In 1977, a series of sightings of large 'brown things' were reported by military personnel at the Quantico Marine Base in Northern Virginia:
Quantico, Va. (API) – Some Marine sentry’s standing guard here late at night are seeing some strange sights and hearing strange sounds. Is it a “Bigfoot?” Well, that’s what some of them think.
The “thing” has made its presence known in the dark shadows of a tree line outside an ammunition storage area at the Quantico Marine Base in northern Virginia, said Sgt. Alan Pultz of base’s public information office. Marines who have seen or heard it have dubbed it the “Asa Monster.”
A few Marines claim to have seen “brown things” walking on two legs. Others say they have heard strange shrieking screams, and some claim they’ve heard something climbing a fence.
“I remember the night I saw it very well,” said a Marine who asked that his name not be used. “It was about 2 a.m., I was walking my post when I heard something in the woods. I stopped and looked in the direction of the noise.
I could see a dark figure beyond the fence just in front of the tree line, so I shined my flashlight at it. I couldn’t believe what I saw. It was some type of creature that looked like a cross between an ape and a bear”.
“The first thing I noticed was its large glaring eyes. Then I noticed it had arms and was covered with dark brown hair.”
The Marine said he went for help but when he and the sergeant of the guard searched the area, “we found nothing except some very large tracks with a pattern that resembled those of a dog.”
He estimated that the creature was between 6 and 8 feet tall and resembled an artist’s conception of a “Sasquatch” or “Bigfoot”.
Noises heard by Marine sentry’s usually occur in the summer, said St. Kris N. Stolpa, sergeant of the guard of the physical security platoon.
He said the noises have developed a pattern. “Occurring between the hours of 11 p.m. and 4 a.m., the noises will be there for two days and then go away for two days, in a continuous cycle.”
Stolpa said one night one of his men reported a loud screaming noise but when he investigated, he heard nothing until nearly a half hour later. “It sounded as if someone were being mutilated.”
Many of the Marines who claim they have heard strange noises are hesitant to believe there is no logical explanation for them. They believe the noises must be coming from housing or recreation areas, although they are some distance away, Pultz said.
Source: The Sunday Times, Delmarva’s Sunday Newspaper, Salisbury, Maryland, Sunday February 6, 1977
Have you had a sighting or encounter?
Contact me by email or call the hotline at 410-241-5974
Thanks. Lon
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WENDIGO MYTHOLOGY - WHAT ARE THEY? | Join Us For LIVE CHAT | Questions & Answers #Wendigo #Cannibal
The wendigo has been misappropriated from its original context in Algonquin folklore. The word "Wendigo" roughly means “The Evil Spirit Who Devours Mankind.” Originally it was depicted as a cannibal ice giant and cautionary tale relevant to the realities of Algonquin life. Euro-American popular culture mutilated it into what may only be described as a "zombie-were-deer."
First, the Algonquin monster has relevance to their traditional way of life. Their culture was reliant on teamwork, so selfishness is a deadly sin to them, and the wendigo is the ultimate embodiment of that.
Secondly, wendigo psychosis is a real mental illness and was historically used as a justification to destroy the Algonquin culture. There are written accounts in the last two centuries of people suffering from this illness being murdered by their peers.
So then, how was the Wendigo tale altered? This goes back over a century to Algernon Blackwood's story "The Wendigo." The story does not depict a Wendigo but seems to get it confused with the Inuit (not Algonquin) creature Ijiraq and possibly the Tariaksuq. In the story, the monster burns away a victim's feet with friction, while in myth the Ijiraq is sometimes described as stripping the flesh off its victim's shins and if it survives then it becomes a faster runner. The Ijiraq is otherwise described as a trickster who kidnaps children or lures hunters by pretending to be caribou. So, it is easy to assume Blackwood read about the Ijiraq and then twisted the details for his own story.
Now Euro-American popular culture takes the name of an Algonquin cannibal ice giant and applies it to a zombie-were-deer; it has been utterly stripped of its original context and symbolism. I doubt there will ever be much push-back against the zombie-wear-deer version since it has been burned into popular culture at this point.
Now, that being stated, I'm going to present several modern-day accounts that some of the witnesses described as the ‘Wendigo.' Then you can determine what the creature in the report is. Is it an original folktale of the cannibal ice giant or something a bit more contemporary?
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Have you had a sighting or encounter?
Contact us by email or call the hotline at 410-241-5974
Thanks. Lon
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