December 27, 2013
Extreme close up of “flying creature.”
This incident occurred on May 20, 2008, at about 2 P.M. in Washington County, Pennsylvania.
The weather was in the 50s, and partly sunny at the time. The location of the sighting was about two miles north of US Route 40, from the southbound lanes of PA Route 43. The roadway is a four lane divided highway, two north and two south, with a grass median between them. The witness who Jim interviewed, was traveling south on the four lane roadway, about two miles from the Route 40 interchange. The communities of Brownsville and California were off to his left, across from the Monongahela River.
As the man traveled down the road, his attention was drawn to what he thought at first was an aircraft moving over the trees. He soon noticed that the wings were moving. The flying thing was moving in the direction of his car, so he pulled off the road, and got out to get a better look. The winged thing passed over the car and moved behind the witness, about 100 feet overhead. At that point this creature appeared to be gliding, and getting lower, and it looked more like a giant bat than a bird.
The witness could see no feathers, only short dark gray or black hair on the body. The wings appeared to be a membrane stretched over bone. It was a little difficult to see the details due to the sky being so bright. The witness commented that a small amount of light could be seen through the membrane. He emphasized that it was not solid like metal. As the man watched, the creature dropped lower from the sky behind his car. Apparently other motorists also caught sight of the huge flying animal.
One car stopped down the road, and a person got out. That driver had a camera with him, and was seen taking pictures of the flying creature. As they watched, the creature glided down to no more than 20 feet above the road surface, and was seen flapping its wings once or twice. With each wing flap, the creature appeared to rise about 20 feet higher above the roadway.
Since the creature was flying so low, its huge wingspan was very evident to the witness. The man told Jim that when the creature spread its wings, they extended beyond the one edge of the pavement, to the other side of the two lane road. That would be about 20 feet or more in length.
Original photo. Flying creature is in the middle of the road at a distance.
The creature flew off towards the west, and was lost from sight over the trees on that side of the road. The man with the camera was seen running into the woods following the creature. The witness expressed to Jim that he was not going to stay around that location any longer and decided to leave. He was concerned that he could be attacked.
He commented that this flying creature was big enough that it could easily pick up a man. There were no sounds or other effects reported as the creature moved over. The entire observation was estimated to have lasted about 45 seconds to one minute.
For more information on flying humanoids, check out Ken Gerhard’s book Encounters with Flying Humanoids: Mothman, Manbirds, Gargoyles & Other Winged Beasts.
About Craig Woolheater
Co-founder of Cryptomundo in 2005.
I have appeared in or contributed to the following TV programs, documentaries and films:
OLN's Mysterious Encounters: "Caddo Critter", Southern Fried Bigfoot, Travel Channel's Weird Travels: "Bigfoot", History Channel's MonsterQuest: "Swamp Stalker", The Wild Man of the Navidad, Destination America's Monsters and Mysteries in America: Texas Terror - Lake Worth Monster, Animal Planet's Finding Bigfoot: Return to Boggy Creek and Beast of the Bayou.
Filed under Avian Mysteries, Bigfoot Report, Cryptozoology, Evidence, Eyewitness Accounts, Flying Humanoids, Mothman, Photos, Winged Weirdies