“HAIRY HUMANOIDS OF TEXAS” and 4 More Disturbing But True Stories! #WeirdDarkness

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Listen to ““HAIRY HUMANOIDS OF TEXAS” and 4 More Disturbing But True Stories! #WeirdDarkness” on Spreaker.

IN THIS EPISODE: In October of 1973, two fisherman reported seeing a space ship – and two extraterrestrials emerge from the craft when it hovered near the ground. Was this a true case of a close encounter of the third kind, or was something else going on? (Close Encounter in Pascagoula) ***  The subject of Interview with a Serial Killer—streaming on Netflix now—speaks out in his own chilling words. We’ll reveal the killer inside the thoughts of Arthur Shawcross. (Inside The Twisted Mind of Arthur Shawcross) *** The two most famous goat-like cryptids cause havoc in their respective American hometowns. We’ll look at both the Maryland Goatman and the Pope Lick Monster. (Cloven-Hoff Cryptids) *** Weirdo family member Tyler shares some of the numerous odd things that happened at his house while growing up. It sounds like the woman who used to live there may have decided to return after death to continue her residence. (This Is My House, Whatever You Are Go Away) *** Reports have been coming in for decades of hairy creatures in Texas something like a bipedal wolf, or maybe a Sasquatch. Other reports have the creature with no hair at all. Even stranger – whatever this creature, or creatures, may be – it’s not always on the ground that they are spotted, but in the sky as well. (Hairy Humanoids of Texas)

SOURCES AND ESSENTIAL WEB LINKS…
“Hairy Humanoids of Texas” by Brent Swancer: http://bit.ly/2YlYzSM
“Close Encounter In Pascagoula” by Micah Hanks: http://bit.ly/2Zim24k
“Inside The Twisted Mind of Arthur Shawcross” by Orrin Grey: http://bit.ly/30Rhv9C
“Cloven-Hoof Cryptids” by Orrin Grey: http://bit.ly/32Mi869
“This Is My House, Whatever You Are Go Away” by Weirdo family member Tyler

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PARTIAL TRANSCRIPT:

DISCLAIMER: Stories and content in Weird Darkness can be disturbing for some listeners and intended for mature audiences only. Parental discretion is strongly advised.

INTRODUCTION=====

A K-9 unit went in to investigate. The first floor was totally destroyed . The second floor was the same as well. The dogs got a scent of something and started to bark at the attic door. The officers opened the door and let the dogs up it. Everybody heard the dogs fighting with something. Suddenly the dogs were thrown out the attic window like rag dolls. They were both skinned alive! The two officers inside went into attic to see what the hell it was. Everybody outside heard lots of gunfire and then saw one the officers being thrown out the window. He was dead before he hit the ground. When everybody looked back up toward the window, they saw the creature clear as day.

I’m Darren Marlar and this is Weird Darkness.

SHOW OPEN=====

Welcome, Weirdos – I’m Darren Marlar and this is Weird Darkness. Here you’ll find stories of the paranormal, supernatural, legends, lore, the strange and bizarre, crime, conspiracy, mysterious, macabre, unsolved and unexplained.

Coming up in this episode…

In October of 1973, two fisherman reported seeing a space ship – and two extraterrestrials emerge from the craft when it hovered near the ground. Was this a true case of a close encounter of the third kind, or was something else going on? (Close Encounter in Pascagoula)

The subject of the Netflix documentary Interview with a Serial Killer speaks out in his own chilling words. We’ll reveal the killer inside the thoughts of Arthur Shawcross. (Inside The Twisted Mind of Arthur Shawcross)

The two most famous goat-like cryptids cause havoc in their respective American hometowns. We’ll look at both the Maryland Goatman and the Pope Lick Monster. (Cloven-Hoff Cryptids)

Weirdo family member Tyler shares some of the numerous odd things that happened at his house while growing up. It sounds like the woman who used to live there may have decided to return after death to continue her residence. (This Is My House, Whatever You Are Go Away)

Reports have been coming in for decades of hairy creatures in Texas something like a bipedal wolf, or maybe a Sasquatch. Other reports have the creature with no hair at all. Even stranger – whatever this creature, or creatures, may be – it’s not always on the ground that they are spotted, but in the sky as well. (Hairy Humanoids of Texas)

If you’re new here, welcome to the show! While you’re listening, be sure to check out WeirdDarkness.com for merchandise, my newsletter, to connect with me on social media, and more!

Now.. bolt your doors, lock your windows, turn off your lights, and come with me into the Weird Darkness!

STORY:  TEXAS HUMANOIDS=====

There are a lot of strange cases of creatures and entities out there, scattered all across the world. Often these accounts have no clear origin or logical answer to explain what people are seeing, and they seem doomed to flutter about in the periphery of the odd. Strikingly, many of such reports describe entities that are humanoid in nature, and which serve to defy all attempts to truly classify them. The U.S. state of Texas has more than its share of accounts of bizarre humanoid creatures, and we will look at a selection of some of the stranger ones.

The first report we will look at here is about as bizarre as they come. Paranormal researcher Albert S. Rosales wrote a series of books called Humanoid Encounters, which focused on alleged sighting of various strange entities corresponding to certain years. In the 1970-1974 edition there is a very odd report from the town of Amarillo, Texas, which supposedly took place in 1970. In the account, the witness claims that he moved into a ranch with his family surrounded by a desolate landscape of sand dunes and very little vegetation. For the first few days at their new home nothing particularly strange happened, but it took a deep right turn into Bizarreville rather quickly.

It started when the grandmother allegedly discovered a den of wolf cubs near the house, but when she brought the grandfather there the next day to show him her discovery it was found that the adult wolves were dead and the cubs were nowhere to be seen. When the wolf carcasses were examined, it seemed as if they had been torn apart by something very large with formidable claws, and this understandably made them a bit wary as to what was roaming around out there in the wilds.

The next evening, the grandfather had a nightmare in which he had a premonition of intsense foreboding, and a warning in his head to move away immediately. When he awoke in a cold sweat he went out to the outhouse and as he did so he claimed to have seen a hulking humanoid figure with glowing red eyes, which seemed to be surveying the house from the dark. Interestingly, the witness’ great-grandmother also had a premonition that night, and he would say of what happened next thus:

*****Earlier in that very night, my great grandmother had a terrible feeling and sent my granduncle, Ray, with his family to check up on his brother. Ray was almost to the house when the car ran out of water. He remembered there was a well nearby and went to get some water. He didn’t get too far when the thing with red eyes came in front of him. He ran back to the car and told his family to run to his brother’s house. He grab his shotgun and Bowie knife so he could buy his family time to get away. Ray made sure the car was between him and creature. The creature charged him quickly. He shot the creature nearly point-blank range several times with no effect. He tried to stab it but almost got slashed by it’s claws. Then, he ran fast as he could to the house. The creature followed but, suddenly stop short of the hill. By then, the entire family was awake and saw it on the hill staring at them. Grandfather told all the girls to get in the bed of the truck and covered them with lots of blankets and other stuff to make a barrier in case the creature jumped into the bed. The men were in the cab of the truck staring at the hulking being. They drove past it praying it didn’t attack them. It’s gaze was on the house. Suddenly it jumped off the hill and began to chase them. It stopped short of the line where the sand ended and grass began.*****

After this harrowing encounter, they went back the following day to get their things from the house, only to find the ranch owner and numerous police and “military looking” people all over the area. On top of this, it appeared as if the entire first floor of the home had been completely wrecked by something. This was all strange enough, but what really makes it even more surreal and off-the-wall is what happened when a police K-9 unit was released, and the report says of what transpired thus:

*****A K-9 unit went in to investigate. The first floor was totally destroyed . The second floor was the same as well. The dogs got a scent of something and started to bark at the attic door. The officers opened the door and let the dogs up it. Everybody heard the dogs fighting with something. Suddenly the dogs were thrown out the attic window like rag dolls. They were both skinned alive! The two officers inside went into attic to see what the hell it was. Everybody outside heard lots of gunfire and then saw one the officers being thrown out the window. He was dead before he hit the ground. When everybody looked back up toward the window, they saw the creature clear as day. It looked like a big bald blue-skinned man with big red eyes and sharp claws. The high ranking military man ordered its’ destruction. Everybody opened fire on it and the house. Two guys threw grenades into the attic and it exploded. The house was then set on fire! Grandfather and the family left but later heard that the only body found was that of the other officer. Footprints were found leading away from the house! Nothing of it was ever heard again to their knowledge.*****

It is all completely and insanely bonkers, and it leaves one wondering just what truth any of it has, and if it does, then what it was they encountered. The problem is that the account has no real sources listed, so it is unverifiable and could very well be fake. Who knows? Speaking of hulking, terrifyingly beastly humanoids, there is another report covered on the site True Horror Stories of Texas, and it involves a witness known only as “Jacqueline.” She claims that she was on her way back to the town of Coldspring, Texas, after visiting her father in Houston, and that as she was passing by Lake Livingston Dam at around 10 PM when some decidedly weird events would unfold, of which she would say:

*****I was past that light in total darkness with only my headlights shining. I saw something up ahead and slowed down. It was a furry creature on all fours crossing the road. I’ll never forget the way it felt, the hair on my arms are standing up and I get goosebumps just remembering. It looked like the boy from the jungle book crossing the road with the hind part of the body higher than the front. It stopped just on the other side of my truck passing a few feet in front of my truck. It was dark grey and black and it didn’t seem to have a face or maybe it just had too much hair. It was too big to be a dog or any animal. I still don’t know what it was, all I know is that I drove off speeding away looking back into my rear view mirror hoping it wasn’t following me home. I locked up and stayed close to my rifle the whole night. And to this day driving through that stretch of road I hope I never see that creature again.*****

What was this thing? Was it, as has been suggested, some kind of werewolf? If it was, then it would not be alone out in the Lone Star State. One of the most well-known of such supposed werewolf reports comes from the town of Converse, Texas, where during the 1800s a rancher moved onto a modest plot of land in the area along with his son. One day the rancher apparently sent his son off on a deer hunting trip, determined to toughen him up, as he was described as a rather frail and nerdy boy who liked to study and read all day rather than go out into the great outdoors.

The boy found himself at a heavily forested area called Skull Crossing, and he disappeared into the woods for several hours. When he returned he was without any kill, and his father was deeply disappointed with him. For his part, the boy claimed that he had been stalked through the woods by some sort of “werewolf,” and that this was one of the reasons he had not been able to hunt, but the father did not believe him. He instead made his son turn right back around and go back to finish the job he had started, despite the boys pleas to not make him go. The young man once again ventured out into the wilderness and his father stood there waiting.

The hours passed and the sun began to set, bathing the woods in darkness, but the boy would not appear from the trees. The father purportedly grew worried, and he decided to call upon some other locals to go out and look for his son, fearful that something may have happened to him out there. As they fanned out into the increasingly murky forest they probably thought that they would find the inexperienced lad out wandering about without a clue, but they would soon find out that something altogether more sinister had transpired.

According to the tale, the search party came upon a monstrous, hairy beast measuring 8 feet tall, which was described as looking like a cross between wolf and man, and which was more disturbingly still crouched down and in the process of eating the dead son of the rancher. The party apparently shot at and chased off the monstrosity, which dispersed with supernatural speed, but the boy was dead, torn to shreds. After this the story becomes a bit hazy, with some versions saying that the rancher went insane and others saying that he locked himself away to wither and die, or that he killed himself. What was this thing, if anything? Was it a real werewolf, a misidentified bear, or something more like a Sasquatch? We will probably never know, and the Converse Werewolf remains little more than a perplexing historical oddity.

Joining werewolves in the wilds of Texas is what has been described as basically a cross between a man and a goat, and which supposedly haunts the picturesque locale of White Rock Lake. For years there have been accounts from the area of being terrorized by a humanoid entity that has a body mostly like that of a man, but with hoofed feet, a horned head, and long fingers with twisted, claw-like fingernails. Whatever it is, the Goatman of White rock Lake has been seen far and wide, and has become entrenched in the local lore. Interestingly, Texas seems to be crawling with Goat Men, as there is another said to haunt the Old Alton Bridge in Denton County, and yet another said to prowl the wilds of Lake Worth. Cryptids, ghosts, interdimensional beings? What in the world are the Goat Men?

Less identifiable is a story shared by Week in Weird, of some sort of creature with glowing eyes that was seen and even photographed at a cemetery in North Houston. In 2013, a paramedic claims that he had been at the Mueschke Cemetery in order to take a rest along with his partner at around 2 AM. As they drifted off to sleep, there was apparently heard something roaming about through the underbrush, and when the pair peered into the dark they were met with the sight of two glowing eyes peering right back at them. The partner apparently had the presence of mind to snap a picture of whatever it was, and this was soon posted to the Internet. The picture is indistinct and pretty mundane mostly, but there are indeed two glowing orbs in the upper left hand corner that look like they could be the eyes of something lurking in the woods. What do you think?

A very surreal, and most certainly paranormal entity reported from Texas and covered by Glenn Harrison, and posted at True Texas Horror Stories, is that of a strange creature known as La Malacosa, or, rather ominously, “The Bad Thing.” The entity was first mentioned in Adventures in the Unknown Interior of America, published in 1542, and begins with the arrival of conquistador Cabeza de Vaca, who during their many adventures came across a Native tribe in the Ozark mountains, who told the Spaniards that they had long been visited by a mysterious bearded stranger, who always appeared as rather indistinct and blurry, as if maintaining jst a tennous hold on reality.

This stranger was said to carry with him some sort of blindingly bright light, a lantern or wand, which he would wave about in front of him and in some cases cause people to faint in fright or under the influence of some arcane force. The appearance of this wandering figure was often accompanied by the discovery of the dead bodies of both animals and humans who appeared to have been surgically operated upon, some of their organs removed, and then the whole thing stitched back together again. Other tribesmen showed scars or disfigurations that they claimed had been inflicted by La Malacosa in the night.

This stranger was also said to appear at tribal feasts or celebrations, lurking in the shadows of the sidelines to merely watch, never partaking in the opulent meals laid out at such events. According to legend he would never talk to anyone, except to say that he was from a place “from the regions below.” The conquistadors mostly scoffed at such stories, but used it all as a way to try to convert the Natives to Christianity. It is uncertain just what La Malacosa was supposed to be, an ancient spirit, a demon, or even an alien going about performing mutilations, but it is a creepy historical account to be sure.

Perhaps even weirder still are creatures not stalking abut on the land, but rather through the skies above. Another report was covered on the site True Horror Stories of Texas, this time from near Three Rivers, Texas. In 2000, the witness claims that he had been driving along the highway IH37 between San Antonio and Corpus Christi at around 1 AM. He was heading along the interstate, the nighttime scenery flashing by past his headlights, when something odd apparently flew up right out of the night and up over his car. He would describe the weird encounter thus:

*****A large white humanoid figure with wings. Not a crane, or goose, or swan, or bird of prey…but a humanoid figure with skin wings. I remember doing about 65 mph and it came from the right rear and crossed my driving line at about 45 degrees… overtaking me in speed by maybe 5-10 mph. As it crossed over me it was only 10 or so feet above the roof of my vehicle. Wingspan was probably 6-8 feet and the skin was white. The wings looked to be constructed/shaped more like you would expect to see on a bat or pterodactyl but with a solidly defined human arms on the leading edge. There were definitely human legs trailing behind it and the torso was built like a human. Because it came from behind, I did not see a face. But, looking back I’m glad I didn’t.*****

Another flying humanoid creature that has had plenty of coverage in Texas is the so-called “Houston Batman.” Sightings began back in the 1950s, when a bat-like humanoid was seen all over the area by numerous witnesses. The first official sighting happened in June of 1953, when three neighbors at the Houston Heights apartment complex saw what they would describe as a “very tall man or manlike figure standing about six and a half feet tall but with bat-like wings attached to his back.” Making it all even stranger was that the entity seemed to be surrounded by an ethereal glow. Ever since then the “Batman” has been seen across the city, often causing witnesses to freeze for no discernible reason, and has never entirely been explained.

What lies out there in the badlands of the state of Texas? What strange creatures and entities call this place home? We are not likely to find any concrete answers any time soon, but such accounts serve to get the imagination going. Are these ghosts, specters, demons, or some sort of interdimensional entities, so called “ultra terrestrials”? The very isolated nature of these reports leaves us scratching our heads. In the end we can only guess at the nature of such beasts, and hope that we do not run across them if we are ever traveling along a dark road in Texas.

BREAK=====

When Weird Darkness returns… in October of 1973, two fisherman reported seeing a space ship – and two extraterrestrials emerge from the craft when it hovered near the ground. Was this a true case of a close encounter of the third kind, or was something else going on?

And up next, the subject of the Netflix documentary Interview with a Serial Killer speaks out in his own chilling words. We’ll reveal the killer inside the thoughts of Arthur Shawcross.

STORY: ARTHUR SHAWCROSS=====

Between 1988 and 1989, Arthur Shawcross killed at least 10 women in Rochester, New York, and they were not his first victims. In a disturbing interview, Shawcross details some of his crimes while vehemently refusing to discuss others. First released under the title Interview with a Serial Killer in 2008–the same year that Shawcross died in prison–the documentary is currently on Netflix and offers a rare glimpse into the mind of a brutal serial killer, even if that glimpse has been filtered through fabrications and fantasies.

The first words that we hear Shawcross speak in the interview are, “People on the outside do not know what evil is.”

“Do you know what evil is?” the interviewer asks.

Shawcross’ reply is chilling: “Sure.”

By the time Arthur Shawcross claimed his earliest victims, he had already led a troubled life. The first of four children, Arthur Shawcross was born in Kittery, Maine to Arthur Roy Shawcross and Elizabeth Yerakes Shawcross. When he was young his family moved to Watertown, New York where—according to Shawcross—he had a difficult childhood. He alleged that his mother performed oral sex on him when he was nine and would even insert foreign objects in his rectum; during junior high school, he claimed to have had sexual relations with his sister. His testimony of being sexually abused as a child are claims that his family has vehemently denied.

He was soon considered a bully by classmates and family alike, and frequently acted out violently. By 1960, Shawcross dropped out of high school–he had failed to pass the ninth grade. Three years later, he received a probationary sentence after smashing a shop window. In 1964, he married a woman named Sarah. The couple had a son a year later, but a second arrest and probation for unlawful entry soon made their marriage untenable for Sarah. Arthur enlisted in the Army, divorced Sarah, and never saw his son again.

Three years after enlisting, Shawcross was sent into active duty in Vietnam. Before he left, he remarried, this time to a woman named Linda. In Vietnam, Shawcross took advantage of the guerilla warfare to commit heinous acts. According to his own telling, Shawcross went on secret, solo missions into the jungle where he engaged in savage acts. In the interview, he speaks frankly about beheading and cooking a Vietnamese woman and eating some of her flesh. When asked what it tasted like, he compares it to steak.

The problem is, like so much about Arthur Shawcross, we have no way of knowing if there is any truth in his gruesome–and, frankly, unlikely–war stories. In fact, according to police, he was not the “weapons specialist” that he claims, but rather a supply clerk who never actually saw combat.

Upon his return from Vietnam, Shawcross came back to Watertown and married three more times. His wives continually left him after a short period due to violent and erratic behavior; Linda divorced him because he was committing arson and burglary. We do know for certain that after his discharge from the Army, Shawcross was arrested for arson and served 22 months of a five-year sentence before being released in October of 1971.

Afterward, he returned to his hometown of Watertown. It was on May 7, 1972 that Shawcross lured his first known victim—Jack Owen Blake—into some woods in Watertown. There, he killed the 10-year-old, and four months later, eight-year-old Karen Ann Hill. Hill had been visiting Watertown with her mother for Labor Day weekend. Both children were reported to have been raped and mutilated. In the documentary, one of the officers describes finding Hill’s body, his voice choking up as he recounts that “he stuffed her mouth with dirt”.

Only a month after the murder of Hill, Shawcross was arrested. He agreed to give police the location of Blake’s body and confess to the two murders in exchange for a significantly lighter sentence. Shawcross was sentenced to 25 years for the manslaughter of Karen Hill. He was released in 1987, after only 14 years, when staff assessed him as no longer dangerous. The fallacy of this assessment would soon become tragically clear.

Between 1988 and 1989, Arthur Shawcross murdered at least 11 women, many of them prostitutes that he picked up along one street in Rochester, New York, where he was living with his fourth wife. Most of them were strangled to death, and their often-mutilated bodies were dumped in the nearby Genesee River. Shawcross would also return to the bodies of his victims in order to mutilate them further.

In one case, he claims to have gone back to a decaying corpse, removed his victim’s head, and thrown it into the river. In January 1990, police discovered the body of his final victim but decided to leave it and keep surveillance on the area as they believed that this killer was one who would return to the scene. Two days later, their theory was proven correct, as a police surveillance team spotted Shawcross standing near his car, urinating on a bridge over Salmon Creek—the frozen waters of which held the body of his final victim.

On December 13, 1990, after a 13-week trial, it took a Monroe County jury just six hours of deliberation over a two-day period to convict Shawcross of 10 counts of murder. Three months later, Shawcross would plead guilty to the murder of another woman in the neighboring county of Wayne.

During his pretrial confession, Shawcross told investigators that for several years he patronized prostitutes he met in Rochester’s red-light district—even while he was married. He elaborated on his reasons for murdering the women: One bit him, one was too loud during intercourse, another tried to steal his wallet, and the fourth called him a wimp.

While in prison, Shawcross’ criminal predilections continued, if in a less murderous way. Eight years after his conviction, he was sent into nine months of solitary confinement after it was discovered that Shawcross was selling his own paintings and autographs on eBay with the help of friends outside.

Over the course of Interview with a Serial Killer, we are asked to consider less why than how a man like Shawcross comes to be. How does someone kill so many people, with seemingly so little regard for their humanity? When Shawcross was ultimately arrested for his crimes, his defense attempted to mount an argument that he was not guilty by reason of insanity, but the plea was ultimately dismissed. Shawcross was found guilty on 11 counts of murder and sentenced to 250 years in prison. He died behind bars in 2008.

In Interview with a Serial Killer, Shawcross demonstrates a consistent and notable physical tic, constantly blinking and crinkling his eyes as he speaks. This, in addition to his casual tone when talking about his own atrocities, makes him difficult to read. He never denies what he did–and, indeed, at times you get the sense that he may be embellishing the details of the murders of the 12 women and his exploits in Vietnam–but he refuses absolutely any discussion of the murders of the two children in Watertown.

The documentary ends after Shawcross is reunited with a daughter that he didn’t even know he had, conceived while he was on leave from the Army, though it doesn’t mention the son that Shawcross did know about, the child that he left with his first wife when he was only 18 months old. Shawcross’ daughter and his grandchildren come to visit him in prison and send him letters. When the interviewer asks Shawcross how he would feel if something like what he did to his victims were to happen to his own daughter or her children, Shawcross says that he would be “devastated”, yet when pressed about his own crimes, he replies, “I don’t have any remorse, for some reason.”

When dealing with someone so prone to lies and exaggeration, it can be difficult to get to the truth of someone like Arthur Shawcross, even when we have the terrible evidence of his crimes in front of us. Still, maybe the truth is there in his interview, after all. In a follow-up to his question about what evil is, the interviewer asks Shawcross, “Are you evil?”

In his typically laconic way, Shawcross replies, “Somewhat.”

STORY: PASCAGOULA=====

1973 was quite a year for UFO reports in the United States. Amidst a countrywide rash of reports where people claimed to see unusual lights and, occasionally, more structured craft over America, one incident from that year stands out in UFO literature as being one of the most detailed and complex situations ever reported.

On the night of October 11, 1973, Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker were fishing together at an abandoned shipyard near the place they worked together. As the story goes, a blue light emerged from the clouds above them, and the men watched a football-shaped object descend and hover nearby, from which two very unusual “beings” emerged. Hickson and Parker were somehow forced onto the aircraft, in which examinations were performed on them before they were released again, bewildered and badly frightened.

The two men subsequently went to local authorities (and the press), at which time a secret recording was made by law enforcement of the two men privately discussing how terrified they were. Thus the world soon learned of what became known as the Pascagoula incident.

The details are astounding indeed, whatever they might entail. I say this not with cynicism about the pair’s retelling of events, per se, since the details of their story remained remarkably consistent over the years. However, despite being generally a “good case” as far as the crazier UFO reports go (there was never any evidence that the men had conspired as attention seekers, for instance), there are some peculiarities with Pascagoula incident that are worthy of mention.

For instance, as it must be admitted outright that Hickson and Parker’s story is quite unlike most other UFO reports. In fact, many aspects of the incident were completely unique and bore no common features with other popular UFO narratives. Chief among these had been the entities encountered during the experience: as skeptic Joe Nickel has noted in the past, “Three robotlike aliens exited from the craft; although they were gray humanoids just over five feet tall, they were otherwise of a type not reported before or since.”

The Clarion-Ledger recently reported that Parker, the younger of the two witnesses, has recently authored a book about his experience, in which he described the craft as it first appeared to them as follows:

*****“A big light came out of the clouds,” Parker said. “It was a blinding light. It was hard to tell with the lights so bright, but it looked like it was shaped like a football. I would say, just estimating, (it was) about 80-foot. (It made) very little sound. It was just a hissing noise.”*****

While the craft described by the witnesses is often likened to a blue-colored football, it is important to note how Parker describes it here, in “breaking his silence” about the incident after all these years (so says the Ledger at least; he’s actually discussed the incident several times, and has seemingly changed or updated aspects of his encounter over the years, more of which we’ll discuss later).

As Parker says, it was hard for he and his companion to tell precisely what the shape of the object was, due to the lights it produced. Additionally, although Parker says the object made little in the way of sound, he does describe a “hissing” noise, similar to the “zipping” noises described by the witnesses in previous interviews.

It might seem like a stretch to propose that this could have been any kind of conventional aircraft (i.e. something manmade). However, it might be worthwhile to compare this part of the narrative to another famous UFO incident from a few decades earlier: that of Brazilian farmer Antonio Villa Boas, who on an October evening in 1957 was taken aboard an unusual aircraft, and made to have sexual relations with a beautiful woman with large eyes and other appealing assets. Villa Boas described the aircraft that appeared on the night in question as being oval-shaped and having made little noise apart from a sort of whirring sound.

I recall talking with my friend and fellow Mysterious Universe writer Nick Redfern about the case a few years back, and remarking that Villa Boas “would have been able to identify the object had it merely been a helicopter.” What Nick said in response to this surprised me.

“Well hold on,” he began. I could hear him ruffling through papers and files over the phone, as he looked for his notes about the actual wording used by Villa Boas in the description he had given of the incident, rather than that of the later writings and rewritings about the incident in UFO literature, which simply described an oval or “egg-shaped” object. Sure as hell, in Villa Boas’ original description, he discussed there being something above the oval shaped craft that appeared to be spinning; in retrospect, the incident sounds a good bit like it could have involved some kind of helicopter, perhaps of a military variety that employs a variety of stealth technology that would lessen the sound of the helicopter blades (this fact has also been pointed out by researcher Mark Pilkington in his book Mirage Men).

With this in mind, if we give further consideration to Parker’s description of the object, where he says, “It was hard to tell with the lights so bright, but it looked like it was shaped like a football,” and that it made “very little sound” apart from a “hissing noise,” similarities do emerge between the two incidents. Granted, rather than being definitive details about the two alleged craft, what the similarities suggest is that neither man got a very good look at the actual shape of the object, and in at least one of the two cases, it sounded a lot like a helicopter of some kind!

Another interesting parallel between Parker’s narrative and the Villa Boas incident only came to light years later, when Parker began to express in interviews that he had apparently had additional “encounters” in the decades following Pascagoula. Parker also made the claim that many years later, his memories of the time he spent on board the aircraft in the original 1973 incident began to return, in which he recalled additional details that included a woman on board the craft, and that he was subjected to some variety of sexual examination while there. It’s not as far out as what Villa Boas reported from his time with a woman on board a UFO… but the similarities here are notable, regardless. But why did Parker only recall this so many years later, and why so often do these alleged abductions bear elements that involve sexuality in this way?

Parker wasn’t the only one who claimed to have had ongoing contact with these UFO beings, however. Hickson also claimed to have had numerous UFO sightings the following year, and further claimed that the “beings” on board the craft communicated to him “that they were peaceful.”

Another lingering question involves why Hickson and Parker seemingly cooperated with the beings that attempted to bring them onboard the aircraft. As Parker recently recounted for the Ledger, “I think they injected us with something to calm us down,” Parker said. “I was kind of numb and went along with the program.”

Nick Redfern has also speculated recently about the possible role of mind-altering drugs in some UFO cases. Citing similar ideas proposed by researcher Rich Reynolds, he recently wrote about it here at MU, saying:

*****“Having known Rich for far more than a few years, I should note that he has a deep interest in the possibility that at least some significant UFO incidents may have had a hallucinogen of some kind at their core. We’re not, however, talking here about using LSD for recreational purposes. Instead, we’re talking about situations which may have been utilized – by military and intelligence services – to, in essence, fake a UFO event.”*****

Faithful devotees to the idea of an alien presence, in relation to some of the more bizarre UFO events that have occurred over the years, will dislike such speculations presented here. However, the ideas should at least be given consideration, since they are of greater merit than the polarized views of hopeful Ufologists that have tossed all their chips in on an extraterrestrial hypothesis, or on the other extreme, the all-or-nothing skeptics who argue in every such instance that UFO “experiencers” are just liars, frauds, or publicity seekers.

Neither of these extreme views presents a truly objective assessment… something that will be required if we ever wish to understand the true circumstances behind some of these longstanding UFO cases.

BREAK=====

Coming up on Weird Darkness… Weirdo family member Tyler shares some of the numerous odd things that happened at his house while growing up. It sounds like the woman who used to live there may have decided to return after death to continue her residence.

But first, the two most famous goat-like cryptids cause havoc in their respective American hometowns. We’ll look at both the Maryland Goatman and the Pope Lick Monster, coming up next.

STORY:  CLOVEN-HOOF CRYPTIDS=====

When it comes to urban legends, there is a tendency for certain themes and motifs to reoccur. This pattern has been cited by cryptozoologists and paranormal investigators many times over the years, used as evidence both for and against the truth of the stories being presented.

One such reoccurrence is in the frequency of stories about “goatmen,” which have been sighted in places as varied as Texas and Wisconsin. In fact, stories of goat-like humanoids go back at least as far as the satyrs of ancient Greek myth, and have ties to typical portrayals of the Christian devil. But perhaps the two most famous goat-like cryptids in America bear some other striking similarities: the Maryland Goatman and the Pope Lick Monster, who purportedly lurks near Louisville, Kentucky.

The Maryland Goatman of Prince Georges County, Maryland has been sighted since the 1950s, and is probably the best-known and most persistent variation on the goatman story in the United States. Like many other urban legends, the Goatman is fond of lovers lanes, where he is often spotted by teenage couples. The Maryland Goatman is most frequently associated with stretches of Fletchertown Road and Lottsford Road in Prince Georges County—areas that were once sparsely populated, but nowadays have as many houses and malls as forested stretches for the goatman to lurk.

A favorite account claims that the Maryland Goatman was once a scientist named Stephen Fletcher who worked at the nearby Beltsville Agricultural Research Center conducting DNA experiments on goats, until a tragic accident led to him becoming part-goat himself. The Center doesn’t put much stock into the legends, though, at least according to spokesperson Kim Kaplan, who was quoted in Modern Farmer as saying, “I mean it’s so silly, it’s not even something that’s joked about.” But of course, if the Center was indirectly responsible for the creation of the goatman, they’d certainly have reason to deny their involvement.

After all, no matter what their suppositions about his origins, the stories almost all agree that the Maryland Goatman is bloodthirsty. He is said to roam the back roads, attacking cars with a bloody axe. According to one source, the Maryland Goatman was blamed for the brutal murders of 14 hikers in 1962, their bodies chopped to pieces while the goatman emitted “screams that only the devil himself would make.”

There may not be a lot of evidence to back that one up, but in 1971, a puppy named Ginger was decapitated in the city of Bowie. The incident was covered by the Washington Post, which described the poor dog as having been “decapitated cleanly at the neck.” The reporter went on to note that, “The body is not found.” While the article itself speculated that a train might have been responsible, some locals quoted in the article pointed the finger at the Maryland Goatman.

In spite of its name, the Pope Lick Monster does not, in fact, lick the Pope. (I know, I’m disappointed too.) Instead, the monster is named for the railroad trestle over Pope Lick Creek, where it is most often sighted. And while the Maryland Goatman may or may not have butchered those 14 hikers back in 1962, the Pope Lick Monster has the distinction of being one of the few cryptids in America who is responsible for several documented deaths, however indirectly.

Like the Maryland Goatman, the Pope Lick Monster is described as having the head and legs of a goat with a human body, and like the Maryland Goatman, the Pope Lick Monster is often said to employ a bloody axe, leaping down from the trestle to attack passing cars. Other stories allege that it uses hypnosis or mimics the voice of friends and loved ones to lure its victims onto the railroad bridge and in front of an oncoming train. According to a resident quoted by WDRB.com, teenagers would dare each other to cross the trestle at night, saying that the Pope Lick Monster would reach up from between the tracks to grab their ankles and hold them in place until they were hit by the train.

As to where the Pope Lick Monster comes from, like its Maryland counterpart, stories vary. Some say that the Pope Lick Monster was once a circus performer, who escaped after the train that was carrying it derailed on the trestle, while others hold that the monster is the spirit of a farmer who sacrificed goats to the devil in exchange for supernatural powers.

Whether or not the Pope Lick Monster is real, it has been the cause of a number of deaths on the railroad trestle running above Pope Lick Creek. Over the years, several legend trippers have died on the trestle while searching for the Pope Lick Monster, with the most recent being just a few months ago in April of 2016. In spite of legends to the contrary, the tracks are still in regular use by the Norfolk Southern Railroad, who encourage would-be monster hunters to stay off the trestle, and warn that trespassers will be arrested for their own safety.

STORY: THIS IS MY HOUSE=====

Weirdo family member Tyler brings us this next story…

My parents bought their house in 1986, the year after they were married. The house’s previous owner was an elderly woman and her adult son. The story, as told by the neighbors, goes like this…one day an ambulance came and paramedics rushed into the house. Minutes later they wheeled the elderly woman out of the house on a cart. She never came back home.
When my parents bought the house, they knew they’d have to do A LOT of work inside. There were such things as velvet wallpaper, shag carpet in the bathrooms, and exterior patio carpet in the kitchen. They’d occasionally find empty beer cans behind the drywall, left there by the workers who built the house roughly 20 years before.
Although my parents have never admitted to any strange occurrences in the house during their early years of owning it, they did say they always wondered if the woman who lived there before them hadn’t died at the hospital, but rather was already dead when she was taken out of the house.
Fast forward some years after my twin sister and I were born. Many strange things began to happen as my sister and I got older. When we were in middle school, our family began to notice that the TV in our downstairs TV room would randomly turn off on its own. Excuses that it must be the age of the TV were disproved when mom and dad eventually bought a new TV, only to have the same thing happen.
These things began to happen with more frequency. At a certain point during our teen years, by sister moved from her bedroom, which was next to mine, into a room in the basement, next to the TV room. Almost immediately, we were all unnerved by the stories she would tell us regarding noises she’d hear in the middle of the night. She would report hearing someone with slow footsteps walk across our living room floor above her around 2 or 3 in the morning, well after everyone else had gone to bed up on the 2nd floor of our house.
One day I had the night off from the cafe I worked at. I was in the kitchen helping my mom make dinner. My dad usually got home around 6pm and we ate right after he arrived. The door to the basement is in the kitchen. 12 steps lead down to the laundry room. Directly ahead is the door to the garage, and around the corner to your left are 4 more steps leading down to the pantry, TV room, and my sister’s bedroom. Up in the kitchen my mom and I were working away on dinner when, roughly 5 minutes before 6, I heard the distinctive sound of the garage door going up. It isn’t a quiet door by any means, and you could hear it from anywhere in the house. Neither my mom or I said anything until a few minutes later when my mom said “will you go see what’s taking him so long?” since he’d usually check the mail at the curb before coming in. I figured she assumed he’d been caught in a conversation with a neighbor. I walked down to the laundry room and opened the door. I wasn’t met with sunlight. The garage was dark, except for the light coming in the windows, and the garage door was closed. Confused, I shut the door. Mom and I had both heard the garage door open, but it clearly hadn’t. I went back upstairs and told her. She didn’t believe me until I firmly said “Mom. Really. It wasn’t open.”
At this point, I believe we all had an unspoken agreement that we weren’t alone in the house. Things only started to get weirder after that. One night my sister was taking a shower in the bathroom right at the top of the stairs on the 2nd floor. My mom, dad and I were watching tv in the living room when we heard a knock on the bathroom door. We then heard my sister, shower still running, call out “I’ll be done in a sec!” The three of us looked at one another, asking why she’d leaned out of the shower to knock on the door to let us know. It’s not like anyone needed in the bathroom. About 10 minutes later she came downstairs and asked what we needed. We asked what she meant and she referred to the knock on the door, wondering who it was and what they wanted. You could have heard a pin drop. We all knew it had to be whatever was in the house. All of a sudden my mom looked around the living room saying “This is MY house! Whatever you are, go away!”
A few nights later I was at the dining room table working on an email to send to one of my professors when I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. From where I was sitting at the head of the table, I had a clear view into the kitchen and down the stairs into the laundry room. I sat there frozen because I could have sworn I saw something move across the laundry room. I elected to ignore it and began work on a sociology paper. About 15 minutes later, I saw it out of the corner of my eye again, this time moving in the opposite direction as before. I froze again. My sister was out with friends and my parents were up in bed sleeping. I got the courage to get up and shut the basement door. I then got back to work. I’d like to say that’s where the night’s shenanigans ended. They didn’t. Not too long after I’d returned to my chair, I heard the very distinct sound of footsteps slowly coming UP THE STAIRS. Now I’m not sure if it was bravery, it was probably due more to extreme irritation at this point, but either way I got up again, this time storming into the kitchen where I smacked my hand as hard as I could against the door and said “Knock it off!”. The steps abruptly stopped, and I didn’t see or hear anything else that night.
My sister and I have since both moved out. She lives with a couple friends and I moved into an apartment with my girlfriend, to whom I am now married and expecting our first child. My mom and dad still speak of strange noises at the house though. While we don’t think that whatever it is means any harm to us, it seems like it just wants us all to know it’s there, whatever it is.

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