Fluorescent Freddie

 Fluorescent Freddie

By Cole Herrold

Some Sasquatch sightings are downright strange. Some are connected with UFOs like the Uniontown UFO-Bigfoot Incident or the Ohiopyle UFO-Bigfoot incident; some bigfoot seem to vanish or turn into balls of light; in between these more surreal encounters and classic sasquatch encounters, there are seemingly normal sasquatch encounters that are just one degree into the weird. One such encounter of a sasquatch of a different color was reported in French Lick, Indiana, and while it's not one of the most famous cases out there, this case is so rare it seems to only get mentioned in comparison to other cases even though there is more to the story.

At least a dozen teenagers and adults, while out driving and wandering around the woods along a road three miles South of French Lick near a municipal works, began to encounter something that they never would have expected. The creature was an astounding 10ft tall, but this was not the most bizarre feature of the creature as instead of the traditional brown, red, black, or even white fur that was so common in other accounts but instead a vivid green and its eyes glowed bright red. The first and only named witness from what can be gleaned from newspaper and book sources was a 16-year-old official named Steve Dixon, who was a Springs Valley High School Student at the time of the sighting, yet not much is known from this sighting. The creature was investigated by Police Chief Oral Carnes, who searched the area after the initial sightings and having heard that the high school youths were entering the darkened woods with shotguns and other weapons but came up empty-handed both in gun-toting teens and monsters and felt that the whole green-furred monstrosity was nothing more than a hoax. One high school teenager said in the March 17^th edition of the Indianapolis News, "You can't knock it if you don't go see Freddie yourself". The area where the creature was seen soon became known as "the Valley of the Jolly Green Giant". The road, over the course of several nights, turned into monster hunter central as cars lined the side of the road for the entire length of the "Valley of the Jolly Green Giant". Youths would enter the woods in pairs of two and three, calling out to the creature in an effort to coax the creature from hiding. One boy, a 16-year-old named David Noble, who had it would seem seen the creature during this time, had even called out to the creature saying, "We're your friends. Don't be afraid. We won't hurt you". Yet the creature never seemed to respond. After a quiet night with barely any interactions or sightings, most of the searchers left after 3 hrs. After this initial wave of sightings, the creature seemed to of dropped off the planet, and no one has since claimed to of seen the creature.

Now it is important to point out that French Lick, as well as Pope Lick and Big Bone Lick, makes up one of the corners of the Big Lick Triangle. This is an area of high strangeness similar to the Coudersport Triangle, Bridgewater Triangle, and, more famously, the Bermuda Triangle. So, it’s almost unsurprising that such a creature would be reported in this geographical Fortean hotspot.

While this case is exceptionally interesting, what are we to do with this creature in regard to an explanation. This creature could obviously be a hoax or a prank perpetrated by the unmotivated minds of high schoolers. The fact that there's only one officially named witness and very few details on this case adds a patina seen with other hoax cases or urban legends. Yet I must say that this case has a lot of other details seen in other Sasquatch cases that seem to indicate a wider range of phenomena.

One of the most comparable cases to this one is the Bishopville Lizardman case. Now the Bishopville Lizardman case is a mixture of two types of creatures reported the classic reptilian-type creature which attacked Chris Davies and the large primate-like creature seen around the same time. This primate-like creature also was reported to have grayish-green fur or skin, and some researchers feel even the reptile-type encounters might have simply been a Sasquatch-type creature covered in moss and with dried muddied fur which gave the impression of scales. Perhaps this is what we are seeing here as mud-covered sasquatch-type creatures have been reported before, and in these accounts, leaves and other debris often are reported clinging to the fur.

This case is one that I would love more information on. It's quick and brief, but it has all the earmarks of cases that are stone-cold classics like the Mill Race Monster, as it involves a strange non-traditional creature and a monster hunt. It's amazing that this case was not covered more intently, but perhaps at the time, the case was not treated as seriously or that the witnesses simply were not interviewed. Either way, this was a brief and obscure case that definitely needed to be brought to the attention of more researchers.

Quick Facts:

Species/Potential Species: Primate/ Hominid, Mammal

Location: French Lick, Indiana

Sighted: March 15, 1965

Works Cited:

Bigfoot Exposed: An Anthropologist Examines America's Enduring Legend By David J. Daegling

Cryptozoology A-Z By Loren Coleman and Jerome Clark

Mothman and Other Curious Encounters By Loren Coleman

Sasquatch the Apes Among Us By John Green

Weird Indiana By Mark Marimen, ‎James A. Willis, and ‎Troy Taylor

The Indianapolis News, Indiana, March 15, 1965

The Indianapolis News, Indiana, March 17, 1965

 

Hook Island Sea Serpent

 Hook Island Sea Serpent

By Cole Herrold

There are very few pieces of Cryptozoological evidence out there that have lasted the test of time. Often many of them are debunked, proved to be misidentified, or are examples of pareidolia. While we cannot expect clear photos for every cryptid encounter like the Sandra Mansi Champ photo or the Patterson Gimlin Film, there are some photos that just seem to be too good, and this leads into controversy. One of perhaps the most famous and controversial pieces of evidence of all time was a series of photos that were taken off Hook Island by Robert Le Serrec. These photos are stone-cold classics in the world of cryptozoology and are a toss-up as while many researchers feel the photos are hoaxes; others continue to think that there is something real and tangible just below the surface.

On December 12, 1964, Breton Photographer Robert Le Serrec might have captured one of the best pieces of evidence for the existence of an aquatic cryptid we would call a sea serpent. Le Serrec, his family, and his Australian friend Henk De Jong were shipwrecked on the Great Barrier Reef and decided that during this time that, they would purchase a motorboat and spend about three months on Hook Island. While out one day near Stonehaven Bay, Le Serrec’s wife noticed a dark form seemingly resting on the bay floor and proceeded to bring the figure to the attention of the rest of the party. The group, upon coming close to the object which at the time they thought was a mere 30ft but as they came withing shocking closeness they noticed in utter horror that it was a strange unknown creature. The group having more courage than arguably they should, proceeded to take a series of photos, each more interesting than the last. They were shocked at what was below the waters for the creature they photographed in the waters of Stonehaven Bay around Hook Island in Queensland, Australia, had an appearance similar to a black tadpole or American eel. The creature had eyes located either on the top or near the sides of the head with slit-like pupils and had an incredibly long smooth serpentine body that was black in color with brown transverse stripes. The most incredible aspect of this is that the creature, however, is not arguably its appearance, but instead of its initial 30ft length, the creature turned out to be an astounding 70-80ft long. One member of the party or another individual had managed to take a boat out towards the tail of the creature, and this gave a sense of just how colossal the creature was. It was in this position that they noticed a large pale region which they thought was a wound that was visible on the right side of the tail. Le Serrec and Henk De Jong were completely perplexed by this creature and, thinking that the creature was dead, decided that they would film it underwater. The two had just started to film the creature when the creature, in a sudden change of pace, began to move. The two watched in utter horror as the creature opened its mouth, revealing a white mouth and throat, and proceeded to move towards them; half expecting that they would be consumed by the colossal monstrosity, they began to swim back to the assumed safety of the boat and began to clamor ashore, and as they turned to look back into the water to see if the creature was hot on their heels they were surprised and relieved that the creature had disappeared. As the group was rationalizing their thoughts, they felt that the creature was resting in the bay because of the wound to its tail, which they felt might have been caused by a ship's propeller.

In March of 1965, Le Serrec, in Australia's Everyone magazine, came forward with the photographs of the serpent and proceeded to tell the tale of how he caught it on camera. It was around this time that the claimed photos and story caught the attention of Cryptozoologists Ivan T. Sanderson and Bernard Heuvelmans. Ivan T. Sanderson heard about the case in February of that year as Le Serrec had initially attempted to sell the photos to several media outlets, yet these outlets would not give him the price he had wanted. Sanderson, however, would later write about the photos in an article for True Magazine. After this, the case was written about by both researchers as well as other cryptozoologists years later, such as Loren Coleman and Karl Shuker. The general consensus is that the photos are more than likely a hoax; however, some researchers to this day do think that there might be something more to the footage.

Now there is some controversy over this footage, as with just about any cryptozoological evidence, and this deals much less with the photos themselves and more around Robert Le Serrec. As time went on, when researchers Loren Coleman and Bernard Heuvelmans investigated Le Serrec and the Hook Island Photos, they had found some issues with Le Serrec’s character and the possibility of talks of creating a hoax. In their books In the Wake of the Sea Serpent and Field Guide to Lake Monsters, Sea Serpents, and Other Mystery Denizens of the Deep, the two-state Le Serrec was in great debt. In fact, during the time the photos were taken, Le Serrec had left France to go and avoid his creditors and that Le Serrec was even wanted by Interpol, and Heuvelmans, in general, felt that he was not very trustworthy. Heuvelmans would later discover as well that Le Serrec, in 1959, had allegedly told several friends in France that he was about to go away on an expedition and “another thing in reserve which will bring in a lot of money… it’s to do with the sea serpent”. Adding to these seemingly damning character traits and backstory, Heuvelmans, upon looking at the photos, felt that there were problems in regard to the anatomy of the creature since the eyes of the creature appear from what we can tell near the top of the head and not near the side or closer to the snout. Yet there are species out there with eye placements similar to the creature.

Ivan Sanderson felt that the photos were most likely hoaxed and felt that “the object was either a plastic bag used by the US Navy “for experiments in towing petrol” or a deflated skyhook balloon which had become covered in weed, or a roll of cloth which had been tied together in places." Heuvelmans had his own idea as to just what was the answer to the photos Heuvelmans thought that the creature in the photo was a carefully shaped expanse of plastic sheeting weighed down with sand into the form of a colossal serpent. When one looks at the close-up photos of the head, researchers like Darren Naish point out that one can see covering four certain portions of it as though someone had “placed handfuls of sand on top of the edge of the creature: exactly what you would do if trying to weight down a monster-shaped sheet of plastic." Yet Le Serrec would claim that this was because the creature had slightly buried itself in the sand. Other researchers later had pointed to a possible shoal of fish, yet there are several problems with this since there were close-up photos, as well as the fact that while fish shoals can form basic shapes, they do not stay in these shapes for long periods of time, and in such a complex shape, all of this tends to point to one of two possibilities either some sort of material shaped and placed as a hoax or a biological creature.

While Sanderson and Heuvelmans were very certain that the creature was a hoax, they both entertained as well the possibility that the creature may have been real. Sanderson, for example, later on, felt that "the creature might be a giant synbranchid or swamp eel. Synbranchids are long-bodied acanthomorph teleosts, mostly of freshwater and estuarine habitats, well known for their ability to breathe air and undertake terrestrial excursions”. Synbranchids, however, are exceptionally small, however, usually being about 60 cm long, so if the Hook Island photos are an example of this, it would be the largest example known. Heuvelmans, however, was arguably more certain than Sanderson that the creature was a hoax and said should this creature be authentic, it could be "some kind of gigantic eel-like selachian." Paleontologist and Cryptid Enthusiast Darren Naish felt the reason he chose this possibility is due to a possible connection to sightings of an incredibly long-bodied shark. Another possibility often pointed to for another answer to the Hook Island Serpent is mastodonsauroid temnospondyls, a Triassic and Jurassic amphibian, yet the problem with this hypothesis would be the creature's lack of limbs.

One cannot help but mention that Heuvelmans created nine different categories in which different sea serpent and lake monster sightings could be categorized as. Loren Coleman and Patrick Huyghe would also utilize and update this for their own book, fixing some of the discrepancies and problems with Heuvelmans original model. Of the original 9, however, there was one category of a sea serpent which curiously is very similar in shape to the Hook Island Sea Serpent but is described as the Yellow Belly. Essentially it is, as the name suggests, a yellow-bellied tadpole-shaped creature with brown stripes along the back and a tannish-green colored body. Some researchers feel that Le Serrec, if he hoaxed the serpent chose the design of the creature from this entry, yet this is not possible, seeing as how the publication of Heuvelmans book was four years after Le Serrec took the photos. Other researchers felt that Heuvelmans included this entry solely because of the Le Serrec photos, but obviously, this was not to be the case since the appearance does not match really. Heuvelmans based the Yellow-Bellied type of Sea Serpent on a sighting aboard the ship Nestor in 1876, which took place in-between the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

Now I must say I have problems with the hoax aspect of the Hook Island Sea Serpent case. For one thing, to pull off a hoax of a creature this size, it would take a great deal of time and energy. With a hoax of this caliber, one would think that someone would have seen them creating it. Now granted, Hook Island is basically uninhabited with some exceptions and is a national park, so perhaps if this was a hoax, it was done in a much more secluded area to avoid notice, but by creating a creature in the water as large as the sea serpent, it would stand to reason that someone would have seen them stretching out the balloon or bag and packing it in the sand. Also, as with other famous pieces of footage like the Patterson Gimlin Film, there are always people who come from the woodwork to claim that they were involved or that they caused the footage, and with this set of photos, nobody, as far as I’m aware came forward, and Le Serrec continued to state the film and footage’s authenticity. We can add this even to Le Serrec’s family, who was with him during the filming; when infamous hoaxer Ray Wallace passed away, his family immediately released a statement saying that they hoaxed countless footprints and videos, yet in Le Serrec’s case, if he has passed away there’s been none of that adding to the overall strangeness of the story. Now again, Coleman and Heuvelmans stated that Le Serrec was a rather untrustworthy individual, and there are two ways to interpret this one can look at his claims and automatically dismiss them or that everything he experienced did, in fact, happen. The point of it truly is the following is that if a phenomenon is real, people of all sorts of merit can still encounter the unknown it just makes it more difficult to accept their claims.

In 2003 Le Serrec was said to still be living and currently residing in Asia. Once this was revealed, there was a sudden rush in attempting to interview him about the sea serpent, yet no interview currently has been conducted. I would love to hear his thoughts now since it's some 60 years later if he is still alive. Or if any of the others who were around with him during the photographing of the creature. While there’s currently no further investigation into this case, and for most researchers, the case seems to be closed, I think that there's enough ambiguity that would warrant a follow-up. Yet as with most older cases, chances are this will not be the case, but until then, we are left to ponder just whether or not this series of photos is authentic or not and it's a mystery that will last for countless years until an example is either captured or that other members of Serrec’s family finally come forward and claim either that it really is a hoax or that it’s the real deal.

Quick Facts:

Species/Potential Species:

Location: Pacific Ocean, Stonehaven Bay, Hook Island, Whitsunday Islands, Queensland, Australia

Sighted: December 12, 1964

Works Cited:

Encyclopedia of Cryptozoology By Michael Newton

Field Guide to Lake Monsters, Sea Serpents, and Other Mystery Denizens of the Deep By Loren Coleman and Patrick Huyghe By Loren Coleman and Patrick Huyghe

Hunting Monsters: Cryptozoology and the Reality Behind the Myths By Darren Naish

In the Wake of the Sea Serpent By Bernard Heuvelmans

Mysterious Creatures: A Guide to Cryptozoology Volume 2 By George Eberhart

Darren Naish "The amazing Hook Island sea monster photos, revisited" Scientific American November 23, 2013. https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/tetrapod-zoology/the-amazing-hook-island-sea-monster-photos-revisited/. Accessed June 26, 2022.

Laura Rowton "5 Lake and Sea Monsters Supposedly Caught on Camera" The Paranormal Scholar. February 9, 2018. https://www.paranormalscholar.com/5-lake-sea-monsters/. Accessed July 8, 2022.

Old Yellow Top

 Old Yellow Top

By Cole Herrold

In the annals of sasquatch research, there are tons of cases involving evidence or behavior that seem to indicate a biological species. These behaviors and features are so specific that they match known scientific examples of other animals. One of perhaps the most interesting features reported in some sasquatch reports is what seems to be examples of piebald individuals. Piebald in organisms is simply having two alternative patches of color fur, and it is something seen in a variety of animals. So its extremely interesting and adds a unique patina of credibility in this series of sightings.

The first reports of this manimal, known as Old Yellow Top, Yellow Top, or its original name PreCambrian Shield Man appeared in the North Bay Nugget but were made famous through John Green’s Sasquatch: The Apes Among Us after Rene Dahinden gave him the clippings. The very first sighting of the creature occurred either in September 1906 (some reports state 1907), where it was seen by a group of men building the headframe at the Violet Mine near Cobalt, yet further information on this initial sighting went seemingly unreported or was lost over the course of time. During this time, however, the creature continued to roam the area, being seen by the countless miners who worked in the area. All of the accounts of the time, which were more like whispers, described the creature in the same way as approximately 7ft tall with dark brown/black body hair and a mane of pale yellowish head hair.

On July 27, 1923, the second documented sighting of the creature was reported in the Nugget. On this occasion, Mr. J. A. MacAuley and Mr. Lorne Wilson claimed that they had seen the creature while working on their mining claims which was located Northeast of the Wetlaufer Mine. The two prospectors were taking test samples from the area when they encountered what they initially thought was a bear picking at a blueberry patch. Wilson wanting to scare off the animal, proceeded to go and throw a stone at the creature and expected it to simply wander away, yet this was not the case. “It kind of stood up and growled at us. Then it ran away. It sure was like no bear that I have ever seen. Its head was kind of yellow ad the rest of it was black like a bear, all covered with hair”.

On April 16, 1946, the creature was seen once more roaming around the cobalt mining camp. The creature was seen by a woman and her son who lived near Gillies Depot while they were walking the railroad tracks on their way into Cobalt. The anonymous woman said that she spotted a dark hair-covered creature with a "light head" lumbering off the railroad tracks into the woods near Gillies Lake. She was unable to get a clear look at the creature but did notice that it walked like a man. It's from this sighting that it was believed that if this was the same creature as seen in 1906 that it was over 40 years old.

On August 5, 1970, 27 miners on their way to work the graveyard shift at Cobalt Lobe were riding a bus when the bus suddenly went out of control and almost plunged down a nearby rock-cut. The bus driver Aimee Latreille who had been driving this bus route for 4 months, said that he was startled by a dark form that walked across the road in front of him. None of the miners or the driver were hurt in the accident. Latreille would comment, "at first I thought it was a big bear. But then it turned to face the headlights, and I could see some light hair, almost down to its shoulders. It couldn't have been a bear". Mr. Latreille said he did not know if he would continue to drive the bus after the incident. "I have heard of this thing before but never believed it. Now I am sure". One of the miners on the bus got a brief glimpse of the creature, and Larry Cormack said that the creature “looked like a bear to me at first, but it didn’t walk like one. It was kind of half stooped over. Maybe it was a wounded bear, I don’t know”. Mr. Cormack initially did not believe in the existence of the creature even though his father had talked about it when he was younger. Throughout this time, there were two other occasions where the creature was said to of come out of the woods and scared bus passengers; when it does this, it waves a club in the air. The creature (if the same one) was nearly 70 years old when it was last seen in the area.

While these are all of the official documented accounts that appeared in the newspaper, there was allegedly a photo taken on July 18, 1923, of the creature. The photograph shows a dark fur-colored being standing in a wooded forest. The creature has a yellow fur-covered head which gives it a rather Muppet look. Not much is known about this photo, and outside of it appearing on the Encyclopaedia of Cryptozoology Wiki, I have not been able to find the original source from which it originated. There are some concerning elements of the photo that do seem to indicate that it is a hoax, but until further information can be found, the photo remains inconclusive. This colored photograph, if authentic, would be one of the earliest photographs of a sasquatch, second only to the 1894 photo and captured right before a 1940s photo.

Some theories for the creature from the time were that it was a Pre-Cambrian man who lived in a cave near the area. Another theory, one of which was popularized by the author of the August 5, 1970, article of the North Bay Nugget, was that this entire encounter was a hoax either by the driver or from some "reveller from the Open Cut Saloon working off a big head." The problem obviously with this is that while the 1970 encounter might have been a hoax yet, it is unlikely since there's been a history of a similar specifically described creature in the area for at least 70 years, as well as the fact that there were multiple witnesses of the creature as it crossed the road.

This case is an example of what Cryptozoologists Loren Coleman and Mark A. Hall would refer to as Marked Hominids. These creatures are similar to the traditional sasquatch in overall appearance, yet they have more human attributes than ape-like features. These types of creatures tend to exist in the subpolar regions of the world. The main feature that distinguishes them are different colored patches of fur, arms that do not reach below the knees, flat buttocks, visible genitalia, and protruding stomachs with splayed-toed feet which reach 10-14 inches long and 3-5 inches wide with a narrow curving impression.

This is, to me, one of the most interesting cases of a sasquatch-type hominid, for it's similar to what biologists experience with natural animals. Occasionally in nature, a team of biologists or ecologists will encounter a piebald animal or an animal that they would nickname or have some special relationship with, and from this, they can track and study the species more. The fact that almost 70 years Cobalt sighted Old Yellow Top is akin to animals of that kind. It's a shame that there was not more research done on the creature before its death since no reports of this particular creature have been sighted in the area since then. If researchers and scientists had the chance to do more research in the area and the chance to follow the creature and monitor its behavior, perhaps some of the problems researchers experience now in regard to the study of these creatures, but unfortunately, its something that will remain in hindsight and the past.

Quick Facts:

Species/Potential Species: Primate/ Hominid

Location: Cobalt, Ontario, Canada

Sighted: 1906-1907, 1923, 1947, 1970

Works Cited:

The Bigfoot Book By Nick Redfern

Cryptozoology A-Z By Loren Coleman

Sasquatch the Apes Among Us By John Green

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

Mysterious Creatures: A Guide to Cryptozoology - Volume 2 By George M. Eberhart

“Old Yellow Top” Encyclopaedia of Cryptozoology. cryptidarchives.fandom.com/wiki/Old_Yellow_Top. Accessed July 2, 2022.

"Pre Cambrian Shield Man Seen by Two Prospectors" North Bay Nugget, 27 July 1923

 "'Old Yellow-Top' Reported Seen in Coleman Township" North Bay Nugget, 16 April 1947

 "Third Appearance by Pre Cambrian Shield Man" North Bay Nugget, 5 August 1970

Lake Hopatcong Monsters

 Lake Hopatcong Monsters

By Cole Herrold

New Jersey is known for several things in the Fortean world; the infamous Jersey Devil, for example, of the Pine Barrens, is sort of the state mascot of all things weird there. There are numerous reported ghost roads filled with phantom hitchhikers, ghostly apparitions, and the occasional demon. UFOs and Men in Black have been reported there as well, and one particularly weird MIB report happened there that was interconnected with the infamous Mothman flap. There are semi-transparent mantis men, creatures seemingly ripped from the pages of mythology like the Blackwood Pigtaur and the Blackwood Centaur, Lizardmen and Gatormen, Bigfoot, Monkey Men, and even dragons. The one thing, though, that New Jersey is not exactly known for is aquatic monsters which is not accurate, to say the least, there had been several reports of sea serpents in areas like Cape May and near Atlantic City, and another strange creature known as Tommie was said to of roamed the Tom's River. Of all of them, though, there's one lake, in particular, that is said to be the most active in regard to aquatic anomalies, and that is Lake Hopatcong.

Lake Hopatcong is the largest lake in the state of New Jersey and is nestled between both Sussex and Morris Counties and is approximately 4 square miles in total area. This lake was enlarged in the 18^th century when a dam was erected in the Musconetcong River on the south end. This caused the water to rise by about 6ft which caused the original bodies of water in the area known as the Great Pond and Little Pond to come together to form the Lake Hopatcong that we now know today.

Tales of something large and mysterious lurking in the depths of the waters were first said to of been rumored by the Lenape Natives who had lived for a time along the shore of the lake, yet specific accounts seem to have gone unreported. Yet as the area began to be more and more utilized and used as a commercial zone, sightings and possibly dangerous interactions with a mysterious creature became more frequent and led to an overall acceptance of a colossal creature that locals have come to call "Hoppie." The earliest reports of this creature outside of the ambiguous Lenape acknowledgment of the creature began some 200 years ago when people coming around the area of the lake reported seeing a large, colossal form break the surface with a gigantic splash of the now pond joined lake. The creature was said to have a giant elephantine body so large that it could make "an ox look like a fawn" and a large, long neck ending in a horse-like head that was topped with a pair of large, colossal pair of 10ft long antlers. The creature was so ferocious in appearance and assumedly in behavior that the creature caused excessive panic to anyone in the region, and this was added to the fact that the creature was also capable of leaving the lake and walking on land. This reign of terror seemed to of gone on for some time until a harsh winter hit the region, and the creature afterward had seemed to of disappeared. The locals were both curious and at peace at the sudden departure of the creature, but they still wondered just what happened to the creature. They wouldn’t have to wait long for an answer as a group of Lenape Natives passing through the area told just what happened to their semiaquatic neighbor. The Natives would state that during the winter, the creature was crossing the now frozen lake, and as it reached a particularly thin patch, the creature broke the ice and had proceeded to fall into the frozen water of the lake, where the creature seemingly perished. Whether the creature's death was due to the temperature of the lake or some physical trauma to the body of the creature, the Natives did not say. A short time later, while the lake had dethawed, several of the locals took a boat out to the area where the creature was said to of died and, upon peering into the water, could see the slowly rotting remains of the colossal monster. Its skull and antlers being the most noticeable feature that they could make out in the creature's watery grave.

This dead body clearly, however, was not the end of the creature as in pure classic monster film fashion, the "Son of" or "Daughter of" Hoppie would continue to be reported in the Lake. The next report of a large aquatic monstrosity in the lake occurred on November 11, 1999, when a witness known only as Pete and his unnamed friend were hanging out at the lake. The two had spent most of the chilly day on the lake and, upon deciding to call it a day, began to work their way towards the shore. Getting very close to the shore, the two hopped onto a deck and began to pull the boat into the shore. As the two strained to pull the boat in, Pete noticed that as he looked out on the water, he saw a colossal black 6-7ft wave come straight towards their dock. This colossal wave eventually hit their dock, and the impact of the water onto the dock was so strong that it almost knocked them off into the dark water. As they followed the direction of where the wave was headed, the two noticed a large object bobbing up and down in the lake. As they stared, they at first thought the object was a buoy but wondered just how a buoy would have made it to that area since they had never noticed one before. During this time, Pete's neighbor had left his home after seeing the colossal wave splash on the nearby dock. The trio of men debated about the form seen in the water the neighbor from a much safer distance than the other two, and when the buoy hypothesis was brought up again, Pete's neighbor said that this was impossible since the object was much too big. They watched as the object eventually submerged and hid in the murky water disappearing from sight altogether. During this time, the unthinkable happened to Pete's friend for some untold reason, be it fright, loss of balance, or some other possibility Pete's friend ended up plunging into the murky depths and disappearing for a brief period of time. When his friend resurfaced, he was some 10ft away from the dock and noticeably terrified as he cried out that during his time underwater, something had grabbed him and pulled him away from the dock. They were able to get his friend back to land and assumedly were more than hesitant to go back into the water for years later.

Now there had been rumors for years later of something strange and bizarre lurking in the lake, and these reports did not go unnoticed as they would be collected by the Fortean magazine Weird NJ; on one occasion, the magazine received a letter from a man residing in Sussex County who claimed that he had seen and experienced the creature on the lake countless times starting from when he was a boy. The witness stated that the reason he chose to write the letter was that creature was large and carnivorous and that while he did not want the creature hunted, he wanted others in the area to be aware of the creature and to be careful when swimming, boating, and fishing in the area. He claimed that the first time he saw the creature was when he was a boy fishing with his uncle. While out, he saw a bunch of splashing on the water and saw a large, colossal creature that released chirping sounds from a mouth filled with curved backward-facing razor-sharp teeth and began to hit the water with large paddle like fins. His uncle would later tell him more about the creature as he too had experienced it multiple times on the lake and noted that the creature had a habit of swallowing hooked fish, which he had experienced firsthand, and that upon biting them would swim away, remaining submerged the entire time. This unnamed letter writer would detail a full wildlife fact file on this creature and the knowledge of the behavior of the creature. The creatures he claimed are covered in brown and green slimy scales; they are usually about the size of a large dog but can reach the size of a cow with a long slender snake-like head and neck; they have forked tongues, long thin tails, and also have paddle-like fins that are tipped with claws. The creatures also have a terrible odor that smells like rotting fish or sulfur. The man would claim that the creature was not dangerous while left alone, but he does know that the creature is carnivorous as he had seen the creature on one occasion swallow two geese whole and that on one occasion it attacked his dog, which tore threw his beloved pet like a chew toy. On that occasion, the dog attacked the creature when the man was out fishing. The man was reeling in a large fish he had caught on the line when the creature rose from the depth biting the fish he had just caught. At this moment, the dog seeing that his owner's quarry was being intercepted, rushed out into the water and began to attack the creature in an attempt to have it drop the fish. The creature turned and proceeded to drop the fish and attack the dog, and in a brief skirmish, the creature ended up killing and eating the dog. As the man watched as the creature continued to consume his canine, he saw a peculiar behavior as the creature would spit out the bones, something one would indicate as a sign of intelligence. This creature, he realized, is an ambush predator and frequently utilizes the shoreline to capture and eat animals coming near the water, much like a crocodilian. He noted that the creature tends to do this more before and during the first light of day. It was in this interaction that he realized the potential danger this creature could have towards humans and shuddered to think about what the creature could do to children. He did note that the creature did not seem to be aggressive to creatures initially outside of fish, as in the two times that the creature did attack another organism, it was in self-defense, and this includes the instance with the geese. The man also noted that this creature was not alone and seemed to have a mate and that these creatures seemed to be more active on nights of a full moon. The creatures do have offspring as well, which are about the size of ducks and that the larger of the offspring tend to hang out towards Lify Island. He, while knowing the animals were breeding, he had no clear indication as to the breeding population or the exact number of creatures in the lake. The creatures have a preference of hanging out near-deserted tree-lined coves and rarely near docks; however, on at least one occasion, he did encounter the creature stealing his fish while fishing off a dock. It's from this that he recommends people to avoid deserted coves, especially at sunrise, and to stay at home at night, especially during the late fall and early spring, which is the creature's mating season and also when they appear to be more aggressive. The creature's the man would claim had unique eyes; they were a shiny color, and that these eyes are so bright that they can be seen even when the creature is underwater. His uncle would claim that these eyes have difficulty in seeing those wearing green camouflage. He would claim that the creature would also have a habit of hanging around deserted cove areas known for being local lover's lanes and "smooch parks" and that the creature had a habit of waddling ashore and peering into the windows of cars. The man ended up after becoming seemingly an expert on the creature, christening the beast Xepeciup Uqsejtjux Cemupiz or simply Cemupiz, which according to him, was the native name for the creature, which means "flesh-eating lake monster" and that the natives who knew of the creature forbade the killing of it seeing it as a sacred creature. During his research of the creature, he claimed to of captured the creature on camera; the photo he took came from a disposable camera from a Pathmark. He also, much like the native tribes, feels that we should protect the species from overall assault and extinction and that we should also attempt to protect others from the creature by making the public aware of the creature.

To this day, there are people who whisper about the creature, but as for officially documented sightings, there are none. The creature, however, has been picked up by the region as a kind of mascot for the tourist trade, not unlike Nessie or Champ and the other various lake and river monsters across the world. Just what the Lake Hopatcong Monster is, is difficult to establish as looking at the descriptions over the years, there seem to be several different creatures reported. This indicates a couple different things; the first would obviously be that this could be simply an urban legend. We have no official interviews or study of this creature, and all the sightings are either anonymous or so antediluvian that we do not have a way to find the beginning of the account. This could also explain why in the 1700s, the creature was described as being a semiaquatic deer monster, whereas now it's more of a traditional lake monster with notable plesiosaur-like features since that is what is ingrained in the culture of lake monsters.

Let's say, however, that all of the reports are accurate and that what the witnesses saw actually occurred. Right off the bat, I would say Cryptid as there are no UFOs associated with the creatures, and the fact that they can be killed, at least in regard to the original antlered version, implies a more physical existence as opposed to some ethereal entity like an Ultraterrestrial, tulpa, thoughtform, ghost, demon, faerie, or any other ethereal option. Now just what could this creature be, though, if it is a physical animal. Interestingly enough, with the original account and upon reflection while writing this, perhaps what was seen was not a lake monster or anything we would associate with a lake monster but perhaps a surviving Megaloceros. Megaloceros are giant elk that are approximately 7ft in height at the shoulder with an antler spread of, interestingly enough, almost 10ft, so exactly the same as the creature initially reported. The large elephantine-like body would make sense if the creature was wadding in the water, and perhaps this creature, much like moose, was capable of diving or surviving for some periods of time in and around water, adding to the lake monster mythos of the creature. Now I love this theory, and I will say that while Cenozoic prehistoric survivors are more likely than, say, Mesozoic era survivors, there is one major problem with this particular possible identification, and that is that Megaloceros was a Eurasian species from what we know in the fossil record hence the other alias the Irish Elk, so one has to wonder if this is the case just how one of these colossal creatures managed to get their way to New Jersey.

Megaloceros in comparison to a Human

Now, as for the modern Lake Hopatcong Monsters, they seem to be more akin to plesiosaurs or some other type of aquatic reptile which the closest Id argue based on description Id have to say would be a Tanystropheus or some smaller variation of a giant turtle. Yet unlike other cryptids like Nessie or Champ, where the lakes became landlocked shortly over time, ergo trapping such prehistoric remnants in the lakes. Lake Hopatcong did not have that, at least in the same way as the others; the lake does flow into another body of water, the Musconetcong River, which itself is home to another creepy critter known as the Musconetcong Mantis Man (see entry for more information) yet this leads into a possibility that perhaps the river allowed some creature to enter the lake back before the area was dammed and then afterward the creatures were trapped there. Now, of course, this is all speculation, and the creatures would, of course, have to follow such biological rules as the 50-500 rule, which, if the size of the creatures given is accurate, does not seem likely for a lake only 4sq miles in total. So perhaps these creatures are more terrestrial than we realize.

Image of Tanystropheus

One problem with lake monster reports from smaller lakes obviously is population if these creatures are, in fact living in the local. But perhaps lake monsters are more terrestrial in behavior and utilize lakes as feeding, breeding, and hiding spots. I've mentioned this before with Aquatic humanoid cases as well as with cryptids that appear to be more like giant snakes like Raystown Ray or the Wolf Pond Monster since there are reports of similar giant snake-like creatures seen on land. Now I venture this option again since where are all of these dinosaurian or reptilian-like cryptids going? They cannot be hanging out in the lake wed see them more often, so I wonder perhaps these creatures spend most of their time on islands or woodlands surrounding lakes. There are several cases throughout the years of colossal reptiles or quadrupedal dinosaurs living in the woodlands, yet much like these lake monsters, they are exceptionally rare; it's from this I ponder whether the two are interconnected and that when these creatures are seen on land its because they're moving to another water source or that they are utilizing other resources in the area. This is not an altogether farfetched idea; there are reports of dinosaurian-type creatures on land in areas where river and lake monsters are reported. I covered the Astor Monster, a ceratopsian-type dinosaur that lived both on land as well as the St. Johns River, and the William Lake Lizard, a colossal seemingly monitor type reptile that charged a car in 1973. So, such reports have occurred that do seem to lend credence to this idea, but of course, the accurate identity of such creatures is anyone's guess.

Another possibility I feel that needs to be addressed is the possibility of a time slip. Time slips in regard to cryptids are, to me, hit or miss as when looking at sighting reports of creatures said to be from another time like Pterosaurs, for example, they often are missing important features such as feathers or bright colors and this to me seems to be more evident of losing a feature through years of evolution to adapt to a certain environment or possibly a totally new species. Now there is an ever-shifting view on prehistoric life as we are always finding new features or rediscovering how these organisms were actually built since fossils are basically puzzles without instructions or original artwork to compare to hence why some dinosaurs like Spinosaurus are drastically different in form compared to how we originally thought they were built. So perhaps the reason these creatures were seeing seem to not match with our current animals is that they are accurate animals that are dropped here through a time slip but again, just what they'd be is anyone's speculation.

Another possibility for these creatures, of course, would be the interdimensional route; if these creatures are popping in and out from another dimension, then that would explain why we don't see them as much or why there's no evidence for their existence. The interdimensional aspect also offers an outlet for all sorts of possible evolutionary lineages that we currently are unaware of, and in the infinite dimensions of the multiverse, there is guaranteed to be at least one where a creature like this would exist. Now just the how and whys these dimensional shifts would occur is anyone's guess, but it is certainly much more likely than many of the other alternative Fortean ideas out there.

With New Jersey Cryptids, there is perhaps more skepticism when one thinks about the state and the incredibly high populated areas therein, but when one actually drives through the state, especially the backroads, it is entirely possible for things to remain hidden there. The same can be said about the waterways. We as a species are always discovering new animals or new ecosystems that we did not know were at the tip of our fingers. Perhaps we will find out that there might be some hidden glen or grotto where these creatures remain elusive; its interesting to note that many feel that there are certain waterholes that are seemingly bottomless in New Jersey known as Blue Holes, and many legends are interconnected with them one of the most famous is that they have underground caverns in them that reach to other places in the state perhaps Lake Hopatcong has one such entry/exit way. We can only guess and speculate, as with almost all cases. I've thought of checking the lake out myself on numerous occasions, so perhaps there might be more to this case, but until then or until more information can come to light, this is all we know about the infamous Hoppie.

Quick Facts:

Species/Potential Species: Reptile, Mammal, Fish, Multiple Creatures

Location: Lake Hopatcong, Sussex, and Morris Counties, New Jersey

Sighted: Lenape legends around the 1700s to at least 1999 to possibly modern times

Works Cited:

Jersey Devils, Bizarre Beasts And Other Creatures of Weird NJ By Mark Moran and Mark Sceurman

Monsters of New Jersey By Loren Coleman and Bruce G. Hallenbeck

Weird NJ By Mark Moran and Mark Sceurman

 

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.