Here are a few more reader submissions that relate to encounters with strange animals...possibly cryptids or other beings:
THE DOVER DEMON?
I saw this creature crossing the street (Rte. 18) in Abington, MA in 1970 while I was driving home from work. It stopped, looked at me, and then scurried off up an embankment. It climbed up the side of a storage building onto the roof, and watched me watch it for a small amount of time, then ran along the roof and out of my sight. I later told my wife and some friends about it, and they all decided I was not in my right mind or was making up a story (not in my nature). Last week my wife brought a book home from the library which described the creature and other sightings in Dover. She now believes my story - after 39 yrs of disbelief. I'm not sure what this creature was. I described it as a "purple monkey" kind of thing, but the color I saw was most likely a result of the type of night lighting in the area. I am not broadly given to paranormal sightings or the existence of many cryptozoological creatures, but I know that I saw this or something like this. Walt
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SOUTH CHINA SEA ENCOUNTER
Hello there Lon,
It came to interest me about how you can send in your own story about a close encounter or possibly something unusual.
So I have a story my mother told me a long time ago about encountering a creature (which of course I was really skeptical about) when she was roughly 25-26 years old. (Now 55)
She recently told me the story again and it was still the same way she told me when I was 15-16 which then made me believe, what if it was true? And if it is true, What was it?
When my mother was still living in Vietnam, she was very poor like every working Vietnamese citizen there. People worked hard to try to earn money or at the very least get enough food to survive the rough lifestyle of Vietnam. Back then, My mother told me it was a very shady place to live. People died easily because of starvation or health problems occurred which killed many hard working people. Another way many people died was how citizens were forced to go to different areas of Vietnam to work. My mother was soon one of the many who had to be forced to go elsewhere.
That very same night when she was soon to leave, her brother managed to tell her about a boat that was to be used to escape Vietnam and head away from there. At least a dozen people (including my Mother and Uncle) got on a boat and headed out from Hà Tiên towards Thailand.
That night, when the dozen escaped, they celebrated and rejoiced by drinking and eating on the boat through the first night. Through the 2nd or 3rd day, their engine broke and was now traveling where the water took them. Through the 4th day of being on water, they barely had any supplies and soon the group began to think they would all die with little water and food.
My mother doesn't know what day this was during the 1 week of being out at sea before reaching Thailand but this is when the encounter with the creature occurred.
My mother also didn't tell me what time of day it was, but it was bright enough to be able to see the creature in the water. (during mid day?)
As the boat was still moving through the force of the water, my mother noticed a very big creature close to the boat. She described the creature to be "gray" in color and also very big. She told me that the creature must of been much bigger than the boat they were in considering it was right beside them.
Also, my mother explained to me that the creature didn't move at all when my mother looked at the body of the creature, it just stayed in the shallow water. Surprisingly, I asked her if she saw a face, tail or anything else that could define it. But she told me that her friend grabbed her and told her not to look in case something bad were to occur. Another interesting detail my mother told me was that she felt, if the creature were to move, even it's tail if it did have one, she thought the boat would definitely flip or possibly destroy the boat. I asked my Mom what you thought it could have been and the first thing that came up in her mind was "Fish".
But I know in my own conscience, it couldn't have been a fish. So I also asked her if the body of the creature was smooth, and she responded, "Yes". After the next couple days, the dozen managed to make it to Thailand and never saw that creature again.
So in my own thoughts, I had to rule it out that it was no fish, and if somehow in the world, if it is a fish, it's definitely a unique one with a smooth gray body and no scales.
Also, if my mother did see its entire body, there was definitely no top fins on the creature which almost wants me to rule out it was no shark, but it could of been a bit deeper to not reveal its top fin?
I'm also not too sure what creatures lurk in the South China Sea and if they even have any big sea creatures.
I wanted to come up with a possibility it was a whale or shark but to get so close to a boat, wouldn't the creatures get scared? Also it stood still in the water for a while, I don't exactly know if sharks have the tendency to do that. Whales on the other hand, maybe? Even for a Fish, Definitely no way it could be one.
I was hoping I could get some answers on what it may of or could of been. If you guys get this, hopefully you guys can fill me in with anything that is related to this.
Appreciate it. - Johnny
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UNKNOWN FLYING ENTITY
Thanks for the daily email updates. I had an encounter that I did make a report on but have never received any inquiries. Since your readers send you their experiences maybe there is a chance someone has seen something similar.
The encounter occurred on July 6, 2005 at about 11:30 pm. I had a long day in San Diego then afterward going to the beach at Del Mar, CA for some surf fishing. I arrived at my home in San Marcos about 11:00 pm. After cleaning my fish and showering, I was very tired. I went out to my carport for a smoke and a look at the night sky. I looked north, thinking about a recent UFO sighting and wondering what it's all about. In the distance, at a couple hundred feet, I saw a faintly visible moving object that flitted from side to side. Whatever it was, it reflected light from the streetlights. It's side to side movement was so quick, I couldn't tell if it was one object or two. The object then zipped directly over my neighbors house across the street. By this time, I was certain I'd never seen anything like it. It continued to move side to side, in a space of approximately 50 feet. It then stopped and I observed it more clearly.
It may have had big "eyes" and wing-like appendages, and was probably 2 to 3 feet in width. It remained still and I could see wavering reflections from it's "wings" which were not beating like a birds, but showed shimmering reflections from the streetlights. I felt the hair on my head rise all the way down my back to my ankles! It appeared to be looking at me, as I smoked my cigarette. I felt threatened, and said out loud, "I see you!" Then it went from stationary to out of sight, right over my head in an instant. I came out from under my covered carport, and turned to follow it's movement. Immediately, it zipped into view directly above my head, obviously studying me! I could see really weird large and intensely dark "eyes". It seemed surprised by my looking right at it. It didn't like being seen. My apprehension rose even higher. It turned away and disappeared like a shot.
It had a birdlike shape, but was thicker. My impression was of reflections of the streetlights on wing-like appendages, and big dark eyes!
It wasn't a bird, bat or any familiar nocturnal creature. It's movements did not seem explicable in comparison to any creature that fly's by beating it's wings. The hills and mountains are so rugged and inaccessible near my home, that anything could remain hidden and make night time forays at will. I read about "thunderbirds" but I'm not sure if this was one of these.
Thanks for the help! HR
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POSSIBLE MOTHMAN
I was driving back to my home in Grove City, Ohio at about 9 pm on February 22nd when I saw something very strange. I had just made a turn off RT104 onto Borror Rd. and was driving around a sharp turn when I saw something brown on the side of the road. I first assumed it was a deer since I have seen several on this road before but as I got closer it was too big to be a deer. The best I can describe this object it that it looked like a big piece of brown shag carpet about 6 to 7 feet tall and about 10 feet wide. As I came close to passing this object on the side of the road it folded up like the rug was being folded in half. I flinched and swerved out of the way because as it folded I thought it was lunging toward me and coming after me. I just sped up and kept driving home.
I did not tell anyone what I had seen for a few days because I was so baffled and didn't want to believe that I saw what I did. After replaying the sighting over and over in my head I decided to tell my wife and we started looking up on the internet, things that might match what I saw. The closest thing we could come up with is the Mothman except I didn't see any glowing eyes, but if the eyes were reflective I would probably not have seen them because the creature was facing the road and not my headlights. Anyway this was the strangest thing I have ever seen. Brian P.
Phantoms & Monsters: Cryptid Encounters
The Official Cryptid Field Guide (Secret Saturdays (Unnumbered))
Werewolves: Mysteries, Legends, and Unexplained Phenomena
Encounters: With the Strange and Unexplained
