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The Highest Strangeness: True Stories of the Ultra Bizarre (Previously Member Only)
In this previously unreleased episode of 'The Highest Strangeness,' hosts delve into Richard Freeman's book, exploring bizarre encounters ranging from amphibious entities to UFO occupan...
The Highest Strangeness: True Stories of the Ultra Bizarre (Previously Member Only)
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Interactive Transcript
Speaker A
Hey, guys. What you're about to hear is a previously unreleased members Only episode where we crack open Richard Freeman's book the Highest Strangeness to explore truly some of the most bizarre encounters you've never heard from bloated amphibious entities phasing through walls in 1940s England to catfish like UFO occupants broke down on the highway. Tonight we're digging dark and deeply into the belief hole. And if you dig this episode, you can find a hundred more just like it by becoming a member. Check the show notes or video description for a direct link. Or if you're watching on YouTube, click the little QR code right here. Yes, this is from Skinwalker's Curse. We'll get into that in the next episode. Enjoy the show. Welcome into the expansion, everyone.
Speaker B
Hi. Welcome.
Speaker A
Today is gonna be so fun, as always. As always. But this is gonna be an extra strange episode because we are covering a book called the Highest Strangeness. Interesting.
Speaker B
So perfect for our show, right?
Speaker A
It is. I mean, very much so. Just reading the accounts in here, this book from Richard Freeman, who we'll touch on in a second. Actually, we've covered a lot of the stories in here, but what I like about this book is it is like the weirdest of weird accounts. There's no average account in here. When you open it up, you're going to land on something that has at least one really unique bizarre element to it. Yeah, a real page turner, if you like weird stuff. So I tried to grab a variety of weird stories. So his book, he kind of categorizes them under different headings. You know, like, these are highway hitchhiker ghosts. In this section here's UFOs. But really. And he points this out, when it comes to this sort of forteana, it's like herding cats. Nothing really fits into any certain category because there's so many strange overlaps. Herding cats. Herding cats. You ever heard that phrase?
Speaker B
I have.
Speaker A
I mean, maybe I never really understood what it meant. Like, it's hard to do.
Speaker B
It's like impossible to herd cats.
Speaker A
Exactly. So much in the way that that is impossible. This is sort of impossible endeavor that he undertook.
Speaker B
Training ants.
Speaker A
Yes. Unless you're ant man. And then it is possible. I feel like that'd be easier. Ants are pretty orderly. I think you could train them.
Speaker B
Yeah, but that's just their instincts.
Speaker A
I'm talking about, like trying to do something new.
Speaker B
Training them to shoot a basketball or something. Are we on right now? Are we recording?
Speaker A
No, I did hear. But I did hear something actually really interesting. John, I'm glad you brought up ants because I just heard that they just discovered. Ooh, Ant News. This week in Ant News. Yes. Ants are the only animal that we know of. They just discovered this. That actually conduct surgeries on each other. What life saving operations.
Speaker B
They're like little aliens.
Speaker A
Yeah, they kind of are. It takes them 40 minutes, roughly, but they will chew off an injured leg of one of their ant mates. The guy's like, ah, 40 minutes of gnawing on his leg. Stop it. But they found out that the survival rate.
Speaker B
It's for your best, Frank.
Speaker A
If they chew on that leg, if he gets it off, I think the survival rate goes from like 25 or 30% to 90%. So somehow they figured this out. So, yeah, it's the only animal that we know that actually performs surgery. I thought that was kind of cool. Is that 40 minutes for any procedure? That's generally the amount of time it takes for them to gnaw through a leg.
Speaker B
Do they put them under?
Speaker A
Oh, yeah, of course. They're not animals.
Speaker B
They're insects.
Speaker A
They're insects. They're always under. That's true. The ground insects are animals, by the way. But yeah, we got some great stories coming up. This guy's really interesting, actually. I didn't realize this, John, but when I was reading this book, I was like, this name sounds familiar. And then I realized, oh, my gosh, this is the guy who wrote the dragon article that we used for most of our dragon episode. Same dude.
Speaker B
Oh, really?
Speaker A
Yeah. But he's interesting because he's a cryptozoologist. But he started off as a zookeeper and loved animals and then fell in love with the research of people like Ivan T. Sanderson. But anyway, he actually ended up doing what I would always. We'd always love to do things like this, except for the whole like flying in planes and stuff. But he took a bunch of expeditions all over the world, went to look for the death worm in Mongolia, he went to the Himalayas to look for the yeti. He's written a bunch of books on his adventures and is traveling as a. As a cryptozoologist. But he has an interesting quote here that I like. He says, and this is in relation to the overall experience of these sorts of weird monster hunts and the nature of skepticism in our reality. And he basically says monsters are the last vestiges of magic in a disenchanted world. But magic has to come from somewhere. My job is to find out where. So that's kind of what he's committed his life to. But one of the things that I really like about Richard's approach is that he's one of the more open minded cryptozoologists when it comes to the idea of interdimensional explanations. And not just like there's a biological, you know, amphibious man living in Ohio, but maybe there's some. Which is also awesome possibility. Yeah. But some sort of other potential explanation. Anyway, so he's more open to like the woo. Yes. Say as we kind of are here. But yeah, that's basically who this guy is. I mean, there's a lot more going on with Richard and I'm sure we'll get more into his background and his adventures down the road. But for now, if you're ready, we can just get right into the stories.
Speaker B
Let's get it.
Speaker A
Yeah, let's hear what kind of stories he's got for us. Okay. So I love this first story. It has this sort of folk horror feel to me, which is like, you know, the sort of like I always think of like an English countryside in like the 70s and there's some sort of occult ritual going on somewhere and there's pagan sacrifice. Yeah. Villagers are keeping their secrets. Anyway, this isn't exactly that kind of story, but it has that kind of vibe. Yeah. So for this story, we are going to join the Smiths as they encounter a strange uninvited guest one night. Uninvited, but not completely unexpected because it was prophesied in a way. The story was originally collected by Richard Cavendish, who we'll touch on later. Interesting guy. But this was one of the weirdest cases from Richard's book, the Powers of Evil. Richard calls this the Thing from Over the Hill.
Speaker B
One evening in 1940, as she was chatting to her husband, Mrs. Smith said, Quite out of the blue, it will come over the hill when it comes afterwards. She had no recollection of saying this, even though her husband insisted that she had. Shortly after, she became nervous about being in the house after dark. About three months later, she woke her husband one night and told him that the Thing from Over the Hill was nearly upon them. They heard one of the outside doors opening and a heavy wet tread upon the stairs. As the Smiths clung together, the door swung open and a hideous thing waded in. It was bloated and naked, with skin blotched green, purple and yellow. It had a head that almost came to a point at the top, long earlobes that nearly reached its shoulders, webbed feet and a thick bull neck. It crossed to the window and vanished. Mrs. Smith later commented, it was horrible and the absolute essence of evil. I have never experienced anything so dreadful before or since, and I hope I never shall. God willing, I still experience the same horror when I talk about it or write about it as I am doing now. I have never been able to discover why I saw it, and I have never been able to find out what it was.
Speaker A
Terrifying.
Speaker B
Yeah.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker B
So that definitely doesn't seem like. I don't know, it doesn't seem like a Bigfoot type of, you know.
Speaker A
No, it doesn't seem cryptid.
Speaker B
I mean, but it is physical.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker B
But it definitely seem. I don't know, it seems like so many weird.
Speaker A
It's almost Lovecraftian. Like it has a physical, like, amphibious kind of form.
Speaker B
Seems like a someone's like, imagination creature that came to life.
Speaker A
Exactly. Tulpa sort of situation. Yeah. It seems like a combination of that. Yeah. Like fear manifested. Dread.
Speaker B
Well, and the fact that she had a premonition about it is interesting.
Speaker A
Yeah. That's why it feels Lovecraftian to me. There's almost like the prophecy, like some ancient, you know, demigod kind of vibe to it. Yeah. And the building of that tension, I think, when first reading that. I think the creepiest part, before it got xeno, what they saw, and just waking up to your wife after she had had the first bit of unconscious prophecy. But the second part, like, it's nearly upon us, husband. Like, what the. Like waking up in the middle of night to that and then. Yeah. And then you hear that, you're like, shut up, Susan.
Speaker B
You're gonna make it come.
Speaker A
It knows you want it to come. Yeah. It's terrifying, man. Yeah.
Speaker B
Manifested.
Speaker A
It's interesting too, that it was an unconscious prophecy. It reminds me of like, Edgar Cayce. Although this is a very different kind of thing to see. Like less of a future foretelling of like, you know, Atlantis, the past. Oh, because he was the sleeping prophet. Yeah. Sleep and have. And have these prophecies. Yeah. Being unconscious for what you were prophesying. But this is such a weird personal prophecy that just something was coming to your home and then what? Just to bring you dread. Was it something. Yeah. Was it something she manifested?
Speaker B
It seems like a. Like it just for fear.
Speaker A
Exactly.
Speaker B
Although it would, like, eat you at the end, so I guess that's true. More than that.
Speaker A
Yeah. We don't know what happened to the Smiths after this.
Speaker B
I mean, it didn't seem like it was a reoccurring thing.
Speaker A
Right. Yeah. God willing, I'll never experience it again. It Just left her wondering.
Speaker B
That's true. It could have reoccurred at some point.
Speaker A
Yeah. When did this take place, Chris? 1940.
Speaker B
Oh, it was 40s. Okay.
Speaker A
To me, it just sounds like. Aside from, like, the prophecy part of it and that. Definitely, sort of. Obviously it's in this book about evil written by this priest, Cavendish. But to me, it has that feel of like an interdimensional interloper passing through. Like just walking. Like that bear story we covered a long time ago in the Attic. Like, here's just a weird inhuman thing that appears out of nowhere, and then you never see it again. It's just on its way somewhere.
Speaker B
On its way to your taking your soul. I'll have that, thank you.
Speaker A
Good day, madam. Actually, there's an interesting attribute from Celtic folklore which, you know. This is. Where was this? England. Yes. So I think Scotland. There's this specific form of the fairy of the fae called the Slough, or the sla. That's cool. Cool term. Not exact sure how you pronounce it, but it's S, L, A, U, G, H. And they're more, I think, like from the Goonies. Yeah. Sloth.
Speaker B
No, it was sloth, wasn't it?
Speaker A
Pretty sure it was sloth.
Speaker B
No, I don't think so.
Speaker A
Sloth. Like sloth.
Speaker B
Well, now we have to find out.
Speaker A
Yeah, you need to find out.
Speaker B
I don't think it was Sloth.
Speaker A
Are you searching?
Speaker B
Oh, I guess you're right. I thought, well, no, that's got to be Mandela effect, because I'm pretty sure it was sloth.
Speaker A
Sloth makes total sense. Big coleslaw fan.
Speaker B
I thought sloth seems like too on the money, too.
Speaker A
Oh, it was a kid's movie. That's pretty clever for a kid to come up with sloth.
Speaker B
Anyway, it says Goonies. Slaw isn't a specific food item that appears in the film the Goonies. However, slaw is a type of salad typically made with shredded cabbage. Thanks for that dressing.
Speaker A
What is that, like, Google AI or something answering you? Hilarious. Anyways, anyway, Jerry, you found a similar account, didn't you? Yeah, well, I was just gonna say the sla. If you are interested in that. In Celtic folklore, it is a pretty disturbing. They kind of move in a horde. Cool. They're like dark fairies, a little more shadowy than physical. But there are interpretations of them that include loose flesh, webbed hands, and in this evil essence. And it's kind of in the area, so who knows? Maybe this is one that just kind of broke away from the herd and wound up in their home that night. But probably not. It's interesting. It definitely does seem something very personal with the prophecy, but again, highly strange. And that's what this book is filled with. Just these really bizarre. A lot of them. One off accounts. Yeah. In looking for a similar account in nearby, I found one in Nearby New Zealand 14 years later. I know that's not nearby at all, but this story stuck out to me because it just has similar tones to it. This comes from Jerome Clark in his book the Unexplained via Albert Rosales. Humanoids is where I discovered it. This is called the bulbous. It's actually called the Bulbous Floating Horror. Yeah, but I kind of like just the bulbous. The bulbous. This happened in Hamilton, New Zealand in November 1954. Correct. UFO investigator John Stewart along with Doreen Wilkinson were at the former's house when Doreen stepped out in order to buy some cigarettes. A few minutes later she rushed in yelling that there was, quote, something out there. Stewart hurried inside and immediately smelled a terrible stench resembling burnt plastic and sulfur. Here it is. He began searching the rear of the grounds when soon he started hearing a peculiar shuffling and scraping sound and felt something brush against his shoulder. Apparently an invisible entity walking around the house. John and Doreen were horrified to see a grotesque eight foot tall creature about 30ft from them. They described the creature as having a large bulbous head and no neck. It had a huge and ungainly body supported on ridiculously short legs. It had webbed feet. Oh, wow. It had no hands. Its long fingers jutted from its arms like stalks.
Speaker B
What?
Speaker A
Its eyes were about 4 inches across.
Speaker B
Pause. Did it say his fingers came from. There's no. Oh, there's no hands. I was thinking they were like at the shoulders, like fingers coming out of the shoulders. That'd be so weird.
Speaker A
That sounds like. What's that? The babadook, where he had his fingers up like this. Yeah. No fingers coming out of the arms like stalks. No hands. I mean that's creepy enough. I don't think it needs to come out of the shoulders to be disturbing.
Speaker B
But yeah, it's very strange. Okay, back to it.
Speaker A
Its eyes were about 4 inches across and red in color. There was no nose, just two holes in the mouth to make a simple straight slash across an appallingly lecherous face. Its skin was green in color and it was possible to see red veins running through its ungainly form. Yikes. It was definitely male. The figure moved towards the two witnesses as Doreen stood transfixed, removing her Clothing. At the same time the humanoid was beaming quote, obscene thoughts into her brain. What? Just as it reached her, it suddenly floated backwards and vanished. Wow. Weird. Definitely a lot of overlaps there. That part was a bit strange there with the. Was it trying to make children? Well, did you hear the part where she was unconsciously removing her clothing? Yeah, yeah, that's what I mean, yeah. Beaming very, quote, very obscene thoughts into her brain. Some ghoulish bedroom inseminator from the other side. Really weird. It's continuing this Lovecraftian vibe for sure. Yeah. I thought it had some parallels with the last story. Webbed appendages coming into the bedroom. Yeah, you know it's interesting that I was gonna mention that last story took place in the 40s and it just made me think, you know, always about the possibility of how much of it is a manifestation from internal fear and uncertainness. Like at that time you have the war going on, right? Oh yeah, 1940s, Britain and the kind of like national terror. And I wonder what kind of this is. 54 manifestations that occurred. No, I'm talking about the previous one. Oh, right, right. But the same kind of thing because that was prophesied and similar to that prophecy. It reminded me of Carl Jung who had his. He had a prophecy, I think it was World War I where he saw a catastrophic flood coming over the whole of Europe and he talked about this big dream, he called it, that he thought was part of the collective unconscious because then it predicted World War I a week later. Yeah, a lot of people had dreams like that, I remember around that time. Yeah. So I don't know. Interesting. But yeah, the Bulbus. Yeah, I'm glad you found that. It definitely connects. Weird. I wasn't expecting you to find one that would connect so much. Well, I'm a researcher but that's good. But now we're going to go away. We're going to go to a whole different vibe here. We're going to go forward in time and we're going to go over to the States. This is one of the best environments I think, for the strange happenings. Driving down a deserted desert road at night. Oh yeah, the American Southwest doesn't get more liminal. Yes. Out in the desert of New Mexico. This is the breather.
Speaker B
One night In September of 2009, Donna was driving east along Highway 70 heading for Rudioso, New Mexico. She had her three dogs with her. As they did not get along, they were seated in separate areas. A large Doberman on the back seat, a middle sized dog in the passenger seat and a small dog on her lap. As she drove past round Mountain, a landmark top with a big white cross, her car jerked to one side as if she had a puncture. Pulling over, she got out to look at the damage, but found there was none. Getting back into the car, she found all three dogs in the passenger seat, Hackles raised, teeth bared and growling. They all seemed to be staring into the back seat. She tried to get her Doberman into the back seat, but he refused to go. She set off with all three of them huddled on the same seat. Soon she noticed that her radio had died. Dead air was all she could pick up on any channel. Suddenly, she was overcome by the feeling that there was some unsettling, unseen presence on the back seat of the car. Then a slow, ragged breathing began behind her. The back window began to fog up, as if someone was breathing in the back of the car. The dogs began whimpering again. The horrid breathing continued for around 20 minutes. Miles until she reached the edge of the Mescalero reservation. Then the air pressure in the car seemed to alter. The radio came on again, and the dogs returned to their places.
Speaker A
So creepy. I love that story. Yeah.
Speaker B
Seems like it had something to do with reservation.
Speaker A
Yeah, partly, I would say.
Speaker B
Well, I think there's stopped as soon as they left.
Speaker A
Yeah. Mescalera reservation. Yes, I think. Yeah, it seemed like. Like some sort of spiritual boundary, potentially, but also activation. Did you catch that part where it was as soon as she was passing Round mountain, that's when she felt the car jerk, like she hit something and got out. And that's when this breather entered the vehicle. Is that the beginning of the reservation there? No. So it wasn't until she got to the reservation that it stopped. Yeah, almost like it was a safe space, you know, interesting. But the round mountain is interesting. I did a little looking at it, if you guys want to see it. It is a weird kind of hill. It seems like somewhat in the middle of nowhere. Dead Man's Hill, they call it. Yeah, it's also known as Dead Man's Hill, which is appropriate. Yeah, here's the picture if you wanted to see it. Yeah, sure.
Speaker B
Pop it up, big dog.
Speaker A
So just a hill. How weird. But it does just kind of, like, stick out. I mean, there's foothills around there.
Speaker B
But it does look a little almost unnatural.
Speaker A
That's a place. I feel like if I was driving by it, I feel like you could easily have that sensation of something watching you driving by that mountain. Like there'd be something up there watching you.
Speaker B
Yeah, it definitely looks spooky.
Speaker A
Yeah, very cool. I feel like I've driven by there. It's interesting. Apparently there's a plaque on that hill because sometime around settling time, settlers, you know, settlers and Indians fighting. There was like a couple soldiers that had left a couple of wagons I guess with supplies somewhere around this location. And a group of settlers was attacked by the natives in the area and they took refuge on this hill. And so apparently they have a fiesta every year, I guess to celebrate the skirmish or maybe celebrate surviving it or I'm not exactly sure, but interesting. Maybe that's why it's called Dead Man's Hill. Maybe there was a dead person, people had died there probably. Yeah. And maybe he hopped in the car for a ride. Yeah. Looks like a cool place to look into. I'm ready for that road trip. Well, let's move on down the highway. Let's go up actually this highway of horror we're going to be heading towards Mississippi country. This next story happened in that oh so strange year 1973. Honestly, I really included this story because it made me laugh out loud when I was reading it. Just the visual of this, it's really weird.
Speaker B
Did you lol?
Speaker A
I lolled. I almost l o m a o.
Speaker B
Ed did you rolfle?
Speaker A
Which one's that? Oh, that's rolling on the ground. Right, the floor.
Speaker B
That's what the F is for, isn't it? Like Rolfing, rolling on the floor laughing, Rolfing, ralphing.
Speaker A
There's too many to keep up.
Speaker B
Did you la Mouf?
Speaker A
I didn't go that far. I was in public. I would love to see you rolling on the floor laughing with a book at the coffee shop. Just giggling with joy. Things are so strange.
Speaker B
That would be pretty funny. Like ah, the belief holes at it.
Speaker A
Again found in their weird stores and getting giggles. I found some high strangeness.
Speaker B
It's like a weird dream.
Speaker A
It's definitely a weird dream. I feel like our brains are mostly in weird halfway in weird dream states. I mean this story doesn't warrant that much laughter. But it was like a chuckle, just picturing this. Let's see if you get a chuckle. Although I'm sure if you were there it'd be pretty terrifying. But again, this is one of those cool cases where you have multiple witnesses. Even as bizarre as it is, there were multiple people that saw this ridiculous sight. This is the catfish man. Okay. And this happened in Europa, Mississippi in 1973. Of course excited for this. A fish like alien was reported on the evening of October 17th. In that golden year of 1973 in Europa, Mississippi, a 50 foot wide dome shaped UFO hovered 2 to 3ft above Highway 82 at twilight, seemingly suspended on a beam of light. The primary witness's car lights went out and the engine died when it was 100 yards from the craft. Another car then stopped, stopped just behind him. A second UFO hovered about 60ft above the first, illuminating it with light. Both craft were similar like inverted cups and had greenish blue flashing lights. Then a catfish like creature came out from the top of the lower UFO holding onto a handrail. It had gray fish like skin, a wide mouth, one glowing eye, flipper like feet and webbing between the legs like a flying squirrel. It had a feather like object on its back which opened and closed when it moved. That's it.
Speaker B
But that's it.
Speaker A
What happened after that? I don't know. Where did the story come from? It was challenging to find this. Okay, so I will say this about his book. I love that he has all the sources in here for each section. At the end of the book. Here's this chapter on UFOs and here are all the sources I used. But there aren't footnotes along throughout the book. So I don't know which video or book references that story. So I had a hard time finding this one because this was a year of so many crazy UFO encounters with weird creatures. Like for example, you know, the crab like guys that we covered in Pascagoula. That was this year not too far away. So it's kind of hard to find more information on this account. But I just love that this fish creature, which is seen by multiple people, gets out. Like I don't know if he's broken down in the sky or something. Stalled out because that other one comes down, he gets out and he's holding onto a handrail. It just made me laugh when I read that. Yeah, very low tech. Very low tech mixed with high tech. And he just seemed like not that uh, capable capable. Maybe he stole it. Maybe he stole the ship from they handed him down. That was the other ship there. Like he's like, I'm used to the water, but this looks like a fun time. Anyways, I have no idea what to say about that because I couldn't find the original account, but I didn't have too much time to look. That's one that I think begs a little more deep diving. Yeah, maybe I'll drop something in if I find more info. But I did have multiple witnesses, so there's gotta be. I'll find it. But I just, I thought that was kind of a fun fish like skin. Did it say he had flippers? You said yes. And some kind of weird feather thing on its back that would go up and down. So highly bizarre. Yeah. I mean if there was ever an exam like a candidate for potentially just totally made up, I feel like this could fit in that. It could also be a weird looking suit. Really. I mean it had again webbing in between like a flight suit, like a squirrel diver suit, which I do. Like the handrail aspect. Yeah. Coming out to survey like you're on a cruise ship. I just assumed he had like some sort of handicap or he's like gotta lean on this railing. You know, there's a ramp that takes him down to the. To the ground. Right. Okay. But that's that one. Cool. What's next? All right, this next account is quite scary. If you were to be this poor victim. This is actually the only UFO case ever investigated as a criminal assault in England. This is. This happened in Deckmont woods and it's one of the most notorious abduction cases because of this, because it was violent and left wounds on this poor guy. So imagine a quiet walk through the forest. It's broad daylight. It's just a man and his dog working the forestry trying to check on some trees. When you have this assault occur, Richard calls this in Scottish sea mines. Bob Tyler case 1979.
Speaker B
Bob Taylor was a forestry foreman who worked in Lothian, Scotland. It was on November 19, 1977 that he had his run in with the strange. He was checking up on the trees in a clearing at Dutchmont woods and took his dog with him. It was about 10:30am broad daylight. He walked about a quarter of a mile into the forest. The first thing he noticed was a smell like burning brakes. Then he saw a domed craft, 21ft across. It was a very dark gray color and had an outer flange with arms on which were mounted propellers. The texture of the dome seemed to change as he looked at it, changing from smooth to rough and back again. Then two spherical objects came tumbling out from beneath the craft. They were the size of beach balls and each bore six projections. They reminded Taylor of old fashioned sea mines. The objects rolled towards the man, making sucking sounds as they came. The objects rolled right up to the forester and hooked his trousers with their projections, pulling him off his feet. He felt the balls dragging him back towards the ship. Then the smell became so overpowering he passed out. The barking of his dog woke him up some 20 minutes later. Taylor Felt weak, sick and had a sore throat. He struggled to his feet and staggered back to his truck. However, he was too uncoordinated to drive. He staggered home to the Lothian on foot with his dog. His wife found him. Taylor's trousers had been ripped by something. A doctor examined him and the police treated it as an assault. And a criminal investigation followed, apparently making it the only UFO sighting in the UK that has been the subject to a criminal investigation. At the site, the police found lines indented into the ground and holes that may have been made by the spiked balls that attacked Taylor. Taylor passed away in 2007. But there is a plaque commemorating the events erected in 1991. Sounds like kind of like the story with that weird robotic thing.
Speaker A
I was just thinking that. Yeah. Where somebody comes upon something like left.
Speaker B
Holes in the ground.
Speaker A
Yeah, that was in. What was that episode? Steam Age. I think that's the expansion we dropped, isn't it? Oh, you're right. That was Steam Age. Strangeness, Creatures, crafts chased from the shadows.
Speaker B
Oh, okay, you're right. Yeah.
Speaker A
Where he digs up that robot that follows him around. Yeah, that's what reminded me of that too. John tries to take samples of him. Yeah, it is very. Yeah. Also very kind of mechanical.
Speaker B
Sucked up his cane and a dead rat.
Speaker A
Yeah. Man, the 70s had so many crazy. It's such a variety. Like these remind me of, like, especially that catfish one. It's like a Star wars collection of creatures. I don't know if we were in some weird, like, galactic alignment that, like, we were just like a very convenient highway stop. Yeah. I mean, and you had consistent ones, too, like the catfish one. I don't know how many other corroborative catfish person accounts there are, but that was also the time of the Nordics, you know, the blondes, where they were, like, really prevalent. You had the. Everyone was wearing jumpsuits. You know, it seemed like shiny jumpsuits and floating around. Yeah. Very bizarre. I just feel like we don't have that kind of. I don't know. Well, that was probably the biggest flap we've ever had. I think, like, that year specifically. That was also Mothman, wasn't it? Yeah, Mothman. Same year. Yeah, tons of stuff. 1973. Your mom graduated. I have her jacket behind me on. Walter the skeleton here. There you go. Synchronicity. That all connects.
Speaker B
Crazy.
Speaker A
That's cool. I mean, it's not cool, but it was treated like a criminal case. Yeah. Because of the attack. I mean, that's. That's when things start to get I think a little more interesting. Just. You have that piece of evidence.
Speaker B
Yeah.
Speaker A
Reminds me of. What's his name? Pascagoula. No. The lumberjack. Oh, Walter Goggins. No, Walter Goggins. Walton. Yeah. Fire in the Sky. I can't remember his name. Travis Walton. Travis Walton. That abduction where all of his coworkers were investigated for homicide because he disappeared in the forest after they watched him get abducted in a very violent manner. Yeah. That crazy beam of light. And nobody believed his friends until he returned, like, a week later, came crawling out of the woods naked and called somebody on a payphone. Yeah. Then everybody thought it was a hoax, and they took lie detectors. Right. But until then, they were being investigated for homicide. Yeah. Crazy story. Yeah. He's still talking about it, too. Yeah.
Speaker B
Terrifying. What is? That one movie I just watched, it kind of reminded me of Fire in the sky, where the community basically. No, they came down and, like, targeted this family and all, like a bunch of dark skies. Dark skies, yeah.
Speaker A
That's a great movie.
Speaker B
Yeah, it was pretty good.
Speaker A
Yeah, it kind of went under the radar. Felicity. I forget the actress's name. Oh, that's right. She was the mom. Yeah, she's great.
Speaker B
But that was. I mean, that movie itself would be such a horrifying feeling.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker B
To just know that they're not gonna stop until they, like, take your child or you and, like, there's nothing you can do about it.
Speaker A
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker B
He goes and visits that. That expert, that UFO researcher guy, and he's.
Speaker A
Who's played. Oh, yeah, who was that actor? I remember that character actor.
Speaker B
Yeah. He's a pretty famous guy.
Speaker A
Yeah. And that. That movie's great, too, because it's like. It's a great example of the sort of, like, crossover between, you know, what are these extraterrestrial aliens? Or are they. Are they demonic entities?
Speaker B
Right. He even says in the movie, it's just like, when they go for. To. For help, he's like. She's like, what makes us so special? He's like, nothing. He's right. You're there. You're literally like a fly to them.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker B
You have no special meaning. They're just basically studying you.
Speaker A
Yeah, right. That was J.K. simmons. Oh, awesome. And his character. Wasn't his character. Hadn't he been, like, abducted? His whole family had this thing, and so he's like, isn't that kind of. He, like, went through this.
Speaker B
I don't remember that part.
Speaker A
Yeah, he was like, the wayward advisor kind of guy. Like, they found him. He used to look at the stuff. And he gave it up or something. Reminds me a lot of. Do you remember Mothman Prophecies, John?
Speaker B
I don't really think I saw that movie.
Speaker A
It's pretty slow. It's a good sleeper. It's loosely based on John Keel's book. Yeah, it's Richard Gere.
Speaker B
Before you talk about that. Was the Dark Skies, was that based on a true story? I don't know.
Speaker A
I don't know. You could argue it was based on a few, like, obviously those kinds of things.
Speaker B
I mean, I'm sure it was maybe inspired by some cases, but.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker B
I didn't know if it was like.
Speaker A
Actually like a specific story.
Speaker B
Yeah.
Speaker A
Wasn't. It's. Yeah. It says based on true stories of alien abductions, but I don't think I'm definitely. It, I mean, definitely runs along those lines. I mean, it says particularly Betty and Barney Hill, but it's definitely not much like their account.
Speaker B
No. At all.
Speaker A
But Mothman Prophecies, I brought it up because Dark Skies follows that same kind of formula that I really like, where you have something going on and then you have that. Yeah. That kind of wayward expert who's always been doing it for a long time, the conspiracy theorist that no one's listening to, that you go to for help. Mothman has that too. Do you remember that Chris at the end? Near the end. Yeah. He's also kind of. John Keel's character as well as Richard Gere is a different aspect of John Keel's character. I thought he represented a real guy that he may have talked to. I don't think so. I think I looked it up and he didn't, but yeah. Excellent. Before we take a quick break here, I just wanted to leave off with this really great quote from the author here, Richard Freeman. When it comes to skepticism and when it comes to just like the nature of the strangeness of how weird some of these things and how they don't seem to make sense. He writes this. In this day and age, skepticism has become mystique. A healthy skepticism has always been welcome in Fordiana, but today there seems to be a glut of knee jerk skeptics, both online and in the written word. Many of these have done little or no research in the field and simply gainsay anything not 100% proven by modern science. Science, however, is continually dynamic. At one time, meteorites, powered flight, and giant squids were deemed impossible. We are in danger of losing our sense of wonder. High strangeness is the medicine for this malady, as it is wonder in Its purest form. I thought that was so well put.
Speaker B
And potentially terror.
Speaker A
Yes. As well. Terror in its purest form. The bulbous. I think that's why it's so compelling, these stories, the really weird stories. Just because they are so. You know, we bring that up on the show once in a while, John. You'll be like. And we can't. There's no, like, explanation for what we just went through in this.
Speaker B
Well, there's never. Yeah, most stories don't have. There's never a conclusion, really.
Speaker A
Well, that. I feel like that quote kind of touches on that, too, a little bit.
Speaker B
Yeah.
Speaker A
The importance of wonder. Yeah. Maybe we're not supposed to know the answers to everything that I want to know one day the truth is out there. Got to keep digging.
Speaker B
Well, we may. I mean, you think in our lifetimes there will be some sort of disclosure. Oh, specifically, no UFOs, just any sort of extraterrestrial life. Like, even.
Speaker A
I don't think we come from the government. I don't think we're gonna get some.
Speaker B
Well, I mean, I'm not even saying it's gonna. I mean, maybe there's, like. It's so obvious that it'll have to come out sort of thing.
Speaker A
Like, they come down and they're just, like, at the corner store.
Speaker B
I don't know. Yeah. Some sort of way that they're basically. I mean, I've heard that from a lot of different psychics and people within the. Seems like that community that think it's going to happen at some point.
Speaker A
Yeah. I feel like you could look at it as, like. I mean, it appears that there is a slow disclosure that has been speeding up over the past 10 years.
Speaker B
Yeah, I mean, that's definitely true.
Speaker A
Especially with all of the Pentagon and the Air Force admissions and. Yeah, exactly. Tic Tac and everything else.
Speaker B
I mean, they had hearings on it.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker B
Basically saying this stuff is real. You know, we don't know what it is.
Speaker A
Then they came out and said, there's nothing to it.
Speaker B
Huh.
Speaker A
They came out. What was it? Was it NICAP or Arrow? Arrow, I think. Who came out and after they reviewed all the stuff, after the testimony and everything, they said none of it is unexplainable by traditional craft or something like that. Because. What's the guy. George Knapp has that documentary series. I just saw Clifford the other day, and he was, like, really upset about that and, like, talking to other people, and so he was gonna write his own separate report. Even after all the hearings and the witness testimony, I spent what 18 months reviewing gigantic storehouses of information gathered by other government program and they come to a definitive conclusion. Move along, folks. Nothing to see here. It's ridiculous. Arrow has found no evidence that any U. S. Government investigation has confirmed that any sighting of a UAP represented extraterrestrial technology. I have read the government files, I have copies of all that material, and I can tell you for a fact that this arrow report is a complete whitewash.
Speaker B
It's absurd, though, I mean, to say that it's like basically gaslighting, right?
Speaker A
Yeah, like, yeah, 1,000%.
Speaker B
I mean, the stuff that was described by the pilots is not traditional aircraft or anything like that.
Speaker A
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker B
I do feel like it's gaslighting.
Speaker A
I mean, it's, it's an easy way to like. I mean, you can, as a government official, you can say, well, there are top secret things that you can't know about and those. But don't worry, those top secret things are just things that like, they're not the things you're worried about. Yeah, but you were still not going to tell you what it is. So there are things we're working on for national security.
Speaker B
That's enough to say for most people that if the government says that, then no. Yeah, there's no such thing. I think people are very afraid too. Like I, I was on X. I can't remember exactly. I just saw a comment about. Oh, it was from. Remember that lady that was on the plane?
Speaker A
Oh, yeah, it was like the reptilian or whatever.
Speaker B
Yeah, it was just like she was totally freaking out saying, you stole my headphones.
Speaker A
You're a lizard.
Speaker B
I don't. Did you say reptilian or something? I thought it was like, he's like shapeshifter, he's not real or something.
Speaker A
Oh, yeah, yeah, it was. Yeah, yeah. People were kind of twisting it into reptilians.
Speaker B
That mother back there is not real. And you can sit on this plane and you can die with them or not. I'm not going to. And there was like some comment about whatever happens lady sort of thing. And then the comments there was just. People like conspiracy theorists are so stupid. Like, can you believe anyone believes any of this stuff? And I think I wrote something like, it must be nice to have this reality packaged up all neatly for you. Sort of like saying, you know, that closing the door on anything that could be out. I wasn't saying that that story was real.
Speaker A
Right.
Speaker B
And then I just got a bunch of comments from people that were just like calling me like, and stuff like that. Like nothing to back it up with. Just basically anyone that believes in anything outside of what the mainstream is, is some sort of psychopath.
Speaker A
Right. That's when the system works, is when you train the population to police itself.
Speaker B
Exactly.
Speaker A
The sheep herding the sheep.
Speaker B
It. To me, it felt like all those people were just terrified of anything that could be. Like it's so foreign to them that they have to stay in this very narrow.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker B
You know, they don't even want to.
Speaker A
Start cracking that door open.
Speaker B
I wanted to be like, I've done a podcast for the last seven years where we've heard thousands of stories that incredible witnesses you're telling every single one. There's nothing to any of it. Like I said, you know, we don't even know that much about this Earth, let alone the oceans or space. Like you think you know it all.
Speaker A
Even the sky. Yeah.
Speaker B
History would guide you to believe the complete opposite. That it always changes. There's always things that we're going to find out. And most. Most of the time the scientists are wrong.
Speaker A
Science is dynamic.
Speaker B
It's always changing as we learn more over time.
Speaker A
Yeah, Exactly. That was Richard's quote, is exactly what we're talking about right now.
Speaker B
That's kind of. Yeah.
Speaker A
That's the knee jerk skepticism that like. That's the cool thing. That's the.
Speaker B
I think it's based on fear because they can't control it.
Speaker A
That's. I mean. Yeah. I don't disagree. I think ego too. I think there's an element of people that just want to be right. And so it's easy thing to. I know this because I read it. They don't want to say, I don't know because then they can't be right. So you can't even be open minded.
Speaker B
Anytime someone uses the word like conspiracy theorist, I'm like, this person is like in the dark ages of what's going on.
Speaker A
Like, yeah.
Speaker B
Throw that word around like you're really harming someone as far as their thought process. I'm like, right.
Speaker A
If you don't believe that people keep secrets and conspire with each other, then you're totally blind.
Speaker B
2010 wants its talking points back. You gotta move along with the times. Conspiracy theorists have been right about a lot of things over time.
Speaker A
Oh yeah. And they're necessary.
Speaker B
Yeah. And it's just so dumb. It's like conspiracy theorists is like anyone that disagrees with the mainstream of in that moment. And then a lot of the times they're proven to be right or at least more accurate than the initial happenings reported.
Speaker A
Yeah. You know, our Good friend Pat. Dr. Patrick Brooks now is a doctor. Doctor of philosophy. But he did his thesis on the importance of conspiracy theorists. That was a big part of it. Like why you need them and why they're a symptom of a problem. They're not the problem.
Speaker B
Right.
Speaker A
They're a response to a problem. Right. A response to people keeping secrets and a lack of trust in the society.
Speaker B
Yeah. They wouldn't exist if everything was, like, up front all the time. But anyone that thinks that, the government.
Speaker A
I mean, obviously there are some conspiracies. Yeah, yeah, for sure.
Speaker B
There's a lot that are totally wrong and just misguided.
Speaker A
But to throw it out there, like, you're saying, like a general term of, like, it's a conspiracy theory. Well, that doesn't make sense in the way you're using.
Speaker B
Yeah, you're a stupid conspiracy theorist. It's like. Yeah. All right, guy. Anyway, let's take a break.
Speaker A
Yes, let's do that. When we get back, we've got plenty more ridiculously strange and beautiful and terrifying stories, so stick with us. Hey, guys, we're interrupting this episode to ask you a question. Is there a story that has maybe stuck with you, something of the paranormal ilk? And maybe you heard it years ago, you just can't get it out of your head? Well, if you want to hear more stories outside the belief hole, just like that. Monsters Among Us podcast has literally thousands. Yes. And every single freaking week, Monsters Among Us brings you true, chilling stories from real people. From ghostly sightings to encounters with strange creatures. This show dives head first into the unknown and leaves you questioning everything you thought you knew. And exceptionally awesome aspect to Monsters Among Us is the fact that the stories are told of the witness's own voice. Yeah, witnesses like Julie who drove past a car accident only to realize a spirit had just joined her in her passenger seat. Or an anonymous caller who saw three strange entities in the woods moving in unison. Odd. Then lost 8 whole hours without any explanation. Or Mack from Mississippi. This is my favorite example. Who broke his back when he fell out of a tree stand only to be nursed back to health by a sympathetic Sasquatch. What? That's the story? Really? And all these stories are carefully collected by curator, host, and our friend Derek Hayes. That's right. Good, dude. And shared in the form of audio recordings that get straight to the meat of each terrifying story. No beating around that Bigfoot bush. No, you don't want to beat that bush. And anybody can listen that's right. Driving with the kiddos in the backseat. Crank that volume, baby. Yes, because their show is conveniently age appropriate for all audiences and their backlog is ridiculous. Nearly 500 episodes ready to binge. That's right. So whether you're a skill skeptic or a true believer or a beliefling, Monsters Among Us is the perfect podcast to fuel your fascination and send shivers down your splendid spine. Okay, so listen to Monsters Among Us podcasts now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. That's right, guys. There'll be a link in the show notes. And if you're watching on YouTube, snap a shot of that QR code at the bottom of the screen and tell them beliefful sentence. All right. Welcome back.
Speaker B
Thank you.
Speaker A
Hi. All right, before we get back to the earth here, we're gonna do one more potentially ET related incident. Potentially. I like how this story starts off because this guy, Hideki Hidachi, some Japanese fella, is up on a mountaintop with his toddler in the car and they're using the ham radio to talk to his brother, who's miles away. What year is this? This is 1978. Oh, cool. So ham radios were popular for people back then. I always thought that'd be kind of fun to do. Let's do it. Get your license. But he may have unintentionally contacted something else and begins a terrifying, strange series of events. And this one's got a robot in it, so that's always fun. Awesome. This happened on a mountaintop near Sayama City, Japan, and Richard calls this the Japanese brain blaster. On October 3, 1978, Mr. Heijichi Amano, who ran a snack bar called Jury, named after his young daughter, drove to the top of a mountain near Sayama City, Japan. Mr. Amano was on a ham radio and wanted to get unobstructed transmission and reception of radio waves while communicating with his younger brother, who lives far away in Yamanashi Prefecture. The conversation began at about 8:50pm and after they had finished, Mr. Amano chatted around with a few of his local ham friends before he decided, as he had two year old Juri with him, that it was time to get back down the mountain. It was at that point that the interior of the car became very bright. The interior was illuminated by a brightness 10 times more intense than he normally had from the fluorescent light that he had fitted into the car. Amano stuck his head out of the car to look for the source of the illumination, but was amazed to see that the Light was completely localized in his car. None of it was shining out through the doors or windows. Turning his head back into the car, he was horrified to see that Jori, who moments before had been standing on the driver's seat beside him, was now lying on the seat, foaming at the mouth. Then he noticed his stomach was being illuminated by an orange light. The beam was shining through the car window and seemed to be coming from a point in the night sky. At that moment, he felt something metallic press against his temple. Looking sideways, he saw a robotic figure next to the car window. It was about five feet tall, with a round noseless head and eyes like two bluish white lamps. There was a triangular depression on its forehead. It had pointed ears or fins on the side of its head, and the head fitted directly onto the body. The metal tube attached to the witness's temple emerged from the robot's face where the mouth should have been. The thing made a noise like playback from a speed up tape recorder and seemed to be trying to transmit a message directly into his brain. When he tried to start the car, it wouldn't work all the time. The crazy space message continued to flow into his brain. He was mobilized, sensing all the time that his brain was gradually becoming more and more vague. After an estimated four or five minutes, the figure of the robot began to dim out gradually until it had vanished. The round orange light on his stomach disappeared while the fluorescent interior light also returned to its normal brightness. Then suddenly, all the things he had switched on began to work. The headlights came on and the car radio and stereo began to play. Later, Mr. Amano's watch was found to have stopped. At 9:57pm Amano drove straight back down the mountain. It was here that Jury stood up and said, I want a drink of water, Papa. He drove on home, and having handed his daughter, who was now sleeping, to his wife, who was still serving in the snack bar, he crept into his bed complaining of a severe headache. Some days later, professional hypnotherapist Mr. Akio Morihi put a mono under hypnotic regression. He remembered having been asked by the creature to return to the same spot on the mountaintop so that they could meet again. Apparently, the second meeting never happened. Thankfully. Maybe super bizarre. Yeah, I mean, it sounds familiar in the sense of typical kind of roadside abduction. But the robotic being with the metal stick, what was the thing he stuck against his metal tube that came out of his face where his mouth should be, and it just poked the guy in the side of the head and started transmitting a message. It's just interesting that for an hour, apparently, if you look at when his watch stopped again, it's like this kind of low tech. Yeah. Usually there's some form of kind of telepathy or doesn't seem to make sense. Mind scan, I guess they used to call it. I find it interesting that he was on top of this mountain and he was communicating through the radio when this happened. Oh, yeah. As if this thing maybe was like just cruising by, picked up the signal. Maybe this guy's like, this guy likes to communicate. Yeah. Maybe I should communicate with him. Makes me think of. We got an email recently from the agent of. I forget his name. The guy who runs SETI or who ran it for the last 20 years. Oh, yeah. He's looking to come on shows it sounds like and offer it if we want to have him on, which would be an interesting interview. Yeah. One of his things is like, why we haven't heard anything, why SETI's picked up zero evidence essentially from. And like how far it would be to travel if. Because it sounds like he believes they're here or something's here. But they would almost have to be robots or artificial intelligence. And of course you hear that kind of robotic description.
Speaker B
What do you mean?
Speaker A
Like to travel that far to make it through. Yeah. If they're organic beings, of course, then there's. Yeah, of course. Yeah. That's looking through the lens of like, that's that argument that's always like, well, can't you imagine a technology far superior than ours? When people make that argument, to me, it's like.
Speaker B
Right.
Speaker A
I mean, regardless, it would make sense to have some kind of artificial life form.
Speaker B
Like a drone.
Speaker A
Exactly. You know, people talk about the Grays being drones. That's a big belief out there.
Speaker B
It's like a really advanced drone, right?
Speaker A
Not so much the kind that has to like wheel up next to your car and poke you in the side of the head to give you a message. But maybe it's a different, you know, race. It's just an interesting kind of twist on the traditional story. I think it's fascinating that just that one part where he says this beam comes out of the sky and it looks. It seems to be coming from a point in the night sky. Yeah. So somewhere far away, a beam comes and hits him and that's when he feels the thing hit him and looks over and sees the robot just like, did that. Oh, yeah. You think the robot was a projection? I don't know. Interesting. Really weird account, though. So he wanted to go back or at least in his hypnotic regression. Yeah, well, the robot wanted him to come back. It sounded like he asked the robot or the alien intelligence that it said he remembered having been asked by the creature to return to the same spot on the mountain so they could talk again. Yeah, but I don't know who didn't show. But for whatever reason that that meeting never came. Yeah, I was just gonna say it's interesting this just this parallel activity going on. When you have this in the United States and John Mack and Bob Hopkins doing hypnotherapy regression for witnesses over here. And then in Japan, same stuff going on. You have just like parallel figures that are also regressing people and trying to help people figure out what's going on around the same time. Yeah, Worldwide phenomena. Last thing I'll say is just I thought it was interesting. There's always that light aspect. The light didn't escape his vehicle. This reminds me of like Kelly Cahill incidents at Skinwalker. But where you have this, where light doesn't act like light, it's more like a fluid, like a flooding. Seems to be sectioned off. Yeah, Fun, fun, fun. All right, back to Earth. This is just a bizarre. This next account is just a weird. And they're all weird, but this feels like a fairy tale to me. This next very short account here. And Richard got this from the book Mysteries in the Mist by W.T. watson. It recounts a very strange tale. This one's fun.
Speaker B
My dear Watson.
Speaker A
My dear Watson, look at the dancing cow. This is called Dancing Cows. As a seven year old boy, Scott Harper was visiting his grandparents on their farm in central Ohio. Scott could not understand why his grandmother would not want him to look out of the window at the first opportunity. That's what he did, as any curious child would. Scott said that the sun was setting and there was a fog. Still wondering why his grandmother didn't want him to look out the window, he noticed a glow in the fog. He thought at first this must be car headlights. Gradually, the glow seemed to approach the house. And Scott noticed that there were two sources of light. One was yellow, the other was pink. The shades of glow were a kind of washed out pastel. As he watched, the source of the lights appeared. It was two cows standing on their hind legs. One was glowing yellow, the other pink. Each had a foreleg on the shoulder of the other and they appeared to be dancing. They stumbled and swayed along the road. Scott's grandmother found more looking out of the window and became cross. But then on seeing the cows, she fainted. When his grandfather got home, Scott told him the whole story. Despite his grandmother telling him to say nothing, Scott's grandfather took up a rifle and searched his property. He returned having found nothing. His grandparents never spoke of it again. Okay.
Speaker B
Dancing cows.
Speaker A
I mean, it sounds ridiculous on its face.
Speaker B
It does.
Speaker A
But cows are weird. Cows are just weird creatures. Yeah. We don't even know why they stand the way that they stand in the pasture, you know?
Speaker B
What do you mean?
Speaker A
Oh, yeah. Don't all cows stand the same way? All cows, like, face a certain direction. Face the same direction when they eat, like, across the world.
Speaker B
Oh, really?
Speaker A
Yeah. You should look that up, Jer. They all face west or something while they eat. It wasn't until recently.
Speaker B
We don't even understand that. And then there's people that are like, there's nothing else out in the world. We don't even understand cows.
Speaker A
We don't even know why cows dance, sir.
Speaker B
We don't understand why cows dance. Okay. Why do cows waltz?
Speaker A
So it says, cows frequently align themselves in a north to south direction when grazing or resting. According to researchers, the behavior is often attributed to their sensitivity, they think, to their sensitivity to the Earth's magnetic field. That's what I would have guessed. While some believe it's a magnetic compass, others believe that it is magic also.
Speaker B
Okay, it's David Copperfield.
Speaker A
I added that last part. But why would. It's just interesting that, say, they do have a magnetic compass. What is the benefit to facing north while they eat? You know what I mean? Yeah. I guess if there's some sort of flow, like some feng shui, some sort of digestive energy. Yeah. But what's really weird about this story is I had just read another really weird cow account in Fordian Times. Cow account in their section. That's called It Happened to Me. It's like our listener stories, but for their magazine. Yeah. And I had just read it, like, the week before, so I wanted to relay this one because it's another just bizarre cow thing. It's not quite as rude because there's no cows glowing and dancing, but this happened in Brighton park this past June, actually. So recent account. And this is Brighton Park, England. And I'm not gonna tell you the title because it'll give away what happens. And maybe I should have done this one first because the other one is probably even stranger, but this is surely strange. Here we go. In June, my wife and I met up with our two daughters and grandchildren for a picnic in Stanmer Park, Brighton. I went with my grandson Vincent, who is 18, I am 66. For a walk around the park, leaving the others behind. We walked around the church at the northern end and followed the road back to where we were picnicking about half a mile away. On our left over the fence, not far from the church, were about six cows in a field. They were about 30 to 40 yards away. As we approached, one of the cows suddenly sat up on its back legs in an upright position like a person would sit. I realize how silly this sounds, but then it went into the air about 2ft and flew, floated around the back of the other cows in this sitting pose, then landed in a normal position and started eating grass. I said to my grandson, did you see that? He said, yes, the cow had just sat up and flown around. We laughed about it and joked it was a spy in a cow suit or was caused by methane. We then just carried on the walk. We never mentioned it to anyone because what can you say, say without sounding stupid. Also, it probably only lasted about two or three seconds and then the scene was back to normal. By the way, no drugs were involved. Not even alcohol. I have never seen anything like this before. Graham Sayers, Worthington, West Sussex.
Speaker B
Whoa.
Speaker A
Yeah. Weird. There it is. Excuse me. It's going around here, the back. Do some grazing. Some like yoga pose. Sitting cow as it floats around.
Speaker B
Downward, Downward cow. Downward sow.
Speaker A
Downward sow. That had to be more than two or three seconds. How long would it take? Fast moving? I mean, think about how heavy a cow is to get up that high and then to move around and then find a grazing place. And then moving to forward, regular cow position and then landing. That's gotta be like, I gotta say five seconds. Well, you don't know its power source, Jeremy. That's true. It just goes to further my theory that cows are just strange. We'll never know everything about cows. I do love the farm animal stories.
Speaker B
They are the most mysterious animal on the planet.
Speaker A
I'm coming to realize that.
Speaker B
I think that's scientifically fact based.
Speaker A
They're starting to seem that way. They glow, they dance, they float.
Speaker B
Yeah, and the mutilation stuff.
Speaker A
Oh, yeah, yeah, that's a good point. There's a lot of strangeness. Maybe that's why they're so. Whatever's mutilating the cattle are so curious about them because they have these magical abilities that when no one's looking, they.
Speaker B
Dance and float and do downward sow.
Speaker A
I do downward sow. Anyway, that's all I have about cows. So we can move on to my last tale.
Speaker B
I already missed Them cows are awesome. I'll just say that they are the most interesting and by far my favorite animal.
Speaker A
I can see them being your favorite animal.
Speaker B
You're serious?
Speaker A
A favorite.
Speaker B
You think that cows are my favorite animal?
Speaker A
Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you more than dogs. Come on. Are you serious? I thought you just couldn't. You couldn't get a license for a cow. So you've been having dogs this whole time?
Speaker B
Cows are the most boring.
Speaker A
They're big dogs.
Speaker B
Animal.
Speaker A
Oh, they're beautiful. They're pretty sweet though, if you get.
Speaker B
Them in a. Yeah, they're okay.
Speaker A
Intimate relationship.
Speaker B
I mean, I don't want to say that, but out of all the animals, they're one of the most, like, neutral. I'm glad that they exist because I do like milk and beef and cheese.
Speaker A
They seem sweet.
Speaker B
And I have nothing against cows, personally. I just compared to a lot of.
Speaker A
It's also harder to know what they're like because you just see them on a farm.
Speaker B
I've spent some time with cows.
Speaker A
Have you? Amongst them.
Speaker B
I mean, enough to know that there's not a whole lot going on.
Speaker A
I think you walked into a pasture one day and just to check them out, see what they're doing. Yeah, they're not that bright.
Speaker B
I've done it.
Speaker A
Then you left. No, I've done some cowing in my day.
Speaker B
I like cows, but I mean, they're nothing to write home about. I feel like.
Speaker A
Do you remember when dad saved his sister's life from a cow? That was a cool story. That was kind of magical. Very high strangeness account of dad, dad, the Cow stopper, where this bull was running at Aunt Pam and like full speed. And dad didn't know what to do. But he was also little. I think he was like 6. He's like 6 years old. He just gets in front of the. In front of his sister and puts his hand up and goes. No. Like Neo in the Matrix and the cat. The bull just comes to a stop.
Speaker B
He told me that. He made that up.
Speaker A
No, he didn't.
Speaker B
I told you guys that.
Speaker A
You're a liar. Shut up.
Speaker B
That's what he told me.
Speaker A
Get him on the record. Why would you try to destroy Dad's.
Speaker B
Like, I just want them to think I'm a hero.
Speaker A
We don't have to think. We know.
Speaker B
I actually never heard that story.
Speaker A
Pretty awesome. No. Anyway, moving from cows, it is weird that both of these really like fairy tale esque sort of accounts happened with grandparents and their grandchildren. As if there's some Sort of magical bond between a grandparent and their grandchild. That's a good point. Yeah. There's kind of magic between grandparentals and children. I remember having weird. I'm sure you did too, John. Having weird experiences at grandma and grandpa's that felt otherworldly. Mm. Fairy tale. Ish. Like the gremlins that came into our room. The gremlins?
Speaker B
I don't remember anything like that.
Speaker A
Because they've been wiped from your mind.
Speaker B
Grandma was an alien.
Speaker A
All screen memories.
Speaker B
They were just there to guide us to the hole.
Speaker A
Yeah. We never actually had grandparents.
Speaker B
Yeah, Turns out just screen memories.
Speaker A
Mom and dad were like, you were at daycare. All right. Anyway, this last story we're going to book in this episode with a similar account to our first strange story, which was of course the strange home invasion by that prophesied amphibious sort of demon creature.
Speaker B
First one. Yeah, the one that came over the hill.
Speaker A
Exactly. This is a lot like that in a way.
Speaker B
To me, that's probably the best story.
Speaker A
Yeah, that might be my favorite. Yeah, the bulbous was pretty good. This one's very similar. A lot of stories in this episode have been sort of personified animal stories, animals just doing really strange things, or human esque animal experiences. And this is another one like that, but dark like that first one. This is called the Demon Fox.
Speaker B
Hmm, good title.
Speaker A
Yeah. It was 2am On a winter's morning and Richard was laying awake in bed when he heard footsteps outside approaching the house. Then he heard them in the house coming towards his bedroom door. By this time I was sitting up in bed with my eyes glued to the door, and with horror in my heart, the handle turned and in the opening stood a creature with the face of a fox which walked on its hind legs. It was dressed in some sort of way, and would you credit, it wore a top hat which added an indescribably macabre touch. But the face, I repeat, was fox like and it had a bushy tail. It was perhaps bigger than a real fox, but it was vulpine through and through, although I admit it had no rank odor. It gazed at me with a fixed, rather malignant expression. But it did not speak. I shouted, go away. How well I remember the exact words. And it turned round and went away. I heard its steps follow in retreat the precise route they had followed before, unhurried and steady as ever, until at last they died out on the road leading to the woods. Awesome.
Speaker B
Yeah. Crazy.
Speaker A
I want to meet a top hat fox. Oh, this seemed. This seemed sinister. Yeah, but why Just that feeling of dread. Feeling of dread. Whatever These things are coming in the middle of the night to bother these people. I love the top hat. Added a touch of macabre for some reason. Yeah, macabre, macabre, macabre. Jeremy, you said this reminded you of a story we covered a while back. The Imposter Entities episode. Yeah, Jenny Ra story of. It's like a woman, I think in her. Maybe she was a girl at the time, in her kitchen, summer day in the screen door. Something comes up to the screen door and it's a giant grasshopper with a top hat.
Speaker B
Yeah, vaguely. Yeah, I think. Then we had a talk about planners, planner, peanuts. Yeah. Guy. Yeah, Monocle.
Speaker A
Oh, yeah, that was another one with.
Speaker B
The cane, which never was there or something or. No, that was the Monopoly guy, man. Anyways. Yes, No, I do vaguely. Yeah, I do remember that. It was a very weird story.
Speaker A
I love that story. That was one of my first favorites that we've covered.
Speaker B
That was really early on, wasn't it?
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker B
Can you drop it in?
Speaker A
Yeah, we can drop it in. Was that the Imposters episode? Or was that even before we ever did our first Imposters, I wonder.
Speaker B
And that was like. Gotta be like season one or two.
Speaker A
Yeah, I'm not sure. We'll definitely have to drop it. I forget where that came from too.
Speaker B
But it was good one.
Speaker A
That's like when we first started. Really doing a lot of corroboration, trying to find similar bizarre accounts. That might have been our bell calling. Anyways, we'll find it. It was on our Imposter Entities episode. A six foot tall top hat wearing tuxedo grasshopper. Oh, it was okay. Yes. He had a tux on. That's right.
Speaker B
What. What season was that?
Speaker A
Three. Back to that page. It was on Doop. It was Unicorn episode three. So that must have been like season. Yeah, maybe season three.
Speaker B
Oh, really?
Speaker A
Yeah. Excellent episode.
Speaker B
Long enough to forget about exactly when it happened.
Speaker A
Yeah. But again, top. Top hat wearing, human, like animal demons of sorts.
Speaker B
Hamonal.
Speaker A
So I think that one also gave off a feeling of negativeness. The grasshopper guy. Yeah. Yeah. Pretty frightening, but like, come play with me kind of vibe. Yeah. Almost alluring. You follow me, won't you? Initiating episode flashback unicorn Episode 3.
Speaker B
Imposter entity, monstrous Muppets and nightmares in the closet.
Speaker A
All right, so let's wrap this episode up with one of my favorites, the Grasshopper Comes a Knocking, as I like to call it. So this happened in Amsterdam, New York, June 9, 1980. It was a hot Summer afternoon. I was living with my mom in a house trailer right off the main route and the first trailer in the park. The front door and the back door were almost across from one another. And I had both main wood doors open and screen doors shut. There's a small deck off the back door and the front door. It was a trailer. I was alone. My mom had gone out for some errands. I was making coffee at the counter. This counter jutted out into the kitchen. Leaving the front door easily in my sight to the right and the back door just slightly past my peripheral vision on the left. No tv, no music, no neighbors. Out of the corner of my left eye I saw movement at the back door. I looked and saw a six foot grasshopperish being with a tuxedo with tails, a top hat and a black cane with a carved bone like top. Ugh. He knocked on the back screen door. I looked back at my coffee cup in disbelief. Then I looked again and it was still there. Cocked his head. What the fuck? I looked away again. Fear. Looked one final time. Saw it was still there. And that's the last I remember. Then I pass out in total fear. Really? The whole event took only moments. I moved to LA in January of 1981. I had no memory of this event. I didn't tell my mom anything when she came home that day. I don't remember anything more from that day. It wasn't until I was in college that I remembered it. It came back as clear as it was that day. Not over time, but all at once. I began telling the story to my closest friends. But there was always part of me that questioned whether it happened or not. I'm an artist. Maybe I made it up, but the detail was too clear. And then I rented the video Communion. I'm sure you know the premise of that movie as well as its location. When I saw the alien wearing the tux, top hat and cane, I damn near fell out of my chair. It was like being hit with a brick. What are the odds of that? There's no way we both dreamed up the same being with those odd details. This is not your standard gray. I think it's important to note that the movie came out after my encounter. This was proof to me that I really saw it that day. I even made a painting of it. That's a virtual photograph of the event. I would really like to know what happened that afternoon after my third and final glance. My rebooted memory stops at that third glass glance. But I got a feeling that was not the End of the story. Please let me know if you have heard of anything like this. And thank you for all you do to inform and facilitate. Sincerely, Donna. And that's writing to Muon.
Speaker B
That's a seriously creepy story.
Speaker A
I don't even think to look at the MUFON database for stories Back to the episode. And this is kind of like when he says I shouted go away. How well I remember those exactly. Yeah. It was probably very visceral. Yeah.
Speaker B
You know, kind of reminds me of it.
Speaker A
It's coming to scare.
Speaker B
Okay, I'm sorry.
Speaker A
I know you don't mean that as a joke most of the time, but it's. It is always applicable.
Speaker B
I mean.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker B
And most of the time it is. I think most things in this world are based on it.
Speaker A
Based on it. Not the other way around. We cover a lot of things that seem to just eat fear. So it makes sense that that would come up a lot. That's true.
Speaker B
I mean it's very relatable and there's a lot of depth to the story too, so.
Speaker A
Right. Yeah.
Speaker B
I mean it makes sense that why it there is. I, I. It's a joke at this point, I'm sure.
Speaker A
But I mean it, it. But it is an appropriate catch all. You know. I mean it does cover so much because so much of these things seem to have that same kind of root. And he was like a shape shifting could be anything. Yeah, yeah. But also it was all about that. Yeah. The fear eating. Vulpine. Vulpine. That means fox. Like is that right?
Speaker B
That's a good word.
Speaker A
I would assume Vulpine is probably like the Latin derivation fox or something. There was a word in the first story that I forgot to mention that I had to look up. I don't know if you guys caught that. The thing from over the hill. Yeah. Did you catch that word, John? It was very strange. I've never heard it before, but it was just a cool word.
Speaker B
What was the word?
Speaker A
I'm looking for it now in the story.
Speaker B
There was a couple words in there that I. Earlobes.
Speaker A
Earlobes was one. That was a new one for me. That was my story. It has to do with his appearance and size. The way he moved. Was it from the house on the hill or was it the following story? The bulbous floating horn. The bulbous. Yeah, it's probably the bulbous. Ungainly.
Speaker B
I didn't hear that one.
Speaker A
They used it twice in the story. It had a huge and ungainly body supported on ridiculously short legs and Then again, they say its skin was green. And this is the bulbous. Its skin was green in color, and it was possible to see red veins running through its ungainly form. Hmm. That just mean, like, unshapely. Ungainly means clumsy. Awkward. Yeah, I was gonna say, like sloppy looking, the way it moves. Oh, okay, I gotcha. Probably because it's, you know, bulbous form, but it was ungainly. Yeah, just a cool word.
Speaker B
A lot of bulbous stuff going on in this episode.
Speaker A
Yeah, bulbous is cool. For the unsettling and uncanny bowl like necks. Mm. We'll have to do more from this book. This awesome book. And the COVID Sweet John. And you probably saw it in your document, but really cool illustration.
Speaker B
Yeah, that is cool.
Speaker A
Yeah. Richard did an excellent job collecting all these accounts. And we'll definitely be doing more from this book. And we'll probably use it in other episodes or just as like a corroboration note or even you could even take some of these stories and then do a whole deep dive on that one story. Probably. There's a lot to these stories that we didn't get to cover. But I wanted to get a nice sampler for today. Good sampler. Yeah. If we can find the stories, maybe we should ask them. Be like, do you know? How about seeing if you might want to come on. That'd be cool. Yeah, sure. He's got a lot in his arsenal. He's written a bunch of books. He's had a bunch of adventures. Seems like a nice guy.
Speaker B
What was his history again? Is this the priest?
Speaker A
No. Zoologist. And then. Then a cryptozoologist. And he writes for 14 times, I think, as a contributor and.
Speaker B
Oh, cool.
Speaker A
And as an author, he's traveled all over the world hunting for monsters.
Speaker B
Oh, he's definitely a good guy to have on.
Speaker A
Yeah. Richard, if you hear this, reach out.
Speaker B
Yeah. Let us know if you want that to happen.
Speaker A
Yeah. Well, I hope you guys liked today's episode. I thought it was a lot of fun. Yeah, it was a lot of terror, but it was also fun. There were some light moments, and it was very interesting. We'll have to come back to this because there are stories in here I'd like to cover. There's a ghost of a tree. Ghost of a tree.
Speaker B
Ghost of a tree. That's fun.
Speaker A
The Pig Strangling Evil Cloud of Runcorn. Awesome. Anyway, but yeah, I hope you guys liked this episode. I loved it. I had a great time. We'll catch you next time. Yeah. Guys, thanks for being here. Yeah, we love you. You are awesome. And we'll see you next time.
Speaker B
Have a super day.
Speaker A
Bye.