Early Mothman Account?
Posted by: Loren Coleman on July 8th, 2011
Happy 4th of July.
Charles Flood writes; “Fort mentions this in Lo! – p. 638, The Books, Dover, 1974.”
New York (NY) Sun, September 21, 1877, p. 2
WAS IT AN ANGEL?
The Remarkable Cloud that Mr. Smith, of Brooklyn, Saw on Tuesday Evening.
To The EDITOR of THE SUN — Sir: On Tuesday afternoon of this week, a few minutes after 6 o’clock, I noticed from my window a very peculiar, solitary, vapory object in the heavens. Its position was about where the constellation of the Dipper would be at that hour, viz., due north, and thirty-five degrees above the horizon. In magnitude and contour it in a
marked degree resembled a human form, head, body, and nether limbs, the body and limbs robed in shadowy drapery. The head, which was of brighter luminosity on the crown and forehead, had thick flowing hair, and the whole figure was extended horizontally, with the head eastward and the front downward. But there was another feature quite as marked, and that was an appearance as of wings projecting upward and backward from the shoulders, and these in due proportional extent to the body and limbs. This last named feature gave the entirety the appearance of an angel, flying in mid-heaven, considered as a cloud. It was remarkable that it kept the same outline continuously, which is uncommon in those vapory [..], while I had it in view for a considerable time, as it progressed swiftly toward the east. The
luminosity of the shadowy angel was of a golden white, and it presented a very beautiful appearance against the blue background of the sky. In addition to the startling outline of the object, the interest in it was greatly increased by its being at the time the only one visible in the whole northern heavens, except some low-lying black clouds on the horizon. I called the attention of several persons to it, one of whom discovered himself the resemblance I did. Query — Was this a presage of a coming
event? It reminded me of the words recorded in Mark XIII:37: “Then shall he send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds;” and those in Daniel IX:21: “Gabriel * * being caused to fly swiftly, touched mo about the time of the evening oblation.” Wm. H. Smith.
BROOKLYN, Sept. 19.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
This is very interesting. The reference to the “luminosity of the shadowy angel was of a golden white,” actually reminds me far more of the “Houston Batman,” which led one of the witnesses to the famous June 1953 encounter in Houston, TX – Hilda Walker – to say that the entity was encased in a halo of light.
The description of the figure being static (‘same outline…’) is intriguing. It suggests that what they saw might not have been a living being, but possibly something else?
It’s a shame there’s no witness sketch in case my imagination is mischaracterising what was apparently sighted.