WEBVTT 1 00:00:15.800 --> 00:00:20.640 A little monster seeing his believing right, or some things 2 00:00:20.760 --> 00:00:24.039 seem to the naked eye just too fantastic and therefore 3 00:00:24.399 --> 00:00:28.359 beyond belief. Chris Walker believes that he and a group 4 00:00:28.399 --> 00:00:31.760 of his friends witnessed such a sight just before midnight 5 00:00:31.839 --> 00:00:36.359 on July fourth, nineteen ninety, when he was fourteen years old. Chris, 6 00:00:36.520 --> 00:00:39.520 now forty six, is a no nonsense type of fellow. 7 00:00:40.079 --> 00:00:42.560 A family man with a wife and two children. He's 8 00:00:42.600 --> 00:00:46.159 worked in the construction industry for over three decades. He's 9 00:00:46.200 --> 00:00:48.600 not the type to liar or just make up stories. 10 00:00:49.640 --> 00:00:51.960 Chris later told a local researcher that he and his 11 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:54.200 buddies had been sitting on a stack of old wooden 12 00:00:54.240 --> 00:00:57.240 skids behind the factory building located on the east side 13 00:00:57.280 --> 00:01:00.679 of Henderson, Kentucky. That night. One of the boys had 14 00:01:00.679 --> 00:01:02.960 pelled for the pack of camel filterless smokes from his 15 00:01:03.000 --> 00:01:06.560 old man and passed it around. The mischievous quintette was 16 00:01:06.599 --> 00:01:10.159 sitting there, watching the fireworks and smoking cigarettes. All of 17 00:01:10.159 --> 00:01:11.840 them knew they were too young to be doing it. 18 00:01:12.280 --> 00:01:14.799 One of them was only ten years old, but doing 19 00:01:14.879 --> 00:01:18.120 what wasn't allowed was a way to be cool. Still, 20 00:01:18.239 --> 00:01:20.400 the ten year old was in Chris's care, and if 21 00:01:20.439 --> 00:01:22.599 they'd gotten caught that night, he said, it would have 22 00:01:22.599 --> 00:01:26.280 been his ass. All around them were dumpsters and many 23 00:01:26.280 --> 00:01:29.959 stacks of old skids from the factory. Chris was busily 24 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:32.760 engaged in the seemingly endless endeavor of being cooler than 25 00:01:32.799 --> 00:01:36.400 his other teenage buddies, tougher and braver, when all their 26 00:01:36.439 --> 00:01:39.159 boasts were cut short by a loud, banging sound coming 27 00:01:39.159 --> 00:01:42.319 from somewhere close behind them. They turned to look and 28 00:01:42.439 --> 00:01:45.920 saw about thirty feet away a wooden crate sitting atop 29 00:01:45.959 --> 00:01:50.480 a rusted old BFI dumpster, good old Browning Ferris Industries. 30 00:01:51.480 --> 00:01:53.719 The crate was moving each time the noise rang out, 31 00:01:53.799 --> 00:01:57.359 and the youth realized with much astonishment, that whatever was 32 00:01:57.400 --> 00:02:00.480 making the noise was inside the crate, trying to beat 33 00:02:00.480 --> 00:02:03.239 its way out. The crate started to rock back and 34 00:02:03.280 --> 00:02:05.560 forth until it finally toppled from the edge of the 35 00:02:05.599 --> 00:02:08.919 dumpster and fell to the ground with a crash. What 36 00:02:09.080 --> 00:02:11.800 happened next, he said, was the most frightening moment in 37 00:02:11.879 --> 00:02:15.759 his young life. Slowly rising from the wooden debris was 38 00:02:15.759 --> 00:02:19.240 a dwarf like creature covered from head to toe except 39 00:02:19.240 --> 00:02:22.240 for its face and hands. In short dark hair of 40 00:02:22.360 --> 00:02:26.479 uniform length. The street lamp just down the corner illuminated 41 00:02:26.479 --> 00:02:29.560 the thing clearly and reflected red in the creature's eyes. 42 00:02:30.680 --> 00:02:33.039 Fully erect, it stood only around three and a half 43 00:02:33.120 --> 00:02:36.960 feet tall. It started to look around frantically, turning this 44 00:02:37.000 --> 00:02:41.000 way and that, as if disoriented or lost. The voice 45 00:02:41.039 --> 00:02:43.439 stared wide eyed at the thing, glued to the spot 46 00:02:43.479 --> 00:02:46.960 by the numbing fear which froze them all. It had 47 00:02:47.000 --> 00:02:49.759 pointed ears like a pig's, he said, and red eyes 48 00:02:49.840 --> 00:02:53.319 with a flat, wide nose. Chris further described the creature 49 00:02:53.360 --> 00:02:56.159 as having a mangy appearance. Some of the hair on 50 00:02:56.199 --> 00:02:58.719 its body was thin or bald, and the skin beneath 51 00:02:58.840 --> 00:03:01.960 was dark brown, while on its bare face and hands, 52 00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:05.719 the skin seemed a lighter shade. The group watched as 53 00:03:05.759 --> 00:03:10.280 the thing continued to look around bewilderedly for about ten seconds. Then, 54 00:03:10.520 --> 00:03:13.240 when the reality of what they were seeing finally sank in, 55 00:03:13.879 --> 00:03:16.639 their paralysis broke and they all fled the scene with 56 00:03:16.759 --> 00:03:19.319 much haste, running all the way back to Chris's house, 57 00:03:19.719 --> 00:03:23.479 nearly half a mile away without stopping. Of course, no 58 00:03:23.520 --> 00:03:26.759 one believed them when they told their stories. When Chris 59 00:03:26.800 --> 00:03:29.319 spoke about the encounter. In two thousand and six, he 60 00:03:29.400 --> 00:03:32.319 was able to give even more details about the entity's appearance. 61 00:03:33.120 --> 00:03:35.719 He said it was muscular and it had the overall 62 00:03:35.840 --> 00:03:39.199 bodily proportions of a midget. Although the arms were of 63 00:03:39.240 --> 00:03:42.639 normal length, it had short, bowed legs. They couldn't see 64 00:03:42.680 --> 00:03:45.919 its feet. Moreover, it seemed like he had been wearing 65 00:03:45.960 --> 00:03:49.280 clothing of some sort which was threadbare and torn, hanging 66 00:03:49.319 --> 00:03:52.599 off its arms and legs in short, ragged strips. When 67 00:03:52.599 --> 00:03:55.159 the group fled, they dared not look back, he said, 68 00:03:55.639 --> 00:03:58.759 or feared that it might be giving chase. The next year, 69 00:03:58.960 --> 00:04:02.520 nineteen ninety one, Chris was surprised by the impromptu visit 70 00:04:02.560 --> 00:04:05.240 from another friend who was not involved in or even 71 00:04:05.319 --> 00:04:09.599 knew of the aforementioned experience. Something seemed wrong with him, 72 00:04:09.599 --> 00:04:11.479 to the point that Chris had blatantly asked him what 73 00:04:11.639 --> 00:04:14.520 was the matter. The youth was not willing to tell 74 00:04:14.639 --> 00:04:18.480 at first for fear of ridicule, but at length he 75 00:04:18.560 --> 00:04:21.000 acquiesced and said that as he was driving over the 76 00:04:21.079 --> 00:04:25.399 Washington Street Bridge, which spanned Canoe Creek near Lincoln Avenue, 77 00:04:25.680 --> 00:04:28.079 he heard what sounded like a woman screaming in pain. 78 00:04:28.920 --> 00:04:33.120 Then suddenly a small dark hair covered little thing ran 79 00:04:33.160 --> 00:04:35.639 out from under the bridge on two legs and up 80 00:04:35.680 --> 00:04:39.120 into the mouth of a large drainage tunnel. It stopped 81 00:04:39.160 --> 00:04:42.279 in and turned toward the passing vehicle, letting out another 82 00:04:42.319 --> 00:04:46.279 high pitched scream. It had red eyes and pointed ears. 83 00:04:47.120 --> 00:04:49.680 I still have absolutely no idea what that thing was, 84 00:04:49.759 --> 00:04:53.040 he said in twenty nineteen. But that was the scariest 85 00:04:53.040 --> 00:05:01.839 moment of my life. The Sturgis that's a vampire. What 86 00:05:02.199 --> 00:05:05.680 was it that one frightened witness saw while driving alone 87 00:05:05.800 --> 00:05:09.360 along the back roads of western Kentucky on a snowy 88 00:05:09.439 --> 00:05:14.519 Christmas Eve back in nineteen eighty three. It was certainly 89 00:05:14.600 --> 00:05:17.040 no animal that she had ever seen or heard of. 90 00:05:17.800 --> 00:05:21.680 The blood flecked albino creature looked like something out of 91 00:05:21.680 --> 00:05:24.600 a nightmare, and ran and stood on two legs like 92 00:05:24.680 --> 00:05:27.600 a man, glaring at her with its firy, red eyes, 93 00:05:27.959 --> 00:05:32.560 breathing heavily, fangs exposed. The vision of the bloody inhumanoid 94 00:05:32.600 --> 00:05:35.079 creature standing there in her headlights has haunted her for 95 00:05:35.120 --> 00:05:38.959 over forty years, yet it still seems like only yesterday 96 00:05:39.000 --> 00:05:43.399 to her. She says it was while traveling these back 97 00:05:43.480 --> 00:05:47.040 roads between Sturgis and Morganfield and Union County, Kentucky. She 98 00:05:47.120 --> 00:05:50.879 told me that a decidedly remarkable creature crossed my path. 99 00:05:52.079 --> 00:05:54.639 The incident left me in such utter terror that from 100 00:05:54.720 --> 00:05:57.839 then on I refused to drive alone at night along 101 00:05:57.920 --> 00:06:02.879 any deserted or isolated country roads. Again, this wasn't an apparition, 102 00:06:03.120 --> 00:06:08.000 a ghostly image, strange voices, or unexplained poltrygeist activity. There 103 00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:11.199 were no warning premonitions of something washing from the shadows, 104 00:06:11.519 --> 00:06:15.279 no omens, no mystic dreams, and no psychic sensations. But 105 00:06:15.399 --> 00:06:18.560 all that happened that evening, short as the encounter had been, 106 00:06:19.079 --> 00:06:23.120 will become intense memories of profound fear, one that still 107 00:06:23.160 --> 00:06:28.480 surfaces sometimes, like right now, sending chills all over my flesh. 108 00:06:28.480 --> 00:06:31.800 At the time of this recording, it was snowing that 109 00:06:31.879 --> 00:06:35.199 evening along Highway sixty on my journey from Evansville, Indiana, 110 00:06:35.319 --> 00:06:37.560 where I worked at the time, back to Kentucky to 111 00:06:37.600 --> 00:06:41.120 see my family for the holidays. Although it was late 112 00:06:41.439 --> 00:06:44.800 close to midnight on Christmas Eve nineteen eighty three, the 113 00:06:44.879 --> 00:06:48.839 roads were well traveled, not bumper to bumper congestion, of course, 114 00:06:49.160 --> 00:06:51.759 but enough of a line that it got on my nerves. 115 00:06:52.360 --> 00:06:54.639 The cars ahead of me evidently were not sure of 116 00:06:54.680 --> 00:06:57.040 the surface of the road is that it snowed, and 117 00:06:57.079 --> 00:07:00.480 they were keeping to an extremely safe speed, almost thirty 118 00:07:00.480 --> 00:07:03.959 miles per hour below the limit. I could not see 119 00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:05.959 the beginning of the line as it stretched along into 120 00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:09.000 the darkness ahead, nor see the end that drew out 121 00:07:09.040 --> 00:07:11.839 behind me. It was just a steady flow of cars 122 00:07:11.879 --> 00:07:15.519 going about twenty five miles per hour on a normal 123 00:07:15.560 --> 00:07:18.439 evening with dry weather conditions. All these cars that have 124 00:07:18.480 --> 00:07:21.040 been stretched far enough apart along the two lane highway 125 00:07:21.240 --> 00:07:23.879 that no one would have known how many there actually were. 126 00:07:24.040 --> 00:07:27.680 But that night we were all clustered together going along 127 00:07:27.720 --> 00:07:31.639 at the unseen leader's base. I was confident that I 128 00:07:31.639 --> 00:07:34.399 could travel safely at a higher rate of speed, so 129 00:07:34.439 --> 00:07:36.480 I decided to take an old country back road that 130 00:07:36.519 --> 00:07:39.480 would cut around the parade of cars and hopefully leave 131 00:07:39.560 --> 00:07:42.279 me ahead of the traffic where it joined Highway sixty again. 132 00:07:42.639 --> 00:07:46.519 About fifteen miles down the old back road, I chose 133 00:07:46.560 --> 00:07:50.000 ran past some of the abandoned Peabody coal mines, which 134 00:07:50.040 --> 00:07:53.959 made for an eerie picture against the peaceful snowfall. The 135 00:07:54.000 --> 00:07:56.600 snow itself had been powdery enough to get scattered in 136 00:07:56.600 --> 00:07:59.120 the whirl winds as I drove through it, revealing it 137 00:07:59.360 --> 00:08:04.120 relatively surprisingly dry pavement beneath the heavier snowfall must have 138 00:08:04.160 --> 00:08:07.040 stayed north of this road because Highway sixty had been 139 00:08:07.120 --> 00:08:10.560 much more slippery and slushian spots. This allowed me to 140 00:08:10.560 --> 00:08:12.959 do at least thirty five to forty miles per hour. 141 00:08:14.160 --> 00:08:17.480 The digital readout on the dash red twelve to seventeen AM, 142 00:08:17.600 --> 00:08:22.360 and I thought to myself, Merry Christmas. At precisely that time, 143 00:08:23.000 --> 00:08:25.720 I caught a movement in my peripheral vision coming from 144 00:08:25.759 --> 00:08:28.560 a field on the left side of the road. My 145 00:08:28.639 --> 00:08:31.800 first impulse was that it was a deer running over 146 00:08:31.800 --> 00:08:34.879 the expanse of the field and leaping upwards in overclumps 147 00:08:34.879 --> 00:08:38.600 of brush. Being familiar with the road, I knew that 148 00:08:38.679 --> 00:08:40.799 up ahead was a very sharp curve to the right. 149 00:08:41.759 --> 00:08:44.759 Letting up on the accelerator and lightly touching the brakes. 150 00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:47.200 I slowed my vehicle down to about twenty miles per 151 00:08:47.200 --> 00:08:50.639 hour to anticipate the deer crossing my path. As it 152 00:08:50.679 --> 00:08:54.240 was traveling closer to my side of the road. It 153 00:08:54.320 --> 00:08:57.600 remained a murky object until it reached the widespread beam 154 00:08:57.639 --> 00:09:00.919 from my headlights, and I saw that this was definitely 155 00:09:01.000 --> 00:09:04.240 not a deer, nor was it a four legged animal 156 00:09:04.240 --> 00:09:07.840 of any type for that matter. It ran on two legs, 157 00:09:08.799 --> 00:09:13.440 two human like legs. As it deliberately moved towards the 158 00:09:13.519 --> 00:09:16.600 road from the field just inside the curve, I feared 159 00:09:16.600 --> 00:09:20.440 a collision would ensue. I hit the brakes, fought a 160 00:09:20.440 --> 00:09:23.159 few skids, then came to a stop a few yards 161 00:09:23.159 --> 00:09:25.399 in front of what had jumped onto the pavement and 162 00:09:25.519 --> 00:09:27.919 was standing at a halt. In the beam of my headlights, 163 00:09:29.000 --> 00:09:32.639 it appeared to be a naked man, relatively tall, about 164 00:09:32.639 --> 00:09:35.080 six and a half feet in height, with milky white 165 00:09:35.159 --> 00:09:38.480 flesh that blended in with the snow. He was raised 166 00:09:38.559 --> 00:09:40.600 up on the balls of his large feet, with his 167 00:09:40.720 --> 00:09:44.679 legs slightly spread apart as if preparing to pounce, and 168 00:09:44.759 --> 00:09:47.639 his particular hairy back was hunched over slightly, with his 169 00:09:47.799 --> 00:09:52.120 arms elevated halfway up from his sides for balance. Its 170 00:09:52.200 --> 00:09:55.879 muscles were tight, solid outlines, resembling the finely chiseled marble 171 00:09:55.919 --> 00:09:59.679 on a statue from a museum. One of the upper 172 00:09:59.759 --> 00:10:02.519 legs muscles trembled like a horse after a hard race. 173 00:10:03.799 --> 00:10:08.399 Its sexual anatomy was matted with tangles uncircumcised and strangely 174 00:10:08.440 --> 00:10:12.639 hefty for a human. There were long, thick, disheveled patches 175 00:10:12.679 --> 00:10:15.360 of dark brown hair protruding from its body in various 176 00:10:15.360 --> 00:10:19.600 odd places, mostly on its upper torso. Its head was 177 00:10:19.600 --> 00:10:22.080 covered with the same untamed mess that hung like a 178 00:10:22.120 --> 00:10:25.480 lion's mane over its shoulders and down its back. It 179 00:10:25.639 --> 00:10:29.519 just stood there, staring at me through the windshield. Its 180 00:10:29.519 --> 00:10:32.360 eyes were like red fiber optic lights, with no white 181 00:10:32.360 --> 00:10:36.720 around the pupils. Its eyes were like red fiber optic 182 00:10:36.799 --> 00:10:40.639 lights with no white around the pupils, and they seemed 183 00:10:40.639 --> 00:10:43.120 to have the same iridescent glow that an animal has 184 00:10:43.120 --> 00:10:46.519 when caught in the beam of headlights. There were large 185 00:10:46.559 --> 00:10:49.159 clouds of warm air coming fast from its mouth as 186 00:10:49.159 --> 00:10:53.720 it momentarily rested from running through the field. Its nostrils 187 00:10:53.759 --> 00:10:56.399 were large and flared and seemed out of contour for 188 00:10:56.440 --> 00:11:00.399 a human. Between the thick exhales of breath, could see 189 00:11:00.399 --> 00:11:03.039 some color around its mouth, chin, and neck that went 190 00:11:03.080 --> 00:11:06.720 down to his chest. It too was red, but this 191 00:11:06.919 --> 00:11:10.399 glistened in the light's gleam as something wet wood. The 192 00:11:10.519 --> 00:11:13.879 large snowflakes fell around its hair, melting when it touched 193 00:11:13.879 --> 00:11:17.720 the red liquid it stained its skin. He appeared to 194 00:11:17.759 --> 00:11:21.240 have bled liberally recently from a wound somewhere in the 195 00:11:21.240 --> 00:11:25.960 facial area. My mind was racing with questions and possibilities 196 00:11:25.960 --> 00:11:28.759 as to what or whom it was that stood there. 197 00:11:29.879 --> 00:11:33.159 Was either victim of a practical joker. Was it a 198 00:11:33.200 --> 00:11:34.960 man who had been in an accident, or had been 199 00:11:34.960 --> 00:11:40.279 attacked and needed help and escaped convict? Nothing made sense really, 200 00:11:40.759 --> 00:11:44.600 as I took in more of his ragged features. His 201 00:11:44.720 --> 00:11:47.240 ribs were revealed with each heave of his breath, as 202 00:11:47.279 --> 00:11:51.000 if he was malnourished. Patches of hair hung in clumps 203 00:11:51.039 --> 00:11:54.240 on the torso, A few scattered leaves clung to his 204 00:11:54.320 --> 00:11:58.200 unruly mane. His arms were a muscular in his thighs 205 00:11:58.200 --> 00:12:01.919 and were abnormally long and slender, and his hands ended 206 00:12:01.960 --> 00:12:06.080 in spindly fingers with long ragged nails. They too, were 207 00:12:06.120 --> 00:12:09.480 covered with what appeared to be blood and dirt. In 208 00:12:09.559 --> 00:12:11.960 frightful silence, I studied the figure and saw that the 209 00:12:12.000 --> 00:12:14.840 blood and dirt was spread sporadically over its abdomen and 210 00:12:14.960 --> 00:12:19.200 on its chest. My eyes went back up to the face. 211 00:12:20.159 --> 00:12:22.919 Its breath had slowed, and more of its features were revealed. 212 00:12:23.759 --> 00:12:26.879 Its mouth showed boxy, outsized teeth and what appeared to 213 00:12:26.919 --> 00:12:30.000 be a hideous grin mixed with saliva and blood and 214 00:12:30.039 --> 00:12:34.360 stained pink. Its lips opened wider in warning and revealed 215 00:12:34.360 --> 00:12:36.720 two large canines that were thick and longer than the 216 00:12:36.759 --> 00:12:40.519 other teeth. Then it licked its bottom teeth, with its 217 00:12:40.559 --> 00:12:45.159 tongue running it across its bottom lip. It still maintained 218 00:12:45.159 --> 00:12:48.320 an unblinking stare, with eyes that seemed to pulse inside 219 00:12:48.320 --> 00:12:51.759 its sunken cheek bones, as if pondering what action to 220 00:12:51.799 --> 00:12:56.440 take next. It was in that one tense moment direct 221 00:12:56.480 --> 00:13:00.840 connection when I truly realized the strong difference between beast 222 00:13:00.879 --> 00:13:04.519 and man. I was the underwarried traveler who had interrupted 223 00:13:04.600 --> 00:13:07.960 his beastly movements, and we were now at a standstill, 224 00:13:08.320 --> 00:13:11.639 awaiting its decision whether to pass over my intrusion and 225 00:13:11.720 --> 00:13:16.879 go onward or engage in an attack. It closed its mouth, 226 00:13:17.440 --> 00:13:20.799 snorted a hefty gust of air, then, just as quickly 227 00:13:20.840 --> 00:13:23.200 as it had jumped onto the road a few moments before, 228 00:13:23.919 --> 00:13:26.279 jumped away to the other side with an uncanny grace, 229 00:13:26.960 --> 00:13:29.879 barely touching the ditch and running through the opposite field. 230 00:13:31.399 --> 00:13:33.440 I sat there in my car for a few minutes more, 231 00:13:34.200 --> 00:13:36.639 looking back and forth at the tracks that had left 232 00:13:36.639 --> 00:13:39.840 in the snow and from both sides of the road. 233 00:13:40.559 --> 00:13:42.840 The rest of my travels that evening were rushed and 234 00:13:42.919 --> 00:13:45.559 a bit too fast for the road conditions, I will admit. 235 00:13:47.120 --> 00:13:48.679 When it was time to leave the next day to 236 00:13:48.720 --> 00:13:52.320 return to Evansville, I opted to drive during the daylight 237 00:13:52.399 --> 00:13:55.840 hours and to stay on the main roads. Back at 238 00:13:55.879 --> 00:13:58.679 work that next week, several of my coworkers in the 239 00:13:58.720 --> 00:14:01.879 break room were discussing us There are cattle mutilations and 240 00:14:02.039 --> 00:14:06.480 farm animal killings going on in various surrounding counties. Some 241 00:14:06.519 --> 00:14:11.039 of the cattle were reportedly left alive, others ripped apart, 242 00:14:11.320 --> 00:14:15.759 and some just had certain organs removed. These incidents ranged 243 00:14:15.759 --> 00:14:19.360 from the farmlands of southern Indiana and down through western Kentucky. 244 00:14:20.519 --> 00:14:23.360 There were several gases as to what was attacking the animals, 245 00:14:23.720 --> 00:14:27.159 and they ranged from cooties, wolves, and one even suggested 246 00:14:27.200 --> 00:14:30.480 that aliens did it. I never spoke up as to 247 00:14:30.480 --> 00:14:32.720 what I had seen, and silently kept the knowledge of 248 00:14:32.759 --> 00:14:37.679 that strange nighttime visitor to myself for fear of ridicule. Inside, 249 00:14:38.039 --> 00:14:40.840 I knew that the extraordinary creature I'd observed that Holiday 250 00:14:40.879 --> 00:14:44.159 Eve could possibly be the culprit to all the carnage 251 00:14:44.399 --> 00:14:48.840 the farmers were experiencing. Years later, after I moved back 252 00:14:48.840 --> 00:14:51.960 down to Kentucky, I came upon some other witnesses that 253 00:14:52.000 --> 00:14:54.159 had seen the same type of creature around the Sturgis 254 00:14:54.200 --> 00:14:57.519 area in the same county. It prompted me to do 255 00:14:57.559 --> 00:15:00.639 some research, and I did indeed find that this scruffy 256 00:15:00.720 --> 00:15:05.039 biped have been given a nickname by the locals. They 257 00:15:05.080 --> 00:15:09.159 called it the Vampire of Sturgis. Over the years, I 258 00:15:09.279 --> 00:15:12.639 listened to stories of even more animals being killed, which 259 00:15:12.679 --> 00:15:16.879 included domesticated pets as well, supposedly snatched away from their 260 00:15:16.879 --> 00:15:21.000 own yards. Relatives were friends of the witnesses that lived 261 00:15:21.000 --> 00:15:24.080 in distant counties, reported that it had been spotted as 262 00:15:24.080 --> 00:15:26.840 far away as Madisonville and then in the Marion and 263 00:15:26.919 --> 00:15:31.120 Salem areas of western Kentucky. All the descriptions of the 264 00:15:31.159 --> 00:15:35.440 creature ran about the same, lean looking, naked, but with 265 00:15:35.440 --> 00:15:40.960 patches of long, straggly hair, humanoid but animalistic in features. Biped. 266 00:15:42.480 --> 00:15:45.799 Whatever this entity was, it seems to have faded back 267 00:15:45.840 --> 00:15:48.799 into the twilight world from which it came, and there 268 00:15:48.879 --> 00:15:52.240 have been no further reported sightings of this humanoid since 269 00:15:52.320 --> 00:16:03.600 nineteen eighty three. Mothman Terror from Above, by far the 270 00:16:03.639 --> 00:16:06.559 most famous and well investigated case of an alleged flying 271 00:16:06.600 --> 00:16:10.240 in humanoid, appeared in West Virginia in nineteen sixty six 272 00:16:10.360 --> 00:16:14.360 and sixty seven. The creature, which was seen or encountered 273 00:16:14.360 --> 00:16:19.720 by multiple independent witnesses, was dubbed Mothman, and even after 274 00:16:19.759 --> 00:16:23.159 the passage of some fifty odd years, the case remains 275 00:16:23.200 --> 00:16:27.639 one of the most fascinating and enduring cryptozoological slash paranormal 276 00:16:27.720 --> 00:16:33.080 events of the twentieth century. The name alone Mothman still 277 00:16:33.120 --> 00:16:37.840 makes some people shiver even today. Many people in retrospect 278 00:16:38.320 --> 00:16:41.480 considered the terrifying entity to have been a harbinger of doom, 279 00:16:42.080 --> 00:16:45.200 for its appearance presaged a terrible disaster which struck in 280 00:16:45.240 --> 00:16:48.360 the dead of night just before Christmas, causing the deaths 281 00:16:48.399 --> 00:16:53.320 of forty six people. Most researchers cite November twelfth, nineteen 282 00:16:53.360 --> 00:16:56.519 sixty six, as the date on which the Mothman phenomena 283 00:16:56.600 --> 00:17:00.519 first appeared in West Virginia, but in truth, a large 284 00:17:00.519 --> 00:17:04.279 winged humanoid creature was seen in Looneyville, West Virginia, several 285 00:17:04.359 --> 00:17:08.839 decades before the events of the mid sixties. Also in 286 00:17:08.960 --> 00:17:12.599 nineteen sixty four, two years before the series of mothman 287 00:17:12.720 --> 00:17:16.480 sightings which would eventually become famous, took place. A woman 288 00:17:16.519 --> 00:17:18.920 and her father were driving down Route to along the 289 00:17:18.920 --> 00:17:21.799 Ohio River on their way to the Chief Cornstack hunting 290 00:17:21.839 --> 00:17:24.880 grounds one night when a dark manlike figure stepped out 291 00:17:24.920 --> 00:17:27.720 onto the road in front of their car. The woman, 292 00:17:27.839 --> 00:17:30.920 who was driving at the time, decelerated as she approached 293 00:17:30.920 --> 00:17:33.440 the form, which now stood in the middle of the road, 294 00:17:33.960 --> 00:17:36.440 and she was horrified by what she saw when it 295 00:17:36.480 --> 00:17:39.880 came full into view in the car's headlights. It was 296 00:17:39.960 --> 00:17:43.200 larger than a man, the witness claimed, six to seven 297 00:17:43.240 --> 00:17:47.039 feet tall, and its skin was a dull pewter gray color. 298 00:17:47.960 --> 00:17:51.440 Its most shocking feature, however, was that it had no head, 299 00:17:52.400 --> 00:17:55.720 only an empty space between the thing's shoulders and two 300 00:17:55.960 --> 00:18:01.880 evil looking, brightly glowing red eyes set into the creature's chest. Suddenly, 301 00:18:02.240 --> 00:18:04.920 a pair of gigantic bat like wings unfurled from the 302 00:18:04.960 --> 00:18:08.400 thing's back. They were so wide that they almost completely 303 00:18:08.440 --> 00:18:11.519 covered the entire span of the road, nearly twenty feet. 304 00:18:12.559 --> 00:18:15.359 The two washed in shock as the horrible Avian anomaly 305 00:18:15.440 --> 00:18:18.079 then soared straight up into the air without flapping its 306 00:18:18.079 --> 00:18:22.440 wings and disappeared into the night. We were both terrified, 307 00:18:22.599 --> 00:18:25.559 the witness said. I stepped on the gas and raced 308 00:18:25.599 --> 00:18:28.359 out of there. We talked it over and decided not 309 00:18:28.440 --> 00:18:32.839 to tell anybody about it who would believe us. The 310 00:18:32.880 --> 00:18:36.359 bizarre series of events which sparked the mothman craze officially 311 00:18:36.359 --> 00:18:40.039 began on November twelfth, nineteen sixty six, near Clinton in 312 00:18:40.079 --> 00:18:43.359 West Virginia, when five cemetery workers digging a grave in 313 00:18:43.440 --> 00:18:46.440 a local cemetery saw what they described as a brown 314 00:18:46.599 --> 00:18:49.240 human being with wings spring from its perch in some 315 00:18:49.359 --> 00:18:53.319 nearby trees and swooped down over their heads. They could 316 00:18:53.319 --> 00:18:57.000 hardly believe their eyes it was gliding through the trees, 317 00:18:57.160 --> 00:19:00.880 one of the men said. Three days later, around midnight 318 00:19:00.960 --> 00:19:04.079 on the evening of November fifteenth, two young couples made 319 00:19:04.079 --> 00:19:06.519 a wrong turn onto a country road in Point Pleasant 320 00:19:06.559 --> 00:19:10.279 while driving to a friend's house. As they traveled past 321 00:19:10.319 --> 00:19:12.200 what was called the T and T area, where a 322 00:19:12.240 --> 00:19:15.519 complex of old, abandoned bunkers once used to store or 323 00:19:15.640 --> 00:19:20.039 materials was located. Well of the women, Lisa Scarberry, saw 324 00:19:20.079 --> 00:19:23.559 two shining red circles about two inches in diameter which 325 00:19:23.599 --> 00:19:26.640 seemed to hang in the air. Her mouth dropped open 326 00:19:26.680 --> 00:19:30.440 as the glowing eyes started moving toward the car. It 327 00:19:30.519 --> 00:19:33.839 was about seven feet tall, she said. It had wings 328 00:19:33.880 --> 00:19:36.720 that were visible on its back. The tips of the 329 00:19:36.720 --> 00:19:40.119 wings could be seen above its shoulders. The body of 330 00:19:40.160 --> 00:19:43.519 it was like a slender, muscular man and was flesh colored. 331 00:19:44.720 --> 00:19:48.559 Its wings were ashen white in color. The wings looked 332 00:19:48.599 --> 00:19:52.759 like angel wings. Its face couldn't be seen because the 333 00:19:52.799 --> 00:19:56.119 eyes simply hypnotized you when you looked into them. If 334 00:19:56.119 --> 00:19:58.759 you looked close to its face, your eyes were just 335 00:19:58.880 --> 00:20:02.319 drawn to its eyes. When we first saw it, we 336 00:20:02.359 --> 00:20:05.119 had just topped a hill in the TNT area, and 337 00:20:05.160 --> 00:20:07.119 when the lights of our car hit it, it looked 338 00:20:07.119 --> 00:20:10.720 directly at us, as if it was scared. It had 339 00:20:10.759 --> 00:20:12.880 one of its wings caught in a guide wire near 340 00:20:12.960 --> 00:20:15.480 section of road close to the power plant, and was 341 00:20:15.519 --> 00:20:18.200 pulling its wing with both hands, trying to free itself 342 00:20:18.200 --> 00:20:22.680 from the wire. I felt sorry for it. The other 343 00:20:22.720 --> 00:20:25.160 three members of the group, however, did not share her 344 00:20:25.200 --> 00:20:28.559 pity for the creature, feeling instead the sharp bite of fear. 345 00:20:29.400 --> 00:20:32.240 One of them yelled, let's get out of here, and 346 00:20:32.279 --> 00:20:35.200 the group sped away in a panic. But only a 347 00:20:35.240 --> 00:20:38.079 couple moments later, as the frightened riders topped to hill, 348 00:20:38.519 --> 00:20:41.319 they saw the same creature, or one just like it 349 00:20:41.559 --> 00:20:45.799 the second time, standing near the road. As they passed, 350 00:20:45.880 --> 00:20:48.599 the thing spread its wings, rocking it up into the 351 00:20:48.640 --> 00:20:51.799 air and began chasing the car at speeds of upwards 352 00:20:51.799 --> 00:20:54.799 of one hundred miles an hour. The monster was making 353 00:20:54.880 --> 00:20:57.279 high pitched squeaking sounds as it flew above the car, 354 00:20:58.000 --> 00:21:00.640 like a record played at high speed, with the squeaking 355 00:21:00.680 --> 00:21:04.680 of a mouse, they said, thankfully. After a few minutes, 356 00:21:04.759 --> 00:21:07.680 the entity broke off the chase, allowing the witnesses to 357 00:21:07.759 --> 00:21:10.559 drive straight to the Point Pleasant police department, where they 358 00:21:10.599 --> 00:21:15.960 told their incredible story. Deputy Sheriff Millard Halstead believed them. 359 00:21:16.599 --> 00:21:18.240 He had known them all their lives and they were 360 00:21:18.240 --> 00:21:20.319 not the sort to get into trouble of any kind, 361 00:21:21.240 --> 00:21:23.160 and one look at their faces told him they were 362 00:21:23.160 --> 00:21:27.519 being perfectly sincere. Halstead himself drove out to the TNT 363 00:21:27.720 --> 00:21:30.880 area and later claimed that his police banned radio malfunctioned 364 00:21:30.880 --> 00:21:35.119 while there, victim of some kind of peculiar interference. According 365 00:21:35.119 --> 00:21:38.160 to Halstead, the only sound in his radio would make 366 00:21:38.279 --> 00:21:40.480 was a noise that sounded like a record playing at 367 00:21:40.559 --> 00:21:44.759 high speed. After a press conference was held the next day, 368 00:21:45.119 --> 00:21:47.920 the story hit the papers, and the enigmatic entity was 369 00:21:48.000 --> 00:21:51.799 quickly dubbed Mothman, after a villain in the popular Batman 370 00:21:51.880 --> 00:21:57.119 television show Roger Scarburry. Lisa's husband later told forty and 371 00:21:57.240 --> 00:22:01.559 investigator John Keel, author of the ground breaking Mothman prophecies, 372 00:22:02.000 --> 00:22:04.640 that bird kept right up with us. It wasn't even 373 00:22:04.640 --> 00:22:08.160 flapping its wings. They also noted that while on a 374 00:22:08.240 --> 00:22:11.000 route to the authorities, they passed a large dead dog 375 00:22:11.079 --> 00:22:14.480 lying beside the road, but strangely, the carcass was no 376 00:22:14.559 --> 00:22:17.880 longer there on their return trip. They had all wondered 377 00:22:17.920 --> 00:22:20.680 where the unfortunate animal had come from, and whether the 378 00:22:20.720 --> 00:22:24.759 creature was somehow involved. What they didn't know, however, was 379 00:22:24.799 --> 00:22:27.279 that just an hour or so before, on the same 380 00:22:27.319 --> 00:22:30.960 evening that their own experiences took place, a building contractor 381 00:22:31.119 --> 00:22:34.079 ninety miles to the northeastern Salem was about to have 382 00:22:34.160 --> 00:22:38.599 his own mysterious encounter. At ten thirty pm on that 383 00:22:38.680 --> 00:22:42.720 November fifteenth, mister Newell Partridge was relaxing in his living 384 00:22:42.759 --> 00:22:46.559 room watching the television when suddenly the screen went blank. 385 00:22:47.720 --> 00:22:50.759 A fine herringbone pattern appeared on the tube, he later said, 386 00:22:51.480 --> 00:22:53.599 and at the same time the set started a loud, 387 00:22:53.680 --> 00:22:57.119 whining noise, winding up to a high pitch, peeking and 388 00:22:57.200 --> 00:23:00.200 breaking off, as if you're on a musical scale, and 389 00:23:00.200 --> 00:23:01.880 you went as high as you could and came back 390 00:23:01.920 --> 00:23:05.559 down and repeated it. It sounded like a generator winding up. 391 00:23:06.640 --> 00:23:10.039 Outside on the front porch, Noel's dog, Bandit began to 392 00:23:10.079 --> 00:23:13.880 bark furiously. Mister Partridge got up and turned off the TV, 393 00:23:14.240 --> 00:23:17.440 thinking that was what was bothering the dog, but the 394 00:23:17.480 --> 00:23:22.079 barking continued unabated, so he grabbed a flashlight and stepped outside. 395 00:23:22.440 --> 00:23:24.720 Bandit was facing an old barn about four hundred and 396 00:23:24.720 --> 00:23:28.960 fifty yards away and absolutely raising hell. I shined the 397 00:23:29.039 --> 00:23:32.400 light in that direction, Partridge later told investigator Gray Barker, 398 00:23:32.799 --> 00:23:35.799 and it picked up two red circles or eyes, which 399 00:23:35.839 --> 00:23:41.079 looked like bicycle reflectors, but much larger. Something about those 400 00:23:41.119 --> 00:23:45.079 glowing orbs deeply frightened him. He admitted he was certain 401 00:23:45.240 --> 00:23:49.160