![]() The Crash Near RoswellAn unidentified flying object crashed on a ranch northwest of Roswell, New Mexico, sometime during the first week of July 1947. Rancher W.W. “Mack” Brazel said later he found debris from the crash as he and the son of Floyd and Loretta Proctor rode their horses out to check on sheep after a fierce thunderstorm the night before. Brazel said that as they rode along, he began to notice unusual pieces of what seemed to be metal debris scattered over a large area. Upon further inspection, he said, he saw a shallow trench several hundred feet long had been gouged into the ground. Brazel said he was struck by the unusual properties of the debris and, after dragging large pieces of it to a shed, he took some of it over to show the Proctors. Mrs. Proctor, who later moved from the ranch to a house closer to town, said she remembers Brazel showing up with the strange material. The Proctors told Brazel he might be holding wreckage from an alien spacecraft — a number of UFO sightings had been reported in the United States that summer — or a government project, and that he should report the incident to Chaves County Sheriff George Wilcox. A day or two later, Brazel drove into Roswell, the county seat, and reported the incident to Wilcox, who reported it to Maj. Jesse Marcel, intelligence officer for the 509th Bomb Group, stationed at Roswell Army Air Field. In their book, A History of UFO Crashes, UFO researchers Don Schmitt and Kevin Randle say their research shows military radar had been tracking an unidentified flying object in the skies over southern New Mexico for four days. On the night of July 4, 1947, radar indicated the object had gone down about 30-40 miles northwest of Roswell. The book says eyewitness William Woody, who lived east of Roswell, said he remembered being outside with his father the night of July 4, 1947, when he saw a brilliant object plunge to the ground. The debris site was closed for several days while the wreckage was cleared, and Schmitt and Randle say that when Woody and his father tried to locate the area of the crash they had seen, Woody said they were stopped by military personnel who ordered them out of the area. DebrisSchmitt and Randle say Marcel, after receiving the call from Wilcox and subsequent orders from Col. William Blanchard, 509th commanding officer, went to investigate Brazel’s report. Marcel and Capt. Sheridan Cavitt, senior Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC) agent, followed the rancher off-road to his place. They spent the night there and Marcel inspected a large piece of debris Brazel had dragged from the pasture. Monday morning, July 7, Marcel took his first step onto the debris field. Marcel would remark later that “something ... must have exploded above the ground and fell.” As Brazel, Cavitt and Marcel inspected the field, Marcel was able to “determine which direction it came from, and which direction it was heading. It was in the pattern ... you could tell where it started out and where it ended by how it was thinned out …” According to Marcel, the debris was “strewn over a wide area, I guess maybe three-quarters of a mile long and a few hundred feet wide.” Scattered in the debris were small bits of metal that Marcel held a cigarette lighter to to see if it would burn. Along with the metal, Marcel described weightless “I”-beam-like structures that were three-eights inch by one-quarter inch, none of them very long, that would neither bend nor break. Some of these “I”-beams had indecipherable characters along the length, in two colors. Marcel also described metal debris the thickness of tinfoil that was indestructible. After gathering enough debris to fill his staff car, Marcel decided to stop by his home on the way back to the base so he could show his family the unusual debris. He’d never seen anything quite like it. “I didn't know what we were picking up,” he said. “I still don't know what it was ... It could not have been part of an aircraft, not part of any kind of weather balloon or experimental balloon ... I’ve seen rockets ... sent up at the White Sands Testing Grounds. It definitely was not part of an aircraft or missile or rocket.” Under hypnosis conducted by Dr. John Watkins in May 1990, Jesse Marcel Jr. remembered being awakened by his father that night and following him outside to help carry in a large box filled with debris. Once inside, they emptied the contents of the debris onto the kitchen floor. Jesse Jr. described the lead foil and “I”-beams. Under hypnosis, he recalled the writing on the “I”-beams as “Purple. Strange. Never saw anything like it ... different geometric shapes, leaves and circles.” Under questioning, he said the symbols were shiny purple and they were small. There were many separate figures. This too, under hypnosis: [Marcel Sr. was saying it was a flying saucer] “I ask him what a flying saucer is. I don't know what a flying saucer is ... It’s a ship. [Dad’s] excited!” Marcel reported what he found to Blanchard, showing him pieces of the wreckage, none of which looked like anything Blanchard had ever seen. BodiesMeanwhile, Glenn Dennis, a young mortician working at Ballard Funeral Home, received some curious calls one afternoon from the RAAF morgue. The base’s mortuary officer was trying to get hold of some small, hermetically sealed coffins and also wanted to know how to preserve bodies that had been exposed to the elements for a few days and avoid contaminating the tissue. Dennis later said that evening he drove to the base hospital, where he saw large pieces of wreckage with strange engravings on one of the pieces sticking out of the back of a military ambulance. He entered the hospital and was visiting with a nurse he knew when suddenly he was threatened by military police and forced to leave. The next day, Dennis met with the nurse, who told him about bodies discovered with the wreckage and drew pictures of them on a prescription pad. Within a few days she was transferred to England; her whereabouts remain unknown. Roswell Army Air Field Press ReleaseAt 11 a.m., July 8, 1947, Lt. Walter Haut, RAAF public information officer, finished a press release Blanchard had ordered him to write, stating that the wreckage of a crashed disk had been recovered. He gave copies to the two radio stations and both of the local newspapers. By 2:26 p.m., the story was on The Associated Press wire: “The Army Air Forces here today announced a flying disk had been found.” As calls began to pour into the base from all over the world, Lt. Robert Shirkey watched as MPs carried loaded wreckage onto a C-54 from the First Transport Unit. To get a better look, Shirkey stepped around Col. Blanchard, who was irritated with all of the calls coming into the base. Blanchard decided to travel out to the debris field and left instructions that he'd gone on leave. Headquarters Gets InvolvedBlanchard had sent Marcel to Fort Worth Army Air Field (later Carswell Air Force Base) to report to Brig. Gen. Roger M. Ramey, commanding officer of the 8th Air Force. Marcel told Haut years later that he’d taken some of the debris into Ramey's office to show him what had been found. The material was displayed on Ramey's desk for the general when he returned. Upon his return, Ramey wanted to see the exact location of the debris field, so he and Marcel went to the map room down the hall — but when they returned, the wreckage that had been placed on the desk was gone and a weather balloon was spread out on the floor. Maj. Charles A. Cashon took the now-famous photo of Marcel with the weather balloon in Ramey's office. It was then reported that Ramey recognized the remains as part of a weather balloon. Brig. Gen. Thomas DuBose, the chief of staff of the 8th Air Force, said, “[It] was a cover story. The whole balloon part of it. That was the part of the story we were told to give to the public and news and that was it.” Later that afternoon, Haut’s original press release was rescinded and an officer from the base retrieved all of the copies from the radio stations and newspaper offices. The next day, July 9, a second press release was issued stating that the 509th Bomb Group had mistakenly identified a weather balloon as wreckage of a flying saucer. On July 9, as reports went out that the crashed object was actually a weather balloon, cleanup crews were busily clearing the debris. Bud Payne, a rancher at Corona, was trying to round up a stray when he was spotted by the military and carried off the Foster ranch. Broadcaster Judd Roberts and Walt Whitmore were turned away as they approached the debris field. As the wreckage was brought to the base, it was crated and stored in a hangar. Back in town, Walt Whitmore and Lyman Strickland saw their friend, Mack Brazel, who was being escorted to the Roswell Daily Record by three military officers. He ignored Whitmore and Strickland, which was not at all like Mack, and once he got to the Roswell Daily Record offices, he changed his story. He now claimed to have found the debris on June 14. Brazel also mentioned that he’d found weather observation devices on two other occasions, but what he found this time was no weather balloon. The Las Vegas Review Journal, along with dozens of other newspapers, carried the AP story: “Reports of flying saucers whizzing through the sky fell off sharply today as the Army and the Navy began a concentrated campaign to stop the rumors.” The story also reported that AAF Headquarters in Washington had “delivered a blistering rebuke to officers at Roswell.” The military has tried to convince the news media from that day forward that the object found near Roswell was nothing more than a weather balloon.
0 Comments
Described as a hybrid beast that bears a horrific mélange of both human and goat-like characteristics, this horned, hoofed, goat featured horror would seem to be a modern re-interpretation of the ancient satyrs found in Greek myths. Yet eyewitnesses claim that this fiend is not a figment from beyond mythology, but a living, breathing, flesh and blood creature, that is not to be trifled with. The first official report of this brute hails from 1957, when eyewitnesses reported seeing a hairy, horned monster in the areas of Forestville and Upper Marlboro in Prince George’s County. Following that wave of sightings, the beast apparently decided to lay low until the summer of 1962, when the Goatman was accused of killing no less than fourteen people — twelve children and two accompanying adults — who were apparently hiking too close to its lair. The survivors, who, of course, remain unidentified, claimed that the Goatman violently hacked its victims to pieces with an axe, all the while emitting ghastly sounds only the “devil himself” would make. [Source]
In most accounts, the Pope Lick Monster (named after the Pope Lick Creek below the Pope Lick Train Trestle – shown above) appears as a human-goat hybrid with the grotesquely deformed body of a man. It has powerful, fur-covered goat legs, an alabaster-skinned face with an aquiline nose and wide set eyes. Short, sharp horns protrude from the forehead, nestled in long greasy hair that matched the color of the fur on the legs. Numerous urban legends exist about the creature’s origins and the methods it employs to claim its victims. According to some accounts, the creature uses either hypnosis or voice mimicry to lure trespassers onto the trestle to meet their death before an oncoming train. Other stories claim the monster jumps down from the trestle onto the roofs of cars passing beneath it. Still more legends tell that it attacks its victims with a blood-stained axe.
The Sigbin is a terrifying creature from the Philippines, said to lurk in the shadows at night, who sucks the blood of victims by consuming their shadows (the Philippines has some amazingly bizarre cryptids: for some real horrors see this list). The Sigbin is said to walk backwards, with its head lowered between its hind legs. It has the convenient advantage of invisibility – and especially humans are vulnerable to its powers of deception. It resembles a mere hornless goat, but has very large ears which it can clap like a pair of hands and a long, flexible tail which can be used as a whip – it’s unlikely that this goat ever encountered serious problems while crossing the bridge to the Other Side. The Sigbin is said to emit a nauseating odor. Sometimes, it has a tendency to crabwalk backwards, looking for children to devour. In 2005, scientists in Borneo discovered a “cat-fox-like carnivore” with hind legs longer than its forelegs, suggesting that it was endowed with the awkward gait and terrifying physical appearance of the Sigbin. Indeed, many of the characteristics are uncannily similar – but no conclusive evidence has yet been unearthed. The Sigbin, evidently, hides its tracks most effectively.
For those who grew up in Australia, the bunyip will be familiar. The bunyip is a large mythical creature from Australian Aboriginal mythology, said to lurk in swamps, billabongs, creeks, riverbeds and waterholes. It has been described as a giant starfish that walks on land – imagine that! Other 19th-century newspaper clippings describe it as having a dog-like face, dark fur, a horse-like tail, flippers, and walrus-like tusks or horns or a duck like bill. The very first description of this bizarre Australian cryptid appeared in a newspaper in 1845:
“The Bunyip, then, is represented as uniting the characteristics of a bird and of an alligator. It has a head resembling an emu, with a long bill, at the extremity of which is a transverse projection on each side, with serrated edges like the bone of the stingray. Its body and legs partake of the nature of the alligator. The hind legs are remarkably thick and strong, and the fore legs are much longer, but still of great strength. The extremities are furnished with long claws, but the blacks say its usual method of killing its prey is by hugging it to death. When in the water it swims like a frog, and when on shore it walks on its hind legs with its head erect, in which position it measures twelve or thirteen feet in height.” The Lizard Man, being particularly terrifying, deserves a high place on this list. This humanoid cryptid is said to inhabit the swampland areas in and around Lee County, South Carolina. The sightings began on June 29, 1988, with the most recent notable sighting in February, 2008. The creature is described as being 7 feet 2 inches tall, bipedal, with a strong build, green scaly skin, and glowing red eyes. Reports state that the Lizard Man has three toes on each foot and three fingers on each hand. His fingers end in a circular pad that apparently enables him to scale walls and hang from ceilings. As evidenced by the damage done to the vehicles of those unfortunate enough to encounter it, the creature also possesses incredible strength – he is clearly capable of ripping into a car. Pulling over in this area is a bad idea.
Mawnan, Cornwall – 1976. If you were in the area at this time, you would have overheard the first reports of a creature called the Owlman. The first sighting took place on April 17, 1976, when the creature was spotted hovering menacingly above the Mawnan church tower. Oddly enough, sightings up to August 1978 all occurred within the vicinity of this church. This cryptid, which, unsurprisngly, has the appearance of an owl, is about the size of a man; it has pointed ears, red eyes, and black pincer-like claws. Its body bears some similarities to the more famous Mothman: it is supposed to have had large wings of a greyish color. Somewhat eerily, there were many UFO reports, as well as accounts of animals behaving strangely in the surrounding area just prior to the Owlman sightings – yet another similarity to the Mothman case.
is claimed that the Flatwoods Monster is some form of extraterrestrial, as this creature was spotted in the vicinity of a large UFO that either hovered above or rested on the ground in the town of Flatwoods, in Braxton County, West Virginia, on September 12, 1952. According to the reports, this creature was huge, at least 10 feet tall. its face gave off a reddish glow, and its body was green in colour. Its head was shaped like a heart or Ace of Spades, and out of this strangely shaped head bulged non-human eyes. The body is described as being shaped similar to a man’s, and dressed in some sort of dark clothing resembling a skirt. Reports described the creature variously as having either no visible arms, or having short, stubby arms ending in long claw-like fingers.
This beast is said to have inhabited the Pine Barrens of Southern New Jersey, with tales beginning in the 1800s and continuing until the 20th century. The creature is usually described as a flying biped with hooves, wings like a bat and a head resembling a horse. The legend of this creature stems from a tale about “Mother Leeds”, a local witch who invoked the devil while giving birth to her 13th child. When the baby was born it immediately transformed into a demonic creature and flew off into the surrounding pine barrens. The Jersey Devil was blamed for many livestock killings, strange footprints and bizarre sounds. In the early 1900’s, scores of people in New Jersey and neighboring states claimed to witness the Jersey Devil, or at least to see evidence of its continued presence in the form of anxiety-inducing footprints.
This creature was sighted on three separate occasions in the town of Dover, Massachusetts, on April 21 and April 22, 1977. Due to its appearance, there’s speculation as to whether or not this creature was an alien, or the result of some sort of experiment – a human or alien hybrid, for example – while others suggest it came from another dimension. The Dover Demon’s features are as follows: a disproportionately large and watermelon-shaped head; glowing orange eyes; long, thin arms and legs with slender fingers. It was said to be hairless, with rough, flesh-toned skin described as a tan color with the texture of sandpaper. The Dover Demon reportedly lacked facial features – it had no nose, ears or mouth. Its height was 3 feet, and it made a bloodcurdling noise that sounded like a hawk’s screech combined with a snake’s hiss.
|
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |