I received an unusual email a few days ago that, quite frankly, I thought was a prank...that's until I started to check into the claim. From what I can gather there is a bit of local folklore with this story. Regardless, I'll post it so you can comment. If you're familiar with the cryptid, feel free to respond:
Mr. Strickler - I hope you can give me an idea of what I saw a few weeks ago while hiking with a friend in Fairy Stone State Park in Virginia. We had been on one of the trails for about an hour when we stopped for a brief rest and drink. This was my first visit to this park and I was pleased that the area we were in was secluded.
After a few minutes of rest we continued to walk along the trail when my friend suddenly stopped and pointed towards the right at large group of rocks. Something was moving around but it was about 50 yards away so we didn't get a very good look. We could see that it was light in color and was quite bulky. We stood frozen wanting to know what this creature was though I was getting more frightened by the second. As we started to walk the creature moved onto a rock where we got a good look at it. It looked like a medium sized bear but the fur was very light in color, almost a yellowish gray. The head was very strange also. There was a snout like that of a bear but the dark round eyes were set lower on the head. It was looking in our direction and we had no intention on sticking around to see what it was going to do.
We got back to the car and immediately left for home. I have read online that this area has a strange history, thus the name 'Fairy Stone'. The creature is unlike any I have seen or heard about before. I had made an inquiry to a local historian who laughed at me and said I saw a 'Sheep Squatch'. What is that? Thanks for you help - Teena
As I stated previously, I thought someone was pulling my leg. I had never heard of a 'Sheep Squatch'...that is, until I started to look for references.
Monstropedia has a brief history about a cryptid referred to as a 'Sheepsquach', which is also known as the 'white thing'. It is supposedly a white woolly-haired cryptid that has been reported throughout the southwestern region of Virginia. Fairy Stone State Park is located in the southwestern region of Virginia.
This creature is described as "being the size of a bear, with completely white wool-like fur. Its front limbs end in paw-like hands, similar to a raccoon’s but larger. The beast head is long and pointed, like a dog with long saber-like teeth and a single-pint horns like a young goat. SheepSquatch sports a long and hairless tail, similar to an opossum’s and is reputed to smell like sulfur."
There have been a few reported sightings over the years. The counties with the most sightings of Sheepsquatch are from Boone, Kanawha, Putnam, and Mason. A large surge in sightings took place in Boone County during the mid-1990s.
In 1994, a former Navy seaman witnessed the beast break through the forest. The white thing drank for a few minutes, then crossed the creek and continued on across toward the road. The navy seaman observed the animal for a while, and then it moved on into the surrounding brush.
Also in that same year, two children observed the beast while playing in the yard in Boone County. They saw what looked like a large white bear, and it stood up on its hind legs, which made it over six feet tall. Startled, the beast ran away through the forest, breaking medium-sized limbs off of trees as it went.
Another encounter a year later involved a car. A couple driving through Boone County noticed a large white beast sitting in the ditch along the road. They stopped their car to get a good look at it. It was described again as a large white animal with woolly fur about the size of a bear. In this instance, it was described as having “four eyes”. Then, it jumped out of the ditch and starts attacking the car. The couple drove off quickly, and when they got home noticed the large scratches on the side where the beast attacked.
Another incident occurred in 1999, this time a couple of campers were in the forest of Boone County at night around a campfire. They heard an animal snorting and scuffling around the camp, but it did not come into the light of the campfire. All of the sudden, the SheepSquatch appeared out of the darkness and charged at the campers. They jumped up and ran back to their house; all the while being pursued by the SheepSquatch. It stopped at the edge of the forest, however, and let out a terrible scream. Then it just turned around and headed back into the woods. The next morning, the campers examined their campsite and the trail home. It was torn up, they said, “like someone had tilled it up for gardening”.
I still don't know what to think of Teena's sighting but I doubt is was a 'Sheep Squatch'...possibly a light-colored bear. I'm really at a loss for any other explanation. Here is a link to another reference to this cryptid - West Virginia's Weird White Monsters: Sheep-Squatch...Lon
Continued UFO / Military Activity over DC Metro Area - UFO 'Vibration' Attack / Aliens Intrude on House
MUFON CMS - 4/14/2011 - Herdon/Sterling, Virginia - unedited: My phone rings and it is my 20 year old son who was about 2 miles from home at a friends home. He next asks me if I heard that plane? I quickly moved outside and continued the conversation and told him there were no jet sounds at my location. His description was that of 2 low flying military jets hitting their afterburners above the residential homes. The jets shook the foundations and rattled the window frames forcing the occupants to step outside to see if a plane was in distress. He then described over the phone only hearing the jets and never physically seeing them. What he did see was an erratic fast moving star sized object one half to one mile altitude making no sound as if it had escaped the jets and continued it's evasive darting and circling flight pattern over the the Herndon/Sterling area. The jets flew within the vicinity for a second pass, but at this point nowhere near the strobe flashing object.
His description of the object was a fast 3 pulse strobe of blue/white light followed by a quick single flash then returning to the 3 pulse strobe. The movement was extremely fast with quick turns and circles. The object was out of sight quickly as it is a residential neighborhood with a limited range of low altitude vision. The object was definitely outrunning and eluding the military craft. They wanted it and had no chance whatsoever do to the speed and maneuverability of this object. This object owned the sky!
This area is a no fly zone for small general aircraft as we are 20 miles west of Washington DC and as mentioned the final approach for Dulles airport. Any military jet traffic is only for intervention and policing of this no fly zone. The low altitude of the jets scrambling in this vicinity would definitely be monitored by Dulles FAA authorities and force a change or alteration of incoming commercial air traffic.
Being an almost daily MUFON reader I believed my son's sighting was worthy of reporting.
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MUFON CMS - 2/19/2011 - San Antonio, Texas - unedited: In Februay 2011 I was a guest at my Son's home in San Antonio. His house is located off Fountainwood Drive in the Woodstone Subdivision. At approximately 3:25 AM (before sunrise of February 19th) I was awake and laying on the bed reading a real estate investment book. I was laying on my stomach with the book propped up on the headboard and using the light on the side table next to the bed for reading. The bedroom window was open a few inches but the blinds were shut. I heard a sound that seemed like a ping from a submarine coming from the direction of the Julia Semmes library.
I next hear the sound as if it were coming from Fountainwood and Judson streets. Then I heard the sound a minute later right outside the bedroom window. That really worried me and I wondered how this strobbing sound could get right up next to the house since there is a wood privacy fence 6 feet high next to the window that prevents anyone from entering the back yard.
When I sat up I was glad the blinds were shut and suddenly my vision was blurred by some kind of a vibrational wave that shot down into the room from the ceiling area, travelled through my body, through the bed and floor. There was no sound with it but felt like the vibrations that would come off of a loud amplifier. I was stunned for a few seconds and then, I do not know how this happened, but I suddenly knew that THEY WERE GOING TO COME IN THROUGH THE WALL OF THE BEDROOM TO VISIT ME. I began screaming, in my mind only, "Don't come in, don't come in, don't come in." I was begging them to go away. I then felt that they changed their mind and I suddenly began to feel that I had been respected and they were not going to come in.
My sense of normalcy returned, I was telling myself that I was just being silly and stop having an over active imagination and decided to sit back again with my back leaning on the head board of the bed. I moved my feet up and bent my knees so that I could put my book on my thights and started to read again. At this point I was facing the bedroom door to the hallway which also gives me a view of the other bedroom door in the hall. I was the only person on this side of the house by the way. No one else in the family woke up or heard any of this noise as they were asleep on the other side of the house.
Suddenly, in my minds eye, I saw two little greys standing in the doorway of the bedroom, one was about three feet tall, the other maybe 5 inches shorter, they were holding hands so seemed non threatening. There was another being in the doorway of the other bedroom, about five feet tall, had a wider body, and head not quite so odd shaped as the greys head shape. No clothing or any body parts were apparent on any of the three beings. I did not feel threatened at all by their appearance. Of course, when I wipped my head up to look with my real eyes there was nothing there. Then I head the sounds of the pinging object moving away from the house, I heard it twice before I lost the sound as it moved away. The sound was travelling towards Woodstone Elementary school.
The street my Son's house is off, Fountainwood Street, is a fairly busy street, even at 3:30 AM. It is odd that there were absolutely NO TRAFFIC sounds while this event was taking place. Believe me, I was VERY happy to hear cars driving by again even though they had originally kept me awake that night. I had hoped that during this experience somebody would drive by, slam on their brakes and yell something or a bunch of cars would stop to look at the object so I would not feel so alone in the experience. It was as if all traffic had stopped moving for a few minutes. Let me say that the sound came towards my Son's house diagnonally from the area of the library and departed diagonally towards the elementary school--not using roads but floating over businesses and houses.
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Egypt Archaeology Chief Zahi Hawass to Appeal Jail Term
Zahi Hawass, Egypt’s minister of state for antiquities, said he will appeal a one-year jail sentence imposed on him yesterday.
The sentence is related to a lawsuit accusing him of refusing to carry out a court ruling, the state-run Middle East News Agency said today. The court had ordered a halt to bidding from companies to run a bookstore in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Hawass said today in his blog.
“Tomorrow, the head of the legal affairs department at the Ministry of Antiquities will go to the court to file our appeal,” Hawass said in the Web log. “He will present evidence that the bid for the bookstore contract was finished before the original court ruling, so therefore we could not follow the ruling to stop the bidding.”
Egyptian archeologists including Hawass appealed to the government in March to protect the country’s tombs and storehouses from looting following the revolution that ousted President Hosni Mubarak. As well as the theft of artifacts from the Egyptian Museum, storage areas were broken into, including one belonging to the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art’s archaeological expedition in Dahshur, Hawass said on March 3.
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New SRI Updates / Case Logs
Spirit Rescue International - Cases - New case in Haxby, North Yorkshire and updates from Llanelli, South Wales and Hunterdon County, New Jersey.
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FBI Files: Cattle Mutilations Sent White House Into Panic
dailymail - Cows were sacrificed by aliens sending the White House into a panic declassified FBI files have revealed.
It is claimed that more than 8,000 cows were abducted by UFOs before they were mutilated and thrown back down to earth over the southern United States during the 1970s.
The memo is one of thousands of previously unreleased classified files that the bureau has made public in a new online resource called The Vault.
The files detail how the aliens took trophies from their victims in the form of body parts and in some cases they drained the animals entirely of their blood.
One investigator's theory was that 'these animals are picked up by aircraft, mutilated elsewhere and returned and dropped from aircraft.
'Identical mutilations have been taking place all over the south west. whoever is responsible is well organised with boundless technology, financing and secrecy.'
When news of the cow abductions reached the White House in 1979, there was fear.
'The materials sent to me indicate one of the strangest phenomenon in my memory,' said the then US Attorney General Griffin Bell in a letter to senator Harrison Schmitt, according to The Sun newspaper.
Mr Schmitt represented New Mexico, where countless incidents were reported at a ranch in Dulce, a small town in the north of the State.
In one case an 11-month old bull was dropped close to someone's house from an aircraft and its sex organs had been removed.
The police report about the incident said: 'The bull sustained visible bruises around the brisket seeming to indicate that a strap was used to life and lower the animal from the aircraft... flesh underneath the hide was pinkish in colour.
'A probably explanation for the pinkish blood is a control type of radiation used to kill the animal... both the liver and the heart were mushy. Both organs had the texture and consistency of peanut butter.'
FBI agents were dispatched to farms across the country upon reports to probe the abductions.
A further report commissioned in 1979 added: 'The Department of Justice advised that their criminal division has been aware of the phenomenon of animals being mutilated in a manner that would indicate such acts were performed by persons as part of a ritual or ceremony.'
The FBI added that other possible theories for the mutilation of the animals was as a result of biological warfare or 'unidentified objects' were to blame.
The documents about the cows is just one among thousands of files released by the FBI.
Another secret document released as part of the projects detailed how police and army officers witnessed a UFO exploding over Utah in April 1949.
The top secret document reveals how an army guard, a policeman and a highway patrol, who were all miles apart, each saw a UFO, which they said exploded over mountains near Logan, north of Salt Lake City.
The FBI investigated whether it could teach its agents to see through walls, one memo details.
In the document, written by agent WA Branigan in July 1957, it says that if extrasensory perception could be mastered then the 'possibilities are endless.'
It continues that the Bureau cannot afford to not investigate further, so later that month they held a secret meeting with William Foos.
Foos claimed he could make the blind see and did a stage show where his blindfolded daughter would read a book.
However an investigation revealed the blindfold contained tiny holes and the demonstrations were concluded as 'merely tricks.'
Another file released involves FBI director J. Edgar Hoover and details of the infamous Roswell incident in 1947.
The memo claims that the air force recovered three 'flying saucers' which contained the bodies of alien pilots.
The aliens were described as being 3ft tall with human like bodies, which were dressed in a fine metallic cloth.
The memos from Hoover are the only evidence that the Roswell incident did in fact take place - and the names of the FBI staff involved have been withheld.
The files released do not just cover paranormal activity.
World famous historical events are covered in the files as are alleged criminal activity by celebrities.
Adolf Hitler and World War II files are listed as are documents about Al Capone.
One file in the vault contains detailed information about Melvin Belli, the lawyer who represented Jack Ruby after he murdered Lee Harvey Oswald in 1963.
And another documents the deaths of Bonnie and Clyde, who were killed by officers in Louisiana during 1934.
Other names mentioned among the files include Jimi Hendrix, Marvin Gaye and Groucho Marx.
Marker indicates Falls Church, Virginia area (above)
Marker indicates Andrews AFB, Maryland (above)
MUFON CMS - near Dulles International, Chantilly, VA - unedited: Late last night (on or about 3:08 a.m., 04/14/11) I stepped outside for a smoke. All of a sudden I heard an increasing in volume thunderous roar, approaching from the north-west. This made me look up. It sounded like military jet with the pilots really pushing the pedal to the metal. I did not see the jets, but it sounded like the ones I saw flying over Andrews Airforce base in Maryland. Commercial jets do not sound anything like that and fly much higher. (I see a lot of them, since I live about 15 minutes away from Dulles International Airport). These jets seemed to be flying pretty low and I have never seen or heard them flying over at this time of night - never. I looked up to see what is making all that noise, but did not see the jets.
However, panning the skies from west to south, I saw what looked like a very bright large star, crossing the sky from west to south in the south-western quadrant of the sky. It had the same bluish-white tint to it that the stars do. The line of sight was at about 30 degrees angle to the ground. I could not judge the distance and did not see any shape that might have been associated with the object, but it crossed the sky in under 10 seconds and disappeared behind the trees I have to the south of my house. The strangest thing about the object was that it was blinking in a very peculiar manner. Commercial jets have red and green light, blinking continuously without interruption. This thing was bluish-white, would blink 3 times within approximately 1 second, then would stop blinking all together for a second, then blink 3 times within approximately 1 second again, then stop blinking for a second, etc., during the whole 10 seconds or so it took it to cross the visible to me south west quadrant of the sky. These was no noise at all coming from the UFO directing - the roar I heard was rapidly approaching from the north - west. As I said before, the UFO disappeared behind the trees in about 10 seconds, but I kept hearing the roar for another 5 minutes or so. Sounded like the jets kept flying around. Then everything went silent. Half an hour later the roar came back, but I was already in bed and did not run outside to see what was going on. It would not do any good anyhow, since the speed with which the object moves - it would have been gone by the time I got out.
I came to work and had to tell someone what I saw. I told the story to a security guard that I am friendly with and he said that he lives right near Andrews Airforce Base and he heard they scrambled jets several times last night, which, according to him, they never do at night. He thought someone might have flown into Washington DC no-fly zone or something. This confirms my suspicions that the roar I heard was military jets. The object could not have been a satellite. I have seen those and they do not blink, do not fly at 30 degrees angle above the horizon and do not get chased by the military jets because the jets cannot fly that high.
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Washington, D.C. metro area and commercial airports
MUFON CMS - Falls Church, VA - unedited: On April 13th, around 2 AM (which technically is the early morning of the 14th) I was awakened by the sound of military jets flying over my home. I live right on the Arlington/Falls Church border, about 10 minutes from DC and the Pentagon, so I am very familiar with the sound differences between commercial and military planes. I looked out the window and saw a bluish/white light flash, several times, in different positions each time. It was a cloudy night and each time the light flashed, it lit up the cloud cover near it. I heard the jets clearly, as they were quite loud, but did not see them, probably due to the cloud cover. I have never seen an object flash the way this one had, or move positions so quickly (and none of the positions were linear). I do believe there was a ufo over the skys of Falls Church that night, and military jets where deployed to intercept.
NOTE: I live just west of Baltimore, MD (30 minutes north of metro DC) and noticed military aircraft flyover (jets and helicopters) on Wednesday night (3/13/2011 around 10pm ET). This is very unusual...the only air traffic that we receive are commercial flights coming from the west that circle for approach into BWI. There have been sporadic reports of triangular shaped craft in this area for several years. Are these training flights or is there intercept activity around the nation's capital? Lon
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The following story was forwarded to me a few days ago. Since then, I have talked to the writer in order to ease the guilt and worry that she still retains:
Hello Sir - your email was forwarded to me by a relative who thought you or your colleagues could help answer some questions regarding an incident I witnessed a few years ago. You have my permission to use this story but I do ask that my name be left out. Since I no longer live in the area where this occurred you may use those details. I would ask that you call me first. (NOTE: I did call and talk to the writer and was given permission to add other facts to her account...Lon).
It was the summer of 2004. At the time I was selling real estate in Warren County, Virginia but mostly in the Front Royal, Virginia area. The vicinity is known more for the Shenandoah Valley as well as it's history during the American Civil War. It seems that most of the older property has a story behind it and it's usually tied to the Civil War.
I moved there in 2000, not long after I graduated from college. Real estate sales was not my first choice for a career but I was doing well, so I decided to see how far I could go.
In March 2004 a house with many acres of farm property was listed for sale. The former resident had recently passed away and the family was selling it. From what I gathered, none of the relatives wanted to take over the property and it was decided that it be sold as soon as possible.
On the day I first toured the old place it was obvious that the previous owner took very good care of it. It was quite a nice house with a barn, a smokehouse and a large greenhouse. A nephew of the former owner accompanied me during the inspection. He assured me that there would be no attempts by any family member to impede a sale and that everything in the house was to be sold 'as is.' All furniture, appliances, tools, etc. were to be included in the sale. I explained to him that they would most likely realize more profit if the items were removed for sale in an auction but he insisted it must be sold 'as is' and that the buyer would be responsible for the contents. I thought this was quite odd, but I promised that I would do as the sellers wanted.
To my surprise, the property was listed for only 3 weeks. The overall housing market was starting to get very tight and large properties were difficult to sell. But, in fact, I made the sale to a couple from Washington D.C. who was the second party that showed interest. They made a counter-offer which was quickly accepted by the sellers. Everything went quite smooth though the day of settlement was a bit strange. The nephew and his sister were representing the sellers. Their demeanor was very distant and cold during the entire procedure. At one point, the buyers asked the nephew if there was any property in the house that he would like to keep. The nephew gave them a glaring look and told them that he 'didn't care if they burned it all.'
Several weeks later the new owners invited me for dinner in their new home. They were quite proud and wanted to tell me about the history of the place. It was once owned by a former British officer who had defected and fought with the colonists during the Revolutionary War. Later it become a working farm and remained so until the 1950’s when it was purchased by a Baptist preacher and his wife. The couple was considered quite eccentric and the preacher never had a large congregation. The new owners were told by an attorney who lived nearby that the preacher held worship services in the barn because there was never a church. There were many rumors of strange rituals being performed during these services.
It was a very enjoyable evening and we agreed to get together again. I really did like this couple. They were very intelligent and quite polite. The husband worked for the Federal government and the wife was a pharmaceutical representative. They had grown tired of the urban lifestyle in Washington D.C. and wanted a home where they could relax. One thing I did notice was that much of the furniture and appliances left in the house remained and was being used by the new owners.
On the July 4th weekend, the couple invited me to join their cookout. My boyfriend was staying with me for the week so he decided to come along. I hadn’t seen the couple in over a month and was very interested to know the life in their new home was going. When we arrived, instantly I knew something was wrong.
We started walking towards the back of the house and noticed that no one other than the couple were there. I asked if we were the first to arrive and was told that none of their friends accepted the invitation. We sat down in the lawn chairs and started to talk. They both looked worried though I didn’t understand what was going on. I’m a very direct person so I asked if there was anything wrong. The wife looked at me and explained that none of their friends would come to the house anymore and that they had all had bad experiences when visiting. She started to get more specific and said that they thought the property was haunted. I tried not to laugh but the smile quickly came to my face. I looked back at both of them. They were deadly serious and not smiling.
They said that something tried to push people down the stairs and that a bad odor would permeate the living room for a few minutes then fade away. They also heard screaming sounds outside at night and thought it may have been coming from the barn. As well, they were both having dreams about dead bodies buried in the greenhouse and barn. I had never experienced anything paranormal while on the property so I simply dismissed it.
The day went by without an incident and, in fact, it was quite enjoyable. It was starting to get late and I needed to get up early the next morning so we thanked them for their hospitality and drove home. I really didn’t think much about what I was told and quickly went to sleep that night.
The next morning I woke early and got myself together because I had several homes scheduled to show that day. I needed to first stop by the office so I could pick up the newest listings. When I arrived at the office, I noticed a police car in the parking lot. I walked into the office and was immediately approached by the office manager and told that the authorities wanted to talk to me.
I introduced myself to the police officers and asked what was going on. One of them handed me a photograph of the couple. They were lying on the ground, side-by-side and obviously dead. They were both very pale, like all the blood had been drained. I acknowledged that I had sold them the property and that we had socialized the previous day. He explained that their bodies were found by a police officer the previous night after a 911 call was placed for a disturbance and that they were found laying in the barn as seen in the photo. The only information I could provide was what they told me and that they thought the property was haunted.
The next day I was told that they both died from natural causes and that there would be no further investigation. That’s all I was ever told and that’s all I would ever find out. I asked a physician if it was possible that two people could be scared to death at the same time. The look he shot back at me was of utter bewilderment, which was followed by laughter. He said that it was practically impossible to scare a person to death, let alone two people at the same time.
Since that incident I moved to the west coast and no longer sell real estate. I know their deaths will haunt me for the rest of my life. I wouldn’t feel so bad if I hadn’t dismissed what they said so quickly and so out-of-hand. I feel that something on that property frightened them so bad that it resulted in their deaths. J.L.
NOTE: I had an associate check the circumstances described in the story. I told the writer that I was going to do this and she agreed just so her name was left out of the post. There was a death of a couple in the area at the time described. Since there was no investigation and the deaths were determined to be of natural causes the only information available is on the death certificate...Lon
Summary: On July 14, 1952, a Pan American World Airways DC-4 was on a routine flight from New York to Miami. The crew included Captain Koepke, First Officer William B. Nash and Second Officer William H. Fortenberry. While flying over the Chesapeake Bay (Virginia) they noticed six bright objects in echelon formation streaking toward them at tremendous speed. These objects had the fiery aspect of hot coals, but of much greater glow.
Incident: On the evening of July 14,1952, a Pan American World Airways DC-4 was on a routine flight, ferrying from New York to Miami with ten passengers and a crew of three, including, Captain F. V. Koepke, First Officer William B. Nash and Second Officer William H. Fortenberry.
The sun had set an hour before though the coastline was still visible, and the night was clear and almost entirely dark. With the aircraft set on automatic pilot, while cruising at 8000 feet over the Chesapeake Bay approaching Norfolk, Virginia, they were due to over fly the VRF radio range station in six minutes and make a position report. In the mean time, since this was Fortenberry’s first run on this course, Nash, in the left pilot’s seat, was orientating Fortenberry by pointing out landmarks and the distant lights of the cities along the route.
Nash had just pointed out the city of Newport News and Cumberland, ahead and to the right of the plane, when unexpectedly a red-orange brilliance appeared near the ground, beyond and slightly east of Newport News. The brilliance seemed to have appeared all of a sudden and both pilots witnessed the startling appearance at practically the same moment. In the excitement someone blurted out, “What the hell is that?”
Captain Nash later described their initial observations…
“Almost immediately we perceived that it consisted of six bright objects streaking toward us at tremendous speed, and obviously well below us. They had the fiery aspect of hot coals, but of much greater glow, perhaps twenty times more brilliant than any of the scattered ground lights over which they passed or the city lights to the right. Their shape was clearly outlined and evidently circular; the edges were well defined, not phosphorescent or fuzzy in the least and the red-orange color was uniform over the upper surface of each craft.”
“Within the few seconds that it took the six objects to come half the distance from where we had first seen them, we could observe that they were holding a narrow echelon formation, a stepped-up line tilted slightly to our right with the leader at the lowest point, and each following craft slightly higher. At about the halfway point, the leader appeared to attempt a sudden slowing. We received this impression because the second and third wavered slightly and seemed almost to overrun the leader, so that for a brief moment during the remainder of their approach the positions of these three varied. It looked very much as if an element of "human" or "intelligence" error had been introduced, in so far as the following two did not react soon enough when the leader began to slow down and so almost overran him.”
What occurred next utterly astonished the pilots. The procession shot forward like a stream of tracer bullets, out over the Chesapeake Bay to within a half-mile of the plane. Realizing that the line was going to pass under the nose of the plane and to the right of the copilot, Nash quickly unfastened his seat belt so that he could move to the window on that side. During this interval, Nash briefly lost sight of the objects, though Fortenberry kept them in view below the plane and both would later recollect…
“All together, they flipped on edge, the sides to the left going up and the glowing surface facing right. Though the bottom surfaces did not become clearly visible, we had the impression that they were unlighted. The exposed edges, also unlighted, appeared to be about 15 feet thick, and the top surface, at least, seemed flat. In shape and proportion, they were much like coins. While all were in the edgewise position, the last five slid over and past the leader so that the echelon was now tail-foremost, so to speak, the top or last craft now being nearest to our position.”
This shift had taken only a brief second and was completed by the time Nash reached the window. Both pilots then observed the discs flip back from on-edge to the flat position and the entire line dart off to the West in a direction that formed a sharp angle with their initial course, holding the new formation. The pilots had noticed that the objects seemed to dim slightly just prior to the abrupt angular turn and had brightened considerably after making it. Attempting to describe the objects extreme actions, Nash proposed, “The only descriptive comparison we can offer is a ball ricocheting off a wall.”
An instant later, two more identical objects darted out past the right wing, from behind and under the airplane at the same altitude as the others and quickly fell in behind the receding procession. They observed that these two seemed to glow considerably brighter than the others, as though applying power to catch up. As they stared after them dumbfounded, suddenly the lights of all of the objects blinked out, only to reappear a moment later, maintaining low altitude out across the blackness of the bay, until about 10 miles beyond Newport News when they began climbing in a graceful arc that carried them well above the plane’s altitude. Sweeping upward they randomly blinked out and finally vanished in the dark night sky. Describing the disappearance of the objects some years later, Nash wrote,
“As they climbed, they oscillated up and down behind one another in a irregular fashion, as though they were extremely sensitive to control. In doing this, they went vertically past one another, bobbing up and down, (just as the front three went horizontally past one another, as the initial six approached us. This appeared to be an intelligence error, ‘lousing up the formation’)—they disappeared by blinking out in a mixed-up fashion, in no particular order.”
Their bewildered initial reaction is best affirmed in the words of Nash…
“We stared after them, dumbfounded and probably open-mouthed. We looked around at the sky, half expecting something else to appear, though nothing did. There were flying saucers, and we had seen them. What we had witnessed was so stunning and incredible that we could readily believe that if either of us had seen it alone, he would have hesitated to report it. But here we were, face to face. We couldn't both be mistaken about such a striking spectacle.”
The time was 8:12 Eastern Standard Time. As the reality of their experience dawned on them the first question which came to mind was whether anybody else onboard had seen the spectacle. Fortenberry went through the small forward passenger compartment, where the captain was intent on paper work. In the main cabin a cautious inquiry whether anyone had seen anything unusual produced no results.
Back in the cockpit, the pilots radioed Norfolk and gave their position according to schedule, and upon receiving confirmation added a second message to be forwarded to the military: "Two pilots of this flight observed eight unidentified objects vicinity Langley Field; estimate speed in excess of 1,000 mph; altitude estimated 2,000 feet." At this point, Captain Koepke came forward and took over control of the DC-4 while Nash and Fortenberry went to work reconstructing the sighting.
With a Dalton Mark 7 computer they determined the objects' angle of approach and the same for the angle of departure. The difference between the two was about 30 degrees; therefore, the objects had made a 150-degree change of course almost instantaneously.
They were able to accurately determine their position visually and by reference to their position to the VHF range at Norfolk. The objects first appeared beyond and to the east of Newport News and came toward the DC-4 in a straight line, changed direction beneath the plane and departed in a straight line to the West once again passing a suburban edge of Newport News and seemed to travel out over a dark area before they began to climb steeply into the night sky. They determined that Newport News was 25 miles away and added the additional 10 and 30 miles that they estimated the objects had traveled in each direction, arriving at a total distance of 90 miles. To be conservative they decided to use 50 miles, since they had seen them travel at least that distance. Determining the time duration of the sighting was not so straightforward. Wanting to be accurate, they reenacted the exact sequence of events seven times, and using the panel stopwatch clocks determined that the time period did not exceed 12 seconds each time. Again, to be conservative they adopted 15 seconds in the final computation, which meant that the objects were flying at the rate of 200 miles per minute, or 12,000 miles per hour!
They estimated that the objects were slightly more than a mile below the plane, or about 2000 feet above ground level, and by mentally comparing their appearance with the wingspread of a DC-3 at that distance, judged the size to be approximately 100 feet diameter and 15 feet thick. Determinations of distance, size and speed are always open to question by the fact that the objects observed were unidentified phenomena. However, this particular incident was especially unique in the sense that the pilots observed the objects between the ground and the plane. Most sightings occur against an empty sky without any standard of comparison to known objects or distance, but in this case the planes altitude of 8000 feet established a finite distance for reference. Nash later qualified his ability to estimate the altitude of the objects in a letter to astrophysicist, Dr. Donald H. Menzel.
“We both had flown many thousands of hours at either 7000 or 8000 feet, because these altitudes were high enough to avoid most turbulence but not so high as to starve us for oxygen. Hence, a sort-of “instinct-judgment” about the height of objects gradually developed. If after 10,000 hours of flying at the same altitude a pilot cannot judge if something (even an unfamiliar something) is halfway between his plane and the ground, and split that in half again, he best quit. Our judgment, after seeing these things travel nearly a hundred miles, and observing them both from a distance and almost directly beneath us, was that they were holding 2000 feet for most of the observed time.”
Further, both Nash and Fortenberry had served in the Navy during the war in which Nash flew patrol bombers for the Naval Air Transport Service patrolling between the African and South American coastlines in search of German submarines. Fortenberry served in the U.S. Navy Air experimental wing for two years and was well aware of aeronautical developments for the time. In naval training, both pilots had received intensive instruction in aircraft identification and had learned to identify every ship in the German Navy.
While Nash and Fortenberry were still discussing the matter, the lights of a northbound airliner came into view on a course about 1,000 feet above. Ordinarily the head-on approach of two airliners at 500 mph seems fairly rapid. But in this instance, compared to the streaking speed of the discs, the oncoming plane seemed to be standing still. If any normal happening could have increased the effect of the night's experience, it was just such a commonplace event.
They landed at Miami International Airport shortly after midnight. Upon entering the operations office, they found a copy of the message they had transmitted to the military through Norfolk, with an addition: "Advise crew five jets were in area at the time." This didn't exactly apply since the things they had seen were eight in number, and they were dead sure they were not jets.
At 7 A.M. Air Force investigators telephoned and an appointment was set for an interview later that morning. USAF Wing Intelligence officer Major John H. Sharpe and four officers from the 7th District Office of Special Investigations met Nash and Fortenberry at the airport. In separate rooms, the pilots were questioned for one hour and forty-five minutes and following that, for a half-hour together. The pilots were duly impressed by the skill and thoroughness of their interrogators. Questions had been prepared in advance and posed individually to the two pilots in order to evaluate their recall. Map overlays were compared and they had a complete weather report for the area, which coincided with the previous night’s flight plan. It stated; 3/8 Cirrus clouds about 20,000 feet. No inversion and a sharply clear night, probably unstable air. Visibility was unusually good. Following the interview, the investigators advised the pilots that they had already received seven additional reports from persons who had witnessed similar incidents within 30 minutes, in the same area. The best was from a Lt. Commander and his wife who described a formation of red discs traveling at high-speed and making immediate directional changes without a turning radius. Being told that their particular experience was by no means unique surprised the pilots.
None of these reports appear in the official Blue Book files, though three reports requested by ATIC in August describe multiple objects cavorting over Washington D.C. at 9:00 A.M., the morning of the sighting. Fortunately, NICAP retained copies of some of the confirmatory reports for the evening of July 14, which were published in the Norfolk newspapers. Although none of the reported sightings appear to describe the identical maneuvers that the pilots witnessed, a couple are sufficiently similar to be taken as reasonable substantiations. For example, one witness stated that,
“She and a friend were sitting on a bench in Stockley Gardens when they saw what appeared to be flying saucers ‘circling overhead and then going north.’ She said they saw seven or eight altogether ‘the first three white and the others were yellow and red.’”
In a letter to the editor of the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, the naval officer from the cruiser Roanoke, apparently mentioned to Nash and Fortenberry during the OSI investigation, reported that he had sighted eight red lights in the direction of Point Comfort that proceeded in a straight line and then disappeared. He saw the objects at about 8:55 P.M. Eastern Daylight-Saving Time, approximately 15 minutes before the pilot’s sighting, as he was driving towards the Naval base for a 9:00 P.M. appointment.
Especially interesting is that as a result of the press coverage of the Pan American pilots sighting the following day, Paul R. Hill, an aerodynamicist at the NASA-Langley facility, decided to watch the sky for UFOs on the evening of July 16. Expecting “conformance to pattern” he parked at the waterfront a little before 8:00 P.M. and soon observed two amber-colored objects approach from the South and turn West taking them directly overhead. At this point, the objects curiously appeared to be alternatively jumping forward of each other slightly. Then after passing zenith, they made an astounding maneuver. They began to revolve around a common center, and after a few revolutions, switched to the vertical plane! Within a few more seconds two more similar objects joined the first two before all four headed south. Hill later wrote,
“Up to that point I had been just a fascinated spectator. Now they had convinced me. At that moment, I realized that here were visitors from another world. There is a lot of truth in the old saying, ‘It’s different when it happens to you.’ It was within my line of business to know that no Earthcraft could remotely approach those maneuvers.”
This sighting prompted Paul Hill to a life-long study collecting and analyzing sightings’ reports for physical properties and propulsion possibilities in an attempt to make technological sense of the unconventional objects. The study was eventually published posthumously, under the title, Unconventional Flying Objects: A Scientific Analysis (Hampton Roads, 1995), in which Hill presents his thesis that UFOs “obey, not defy, the laws of physics.”
At the time of these sightings flying saucers had been big news for many weeks and the staff of nine at Project Blue Book were swamped with sighting reports, far more than they could properly deal with. By mid-July they were getting about twenty reports a day and frantic calls from intelligence officers at every Air Force base in the U.S. The reports they were getting were good ones and could not be easily explained. In fact, the unexplained sightings were running at about 40 percent. All this was leading inexorably to the following weekend when UFOs were picked up by radar at Washington National Airport in restricted air space over the nation’s capitol, and would become one of the most highly publicized sightings of UFO history. For those reasons, the Nash/Fortenberry sighting received a less than adequate investigation. Project Blue Book quickly determined that the five jets flying out of Langley, AFB could not have possibly been responsible for the sighting, and the case was dropped and filed as an “Unknown.”
It was not until 1962 that the case would be reexamined by the Director of the Harvard College Observatory, astrophysicist Donald H. Menzel, and published in his book, The World of Flying Saucers: A Scientific Examination of a Major Myth of the Space Age (Doubleday, 1963). At the time, Professor Charles A. Maney, a physicist at Defiance College, had been engaged in a rather lengthy correspondence with Menzel, and when the Nash/Fortenberry sighting came up, Maney forwarded copies of the correspondence to Nash, then an advisor to NICAP. This led to a series of lengthy correspondences over a six-month period between Nash and Menzel providing considerable insight into the process by which Menzel arrived at his eventual solution to the inexplicable sighting.
Based on the meager data contained in the official report, Menzel assumed that the sighting could be reasonably explained as a reflection in the cockpit windows, especially considering the nearly instantaneous reversal, which seems to defy the laws of physics pertaining to inertia. In support of this explanation he underscored the apparent failure of the crew and Air Force investigators to make any tests for possible reflections, and generally called into question the credibility of the pilots. In a fairly scathing letter, Nash remonstrated Menzel on this critical point:
“Dr. Menzel, regardless of your figures the western horizon was not quite bright, and regarding your “reflection theory,” in the first place the objects were between us and the West. In the second place, they would have had to be damned persistent, consistent and impossible reflections to have manifested in three cockpit windows in exactly the same way. We first observed them through the front window. As they approached and I moved across the cockpit, I kept my eyes on the objects and saw them through the curved window of the windshield, and we both finished our observations looking through the right side window. That is why there is no evidence (as you complain to Dr. Maney) that the pilots considered that what they saw was a reflection; and you state that we were too excited by what we saw to make the most elementary scientific tests. Again, Doctor, pilots do not excite easily or they would not be airline pilots—please—a little respect for us?”
Dr. Menzel’s next line of inquiry concerned whether the reflection could have been caused by an illumination within the cockpit, or possibly a “hostess taking a drag of a cigarette.” Dr. Maney’s rather sardonic response to this possibility was, “Quite a long drag, wouldn’t you say?” But, nevertheless, the pilots weren’t smoking, the cockpit door was closed, there were no hostesses on the flight and the pilot’s observed the object’s reversal out of the right window below the plane. This pretty well convinced Menzel that an internal reflection was unlikely to explain the phenomenon and what Captain Nash had seen was something outside the plane.
Still, Menzel concluded that Nash’s observations “… are completely consistent with the theory that the discs were immaterial images made of light.”
Therefore, to explain the sighting he theorized that,
“…a temperature inversion can lead to a sharp concentration of haze, ice crystals, smoke or other particles in a relatively thin layer. The layer is often invisible until the plane actually goes through it, when it appears as a thin, bright, hazy line that disappears a moment later when the plane breaks through it. Multiple layers of such haze are not unknown, stacked one on top of the other. Now, a sharply focused searchlight, shining at night through a series of such hazy layers, will show up as a series of discs. As the searchlight moves, the discs will appear to spread out, exhibit perspective, and, as the searchlight turns around, the discs will appear to ricochet.”
The soundness of his theory depended on the prevailing weather conditions. Since the official weather reports for that evening indicated that there were no temperature inversions present, Dr. Menzel carefully constructed a scenario in which inversions (albeit in meteorological parlance, a sub refractive condition) could have been present though undetectable by the weather service.
“In the summer of 1952 all the eastern states were suffering from a intense heat wave and drought, and the ground cooled rapidly after sunset, because of the lack of cloud cover during the day. In a period of heat and drought, the nightly cooling produces marked inversions favorable to extreme refraction and reflection. Small in extent, existing only briefly in one place, constantly changing location, such inversions may not be detectable by radiosonde observations.”
Dr. Menzel admitted that his solution does not identify the particular beacon or searchlight responsible for the sightings, though he suggests that, “A light on the Virginia coast, shining northeast toward the plane, could easily have been spread out into a series of images like those observed.” Apparently, the location of the light is assumed to be at the point of the pilot’s initial sighting of the red-glow, beyond and to the East of Newport News. This begs the question why experienced pilots could not identify an apparently fixed high-intensity (red!) light source if it were emanating from a position 25 miles in front and below and directed toward their aircraft. Since the discs were organized in a stepped-up echelon, with the leading disc at the lowest point, one would deduce that the source of the light must have been from behind the aircraft. Had the light source been in front of the aircraft, as Dr. Menzel postulates, the leading disc would have appeared in the highest position in the echelon. Further, a searchlight reflecting off a horizontal cloud layer at an oblique angle to the observer would produce a gradual elongation of the disc as it moves relative to the observer. Nor does the theory account for the two discs that darted out from under the plane and conjoined the original six before disappearing into the night sky. Or the mechanism that would need to be in effect to make the discs appear to flip vertically on edge, reverse position in formation while maintaining relative distances, and then flip back to the horizontal plane (while executing a 150-degree course change at, well, in the words of investigating officer, Major John Sharpe, “…a speed fantastic to contemplate.” Incidentally, 90 miles in 12 seconds equals 27,000 mph!)
In his book, Dr. Menzel asserts that his solution offers, “a highly probable explanation that is consistent with all observations and does not depend on the presence of an extraterrestrial spacecraft.” I have to agree with the later part of the statement, but have no doubt that readers will find further inconsistencies in Dr. Menzel’s impracticable solution.
Some years later, in early 1957, Bill Fortenberry was lost in a Boeing B-377 Stratocruiser crash in the Pacific Ocean, with all onboard. In the early sixties, Captain Nash transferred to Germany, and for the next 15 years flew the Berlin corridors before retiring from Pan American. In a recent interview for the Sign Oral History Project, a still vivacious Captain Nash provided their concluding supposition…
“Looking at the thing shook us up. We stared at each other, and all of a sudden there was this realization that our world is not alone in the universe. Because, nothing could have advanced to that degree of scientific progress without some of the intermediate steps having become public knowledge, or, at least known to the people who were flying. Bill had just come out of the Navy and was fully acquainted with their latest developments. We just knew that they were not from this planet. I know to this day, that it was nothing from this planet.”
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Formation of Discs Below Airliner Newport News, Virginia, July 14, 1952
About a week before the famous Washington, D.C., radar-visual UFO sightings, a Pan American Airways DC-4 airliner was flying southward along the East Coast at 8,000 feet. It was a clear night with unlimited visibility. About 8:10 p.m., Capt. William B. Nash and Second Officer William Fortenberry suddenly saw six bright red objects rapidly approaching the plane, but at a lower altitude. "Their shape was clearly outlined and evidently circular," Nash reported. "The edges were well-defined, not phosphorescent or fuzzy in the least."
The upper surfaces of the discs were glowing red-orange. Within seconds the pilots saw that the objects were in echelon formation, "a stepped-up line tilted slightly to our right, with the leader at the lowest point and each following craft slightly higher." Abruptly, the lead disc seemed to slow and the next two discs in line wavered slightly, almost overrunning the leader. The discs were about a mile below the plane, at about 2,000 feet altitude, and about 100 feet in diameter.
When they reached a point almost directly beneath the plane and slightly to the right, the discs dimmed slightly, abruptly tilted on edge in unison, and reversed course. Capt. Nash reported that "...they flipped on edge, the sides to the left of us going up and the glowing surfaces facing right. Though the bottom surfaces did not become clearly visible, we had the impression that they were unlighted. The exposed edges, also unlighted, appeared to be about 15 feet thick, and the top surface, at least seemed flat. In shape and proportion, they were much like coins."
When the maneuver was completed the objects brightened again, and "...without any arc or swerve at all, they all flipped back together to the flat attitude and [still in-line] darted off in a direction that formed a sharp angle with their first course." Immediately, two more objects just like them darted out from beneath and behind the plane and sped after the departing formation.
They radioed a report of the sighting to be forwarded to the Air Force. Early the following morning, Nash and Fortenberry were thoroughly interrogated by Air Force special investigators. At that time, Nash said, "The investigators also advised us that they already had seven other reports [which] described a formation of red discs travelling at high speed and making immediate direction changes without turn radius...."
A careful computation of the times and distances involved indicated that the UFOs were travelling at about 12,000 m.p.h.
Two days later in the same vicinity, aeronautical engineer Paul R. Hill had a similar sighting from the ground of four amber-colored maneuvering objects joining up in formation. "Their ability to make tight circling turns was amazing," he stated.
Sources: www.ufoevidence.org www.fufor.com Nash, William B. and Fortenberry, William H. “We Flew Above Flying Saucers.” True Magazine - October 1952 USAF Project Blue Book files, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington D.C. Norfolk Virginian-Pilot - “Rockets, Tracers or Them Devilish Flying Saucers,” - July 17, 1952 Norfolk Virginian-Pilot - “A Precise Report on Flying Saucers—Or Something,” - July 20, 1952 NICAP.org www.history.com www.ncas.org www.noufors.com www.cufos.org www.usnews.com
Sir: I am sending you this letter in regard to Mr. David K's article about Bigfoot. It deals with something that I experienced in Danville, Virginia back in 1968. It is part of an article I am writing for my own site Temple of the Infidel but because of my reading this article by this gentleman I will share it here with hopes that it will help him in his quest.
We, my parents and siblings were visiting my mothers parents who lived back in the mountains and rolling hills of Danville, Virginia. Whenever it started to get dark, Granny would always say "Its time for yawl chaps to come inside now because the wild man will be coming out soon."
I was seven then and always imagined a skinny little unshaven cartoon caveman running around in a leopard skin carrying a big club. I thought it really was just another Bogeyman story to keep us kids inline, at least that's what my older brother Chuck said it was when I asked him about it.
The next day, as she often did. my aunt Beula, to keep us from under foot, told her two oldest sons Billy and Jimmy to take us with them into the woods when they went to gather some fire wood. For the most part as we scoured the forest floor for kindling and dry broken branches. Billy and Jimmy took to showing us the various wild berries, plants, roots and mushrooms we could eat and those that were poisonous and we should not even touch.
We came upon a clearing that was surrounded by tall trees and Jimmy said it would be better if we spread out a bit and looked. The truth is this was only an adventure for me and Chuck, this was just another chore for them. Bored, they climbed two of the giant trees in the clearing and watched Chuck and I as we did their work.
I was assigned the kindling while Chuck was told to look for the thicker branches. Basically they knew that we wouldn't find anything in that clearing but that way they could keep us busy and an eye on the both of us at the same time.
I was getting frustrated because I couldn't find anything. Then I went to the edge of the clearing and saw that it dropped off onto a lower level. I saw what I thought was a pile of twigs and branches. I jumped down and ran over to it. As I neared the pile I found myself not standing before a mound of twigs and branches but in front of what looked like an igloo woven of branches and sticks or a big upside down birds nest.
I immediately started to call for Chuck and in a matter of seconds he and my two cousins were standing at the top of the bank. They all were out of breath and pale with worry as they looked down at me.
"What the hell are you screaming like that for?" Billy asked angrily.
"I thought a damned snake had got a hold to you!!" Jimmy scolded me.
They had gotten there so fast it had startled me. They must have started to run toward me when they saw me jump down off the bank.
"What did you come down here for any way?" Chuck asked between gasps.
"Look, look what I found." I said happily pointing to my discovery. I ran over and started to crawl into the opening.
"Boy get your ass out of there!" Jimmy screamed to me, "That could be a bear cave!"
"That ain't no cave," I countered, "you can look right through the branches, you can see there's nothing in there."
"Yeah but the bear might be coming back, we need to go." Billy said ending the conversation, "Let's go, I think we got enough wood any way."
We never spoke about it again after that day but it's like anything strange that happened to me never left my mind. What was that thing and who had built it? For years afterwards would cross my mind.
Then last year MonsterQuest did a program on what they called The Grass People (The Grass Man of Ohio...Lon), which was another name used for Bigfoot like creatures.
I was cooking and not really watching it until they flashed a picture of the thing I found that day out in the woods with Chuck, Billy and Jimmy. There is also a documentary called Southern Fried Bigfoot and in it they talk about the fact that Bigfoot has a lot of different names depending on the locality it is seen in, but it is all the same or a similar creature.
The name they commonly use for it in Virginia is The Wild Man. In fact when you enter Danville, there is a sign that says Welcome to Danville - Home of the Bigfoot.
On May 17, 1977 the Danville Bee carried a story that a Pittsylvania County Deputy was checking two bigfoot reports. A woman who preferred to remain anonymous but "who reputation for truthfulness and veracity is irreproachable" said the thing she saw was hairy and 7 feet tall but after she calmed down she thought it must have been a person in a gorilla suit. Danville Bee Newspaper, May 17, 1977 Pittsylvania County, Virginia
Middle aged woman considered to be reliable told Deputy Mike Taylor that she saw a seven-foot hairy beast, black on Route 734 just off Mountain Hill Road. She later told a reporter she thought it must have been a man in a suit.
Bobby Hazelwood reported another sighting near the North Carolina Line.
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Sighting Timeframe: 1979
County: Pittsylvania County
Location: This siteing took place on the road that the Sugar Tree Amusement Park was to be and this road comes out into the main highway to 58 just beside the stop sign before you enter that highway 58
Activities: I was going to work early that morning they asked people to work over you could come in early or stay late the plant was so hot with no air we decided to come in to work early . I WAS TO BE THERE AT 3:00 THAT MORNING I DIDN`T LIVE THAT FAR FROM WORK SO THIS SITEING TOOK PLACE AT ABOUT 2:40 THAT MORNING I ALLOWED MYSELF ENOUGH TIME TO PICK UP MY RIDER SO 20 MINS WAS ENOUGH TIME TO GET THERE I was alone and had my radio on , this was summer time and it was very hot I had my window down . I was 21 at the time I had this car it had the dimmer switch on the floor as I past the old store and turned to the straight I seen what I thought was someone with maybe a cigarete and they were moving back and forth I thought oh lord I may have trouble this person maybe drunk and I may have a hard time getting him out of the way . I looked closer leaning into the sterring wheel I said this is not no man with no cigarete it must have been it`s eyes from the car lights I looked and said it is as tall as that stop sign and I looked at it again the body was man like standing straight up and had long arms and they swung I also noticed that the hair was longer and brownish in color the hair looked course and it flowed with it`s arm movement as I got closer I wanted to see it better it was on my right side of the road just in front of the stop sign and before I could get my foot off the floor to hit the high beam to see better it had crossed from the right side to the left side over the fence and out of sight in the wooded area . I was so scared I could just feel the thing on top of the vehicle when I got past the stop sign I didn`t stop I turned right went on to work it felt like he was on top of the car I was so scared I thought he will peel this top off and I am gone when I got to the ladies home to pick her up for work she asked me what is wrong I told her get in I was shaking so bad I asked her to punch my time card for me . I told her and my Daddy they believed me no one else did they made fun of me thats why I never did report this it was nice to have the close relationship with my Dad I never had to worry about him he has past away now but no matter what happened in my life I could always count on him .
Witnesses: none
Setting: dark road way with woods on both sides next to an old mansion just before the main highway that property has horses and it has old buildings on both sides with a nice fish pond and a guest house there also the other side was to be the Amusement Park which had been abandan for 5 or 6 years construction had been stopped.
Physical Description: it looked like a very large man standing up right and about 7 ft or more very large with longer arms than a mans arms and they swung slowly it looked as if it would weigh about 350 to 400 pounds and had brownish hair that was flowing with it`s stride and it moved very quickly. - www.virginiabigfootresearch.org
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Sighting Timeframe: around 1980-81
County: Pittsylvania County
Location: right off of Rte 29 near Blairs Construction
Activities: walking in the woods behind grandmother`s house
Witnesses: My uncle Mike Hubbard - he was walking to the train tracks when he saw what he described as Bigfoot - he saw it for a few seconds and then ran like heck.
Setting: woods
Physical Description: Tall, big and hairy - www.virginiabigfootresearch.org
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I received this email back in early October 2010 and wanted to correspond with the writer (unsuccessfully) before posting...interesting content:
Hello Mr. Strickler, I have been a Bigfoot (BF) investigator for the past two plus years in central Virginia, during which time I have collected tons of evidence (footprints, BF tree formations, BF bleat markings and dozen upon dozen of BF audio recordings) from the creatures. I have been tracking, to one extent or another, three BF family groups within my area. I have been able to discover the exact area where two of these BF family groups roam and sleep, and in recent days, I have been able to audio record them practically every night that I go out! I am 100% convinced that I could prove the existence of these creatures if I only had the necessary resources to get the job done. But unfortunately, I am only one person, and I only have a limited infrared Sony night vision camera, a parabolic dish antenna with a microphone and two digital recorders. I am 100% convinced that a professional team (with one helicopter), equipped with thermo and 'true' night vision cameras and parabolic dishes with associated ancillary audio equipment, investigating my areas, would be able to complete the task and prove the existence of the creatures, once and for all!
One of the BF family groups that I track, travels virtually the same route every single night like clockwork! I am nearly certain, that with a team of a dozen or so guys, equipped with night vision goggles/cameras and parabolic antennas, strategically placed at key locations (I have a plan to cut the creatures off), and a thermo/night vision helicopter crew in place, we can be the first team to prove the existence of Bigfoot!
I recently decided to come forward with my research, after two plus years of investigating, and I have since attempted to contact the History Channel's "MonsterQuest" and "UFO Hunters" shows. I have also attempted to contact the SyFy Channel's "Destination Truth" and "Fact or Faked" shows and TruTV's "Conspiracy Theory" shows and even the Discovery Channel, the Virginia Chapter of MUFON, BFRO, Cryptozoologist's Doug Haijeck, John Carlson, Loren Coleman, Researcher and Publisher of the 'Bigfoot Times' Daniel Perez, 'Bigfoot Times' editor Mr. Turner and Dan Davis of the 'Daily Jeffersonian' ...and so far, all to no avail. Either the networks (the go between folks) and the others don't believe my story or they aren't interested in pursuing it. I'm not sure which. So I am writing to you, Mr. Strickler and I am hopeful that you will be able and willing, to help me put a team together to get the job done! I need your help!
A lot of people aren't privy to the fact that Virginia is one of our nation's biggest BF/UFO hotspots, and until a few years ago, I wasn't either. I began my Bigfoot quest in the early summer months of 2008, after my auto mechanic informed me about his BF experience and the experience of several other people that he knew. So I began to explore the areas where these sightings had taken place and then I expanded out from there. I have spent countless hours (I am semi-retired) in the woods and fields over the next two plus years. During this period I have personally seen five BF and I have had at least a couple of dozen BF close encounters. On a few occasions they have thrown acorns and even rocks at me and I had two separate incidents where the creatures charged at me, all of which I have captured on audio clips! I also have audio clips of BF woodknockings, sticknockings and rocknockings and an audio clip of them pulling a tree down. As a result of my long hours of research, I have learned how to walk through a forest and determine if it is an area that BF frequents or not, by the evidence that the creatures leave behind.
But, the most important thing that I have discovered during this time of investigation is the BF/UFO connection! I originally discovered the UFO's by accident while out on my BF investigations. I have since been able to determine that there is an enormous UNDERGROUND Black OPS, anti-gravity UFO (humans not aliens) craft mission, within the area that I live, which is centered around the BF. They are monitoring, controlling the movement of and preventing the general public from discovering the existence of the BF, and I have obtained the necessary evidence to prove it!
Who are the UNDERGROUND? In the TV series Prison Break they were known as “The Company”. In the TV series the FBI ‘X-Files’ they were known as ‘The Syndicate’. In the TV series the Millennium they were known as “The Millennium Group”. In the Secret Societies (SS) of the New World Order (NWO) they are known as the “Illuminati”. In UFO conspiracy and Cover-up channels they are known as “The Men in Black (MIB)”. They are the ones controlling the movement of these creatures and preventing the general populous from discovering their existence! I have hundreds of hours of audio and video clips proving that BF does in fact exist and that the UNDERGROUND are trying to hide this fact. The UNDERGROUND's huge Black OPS mission is going on right now as we speak and they are using UFO crafts and satellite's to carry out this mission.
I am a codefinder/codebreaker who has been harassed and persecuted (because of my codebreaking and BF research work) by the UNDERGROUND since 1999. I recently started a YouTube channel (thekingdomkeys1) on the Internet, but they (the UNDERGROUND insiders) have changed the data and/or corrupted a good portion of my uploads (especially the BF clips) on this site. But, I do have clean copies of all of these clips and many, many more on a computer hard drive at home. I have hundreds of hours of clips that I have collected over the past couple of years. You can visit my YouTube channel by going to the YouTube website and typing "thekingdomkeys1" (my channel name) in the search box.
The next set of links are of another Virginia BF hunter colleague, Billy Willard and his Virginia BF research. He used to operate a BF radio show on Blog talk radio called "Sasquatch Watch of Virginia", on which I was a guest speaker one night. Mr. Willard also operates a BF Website ( http://sasquatchwatch.weebly.com/index.html ). http://www.bigfootencounters.com/articles/willard.htm
I am currently deployed (I recently arrived) on a TDY overseas until the second week of January 2011. But I do have Internet access here, so we can continue to correspond with each other, if you are interested. Please feel free to ask me some questions on the subject or about my research and I will give you more information.
Regards, David K. NOTE: David...I have made attempts to contact you. Please write again with any further details you can provide...Lon
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