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| Mertztown is in Longswamp Township in eastern Berks County, Pennsylvania |
Good morning,
As I sit reading this article, it amazes me that no one caught one of these things yet. I understand that if something with a 25-30 ft wingspan flies past you, you're not going to grab your camera as a first instinct.
My son and I saw this monster thing last summer in Mertztown, PA. We were parked on the side of the road in a heavily wooded area when this thing casually glided up the road. It looked big enough to carry a full grown man away with no effort. When the wing flew over the hood of my car, we instantly ducked down. This thing had a round human sized head with no beak (hence the term man-bird), and huge bat-like wings. Now I would never tell this story if it wasn't for my 16-yr-old son sitting in the backseat who also witnessed it on that summer day. I'm a pretty capable guy, not too many things can shake me, but this thing scared the hell out of me. Here is what I saw:
The body was 5-6 ft in length easy, wing span was 25-30 ft easy, no feathers, bat like skin, jet black, and a 4-5 ft skinny (rat or dragon) like tail that stuck straight out. This thing didn't fly like a bird, it glided about 10 ft off the ground at a VERY slow speed. After 50-75 ft of gliding, it took one huge flap of the wings, never changing elevation, and glided up the road till it disappeared into the woods. I'm convinced this thing lives underground, probably near some sort of hot spring cause it has no feathers.
Well that's my story. Feel free to reply with any questions, that 45 second event will forever be etched into memory. I say we find it and catch it, I would love to see it again up close.
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| New Miami is in central Butler County in the southwestern part of Ohio |
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| The intersection where this creature was seen |
On Monday May 9th, 2011 around 5:45am, I was on my way to work headed north bound in to the village of New Miami on Seven Mile Avenue. I left the traffic light at the southern most edge of town in to a dark stretch of road when a large flying creature swooped in over my car and snatched up a small animal in the road ahead of me at the edge of my head lights. As a construction worker, I feel I can judge the size of objects fairly well. This creature had a wing span of at least 12 feet and was jet black. It completely blocked the view out of my windshield and then some and moved at a very high rate of speed. I was traveling between 35-40MPH. It had to have been traveling at around 70-80MPH. Like I stated before is swooped down grabbed the animal and was gone over the trees very quickly. I've researched large predator birds and raptors indigenous to Ohio and there are none that fit the description of what I saw. If you have any other questions about my experience please feel free to email me back. Tex
NOTE: if further information is provided I will post updates...Lon