed December 18, 2020

Schneck, Marcus.  "Meet Pennsylvania's Loch Ness Monster, the Raystown Ray: Monsters of Pennsylvania" Jan 05, 2019, https://www.pennlive.com/wildaboutpa/2015/06/raystown_ray_seen_as_pennsylva.html. Accessed December 18, 2020.

Strickler, Lon. Phantoms and Monsters: Cryptid Encounters. Triangulum. 2016.

http://www.raystownray.com/

http://www.raystownray.com/index.asp?section=Sightings

http://www.raystownray.com/index.asp?section=About%20Ray

“Raystown Lake”. Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. October 22, 2020.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raystown_Lake. Accessed December 18, 2020.

Tangipahoa River Cyclops

 Tangipahoa River Cyclops

By Cole Herrold

Some Fortean cases are so bizarre that they defy categorization. This seems already an impossibility as there are countless esoteric topics ordained from the very biological Cryptozoology and the physics and astrobiology oriented Ufology to the almost impossible to investigate spectral investigation/demonology and faerie research, yet on several times there are cases that seem to overlap or seem to not fit into the normal parameters of these categories. In Ken Gerhard's mandatory-to-own book A Menagerie of Mysterious People, he catalogs one such encounter with a creature in Louisiana that seems to be ripped from Greek Mythology and thereby difficult to put into one of the comfortable boxes Fortean researchers tend to categorize such anomalous phenomenon.

In November 1957, four friends were gallivanting around after seeing a movie and having some dinner. The group driving around and talking had decided to work their way into the nearby Louisiana Bayou and at 9:00pm made their way over the Tangipahoa River Bridge and began driving through the small, wooded section the acted as a liminal space between the River Bridge and a smaller one. The group was surrounded by shadows when suddenly they noticed what they first thought to be a person clamoring out of a ditch near the passenger side of the car and stood waiting for the vehicle to pass. The group, however, as they approached the man, noticed that it was noticeably taller than a normal person, and the only word they could describe it as was "giant." The group, excited by the colossal size of this man, wanted to try to see more of him and, after driving some time, found a spot to safely do a U-turn. The group now heading back down the road to see if the giant man was still in the area was surprised to see that the man was still standing near the ditch that he crawled from, and the group proceeded in stopping their car and parking in a spot that allowed the headlights to be aimed directly at him. It was in this position that the group could thoroughly get a better look at the man and estimate his general size. They estimated that the man was 7 ½ ft tall at least and seemed rather husky, weighing about 325lbs. He was wearing tattered bluish clothes, and they could not tell if he was wearing any shoes. As they scanned up the figure, however, they soon realized that the man's height was not the only bizarre thing about him, for, in place of a nose, the man had an upturned snout type nose and that instead of the expected two eyes was one single offset eye in the forehead that seemed to glare at the group. The group and creature continued this stare-off until the creature seemingly decided to return from whence it came as it turned around and slowly walked down the bank. The group, seemingly done with the excitement, in turn, began to speed away and head back to the nearest town and, feeling a sense of importance, ran headfirst into the nearest police station. The group, in quickened breath, told their account to the police, but the officer's calm and worried expression was ultimately changed when the witnesses described the man, and every police officer soon erupted in a chorus of laughter. The friends, in turn, returned home worried and embarrassed; they, in later years, would talk about the sighting amongst themselves, believing that the figure was a person who was deformed and escaped from their home. What concerned them, however, was that their sighting happened only 5miles away from their home, and countless thoughts seemed to enter their brain about the nature of this colossal cyclops, yet none would ever be answered as they would never see it again, nor did anyone else in the area.

Now, this one-off encounter is incredibly bizarre; there's almost nothing like it. Cycloptic aliens, cryptids, and faeries have been reported, but this entity seems to not match any of these accounts. There's only one account that sort of matches, and even then, it's only a loose relation; this account was referenced by Ken Gerhard and appears in Loren Coleman's book Mothman and Other Curious Encounters. The account occurred in 1966 on Pioneer, Mountain near Newport, Oregon, where a local couple claimed a group of cyclops was staring at them. This account, interestingly enough, possibly occurred during the same time as the Walking Stump Extraterrestrial case that occurred in April of that year. Yet further details on the cycloptic creatures and the account in general, in this case, are practically nonexistent.

While cycloptic creature sightings do exist, as stated, this creature or man seen in Louisiana does not match any of the quintessential cases. So, it's difficult to put it into a category as far as we can tell it's not an alien as it is not seen in conjunction with a UFO. The fact that the creature's clothes are tattered also does not seem to indicate this unless it was thrown from its spaceship and the clothing got torn from the landing. It's safe to say that the creature probably isn't a cryptid since there have only been a few cases of cryptids wearing clothes, and they are usually hairy hominid oriented, and rarely are there cycloptic cases of them. One possibility is that this could be a troll, even though that's just as unlikely as trolls tend to be nude, yet from faerie lore, trolls sometimes do wear clothing even though most eyewitness accounts describe them as simply hair covered.

Since the classic entries are out, we are left with only a few possibilities, some of which are not Fortean in nature. The first and most plausible (even the witnesses) described this possibility is that the man was just that, some man with a deformity. Throughout the United States, there are tales of pocket communities filled with individuals that have some birth defects; some are infamous like the Melonheads or the Albino Cannibals of Ghost Mountain or the Midgetvilles described in the Weird US book series. Perhaps this is a Louisiana version of this kind of encounter. Now my only problem is that unlike the Melonheads or Albino Cannibals, no one else reported seeing a cyclops or a group of cyclops, so perhaps there was only one lonely man who for some reason decided to hide in this section of the swamp and just happened to be sighted.

Now it is important to note Cyclopia, which is the technical term for individuals who suffer from this defect almost never live past a young age; in fact, most are stillborn or live only a few hours after birth. So, with that said, the chance that a natural-born individual with Cyclopia to live to adulthood and to reach an astounding height of 7 ½ ft is almost as implausible as the Fortean answers. So maybe there's something else about this encounter that others have not discussed.

Perhaps Cyclops encounters and other Fortean entities might simply be a part of the phenomena of High Strangeness. This is complete and under speculation; however, seeing as that the 66' case on Pioneer Mountain had a ton of UFOs and other phenomena all concentrated in the area, perhaps these creatures, either from an interdimensional or Ultraterrestrial standpoint, appear for some reason. I cannot offhand find any truly bizarre cases in this area during that time period, but perhaps it's hidden away in some alternative location or not even accounted so as to state this is pure speculation at best but a possibility that I have not seen referenced anywhere else and is perhaps no different than that of reports of lions in areas of high strangeness or Flying Humanoids.

While there are some compelling theories and some clear cuts from other phenomena, there's no real answer to this case. I'm unsurprised by this as this tends to be the case with most Fortean subjects; however, it's frustrating since, with these one-time sightings, there's rarely any follow-up or anything that one can compare it to, including a history of accounts. Even still, I'm fascinated, for there's plenty of accounts with creatures that are seemingly mythological, from Goatmen who are mirror images of Fauns and Satyrs to merfolk and flying bird-women who seem dead ringers for harpies and sirens, so it is sort of refreshing to see one of the lesser monsters of myth reported especially since accounts of the gargantuan beasts were extremely important in Greek Myths. Cyclops were both the sons of Poseidon and some of the early creatures that helped the Greek pantheon in stopping the titans. A man-eating cyclops by the name of Polyphemus was an antagonist of the Greek epic the Odyssey, so these creatures are far more important than many of the other monsters said to exist in the wilds today. Perhaps tales of the cyclops from ancient times are actually based on true encounters and that today they are a dwindled species forced to live in the most remote locations like mountains and swamps, waiting for the time when they will all but be forgotten.

Quick Facts:

Species/Potential Species: Hominid/Mammal

Location: Tangipahoa River, Louisiana

Sighted: November 1957

Works Cited:

A Menagerie of Mysterious Beasts By Ken Gerhard

Mothman and Other Curious Encounters By Loren Coleman