The Little Bigfoot Phenomenon

The Little Bigfoot Phenomenon

Bwbach

June 12, 2012            Nick Redfern
http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2012/06/the-little-bigfoot-phenomenon/

 

We’ve all heard about the antics of Bigfoot, but what about Littlefoot? Certainly, it’s an undeniable fact that many reports emanating from Britain tell of encounters with not just large and lumbering, hairy entities, but with distinctly smaller critters, too. Centuries-old Welsh folklore, for example, tells of the Bwbach, an approximately three foot tall, hair-covered humanoid perceived by the folk of that era as a brownie or nymph [sprite].

Supposedly, like so many of similar ilk, they would undertake chores and little jobs around the homes of humans, providing they were the recipients of two things: respect and nourishment, the latter usually in the form of oats, milk and cream. And they had a deep hatred of those who avoided alcohol and who led teetotal lives

Wirt Sikes was U.S. Consul to Wales, a noted expert on Welsh folklore, and the author of an acclaimed 1880 book, British Goblins. In its pages, Sikes wrote of the hairy little Bwbach that it: “…is the good-natured goblin which does good turns for the tidy Welsh maid who wins its favour by a certain course of behaviour recommended by long tradition. The maid having swept the kitchen, makes a good fire the last thing at night, and having put the churn, filled with cream, on the whitened hearth, with a basin of fresh cream for the Bwbach on the hob, goes to bed to await the event.”
Sikes continued: ”In the morning she finds (if she is in luck) that the Bwbach has emptied the basin of cream, and plied the churn-dasher so well that the maid has but to give a thump or two to bring the butter in a great lump. Like the Ellyll which it so much resembles, the Bwbach does not approve of dissenters and their ways, and especially strong is its aversion to total abstainers.”
The Bwbach is largely forgotten today, but encounters with small, hairy, man-like figures in Britain are certainly not. Jon Downes – director of the Center for Fortean Zoology – says of such matters: “I have many similar reports of such creatures being seen in Devonshire woodland. And the following one is a real cracker because it has so much separate and credible corroboration to it…”
The location, Jon reveals, was Churston Woods, which is situated close to the English holiday resort of Torbay: “Over a six week period, in the summer of 1996, fifteen separate witnesses reported seeing what they could only describe as a green faced monkey, running through the woods. Granted, some of the descriptions were quite vague, but most of the witnesses told of seeing a tailless animal, around four to five feet tall, with a flat, olive-green face that would run through the woods and occasionally would be seen swinging through the trees.”
Jon concludes: “Now, to me at least, this sounds like some form of primitive human, but, of course, such things simply cannot exist in this country – and yet they seem to. And this area – Devon, Somerset and Cornwall – is rich with such tales.” Matters don’t end there, however.
In November 2008, an extremely strange story surfaced from Wanstead – a suburban area of the borough of London. According to witness testimony, a small Bigfoot-type creature was supposedly seen wandering in Epping Forest, a 2,476 hectare area of forestland which, by name at least, was first referenced in the 17th Century, but that has existed since Neolithic times and which, in the 12th Century, was designated as a Royal Forest by King Henry III.

British cryptozoologist and author Neil Arnold describes how the distinctly odd story began: “The animal was first sighted during early November by eighteen-year-old angler Michael Kent who was fishing with his brother and father in the Hollow Ponds area of Epping Forest, on the border of Wanstead and Leytonstone. The teenager claimed that whilst walking towards his brothers, he heard a rustling in the bushes and saw the back of a dark, hairy animal around four feet in height, that scampered off into the woods.”
Another of those that caught sight of the diminutive beast was Irene Dainty, who claimed a face to face encounter with the thing on Love Lane, Woodford Bridge. She told the press:
“I had just come out of my flat and just as I had turned the corner I saw this hairy thing come out of nowhere. I really don’t want to see it again. It was about four feet tall and with really big feet and looked straight at me with animal eyes. Then it leaped straight over the wall with no trouble at all and went off into the garden of the Three Jolly Wheelers pub. I was so terrified that I went to my neighbour’s house and told her what had happened. She couldn’t believe it and asked me if I had been drinking, but I said of course I hadn’t – it was only about 3.00 p.m.”
Further reports subsequently surfaced, some of which were far more of a four-legged variety, maybe even bear-like, rather than actually being suggestive of Bigfoot. But, it was this issue of the “really big feet” that kept the media-driven controversy focused on matters of a mini Sasquatch-type nature. Ultimately, just like so many similar such affairs, sightings of the beast came to an abrupt end and the matter of the Epping Forest monster was never satisfactorily resolved.
Juvenile Bigfoot entities? Escaped monkeys? Unclassified animals? The cases are many, but in terms of definitive answers we have – forgive the pun! – very “little” to go on!

--What the descriptions are describing is something like the Pukwudgies as they are sighted here, about 3 feet tall (2 1/2 to 4 feet usually) with a large topknot of hair and a sort of a ruff of hair around the head or neck, short even fur all over the body, and it can be green from the algae. About like a very large monkey on its hind legs, especially hopping or leaping great distances, with its disproportionate,  outsized webbed froglike feet (traditionally said to be like duck feet or to have no toes). The ears can be described as large and fanning out, one imagines much like a chimpanzee's ears. The face is drawn out into a sort of snout or muzzle and has sharp front teeth sometimes sticking out, and the nose is long but low to the face, and the eyes are large and can be glassy. The feet are perhaps half again as large as human feet for their size, as going from some given estimates. Calling them "Littlefoots" is a misnomer, but I have heard of "Little Bigfoots" before.

Standard Goblin Illustration used in several recent sources

In folklore they are called Brownies or Water-Brownies, Boggarts, Water Sprites, Water Goblins or just Gobins : and they seem to be a very close match for Tyler Stone's theoretical Freshwater monkeys. They are apparently usually naked and hairy but they mimic humans and they can wear  old discarded clothing in imitation of humans. These Goblins seem to have their hair slicked down.

 

Some goblin depictions have froglike features while others are quite definitely froggy in appearance,  which goes along with the category being the same as more modern sightings of Swamp Monsters, Frogmen, Thetis Lake Monsters, Loveland frogs and so on.      

 

 

young_goblin_paintscheme01_large

Young Monkey for comparison

Statement by Tyler Stone Regarding Current status of Bigfoot Research

Just Posted on Facebook by Tyler Stone:

BIGFOOT IS REAL! RESEARCHERS HAVE VIDEO AND DNA!
Yeah, um, about that. The DNA was found to be from a mixture of known animal samples (all contaminated with human DNA), and the videos are known hoaxes made using a Chewbacca costume. I'm really not sure if these people are hoaxers, idiots or zealots, but if you're gonna fully convince me that there's a Sasquatch population living throughout the country, I'm afraid a Halloween mask ain't gonna cut it...

 Comparable statement made by Jay (Bizzare Zoology) Cooney:

Bigfoot is real, research teams claim

www.wfaa.com 
A team of Sasquatch researchers screened what it called "never before seen HD video" of Bigfoot on Tuesday.

Jay Cooney: Well.....most of this footage is obviously fake and I don't have much hope that Ketchum had anything legitimate. Dear Lord, the credibility of this "community" is going to be DEAD.

Dale Drinnon remains on hiatus for various factors including that his new replacement glasses have not yet arrived and he is experiencing problems with his vision currently

The 'Merfolk-Chupacabras' of Coleman/Hughe Field Guide as Compared to Tyler Stone's Freshwater Monkeys

Quoting from an online review of Loren Coleman's opinion of "Merbeings"

 Cryptozoologist Loren Coleman and Fortean researcher
Patrick Huyghe devote a whole chapter to "Merbeings,"and summarize a
number of actual "Merbeing" sighting reports, in The Field Guide to
Bigfoot and Other Mystery Primates (Anomalist Books, 2006). Coleman
and Huyghe list the "Merbeing" as the ninth and last of their nine basic
categories of  possibly real unknown primates sharing our planet
with us, including also the Neo-Giant (including the "classic" or
"standard" North American Bigfoot/Sasquatch and Himalayan Yeti), True
Giant, Marked Hominid, Neandertaloid, Erectus Hominid, Proto-Pygmy
(including Sumatra's Orang pendek and Flores Island's  Ebu gogo),
Unknown Pongid, and Giant Monkey. They further subdivide the "Merbeing"
into two distinct subtypes, a more fishlike, fully aquatic sea-going
marine variety including the traditional "Mermaids" of Western legend,
and a bipedal semi-aquatic freshwater variety including the Latin
American Chupacabras, Japanese Kappa, Madagascar Kalanoro,
and North American "Lizard-men."

"The Merbeing, or water creature," Coleman and Huyghe note at the
beginning of their "Merbeing" chapter in The Field Guide to
Bigfoot..., is "perhaps the most traditional of all the undiscovered
nonhuman primates" (Loren Coleman & Patrick Huyghe, **The Field Guide
to Bigfoot and Other Mystery Primates**, p. 37). "Perhaps
surprisingly," however, "the Mermaids and Mermen of ancient lore are
still being seen today," though in seemingly far fewer numbers than
formerly. Yet this group of aquatic beings "ranges far beyond the
Merpeople of yore" and also includes creatures like "the Sea Ape of the
Bering Sea, the scaly-looking but actually hairy and misnamed Lizard
Men, and the fiery-eyed Latino phenomenon known as the Chupacabras."
Likewise, "Asians have been aware of their Kappa and other Merbeings
for centuries" (Coleman & Huyghe, The Field Guide to Bigfoot..., p. 37).

Merbeings, Coleman and Huyghe note, "appear to come in two varieties,"
marine and freshwater. The "marine subclass" is "distinguished by a
finlike appendage," while the freshwater subclass is "characterized by
an angular foot with a high instep and three pointed toes." The
Chupacabras, Kalanoro, and "Lizard Man" freshwater merbeings are
"often found venturing onto land" and are "far more aggressive and
dangerous, being carnivorous," than the "calmer" marine type** (Coleman
& Huyghe, The Field Guide to Bigfoot, p. 37).
[Personally I do not count the Kalaorno, either]

Merbeings vary in height, according to Coleman and Huyghe, from dwarf to
human-sized. Their bodies are "strong, bit not stocky or bulky." Marine
Merbeings have smooth skin, sometimes with a very short "fur," while the
freshwater type sometimes has patchy hair growths that appear "like
leaves" or "scaly," giving a reptilian impression responsible for the
popular name "Lizard Men." In both types, the hair is often "maned,"
though "some exhibit almost complete hair cover, especially in the
Chupacabras kin." Merbeings generally have oval or almond-shaped
eyes, "perhaps due to their watery origins." These "mostly nocturnal
creatures" have a "singsong vocalization," which has been "reported
almost universally from Eurasia to Africa" (**Coleman & Huyghe, The
Field Guide to Bigfoot, pp. 37-38).
**Coleman and Huyghe  suggest a relationship of the freshwater Merbeings--the
Chupacabras, Kappa, "Giant Frog", and "Lizard Man" types--to the
"prosimians" (primitive primates) known as the loris and potto,
especially the potto. Freshwater primates, they point out, often display
a row of spikes along their backs, a "rather unknown but not[?Completely] unknown
feature among primates." In the potto, a cat-sized African loris, the
spines of the last neck vertebra and first thoracic vertebra penetrate
the skin and are capped with horny spines. When the potto is threatened,
the spines stand up so that a predator can't bite it on the neck.
Also--while freshwater Merbeings appear to be three-toed, the potto has
an enormous big toe pointing in the opposite direction from its third,
fourth, and fifth toes, and a vestigial second toe reduced to a lump
bearing a cleaning claw. "So much for primates not having weird digits
and spines on their backs," they remark **Coleman & Huyghe, The Field
Guide to Bigfoot..., p. 38).*

*The "whole body of lore on Merbeings," Coleman and Huyghe believe,
"appears to have basis in reality and is not all myth," as "Credible
sightings have occurred." On the other hand, they feel, the "increased
activity or visibility of the _/chupcabras/_" and the decreased reports
of oceanic Mermaids and Mermen may "signal a shift toward the successful
survival of the more aggressive freshwater, land-oriented sublass" of
Merbeings. Sightings of Louisiana's "scary, triple-toed Honey Island
swamp monster," Canada's "three-fingered and three-toed Thetis Lake
monster," South Carolina's "similarly digited Scape Ore Swamp Lizard
Man." and the Latin American Chupacabras suggest that "the most
dangerous Merbeing variety is presently at the head of its class."
**(**Coleman & Huyghe, The Field Guide to Bigfoot_, p. 38).

I find that Tyler Stone's revision of the Freshwater Monkey category was constructed as a substitute for Coleman and Huyghe's freshwater Merbeing. the Fit is usually good enough, but the understanding about the Chupacabras in particular needs more clarification. My impression is that we have identified the "Freshwater Merbeing" pretty well but it is NOT what is being sighted and called a "Chupacabras." and there is a question about how frequently they are called "Swamp Monsters" and/or  if the "Lizardmen" really belong with the rest of the sightings of basically smaller creatures. I have been finding more sightings of the "Thetis Lake Monster" types in other lakes in British Columbia as well, so there is evidently indirect indication that the tradition does exist locally and some of the sightings could be legitimate at Thetis Lake. The Freshwater monkeys do NOT have spines but they have longer hair on the head and back, called a mane, and locks of it can stick together  to be called spines or scales

http://frontiersofzoology.blogspot.com/2011/08/freshwater-monkeys.html
http://frontiersofzoology.blogspot.com/2012/02/freshwater-monkeys-and-other.html
http://frontiersofzoology.blogspot.com/2011/12/more-freshwater-monkeys-sprites.html
http://frontiersofzoology.blogspot.com/2012/03/chaneques.html
http://frontiersofzoology.blogspot.com/2012/03/some-speculations-on-freshwater-monkey.html

Europe: Watersprites and Goblins

 

Kittelsen_TheWaterSprite

Japan: Kappas

NWCoast Area and S Alaka: Kushtaka the Otter Man 

 

 Chaneques, Mexico

 

"Baby Chupacabras" as produced bya Japanese Toy company

 

Honey Island Swamp Monster, possible adult male with fully dry fur fluffed up

 

 

Macaque monkey going swimming

Some modern macque monkeys do go in for wading

 and swimming, and they can and do find food in there

 

 And for reference again the Line-up of the types to scale (Paste-up and editing by Dale D)

Tyler Stone's Many Finned Photos

Tyler Stone was recently on vacation in Florida and he sent me these photos of dolphins (From many sources collected together) to demonstrate how easily they could create the appearance of a "Many-Finned Sea Serpent"

 

And this last one is a Basking shark taking on the conformation of the HMS Hillary Sea Serpent (Seen in WWI and sunk by a torpedo)

Goblin (Pukwudgie) Footprints seen in Kentucky and New Hampshire

off-roaders-discover-trail-of-three-toed-monster-prints-in-new-Hampshire

Off-Roaders Discover Trail of Three-Toed “Monster Prints” in Concord, New Hampshire

By Greg Newkirk on July 22, 2013@nuekerk

Two kids enjoying some off-road action hit the brakes last weekend when they stumbled onto a trail of three-toed footprints in the mud. They aren’t certain of what left them, but they aren’t ruling out a “monster”.
A young man known only as Josh found the prints while four-wheeling his way to the local swimming hole in Concord, New Hampshire. When his girlfriend realized how strange the tracks appeared, she didn’t waste any time pulling out her cellphone and comparing the prints to hers.
“Guys this is not faked or anything,” Josh wrote on YouTube. “We were four-wheeling to the quarry ( were me and [my] gf swim) and we stumbled across these foot prints. Are these a possible monster?”[ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQA6bRjefYU&feature=youtu.be ]
The jury is still out on that, but lucky for us, Josh has posted a number of videos online for internet cryptozoologists to pour over.
The prints seem to be roughly the length of a human’s, but a bit wider. Plus, there’s that thing about only three toes. Interestingly, the impressions look quite a bit like the prints left by “goblins” in Kentucky last summer.
Check out the videos below and let us know what you think made the weird prints. Share your thoughts with us on Facebook or tweet us @WhoForted!
    I am going on the assumption that these are footprints of Tyler Stone's Freshwater Monkeys, known traditionally as Pukwudgies and often called "Goblins" or "Watersprites"/ Some of the earlier tracks found in the Midwest were like this and were called "Frogfoot" locally: they are also linked to the stories of the Kelly-Hopkinsville (Kentucky) Goblins and there are even some older reports of the 3-toed tracks in the Ohio River Valley, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. These are very like some tracks attributed to Kappas in Japan, and similar to the feet of the Kappas as they are depicted in artwork.   Goblin Tracks in Kentucky  

Have the Kentucky Goblins Returned? Exclusive Photos!

By Greg Newkirk on June 20, 2012@nuekerk  

In the fall of 1955, anomalous researchers all over North America became familiar with the Sutton family farm, the scene of one of the most intriguing cases in the history of extraterrestrial visitation. The events, witnessed by dozens of credible witnesses, centered around nightly attacks by “little green men”. While the status of these creatures is often argued as everything from space aliens, goblins, or even the official military explanation of “silver painted circus monkey”, the attacks that became known as the Kelly-Hopkinsville Encounter, or the Hopkinsville Goblins Case, ceased as quickly as they began, with the strange creatures disappearing into the pages of UFOlogy books for the next 50 years.
I mention the Hopkinsville case only because it bears a striking similarity to the events that one man claims have occurred to he and his family over the past year in the very same state; events that have led some to believe that the Goblins have returned. Only this time, they’ve left evidence of their visit.
Strap in, reader. It’s going to get very weird very quickly.
Two months ago, I received an email at an account belonging to my long defunct ghost hunting outfit by the name of Ghost Hunters, Incorporated. The GHI website is so old that it hasn’t had a proper update in roughly eight years. I’ll pop in and check the mail about once a month or so, but generally at this point we only receive emails intended for the cast of Ghost Hunters, requests for driving directions to our old haunts, and the occasional invitation to speak at a conference. This email, however, was different. This email was a plea for help.
The following is the complete email sent to ghosthuntersinc(at)gmail.com on April 22. I’ve removed only identifying names and locations. We’ll call the sender “David” from here on out.

Hello, my name is [David]. I received your contact information through a mutual acquaintance who assures me that you are well equipped to investigate peculiar problems. Furthermore, I believe you may have interest in these events beyond any compensation that I am prepared to deliver in order to have these issues sorted.
For the past 6 months I have been living in a rural home located on the border of West Virginia and Kentucky where my family is nightly assaulted by creatures that I have come to believe are of an extraterrestrial origin. These beings appear to be the size and stature of a small child, devoid of any facial features save for large, oily eyes and lipless mouths. They frighten my children by peering through their bedroom windows, chirping at one another. They actively attempt to enter my home in the middle of the night. Last month they took my dog. The police refuse to provide any further assistance, attributing the problems to wild animals and forwarding my complaints to the state game commission.
I believe they are coming from an abandoned mine located on the edge of my property. Though I’m armed, I’m afraid that I’m far too frightened to enter the mine by my lonesome, and cannot convince any sympathetic friends to accompany me, though I cannot blame them. I am convinced that the only answer is to collapse the mine.
I believe this is where we can be mutually beneficial to one another. If you are prepared to assist me in this matter, I can offer you permission to record and document these events under the condition of anonymity. I can guarantee you evidence of these creatures which I assure you are not “wild animals”.
Please respond ASAP. Thank you.

Let me make it clear that as GHI, we have never once investigated any claims of extraterrestrials or UFOs. We may or may not have created a crop circle or two in our teenage years, but that is about the closest we’ve ever come to chasing space aliens. Unless you count spying on Nick Foust’s dating life.
As you can see from the image of the gang, we were 110% professional back in those days. Clearly the kind of fine young men you’d want investigating the terrifying occurrences plaguing your home.
Thinking the email was obviously a joke, I wrote back stating that we unfortunately had no experience with extraterrestrials or explosives, but we’d be glad to assist if he wouldn’t mind elaborating on the details and providing some evidence. I posted the email (sans identifiers, of course) to a paranormal message board that I frequent, as well as my Facebook account, and it quickly became a subject of fun speculation. Who is this guy? Why would he email a ghost hunting group for a space alien problem? Who was this “mutual friend” that was mentioned? Why would space faring beings be living in a cave? Is blowing up an abandoned mine shaft even legal? And of course, the question anyone with a passing interest in the paranormal was asking themselves: what if he’s telling the truth?
These conversations quickly led to the creation of the Alien Cave Base Task Force, a rag-tag group of adventurous friends and strangers who half-seriously pledged to travel to Kentucky with the intention of going on an adventure and seeing if Dave was for real. We even made t-shirts. I don’t think any of us honestly believed that there was any chance of this trip actually happening.
After a few more jokes about dying in a mine collapse, I hit the sack, not thinking much more of the strange email or the Task Force. The following day GHI had a new message from Dave sitting in their inbox.

Thank you for the prompt response. I do not blame you for being skeptical of my story. I appreciate you keeping an open mind about my situation and I am more than happy to provide you with as much information as I am able.
I was given your contact information through a man by the name of Terry Wriste [Editors Note: I’ve left this name untouched due to it’s relevance and the fact that I don’t believe it to be a real person - we'll come back to this]. When these disturbances first began occurring, I was only inclined to confide in a personal friend who I knew had fringe interests. He offered to share my concerns with a man that had dealt with somewhat similar experiences in previous years. I accepted his offer. Within a week I was informed that this gentleman had long since retired from pursuits of this kind but was willing to provide me with contacts who may be willing to help. This is how I came to contact you. I do not have any answer to “why” other than a referral and recommendation from a gentleman I do not know personally. I was under the impression that you would answer that question.
I am located in Pike County, just outside the town of [redacted], Kentucky. [redacted] is located roughly 30 to 60 minutes from the borders of Virginia and West Virginia respectively. Most of Pike County is made up of small towns and rural communities; it is not uncommon to go days without seeing my closest neighbors. I moved to this area for the peace and quiet. I have received neither.
I have lived in this area for just under seven months and in that time the majority of the harassment has occurred within the past three. I did not become aware of any strangeness until early December, although that is only when I began to keep a record of these events. At first it was merely strange tracks in the snow around my home. I had initially imagined that they were from some kind of animal, though it closely resembled a human footprint minus the heel. At that time I was under the impression that it was simply a single creature. It wasn’t until the weeks later that I began to suspect that I was dealing with a number of what I thought were individuals “hazing” me upon my arrival to the area.
At this point I was incapable of keeping my dog outdoors overnight. Any attempt to leave her leashed would result in her barking herself hoarse until she was allowed back indoors. In the weeks leading up to this particular evening I had awoken to find my shed doors open on several occasions, many of my children’s toys missing or moved, and my yard in general disarray. I had already given a report to the police, who were making it increasingly clear that they were not interested in my case barring psychical harm or large scale theft.
The second week of January I am having breakfast with my family when my five year old daughter begins talking about the “kids without hair”. When my wife inquired about these kids, she informed us that she had spent the previous night watching them play in the yard. As you can imagine, this was of some concern. I asked my daughter what these kids looked like, she told me that they “were bald like grandpa and weren’t wearing any clothes”. The very same day I found the wreath that hangs inside our rear porch stuffed into our mailbox. I purchased and installed motion activated floodlights the following day and for a time, the problems ceased. It wasn’t until the end of February that our daughter informed us that the “bald kids” had returned.
I was awoken to the sound to my daughter screaming and rushed to her bedroom only to meet her halfway down the hall. When my wife and I were finally able to calm her down enough to speak, she told us that the kids were trying to peer into her window but they couldn’t reach, and instead, had taken to tapping on it. She hasn’t slept in her own bedroom since. It was that morning that I phoned the police for the second the time, and they responded by finally sending a trooper to our residence. I informed him of the regular mischief, how I was now unable to let my dog outdoors after dusk, and of the “bald kids”. When we found the ground disturbed just under my daughter’s bedroom window the officer informed me, very matter-of-factly, that we were dealing with an animal and I would be better off contacting the game commission than waste their resources any further.
Almost every day for the following week, I would find some evidence that something or someone had been on my property the previous night. Smudges on the windows were not uncommon, stones from the walkway dragged to the other side of the lawn, and I had found tears in the screen door. On Wednesday the 7th of March I finally witnessed the “kids without hair” for myself.
The dog woke me up around 1:30 AM, scratching at the back door and whimpering to be let out. I noticed that the motion floodlight was on, and went to the kitchen window to check that the shed doors were still closed when I realized that I could see the shadow of an individual cast across my lawn. From the angle I was positioned at the window I could not actually see the source of the shadow or the floodlights. The dog was pacing circles around the back door and I could hear someone rifling through a box on the porch. Filled with more anger than common sense, the only reaction I could muster was to bang loudly on the window and yell, at which point I heard the screen door on the porch swing open and slam against the house. I heard what I can only describe as “chirping” at this point. It sounded much like a skunk, if more guttural. I then realized that there were more than two people on my property, and the shadow, which had been reacting as if it didn’t know which way to run, was quickly joined by another. For a moment I watched as the shadows chirped at one another when I noticed a figure out of the corner of my eye.
Standing in the flower bed just to the bottom left of my window was a small, humanoid figure, with sickly pale skin, completely hairless, standing roughly 4′. It was looking in the direction of the shadows, and had clearly come from around the left side of the house opposite the porch and had not noticed me as far as I could tell. It’s face was devoid of features, save for large round eyes, very reminiscent in shape and color of a bird’s eye. It had no nose to speak of, and only a small slit for a mouth. It didn’t appear to move it’s mouth as it chirped, sounding more as if the noises originated from it’s throat. It was most certainly not a “wild animal” and even more certainly not a child. I was too terrified to move, and watched as the creature hopped to the others, and together they scrambled into the woods on the right side of my property. It was clear that there were at least five in the group.
I have not mentioned this particular incident to my wife, and the only other person who I’ve spoken to about these creatures are yourself and the close friend who introduced me to our mutual friend Mr. Wriste. I would prefer to keep things that way, and to approach this problem as discreetly as possible. Since that evening, my dog has gone missing from the porch, yet to return, and I can only imagine that his disappearance has to do with these creatures. I’ve gone looking for him during daylight hours, only to find many of my missing belongings scattered at the entrance to an abandoned mine shaft at the far edge of my property. I don’t dare go inside.
My friend has convinced me that my experience is similar to that of other “visitation” experiences, providing me with material and references that back up his claims. I am aware of the outlandish nature of what I have told you, but I am afraid that I have no other explanation for what I have seen, at least at this time. I can see no other option than to seal the entrance to the mine. I cannot achieve this on my own, and I am too frightened to try. I don’t dare share this information with others for fear of ruining my career and the reputation of my family. I am prepared to compensate your travel expenses and offer you unrestricted access with whatever recording equipment that you desire but only on the condition of complete anonymity. Beyond that, I have no other desire than to be rid of this problem.
Please inform me of what you would like photographs of and where to send them.
Thank you again.

I immediately felt the urge to take the Alien Cave Base Task Force a bit more seriously..
Lets recap, shall we? Small, child-size creatures? Check. Terror-stricken family? Check. Desolate property in rural Kentucky? Check. It all sounds very familiar.
Something that didn’t sound familiar, however, was the name Terry Wriste. In fact, I don’t think I’d ever heard the name before and after asking a few other GHI alumni I was certain they never had either. Was he someone we’d met at a convention many years ago? Someone we’d gone to high school with? A friend of a friend of a friend? The answer is none of the above. In fact, Terry Wriste isn’t even a real name.
A bit of googling provides only one source for the name Terry R. Wriste: a pseudonym used by an ex-military occultist interviewed in two rather obscure books printed in the mid-nineties. Titled The Secret Cipher of the Ufonauts and The Secret Rituals of the Men In Black, these particular books are about as fringe as you can get when it comes to ufology, with instructions on contacting “ultraterrestrials” via occult rituals supposedly deciphered by Aleister Crowley himself.
Just before the index of each book, author Allen Greenfield conducts an interview with Terry, who willingly admits that his name is not real. In these interviews, Wriste speaks of a guerrilla group of Vietnam veterans formed in the early 70’s whose directives included the infiltration and destruction of underground alien bases in and around the southern USA. After explaining how the team formed and where many of these cave entrances were located (including one entrance at the famous Brown Mountain in North Carolina), he goes on to describe the botched mission that caused him to retire from kicking space alien ass.

“…we were in a kind of cavern, only, I’d say, artificially hollowed out and illuminated by a greenish glow, defuse; not from a single, identifiable source. Anyhow, the whole area resembled (ufologist Dick) Shaver’s less exotic subterranean story descriptions, and, in more recent terms, some of the modern alien base stories. We were confronted by these small, grayish beings—humanoid only in the technical sense—and one of our guys said “Dero!” and started shooting. He had an M-1 rifle, if I recall. One shot, and [the little gray being] was illuminated in blue, and just gone. Then there was a sound, and I felt my own gun, an M-16, get unbearably hot. I dropped it, turned to run, and was confronted by two of these little gray-skinned guys with a net. Whatever had convinced me my rifle was hot had apparently not focused on my pistol, a vintage Luger, and one of the little net-holders received the last surprise of its life. It kind of exploded, and the other one dropped the net and ran, up the slope, with me suddenly in pursuit. When we got beyond the lighted area, though, it was just gone. I heard gun fire and explosions behind me, and that god-awful hum, and I continued, pistol in hand, looking around wildly, to go back the way I came. Only three of us ever made it back to the surface. One of them died a year or so later, of leukemia, I think. He was only about 24-25, so maybe there’s a connection.”

Wriste also talks of meeting a group of extraterrestrial refugees led by none other than Indrid Cold. Yes, that Indrid Cold. But I digress. Feel free to read the books yourself,  as they’re freely available online.
I wouldn’t be surprised to find that there are other folks out there with the name Terry Wriste, but the coincidence can’t be ignored.  Was David instructed by the very same Wriste? Probably not. It’s possible that David came into contact with a man that claims to have gone A-Team on ET, but it’s also more likely that it’s someone with a background in esoterica having some fun at his expense. Or ours.
I shared this new information with the ACBTF, a name that at that point, was becoming increasingly relevant to the situation. The gang hits the books and between the lot of us, we discover that Pike County is a hotbed of abandoned mines, that eastern Kentucky is home to some of North America’s most expansive systems of underground caverns, and KY as a whole has a history of some very strange UFO sightings. One adventurous Task Forcer even went so far as to call the Pike County State Police station. Their response was that “space aliens are reported all the time”.
I emailed Dave and requested some evidence for the second time, reiterating that if he was truly serious about having us come to Kentucky, we needed some pretty solid proof that we weren’t being jerked around.
He never emailed back.
Until last weekend.

My apologies for the time it has taken me to reply to your previous email. The situation at my home had become unbearable and we chose to stay with my wife’s family out of state until an appropriate solution can be reached. I am at my wits end.
This afternoon my brother-in-law and I traveled back to the house for the first time in over a month, as I needed to check on the security of my property and gather some belongings. The house seems relatively untouched, leading me to believe that the creatures’ motives were driven by the presence of my family. As you requested, I brought a camera back to the property for the purpose of photographic evidence.
While my home was free of tampering, I was able to find a trail of prints that match the size and shape of those previously left by the creatures on my property. The prints lead into the woods behind my home, following a stream that runs near the mine. My brother-in-law, an avid sportsman, can not identify the tracks despite his skepticism. Perhaps you know of someone better suited to identify these prints.
I will be spending the next two nights in my home and will send more images should the opportunity present itself. I am looking forward to your thoughts.

These are the attached images:

   

It doesn’t take a long hard look to see that the footprints are strange. The question is, of course, are they strange because they’re fake, because they belong to an animal whose prints we aren’t used to seeing, or because they belong to a creature we can’t identify?
Seeing as we were now out of the realm of pure anecdote and into potential photographic evidence, I posted the clearer of the two images here at WF and asked for the help of readers in identifying them.
You guys didn’t disappoint. So far I’ve seen theories about wild hog tracks, bear tracks, three-toed humans (and Sasquatches) to name a few, though my favorite was the reader who suggested it was a man on stilts with monster feet stuck on the end. Another reader sent the photo to the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Department, who so far can’t identify the print but won’t declare it fake either.
Commenter “Isis” drew our attention to the fact that this sighting mirrors the Dover Demon case, dealing with a creature that matches the same description, down to a three-toed footprint. “Mysterian” mentioned that during the Fouke Monster sightings in the 70’s, a Texarkana newspaper published a very similar photo.
It was stated several times that getting an image of the prints next to a yard stick would greatly help in determining the creature’s size. As promised, David delivered. He delivered big time. This arrived the following day:

“The creatures came out the woods late last evening. I have enclosed photographs taken to the best of my ability given the situation. I have also enclosed photographs of the creature’s footprints alongside a measuring stick. My brother-in-law is not as skeptical as he was when we arrived and we will be leaving before dark this evening. I look forward to hearing back from you.”

The following image of the tracks show the prints measuring in around six inches, with a distance of a little over a foot between each:

   

Also attached were three images of the creatures that David claims terrorized his family. The EXIF data shows that the images were snapped, sans flash, with a digital zoom of 2.1. The model camera is a Canon a630. The photos were taken at 6:01 AM on June 19th.

  

As you can see, even with the images cleaned up, the photos are anything but conclusive, with the first being the best of the bunch by a long shot. I almost didn’t bother posting the second two images, but relented in the hopes that someone else may find some value in them. I’m assuming that the image on the left is supposed to be a profile view of the creature. The image on the right just looks like a dinosaur to me, but I guess if we’ve come this far we shouldn’t rule that out either.
One member of the ACBTF, Robyn Montella, took the time analyze the most striking photo, coming up with some interesting results

 (see chart to the left – click for full size). The International Center for Fortean Zoology is currently doing some research of their own, and we’re still waiting to hear what else the Kentucky Dept. of Fish and Wildlife has to say about the new evidence. If anyone else feels like taking a crack at some in-depth analyzation, I’d be more than happy to provide you with the high res images. Drop a line to editor(at)whofortedblog.com and I’ll get them to you.
So, that makes everything just about current. I’ve not received any further emails from David, but you can be sure that I’ll share them with everyone when I do. You have the story, you have the photos, and now we’d like you to share your own thoughts about the case.
Between the blurry images of purported space goblins, the clear photos of unidentifiable footprints, tales of anti-extraterrestrial guerrilla forces led by men with fake names, and the similarities to a handful of different visitation cases over the years, we’ve got a whole bunch of questions. We’re hoping you can help us answer them. You know, preferably before we decide to drive to Kentucky and die in an abandoned mine shaft. Or some strange man’s sex dungeon.
Can you identify the footprints? Do you recognize the creature in the photos? Who is Terry Wriste? Why would a space faring species go barefoot? Is it even an extraterrestrial? The list goes on. If you have theories, answers, or musings on any and all things involving this case, by all means, share them with us.
And for what it’s worth, the Alien Cave Base Task Force is still recruiting. And we have t-shirts.


[For the record I think the creature that left the footprints has nothing to do with the "Spaceman" photograph. The object in the photograph looks to me like a model. But there has to be something to the tracks and they are a separate mastter from thids photograph-DD]

Yeti Tracks

There was a posting that was made here earlier and I was asked to take it down by the original owner. It was no big deal and so I did. The pertinent information, though, was this: while researching the well-known Eric Shipton "Yeti" track above, this other person saw an adjoining photo from an art poster site which also supposedly showed Yeti tracks from Mount Everest, presumably also from the Shipton expedition.

 http://www.allposters.com/-sp/Yeti-Footprints-in-the-Snow-Posters_i1590262_.htm

 

And it was stated that the one Shipton track must have been one exceptional printout of this line of irregular "footprints" of different sizes and shapes. If so, then it becomes even more likely that the print when found was pretty much hopeless until it was cosmetically cleaned up for the camera.

 

In the meantime I also pasted together this interesting comparison: Grover Krantz had said that Sasquatch prints were actually disproportionately large, being both longer and wider relative to height than in human footprints. He made the comparison that I converted to the superimposed tracks on the right, the brown one being a Sasquatch footprint and the green one a human one, both from individuals six feet tall. After I did that, a thought struck me and I made the set at left for comparison, in which the brown one is a Wildman (Neanderthaloid) track and the green one human, again both at six feet tall. This does dramatise the differences and the similarities, but basically Wildman tracks are modified-normal-human for sturdier and more muscular bodies while Sasquatch footprints indicate a complete reorganization of the system.They appear to have human proportions but that is actually something of a coincidence.

 

 

 

For reference, here is Tyler Stone's scale for types of Yetis, building on my own information

 but using Sanderson's standard names for the types:

 

The long hair around the top of the head of the Freshwater Monkeys is well shown in

 this mock-up of a Grindylow made for a movie version: presumably the teeth

 are more like those of a typical monkey. This also shows the large glassy eyes

which are often remarked upon by eyewitnesses,  and the green colouring

 that is presumably due to algae and waterweeds clinging to the fur

In this one some of the hair is shown as spikes or horns,

 and this is also repported in some cases of Kappa sightings in Japan.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grindylow

 

Grindylow

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A grindylow or grundylow is a folkloric creature that originated from folktales in the English counties of Yorkshire and Lancashire.^[1] The name is thought to be connected to Grendel,^[1][2] a name or term most famously used in Beowulf but also found in many Old English charters where it is seen in connection with meres, bogs and lakes.^[3]
Grindylows are said to grab little children with their long sinewy arms and drown them if they come too close to the water's edge.^[4] Grindylows have been seen as a bogeyman used as a ploy to frighten children away from pools, marshes or ponds where they could drown.^[5]
Peg Powler and Jenny Greenteeth are similar water spirits.^[4][5]

Popular culture

Grindylows appear in the Harry Potter books and films where they live in the lake near Hogwarts. They appear as small, light green humanoid creatures with eight octopus like tentacles below the waist, large heads and big yellow eyes.^[5]
An unfriendly race called grindylows appears in The Scar, a novel by China Miéville. They are described as humanoid with grey-green mottled skin, large dark eyes, foot-long teeth and a single eel-like tail below the waist.
Evil aquatic monsters called grindylows appear in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.^[6]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} The Nineteenth century and after, Volume 68, Leonard Scott Pub. Co., 1910. Page. 556
2. ^ A Grammar of the Dialect of Oldham by Karl Georg Schilling, 1906. Page. 17.
3. ^ http://www.heorot.dk/beowulf-rede-notes.html
4. ^ ^{a b} Lancashire Folk-lore by John Harland, F. Warne and Co., 1867. Page. 53.
5. ^ ^{a b c} David Colbert, The Magical Worlds of Harry Potter, p 111, ISBN 0-9708442-0-4
6. ^ Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Bestiary 2. Paizo Publishing. December 2010. ISBN 978-1-60125-268-5.

[On this page aree several depictions of Grindylows from the internet. They match generally with the Central European Water Sprites and the whole category is much the same as the European counterpart to the Kappas. They are also sometimes called Water Brownies in Northern England. There are some recent reports of the frog-flipper like footprints from the central part of Europe so presumably they are not quite extinct yet. They would seem to be representatives of Tyler Stone's category of Freshwater Macaque Monkeys. The reputation for dragging people, especially small children, down into the water is worldwide, but presumably this is a warning to the children to behave themselves, as the Wikipedia suggests.-DD]

 

The bodies of Freshwater Monkeys are hair-covered but the hair can look as slick as that of a seal. The frog=like flipper feet are shown in tracks, and this representation accurately shows that the big toe is very much reduced: this is also shown on tracks that are thought to be authentic.