Fortean Times: It Happened to Me vol.1

by Times, Fortean

  When we got within a mile of Greenwell Point, the rain slackened off considerably and we were able to see that the road was virtually covered with very small objects, no more than 15 or 20mm long, which appeared whitish in the headlights. We stopped to see what they were, and were astonished to find that all over the road and also on the roof and bonnet of the car were very small frogs, which appeared to be quite well and lively. There were still some falling while we were out of the car. Not long after, the rain stopped falling and so did the frogs.

  I can’t say that the frogs came from the sky as it was pitch dark, but unless they came from the overhanging trees, there appears to be no other explanation. It was only afterwards that I regretted not keeping one or two for identification. Subsequent conversations with locals seemed to indicate that this had not been witnessed before, and although there were frogs in the area, they were not in the habit of living in trees and in their millions.

  Mervyn FW Nightingale, Londonderry, New South Wales, 2006

  NEVADA FROG FALL

  In August 2006 I was driving east on a hot day across the desert country of eastern Nevada on Highway 50, about 15 miles (24km) outside the town of Eureka. For a half hour or so I had watched the sky to the east darken in front of me until I saw a massive thunderstorm moving from north to south across my path. I have been driving this highway for almost 40 years two or three times a year and often remark that these storms tend to cross the highway coincident with the moment when I pass by them. I was interested to see if that would be the case this time.

  I observed the dark thunderhead and its growing sheet of downpour as I came toward it and saw that we would, indeed, collide. The sheets of water did reach the road at about the same time that I reached that point and violently pelted the car, a Jeep Cherokee. I quickly noticed that this was not just rain, but more like hail - but, weirdly, not hail because the drops, sort of white blobs, were not making the metallic sound of rain or hail but were making a soft, thumping sound.

  I slowed the car from a speed of about 60 mph (96km/h) to about 25 mph (40km/h) and saw that these were not hailstones but something else. I brought the car to a stop and saw (to my amazement) that the highway, and my hood, were covered with small round toad-like creatures; there must have been many thousands of them, some lying flat on the road and some hopping off toward the verges. I got out and confirmed that they were, indeed, toads/frogs, about 1in to 1.25in (2.5-3cm) in diameter, white on the belly and with a sort of silver-tan with light leopard spots on the back. I had a camera, but I couldn’t think of how to take a photograph in a way that would make people believe me. I hardly believed it myself. I drove on; still stunned, but wiser.

  Wayne Poulsen, by email, 2007

  STRAW FALL IN NORFOLK

  There was a fall of straw in Sheringham on the north Norfolk coast at 3pm on 27 July 1995. It was witnessed by myself, my wife Gaynor and my eight-year-old daughter Lauren.

  It took place in the large car park, approximately 150 by 80 metres (164 by 87 yards), between the main A149 coastal road and the railway station. The fall appeared to be limited to this area, with only a few strands in the road alongside the car park and on the nearby roundabout. Inside the car park, however, it fell in good quantities at a more or less uniform rate, rather like the beginning of a decent snow fall.

  By standing underneath it and looking up, I was able to verify that the straw was falling slowly and vertically out of an almost clear blue sky, which had only a few small fluffy white clouds. For the most part the straw was in separate strands with no large tangled mats of vegetation, as there would surely have been had it blown off the back of a lorry.

  The latter would seem a likely explanation, except... why did the straw fall in such a localised area, and vertically? Surely a lorry would produce a horizontal trail. In a week’s holiday, where we did almost 300 miles (480km)up and down the north Norfolk coast, we didn’t see a single lorry with bales of straw or anything similar on the back. In any case, a lorry could not pick up enough speed in such a built-up area, with a roundabout and heavy traffic, to shed its load in such a way.

  And why were all the locals taking no notice at all, as if there was a straw fall at 3 o’clock every day in Sheringham?

  John Knifton, Nottingham, 1995

  Strange creatures

  Since the days maps bore the legend “here be dragons”, man has been fascinated by tales of bizarre beasts. The creatures might resemble mythological monsters - a sea serpent, a birdman, vampire leopards - or be mutant versions of regular members of the animal kingdom, like a winged cat or an alien toilet frog. They might even be otherwordly phantoms, the returning shades of beloved pets...

  Mysterious monsters

  MAN-BIRD

  In June 1998 I went on a biology field trip to Marlow’s Sands in Wales to study the ecology on the local rocky shores with my biology group. While there, some friends and myself walked along the clifftops. One of our friends had stayed behind, so when we saw a large figure standing further along the path we thought it was him, sitting on a stile. That was the point at which it took off and flew over the edge of the cliff. This ‘Man-Bird’ appeared to be a very large raven, about human size with a fairly wide wingspan. I wondered whether anyone else might have reported seeing the ‘Man-Bird’ in the area, or if local farmers had been losing lambs?

  Simon Clabby, by email, 1999

  GIANT BIRD SIGHTING

  On 6 July 2000 I was mowing the upper 20 acres of the graveyard where I work in north-western Pennsylvania, Erie County Memorial Gardens. It was about 3pm and I was nearing the edge of 15 undeveloped acres of the cemetery. The graveyard borders hundreds of undeveloped acres of Erie County, and Interstate 90, which runs east to west across the US.

  As I cut the lawns I usually absorb the view of the woods as I pass by, and on this occasion I saw something I can’t explain. Out from the brush of small trees directly north of the mausoleum a large bird flew into the air. I have seen many large birds in the area, but this one was enormous. As it passed by the high tension wires I estimated that its wingspan was between 15 and 17ft (4.6–5.2m). It was dark grey with little or no neck, and a circle of black under its head. Its beak was very thin and long, about a foot in length.

  Robin Swope, by email, 2001

  THE CADDINGTON BIRDMAN

  In about 1981, when we were children, my sisters, a group of friends and I had a picnic in Bluebell Wood, outside Caddington, near Luton, Bedfordshire. Halfway through the picnic, our friend Gary stood up, stared and pointed. What we saw was a tall (about 8ft/2.4m), dark, brown/black creature. It had red eyes, pointy ears on top of its head and seemed to be a cross between man, bird and bear. It started gliding towards us and seemed to be levitating on a yellow light.

  We started to run, and what I remember most was that it seemed impossible to run, almost as if we were being pulled back towards it. We broke out of the wood and into an open cornfield. As we ran across the field, we could see the yellow glow staying within the trees and skirting round the field. It was travelling fast and it was a race between us getting straight across and it going all the way round. We got to the other side and ran through a large tunnel under the M1, leading into Runley Road, Luton. A massive iron grill covered the far end of the tunnel, but there was a gap just big enough for us kids to slip through. We all got through and kept running. But we heard the huge iron grate being shaken behind us and an awful screeching noise, amplified by the tunnel.

  I’ll never forget how terrifying the whole thing was. The following days we would look out of our bedroom windows over towards Bluebell Wood, because we were convinced the Thing was alien. And yes, two nights later we saw a light zip across the sky and zoom off in a flash.

  Colby Pope, London, 2003

  THE MONSTER OF DEVIL’S POINT

  One Sunday morning in 1987, while I was living in Plymouth, South Devon, a friend came to stay for the weekend and we both went fishing off Devil’s Point, a small quay on the Pl
ymouth side of the narrowest point of the river Tamar.

  The water here is very deep (130ft/40m) and the current very strong. We had been fishing for about two hours, without much success. It was October, wet and cold. We had been casting out a few yards and letting our lines and bait fall to the bottom of the deep channel.

  All we were bringing back up were lumps of strange-looking seaweed that leeched a reddish brown fluid. At one point my friend went back to his car to get two sets of waterproofs. I reeled in another lump of this stuff, rebaited my hook and cast back into the fast flowing, brown water.

  I thought I was getting a bite and reeled in expecting to find a small catch on the line. There was nothing. As I removed my tackle from the water I noticed that it was followed up from the depths by the most unusual creature I had ever seen.

  A large head popped up out of the water not 10 yards (9m) from me, attached to a neck which rose out of the water by about 3ft (90cm). The head was covered with a fur-like, green-brown skin, had forward facing, dark grey eyes (which looked directly at me) and was similar in shape to that of a very large dog. It was not a seal, animals I have had much contact with as a diver. There were no ears but the top of the head was undulated with a high central ridge. It had a wide mouth and was obviously carnivorous from the shape of the powerful-looking jaw. Its forward facing eyes had fairly heavy brow ridges. From the size of the exposed neck and head, I would estimate the creature to be about twice the size of a horse.

  It looked at me for about 15 seconds, submerged vertically and re-emerged slightly closer. It was sizing me up and I think had come to the surface to see what was disturbing it. It remained surfaced for another 5-10 seconds and sank back into the water, leaving circular ripples where it had been. My friend returned shortly afterwards to find me in a very excited state.

  I have since learned that the bottom of Devil’s Point is home to conger eels, which I believe the creature was hunting at the time. I was previously very sceptical about this ‘local myth’.  However, I am an experienced scuba diver and have a good knowledge of sea-life. This was most definitely an unidentified species, large and intelligent. I would suggest that anyone doing serious research into this might have a chance of a sighting around conger grounds. How about using a large cageful as bait?

  Nic Johnson, by email, 2002

  SINGAPORE SERPENT

  I once saw a sea serpent in the well-used shipping lane at the back of Singapore Island. We were rounding Changi Point, only about half a mile (0.8km) from the shore, entering the Jahore Straits for the run up to Sembawang Dockyard.

  I was leaning against the rail, scanning the shore through a good pair of binoculars. There were two or three people on the beach looking out to sea, or at us, or whatever, when I spotted a grey-black, sinuous body, about one foot (30cm) thick, with the conventional sea serpent humps, undulating through the water only about 150 yards (137m) away in a flat sea. I saw no head, only a series of grey-black humps, and I watched it for at least half a minute, as we passed by at 11 knots. Then it quietly slipped below the surface and disappeared.

  By the time I looked around for someone else to confirm the sighting, the ‘monster’ had disappeared. I had an excellent view through binoculars; it was mid-morning and the bar had not yet opened. I am inclined to think that the people on the shore were also gazing out at something strange.

  I wondered how I could fabricate such a ‘monster’ should I wish to deceive the guileless. The RAF still had a base at Changi, and I wouldn’t put it past some of those jokers. But I never talk about it. After all, there are no such things as sea serpents, are there?

  S J Adams, Bath, Avon, 2001

  GIANT ORANGE SLUG

  In the summer of 1984, I was 11, and due to start secondary school that September. I lived in the Hardenhuish area of Chippenham, Wiltshire. I was good friends with two brothers, roughly my age, who lived in a nearby street. One afternoon in late July/August, while exploring the woods behind St Nicholas Church off Hardenhuish Lane, we stumbled on a creature in the grass which scared the holy bejesus out of us. It looked like a bright orange slug with a frilled underside. It was about 2ft (60cm) long and had antennae of a similar length. It was alive, and vibrated, making a soft, snuffling sound. The three of us ran off to tell the nearest adult about our find. My last memory of the day was of seeing my friends’ father storm out of his garage towards the woods, with a shovel over his shoulder. Whether he found anything or not, I have no idea.

  Sometimes I wonder whether what we saw was a manifestation of our hopes and fears: Big School looming in the autumn, Cold War / mushroom cloud paranoia on the TV all the time and too much time watching Return of the Jedi.

  Steve Uzzell, Hove, East Sussex, 2005

  VAMPIRE LEOPARDS?

  Around 1976, I was living in Nairobi, Kenya, in a suburb called Kileleshwa. It was only about three miles (4.8km) out of the centre of town, but bordered by valleys on either side that ranged from a couple of hundred yards to half a mile wide of uncultivated bush and extended at least five miles (8km).

  At some point, the neighbourhood dogs, many of which roamed freely around the area, started howling during the night. This was enough to make our own dog want to join them, and he would scratch at the door until he was let out. Throughout the night we would hear the howling at different locations around the neighbourhood, but everyone seemed prepared to put up with the noise, expecting the cause of it to end soon and the dogs to get back to normal.

  One day I was told that a dog had died on one of the roads. This wasn’t unusual, but what was strange was the lack of blood. I was then told that another dog had died within the previous few days. These deaths were put down to the dogs fighting overnight, hence the howling. However, over the next week or so, the situation stayed the same, dogs out every night howling, and two more dogs found dead. The “dogs fighting overnight” explanation now seemed unlikely, as the same dogs got on well during the day. People started becoming concerned that something else was happening. Finally, some of the local people opened up to me, and told me that in some African cultures, the dog is the biggest enemy of the leopard and that the scent of the leopard is enough to send dogs wild. I was also told that when a leopard grows old, it kills a dog and drinks its blood to rejuvenate! The people who told me this were workers on the lower end of the social scale, largely untouched by Western films or books, and so were very unlikely to have heard or been interested in Western stories of vampires.

  Now, at the age of 16, try telling your parents that your pet dog shouldn’t go outside because of vampire leopards! So one evening the howling started and our dog went out. In the morning, our house servant told my mother that overnight he had heard an animal in pain in the rear garden where we grew maize. He had opened the door from his small house and the noise had stopped, but feeling the hairs on the back of his neck rising, he didn’t want to venture out in the dark without a light. He now planned to investigate but wanted to be accompanied. We found our dog where he had heard the disturbance. Dead. The maize was flattened around it and the fence had been damaged. The dog had two wounds, one on its shoulder, which appeared like a bite mark, the other a big hole in its chest, about 5in (13cm) deep where its heart had been. Had been, because the heart was gone, and in spite of whatever had happened, there were no blood stains on the soil around the dog. I also found large paw prints in the soil, around the size of a large dog’s, but without the expected claws at the front.

  During the next week or so, a couple more dogs were killed. My mother spoke with the Wildlife Game Department, who confirmed that two leopards that had been in the Nairobi National Wildlife Park could no longer be found, but they were not unduly concerned, and without any sighting of a leopard in the suburbs, could not take any action.

  The deaths, and the howling, stopped as suddenly as they had started.

  Martin Nield, by email, 2004

  Animal ghosts

  MEWLING MYSTERY

  My parents live in
an old farmhouse which they spent a number of years renovating. While doing this they found a number of things under the floorboards and in the wall cavities - including, in a space in the attic, a small mummified cat. (It appeared to have crawled in rather than having been put there deliberately.) It was completely dried out and they put it in a box for safekeeping while they decided what to do with it.

  My grandmother came over for a visit sometime afterwards and my mother took her on a guided tour of the house. “Oh,” my grandmother said as she went into a room full of boxes and clutter, “you never said you’d got a cat!”

  “We haven’t,” replied my mother, puzzled.

  “Of course you have. I can hear it purring.”

  My mother told my grandmother that she must be mistaken and they carried on looking at the rest of the house. The mummified cat’s remains were boxed up in that room out of sight, and my grandmother knew nothing about them or the fact that we buried them shortly afterwards.