I received a very interesting email on 2/3/2011 that described an encounter with a 'manta ray' shaped flying entity on Long Island:
Hello, Lon...
My name is Jeni and I live in New York; I grew up on Long Island and have always loved heading out East - the Montauk Projects, Brookhaven Labs; we've had a lot of experience with the unexplained out here (I've seen a plethora of various types of UFOs on LI since early childhood). I stumbled across your blog and am writing in response to the post "Winged Manta Ray Shaped Cryptid - Near Ashton, WV - 12/3/2004". (NOTE - follow up at Additional Ray-Shaped Cryptid Sightings in WV Ohio River Valley Revealed...Lon)
Date of Event: July, 2006
Time: 9:00 - 10:00 pm EST (estimated time frame)
Weather Conditions: Clear, bright night. The moon was very bright and large and you could see every star as the further east you go, the less 'light pollution you experience.
Location: Traveling West on Dune Road, stopped at the Jetty in Hampton Bays, NY (the end of Dune Road).
My experience occurred sometime in July 2006, right after my father had passed away. I regularly take long drives out to the East end of Long Island and walk on the beaches at night as it's very peaceful and isolated. The beach in Hampton Bays (the Jetty at the end of Dune Road) is particularly nice at night. I've been there at least a hundred times and had never experienced anything out of the ordinary. I took my then-fiancee out there to show him the phosphorescent shrimp that wash ashore as he had never seen them; we parked the car and proceeded to walk down to the water. The moon was very bright that night, so you could look down the long stretch of beach and see everything. We were alone. No other people were on the beach, no other cars were parked nearby and all establishments were closed; it's a rather remote area aside from a few scattered private residences and a few restaurant/bars. Now, a bit about me: I'm an artist, was raised with an open mind, am a healthy skeptic and I don't scare easily.
As soon as we stepped onto the beach I had a feeling of general unease; that instinctive fear that one would experience in the presence of a predator. I chose to ignore it; occasionally peeking over my shoulder at the long, empty stretch of beach behind me but mostly focusing on the tiny glowing shrimp beneath our feet. At one point I felt a presence and again, chose to ignore it as I've dealt with that quite a bit in my 30 years. I had not voiced my unease to my fiancee, so he was completely unaware. About 5 - 10 minutes into our short walk we were both hunched over, his back facing the jetty, mine facing the stretch of empty beach when he started peering over my shoulder, up into the sky. Perplexed, he'd look for a second, then look away - at this point I was still trying to retain my composure and not look. Finally, after a few minutes, he looked over my head and yelled "oh my god! What *is* that?!" - I turned to look and 'flying' directly over my head was this huge creature I'd never seen! I will detail as best I can:
It appeared translucent/transparent; no color whatsoever - no visible structure outside of the motion which indicated what it looked like; now, I myself am a visual artist, so this left a very distinct impression on me. This 'creature' was shaped and moving in the way a Manta Ray would; yet completely transparent! No color at all; I could see the stars through this thing; the only thing to allow the structure any appearance was the moonlight shining somehow on its' exterior!
It was larger than a standard sedan. It's wingspan was at least, from what I could estimate, 10' in width; while it was 'flying', its wings moving up and down. The movement seemed familiar, like that of a gull swooping down and hovering over the shoreline. It was approximately 10 - 15' over my head; it had no visible 'head' or 'tail'; no discernible limbs or appendages of any kind. It appeared and moved exactly as a Manta Ray without the 'Cephalic Lobes' or tail. I was completely awe-struck, but that fear took over and after about 30 seconds of staring at this thing we both turned and bolted toward the car. While running, we both simultaneously jerked our heads to the right in response to a glowing green light which seemed to flash twice (it was not the light from the tower on the jetty, nor was it from any boat; that water was clear). I never looked behind me. We started heading back on Dune Road when we saw what I could only describe as two, smaller 'rays' which moved more like a bat would, flying together from right to left overhead past the car. These two were translucent and had a grayish color to them... strange. They were flying in the direction of the beach, where the larger, more transparent creature was. On the ride home, we spoke about how confused we were, but didn't compare notes on what we had seen - I told him I wanted to wait until we got home to do that.
Now I consider myself a well-educated believer in Supernatural/Paranormal phenomenon and have a long-standing fascination with Cryptids but I always approach everything with a healthy dose of skepticism. As soon as we arrived home, I tore two pages out of a sketchbook, grabbed two pencils and gave one of each to my fiancee, instructed him to draw exactly what he had seen and left the room; I did the same. When we were done, we placed our sketches side by side and they were identical. That was enough confirmation for me. I immediately went online to try to research any reports which would help explain what we had witnessed, but I couldn't find anything at all! It was extremely frustrating. I did report the sighting to the National UFO Reporting Center (www.nuforc.org), but still, until I stumbled across this post, was at a loss for any confirmation or additional reports of this type of creature.
I really would love to hear of anyone else who may have experienced something similar on the East end of Long Island... feel free to post this if you like. I'd love some answers as I'm fascinated by this event. It's so difficult to describe the appearance due to the fact that it was transparent, yet we could see the motion. Almost like when heat rises from asphalt and wrinkles the air... I really was amazed and have no idea what this thing could be!
"It was so beautiful and strange! It reminded me of a sea creature more than anything else, maybe our air is like water to them." - I feel the same way; I instantly felt that it seemed to be 'swimming' through the air. I also believe that it's possible that multiple dimensions are simply a vibration away; that many things are likely coming over and going back from time to time...
Thank you,
Jeni
NOTE: please forward any information similar to this sighting. If you have seen this cryptid, I can post as a follow up and/or forward to Jeni...Lon