I received the following email from JBC in Mesa, Arizona a few years ago. They describe an unknown winged creature that was perched at their home. Tell us what you think this cryptid may be...it's still a mystery:
Hello Lon,
The experience I'd like to share with you happened in the summer of 2002. I was 20, still living at home in a rental in east Mesa, Arizona with my 18 year-old brother and my mother. As you may know, Arizona has a typically 6 month long scorching, dry summer climate, and being a transplant from beautiful Northern Cali it was hard for us to adapt.
Anyhow, it was a hot summer night in late May or early June. My brother had just graduated high school and I was working full time during the day. We spent our evening talking and laughing and playing music, it really was a memorably enjoyable night. At about 10:30 I noticed that the front porch light had again burned out, as it had been doing for about 18 months prior to that. In fact, both of the lights over the driveway and 3 lights in our backyard were continually ceasing to function and it seamed I was always buying bulbs and expensive strobe light bulbs. I don't know if this is some how connected to what happened next.
First I must add that our front door was set back into the house with the garage protruding. Our front yard was much deeper than the backyard and was over shadowed by 3 velvet mesquite and a china berry tree, and various species of cholla cacti. So the street light did little to penetrate the den of darkness.
I turned the lamp light to my bedroom which was really an office nook right next to the front door, which had a large latticed picture window with run-of-the-mill blinds. I opened the blinds and the light flooded the wall of the garage. What I saw made my skin crawl. There on the stucco wall was some "thing". It was only about 10 to 12 feet from where I was standing. The only way to describe it was that it looked like a giant headless moth. I called my brother over excitedly. I clearly remember our conversation.
"What do you suppose that is?"
"I have no idea! It must be a bat of some sort."
"But we only have micro bats here in Arizona. And I have always heard that bats hang upside down."
"I guess it could be a giant moth. We do live in the desert."
"I thought moths were attracted to light. The lights are all burnt out again".
We talked for a moment and stood next to the glass panes adjacent the front door, the bedroom light illuminating all the while, and the "thing" did not stir or move. We decided it was about 18 inches to 2 feet long from blunt top to winged bottom. It was very clear yet very dark, almost black. It hung on the wall like a moth but was about the size of a medium-sized fruit bat, which I believe only exist in Asia? It was about five or six feet off the ground. My mother came and had a look and shuddered and refused to stand near the door. We were both young and curious and my brother said "Let's go have a look at it then." We swung the door and security screen open and he took a step over the door jam. I was suddenly struck with an unreal, unearthly fear and grabbed his shoulder. He looked back at me and later said I had the most wholly terrified look on my face that he had ever seen. I am afraid and tingly even writing this. Without a word he stepped back inside and we locked both doors and closed the blinds and camped out in the living room, only going to sleep after several thoughtful conversations.
The very next morning at sun up I went out to the wall with a tape measure and my brother and mom stood at the door and directed me as to where and how high and how long this thing had been planted. There was no trace of anything, the dust on the stucco looked the same all around, no residue or anything. When they were both satisfied with the positioning I read the tape measure: 28 inches. My mother walked back into the house and has absolutely refused to speak of it since.
My brother and I are both keenly interested in animal/insect/plant life via books, and media, and I have taken an MCC course in Southwest biology, and neither of us have ever seen or heard of anything matching its description. My husband was raised here and said the only thing he could think of that size was an owl, but this was no owl. What was it? Perhaps it is a real animal we could not identify. Has someone had a similar experience or know what it could be? We are not exaggerating people, we are level-headed and analytical. Thank you for your time.
Best wishes,
JBC, Mesa, Arizona
NOTE: OK folks...any idea what this was? Described as headless...possibly a juvenile Mothman? Tell me what you think...Lon
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