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 Musconetcong River Mantis Man

 The Musconetcong River Mantis Man

By Cole Herrold

New Jersey has its fair share of Fortean phenomenon, but the two big contenders when it comes to multiple sightings are the Jersey Devil and Bigfoot (also known as Big Red Eyes). Both Cryptids have accounts dating back to the Native Americans and have seemingly staked out their own territories. Even though during 1909, the Jersey Devil ran amok in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and every county of New Jersey, most sightings tend to be concentrated in and below Mercer and Monmouth Counties. Whereas Bigfoot sightings tend to take place primarily in the far north of the state. In Warren County, however, a relatively new cryptid has been reported, and the sightings are rivaling the bizarreness of the Jersey Devil's and growing in number. Reports of an insectoid-like entity have as recently as 2006 been reported along the Musconetcong River in and around Hackettstown, and this seemingly biological entity has the uncanny ability to disappear like an apparition on its own accord leaving all those who witness the bizarre beast baffled.

In Spring of 2006, Paul Jacks and his boss had decided to change up their typical fishing destination. Jack's boss offered the option of going and casting their lines in the Musconetcong River near Hackettstown. As soon as the employer and employee got to the riverbank, Jack's felt uneasy about the area, yet he could not point out as to why. His boss seemed to be unphased by the eerie nature of the place and proceeded to ask Jacks where he'd like to set up their lines. Jacks decided to head across the river and downstream. Jacks, as he traversed down the raging river, noticed that the area was extremely bizarre; while he felt the area was like a nature-oriented enclosed tunnel, he also couldn't help noticing that civilization was just within reach. He noticed that the west side of the river was bankless, and he could see that the land bordered Route 46, but the opposite side had large banks on the east side, which led into nearby forests, fields, and farmlands. Near what could be called the rural side of the river, the banks were on average about 10ft high, and they were covered with strips of trees 10-20 yards thick that separated the river from the field beyond. In between these tree sections, there were occasional clear gaps of mud and grass about 20 yards wide, and these made access to the river easier. Jacks was about chest high in the water when he noticed something inside one of these gaps.

Jacks was looking from the corner of his eye and noticed some thick object seemingly moving on the bank about 7ft above him from where he was in the water. He turned his head to see what the object was, and he noticed that what he was staring at was an immense thigh. The thigh he noticed was not like that of a human's, and while it was bent forward like a human's, the first thing that he thought it looked like was like a grasshopper's. Jacks realizing that this was something bizarre, began to scan up the figure and realized this is not something of the known natural world. The figure, which he could now tell was a peculiar creature, had a triangular head with huge black slanted eyes that appeared to be like a praying mantis's. Its body was about 6’6” to 7’ and was black and gray and gangly and knobby yet noticeably powerful and was seemingly more humanoid in appearance even though it has insect-like qualities. The creature's arms seemingly also reflected this as Jacks would say the arms were noticeably more humanoid and did not appear to have the mantis-like forelimbs one would expect. Jacks, in an interview, would describe the creature in more detail "This thing had the skin of a snake. Where our abdomen is and where our organs are, it has a narrow cor. The creature's eyes were black and very large but set in the front, so it had binocular vision.” He could see the figure clearly against the dark sky in this gap

The creature soon noticed that he noticed it, yet Jacks was seemingly unperturbed of the creature. Jacks and the creature stared at each other for a few seconds, and Jacks seemed to feel that, unlike him that the creature was surprised at him. “I sensed Astonishment, whether it was that I was in the water or that it knew that I could see it. It was very aware that I was aware of it and that seems to concern it because it never took its eyes off of me”. Jacks also expressed that the creature might have felt astonished at the fact that he seemingly was unamazed at the bestial figure in front of him. The creature, either insulted by the man's un-amazed response or simply trying to get away from the man's gaze, began to work its way up the bank. The creature looked over its right shoulder at him as it continued up the bank; it never stopped looking at him, but Jacks noticed that as the creature moved, it slowly began to become transparent as it crawled up, and this continued for some time before ultimately evaporating in mid-stride. Jacks felt that the creature was cloaked and was adamant that this was a physical creature; it did not slip into another dimension or was some spectral entity but was still there, just invisible to him. Jacks feels that he was only able to see the creature because the creature was in a spot where it needed to readjust its camouflage (The best way to describe this mindset is like Randall from Monsters Inc). Jacks left the area and continued on his fishing trip. His boss was only 50 yards upstream and did not tell his boss about what was lurking around them.

The next sighting of the Mantis Man occurred in 2011 when businessman Joe Parenti went on a fishing trip with his brother on the Musconetcong in Stephen’s State Park. Parenti was familiar with the area as he built a home along the Musconetcong outside of the park and quite frequently headed out to the river and woods. It was early in the morning, and the two decided to head out to the small little islands on the Musconetcong and split up to give them enough space for fishing. Parenti was on one of the islands upstream, and his brother was on one further downstream. Parenti had his line cast when he heard a kind of humming and felt a bizarre vibration or tingling sensation that ran throughout the body. He had the weirdest sensation that something was near him, and as he looked in the corner of his eyes, he noticed that something was standing there. As he turned, he noticed a 7ft tall, big brown and gray/black “humanoid praying mantis-looking-man” that was staring at him and seemingly eating at the same time. The creature had noticeable mandibles that flexed and moved up and down as it ate. The creature was looking down at him and had its head tilted as though it was curious of him.  Joe was absolutely terrified and felt that the creature was telepathically speaking to him and seemed to be “sucking the information” out of him before he could even think it. Parenti was sure that it was trying to communicate but would later say in an interview, "To see those mandible moving up and down and there's no way that could talk to me." The two stared at each Joe, saying that the creature's "dark eyes were just so intense." The Mantis Man opened its arms to reveal what appeared to be a pair of wings. Parenti would say, "The creature showed me the width of its scales and its chest and how strong it could be. And that was completely terrifying". The creature seemed to continue to stare at Parenti as a large mist or fog rolled in, and as soon as the fog subsided, the creature disappeared. Parenti dropped to his knees and realized that he had lost all control of his bodily functions, seemingly soiling his pants out of fear. Parenti realizing what he had done, dropped further into the river to make it seem that he didn't have an accident and called his brother, who was only a short distance away. Parenti felt like he had to throw up and was crawling on the ground on his hands and knees. Parenti and his brother ultimately cut their trip short and headed back to town; he told no one about his encounter until one day when he was at work out of a need to tell the encounter to someone. His coworker realizing Parenti was not one to believe in the paranormal, was truly serious and uploaded his account on the internet when he got in touch with Lon Strickler.

In 2014 the final definitive sighting of the Mantis Man occurred. A man traveling home from a drug store in Hackettstown was driving down Newburgh Road and was going over a bridge that goes over the Musconetcong. He looked out over the rushing water and noticed a dark figure to his left. He thought at first that this was a fisherman standing in the river near the south bank, but as he slowed the car, he noticed that something wasn't right with the figure. As he looked closer, he noticed that the person was transparent-like and had a weird shape. The figure moved slowly towards the bank and into the trees. The man was intrigued by what he saw and sped up to where the figure should be headed; as he reached the approximate area where the creature was going, he saw it come out of the woods, and he realized it was clearly not a man. It was 8ft tall, or so it had long thin arms that seemed to just be hanging off it; the creature was pale brown, but it seemed to be transparent as he could see right through it. The head was much smaller than the body. As he passed where he saw the creature, he could see it no more and went home. While home, he was trying to rationalize what he had seen, and his first thought was that since it was a sunny day, perhaps all he saw was a glare from the water, but then he realized that it certainly could not have been a glare. Several days later, he had much like Parenti mentioned his encounter to a coworker, and his coworker gave him a bizarre look, but much like Parenti's coworker, the man's coworker went to the internet and found a thread of the previous sightings. Resulting in the man reporting his account to Lon Strickler.

Lon Strickler has since been one of the main researchers of this phenomenon and, in a brief interview of Monsters and Mysteries in America, states that he's received about 4-5 accounts of the creature, three of which are the 2006, 2011, and 2014 accounts. In Jersey Devils, Bizarre Beasts, and Other Creatures of Weird NJ, Moran and Sceurman include some of these other Mantis-like figures and weird encounters along the M'Cong. The first account features a man in Mount Olive who witnessed 4-5 man-like creatures running through his neighbor's backyard and the adjoining woodlands. The witness would state, "they moved like a herd of animals, staying together it was so strange. The legs were very thin with small feet. Id say they were 5ft in height. They wore loose dark colored robes or something similar the heads were small with no necks. I couldn't tell what color they were, but it was lighter than the robes. I am confused and upset by what I witnessed".

This account clearly seems to be something else entirely other than a Mantis Man, but since it has been included in the case by other researchers, it needs to be mentioned. Now the second case of something possibly Mantis Man oriented is just as bizarre but even more ambiguous as nothing definitively is seen. This case, however, predates all the other Mantis Man sightings and is in the same general area.

This bizarre encounter was published in the Warren Reporter in response to an article on the Mantis Man. The woman who was identified only as "H-Town Mama" described in the article a variety of strange phenomena that occurred on the property her mother owned that she stayed in 2003. The initial account was very broad, but Lon Strickler then got a follow-up that appeared on Phantoms and Monsters and Jersey Devils, Bizarre Beasts, and Other Creatures of Weird NJ.

It was from May to August of 2003 when “H-Town Mama" and her husband were staying at her mother's house for the time being. Her mother's property was bordered by woods that led down to the Musconetcong River as well as a local fish hatchery. Their backyard is only a 5-minute walk to the river, and they were very familiar with the area and the local wildlife and businesses. On one night, they noticed that there were strange lights that seemed to be coming from the river and near the hatchery. This was odd because the lights were so intense and not typically what the hatchery would use. The hatchery almost never had lights on at night, and when they did, it was only a few dull yellow lights. The lights they were seeing were bright red, almost like what one would see from a laser pointer. These lights were not alone however for whenever they would go out to look at these lights, they would hear strange sounds, almost like garbled radio talk. These lights and sounds were sporadic and would reappear and disappear at random. Yet this was only the beginning of the peculiar happenings around the property.

Days after these lights first appeared, the family began to notice a pair of bright red lights that seemed to hover by a specific window near the back of the house. Whenever they would go to investigate these lights, the pair would move together and disappear. It was because of this connectivity that the family felt they were a pair of eyes. The problem with this, however, was that it couldn't be from an animal as the animal would have to of been 6-7ft tall to look into the window. When the family would rush outside to try to see whatever was peering in, they would see nothing, but they continued to hear garbled walkie-talkie sounds. What the family could make out was that it sounded like military-style communications that would appear in short bursts. They could hear these sounds almost regularly but could not make out where these noises were coming from and what could be making them. After months of this phenomenon, the pair had decided out of curiosity to ask her sister whether or not she had experienced the same or something similar. The sister confirmed that she, too, had seen the lights and heard the sounds but not in the excessiveness as they did. This phenomenon, however, had not reached its peak yet, and neither was prepared for what would occur on the night of August 3^rd.

That night the group noticed that something was running around in their backyard. They seemed to be very tall people that seemed to run in droves, but they could not make out specific details. They could see the dark forms running towards the hatchery one minute and then would reappear running back to the same window where they saw the red "eyes," and once more, when the figure was at the window, the "eyes" would return. These shadowy red-eyed beings, however, were not alone in the area where the river was, and the hatchery was covered in red lights. The air was also not just filled with lights but also the garbled walkie-talkie noises that filled the area like an orchestra with the dark shadowy figures almost synchronized dancing on the ground. This paranormal performance, however, proved to be too much for the couple, and so they proceeded to call the police around midnight. As if the entities, sounds, and lights were late-night partyers, they seemed to book when they heard the call for the police. The area became deafly still, and this continued when the officers came with their lights flashing. The officers searched the area with flashlights but hearing the family's account, they took it halfheartedly and ultimately found nothing. The officers, laughing, returned to their squad cars and drove off into the night.

As soon as the officers left the premises, all of the entities and sound returned. Frustrated, "H-Town Mama" decided she was not going to deal with whatever was going on, on her mother's property. She and her husband entered the green knolls and noticed that nothing was moving out there and went towards the perimeter of the yard. As she got near there, she began to hear bizarre sounds that seemed to be played on a loop these sounds, unlike the garbled militarized noises she heard previously. The sounds she was able to hear was a peculiar phrase that seemed strange compared to the events that went on; the phrase was a resounding "Thank You, Thank You." Hearing this, however, appeared to be too much for her, and she began to sprint back towards the house. When she got back to the house, she was terrified, but she, as she sat in the living room, felt that whatever uttered the phrase "Thank You, Thank You" was thanking her for acknowledging its existence. The two, however, knew that whatever had attempted to communicate was something far beyond their comprehension, and so the pair did not get a wink of sleep that night. The following morning the pair went out to investigate the lawn in the light of day. There in the grass were several deep footlike impressions that led from the woods to the window and that had a fork-like shape. The family, however, was so terrified by this that they immediately moved out of the house that day and then moved to Florida shortly after a few years.

This case which I file under H for High Strangeness, is not a clear Mantis Man sighting but seems to be very similar to events that occur during other major cryptid and paranormal flaps. To me, while it's perhaps the most overly referenced period of High Strangeness, the Point Pleasant 1966-1967 flap of sightings is eerily similar to what was occurring along the Musconetcong River. The reason I say this is because the sighting of red lights that seemingly appear like eyes at some points and a flesh and blood creature is very similar to the "Bandit" case that occurred in Salem, Doddridge County, in 1966 and is often linked to the Mothman case. The Bandit case for those unfamiliar with the account features a farmer by the name of Mr. Merle Partridge who saw red lights on his property which his dog chased after only to seemingly disappear without a trace. A short time later, a dead dog was seen in the vicinity of a Mothman sighting by Linda and Roger Scarberry and Steve and Mary Mallette, which occurred about 90 minutes after the disappearance of Bandit. Now it is important to point out that what Partridge saw was not the eyes of a creature like what most Mothman researchers claim but mechanical or anomalous non-sentient, at least from what can be gleaned from the encounter lights. I compare it to this encounter because what "H-town Mama" saw out by the river was very similar to this and that it led to a possible red-eyed creature visiting the property, which some researchers compare to the Mantis Man. This leads to a potential theory about the origin of the creature, but I will get to that in a little bit.

Now with this creature, there are many ways we can interpret what was encountered. From a cryptid standpoint, this creature could be just that of an organism that we have not yet discovered, and the fact that it seems to stay in one place does tend to point to a more animal-like territory. The fact that this creature seemed to disappear is not unheard of; we see similar behavior in chameleon's where they change their skin color to express moods and blend into their surroundings; perhaps this creature managed to take this quality and ramp it up to the max being able to generate almost picture quality designs on its skin giving it an almost invisible or cloaked ability. Now there are obvious problems with this; the first and probably the most obvious is that the creature is seen in an area that is a high traffic area even with the surrounding woodlands, there should be more sightings outside of the sporadic 5year to 3-year span. Another problem deals with what this creature is the creature simply cannot be an insect. Insects in nature have never been gigantic in terms of what the Mantis Man is supposed to be, and a lot of that is because it's believed their exoskeletons simply would not be strong enough to hold their weight. Another element to this is that these animals would need much more oxygen to help them basically function, so the chances of a colossal man-sized or larger insect are unless they've somehow evolved a way to overcome these problems impossible. Now another problem with this hypothesis is that in one specific encounter, the creature seemed to be probing a witnesses mind this as long as the witness wasn’t just undergoing some sort of psychological effect to seeing something he did not understand is something animals cannot do and implies something far beyond the normal.

While the cryptid category is not entirely plausible, there are other possibilities that are equally or more unlikely, depending on your view. The next step up the ladder would be this could be an extraterrestrial of some sort. In Ufology, there is a race of extraterrestrials referred to as Mantids, and while they typically are seen as more human-like entities on occasion, they either intentionally appear or actually appear as giant Praying Mantises. A relatively well-documented case of this is the David Huggins extraterrestrial encounters wherein several of his early memories, the aliens he would describe as Mantis beings, looked like colossal praying Mantises, but later some of them would appear like humanoid mantis beings. The Mantis aliens, much like what was described in the Mantis Man case, have similar abilities, especially with their ability to instill fear and read minds. The problem with this hypothesis is that Mantis beings are almost always seen in connection to a UFO, so unless the lights seen by "H-Town Mama" in 2003 were their craft and they decided to stay on earth or build a colony for some reason, this is unlikely. Mantis beings also are not described as having wings, and most accounts do not describe them as being taller than a human typically; they reach a height of about 3-6ft tall and not the 7-8ft or taller Mantis Man.

The next possibility for this creature is that it is an interdimensional entity or Ultraterrestrial. There's a good probability that this creature, even though Jacks said he did not feel it was from another dimension or that it shifted into one, could have originated from one. In an alternative dimension, there's an infinite number of ways that creatures could evolve, and certainly, at least one could be a functional version of the creature seen in Hackettstown. I throw these ideas together as the events surrounding this creature's arrival, and continuous sightings are very Keelian. There's a lot of minor weirdness that seems unrelated, and all happen at once, and then some major creature is seen and continues to be seen. The fact that this creature goes invisible could be that the creature could be part of Keel's Superspectrum, a member of the Ultraterrestrials, which are entities that co-exist with us on this plane only to feed off emotions and proceed to mess with humanity like Pennywise from Stephen King's IT. The fact that two out of the three actual encounters with this creature seem to be very emotion-oriented seems to emphasize this point, and I feel that for this case its one of the few times the Ultraterrestrial angle is actually a higher possibility than something that simply has to be thrown out there for the sake of conclusiveness.

This case is absolutely bizarre and, therefore, now one of my favorite cases. When first doing research into this entity, I thought it would simply be a giant insect-like cryptid or extraterrestrial that I someday might head out to the field to do some boots on the groundwork, but instead, the case turned into a bizarre psychic high strangeness cryptid case that seems like a mini window area. While I covered mostly Mantis Man-oriented phenomenon, just a brief scan of the area, and there's a significant amount of encounters of other creatures, ghosts, and aliens. Just why these entities chose to take up residence along the Musconetcong, I have no true idea, but perhaps it’s the water, as most researchers into other phenomena suggest. Water is life animals need it to live, so rivers, lakes, and streams are hotbeds for animal activity; it makes sense that cryptid sightings would occur there too. Perhaps Aliens look at water as a natural resource that they are particularly interested in for energy or because they don't have it on their planet. The same goes for ghosts, as the water might allow spirits to manifest easier. If this is the case, then the window area is bunk on a cosmic sense, but due to the mandatory nature of such an area, it is true in that much like a window, it allows you to see things that you may not see if there's a wall there or a curtain. While I can only speculate based on the work of others, I do know that New Jersey is already a bizarre monster riddled state; it seems one does not need to go far to encounter a colossal bird asking for a garbage can or a bipedal flying horse monster in the Pine Barrens or a sea serpent off the coast and so with the case of the Mantis Man, its clearly in good company.

Quick Facts:

Species/Potential Species: Insect

Location: Musconetcong River, Hackettstown, Warren County, New Jersey

Sighted: Spring 2006, 2011, 2014

Works Cited:

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

Strickler, Lon “'Praying Mantis Man' Sighting - Musconetcong River, Hackettstown, NJ”. Phantoms and Monsters. July 26, 2011. https://www.phantomsandmonsters.com/2011/07/praying-mantis-man-sighting.html. Accessed October 8, 2021.

--- “The Musconetcong River 'Mantis Man' Returns” Phantoms and Monsters. December 19, 2012. https://www.phantomsandmonsters.com/2012/12/the-musconetcong-river-mantis-man.html. Accessed October 8, 2021.

“Mantis Man sighting on the M'cong... this is no joke”. HackettstownLiFE. http://www.hackettstownlife.com/forum/4849761222. Accessed October 9, 2021.

Monsters and Mysteries in America “Mantis Man, Spottsville Monster, Tornado Phantoms” Season 3, Episode 8.  Destination America. 2015.