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PHANTOM ATTACKERS
by KC Stapleton
Tuesday October 28, 2003 10:18:41 PM CDT
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Phantom Attackers: Being mugged, or harassed by
any means is scary, humiliating, and robs the victim of their
sense of security. For some individuals these encounters are
even more traumatic and they are leery of discussing their
experience since what assaulted them was strange, unusual, or
not quite human. For these individuals the nightmare doesn't end
with rescue, or escape. They live every day with a horrifying
memory that defies belief.
MOTHMAN
Point Pleasant, West Virginia
November 1966
The Mothman appeared in the United States in the 1960's and
presented an interesting case for two reasons: the number of
people who have claimed sighting him, and the fact that he
seemed to arrive in the notable company of other unexplained
mysterious beings.
Since the first sighting in 1966 close to a hundred people have
come forward stating they have seen the figure of a bird-like
man with red glowing eyes. Animal mutilations and attacks have
been blamed on the Mothman, and those who have seen him appear
to have been genuinely terrified by someone, or something. In a
new twist on the phantom phenomena Mothman is also associated
with the appearance of UFO's, and the equally mystifying Men in
Black.
The first ill-fated witness to the visitations by this phantom
would actually be a hunting dog named Bandit. On November 15,
1966 in an area just outside Salem, West Virginia Bandit could
be heard howling as he sat on the front porch at the home of
Newell Partridge. Partridge a building contractor was inside the
home trying to watch television. Partridge would later state
that at 10:30 that evening just as the dog began his eerie
requiem the television set went black and a "fine herring bone
pattern appeared on the tube", the set also began to emit a high
pitch, loud, whining noise. The noise rose and fell sounding
"almost like a generator winding up", until Partridge turned the
device off. The confused man then walked outside to quiet Bandit
who was still barking and snarling at something just beyond
Partridge's range of vision. He would later tell interviewer
Gray Barker that he shined a flashlight in the direction that
seemed to hold the dog's attention. There he saw "two red
circles, or eyes which looked like bicycle reflectors." Those
eyes were too big to be a human or any animal that Partridge was
familiar with, and he was rooted to the spot in terror. Bandit
for his part, perhaps encouraged by his master's presence, ran
into the darkness despite Partridge's calls for the animal to
stop. That was the last sight Newell Partridge had of his prized
pet and companion.
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Later that evening, and ninety miles away near Point Pleasant,
West Virginia, two young couples were driving past an abandoned TNT
plant when they also saw the creature. Their description matches the
one given by Partridge, only a little more detailed since they had the
misfortune of a closer look at the terrifying specter. The creature
"was shaped like a man, but bigger. Maybe six or seven feet tall. And
it had big wings folded against it's back." The "hypnotic" eyes stared
through them and were described as being large, two inches wide, six
inches apart and were "glowing" red. These witnesses would later tell
Deputy Sheriff Millard Halstead that the being made a sound like a
record being played at too high a speed. Horrified they watched as the
being headed toward the power plant door and their direction,
panicking they peeled away into the night hoping that was the last
they would see of the creature. Several miles down the road the
phantom suddenly re-appeared directly in front of the car, then spread
it's massive bat-like wings and again flew toward the frightened young
people. Determined to evade it they sped away again driving at over
100 miles an hour, but it was to no avail. The Mothman kept pace with
them. The creature continued to stalk the vehicle around obstacles in
its path all the way to the city limits of Point Pleasant when it
inexplicably gave up the chase.
One notable piece of information that the
youths gave in their statements to the Deputy: that as they had left
the city limits en-route to the plant they had noticed the body of a
large dog laying on the side of the road, on returning to the same
spot after their ordeal the animal's body was gone. When Deputy
Halstead investigated the TNT Plant, he experienced trouble with the
patrol car radio. A high pitched whine that, again, sounded like a
record being played at high speeds kept interrupting him and he
eventually turned the radio off in frustration.
On the same night in the Ohio River Valley several witnesses claimed
to have seen strange lights in the sky. Others in the same area
actually believed they had witnessed a UFO. When these individuals
came forward publicly a few of them found they had drawn the unwanted
attention of strange looking and odd acting men dressed in black who
attempted to discourage them from make any more statements.
There have been many reports since that night in November from all
over the world of a creature similar in appearance to the Mothman.
During the summer of 1969, in Da Nang, Vietnam several men serving
with the US 1st Division Marine Corps were performing guard duty when
they saw just such a bird-like creature. There was one remarkable
difference in their description: this creature was a female.
ROCKS FROM NOWHERE
United States
Chico, California
March 1922
"At almost any hour one can hear the impact of rocks striking the
warehouse roof and they may be seen bouncing from the eaves to the
ground." The Chico Record
Rocks thrown by an invisible force rained down on a grain warehouse
and it's workers for a period of months beginning in November 1922.
Witness stated that the rocks seemed to fall "slowly" to the ground at
times, and that when touched shortly after landing the stones felt
warm. Despite attempts by police department and volunteers who
remained in the area continuously no one ever found the source of the
strange shower of stones, nor could they ever solve the puzzle of why
the warehouse had been singled out for such activity.
A similar attack by an invisible rock- throwing assailant occurred in
A.D. 530 when King Theodoric of Ostrogoth's physician was likewise the
victim of a shower of stones continually falling on to the roof of his
dwelling for a period of years.
Through out the world such attacks have been reported and like the
case in Chico, no one has ever solved where the stones came from, or
why a individual or location has been singled out for this
extraordinary form of stalking
SHADOW PEOPLE
United States
2001
While never causing the physical damage of unexpected
falling rocks Shadow People have frightened, intimated, and mystified
an ever growing and diverse group of men and women in the U.S. Shadow
People have been spotted in houses, businesses, and along roadsides
moving inexplicably among the more substantial. Described by victims
as a filmy haze, or dark humanoid shape this unusual type of voyeur
often cause witnesses to be distressed. After these encounters some
describe the Shadows as evil, or intimating although to date no one
has ever claimed injury by one of these spectral entities
A typical encounter usually involves the victim engaged in a common
activity such as driving, working at a desk, or relaxing in front of
the television or computer when a misty, black shape is spotted out of
the corner of their eye. Startled either because they are alone, or
the appearance, and movement of the shadow is too fast to be human
they find themselves frozen as they watch the shape glide through a
wall or simply disappear. A few have claimed that a feeling of being
watched had caused them to look up and spot the shadowy shape that in
fact seems to have been caught in the act of spying.
| SPRINGHEEL JACK
London,
England
September 1837 |
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Ironically the first time many modern readers saw
the name Springheel Jack it was not in a historical reference but the
suspenseful "Strawberry Spring", written by Stephen King and published
in his anthology Nightshift. While that story was a work of fiction
Springheel Jack appears to be much more.
Reports of a strange, otherworldly figure began to circulate through
London during the early fall of 1837. By January of the following year
the Lord Mayor-Sir John Cowan declared the unknown assailant a public
menace and called for volunteers to search the streets for the man
being called Springheel Jack.
The name Jack was common in England during that time, and often used
to refer to a male whose name was unknown. Springheel came from the
phantom's unusual ability to jump a height and distance that seemed
humanly impossible. He was able to avoid capture despite his attacks
being witnessed numerous times, by simply leaping or jumping out of
sight. The phantom was accused of pushing, shoving, ripping the
clothing, and scratching some unfortunates but his intent seemed to be
mischief and his goal apparently to frighten innocent people rather
than to do actual harm.
Most of those who were assaulted by Springheel were woman. Their
descriptions and the facts that came forth from other witnesses drew a
strange picture of a tall, thin man wearing a dark cape and a close
fitting cloth helmet. Observers also claimed the phantom could breath
out a blue flame to drive back any group who gathered around him.
Later in the 1860's the same figure or one similar was seen actually
flying over treetops. Ten years later he was seen again, this time
bouncing from rooftop to rooftop with an uncanny speed. So fast was he
able to travel that the sentries who fired on him were not even able
to slow him down.
Apparently not even the passing of time could slow Springheel Jack
down and he eventually jumped from Victorian England to the 1930's era
United States. He was spotted in the summer of 1938 and although none
of the young witnesses who spotted Springheel Jack as he flew around
Silver City, New Mexico had heard the earlier accounts of him, the
facts they gave fit those descriptions almost perfectly. He was
spotted again in Cape Cod, Massachusetts where an echo of the earlier
stories of Jack was heard. He was depicted in an eyewitness statement
as a phantom whose breath was a blue flame, and who leapt about so
high in the air he seemed to have "springs in his shoes".
Springheel Jack has since then been seen in various places through the
U.S. at least once every decade, these new stories describe a man with
unusual and uncanny abilities in many way similar to those earlier
reports from the 1800's.
FEAR ITSELF
France
1793
"The effect of this prolonged sense of anxiety was to
create the politics of paranoia that would eventually engulf the
Revolution." Simon Schama-Historian
As pointed out in Jerome Clark's Unexplained there was one instance
when fear itself was the phantom attacker. Over a two-week period just
after the Revolution in France several providences were not over taken
by any type of assailant, but a hysteria, which griped the residences
and reduced them to the level of a panicked mob.
A rumor spread from one village to another that an army was coming to
loot, murder and pillage. The details of the non-existent army were
vague and they didn't matter. The village would descend into chaos.
People claimed they actually saw or heard the soldier's approaching,
but in the end the villagers themselves did the only damage as they
rioted and fled in terror from an advancing army that would never
come.
CHUPACABRA
South America and Puerto Rico
Early 1990's
The Chuparabra is the newest, and
strangest, phantom attacker. The being appeared in the early 1990's
and became known the world over for it's bizarre eating habits. Many
witnesses in the South Americas and Puerto Rico have seen the Goat
Sucker, which is what Chupacbra is translated to in English. The main
diet of the Chupacabra is said to be the blood of goats and other
small animals, their mutilated bodies found in areas where the entity
has been spotted.
While the governments in the regions where the Chuparabra has been
seen blame the odd mutilations on other animals or even humans they
cannot explain the sightings of the creature to anyone's satisfaction.
The many eye-witnesses all claim that the attacker is small, no more
than about four feet tall, has huge round eyes like a frog, a round
head, a large mouth filled with very sharp teeth, and the creature's
back is covered with spiky ridges. There is some discrepancy about
whether or not the Chupacabra has wings or can fly.
The claims of sightings, and mutilations are not the end of the Goat
Sucker's story however; many witnesses in Chile also state that they
saw agents from the United States remove the body of a dead Chupacbra
supposedly for testing. No agency within the U.S. has claimed
responsibility and no one knows the whereabouts of the Goat Sucker's
body. This brings up another point about this phantom attacker; there
is apparently more than one since simultaneous attacks have been
reported many miles away from each other.
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