I thought I'd relate a bizarre account I received back in 2011, that involved a dark Mothman-like humanoid in southwest Alaska. The witness (Nate) stated that he and others had encountered this being. I later caught up with the witness, who confirmed that there was another incident by a villager the previous winter, but he had few details. The following narrative is the witness' own recollection:
"My first encounter with this thing most people call the Mothman was when I was nine years old and I remember it clearly like it was yesterday. I was walking back from my uncle's place. I was walking on the sidewalk and I saw this man standing on top of my fathers house close to the edge facing west. He was all black he looked like a man. He stood about 7 or 8 feet tall. I shouted out at him but he acted like he didn't hear me. I said "hey you...who are you?" I kept trying to get his attention...it was like I wasn't there. But when I said "hey you're standing on my house...who are you?" he looked at me for a few seconds.
His face seemed like a normal persons face until it slowly opened it's eyelids and I saw a red glow...like his eye's were glowing not a red light but a glow. I froze and just stared at him. He stood there looking at me for 9 or 10 seconds and looked away and jumped really high and far. I'd say he jumped about 40 feet high and 70 to 80 feet away and as soon as he seemed to fall down, very long and large wings came out of his back and flapped twice...just in those two flaps he traveled about 100 feet and flew right over the high school.
Since that day I never spoke to anyone about it cause I thought I saw the devil. I freaked out so bad I looked out for it everyday to make sure it wasn't around. That is my first encounter with that thing. It's body was like a man's and his face is like a man's too...but his eye's are what make's it so scary and weird. Those wings are very long and large. His whole body was all black...like not skin but blackness was covering him...I can't explain. I'm not the only one in my village that saw this thing but after that there have been many sightings here and in other villages....even to a point that the thing goes into people's house's while they sleep. That happened to someone I know." Nate
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| Tununak, Alaska |
Before I decided to post further encounters I needed to know more details about these sightings as well as the possibility that similar incidents had been recorded. These specific occurrences were experienced in and around the coastal village of Tununak, Alaska, located on the northeast coast of Nelson Island, about 110 miles northwest of Bethel. The population of the community consists of 96.9% Alaska Native or part Native. Tununak is a traditional Yup'ik Eskimo village, with an active fishing and subsistence lifestyle.
I will be referring to the witness as 'Nate'. There are a few questions that needed to be asked during the research process in particular, why he refers to the being as a 'Mothman':
"I don't know it's real name. It's just that all the people here know it as the 'devil', it comes around and suddenly very bad things start happening. Sometimes it just seems to be watching and nothing happens or very weird things happen. Some people will experience an ability of some sort for a short time and then suddenly they're back to normal. If you ask me I think that the Mothman is not a physical being. I think it's an energy formed from somewhere or someplace that takes character when encountered by an individual. When encountered by a person with a certain belief system the Mothman takes on a form according to the person's point of view of reality. That's one theory of mine to explain it's appearance to people. Some people will say it looked like an angel with red eyes. Some will say it looks like a cowboy standing 9 feet tall with glowing red eyes. Others will say it looked like a 6 feet tall man that can walk through walls. So to tell you my thoughts of the name of the thing I would say maybe it's name is 'Leviathan' from the book of Job in the Bible. That would be the closest name I got for it. Why I had so many encounters with it...I have no idea. I do know that there have been encounters in other villages."
The following narratives are Nate's description of his subsequent experiences with this being:
"My second encounter was when I was a teenager. It was a winter night and I was riding on a snowmachine with my cousin. We saw a light on the north hill. We thought it was a snowmachine so we went to go and see who it was. When we got close to the hill the light disappeared. We were able to see every part of the hill...the light just vanished nowhere in sight, so we were gonna go back home. We turned the snowmachine around as cousin said he had to urinate, so I waited for him to finish.
While I was waiting I saw a black object on the ground, darker then all the other things on the ground. It was getting taller like something was coming out of the ground. As soon as it reached 7 feet tall or so it started to come at us fast. I told my cousin to look at the thing. He started to freak out and ran to the snowmachine, started it and looked back at it. He yelled it's getting very close so I looked back. It seemed to be 100 ft. or so away and coming fast. I screamed to my cousin to take off fast. I was so freaked out I closed my eyes. We were going at least 50 miles an hour on the snowmachine. I looked back to see how far we got from it but that thing was getting closer, I estimate at 15 to 20 feet away from us. It was the I noticed the wings, but they were not flapping. It was like that thing was floating over the ground. I couldn't see any eyes on it...no red eyes, just all black. I was screaming to my cousin to go faster but the thing just got closer and closer like speed was nothing to it. When we reached the village the thing stopped and turned around. My cousin just kept going fast on the town road going about 60 miles an hour until we got close to my grandmother's place. He slammed on the brakes as we jumped out of the snowmachine and ran into the house. We told everyone inside about what was chasing us. My grandmother said it was the 'devil' and told us to stop being 'bad kids'.
The third encounter was when I was 22 years old and at home playing on a Ouija board. I was talking with the board and it said it was the 'DEVIL' so I foolish asked it to possess me. It said 'NO'. I asked why, it said 'WRATH' so I stopped asking it questions. Suddenly the room started to get cold even with the furnace running. I wrapped myself with my blanket but I was just getting colder. I also felt the need to look through the window...like something was telling me to. I again felt this urge to look, so I got up, went over to the window and looked outside. I saw a man standing next to the steps of my neighbor's house, just looking at me. I could tell he was staring at me though I thought it was one of my neighbors, so I went outside to talk to him. I called his name but he never replied. The street light was shining on him but I was unable to see his face, like he was covered in a black cloud or some sort of blackness. I kept trying to get him it to recognize me but received no answer from him. I took out my zippo lighter which I had just filled with lighter fluid and hadn't used it since. I flicked it on and tried to see his face but I still couldn't see it. When I got closer my zippo turned off as if that thing blew at it. I tried to relight it but I was unable to do so. Suddenly I heard a quiet voice saying in my head to 'back away'...so I backed off slowly, not turning my back until I got to the road. When I reached the road I took off running as fast as I could to my place. I looked out the window to see if it was still there and it was still staring at me. I started to look for a flashlight so I could see what or who it was. When I found the flashlight I looked out the window and noticed that it was moving off to the road.
I decided to follow it. When I looked closely it didn't seem to be walking...it was floating away. Dogs would start barking as it passed houses. I was chasing it holding a flashlight hoping I could get a look at his face. I was too slow to get close but fast enough to keep up behind it, like it was going slow to make sure I was behind it but fast enough to stay far ahead of me. It was luring me to him but I kept chasing it. When it started getting closer to the church it slowed down and circled the church, like it didn't want to get close. It continued to move on and I just continued chasing it. When we reached the end of the village I stopped. I felt creeped out, like that thing was trying to get me to go out onto the tundra in the dark. I turned around and quickly walked home.
There are other encounters with this thing that many of the people in the world know as 'Mothman' but here, we know it as the 'Devil' or 'Demon'. He has been around for very long time and has been seen by many people here. He has done a lot of things that creep everyone out, like being at a location where someone dies the very next day and on the very exact spot where he was. When he comes around that means something very bad is going happen.
I don't call him the 'Devil' or 'Demon'. I disagree with that term...I just call him the 'Black Man with Red Eyes' or 'Dark Man' because he's surrounded by a blackness or a black cloud.
There was an encounter where a guy was out hunting and saw it with a couple of his friends. They tried to get it's attention but it never responded back. They tried shooting next to it but he never got spooked by the gunshot. There are many other encounters but these are not mine so I can't say exactly what happened...I just hear the stories."
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| Location of Tununak, Alaska |
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| Traditional Yup'ik shaman 1911 |
Despite the influence of the Christian missionaries, Yup'ik shamans (angalkuq) possess powers that are beyond physical powers. Their achievements are considered impossible for any human being to accomplish. Shamans define a customary role in Yup’ik life, and while Christian religions have interceded in Yup'ik traditions, some say that shamans still play an important role. A long time ago, Yup'ik forefathers encountered supernatural beings and some have become stories that were passed down from one generation to the next. Encounters of supernatural beings are considered true and can happen to anyone and anybody.
The legends and folklore of the Yup'ik people do include several good and evil spirits but nothing similar to the descriptions given by Nate. The closest traditional entity would be a dark shaman who makes life more difficult for the people around them. There is nothing that would represent a harbinger of death.
During my research, I was impressed by Yup'ik customs, especially those that involved gossip, lies, and their respect for spirituality. The community, even in current times, deeply frowns upon malice towards others and the spread of distorted accounts. Because of these traditions and the fear of ridicule, there is little to wonder as to why these stories have not reached the mainstream.
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