Many people claim to share unique connections with certain others in their lives. We hear spouses talking about the way they can sense things about each other, as well as parents who do the same with their children. Some individuals even claim to be able to communicate psychically with their pets and other animals.

Such connections, if they exist, seem capable of bridging the gaps between pure thoughts, allowing individuals to share communication by means of strange powers that the modern sciences have yet to recognize. But considering the circumstances that seem to allow this variety of “psychic communication,” could it be that relationships existing between individuals may play a role in helping understand what actually causes certain psychic phenomenon?

One fascinating and unique area where telepathic situations tend to often prevail has to do with fraternal twins. A perfect–if not better than average–example of this was reported by the Sydney Morning Herald recently, in which a pair of twins who underwent concurrent MRI examinations managed to determine, as a result of headaches one of them had been having, that a rare tumor had developed. What makes this strange, of course, is that the twin suffering from headaches had not been the one diagnosed with the tumor:

The Gurney twins is even more remarkable because it was Brenton who started getting the persistent headaches. It was Brenton who persuaded hale and hearty Craig to join a study of twins (looking into mental health and resilience) because it included an MRI scan.

The MRI test picked up no abnormalities in Brenton’s brain. But Craig, who never suffers headaches, got the shock news: a massive and rare tumour in the base of his skull.

Similar unique connections tend to also appear between lovers (a particular phenomenon I’ve experienced countless times myself). In his book Otherworldly Affaires, author Brad Steiger notes an incredible incident that was discussed in the December, 1954 edition of Fate Magazine. As the story goes, a Mrs. Charlotte T. Mazue of Los Angeles, California, penned an unusual tale where she claimed to have successfully related the specific directions to her new place of residence to her husband… and entirely through means of telepathy!

The event in question took place in 1942, and Mrs. Mazue had moved to a new location while her husband Charles had been stationed near San Francisco. Suddenly one day, Charles came to Charlotte’s mind, giving her the distinct impression that he was trying to reach her telepathically. “Perhaps he had acquired a leave,” she thought, but then became concerned, because she realized that she had neglected to write to Charles, informing him of the location of their new home! Steiger recounts the rest of the story as follows:

“I quietly repeated to myself every hour before retiring, ‘Honey, we now live in Hollywood. Come to Kingsley Drive at Santa Monica Boulevard. Rear of gift shop. Red brick court. Upstairs at the back’,” Mrs. Mazue wrote.

It started to rain when she retired at 10:30 P.M. At half-past midnight, the door chimes brought her tumbling out of bed, calling: “Coming, dear!” She confidently opened the door to find a drenched, but smiling, Charles. “So this is home,” he said, as he hugged her close to him.

Charles told her that he, of course, had had no idea that she had moved. “Seems as if someone pushed and pulled me here. I hitchhiked in and told the driver to let me out at Kingsley Drive and Santa Monica Boulevard. Then I walked to the rear of the gift shop and upstairs to you. Funny thing is, I distinctly heard you say, ‘That’s right, darling’.”

Had Charles literally been able to “hear” the directions Charlotte had been giving him telepathically? If the events related here are indeed true and accurate, how else are we to interpret the circumstances? Furthermore, if it is possible for lovers to become so close that they can achieve feats such as these in the absence of any verbal communication, could virtually anyone learn to do the same, and with the same amazing detail and efficiency? Finally, if psychic feats such as telepathy could be accessible to almost anyone, then maybe particular close bonds that we build with others in life provide natural grounds that are conducive to this kind of ability. Strength in numbers, as the old axiom goes.

Just a few days ago, I was chatting with a colleague in the field of Cryptozoology about what the creatures of Loch Ness, Scotland really are – presuming they do exist, of course! I found it pretty enlightening that he got quite defensive over my remark that maybe the beasts are not still-surviving plesiosaurs - as so many, including pretty much the entire Scottish tourist industry, want or hope them to be. When I suggested the possibility of giant-eels roaming the deep waters of the old loch, a distinctly frosty atmosphere developed.

Why? I’ll tell you why: because I had dared to question his carefully developed and nurtured belief system. And, for him, the image of giant eels swimming around was nowhere near as exciting and as engaging as a colony of plesiosaurs on the loose.

As we’ll now see, belief – whether relative to Nessie, UFOs, ghosts and the rest of the world’s many and varied paranormal puzzles – is a very dangerous thing.

So many people in Forteana profess to being open-minded on whatever happened at Roswell, New Mexico in the summer of 1947, the true nature of Bigfoot, whether or not life after death is a reality and…well, the list goes on and on. But, that’s actually not so – unfortunately. Time and time again I have seen researchers – in pretty much all aspects of Forteana – take that arms-folded, barriers-up approach when their cherished theory is questioned or doubted.

Are these people for real? Indeed, they are. I’m not saying I’m anything special, because I’m most certainly not. But, correct me if I’m wrong, the reason why Mysterious Universe exists, the reason why books are published every year on a mountain of mysteries, and the reason why paranormal-themed radio and TV shows exist is specifically because we don’t have the answers. If we did, I wouldn’t be writing these words right now, because I wouldn’t need to! Instead of having answers, we have beliefs.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with belief – it does, after all, fuel every single religion on the face of the planet. But belief – in a deity, in a Heaven or Hell, in aliens, in Bigfoot or in anything else of a potentially supernatural nature – should be recognized, and more importantly admitted, for what it is: an acceptance that something exists without hard, definitive proof of that existence or its nature.

Now, of course people see UFOs, encounter lake-monsters and giant hairy ape-man, and have profound near-death experiences. But, this is all very and vastly different from having proof that UFOs are specifically alien spacecraft, Bigfoot is without doubt an unknown/unclassified ape, or that there really is a God and a Devil. The former are unusual events and experiences that require explanations. The latter are beliefs constructed to try and explain and rationalize those same experiences and events.

Is that a problem? Well, again, not if there’s an admittance that any explanation is theoretical and belief-driven. The problem, however, surfaces when a demand is made (consciously, deliberately or otherwise) that belief equals fact. It doesn’t. Or, it shouldn’t. But, for so many, it sadly does.

I very well remember the fury that erupted in 2005 when my book Body Snatchers in the Desert was published, and which suggested the events that occurred in the desert outside of Roswell, New Mexico in the summer of 1947 had far less to do with careless aliens in need of a few good lessons in flying, and far more to do with dark and dubious military experimentation.

While debating the book at a conference in Roswell itself in the summer of 2007, it became very clear to me – and very quickly, too – that whole swathes of people didn’t just disagree with the data contained in my book. They clearly – from an emotional and an “I want to believe” perspective – just plain did not want the alien theory threatened. Why? Because the ET angle was exciting, reinforced their hope that there’s more to life than just birth, school, work and death, and made them feel that researching Roswell, and the bigger UFO issue, hadn’t been a big waste of time.

But, here’s my point: if we solved Roswell and it was proved to have been an alien event, well that’s great. Ufology is vindicated. But, if it’s one day proved not to have been an ET encounter, then why is that a problem? For me it isn’t. Research should be about finding answers, no matter whether we like those answers or not, and no matter if they utterly shatter our preconceived beliefs or add significant weight to them.

I don’t know with 100 percent certainty what happened at Roswell. Neither does anyone else in Ufology. Maybe the number of people at an official level who know the full story is incredibly small. I don’t know if the people I interviewed for Body Snatchers were telling the truth or were a bunch of manipulative liars. But, I do know that denying the validity of this or that simply because it doesn’t sit comfortably with what someone wants to so desperately wants to hear is utterly ridiculous.

It’s the same with Bigfoot. Most researchers of the phenomenon support the “unknown ape” theory to explain the many sightings that have been reported for so long. But, the fact is that there is barely a Bigfoot enthusiast out there who has not come across at least one case of Bigfoot high-strangeness in the course of their research. That’s to say where the witness has reported the creature vanishing in the blink of an eye, when the beast has been seen at the same time – and even at the same location – as a UFO, or when something else, but equally mystifying, occurs.

But, so often, these rogue cases are dismissed as mistakes and hoaxes. Or, worse still, they are just outright ignored. Why? Because they threaten the orderly belief-system that Bigfoot is just an unidentified large ape and nothing else.

And, here’s the danger: by ignoring or dismissing certain data that does not fall comfortably into an accepted zone of belief, the field of research (Cryptozoology, Ufology, the whole bloody lot) is doing itself a huge disservice by limiting its ability to finding the answers.

When it comes to the unknown, a mind already made up is a mind deceiving itself.

Just occasionally a book comes along that I don’t just recommend to people. Sometimes, I tell them they have to get a copy of it, no matter what! And that’s the case with the recently published book, The Black Eyed Children, penned in masterful style by David Weatherly. There can be very few readers of Mysterious Universe who have not at least heard of the phenomenon, but if you haven’t, well, David starts his book with the following, atmospheric words to get you acquainted with the admittedly creepy controversy:

“They just want to come inside. Across the world, there are a growing number of accounts of strange, black eyed children. They appear on doorsteps, at car windows, hotel rooms and even boats. Their skin is pale, their mannerisms odd and they have one consistent request. They want to be invited inside. What exactly is this growing phenomena? Are they demonic entities? Alien hybrids? Perhaps they are some form of spirit seeking passage to another place. Or, are they simply a modern urban legend born of the computer age”

And it’s these questions, and many others, that David addresses at length in his book.

What I particularly enjoyed about The Black Eyed Children is that David not only relates the facts, the history, the rumors, the legends and theories relative to these kids, but he does so in a highly entertaining style. There’s nothing worse than reading a book that is packed with data, but that is as dull as the skies of England on a rainy October morning. Fortunately, David’s book is anything but dull!

I don’t exaggerate when I say that, in my opinion, this is destined to become the definitive study on the puzzle, and for several reasons. Thankfully, and very refreshingly, David details the various scenarios that have been presented to explain the mystery, but he doesn’t force-feed any particular one down the throat of his audience. Rather, he presents the witness testimony, the case-files, and the supporting data and evidence, and then uses this as a springboard to try and determine which theory – or, indeed, theories – might be the correct one when it comes to trying to understand what these “things” are or are not. And, given the macabre nature of some of them, I’m perfectly satisfied in calling them “things.”

The book begins with a number of significant witness reports of encounters that are downright creepy. Yep, I know I used that word – creepy – earlier, but it really is the best way to describe these “Damian-meets-E.T.” type kids. A lot of people view the Black Eyed Children from that torturous “Love and Light” angle and perspective. You know the one: E.T. is dabbling with our DNA and creating half-human/half-alien kids that are super-intelligent and that will play a big, positive role in our future as a species. Well, David most certainly addresses at length the “hybrid” angle, but, for me, I still get the deep feeling after reading his words that the phenomenon is very much self-serving and has its – rather than our – best interests at heart. And that’s probably a black heart, too.

This becomes particularly apparent when David begins to delve into highly alternative areas relative to not just the far more conventional “Nuts and Bolts”-UFO angle, but such realms as demonology; life after death and malevolent, tortured ghosts; Middle Eastern Djinn; definitive Tricksters; and a whole host of other entities that may not exactly be our best buddies in the slightest.

And, I’m pleased to say, David – always balanced and unbiased – doesn’t shy away from addressing the possibility that the whole thing is down to nothing stranger than modern-day urban legend. But, as he makes clear, even if some cases fall into that category, there is still a larger and wider mystery to be resolved. Like any aspect of Forteana, yes there are legends, hoaxes and friend-of-a-friend tales. But, strip them away and there’s still a phenomenon – and that applies to the Black Eyed Children, too.

There’s also an excellent chapter on the way in which certain medical conditions can affect the colors of the human eye – thus demonstrating that David leaves no stone unturned in his quest for the truth.

For me, the most fascinating sections of the book were those that highlighted the undeniable parallels between these eerie kids and the Men in Black, vampires and a host of other historical and horrific things that seem to take so much pleasure in tormenting us with their own, unique brands of evil mischief.

That the BEC reportedly, and specifically, have to be invited into the home of the person in their sights does, of course, evoke imagery of the classic blood-sucker of Eastern Europe and elsewhere. And, with regard to the Men in Black, David notes, intriguingly: “Perhaps the classic image of the MIB became too tame for some situations and a higher force created the black eyed children in order to grab the attention of a jaded, overwhelmed public that is tired of old stereotypes.”

If your main area of interest when it comes to the paranormal is UFOs and aliens, then you won’t want to miss this book. But, by delving deep into the hearts of a host of other supernatural conundrums too, the book will also satisfy, intrigue and inform the student of demonology, mythology, ghosts and specters, succubi, and the age-old phenomenon of changelings, which is so prevalent in fairy-lore.

In conclusion, then, David Weatherly’s The Black Eyed Children is a fascinating, insightful and remarkable piece of work on a subject that has been crying out for the definitive study  - and, now, we have that definitive study. If you thought you knew all there was to learn about these strange characters, you’re about to get a big wake-up call! Maybe a literal wake-up call, too, if “they” come knocking on your door on some dark, chilled night as the witching-hour looms…

Leanne Davies couldn’t explain her panic. Davies carpooled to work in Deale, Maryland, in 1999 when one night her driver stopped at a small grocery store, leaving Davies in the pickup alone. “We parked at the edge of the parking lot with the store entrance and lot behind us,” Davies said. “We had worked late and it was well after dusk.”

Davies relaxed as she sat in the truck, watching cars going through the intersection, waiting for the driver to come back.

“I make note of my emotions because in this peaceful, relaxed state, I was hit with an unbelievably strong sense of fear or danger,” she said. “There was no rational explanation for this intense fear and I was able to be objective. It was really strange to me, feeling this fear all of a sudden.”

Realizing she was slipping into a panic attack, Davies tried to figure out what might have triggered this immediate overwhelming terror.

“The fear or sense of danger didn’t increase or become more intense,” Davies said. “The (initial) intensity was extraordinary.”

Then she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. From the passenger seat, Davies slowly looked to her left, and found the cause for her terror.

“I looked over at the driver’s window and there, facing me, was a woman looking in at me,” she said. “Not just glancing in, she had her shoulders square to the driver’s door of the pickup, standing about a foot and a half away from the window, which was closed.”

The appearance of the woman rammed the intense fear deeper into Davies. “My heart shot to my throat and I couldn’t move,” she said. “I just looked at her and she at me.”

Although the harsh shadows cast by the yellow streetlamps obscured part of the woman’s face, Davies could see her eyes. The eyes looked “empty.” Davies said the streetlamps that reflected off everything in the parking lot didn’t reflect in her eyes.

“They appeared dead,” Davies said. “Black voids. Nothing there. She seemed to have a look on her face as if she knew the fear that gripped me and enjoyed it.” The woman’s gaze held Davies fast. “I don’t know how long she stood there,” Davies said. “It didn’t seem to be very long, but at the same time, the intense fear made it seem like minutes.”

The woman suddenly turned and got into the passenger seat of an early-1970s Plymouth Duster parked beside the pickup where Davies sat.

“The driver, who I couldn’t see, backed the car out of the lot and left,” Davies said. “Immediately, all fear and sense of danger was gone. Very strange to me how sudden it was with it being so intense a few moments before.”

Stories of these entities, whose eyes are black voids – no whites, no iris – began appearing on the Internet in 1998, and the encounters are eerily similar. These entities usually appear at night and demand invitation into your house, or car, or for a walk down a lonely path. The people who encounter them are terrified, but not from their dead black eyes – the eyes are first obscured by a hoodie, cap, or the angle of their head. Then they move, and witnesses finally see the two black voids – and the terror grows. People from across the globe have reported encounters with these black-eyed people.

What are these entities that approach calmly, quietly, and strike fear into those who encounter them? Authors such as David Icke and Guy Malone have speculated these black-eyed beings to be everything from extraterrestrials to demons – and they have been here for millennia, living alongside us, working alongside us, breeding with us – and most of us don’t realize it.

Alan Borky knows these entities exist – he’s seen them.

“Have you ever noticed there’s two different kinds of anger?” he posted on my blog From the Shadows. “There’s the more usual, hot-blooded kind. But there’s also a much rarer, much more chilling kind where, far from losing control, the people concerned suddenly seem to become far more intensely focused than you’ve ever known them to be before, giving off this rather scary aura of cold-blooded, almost lizard-like menace.”

This anger has come upon people he knows and their eyes have changed, becoming dead black.

“I’ve always had the undeniable sense each time this has happened I was no longer dealing with one of my parents, one of my siblings, one of my friends – the mother of my children,” he said. “I very rarely lose my temper but, on doing so, go absolutely atomic, only to be told afterwards by people I trust, my eyes became pitch black. What’s worrying is, on the few occasions this’s occurred, I’ve not only felt exhilaratingly powerful, but I’ve wanted to stay that way.”

Answering my request for information, a person calling himself Drakos claims to be one of these black-eyed entities.

“You would not be able to recognize me as any different from a normal person,” he said. “Although I have an abnormally magnetic personality, advanced intellect, and other things that will make me sound more conceited than I already do. I do not seem special to me, only to others.”

According to Drakos, this race of black-eyed people has been intertwined with humans for at least 6,000 years.

“The (biblical) story of the serpent is not the story of a talking snake,” he said. “It is about a representative of a nation of people who originated from a race of gods. These ‘serpents’ were rebellious – which means that they sought to create their own storehouses of information. They were teachers. They found a race of unenlightened automatons [Homo sapiens] that had been created to perform labor and gave them information that freed their minds.”

This is who Drakos claims black-eyed people are descendents of – the serpent from Genesis.

“That’s the short story,” he said. “Sounds like a fairy tale; I know.” A fairy tale that includes mating between this “serpent race” and humanity. “There has been, admittedly, a great deal of mixing; people often express great abilities that they owe to some ancestor who harbored a special genetic code,” Drakos said.

Patrick Heron, author of The Nephilim and the Pyramid of the Apocalypse and The Return Of The Antichrist, said such a claim has biblical relevance. “It says in Daniel 2:43, ‘They shall mingle their seed with the seed of men,’ which seems to indicate fallen angels mating with humans,” Heron told me in an email interview.

Evidence of this mating may have appeared in Don Thomas’ nephew.

“Fifteen or so years ago my brother had a son who was born with pale clear white skin and sea-green eyes that were very weird to say the least,” Thomas said. “When he turned about one year old, his eyes turned black as coal and you could not see any white around them.” Thomas gave his nephew the nickname Turtle, because of the boy’s eyes, although he thought they looked like the eyes of a creature more sinister. “They really look more like shark’s eyes but I found that a little cruel for a little boy,” Thomas said.

The baby grew into a quiet little boy who kept mainly to himself.

“Most people found him weird and most kids were afraid of him,” Thomas said. “He could not get near TVs or any other electronics because they began to distort. No one thought much of it but me.” The boy took an affinity to Thomas because Thomas was one of the few peoplewho paid attention to him. “He would just come around where I was and just sit there for hours never saying a word,” Thomas said. But the boy’s family lived some distance away, so Thomas didn’t see him often.

However, a hiking trip when the boy was about five years old will always stick in Thomas’s mind.

“We came to a clearing – a funny yellow field in the middle of nowhere – and I noticed that he stopped and began staring towards some trees,” Thomas said. He asked the boy what he was staring at, but the boy wouldn’t answer. “[After a] minute or so he pointed and I looked in that direction,” Thomas said. “At first I didn’t see anything, but then I saw some movement in the shadows of the trees.”

As Thomas looked at the trees, he saw what looked like at least three children wearing black hoodies.

“They appeared just beyond the trees but did not come any closer,” Thomas said. “I say three or so because it looked like more in the tree lines and further in.” Terror gripped Thomas and he grabbed his nephew’s hand. “As we left the area he kept looking back and began to cry,” Thomas said.

Soon after, the boy’s parents divorced and Thomas rarely saw him.

“He began to have problems with anti-social behavior and disappearing from home more and more often,” Thomas said. “I heard he was institutionalized and some time later disappeared from the facility and was never found. This has been since a closed subject and no one will talk about it in my family.”

The eyes, Drakos said, are designed to strike terror in others, the kind of terror Leanne Davies felt in that Maryland parking lot.

“It is more of an effect of light and a bit of hypnotism designed to induce fear,” Drakos said. “Everyone is subconsciously aware that their pupils will dilate in the presence of darkness, so if you perceive that my pupils cover the entire region of my eye, it should intimidate you because seeing my eyes in that fashion will indicate that there is a profound darkness about, only you wouldn’t be able to see the darkness. [It is] a very psychological ‘offense’ mechanism.”

Photographer “Poppa” Richards saw something in the eyes of a teenage girl in July 2008 when he attempted to photograph McKinneytown Cemetery in Cecil County, Maryland, and he didn’t see himself – he saw something alien.

“My favorite time is dusk and being familiar with this particular cemetery because of its isolation. I arrived approximately 40 minutes before dusk to set up my shots,” he said. As he arranged the equipment he realized he was not alone. “She approached from my right, I saw her out of the corner of my eye but I pretended not to notice,” Richards said. “She approached showing no fear.”

A girl, who appeared to be about 15 years old, stopped about 10 feet from Richards and sat on a headstone.

“Her eyes were black as coal,” Richards said. “When I tried to take her picture, my previously new batteries were dead. After trying three more sets of batteries, and finding them dead as well, I shrugged and told her my batteries were dead. She left as silently as she had come.”

His batteries useless, Richards packed to head home without one photograph.

“I left, but I left my card on the headstone. I don’t know why,” he said. “I have been back several times but have never run into her again.”

But are these black-eyed entities a danger to humanity?

“Some of us are extremely dangerous, others are not,” Drakos said. “Most are quite powerful relative to ‘normal’ people, and some are very famous and advancing in the worlds of politics and entertainment. I would suggest that anyone who meets anyone threatening should call for help, run, or fight like hell.”

However, Drakos stops short of labeling his “race” evil.

“I watch the news every day and see instances of blue-eyed and brown-eyed devils running around raising hell. Meanwhile, my people must languish in corners with the cloud of your menacing fear lingering over our heads,” he said. “You have spent millennia blaming us for all of the evil in the world while you turn a blind eye towards yourselves. Do you know what it is that you’d see, what it is that you’d fear, when you look into my eyes? You’d see yourself.”

Drakos said his “people” await the return of the Dragon, a term used numerous times in the Christian Bible referring to Satan.

“The Dragon is he who, for us, is said to come in the last days to plant the seeds of a righteous nation,” Drakos said. “We believe him to be the personage of the serpent in the garden, who beguiled Eve by giving her wisdom. He is here; we’ve seen him. I believe the world will see him soon. He is gentle, but he is all-wise. The Day of Purging Is Near.”

Which is all too similar to the book of Revelation. Revelation 12:9, “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”

Follow Jason on Twitter @TheJasonOffutt

Late one evening in September 1986, Mick Dodds and his wife were driving his mother-in-law back to her place of abode, which was a small but picturesque cottage in the Staffordshire, England village of Stowe-by-Chartley. All was completely and utterly normal until Dodds passed by the ancient and ruined Chartley Castle that overlooks the A518 road when something terrible and terrifying put in an unearthly appearance…

Constructed on land that came into the possession of the Earls of Chester as far back as the 11th Century, Chartley Castle is a stone motte-and-bailey fortress founded in the thirteenth century by Ranulph Blundeville, the then Earl of Chester.

Supported by the motte are, today, the still-standing remains of a rare cylindrical keep, with the inner bailey curtain wall still strongly flanked by two huge half-round towers, a gate-house, and an angle-tower. A strong counter-scarp bank and cross-ditch divides the inner and outer baileys, with another ditch and bank encasing the whole castle.

Notably, Chartley Castle is to where – on Christmas Eve, 1585 – Mary, Queen of Scots, was taken before being moved to Fotheringay for execution on February 8 of 1586. And, according to Mick Dodds, Chartley Castle just might be home to a literal British Bigfoot…

Dodds says that after dropping his mother-in-law off at her home, he and his wife began the journey back to their own abode, and what they assumed would be a stress-free, night-time drive through Staffordshire’s engaging countryside. How completely and devastatingly wrong the pair was.

According to Dodds, as they drove along the road, and with Chartley Castle rapidly closing in, he was forced to violently and suddenly slam on the brakes as a huge stag ambled slowly – yet majestically, too – across the road directly in front of them.

The sight of the massive beast was enough to both amaze and gob-smack Dodds and his wife in equal amounts. But that was nothing at all compared to what supposedly happened immediately thereafter.

Dodds, realizing how bizarre the next aspect of his story was surely going to sound to me, apologized profusely before he even began relating the complex details. In return, I told him that no apology was necessary. Instead, I explained to him, I would much prefer to merely hear the facts and then try and firmly evaluate them for myself. And so, with that out of the way, Mick Dodds duly began.

As the huge stag made its slow yet deliberate way across the road, his wife suddenly screamed at the sight of what looked like a large chimpanzee that bounded after the stag from the darkness of the field that sat to the right of their car. Half way across the road, the chimpanzee stopped suddenly, looked directly at the terrified husband and wife and, to their utter horror and consternation, charged their vehicle – but, at the very last moment, backed away from actually causing any structural damage to the car, or physical harm to the fear-stricken pair.

Dodds said that in his overwhelming panic to quickly put the vehicle into reverse gear, he stalled its engine, and then, even worse still, ended up completely flooding it as he raced to try and re-start the car. As an inevitable result, the Dodds were briefly stranded in the road with a hairy monstrosity looming wildly in front of them.

For about twenty seconds the beast stared at both husband and wife, and on two other occasions again headed for their vehicle at full speed, “like it was going to attack,” before finally bounding off to the left, and, so it appeared at least, in a direction that specifically followed that of the huge stag – which, by now, was seemingly long gone.

More than a quarter of a century after their curious encounter, the Dodds’ still stand by their story. And, having spoken to them extensively and having become convinced of their credibility, who am I to argue? Something monstrous, I am sure, lurks around old Chartley Castle…

World Health Organization officials are baffled as to the specific cause of a strange and terrifying new medical condition, known to exist since 2009, which has begun to afflict children in parts of Uganda. While some of the symptoms involve children falling asleep and passing out under bizarre circumstances (such as sudden weather changes or exposure to exotic foods), many of the conditions that accompany the onset of “nodding disease” are far more troubling, in that they remind us of popular depictions of zombies on the silver screen.

Some reports out of Uganda have described mothers having to tie their children down when they leave their homes, for fear that their children will wander away mindlessly, occasionally becoming lost in thickets and underbrush. In other incidents, the afflicted youngsters have shown the curious propensity for starting fires, contributing to a baffling set of circumstances for which, to date, there is no known cause or solution.

Nodding disease has already been compared to a number of similar conditions, including a variety of “river sickness” known to exist in the region for a number of years that can cause the onset of blindness. However, perhaps the most peculiar aspect associated with the nodding disease is that in nearly all cases, the children affected are between the ages of five and fifteen.

Please note some readers may find the following images distressing.

Among the various conditions that appear with the onset of nodding disease are also stunted growth, as well as seizures reminiscent of epilepsy; with regard to the latter, some epilepsy medications have garnered results in treating the condition, although the effects tend to be mostly offsetting, rather than capable of a full recovery.

The zombie-like effects were made most apparent in a recent article by the British Daily Mail, which described the plight of one mother and her family as follows:

(Grace) Lagat now has to tie up her children when she leaves the house to stop them from disappearing.

She told the TV station:’When I am going to the garden, I tie them with cloth.

‘If I don’t tie them I come back and find that they have disappeared.’

Almost immediately, the conditions described here begin to remind us of films such as Danny Boyles’ 28 Days Later and its sequel, 28 Weeks Later, both of which feature a strange virus known as “rage” that causes those affected to literally become bloodthirsty zombies. Of particular concern is the mention of such children mindlessly starting fires in their homes, as with such behavior the more obvious dangers associated with this alleged Ugandan “zombie” disease become frighteningly apparent.

As to what the actual cause may be, one can only guess. However, there are a few things that are indeed interesting to note about the apparent affects of this mystery illness. For one, the disease has been reported in children as young as three years of age, with reported cases declining after age fifteen (reports of nineteen-year-old victims do exist, however). If the 3 to 5 year age group is indeed a reasonable “gateway” demographic as far as this illness is concerned, we might consider what kinds of environmental circumstances would be most prevalent in conjunction with children around this time in their lives. Rather obviously, the weaker natural immunities of the children at this age may come into play, but it is also curious to note that this youngest age group also represents those who have only recently begun walking. Could the fact that the disease mostly strikes young children learning to walk–or even older ones who are more susceptible to contagions by virtue of their age–be a factor worthy of consideration here?

The strange and frightening effects of the so-called Ugandan “nodding sickness” remain puzzling to experts… what kind of agent could possibly be the cause behind this strange and damaging condition?

Throughout history, there have been a number of curious afflictions that show up repeatedly in various stories and traditions. These range from the common varieties that involve hexes, spells, and charms, to the more incredible types that incorporate transformation into ghastly forms and incredible creatures. Occasionally, we even see such things as affliction with odd ailments and dark states such as vampirism, zombification, or soul-slavery that arise from the use of wicked spellcraft and black magic aimed at the unsuspecting. 

These are all themes we expect to see in literature, and the wealth of pages adorning fiction tomes spanning the centuries incorporate such odd instances into their various mythologies. But pursuing the mysteries surrounding witchcraft, black arts, and ill fortune a bit more deeply, there occasionally arise a few curiosities that defy rationale altogether, ceasing to conform even to the typical precepts of spells and sorcery. Such things, at times, may involve how looks (or more specifically, certain kinds of staring) can kill, and even the use of magical practices to incite fear, paranoia, and even the disappearance of one’s unmentionables.

Yes, this quickly becomes uncertain territory indeed… but for sheer lack of having any better sense than to abstain, we’ll no doubt press onward, as usual…

One of the initial curiosities afforded us within the spheres of mysticism known as “the black arts” is comprised of something known as “the evil eye.” A variety of traditions incorporate this curse, which typically involves the superstition that gazing the wrong way at another individual can cause them ill fortune–either by accident, or by intention.

Recently, one of my listeners, Rosa, shared with me a story about “evil eye” traditions among the Mexican culture, which involve some curious headache remedies, among other things. “In Mexican tradition, the evil eye is a common diagnosis for small children getting ill,” Rosa described. “Typically it was thought to happen to charismatic or beautiful children. Sometimes it can also happen if someone is envious of the parents. It was not always a matter of envy or ill intent, sometimes its just something that happened when someone stared too long.” Rosa also recounted an interesting procedure that often used when she suffered migraines as a child, in which an egg yolk was used to “observe” the evil causing the painful manifestation:

I remember every so often I would get mysterious migraines and when other treatments would fail my mom or grandma would  do an egg cleansing. With an egg they would sweep the egg over my head and down my body and recite the apostles creed. After reciting it three times the egg would be broken and the white and yolk would be dropped into a half full glass of water. The glass would then be placed under the bed and i would take a short nap or fall asleep it was done at bed time. Once I would wake up the egg would be observed, and more often than none the yolk would take the shape of a red eye.  It is believed that the egg observed the evil. My grandma was careful about not looking at it directly over it; it should only  be viewed from the side or the evil eye would be transmitted.  The egg was then flushed down the toilet, and somehow my migraines would stop.

This is very similar to traditions that exist in other parts of the world, especially Greece, where strange manifestations appear as a result of staring over newborn children, etc. But sight and staring aren’t the only manifestations of strangeness that result in ill effects on the physiology. Indeed, when studying the claims of such things as “penis theft” and similar afflictions common in the cultures of Southeast Asia, one certainly will find even more curious (and sometimes hilarious) ways that cultural superstitions may arise. While I’ve read about the belief that black magic and witchcraft might be used in the “theft” of a targeted individual’s reproductive organs, I was unaware until recently that an entire book had been authored about this strange and unusual subject, titled The Great Singapore Penis Panic and the Future of American Mass Hysteria. According to the book’s product detail page at Amazon.com:

Forty-three years ago, a strange series of events unfolded on the island of Singapore. Hundreds of men rushed to the hospitals of the island with the terrifying belief that their penises were shrinking. Each feared that if his penis shrank away completely, he would die. Some came with lucky red strings tightly wrapped around their penises to prevent the lethal disappearance. Others had clamps holding their wayward organs in place. Most often it was a firm grasp of a hand, their own or a frightened family member’s, that prevented the shrinking penis from slipping away and taking their life with it. Oddly enough, about a dozen women also fell victim to the panic. This was the Great Singapore Penis Panic, or what doctors refer to as an epidemic of the psychiatric condition called Koro.

Indeed, Paul Deane addressed this curious curse-like affliction in his book Sex and the Paranormal, attributing the cause to being primarily rooted in mass hysteria. Other bouts with crowd-madness that have been prolific throughout parts of southern Asia involve sightings of various paranormal entities described as resembling monkey men, or even “grease devils” that cover themselves in oil so they can evade capture after terrorizing an unsuspecting populace. Encounters with these beings can also tend to have sexual overtones, where the phantom attacker may either sexually assault the victim in question, or act otherwise in a lewd fashion.

It is certainly curious how particular superstitions can tend to erupt around various cultural traditions, or how belief in bizarre magical afflictions can become so widespread. What are their underlying cause, and is it really possible (as the title of the book mentioned above seems to suggest) that widespread belief in superstitions like “penis thievery” and the evil-eye could really cause outbreaks in Western society too?

Today as I sit writing—better than “today as I lay dying” by an unequivocal measure—I’ve found momentary shelter from a very literal storm in a small, stony tavern near the banks of the French Broad River, where I’ve stopped to pound back a tall Guinness in the furtherance of my week-long celebration of that most hallowed of holidays, Saint Patty’s Day.

Yes, Saint Patrick’s Day is my very favorite holiday by a similarly unequivocal measure. What finer to celebrate than a holiday in which the tall glasses (and even the rivers in some locales) are dyed a beautiful Gralien-green, and some of the finest beer that’s ever been brewed is sold on special in all the most well-stocked taverns and breweries?

And never one to disappoint, how could I even broach the subject of Saint Patty’s day with out a bit of seasonally-themed Fortean Fear and Folk Devilry to quench your thirsty minds? Indeed, much like every known avenue of the strange and unusual, there is a lesser known patron saint for the Shamrock Holiday that I’d like to propose… and one who, unlike many of his anomalous kindred, was quite physical in the very realest sense.

One of my favorite breweries in Beer City USA (that is, Asheville, North Carolina) is known as Green Man Brewery, themed around an Irish pub that features the brews by the name of Jack Of The Wood; this name, in itself, is a reference to the infamous “Green Man” of European folklore, which constituted a kind of Sasquatch like man-beast of the pseudo-spirit variety (another common name for these beings were woodwoses, or more simply, sometimes just wild men).

However, there was another popular urban legend on separate continent that borrowed the name of “Green Man” which, while purely what I call a Folk Devil, and in the surest sense, had its origins rooted in fact.

Raymond Robinson of Beaver Country, Pennsylvania, was colloquially known around his area as “The Green Man,” or occasionally “Charlie No Face.” Having sustained permanent disfigurement following a terrible electrical accident he suffered as a young man, Robinson’s physical appearance was so frightening that he would never venture outside in the daylight, instead waiting until well after the fall of night to go for his long roadside walks. While Robinson was still alive, it was common that people would traverse the quiet country roads late in the evening, in hopes of coming across the famous Green Man of Western Pennsylvania on one of his nighttime romps.

As a result of the terrible accident (involving circumstances under which another boy had died only a year earlier), Robinson was not expected to survive. However, he did manage to pull through, despite his injuries, though at the cost of losing both of his eyes, an arm, and other several features. Regardless of his handicaps, Robinson went on to successfully work at producing a variety of things ranging from folk art projects to leatherworkings, becoming well known and well loved in his community.

Interestingly, Robinson’s most obvious handicap—the loss of his ability to see—never prevented him from his famous late-night strolls along State Route 351, where it is said that he was often met and hounded by locals that considered him a noteworthy item of color and interest. He would occasionally barter photographs and conversation with those who met him for beer or a smoke, and somehow managed to escape any serious injury throughout his years of wandering along the highways, shrouded in darkness.

To this day, it is common for teenagers and college students coasting along at night to recount legends about he famous Green Man of Route 351, though it is suspected that the urban legend status to which Robinson’s character had been promoted over time somewhat overshadowed the true nature of his legacy. In fact, it is suspected that many today remain unaware of the fact that a real Green Man did once exist, and that the legends of a eerie, disfigured man walking along the roadways in night actually have their basis in fact.

And thus, it is with certain delight that the Pennsylvania Green Man receives our accolades for being this year’s Favorite Fortean Folk Devil for the mid-March season… may the luck of the Irish shine on him always, wherever he may be.

This bizarre, foliage smothered synthesis of mammal and plant was alleged to have cast an ominous shadow over a stretch of east Florida beach throughout a decade long reign of terror that ended as abruptly as it began… and there are ancient legends which suggest that this creature’s sphere of influence might have covered the bulk of the American south.

Wedged between the salt churned waters of the Atlantic and the biologically diverse wonderland that is the Florida Everglades is the prosperous coastal city of Boca Raton. Littered with townhouses, condos, golf courses and the sweet, vaguely corrupt stench of affluence, the pristine beaches of Boca Raton’s Red Reef Park is the last place on Earth that one might imagine would give birth to a slimy, muck ridden monstrosity, but in the late 1970’s that is precisely what happened.

THE RISE OF THE MOSS MAN

The first reported sighting of Florida’s infamous Moss Man hails from 1978. According to the account, a young — and unfortunately unidentified — couple was enjoying a romantic stroll on South Beach not far from Red Reef Park, when they claimed to have spied something out of the ordinary huddled on a covered beach deck at the end of nearby Palmetto Road.

The couple — understandably preoccupied with the both beauty of the ocean and their own burgeoning desires — paid little mind to what they initially believed was just a thin, peculiarly positioned man in a tattered raincoat nestled amongst the sea grape undergrowth above the dunes… that was until this “man” stood up.

The would be lothario later reported that as the skinny,  ragged figure rose up “he” glared down at the couple with what the young man described as eerily: “bright, amber-colored eyes,” which he instantly realized did not belong to a human being. As if that weren’t disturbing enough, the man also claimed that what he had mistaken for a frayed coat was actually a grassy, leaf-like substance that appeared to emerge directly from this bipedal, dark green entity’s epidermis.

The young lovers — displaying uncharacteristically good judgment for amorously inclined youths — decided to suspend their ocean side stroll and swiftly made their way back to the South Beach Pavilion, stealing glances over their shoulders the entire way and no doubt mumbling silent prayers that they would not suddenly spy a vicious, green fiend pursuing them over the speed impeding sand.

The terrified couple ran into a group of vacationers and wasted no time in relaying the tale of their potentially harrowing run-in with the skeletal, green beast. Others gathered to hear their frankly frightening story and within minutes a makeshift search party had formed and six courageous (or foolhardy) souls decided to go back to see if the verdant monster still occupied its perch.

These intrepid amateur sleuths scanned the precipitous dunes, which inclined sharply toward the dense scrub and Australian pines that formed a natural barrier separating the beach from the roadways which wove through the palatial townhouses of Red Reef Park. Eventually the undergrowth became impenetrable and the posse was forced to retreat, but not before they stumbled on copious clumps of damp, Spanish moss littering the area where the creature had been seen.

Within days word of this mysterious Moss Man had spread throughout the region and almost instantly a local legend was born. During the next two years the creature would sporadically rear its’ creepy, moss covered cranium — most often spotted when the slow rolling ocean fog would creep in and overtake sundown beach walkers — but it wouldn’t be until the dawn of a new decade that this beast would return with a vengeance.

In 1980 the all but dormant bog beast began appearing with alarming frequency in the Red Reef region. Eleven disparate sightings were reported in Red Reef Park as well as other beaches, including West Palm Beach and Hillsboro Beach. Most of the eyewitnesses depicted a man-like being, but others described a more ephemeral entity akin to a wraith or in one case “water spirit.”

After the 1980 flap things seemed to settle back down for awhile. This hiatus was broken by a short lived wave of sightings in 1982, but it wouldn’t be until the summer of 1988, when this vine wrapped villain would have its final and closest encounter ever reported.

THE GUMBO LIMBO ENCOUNTER

The event occurred in a division of Red Reef Park known as Gumbo Limbo Park. The 67-acres of coastal land serves as a marine preserve and environmental education center and includes a 20-acre Nature Center. It would be in this fairly isolated preserve that an elderly couple would have a run-in with the unknown that would shake the very core of their perception of reality.

At dusk on that seasonably warm summer’s eve, an aged pair was making their way from the isolated heart of the park toward the gravel path that led to the exit. That was when they noticed a sudden movement in the shrubbery next to them.

The woman — at this point more curious than concerned — leaned forward in order to get a better look at the murky green form huddled in the obscuring bushes. At first the pair assumed that it must be one of the great birds that call the park home, but just as they were about to move away from the partially concealed life form they got the shock of their long lives.

Without warning, a shadowy, leaf shrouded figure turned and the woman found herself face to face with a creature that was unlike any she had ever seen. Their faces were uncomfortably close as the mossy monster locked onto her wide eyes with its’ own eerily luminescent amber orbs.

It was then that the duo realized that this was not some kind of avian anomaly, but a humanoid being. The terrified couple moved as swiftly as their aged legs would carry them to the park ranger’s station near the exit. Breathless, the seniors told the rangers of the self luminous bayou beast they had just seen.

The rangers did their best to calm the panicked couple and then went out to investigate. Sadly, by the time they arrived at the scene, there was no sign of the creature. After this encounter rumors swirled throughout the 1990’s regarding other eyewitness encounters, but as none of them were “officially” recorded it is difficult to separate the proverbial wheat from the chaff.

THE MONSTER AND THE MILITARY SCHOOL KID

As a young man on summer break from the military school, Greg Jenkins — who would one day author “Chronicles of the Strange and Uncanny in Florida” — became one of the first field investigators to seriously examine the Moss Man flap of the early 1980′s.

Rather than squander their youthful days on surf and sunshine, Jenkins and his buddy — with diligence rarely displayed in individuals so young — decided to dedicate every waking moment to trying to break this frightening case during their relatively short summer break.

While they were unable to nail down any physical evidence of the monster, they were able to turn up some intriguing leads and the investigation fostered in Jenkins a lifelong fascination for this enigmatic entity as well as other strange Floridian phenomena. In his own words:

“It was while spending the weekend with a friend that I first heard that a strange creature had been seen on the beach, so we naturally went in search of any information on the alleged creature. We looked high and low at the spots where people had seen the thing. We climbed the sand dunes and made our way through the thickets and sea grapes, but found no sign of a monster. After we interviewed a few people about it, however, a bigger mystery soon evolved.”

This mystery would involve a park ranger and terrifying, but little known legend regarding a supernatural being that had reputedly haunted the region for centuries.

THE CURSE OF THE MOSS MAN:

According to Jenkins, while he and his friend where making inquiries about this bizarre beast, they came across a veteran Red Reef Park Ranger who had not only been intrigued by the recent reports of the Moss Man, but also had an theory regarding its unnatural origins.

The ranger was an amateur historian who regaled the curious youths with a tale of Spanish invaders, a native princess, a heinous crime and a distinctly supernatural vengeance for the perpetrators of said crime. Jenkins described this bizarre episode thusly:

“When my friend and I asked some of the locals about the moss-covered monster, we were entertained to a plethora of stories that only fueled our interest. One of the most interesting stories came from a park ranger who had a keen interest in such things, and who had worked at Red Reef Park for several years, knew of the tale, and told us that that particular legend was much older than people thought. In fact, a creature, which resembles a man, but is covered in seaweed or other ocean-like grasses, was born from a Native American curse, which originated during the 1500s.”

The ranger went onto explain that after Spanish conquistadors invaded the region one of the men took it upon himself to not only kidnap a Native American princess, but rape and then decapitate her. Following this brutal atrocity this vile soldier, for reasons known only to him, decided to tie the head of the princess to a tree.

Legend has it that the hair of the butchered princess took root in the tree and that eventually her spirit “infected” all of the plant life in the area. The plants, under the spiritual influence of the deceased girl, managed to drive the Spanish from her ancestral land. Legend had it that a medicine man carried on the princess’s vegetative vengeance by creating the Moss Man in order to wreak havok upon the descendents of the Spanish soldiers who had been foolhardy enough to remain in the region.

While this legend would explain the existence of this evolutionary anomaly, it could also be — like so many myths — an explanation concocted by perplexed locals to explain away a natural (or perhaps fabricated) phenomenon. So if we’re not dealing with a real creature and not just a pile of cursed moss then the dilemma that remains is…

WHAT IS THE MOSS MAN?

When considering the origins of the Moss Man, the query that demands to be answered is: “what the hell is this thing?” It goes without saying that in all the zoological (or botanical) records of our world there are exceedingly few biological precedents for the existence of animals with plant like properties or vice versa.

We all know about carnivorous plants like the Venus Flytrap or Cobra Lily, but on the other side of the coin we have single celled animals like “Mesodinium chamaeleon” and “Mesodinium rubrum ,” which have characteristics of both plants and animals. There’s even the vastly more advanced, chlorophyll producing “Elysia chloroticaor” or green sea slug, but there’s nothing that has these traits that comes even close to the complexity of a human being… nothing that we know of anyway.

Nevertheless, in the long history of the development of the flora and fauna of Earth these evolutionary oddities have proven to be the exception and not the rule, which leaves us, the intrepid investigators, with one heck of a quandary. Of course, the easy answer is that this whole darn thing is all nothing more than one big pop culture inspired…

HOAX:

There is the very real possibility that the entire 20^th Century Moss Man phenomena is just a series of  pranks based loosely on Native American legends and modern horror cinema.

After the mostly dormant Moss Man suddenly began appearing with alarming frequency in the Red Reef area in 1980, Jenkins claimed that some of the more skeptical citizens in the neighborhood felt that this spate of sightings was likely inspired by John Carpenter’s unappreciated fright fest “The Fog,” which was released on February 8^th of the same year.

While Jenkins conceded that this sharp rise in Moss Monster sightings may have been indirectly related to the glowing eyed, seaweed slathered spirits of retribution depicted in the motion picture, it’s worth mentioning that the first contemporary sightings of this beast (or beasts) occurred for a full two years prior to the release of “The Fog.”

Another contender for prankster inspiration was a monstrous character created by Berni Wrightston and Len Wein for DC comics almost a decade before. The creature was the result of a biological experiment gone dreadfully awry, transforming a once handsome scientist into a hideous amalgamation of bayou vegetation and human DNA known as the “Swamp Thing.” This repulsive — though ultimately heroic — monstrosity made its first appearance in a 1971 issue of “House of Secrets.”

While it’s easy to see the physical similarities between the Swamp Thing and the Moss Man, the fact that the legend traced back for centuries would seem to exclude this fictional marsh monster as the inspiration for the Moss Man, though it may have colored the imaginations of those who thought they encountered the beast.

In his “Chronicles of the Strange and Uncanny in Florida,” Jenkins would dub this aberration of natural selection the “Spanish Moss Creature,” in homage to the classic paranormal TV show and “X-Files” progenitor “Kolchak: The Night Stalker.”  In the early 1970’s an episode of this influential series titled “The Spanish Moss Murders” depicted a homicidal being (played by perennial Bond nemesis, Richard Kiel) very similar to the Moss Man.

There is also the original cinematic adaptation of “The Thing from Another World,” which pitted humans against a half-humanoid half-plant monster at the top of the world and Roger Corman’s 1961, schlock fest “Creature From The Haunted Sea,” which features a bipedal, bug-eyed, foliage infested fiend.

There are some (myself included) who have wondered whether these outlandish monsters might not have inspired some hoaxers to create a kind of ghillie suit (camouflage designed to resemble heavy foliage) in order to mimic myths surrounding the appearance of this curious creature, but there are others who believe just as fervently that the opposite may be true.

These others speculate that the allegedly real beast upon which the Kolchak series based its one shot, sewer dwelling villain might actually be the responsible for all the uproar in Red Reef. A creature known as the…

THE FATHER OF LEAVES:

As unprecedented as a plant/human hybrid may be in the annals of academia, there are an astounding amount of myths and folklore concerning just such entities, and arguably the most famous example is the Louisiana bayou lurker now known as the “Père Malfait.”

Described as looming, vine covered, mud slathered monstrosity that stands 7 to 8-foot tall, this creature has been said to look like a tangle of willow branches and is known to be able to mimic a tree in order to conceal itself. This, one must admit, would be a perfect camouflage for any beast native to the miles of swamp that cover so much of both Louisiana and Mississippi as well as a good portion of the Florida Everglades, which, incidentally, lies mere miles from Boca Raton.

When the French speaking Acadians migrated into Louisiana at the tail end of the 1700s, they — unlike almost every European immigrant that would follow — adapted to the customs and language of the indigenous Native tribe known as the Bayogoula, which translates as the “bayou people.”

These Acadians — or “Cajuns” as they would eventually come to be known — received a crash course in bayou fauna (as well as its more ethereal inhabitants) from their hosts, and one of the most intriguing was an entity who the Bayogoula had dubbed the “Father of the Leaves.” When they adapted this legend into their own culture, the Acadians converted the fiend’s name into the French “Le Père de Mille Feuilles,” which translates as the “Father of a Thousand Leaves.”

According to the Bayogoula, this Le Père de Mille Feuilles was a mystical being that dwelled deep in the soupy morass of the swamp only to appear as a vengeful spirit that sought retribution against anyone who, with malicious intent, did harm to the Bayou or its inhabitants. It goes without saying that as the population of the wetlands increased with the arrival of European settlers, so did the acts of iniquity, which (according to oral reports) increased  Le Père de Mille Feuilles activity from once or twice in a generation to numerous times in single a decade. Eventually encounters with this vicious creature became tragically commonplace.

It was during this terrible onslaught that the terrified Acadians started referring to this leafy menace as “Père Mal Feuilles” or “Father of Bad Leaves,” eventually distilling it to “Père Malfait,” the “Father of Bad Doings.” A name which — justified or not — this creature bears to this day.

As the 20^th Century dawned and the light of scientific progress and rationality began breaking into even the darkest corners of the Earth, belief in this monster began to wane in all but the most remote sections of bayou. Cajuns stopped fearing the Père Malfait and began using it as a sort of bogeyman figure to scare wayward children and to keep them from exploring the treacherous and often uncharted regions of the swamp.

Some of the older bayou inhabitants still believe that this mystical monster still haunts the swamp. While it would be presumptuous to discount the beliefs of those who actually live in the swamps, one can’t help but to wonder if the legends that sprang up among the Bayogoula and Acadian people might be based not on a being of supernatural origin, but on an extremely rare, yet very “real,” species.

This bizarre beast might be an unknown mammal or amphibian covered in swamp plants for concealment or — even more preposterously — amass of vegetable matter that somehow evolved to assume humanoid form.

While it’s tempting to dismiss either of these notions out of hand, when one considers the density of the swamps in the United States alone, then it becomes easy to see how Mother Nature might produce a life form akin to a conscious “plant,”capable of concealing itself in this vast morass.

Admittedly the above hypothesis is wildly unsubstantiated, but the proximity of the Everglades to Red Reef makes one wonder if this exceedingly unique entity might not be indigenous to all of the south’s largest swamps. Perhaps the rarity of sightings has less to do with avenging wrongdoers and more to do with natural biological urges. Or maybe with its distinct physiology this being might have an extended hibernation cycle… like I said, wildly unsubstantiated… but intriguing nonetheless.

Perhaps the most logical theory in support of the Moss Man being a flesh and blood — or leaf and chlorophyll — critter is that the Moss man is not a terrestrial animal but some sort of a…

SEA MONSTER:

Perhaps the reason why the Moss Man is seen so infrequently — and with such large intervals of absence — is because this ostensibly amphibious “animal” is not indigenous to land, but native to the sea. It has been suggested by some that this seemingly insidious version of Sid and Marty Krofft’s “Sigmund the Sea Monster” might occasionally rise from the depths of the Atlantic and lurch its way onto land in search of sustenance, or a mate… or possibly for even more nefarious purposes.

Few would argue that the ocean depths do not harbor mysteries that we can scarcely imagine and perhaps one of these mysterious organisms is a human-like pile of sentient seaweed. The fact that so many sightings of the Florida Moss Man occurred near the beach would also seem to indicate some sort of marine connection, but like everything else in this investigation that is pure conjecture.

It’s worth noting that there are scores of cryptid reports — from Orange Eyes to the Dover Demon — that refer to beasts with inexplicably glowing eyes, but two cases are of particular interest as they represent leafy skinned, ostensibly aquatic humanoids. The first is the notorious Charles Mill Lake Monster, which was said to be a massive, seemingly armless humanoid with luminous, green eyes and large, webbed feet, which was first spied in March of 1959.

The second is a enigmatic humanoid which reportedly emerged from the underbrush near the Santa Ana River in California on November 8, 1958. This entity was described as being a fluorescent-eyed “thing” with a protuberant mouth and a body covered with scales that resembled “leaves.”

What (if any) connection these beings may have with Boca Raton’s Moss Man is open to debate, but it does seem to indicate that there is a precedent for leaf smothered, glowing eyed beasties in the continental United States; and that alone merits further investigation into this phenomenon.

While the Moss Man may well be a manifestly “real” rather than mystical fiend, one would be remiss not to considered the possibility that this bog beast might be a misidentified…

SKUNK APE:

The often seen — and even more often smelled — bipedal, primate-like monstrosity that Florida is most renowned for is the notorious “Skunk Ape.” This Bigfoot-like beast is said to be a shaggy, mud caked monster that prowls along the rural byways of the Sunshine State.

Due to the proliferation of Skunk Ape sightings throughout Florida it is worth considering whether or not the Moss Man might not have been a misidentified wild man. Perhaps the leafy epidermis was not a part of this entity’s physical body so much as it was a detritus of swamp foliage draped over a hairy beast that is endemic to the Everglades and the surrounding area.

That fact that many sightings are brief and take place from a considerable distance makes this possibility one worthy of discussion. Still, if this were a moss covered ape man, one would assume that witnesses such as the couple involved in the extremely close Gumbo Limbo encounter would have noticed that it was more simian in appearance than, well, vegetative.

CONCLUSION

Like so many of the great mystery monsters of the world there can be no clear cut verdict as to what the Moss Man may be, or even whether it exists at all.

There has never been any physical evidence in support of this creature’s existence — save a pile of Spanish moss, which was undoubtedly left behind back in 1978 — and, as an inherently skeptical devotee of the unknown, I must admit that the mostly anonymous reports could just as easily be examples of modern folklore in the making as genuine eyewitness accounts.

There’s also the fact that there hasn’t been a confirmed sighting of the creature since the 1980′s. All of this leads me to believe that this may be one big, mucky, tall tale that inspired a lot of fun movies and TV shows.

Still, it pays to keep an open mind about these things… and regardless of how slim my chances are, I can guarantee you that the next time my travels take me down to those long stretches of central Florida shoreline; I’ll be keeping one eye on the sea foam lapping at my feet and the other scanning the tufts of sea grape and Spanish moss searching for the unmistakable flash of amber eyes in the undergrowth.

On far more than a few occasions, people have asked me what it was that prompted me to immerse myself deeply in the worlds of flying saucers, Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, Roswell, Area 51, Mothman, the Men in Black and…well, you get the picture, right? Actually, there was not one reason, but several. All of them were linked to matters of a definitive supernatural, conspiratorial, or just plain weird nature, but in very different ways. And here they are… 

Number one: during the 1950s my father, Frank Redfern, like all young men his age at that time, had to serve three years of what was known as National Service – or, in the United States, the Draft. And, just as with its American equivalent, National Service was abandoned years ago. But, back in the 50s, unless there were specific reasons, such as health issues, etc., you were fully expected to sign up with the military. Which is what my father did: having a passion for aircraft, he joined the Royal Air Force.

During his three years in the RAF, and before returning to his regular job as a carpenter, he was trained in the field of, and worked on, radar. It was towards the end of his service, that he was involved in several radar-based UFO encounters, all of which occurred at the height of a NATO operation, which took place in 1952, called  Exercise Mainbrace. On each occasion, fast moving objects of unknown origin were tracked on the radar-screens, fighter planes were scrambled, and the official stamp of secrecy came down on just about everyone and everything.

Indeed, my father didn’t tell me about this until I was in my early teens, around 1978 or 1979. It was an event that  got me deeply interested in UFOs, and set me on a path to seek out the truth. And it’s a path that I’m still on. And, arguably, those 1952 events left a deep and lasting impression on my father, since he still talks about them to this day.

Number two: when I was barely four or five years old, my parents took me on a week’s holiday to Scotland. And, if you’re going to go to Scotland, well, you just have to visit Loch Ness! Which is precisely what we did. Although I have now been to the loch on many occasions, the first time is the one I have never forgotten. Granted, my memories of that long-gone day are brief and fragmentary, but I do recall standing on the shore and staring out, wondering if there really was a monster – or monsters – in those dark waters.

However, there was, arguably, an even more significant reason behind my decision to become deeply immersed in the world of Forteana.

I spent my childhood and teens living in a small village in central England called Pelsall, which is a very old village indeed: it’s origins date back as far as 994 AD. But, more important and relevant than that, Pelsall is located only a five or ten minute drive from the site of what ultimately became one of the most controversial, weird, and – some even said – paranormal-themed events of the early 20th Century. And it all focused upon a man named George Edalji.

Edalji, the son of a priest, lived in the very nearby town of Great Wyrley, and was thrust into the limelight in 1903 when he was convicted, sentenced and imprisoned for maiming and mutilating horses in the area – reportedly in the dead of night, and, some believed, for reasons related to occult rite and ritual.

Collectively, the horse-slashings, and deaths, generated not only a great deal of concern at a local level, but also anger, fear, and a distinct distrust of the Edalji family, who the locals had frowned upon ever since they moved into the area years earlier. Notably, however, such was the publicity given to the case of George Edalji, and his subsequent lengthy prison sentence, even none other than the creator of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – sat up and took notice.

Actually, Conan Doyle did far more than that. Believing that there had been a huge miscarriage of justice in the Edalji affair, he highlighted it, wrote about it, and even complained to the government of the day about it - events that, combined with the work of others, ultimately led to Edalji’s release from prison. But, for me, growing up practically on the doorstep of where all the old bloodthirsty carnage occurred, what I found fascinating – even as a kid – were the weirder aspects of the affair.

There were stories that not only was Edalji not the culprit, but that the attacker wasn’t even human! A giant, monstrous bird; a large ape – trained to kill the unfortunate horses; and an equally-well-trained group of wild-boar were all suggested as being the guilty parties.

Needless to say, however, just like the matter of what happened at Roswell, and the identity of Jack the Ripper, so the mysterious saga of George Edalji and the mutilated horses of Great Wyrley remains exactly that: a mystery.  And, in a roundabout way, had I not stumbled upon the story in my early teens, I probably would not be writing these words now! So, thanks Dad, thanks Nessie, and thanks George!