; Phantoms and Monsters: Pulse of the Paranormal

lundi, juin 29, 2020

Foundations of the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO) - Part III


Foundations of the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO) - Part III

By Dr. Raymond A. Keller, author of the international awards-winning Venus Rising Trilogy, available on amazon.com while supplies last.

Original drawing by New York sketch artist of monster seen by multiple witnesses on mountain ridge in Braxton County, West Virginia, 12 September 1952. Source: Flatwoods Monster Museum, 208 Main Street, Sutton, West Virginia 26601.

Green Monster

It was a Saturday night, 13 September 1952 that the course of UFO investigations forever changed. Up until that time, the case was being made by Coral Lorenzen, the Director of APRO, that the flying saucer occupants looked very much like we human beings, hailing from an extraterrestrial civilization that arose on a planet having evolved under similar environmental conditions as those that existed all along Earth’s biological, developmental history. For on that night, Mrs. Kathleen May of Flatwoods, West Virginia, along with her three children, two other neighboring youths, and National Guardsman Gene Lemon, climbed a hill to the immediate northwest of the nearby rural community of Sutton, West Virginia, attempting to get a good view of an alleged flying saucer that had crashed into this densely wooded area. The guardsman, having a flashlight, led the way through the brush, up a mountain path. After the party crossed over the peak of the mountain to the farther side, they found that the area was still smoldering from an apparent fire, but saw no alleged flying saucer. What they did see was a “monster, ten feet high, four feet wide, with bulging eyes a foot apart; sweaty, blood-red face, and a green, glowing body.”

When Lemon shone his flashlight on the creature, it slowly started toward them in a floating, bouncing motion. The whole group became hysterical, panicked and fled the area, abandoning any previous notion of remaining in the vicinity and looking for the saucer. When they got back to Mrs. May’s Flatwoods home, Lemon used her residential telephone to call the West Virginia State Police and report the incident the frightened party had just experienced up on the mountain. After Lemon finished with his brief rendition of the incident, Mrs. May picked up the telephone and added that the mysterious being made a “hissing noise” as it moved and seemed to be emitting a “sickening, metallic odor.” Following this horrific encounter, Mrs. May calmed down her children as best she could, putting them to bed until a doctor showed up along with the state police to check them out. The guardsman watched over the neighbor’s children and escorted them home after the state police took their testimony and the doctor checked them out as well.

The second issue of the APRO Bulletin, published on 15 September 1952, ran this exclusive “Green Monster” article on its first page. The incident took place only two days before the editorial board of the APRO Bulletin had put their issue “to bed,” as they say in the world of journalism. This meant that all copy was edited and ready for publication. The information in the article came directly from the former high school English instructor and Clarksburg, West Virginia, drive-in movie operator Gray Barker, who was then working with the Connecticut ufologist Albert K. Bender, Director of the International Flying Saucer Bureau (IFSB), as an associate editor of that group’s Space Review newsletter. Barker was the first ufologist on the scene to have investigated the creature that has since come to be known as the “Flatwoods Monster,” so the APRO Bulletin’s reporting of the incident even trumped that of the West Virginia local newspapers.

For Lorenzen and the APRO hierarchy, the existence of the Flatwoods Monster created new paradigms for looking at the nature of the flying saucer occupants. Previously, the APRO director expressed a belief in extraterrestrial life as needing to be akin to “life as we know it,” here on Earth. In other words, it has to be readily identifiable as humanoid in appearance. But now more possibilities were opening up. Surely, the number of different types of beings visiting our world would no longer be limited to coming from planets possessed of limiting life-sustaining conditions and parameters. Extraterrestrial life need not be humanoid, or even carbon-based. And in some cases, the ufonauts may prove to be something other than purely physical, i.e. they might be inter-dimensional, robotic or even synthetically-produced life forms. And then there always remained that sneaking idea that the flying saucer occupants may in some way be connected to the occult realms. Perhaps they hold some linkage to angels, demons, ghosts or sundry other types of so-called “spiritual phenomena.” It was a whole new ball game.

Venus Rising: A Concise History of the Second Planet

Final Countdown: Rockets to Venus

Cosmic Ray's Excellent Venus Adventure

Frank Scully and the “Little Men”

Earthlings fear what they do not understand. A Venusian observation patrol craft crashed near Aztec, New Mexico, on 25 March 1948. See https://www.popscreen.com/prod/MTYyNjA1MjUz/Behind-The-Flying-Saucers-Hardback-by-Frank-Scully-1950.

One of the premier books on flying saucers as manned extraterrestrial vehicles in the early years of ufology was Frank Scully’s Behind the Flying Saucers (New York, New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1950). In the book, Scully provides an account of an alleged flying saucer that crashed atop a desert mesa about twelve miles northeast of Aztec, New Mexico, on 25 March 1948, whence the UFO debris and the remains of the dead bodies of its alien crew were recovered and transported to various top secret government facilities for further analysis. Frank Scully (1892-1964), was a regular columnist for the Los Angeles, California, entertainment journal, Variety, at the time he wrote the flying saucer epic. According to Scully, what the United States government learned about the saucer and its occupants could be summed up as follows:

1. The saucer was approximately 100 feet in diameter and operated in accordance with “magnetic principles.”

2. The occupants were human in appearance, although slightly shorter than the average American. Various experts contracted by the government speculated that the aliens most likely hailed from our nearest planetary neighbor, Venus.

Two years after the publication of Scully’s controversial Behind the Flying Saucers, a reporter for the San Francisco, California, Chronicle, John Philip Cahn, looked into the case and wrote an extensive article about it in the September 1952 issue of True magazine. This article caught the eye of Coral Lorenzen’s husband, Jim, who took Cahn to task in the September 1952 issue of the APRO Bulletin.

Jim L. vehemently disagrees with Cahn because, “Somehow, somewhere along the way, Cahn decided to embark on a voyage of character assassination” when it came to writing about the backgrounds of Frank Scully and the two expert personalities whom Scully interviewed while originally investigating the saucer crash, instead of the details of the actual incident that took place out on that remote New Mexico mesa four years previously.

Jim L. writes, “Instead of showing that proofs of this report do not exist, he (Cahn) tried to demonstrate that Scully’s alleged proofs are not reliable. These are two entirely different propositions.” Jim L. further states that he has personally seen “some corroboration of Scully’s main thesis,” although he would not recommend that Scully’s or anyone else’s book be relied on as the “Bible of Saucerianism.”

Jim L. considered True to be an objective publication when it came to reporting on flying saucers in the past. “By and large,” he penned, “we (the members of APRO) consider the general attitude of the True magazine a healthy one, containing less than the usual amount of journalistic bigotry. The policy of reporter Cahn is another matter, however. We would find his alleged facts and conclusions much more palatable if he did not constantly garnish them with cute-type aspersions concerning the personal habits of his villains, namely Scully, Newton and GeBauer.”

Jim L. provides a jesting conclusion, “These villains are all neurotic paranoiacs while each interviewee who supported this theory was an honest, stable, respectable, red-blooded American-type individual. Of course, anyone who constantly inserts the word ‘see’ into his conversation for no apparent reason can’t be trusted. Anyone who has seen a Hollywood gangster picture knows that, see?”

George Adamski and Leftist Politics

George Adamski was a member of APRO and concerned about the political direction the group was taking. In a letter to Coral Lorenzen and the APRO Board of Directors dated 6 August 1952, Adamski expressed two objections about APRO:

1. Its staunch anti-communist stand and its militant rhetoric.

2. Its propagation of rumors in the expanding circle of flying saucer enthusiasts worldwide.

Of his first objection, Adamski wrote, “Your constitution is very fine, with one exception, which I quote, ‘Communists, parlor pinks, or fellow travelers….’ This is bad phrasing for any organization to use; for do you know that Frank Scully has been called a ‘pink?’ And many great souls in the world have been called that because they were misunderstood in their statements.

“In place of your communist, etcetera, why don’t you put the following in? It will take care of all that:

“The organization should not support any phase of thought which would have a tendency to undermine its members, its society, its nation or any other nation, be it of this world or another.”

Lorenzen stated that for her part, she did not consider this a valid objection because there was nothing in the APRO Constitution that was singling out any specific individual and labeling her or him as a communist, parlor pink or fellow traveler. She did concede in the September 1952, APRO Bulletin editorial, however, that, “We consider the assertion that misunderstanding leads to false accusations a good point. Witness the fact that the Professor apparently misunderstood our intentions in including the qualification concerning ‘pinks.’” She further declared that, “Our comment is this: Our wording was purposely crude, blunt and to the point. We don’t want to play footsies with anyone who would attempt to use our organization for subversive purposes. We’ve given them fair warning. Could we do no more?”

She then proceeded to criticize Adamski’s proposed substitution: “An organization like ours will always attract a certain number of phonies. Any member who attempts to perpetuate a fraud in our name or dangle red herrings in our collective path is not welcome. We would support a phase of thought which would undermine such a member.”

Up to this time Adamski had only received telepathic communications from various extraterrestrials. However, the perceptions he received from them and conveyed to the public in his speeches and writings seemed to provide some indications that the economic and political structure of their interplanetary societies developed along collective and communal lines, somewhat akin to “socialism,” in a general sense. Given the intense anti-communist feelings that were engendered during this period of the Cold War between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, it is not unreasonable that Lorenzen and the APRO Board of Directors were enacting measures to limit the infiltration of communist and socialist ideology on many levels. To her credit, though, Lorenzen did leave the matter of an amendment to Article Nine of the APRO Constitution open with respect to the aforementioned wording and actively solicited the membership’s comments.

Rampant Rumors

George Adamski was also concerned about the proliferation of rumors generated in the APRO Bulletin’s “Grapevine” column. Of this section of the newsletter, Adamski considered it to be outright “slanderous.” In addressing this matter, Coral Lorenzen wrote, “I believe his (Adamski’s) reaction stems mainly from his misinterpretation of the abbreviation SF that was used in the second part of the Grapevine. Its intended meaning was SCIENCE FICTION. However, in the Professor’s interpretation, a science fiction magazine became a San Francisco magazine; and as a result it appeared that a personal friend of his was unjustly accused.”

In the July 1952 issue of the APRO Bulletin, under the Grapevine column, Coral Lorenzen wrote: “The old axiom, ‘Where there’s smoke, there’s fire’ is our reason for including the Grapevine in the APRO Bulletin. Many rumors regarding the saucers have come to our ears; and sometimes rumors can be more interesting than actual facts.

“For instance the rumor that the editor of an SF magazine is in contact with space spies, and because of this, is under constant surveillance by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), is an interesting tidbit. Our informant, a well-known man in his vicinity, asserts that this is true, and that said editor will soon have his personal freedom greatly curtailed. One indication that this may be partly true is that there has been a large influx of saucer sightings in the vicinity of that editor’s home town since he moved to that location. Of course, names cannot be given for obvious reasons. We are checking.”

Lorenzen understood why Adamski was upset, and quotes the contactee in his letter of complaint to APRO headquarters: “The man is not a space spy. This is slander, if anything. I am sorry to see your first bulletin come out with the slander of an individual…. So I believe that your Grapevine, which is rumor, should not be in the bulletin. For a rumor most always leads to malicious action; and if we want the truth, rumors should not be supported.”

Lorenzen found it somewhat difficult to reconcile Adamski’s allegations with the facts on hand, especially since the rumor of the space spy first came to APRO’s attention through Adamski himself in a letter dated 1 April 1952. Lorenzen explained that she justified the existence of the Grapevine column based on her belief that it was better to pin down a rumor to spike or verify it than to let it fly around unchecked. She felt that, “Spiking a false rumor contributes as much to the truth as the verification of a true one.” Also, she took into account that the absolute exclusion of all material lacking conclusive verification from the APRO Bulletin would result in the elimination of the bulletin itself. After all, the purpose of APRO was the eventual attainment of the same conclusive verification. Following up on rumors was just another way of getting at the truth.

The APRO director did agree that a “clarification of concept” was required with respect to the newsletter in light of Professor Adamski’s “constructive efforts.” To this end, Lorenzen declared that, “Beginning with this issue (Vol. 1, No. 2), no rumor or hearsay will be carried without the simultaneous inclusion of the channel through which the report reached us. This, we believe, will prevent our bulletin from being used by anyone as an organ of vicious, malicious or idle gossip. In the case of a confidential source, the reasons for requesting confidential status will be carefully weighed and no information will be carried that could reasonably be considered slanderous or libelous toward any individual.”

She cited the example of an Reserve airman who reported seeing the space suits of extraterrestrial astronauts in a hangar at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, when he had been on active duty and where such a policy would be followed. In this case, the disclosing of the airman’s name might jeopardize his position in any planned return to active service. It would also lend itself to severing APRO from what appeared to be a valuable source of information from inside the Air Force. The revelations of the airman certainly supported the contentions of Frank Scully, but attacked no one. Therefore, the story could be carried in the pages of the APRO Bulletin without “naming names,” so to speak.

“In closing this little treatise,” wrote Coral Lorenzen, “we (of APRO) wish to commend Professor Adamski for his sincere concern, and invite the comment of all members on this and other matters.”

- Coral Lorenzen, “Green Monster,” APRO Bulletin, Vol. 1, No. 2, September 1952, P.O. Box 358, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
- APRO Bulletin staff consisted of Coral Lorenzen, APRO National Director and Editor; Ronald Larsen, Assistant Editor; with assistance from Jack Moody, APRO Vice President; Richard Haislet, APRO Secretary and W. T. Hagen, APRO Treasurer. APRO members from around the globe served as correspondents.
- J. P. Cahn, “Flying Saucers and the Mysterious Little Men,” True, September 1952, New York City, New York
- Jim Lawrence (pen name for Jim Lorenzen), “How True is True?” APRO Bulletin, Vol. 1, No. 2, P. O. Box 358, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
- For the testimony of Dr. George C. Tyler, the President of the Colorado Shale and Metal Company, based in Denver, whom the United States government contracted a huge crane and heavy equipment to transport the saucer out of the Aztec crash site and over to Los Alamos Laboratories; his correspondence with Sir Desmond Leslie, the premier English ufologist, attesting to the reality of the crashed saucer at Aztec; as well as the first-hand accounts of the incident by some of the police officers, soldiers and civilians who were at the crash site; in addition to an interview with Dr. Baron Nicholas Von Pappen, the Lithuanian refugee who took photos of the saucer and its interior at the Los Alamos research facility at the behest of the government, please see “Chapter VI: The Real X-Files,” in my second book of the Venus Rising trilogy, Final Countdown: Rockets to Venus (Terra Alta, West Virginia: Headline Books, 2017). Another excellent resource regarding this incident is Scott Ramsey, Suzanne Ramsey and Dr. Frank Thayer’s Aztec UFO Incident (Wayne, New Jersey: New Page Books, 2016).
- Silas Mason Newton, Denver oil executive
- Leo A. GeBauer, scientist referred to by Scully as the mysterious “Dr. Gee”
- Adamski was referring to Article Nine in the APRO Constitution.
- I believe that the science fiction editor referred to here by Coral Lorenzen was none other than Raymond A. Palmer, the editor of the well-known Other Worlds and Fate periodicals in 1952, published out of Amherst, Wisconsin. Since the late 1940s, Palmer had launched an all-out campaign against atomic testing in all publications under his prevue, alerting the public to the dangers of radiation fallout. Fred Nadis, Raymond A. Palmer’s biographer, writes in Man from Mars (New York, New York: Penguin, 2013), page 202, that “Palmer’s criticism of militarization left him vulnerable to the era’s Communist hunters….” Nadis provides substantial proof of this allegation, demonstrating how the FBI continually harassed Palmer and maintained a constant surveillance of his publishing activities.
- Coral Lorenzen, “Grapevine,” APRO Bulletin, July 1952, P. O. Box 358, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
- Continued in Part IV, “Government Insiders,” this chapter.


**********

Editor’s Note: If you would like to ask the Cosmic Ray any questions about Venus or life on other planets, do not hesitate to send him an e-mail at rkeller1@mix.wvu.edu. The doctor will be appearing with Omnec Onec, the Ambassador from Venus, along with premier ufologist Laura Eisenhower, at the Promise Revealed Meet the Venusians Mt. Shasta Summer Conference, to be held Wednesday, 26 August 2020 through Sunday 30 August 2020 at the Siskiyou Masonic Lodge, Mount Shasta, California. For event information or to purchase tickets, please call Rob Potter at (530) 925-3502. Until then, in the profound words of Venusian Moon Base Clarion Commander Aura Rhanes, “Work, study, and meditate on all good things!”

The launch of our newest project has begun! 'Beyond Explanation' is a collection of first-person encounters, directly from the pages of Phantoms & Monsters. Please subscribe & feel free to distribute to your friends and other paranormal enthusiasts. The Facebook page can be found at Beyond Explanation on Facebook - Thanks for your help. I hope you enjoy! Your comments are welcomed. Lon

PLEASE NOTE: In the not so distant future, the Arcane Radio YouTube uploads will be moved over to the 'Beyond Explanation' channel. You may want to subscribe to 'Beyond Explanation' so that you don't miss an episode. Thanks.




'Winged Cryptids: Humanoids, Monsters & Anomalous Creatures Casebook' is now available in paperback & on Kindle


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samedi, juin 27, 2020

Canine Cryptid / UFOs Encountered in Bulgarian Village


A Bulgarian youth describes several bizarre encounters, including incidents with a cryptid canine and UFOs, while living in his village.

"I lived most of my life in a village named Malak Chiflik in Bulgaria .It wasn't a small place but everybody knew each other and everybody knew about the weird stuff that would happen once in while, but nobody spoke about it.

My first encounter with the strange happened when I was 7. It was night time and my friends and I were at the only park there. Our parents were at a restaurant nearby and some of the older kids were also at the park. At one point I was alone sitting on a slide when the street lights went out. So I am sitting there in the dark and I look at a house that is across from the park. Above it was hovering a silver flying saucer. I watched it for 5 minutes before it disappeared. I decided not to tell the others, but when I approached them they asked me if saw it.

On the same night around 12:30 am my mom and I started heading home. As we are walking we are nearing a turn in the road near a little dirt road on the right side of it that leads to a couple of houses. Suddenly my mom stops me. I ask her why and she just 'shusses' me. So I look at what she is looking at and there is a "man" walking in front of us with really long arms that were reaching his knees and a head that was turned 180 degrees looking at us. It disappeared at the turn of the road and a couple of seconds later there was a bright light. We stood there for a bit before continuing. Even today my mom rarely speaks of it.

2 months later, in the middle of the summer, most of my peers had gone on vacation or visiting other family. A couple of the older kids wanted us to go and pick cherries at this large cherry tree belonging to a man that lived at the edge of the village. A few local adults, when they saw where we were heading, warned us not to go but (of course) we didn't listen. Before we even reach the place we hear some strange noises behind some bushes. So we decided to check it out. Past the bushes was an open field. On it was a dead cow and feeding on it was an unknown creature that would fit the description of a dogman or werewolf. It turned its head towards us. Its red eyes looking directly at me. It grimaced at us, showing all of its teeth. We started running and didn't stop until we were at the center of the village.

Later that same night, it's time for me to head home. The road that leads to my neighborhood is kind of surrounded by forest. As I am passing by a cornfield I hear a growl from a little path that goes into it. I look at path it is pitch dark. The only thing I can see are red eyes and the grimacing smile that starts to form. I start running and that thing chases after me. It gains on me and I swear it said, "you are mine" in a very deep, menacing voice. At this moment my neighbor's dogs start barking and I see them rushing towards me from up the road. Thanks to them the creature it lost its momentum for a bit and I managed to reach the gated fence. I climbed over and sprinted across the yard and into the house. The dogs continued barking for a while. Even today, 18 years later, I sometimes have nightmares about it.

A few years later, in the evening evening, I was playing at the park when I looked at the sky and saw a bright yellow star falling down. As I watched it suddenly stopped and started doing some maneuvers before flying up and disappearing. Two weeks later, a friend and I are near the place where I encountered that beast when he spots the same object falling down in the distance. We watch it as it stops and hovers above a forest before landing into it.

The next day we are there again with a bunch of kids telling them about the star when we see the field next to that forest in flames, which would disappear and reappear on a different spot. Maybe someone could explain that but it was weird." KH

The launch of our newest project has begun! 'Beyond Explanation' is a collection of first-person encounters, directly from the pages of Phantoms & Monsters. Please subscribe & feel free to distribute to your friends and other paranormal enthusiasts. The Facebook page can be found at Beyond Explanation on Facebook - Thanks for your help. I hope you enjoy! Your comments are welcomed. Lon

PLEASE NOTE: In the not so distant future, the Arcane Radio YouTube uploads will be moved over to the 'Beyond Explanation' channel. You may want to subscribe to 'Beyond Explanation' so that you don't miss an episode. Thanks.




'Winged Cryptids: Humanoids, Monsters & Anomalous Creatures Casebook' is now available in paperback & on Kindle


Click Here For Lon's Suggested Reading List - Books & Films / DVDs


Black Haired Bigfoot Observed by Surprised Farmer Near Fouke, Arkansas


An Arkansas farmer had a recent Bigfoot encounter while hunting for deer on his property near Fouke. He had moved there from Illinois and never believed the Bigfoot legend until now.

I recently talked to a farmer 'JR' who lives in Miller County, Arkansas, just a few miles west of Fouke. He bought this 400-acre farm in 2017 after he moved south from Decatur, Illinois.

JR is also a hunter and occasionally feeds deer in his field. There is a wooded area adjacent to his field that leads to wet bottomland that is usually covered in water. He rarely goes into that area, since it offers very little game. The deer seem to avoid it.

In late December 2019 on an early morning, he was in his tree stand that is located on the edge of the field, waiting to bag a deer. He began to notice a slight rotten smell, but figured it was from a decomposing cow that had died a few days previous. JR had taken the tractor and drug the cow to the far end of the field near the woods in order to avoid spooking the deer. He was perplexed as to why the cow died, but this is nothing really unusual since livestock die for various reasons. He just assumed that there may have been internal issues with the cow.

As he observed the far edge of the woods with his binoculars, he noticed a dark figure at the end of the game trail. At first, JR thought that this may have been a large feral hog, which occasionally come onto his property. As he watched the figure it suddenly 'got up' and stood on two legs. He had heard of, what he thought was, the legend of Bigfoot creatures in the area. But he never really believed that Bigfoot existed. Now, he was looking at a 6-7 ft tall black hair-covered hominid standing about 150 yards ahead of him.

JR stated that the Bigfoot was covered head to toe in long black matted hair with some features of its face visible. The creature was muscular but not thick in the torso. In fact, it seems a bit emaciated as it scoured the field before it.

JR was very surprised at what he was witnessing. The beast stood at the spot, rocking side to side, for several minutes. It didn't make eye contact with JR, and seemed more interested in its immediate surroundings. It eventually turned and walked back towards the wet bottomland.

JR did not talk to any of the residents about his encounter, but he had heard plenty of first-hand accounts by other people that live in the area. Though he discounted the actual existence of Bigfoot before, he is now convinced that these creatures live on or near his property. Lon


I sincerely ask that you consider supporting Phantoms & Monsters through a donation. Yes, I do receive some funds through books and advertising. But it is far from enough to cover expenses, especially since Amazon.com and other affiliates have lowered royalties and CPM because of the Covid-19 lockdown.

If you are interested in helping out, you can use the PayPal donation buttons on the blog and newsletter or go directly to PayPal.com and use my email lonstrickler@phantomsandmonsters.com as the recipient. You can also make a donation through Facebook Messenger. Thanks for your continued support. Lon


The launch of our newest project has begun! 'Beyond Explanation' is a collection of first-person encounters, directly from the pages of Phantoms & Monsters. Please subscribe & feel free to distribute to your friends and other paranormal enthusiasts. The Facebook page can be found at Beyond Explanation on Facebook - Thanks for your help. I hope you enjoy! Your comments are welcomed. Lon

PLEASE NOTE: In the not so distant future, the Arcane Radio YouTube uploads will be moved over to the 'Beyond Explanation' channel. You may want to subscribe to 'Beyond Explanation' so that you don't miss an episode. Thanks.



Would your paranormal / cryptids group like to become an affiliate of Phantoms & Monsters Fortean Research? By becoming an affiliate investigative group, we can forward reports to you from your area in which none of our team can physically investigate. If interested, send me an email at lonstrickler@phantomsandmonsters.com. The member / affiliate list can be found at Phantoms & Monsters Fortean Research Team / Affiliate Groups. Thanks. Lon


Click Here For Lon's Suggested Reading List - Books & Films / DVDs



'Winged Cryptids: Humanoids, Monsters & Anomalous Creatures Casebook' is now available on Amazon.com and from our new publisher Singular Fortean Publishing


A review of 'Winged Cryptids: Humanoids, Monsters & Anomalous Creatures Casebook' by Linda Godfrey



SUGGESTED LINKS


Huge Owl Encountered in East Berlin, Connecticut

It Came Out of the Closet

Chupacabra Sighting Reported in Georgia

When the Men in Black Investigate Monsters and Strange Creatures

A Reader Asks: Is Bigfoot An Alien Being?

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vendredi, juin 26, 2020

Giant Flying Manta-Ray of Provo, Utah


A witness reports seeing a 'gigantic black manta-ray' flying across the Provo, Utah sky. This sighting led to further reports of this bizarre cryptid.

The following account was forwarded to me by Danny B. Stewart, who posted this information at his site at Utah Stories:

About eleven years ago a woman shared an interesting story with me. Late one June night she was walking along University Ave., a little after 10 PM and near 300 South when she saw a “gigantic black manta-ray” flying across the Provo sky. “This thing was four-hundred feet in the air, coming from the South-East and flying North-West. It had a fourteen-foot wingspan and its body and tail were probably twenty-five feet long. It flew directly over the Provo City Tabernacle (Now a Temple) eventually disappearing into the night sky.”

I didn’t put much credence into this sighting, but I decided to share it on my ghost tour anyway, The Original Provo Utah Ghost Tour with Danny B Stewart. It was a lark, plus there are similar stories of strange flying beings found all over the world, but this was a rarity for Utah a one-time event, or so I thought… In 2013 another woman presented me with an almost identical story, she saw something, in June of 2011, that was the same size, shape, and was flying the same trajectory. It even appeared around the same time as the other one.

Years passed, local “ghost” and “beastie” stories were told, and I began to grow tired of telling the Manta-Ray story. I was about to retire it from my ghost tour completely. But in September of 2018, I was standing in front of the Provo temple, giving one of my tours, actually talking about said-beastie, when one of the attendees began to look a little bewildered, almost...worried. My girlfriend and assistant Tara approached him and he says to her… “I saw it!” “Just recently!” “This Year!” He saw something much like the “Manta-Ray” climbing on the side of the old tower of the Utah Valley Regional Medical Center. (I’m paraphrasing here and basing this on what Tara told me he relayed to her.) It was big and black in color, climbing on the side of the building like a bat would climb on the side of a barn door. It climbed to the top of the tower, leaped-off and flew into the night towards the north-west. I have tried to get more information from this gentleman, but he has been reluctant to share anything further.

Funnily enough, another person came forward a month later with another sighting or a “flying-ray” although this sighting was not in relation to the Provo beastie, Again, I was giving a tour and talking about the “Ray” when I saw a young man whispering (in amazement) to his girlfriend. I approached him as we were walking to the next ghostly-location and he told me he has seen something exactly like I had described while he was surfing in California. He said, “It was huge and soaring in and out of the clouds!” There was an overcast. He watched for over fifteen minutes as it would appear and disappear within the clouds until it flew out of his sight. He had never told anyone about what he had seen because he was afraid people would make fun of him. He also had nothing to base what he had seen on.

This is the case for many people who have experienced extraordinary events or have had sightings of what can only be described as “Ghosts” or “Monsters.” People all over the world are seeing and encountering things that have no place in their historical or mythological memory banks to fit in. So they sit on them.

Nevertheless, if these people are to be believed and if they did indeed see some kind of large flying animal above the Provo Utah sky then we have another beautiful cryptozoological mystery on our hands.

Update from Danny Stewart – 2-24-2020

August of 2019, I was in the midst of an appointment with my ear nose and throat doctor at the Utah Valley Hospital (Formally Utah Valley Regional Medical Center.) for a pre-surgery appointment. While we were talking my doctor asked me what I did for a living. I explained to him what I do and he asked me to share one of my favorite stories, so I told him about the “Manta-Ray.” Naturally he thought it was extremely interesting, especially since my story directly related to some much needed light he was about to shed upon the mystery.

Sometime before they razed the old hospital, construction workers discovered a large colony of bats living in the crawl spaces at the top level of the old hospital towers. Apparently for years, hospital employees and patrons had been seeing a large group of bats flying to and from the top of the hospital towers at night, always/either from the South East to the North West, stopping at the tower, or leaving the tower and flying North West… The same trajectory as the Giant Flying Manta Ray!!

This revelation hit me like a ton of bricks! Of course!! “This is what people have been seeing for all these years!” “This is beautiful!” I said to out loud very giddily. I asked my doctor if I could use this information and he said of course, as long as he could remain anonymous, and so here we are!

You see...this is true cryptozoology! This is how it’s supposed to work! We aren’t always looking for a literal dinosaur in the lake, or in this case a “Monster” Manta-Ray soaring through the skies of Provo Utah! In this case people were seeing a colony of bats flying ‘to a fro’ and sometimes these bats took the shape of what people thought was a Giant Flying Manta Ray! I love that I am both the father and the unraveler of this piece of local folklore and even though we now know what this critter is/was it doesn’t make the story any less important to folklore.

Danny B. Stewart is a researcher, performance artist, teacher, lecturer, and professional storyteller and he hasn’t seen the Giant Flying Manta-Ray yet, but whenever he’s in Provo, he’s always looking up.

The launch of our newest project has begun! 'Beyond Explanation' is a collection of first-person encounters, directly from the pages of Phantoms & Monsters. Please subscribe & feel free to distribute to your friends and other paranormal enthusiasts. The Facebook page can be found at Beyond Explanation on Facebook - Thanks for your help. I hope you enjoy! Your comments are welcomed. Lon

PLEASE NOTE: In the not so distant future, the Arcane Radio YouTube uploads will be moved over to the 'Beyond Explanation' channel. You may want to subscribe to 'Beyond Explanation' so that you don't miss an episode. Thanks.




'Winged Cryptids: Humanoids, Monsters & Anomalous Creatures Casebook' is now available in paperback & on Kindle


Click Here For Lon's Suggested Reading List - Books & Films / DVDs


Huge Winged Humanoid Observed Gliding Above High School in Irving Park, Chicago


In June 2016, a witness observes a huge winged humanoid gliding over the Carl Schurz High School in the Irving Park neighborhood of north Chicago.

I received the following information from the witness 'TS' in reference to her sighting of a winged humanoid in June 2016.

TS was driving north on N. Milwaukee Ave at W. Addison St. in Chicago's Irving Park neighborhood at approximately 8 am local time. The Carl Schurz High School was upcoming on the her right side. She then noticed the winged being gliding above the school, which she believes is 3 stories tall. TS had just dropped her son off at another school, which was located nearby the sighting location.

TS says that the being was huge, at least 10 feet tall in length and the wingspan was probably twice that (15-20 ft in width). The color was dark brown, possible black, but against the sun. The wings looked fleshy like bat wings, so they were a little lighter than the rest of the body, like what a bat's wings look like when you stretch them out in front of a light.

She referred to the 8/22/2011 photograph taken 63rd and Pulaski Rd in south Chicago and stated that the shape was very similar.

TS said that the winged being was definitely humanoid-like with legs and thin elongated body. It seemed to glide and hover, not flapping its wings during 20 seconds or so that she observed it. The size of this particular winged being is by-far the largest reported to us so far. Lon





NOTE: In the late Summer of 2011, reports of Mothman-like flying humanoids began to surface in the city of Chicago. After three brief sightings, there were no further accounts. Then unexpectedly in early 2017, a smattering of encounters emerged from different locations throughout the Chicago metro area; until the number reached near fifty sightings before the end of the Summer. The currently number of viable sightings reported has reached 105...and it continues. We are determined to find the truth.

Since October 2019, the majority of sightings / encounters have been reported at O'Hare International Airport and the surrounding communities. We need your help.

Have you had a sighting of a winged humanoid or huge bat-like creature in the Chicago, Illinois metro area and/or the Lake Michigan region? Please feel free to contact me at lonstrickler@phantomsandmonsters.com or at 410-241-5974 - your anonymity and confidentiality is guaranteed. Lon


Chicago & Regional Winged Humanoid / Flying Entity Sightings & Encounters Interactive Map

Chicago & Regional Winged Humanoid / Flying Entity Sightings & Encounters - Case List


Hey folks. I do understand that everyone is tightening their belts during the Covid-19 situation. But I ask that you may consider supporting Phantoms & Monsters through a donation. Yes, I do receive some funds through books and advertising. But it is far from enough to cover expenses, especially since Amazon.com and other affiliates have lowered royalties and CPM because of the Covid-19 lockdown.

If you are interested in helping out, you can use the PayPal donation buttons on the blog and newsletter or go directly to PayPal.com and use my email lonstrickler@phantomsandmonsters.com as the recipient. You can also make a donation through Facebook Messenger. Thanks for your continued support. Lon


The launch of our newest project has begun! 'Beyond Explanation' is a collection of first-person encounters, directly from the pages of Phantoms & Monsters. Please subscribe & feel free to distribute to your friends and other paranormal enthusiasts. The Facebook page can be found at Beyond Explanation on Facebook - Thanks for your help. I hope you enjoy! Your comments are welcomed. Lon

PLEASE NOTE: In the not so distant future, the Arcane Radio YouTube uploads will be moved over to the 'Beyond Explanation' channel. You may want to subscribe to 'Beyond Explanation' so that you don't miss an episode. Thanks.



Would your paranormal / cryptids group like to become an affiliate of Phantoms & Monsters Fortean Research? By becoming an affiliate investigative group, we can forward reports to you from your area in which none of our team can physically investigate. If interested, send me an email at lonstrickler@phantomsandmonsters.com. The member / affiliate list can be found at Phantoms & Monsters Fortean Research Team / Affiliate Groups. Thanks. Lon


Click Here For Lon's Suggested Reading List - Books & Films / DVDs



'Winged Cryptids: Humanoids, Monsters & Anomalous Creatures Casebook' is now available on Amazon.com and from our new publisher Singular Fortean Publishing


A review of 'Winged Cryptids: Humanoids, Monsters & Anomalous Creatures Casebook' by Linda Godfrey



SUGGESTED LINKS


Huge Bird Encounter in Germany

Starbucks MIB

Intelligence Committee requests report on UFOs

Coronavirus: What The New Normal Looks Like

BEKs at Youth Correctional Facility

Subscribe to 'Beyond Explanation': Phantoms & Monsters on YouTube

Follow the Phantoms & Monsters Archives on Flipboard

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