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Cryptids

Cornwall Owlman

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A photo of the Cornwall Owlman taken in 2019. Photo: Cornwall Live

The Cornwall Owlman is a Mothman-like creature spotted repeatedly since the 1920’s in a churchyard in the UK.

What is the Cornwall Owlman?

A sketch of the Cornwall Owlman

St Mawnan and St Stephen’s Church, located in Cornwall, is believed by some to be home to a creature that looks like a mix of a man and an owl. This creature has been scaring the local people and tourists since the 1920s. The church is in a peaceful area surrounded by trees and a beautiful view of the sea.

The first sighting of the Owlman was in 1926. The Cornish Echo newspaper told a story about two boys who were being chased by a really huge, angry bird. The boys were extremely frightened, but luckily they were able to get away and find safety behind a strong metal grating.

St Mawnan and St Stephen’s Church, located in Cornwall.

Another sighting of the Owlman of Mawnan Smith was reported 50 years later in April 1976. Two girls, June (12) and Vicky (9) Melling were on vacation with their parents They decided to walk to the old church for a look around. While they were on top of the church tower, they saw something they didn’t expect. It was a menacing creature that looked like a mixture of a bird and a man, with wings and feathers.

The girls were so terrified by what they saw that their father made the decision to end their vacation and leave Cornwall right away.

In July of that same year, two other 14-year-old girls chose to go camping in the woods surrounding the church. They also reported seeing a gigantic owl that looked like a human, and its eyes were glowing.

News about the sightings travelled quickly and even made it to the front pages of national newspapers.

Two years later, there was another incident where some people saw something strange. At first, they thought it was someone trying to prank them by wearing a costume, dressed as a very big bird that looked silvery-gray.

They quickly changed their minds however when they saw the creature actually fly up into the sky and vanish. After it flew away, they noticed a weird buzzing sound coming from the trees for a while.

In 1989 and then again six years later, there were more sightings of the owl man. This time, an American tourist was the witness. She described the owl man as being at least 5 feet tall and having enormous claws coming from its large wings.

At the end of the summer in 1995, she wrote a letter about her experience and sent it to Simon Parker, who was the night editor of the Western Morning News at that time.

Here is what she wrote:

“Dear Sir

I am a student of marine biology at the Field Museum, Chicago on the last day of a summer vacation in England. Last Sunday evening I had a most unique and frightening experience in the wooded area near the Old Church at Mawnan, Cornwall. I experienced what I can only describe as a ‘vision from hell’.

The time was 15 minutes after 9, more or less. And I was walking along a narrow track through the trees. I was halted in my tracks when about 30m ahead I saw a monstrous ‘Birdman’ thing. It was the size of a man with a ghastly face, a wide mouth, glowing eyes and pointed ears. It had huge clawed wings and was covered in feathers of silver grey colour. The thing had long bird legs which terminated in large black claws. It saw me and rose, floating towards me. I just screamed then turn and ran for my life. The whole experience was totally irrational and dreamlike.

Friends tell me that there is a tradition of a Phantom Owlman in that District. Now I know why. I have seen the phantom myself. Please don’t publish my real name and address. This could adversely affect my career. Now I have to rethink my ‘worldview’ entirely.

Yours very sincerely scared Eyewitness.”

Recent Sightings of the Cornwall Owlman

Another sketch based on sightings of the Cornwall Owlman

In 2019, a paranormal investigator in Falmouth claimed that he saw the Owlman, and that his friend was attacked by it.

Mark Davies, was in the graveyard with his friend Chris Power from Manchester. Suddenly they heard a hissing sound coming from the trees, accompanied by flapping noises. The sound seemed to pass right above their heads. At that moment, they saw a figure with horns on its head, which greatly alarmed them. They were carrying a meter used to detect electromagnetic energy, typically used for detecting ghosts. Surprisingly, they received coherent responses to their questions through the meter.

These occurrences indicated the presence of a demonic energy, which made them feel unsafe. Their friend experienced an attack in the form of scratches on his arm. Mark claimed that his camera broke during the incident. Although he didn’t see anything, he suddenly felt a surge of energy. It wasn’t until around half an hour later that he began to feel a burning sensation.

Mark and Chris managed to capture this photo that they claim may be the Owlman:

Could the Cornwall Owlman be Mothman?

The sightings of the Cornwall Owlman have a striking resemblance to stories of the Mothman, a legendary creature often described as a large, winged humanoid with glowing red eyes, known for its association with sightings of impending disasters and a sense of foreboding.

Could the Cornwall Owlman be Mothman? We decided to check if the reported sightings of the Owlman line up with any disasters in Cornwall’s history over the last 100 years.

There are a few disasters that the Cornwall Owlman could have been trying to warn us about.

The Accident at Castle-an-Dinas

Not long after the reported Owlman sighting in 1995, Cornwall’s worst ever traffic accident occurred.

On December 15, 1995, a digger’s arm, being carried on a lorry, swung out unexpectedly and hit the cars behind it, causing a devastating collision with shattered glass and twisted metal. Five people lost their lives, and others suffered severe head injuries.

The accident happened on a minor road at Castle-an-Dinas at 6:30 PM when the driver was returning the vehicle to the depot after a long day’s work. The companies responsible for the vehicle, Bazeley Plant Hire and Chepstow Plant Hire, were fined a total of £500,000 for not ensuring its safety.

The driver, who hailed from Fraddon, was found guilty of causing the death of five people due to dangerous driving. He was ordered to receive treatment at a psychiatric hospital due to mental illness linked to post-traumatic stress disorder and depression resulting from the accident.

The Camelford Poisoning

On July 6, 1988, a serious accident occurred at the water treatment plant near Camelford, Cornwall. Due to a mistake made by a relief lorry driver, around twenty tonnes of aluminium sulphate were dumped into the wrong water tank, contaminating the water supply for about 20,000 people in the area. This resulted in the water becoming highly acidic and filled with metals.

As a consequence, numerous residents experienced health problems such as stomach cramps, rashes, diarrhoea, mouth ulcers, and joint pain. Some even claimed that their hair turned green due to copper residues in the water. Despite receiving numerous complaints about the quality of the water, the South West Water Authority initially assured the public that it was safe to drink. However, it took nearly three weeks before a warning was finally issued. The incident left lasting health concerns within the community for many years.

The Cornwall Owlman wasn’t sighted again until the year after the poisoning occurred, but perhaps it was trying to warn us about the ongoing affects of the poisoning.

Possible Explanations for the Cornwall Owlman

Shrouded Hand covers the Owlman of Cornwall

The reason behind all these strange events occurring near Mawnan church remains a mystery. Some people suggest that the sightings could be attributed to an escaped Great Grey Owl. These owls can have a wingspan of almost 2 meters, possess large talons, and reach a height of around 4.5 feet. The fact that the Owlman has been seen over such a long period of time makes it unlikely that witness are seeing the same owl.

Another theory proposes a connection between the stories and the church’s location within ancient earthworks. Some researchers also mention the presence of a ley line, an energy line in the Earth, passing through the site. Some visitors to the area have described Mawnan Woods as brimming with a vibrant energy. Is it possible that this natural Earth energy is somehow linked to the reports of the Owlman?

Some people are skeptical about many of the sightings in the 1970’s as they were connected to one man, a magician and paranormal researcher Tony “Doc” Shiels.

During that period, Doc Shiels gained attention and recognition for his involvement in a project dedicated to discovering and summoning monsters. He claimed to have witnessed the Loch Ness monster and even captured a photograph of it.

For a long time, he resided in St Ives before relocating to Ponsanooth. He has since departed Cornwall and moved to Ireland.

What do you think about the Cornwall Owlman? Tell us in the comments.

If you enjoyed learning about the Owlman of Cornwall you might also be interested in of reports of a train hitting and killing a bigfoot or the Fresno Nightcrawler.

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Cryptids

The Awful

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The Awful cryptid as described by Vermont residents in 1925

In 1923, several residents of Berkshire and Richford, Vermont reported seeing a creature resembling a griffin, with a 20 foot wingspan and a serpentine tail.

“The Awful” Cryptid Sightings of 1925

Berkshire and Richford, Vermont are peaceful countryside towns located between Lake Champlain and Lake Memphremagog, near the Canadian Province of Quebec.

In 1925 several residents of these towns reported encounters with an unusual flying creature.

The creature was described as being similar to the mythical Griffin, with a grayish color, a 20-foot wingspan, a snake-like tail, and big claws capable of holding a medium sized dog. These strange sightings caused panic among the locals who came to dub the creature “the Awful”.

The first sightings of the mysterious creature were reported by two sawmill workers in Richford. As they crossed the main street bridge, they saw a very large beast on the nearby rooftop of the Boright building, glaring at them. According to the tale, one of the men was so scared that he had a heart attack out of fear. He had to be carried home but eventually recovered. However, for weeks afterward, he had nightmares about the creature, waking up his family with screams during the night.

In the following months, locals kept reporting sightings of this mysterious creature, causing fear and panic among residents. Farmers shared stories of it flying over their fields, and others saw it landing on their house rooftops. One resident, Oella Hopkins, experienced this when she was hanging laundry outside. The family dog got upset and started barking, and when Oella looked, she saw the creature, known as The Awful, perched on her farmhouse roof, staring at her. Terrified, Oella ran inside and hid under her bed for hours.

Later Sightings of “The Awful”

By the end of 1925, sightings of the creature became less frequent and almost stopped completely by 1928. Even though people thought it had disappeared, some locals claimed to see it every now and then since the 1920s. One such person was Lisa Maskell from Montgomery, who said she spotted the creature near Trout River when she was a child. When she saw a drawing of a pterodactyl later on, she thought it looked like the creature she saw and believed it resembled The Awful.

In 2006, there were a few new reports suggesting that The Awful might have returned to Northern Vermont. In October 2006, a person wrote in the County Courier about a respected person in Richford who saw the creature suddenly appear and grab a big black crow from a pine tree. The witness was surprised and said the creature flew around his house three times.

After this article, more people shared sightings. A woman remembered seeing the monster when she was about ten. It was in a tree near the Trout River, watching them with its strange beak, reminding her of a pterodactyl.

A dowser named Edith Green said people in Richford have been nervous about the creature for a long time.

An older man mentioned that the creature has been seen often in the Gibou area for the past 25 years, even recently. Locals usually leave it alone, and it leaves them alone, with a few exceptions.

A resident of East Richford said the creature has been spotted recently around the Slide Road area. He mentioned you can often hear it before seeing it, making a strange, low screaming sound and the flapping of its large wings when it’s close.

Despite its scary appearance, the creature was never known to attack people; it seemed more like it was just watching. There’s one account mentioning it flying over Berkshire Field near Lost Nation Road and appearing to hold a baby or a small animal, although it’s more likely to have been an animal.

William DeFalco covers the story of The Awful

Possible Explanations for the Awful

Assuming the reports of the Awful are not just a hoax or an old wives tale what else could be going on here? It’s possible that soe type of rare, large bird is lurking in the wilds of Vermont and is only seen very rarely due to a lack of numbers. The Awful could simple have been a particularly large owl or Eagle.

If paranormal in origin, the Awful does bear a small resemblence to the Mothman of West Virginia. Perhaps it continues to lurk in the shadows, waiting to come our and warn residents of impending doom.

What do you think about the Awful? Tell us your theories in the comments.

If you enjoyed learning about the Awful you might also be interested in the Lechuza, a strange owl-like creature or the Prime Hook Swamp Monster.

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Cryptids

Eric Shipton Discovers Possible yeti Footprints on Mount Everest

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In the fall of 1951, English mountain climbers Eric Shipton and Dr. Michael Ward were exploring routes to climb Mount Everest from Nepal. While on this mission Shipton discovered some huge footprints in the snow, possibly belonging to the fabled Yeti.

The strange footprints discovered on Mount Everest by Eric Shipton, Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

Eric Shipton’s Everest Expedition

Eric Shipton’s expedition team including Edmund Hillary who later became the first man to reach the summit of Everest. Photo: Curious Archive

In 1951, when Mount Everest wasn’t a busy tourist spot, two English mountain climbers, Eric Shipton and Dr. Michael Ward, joined a trip to figure out how to reach Everest’s summit from Nepal. Shipton led the expedition, and their discoveries helped plan the successful climb by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953. This expedition not only mapped the way up the tallest mountain but also marked a return to climbing after a pause during World War II.

The Yeti Footprints

At an altitude of around 15-16,000 feet, Shipton and Ward came across an unusual sight – a set of strange footprints in the snow in the Menlung Basin. Because they didn’t have proper tools to measure the footprints, they improvised using an ice pick, a backpack, and Michael Ward’s left boot. Shipton took photos as they closely examined what they found.

In one photo, comparing the boot to a footprint(below), it was evident that the print was much wider than a normal human foot, almost twice as wide, as Ward estimated. The footprint’s toes looked strange, with the big toe being lower and larger than expected for a human. It raised questions about how someone could walk in the snow without foot protection in freezing temperatures, even if it was a human print.

The photo of the Yeti footprint with Shipton’s Boot on Everest

Perplexed, Shipton and Ward tracked the mysterious footprints down the glacier for about a mile until they set up camp for the night. A few days later, their teammates W. H. Murray and Tom Bourdillon joined them and examined the peculiar footprints. Bourdillon noted in his diary that the prints had become somewhat distorted by the sun by the time he reached them, but he still found them surprising and unexplained.

After the photos were published, several expeditions took place in the Himalayas and Central Asia to determine if the creature in Shipton’s photographs actually existed. However, no evidence was found to prove the existence of the Yeti. Some accused Shipton of staging a hoax, but others who had seen the footprints vouched for the authenticity of Shipton’s photographs.

Possible Explanations for the Footprints

Deformed Humans

While the footprints could be evidence of Yeti living in the Himalayas there are a number of other theories about where these footprints could have come from.

Dr. Michael Ward, a medical doctor who was a part of Shipton’s expedition had an interesting theory about the footprints. He believed that the footprints could have been made by a local Tibetan with differently-shaped feet. In communities without easy access to medical help, foot abnormalities from birth might remain.

Dr Ward had seen Tibetans with deformed feet and some who walked with bare feet in the snow.

One case occurred during the Silver Hut Expedition in 1960-1961, which stayed at 19,000ft in the Everest region during the winter. A 35-year-old Nepalese pilgrim named Man Bahadur, who usually lived at 6000ft, visited. He spent 14 days at 15,300ft and above, not wearing shoes or gloves throughout. He walked in the snow and on rocks with bare feet without getting frostbite. He had minimal clothing and no sleeping bag or protective gear except a woolen coat.

He was monitored for four days without shelter between 16,500ft and 17,500ft, with temperatures as low as -13°C to -15°C at night and below freezing during the day. Eventually, he developed cracks in his toe skin, which became infected, and he went to lower levels for treatment. If any European members of the group had followed the same routine, they would likely have suffered severe frostbite and hypothermia.

Bears

Yeti researcher Daniel C. Taylor believes he has convincingly proven that Yeti prints are made by Asiatic Black bears standing on their hind legs. He has recreated the footprints in the snow using casts from a black bear and believes them to be very similar.

Taylor believes that the long footprints in the snow from 1951 were made by the Asiatic black bear, known as Ursus thibetanus. When the bear put its front paw down, it didn’t press too hard into the snow, so the claws on the front paw didn’t leave clear marks. After that, the hind paw landed on the back part of the print, stretching it to about twelve inches in length.

The Nepalese Legend of the Yeti

Certain local Sherpas think that the Himalayas are home to unusual beings, and they view the Yeti (also commonly called the “abominable snowman”) as a guardian. On the other hand, some believe it to be a threat.

“There is a kind of mysterious creature that lives in the Himalayas,” explained Ang Tshering Sherpa, leader of the Nepal Mountaineering Association in Katmandu, who is from the Khumbu region.

Bob Gymlan discuses why he believes the footprints found by Eric Shipton are evidence of the existence of Yeti

Do you think there are Yeti in the Himalayas? Tell us your theories in the comments!

If you enjoyed this article you might also be interested in a child lost in the woods that was protected by a bigfoot or a bigfoot that was hit by a train.

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