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True Creeps: True Crime, Ghost Stories, Cryptids, Horrors in History & Spooky Stories: Cryptids: The Owlman of Mawnan Wood

Join us as hop across the pond to Mawnan in the UK to discuss the Owlman. We’ll discuss lore about him as well as sightings and theories about him. Is he just an owl, Mothman’s cousin, or a hoax?



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Broadcast on:
20 Sep 2024
Audio Format:
other
[music] Hi, welcome to True Creeps, where the stories are true and the creeps are real. We'll cover stories from grotesque gore to the possibly plausible paranormal, to horrifying history, to tense and terrible true crime, and everything else that goes bump in the night. We're your hosts, Amanda, and I'm Lindsay, and we want you to join us while we creep. We cover mature topics, listener discretion is advised. [music] Hello, everyone. It is time for a cryptid episode. This week, we tried to find a cryptid outside the United States to discuss, and I think we found a great one. I like him. And it is Owlman. It sounds like an off-brand superhero. It does, it really does. Now his full legal name is the Owlman of Mon and Wood, and it sounds so fancy. Yeah. Sometimes he's also referred to as the Cornish Owlman, and we also saw sometimes called the Death Raptor, which I love. That's his metal persona. It is, it is, it's his nighttime persona. Are you unfortunately a part of the TikTok algorithm that makes you look at JoJo Siwa? Sometimes I'll get in it for like a week, and then it'll go away, and I'll be like, "Okay, okay, I fended it off for some time." Well, for a time I lived in that, and JoJo Siwa was like, "I'm a bad girl now." Right, she's like, "I say cuss words, I drink." This is the bad girl version of the Owlman is the Death Raptor. Yes. You're welcome. Yes. And also we have no hate towards her. We know that the industry fucked her up. I feel bad. Oh, yeah. So let's talk about where Owlman is found. He's seen around the village of Monan, located in South Cornwall, England, but mainly around the St. Monan and St. Stephen's Church, which is beautiful, by the way. Oh, yeah. Looking at the pictures, gorgeous area. Yes. He has a nice home. Now, let's talk about the descriptions of him. And of course, they may vary a bit with each sighting. But the majority of them say that he is gray or dark brown. He is feathered about five to six feet tall. He has clawed feet, has both Owl and human-like features. His wingspan is around 10 feet, and usually when he's nearby, you're going to hear a loud hissing or screeching sound. Additionally, you will see large glowing eyes that are crimson or red in color. So what you're telling me is that we have a humanoid creature that is roughly the height of a human with big-ass wings and glowing red eyes. Well, wouldn't you know it? What does that sound like? Mothman. So is it Mothman's cousin? Absolutely. And how fitting is it that we're talking about a Mothman-esque creature when the Mothman Festival is the weekend after this episode's being released? Like, it starts tomorrow. Yeah, it's just like distant cousin once removed. Yeah, I mean, we have talked about Mothman in different countries, like traveling. Yeah, maybe. We'll talk a little bit later while we don't think it's him. But could be a cousin, distant cousin. Yeah, we don't know his family. Part of the family line before the American Revolution, you know? So, Al-Man was first written about in 1926 by the Cornish Echo newspaper. The newspaper reported that two boys were chased by a large and ferocious bird. The boys were able to hide behind a large steel grate in order to escape the creature, as one does. What I thought of is, okay, it's in the 20s. No one else saw it, but these boys, right? A ferocious bird. I don't know if you've had this experience. My poor dogs have. But when the birds lay their nests in our tree... Oh, yeah. And the dogs go near the tree. They dive upon them. And years ago, we had a little corgi. And I look out and she's being attacked by birds. They had to go save her from the mean birds. So, I wonder, like, a ferocious bird, that's what I think of as, like, protecting their nest. That makes sense. I would also say that when a bird is flying at you, they seem so much more ominous and scary than just a normal-ass size bird, for sure. A normal bird flying is one size, and that same bird flying at you somehow seems impossibly large. I could see how the brain could warp it. So, this sighting got the attention of two surrealist painters, and their names were Max Ernst and Lenora Carrington. They were a couple at the time, and they were like, "We're fucking going." So, in 1937, they visit Monan. And supposedly, they performed rituals to try to summon the creature. It also could have just been Max. And we'll get into why it may have just been him in a second. But the only other information we could find is that the rituals were performed to invoke the appearance of all sorts of mysterious creatures, one of which might have been the nitrogen, which is a half-bird, half-human. And the creatures may have been called therianthropes, which is any mystical being which is part human, part animal. I do want to point out that when you are talking part bird, part human, you know what I'm thinking? A siren, which is what people thought mermaids were. Yeah, yeah. I also just love the idea that they're like, "We're going to go paint about it." Like, right? Let's fucking go. Yeah. So, they featured Alman or Al like creatures in a lot of their art for the rest of their lives. They weren't together the whole time. They ended up separating, but Max really started to show a lot of like birds in his boy, Diddy. And bird men and men with wings. Also, what we learned about Max, we just thought that this was great. He had an alter ego in the paintings that he called Laplop. That's the name Laplop, yes. And that it was an extension of himself stemming from an early confusion of birds and humans. The story is very sad, but he mentioned that one night, when he was young, he woke up and found out that his bird had died. Then, minutes later, his father announced that his sister had been born. Interesting. Interesting. So his little brain just put him together. Yeah. Okay, again, love the name Laplop. You should absolutely look up his paintings if you haven't already, because he's incredibly talented. I always forget how much I like surrealist art. Like, it's just such an adventure. But like, yes, I could see why he would be like, "Oh, this cryptid is for fucking me." If he's got like this like human bird interest as a kid. Yes. Because if you think about the things that you're drawn to as an adult, in terms of like special interest and things like that, for scary stuff, it's the stuff that scares you as a kid. It's typically like that stays with you. Yes. Yes. And both of them, extremely talented. So very sadly, Max died 16 days before the next sighting of Owlman. A lot of people in their heads see them together. Max was really into Owlman, and then he died right before the next sighting. So interesting. The most discussed sighting happened on April 17th of 1976. And there were two witnesses this time, June Melling, who was 12 years old, and her sister, Vicki Melling, who was only nine. They described an abnormally large bird resembling a giant owl that was flying over the tower of the church that we talked about. It had two red eyes, and its claws were very strange and shaped like two blacksmiths pinchers. Interesting. The girls were in the area because they were on a walk, and then they heard some strange hissing sounds. And that's when they saw it. They actually didn't even live in the area. They were just visiting for Easter, and they lived in Lancashire. So just visiting for the holiday. Since they were so scared though, their family ended up leaving to go home three days early, because the girls were just so freaked out. Now some sources say that the girls may have gone to the police station and made a report of what happened after seeing that creature, and they were each interviewed independently, and they drew pictures of what they saw, and they looked very similar. When we were thinking about them reporting it to the police, that is something that we see in a lot of cryptid stories. I have never wanted to be in law enforcement, but I do love the idea of being the contact that people reach out to to get all of the cryptid sightings from people, like first person. And my brain was like, "Well, maybe it would make sense to have a group of people who handled all the weird stuff." And I was like, "Lindsay, that's the X-Files, you silly goose." That's literally the fucking X-Files. Like, what are we doing? Someone has to be doing that though, right? There has to be a real thing happening. Lindsey, that can be us. That can be us. But actually, no, just send them to us. I'm like, as she's talking, I'm like, us, that's us. That can be us. Yeah, don't call the police, call true creeps. She's like, no, tell them to come to us. We're way more likely to believe you. Not the X-Files. Yeah, send us your stories for that, please. We'll start, yeah, we'll keep track of them. Oh my gosh. We'll be the ones to get the word out. Let us be that. I love this. We want your first-person-crypted stories, always. Anytime, day or night, honestly, also. Like, I want your real ones, but if you want to write me a fake one, just tell me it's fake. We'll talk about it. I'm intrigued by it. Let's get creative, guys. Let's get a little fucking weird. Let's make it tolpa. Yeah, let's do it, baby. Let's make tolpas. Let's make some like, flamben-flubes, you know? Let's go. I do like them, but in my head, I was like, a police agency that handles all the weird stuff. And I was like, Lindsey, you've watched the X-Files. You recently re-watched. All of the X-Files shows and movies and offshoots. How did you forget this for a moment? But the brain's funny. Anyway, back to the Owlman. So they leave the police station, presumably with sketches of Owlman and Toe. Afterwards, June's father was like, "You know what? June, your photo I'm going to give to a man named Tony Doc Shields." He could have totally given him both, but in everything that we've read, it specifically only talks about one drawing, which is really bizarre. Some sources say that Charles was the only one that the family spoke to, that they didn't talk to the police. They also say that Don Melling, the girl's father, would not allow them to be interviewed. Interesting. Yeah. Let's talk a little bit about Doc Shields. We're going to call him Doc Naam. He was a paranormal researcher who investigated and released citing information from the girls. And he is also the person who came up with the name Owlman. Love it. Doc also reported that the Owlman was seen again on July 3 by two 14-year-old girls, Sally Chapman and Barbara Perry. The girls were camping at the time when they saw the Owlman and were unaware of any stories about him. They said they saw a giant owl that was human-sized with glowing red eyes. And they reported to Doc what they saw. And again, they drew pictures of the Owlman and they did it separately. However, some people think that they had likely read Doc's pamphlet about what the million girls had seen. So although they're like, "No, we've never heard of any stories." People think that they probably had. Doc, however, did believe their experiences were similar enough to verify their story, but different enough to rule out that it was a conspiracy. So he was like, "It's a little bit different. If you were going to just say what they had experienced happened again, you would say it was closer." Yes. Yeah. So the drawings were very similar to the first two girls' accounts, and they included individual descriptions of what they saw. The sightings we just talked about and the other two were all from children. And normally you don't have the first few experiences of cryptid sightings being just children. Maybe the first one, but the ones after that will be adults. But here, it is three sets of children. Yes, interesting pattern. But then we're going to change it here. On July 4th of 1976, Jane Greenwood saw Owlman. She described it as "manlike" with a wide mouth, slanted red eyes, and huge black crab-like claws. This just feels like a distinctly different creature. Wide mouth and crab-like claws are not out like it all. No. Also in 1976, there was a pamphlet that was published, and it included stories of Owlman. It was by Anthony Monan-Peller, and it was called "Morgor, the monster of Falmouth Bay." "Morgor" means "sea giant" in Cornish. It's a sea serpent that purportedly inhabits the sea near Falmouth Bay in Cornwall, England. Now we're including a different cryptid with Owlman, right? You know I love a twofer, yes. So inside this pamphlet, it included Doc's reports. And we want to say that they were written in like letter form, but it's hard to find any of the information exactly included. Only that Doc gave him some stuff about Owlman to include in this pamphlet. So words getting out that Owlman exists. Another sighting was from a young woman identified as only Miss Opie in 1978. She saw, quote, "a monster like a devil flying up through the trees near old Monan Church." Like a devil. That's interesting. Sounds different still. Yes, I'm wondering if it's the eyes. That makes sense. So after Miss Opie's sighting, Doc then wrote a letter to Janet and Colin Board of the 40 in Picture Library. And he basically was saying, "I intend to provide photographic proof of the monster." Okay. He basically told them that he was going to try to get a picture of Owlman, and then he was going to show them. I love that Doc understood Pixar didn't happen so long before his time. Yes, yes. Around the same time, there was another sighting. Some sources though have said that this is actually more information about Sally and Barbara's sighting, but then other sources say it's entirely different. So we'll include them. It could be Sally's and Barbara's, or it could be entirely different. But like all cryptids, some stories have been separated as years went by. The witnesses thought someone might have been playing a trick on them when they saw the creature. At first, they just assumed it was a person in a costume. Fair. But then the thing flew up and disappeared. So they're like, "Oh, that is not a person." They described it as an abnormally large bird that was silver or gray. And after it left, they started to hear weird static noises coming from the trees. What this makes me think of is just the idea that younger people can hear higher pitched sounds. So I wonder if it sounded different from children to adults, like if children heard a hissing sound because they heard the full range of the sound. Oh, interesting thought. That could be. Yeah, and then adults hear it differently because they're only hearing part of it. And that's why it sounded like static. Maybe. That's a good point. Thanks. So on August 2nd in 1978, three women spotted the creature. They were French students who were attending what is now known as Cornwall College for some summer courses. The three women were staying at a boarding house and told the woman who was running it about their sighting. And then she contacted Doc. The witnesses saw something that was, quote, "very big, like a big furry bird with a gaping mouth and round eyes." Descriptive. However, the witnesses never came forward because they didn't want to be ridiculed. That's sad. Again, very fair. So the next sighting was not for another decade. And it was in 1989. And there was a man and woman who are referred to as Gavin and Sally. But we don't think these are their real names. And Gavin describes what he saw in his diary. We wondered if this is perhaps a situation where a word might mean something different in Europe because we know that in some places in Europe, diary might mean planner or their schedule. Mm-hmm. So it could be that he just like took a note in his planner like, "I saw this weird fucking thing," you know? Or he was journaling. Or he was diarying. No judgment. Let's go. So he said that they had a torch and saw the creature in the darkness. And it was around 9.30 pm. It was standing on the thick branch with its wings held up at the arms. It was about five feet tall. The legs had high ankles and the feet were large with two huge toes on the visible side. You say two toes, I say teenage mutant eternal's. Of course. That's what they are to me. I know that earlier someone described them as pincers. I'm sorry. They simply are nothing but teenage mutant eternal toes. Yeah, obviously. He also said that it was grey and brown and its eyes glowed. When it sawed them, it jerked its head down and forward, lifted its wings and jumped backwards while folding its legs up. Oh, weird. I don't know why this makes me think of the hokey pokey and yet it does. And so Gavin and Sally took off running and vowed not to tell anyone, except Gavin did chair his diary entry. I'm sure they were like, "Did that fucking happen? What's going on?" The fuck? Yeah. And then they're like, "I think it did." Right? Like, we both saw the same thing. Perhaps we should. Yeah. Let's just not tell anybody about this though. Yeah. Yeah. He's like, "Actually, the world needs to know." Then, six years later, an American tourist saw the creature. It was near the end of summer in 1995. And she wrote a letter about her experience to Simon Parker, who was the night editor of the Western Warning News. She was a marine biology student at the Field Museum in Chicago. So like, she had a background in biology. Yeah. So you look at her and go, "Okay, what she sees might be a little more believed than a child." Yeah. You know animals. She described it as a unique and frightening experience. And as a, quote, "vision from hell." Oh. She was in the wooded area near the old church and it was about 9.15. And she was walking a narrow track through the trees. And she stopped when she saw the creature about 30 meters ahead. She called it a, quote, "Monsterous bird man thing." Perfect. It was the size of a man, had a ghastly face, a wide mouth, glowing eyes, pointed ears, huge clawed wings. It was covered in feathers that were gray in color. And it had long bird legs with large black claws. Biggest description I think we've seen in one person, right? Yep. Once it saw her though, it rose and it floated towards her. She didn't say flew though. She said floated. Like anyone would do, she screamed and ran for her life. And she said the experience was totally irrational and dreamlike. She ended the letter saying that her friends told her about the, quote, "fantom owl man in that district." And asked that her name and information not be published as it could ruin her career. So they only said the first name, nothing more. If we do know anything, it's that people who are associated with cryptid sightings, good things don't happen to them typically. Right. Which does suck. Mobs of people outside their house with shotguns. Yes, yes. So the owl man wasn't seen again for a few years, but there were other weird things that happened in the area. Some of them happened a little earlier too, like from 1975 to 1977. In those years in the 70s, there were droughts, floods, heat waves, animals behaved strangely. Like, for example, flocks of birds were reported after, quote, "beating themselves to death against the walls of a woman's house." Bizarre? Bizarre? Speaking of bizarre, people were saying that the cows were teleporting. Cows will be cows. If I know one thing about a cow is that they're going to teleport, you know? Yeah. They're widely creatures. They love teleportation. Everyone fucking knows that. They needed a new form of defense. Bovine teleportation. Yes. Yeah. Yes. What were we talking about when we were saying? Oh, we were. Oh, we were going to make them protective vests. Yes. Then they won't need to teleport anymore. They sound like, um, like Mad Max style villains now. Like, anyway, cows are shifty. Don't trust them goddamn cows. So there was also more sightings of the Morbour. And that, again, that was the sea serpent that Amanda mentioned earlier that was sound near Falmouth Bank in Cornwall. Then in 1996, a woman reported seeing a ball of light floating above the church. There were also various UFO sightings in the area. Animals like cats and dogs were behaving strangely again. And there were also more feral cat and dog attacks than usual. Weird. Okay. So like, we're moving forward. More weird shit. In 2003, two teenage girls were in that church parking lot listening to music when they saw a strange light. They called it a glowing pulsating globe of light and said that it hovered over the church. They watched it for a while and then it just vanished. That's creepy. Yeah. Next in September of 2009, a 12 year old girl, Jessica Wilkins, possibly Wilkinson reported seeing the Alman again. There wasn't much information on her sighting, only that it occurred in the same area and that it happened in September of 2009. In around 2019, Mark Davies was in the church's graveyard in the churchyard. It's all like connected. And he was there with his friend named Chris Power. It sounded like he was visiting the area due to possible ley lines, which we'll talk about in a bit. He said, quote, "There's ley lines which are under the ground near the church." And they give off paranormal activity. While in the graveyard, he heard hissing sounds in the trees and they could hear something flapping. Then he said, quote, "I heard it go right over my head and I was shocked." That's when I saw the figure and it had horns on its head and was mad. On the meter I had, which picks up electric magnetic energy that we use to detect ghosts, I was getting conscious replies to my questions through it. He also said that because of this, it was detecting demonic energy and wasn't safe. Then the creature attacked his friend off-camera and he had scratches on his arms and legs. It also broke his camera during that time. Rude. However, Chris, when he was attacked, didn't see anything. He just felt a surge of energy. We've seen parts of the video, we believe. We're not sure if it's the entire video. In every site I was able to find the video on were different lengths. Yeah. Are we based off of the longest one we could find? But again, we don't know if that, you know, if there's anything else to the video. And I thought it was a little bizarre because he was using an EMF reader and he's asking questions like, "Is there a creature that lives here?" And when he asks, he gets a spike on the meter. Then he pants his camera and there's a figure in the background. But we don't see Chris at this time, just saying. He claims that he was behind him. Then it cuts and there's a video of him chatting with Chris. And Chris's camera picks up two glowing lights in the distance. But according to them, there were no light sources in the area. He asks questions a few more times and gets similar answers. And he asks whether the mothman, for some reason, or Owlman, was a demon or a fallen angel. And it spiked again. Then at the end, it shows all of Chris's marks on his body. I've looked, again, everywhere for the full video, I can't find it. But if someone has seen it, please send it to us. I'd love to watch it. The longest one we were able to find was a little over five minutes. And I watched it a couple times and I was like, "Hmm, it's a bizarre video." But I've never really thought to use an EMF reader in that way. Like that's what caught my attention more than the thing in the background or getting attacked. I was like, "That's an interesting way." Being in an old graveyard and getting spikes, I guess. But okay. They're also like ghost hunters at the end of it. And I'm like, "I don't know, what?" I was like, "I'm confused." Also, like with EMF readers, are you not supposed to sit them down? Typically. Because other technology can set it off. If you're walking about the room, moving it near things, it could be that it's doing what it is designed to do, which is to tip electricity. And like, well that, or if you do shake it too quickly or move it too quickly, it'll likely go off. Yeah. Like just a spike real quick. Yeah. Depending on the meter. Like there's different types in the way that it works and the way that it gets its readings are all different now. There's so many. But everyone that I've used, if you like move it quickly, it'll make a sound. Yeah. I would also say that they show the injury that Chris has. I would say that they look very similar to the injuries that a person would have if they tripped and fell. Like his knee is skinned. You just don't see many creature attacks with a skin knee. Right. He's like, I didn't fall. The creature did it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And the shadow creature that's in the video looks comically like a person in a Mothman costume. It truly does. If you think person in a Mothman costume silhouette, that's what you're thinking. That's what it is. You know what I thought of? It's the Mothman onesie. I don't know if you've seen it. And it has a little like, yes, I have top. Yeah. Antenna. Uh huh. And like the way that the outline is, if you're wearing that big onesie, that's what you'd look like. Yeah. It's absolutely what you'd look like, which would make sense if you were saying Mothman too. So one of our favorite things to do in our cryptid episodes is just throw some theories about what my people will be seeing. So maybe it is just an owl. Church towers are common nesting places for certain types of owls. And since it happened all around the same area, some believe that it was an escaped great gray owl. It is one of the tallest species of owl in the world, and the largest species living in the Northern Hemisphere. They can be about four and a half feet tall, with a wingspan of nearly six and a half feet. They have huge talons and they're gray. You know, owl color. But for how long people have seen it, it doesn't seem like it would be the case. Because they only live about 12 years in the wild, or 30 to 40 years in captivity. So it would have had to have been like a family of them that had babies and stayed there. For it to still be the same one. Yeah. Also, and we say that because they don't live in that area. So for them to be there, it would be strange. They're usually in Scandinavia, Northern North America, and Northern Asia. Right. So because that one kind of was out, some people think it's the Eurasian eagle owl. Clearly, clearly, obviously. It's the largest owl in the world. Their wingspan is about 4.9 to 6 and a half feet, which is a huge wingspan, but they're only like 2 feet tall. They just have huge wings. They have black, gray, and white markings, but they're typically brown in color. They live about 20 years in the wild and 60 in captivity, and they can be found in that area. But they typically have orange eyes, not red. And while we were prepping for this episode, we got to listen to a lot of owl sounds, because what I was looking for is to see like, do they have a weird staticky sound or something strange? Because some animals make insane sounds that I would not think came from that particular animal. So I'm listening to him, and my puppy is behind me, and he wakes up, and he loses his mind. He's barking for five minutes running around the house, and so I've never seen him do that before. Like, he's barked before for like 10 seconds. He's not really a big barker, but it was a solid five minutes that he was just losing his mind. And so I was like, maybe these owls have the ability to make animals become insane. It was very bizarre. Yeah, like that's why they were banging against houses and shit. So my husband commented that he has never seen Spector worked up like that. Like he was crazy. So for this past week though, now that Mike has learned that Spector does not like owls, he hoots at him often and pisses him off that way too. Love it. Another theory, and I absolutely hate the theory, is that it was some sort of quote, juvenile hysteria due to the fact that many of the sightings were by young women. Fuckin' people. Another one, this is probably one of my favorite ones, is that perhaps Owlman is an escaped alien pet. We do like theories where the creature is another creature's pet, but I am concerned at how big the aliens are if this is their pet. That makes me very worried. So some people think that these sightings or the creature itself have something to do with the fact that there's a lay line passing through that area a very long time ago. I was like, oh my gosh, lay lines. Fascinating. Let's do an episode. Because whenever you watch a fucking supernatural movie of a creature, of a weird thing that's happening, of a place that's like mystical paranormal energy, people love to say there's a lay line associated with it. And I was like, I want to know more. I want to talk about that. But there is so little information about the aggregate of that information. How many movies are there where people are attributing what's happening to lay lines? How many books have a premise that lay lines give supernatural energy? We couldn't find them. So we were like, lay line research or putting aside until today. Today, the lay line research comes out. So lay lines are easily described as a line that links several ancient sites. And typically, it's like a walking line from one space to another. So like the path, if you will. Interestingly, some ancient cultures believe that the souls of the dead were only able to travel in straight lines. So that would explain why they were that particular way. The concept was first introduced by Alfred Watkins, an amateur photographer of antiques and archaeological sites. In the 1920s, I'm laughing because we had different words that I couldn't say. But he was an amateur photographer. And he first introduced this idea in the 1920s, but the idea of them has been around since at least 1820s. And it became a topic in the mystical, paranormal worlds and occult circles in the 60s and 70s. A French scientist, Ami Michel, suggested that UFOs tended to appear on lay lines because there was more magnetism there and it powered their ships. People even started using dowsing rods to try to find the lay lines. Some sensitive, perceptive people have described the modern woods as quote, "being alive with energy." So maybe it's this paranormal energy that has a tie or draws out man, especially because people hear a weird noise that kind of sounds like energy noises if you think about it. Or he's connected to these ancient sites that are apparently connected to one another. And I think that one of the things that's interesting is that when you have sightings of one thing, you tend to have sightings of other things. Talk about that there was like all other types of weird shit happening at the same time. And is it because there is more weird stuff happening? Or is it that people are taking in experiences of the weird with more credibility? Yeah. And if you put the idea of lay lines with the idea of a bigger openness to those experiences, it's interesting how much you might get. So let's move on to more theories. Some believe that it was invoked by occult rituals. And perhaps it was even Max's visit. Got to hit Max. But Max came because there was already a sighting? Yeah. But remember, it's changed its look here and there. So perhaps he got something else to come? I don't know. Perhaps they just saw a bird and it scared them. And he was like, "Let's make it worse." Like not on purpose, but still. So he wanted more more art. He wanted to see what he could do. Some people say that it was a hoax created to be a counterpart to Mothman. But Mothman came much later, so it just seemed very strange. Yeah. I mean, I do think that if you're thinking of the 70s sightings, that is after the initial Mothman sightings. But part of the integral Mothman lore, especially the initial sightings, is the connection to disastrous events. And we looked high and low for things that happen in Monan or Cornwall around the time periods of the sightings that could even be remotely described as disastrous. And we didn't see any big major events that occurred around the time or right after the sightings. Yeah, so that's why we think it's just his cousin. So another theory is that it was the hoax by Doc. And so an occult historian named Gareth Medway has suggested that Doc was behind all of it. And that he has a history with hoaxes. He was a writer and a magician. He also got a lot of attention around his work involving local monsters. So perhaps that's why he continued it. Medway also said all of the claims and all of the encounters were reported by Doc, or that they were somehow related to Doc, like friends, family, whatever he knew them in some fashion, or when they were interviewed, they were only interviewed by Doc and no one else. So everything came from Doc. Okay. But on the other side of it, some argue that the people in the area only told Doc because he was considered to be a trusted local. And they didn't really open up much to outsiders, especially for something like that you can get ridiculed about, right? Yeah. So that's up in the air. Like, is it because he was trustworthy or is it because he was blowing up stories? Also, for the person who was studying to be a marine biologist, she had written a letter to the newspaper. She was never interviewed though by anyone because she wanted to maintain privacy. So interesting. And also, like, a letter can completely be fabricated. Another thing that Doc did is he was involved with the Loch Ness monster hoax picture. He claimed to have summoned Nessie out of the water for a photo, but now critics have dubbed it, quote, the Loch Ness Muppet due to it looking so fake. But some people that I saw swear that it's real, so, you know. But Doc really wasn't involved with the later sightings. So the newer sightings he has nothing to do with. So, like, how were they still seeing it if he made it all up? Hmm. Unless, like, we say everything, unless it became a topa. I do like the idea of everything becoming a topa. So let's fast forward to today. A local, Penny Salisbury, was asked about the owlman a couple of years ago, and she replied, "I haven't heard it mentioned for years and years since it happened, actually. It was a media event at the time. People were scared to go to church afterwards." Penny went on to explain that the story is no longer popular in the village, because many of the people who live there at the time have either passed or moved away. But she did close out with, "There are more things going on than meets the eye." That's creepy. Ooh, yeah. There are also books and even a movie about owlman. The horror movie is called Lord of Tears. Chef's Kiss, beautiful name. It's from 2013, and it looks like it's available on screen box for free or to rent from Amazon. What did you think when you saw the trailer for this movie? No notes. Perfect. It's something. Um, so Amanda, do you think the owlman is real? I think there's something there, especially, I mean, with the ley line, and multiple people over spans of years seeing something. Yeah, and most of them said that it's the size of a man, and I cannot, I don't know what bird would be the size of a man. So that's interesting. I don't know if maybe there's a vortex of some kind or, I mean, we don't know all creatures. Maybe there is just a giant bird, and it's been seen in that area a couple times. I know with reflections of light, like eyes can look really strange, and bird eyes are fucking weird to begin with. So yeah, who could know? I think something's there. I don't know if it's an owlman, but there is some sort of creature. What about you? So I do think that when you're thinking of first person sightings and people's experiences with a creature, the perspective of where they are, and how tall they are, and the lighting, and everything around them can really impact how big or small something can look for sure. So if you're talking about kids, it's possible that big to them is not as big to an adult. Definitely possible. Love any type of type of type of theories at any given point. This does sound mothman-esque. People don't just see mothman before disasters. I'm inclined to put him in a flying humanoid bucket, if you will. He is pretty mothman-esque, though, which you know that I fucking love. Oh, for sure. And as always, right? We want to know what you think. Do you think owlman is real? So shifting to the end of our episode, that's our owlman content for you. However, if you have a spooky story, especially involving a cryptid, we always want to hear about it, but we especially want to hear about it like ASAP, because our pod diversity episode is coming up, and we fill those with listener stories. You can submit your stories to truecreeps.com, and you just click the button, submit your story. You can either send a write-up of it, or send us an audio clip of you talking. If it needs some editing, we'll edit it to make you sound professional, but we want all your stories. And if you ever have trouble sending it, you're welcome to just email us, too, at truecreepspod@gmail.com. We'll take them either way. Yeah, we'll take your stories any way you want to send them. We also have some people send them to us on social media, too. We make a space so that there's a clear space, so if people are looking for how to send it, but we'll take it however you give it. So I'm bringing this next part up, because the mothman festival is this weekend. We have some tips on how to make the best of your experience in the outro of our grinning man episode. So take a look at those if you want some tips, because you may have found your way to this episode by searching for a mothman. And if you have any spooky stories from your time at the festival, we want those, too. Always. Always. For many festivals. For many things. We want all your stories. Are they spooky? Is your intuition right? Did you get a weird feeling? Did you find something weird in your great aunt's closet? We want to fucking know. Tell us it. And with that, have a great weekend. Thanks for creeping with us. Thanks for listening, and as always, a special thank you to our patrons who support us via Patreon. Please see the link in our show notes to learn more about how you, yes you, can begin to haunt the dump, guard vortexes, or even become a scorching Sasquatch. Also in our show notes, you can find the link to our website, more information on our sources, our social media handles, and our merch store. We'd love for you to keep creeping with us. So if you liked this episode, please subscribe, rate, review, and share the show with your fellow creeps and/or ghosts. I beg of you. Everyone's been waiting for it. Talk of the town, right? The talk of the town. Always. Or if you're in Bridgerton, the town. Yeah. Some people will get that reference and be very pleased with it. It's not for you, Amanda. That's fine. That's fine. TV shows are not for me. You're not wrong. I'm a bad girl now. Right? I say cuss words. I drink. There's one of Leonora's that I was like, I'm obsessed with this. It's so cute. I love this painting so much. It's like a little sheet ghost in it's holding a rose. And it's in a circle with, I don't know what these are supposed to be. Oh no, there's lemurs, my guy. Are they? I can't see them. Do they have tails? They're like albino lemurs. They don't have like the typical tail. Yeah, they're albino tailless lemurs, obviously. Okay. Sure. I enjoy this. I love this. Yeah. I looked through their art for a good like 20 minutes. The other night, it makes me feel things. I don't know what it feels. What is your favorite part of this painting? I, well, okay, so I like that it's dark in it. You're like looking at very specific detail. If you had a specific detail. Yeah, it moves your eyes where she wants you to move your eyes, right? I love that the ghost is not the typical ghost, right? It has a hand coming out. One eye is blocked by something. I don't know. It's like reddish in color. So has one, I don't know, dare I say bird-like eye on one side? Oh yeah, it is kind of like it has the shading over how a bird looks. Yeah, and it's like a ritual. I'm sorry. These are all the incorrect answer. Your, the correct answer is, oh, sorry. In the bottom left-hand corner, one of these little creatures has his little paw. Yes. That's actually the correct answer of the best part of this fucking painting. Is the, look at my manicure, little paw feature. I love him. Oh my gosh. Yeah. So if you got a LeoCarington.com, you can, you know, scroll through all of her paintings, but they're amazing. Both of them. Very, very talented. I'm zooming in on this guy. Oh, I love him so much. Yeah. Yes. Yes. So if you need some new art for your home, like definitely check them out because they're great. These are definitely not wombats though. They would be very sickly if they were wombats. It didn't have tails, so I didn't know what, what to call it, but something. Did you know that a wombat's butt is made of cartilage and then they can like abuse predators with it? Really? Anyway, that's not what we're doing right now. Anyway. So back to Owlman and Amazing Art. Say this for me. The morguar morguar. He's literally biting me because I'm not moving this. The, he says, play with me. I'm doing stuff. You know, he comes up and he bites and it hurts rude. He's like, please move my toy. Dare I say, I'm a bad girl now. Say cuss words.