In Dark Trees

Since the beginning of time from our ancient ancestors to our modern supposedly civilized people of today the persistence of seemingly super natural beings continues to fascinate us. We still get stories coming in from places in the US like the backwoods of Louisiana, the wooded hills of Ohio, from the Pacific Northwest, or from the rural Midwest of strange encounters with humanoid creatures some say appear to be Ape-like. Science has found it hard to distinguish between the tales of the human imagination gone wild and the fleeting trail of evidence sometimes told by credible observers such as Park Rangers, Game Wardens, police in remote areas, or even Forestry workers out beyond the normal realm of human activity.

Who are they?

These strange encounters are not limited to the North American continent as it seems every major culture and nationality seems to have its own form of inexplicable creatures from an unknown realm that defy the known facts of science and accepted logic. In Vietnam and China there is the “Wild Hairy Man” known as Nguoi Rung or Yeren. In Tibet the term “Yeti” has been known for decades representing a cousin of the North American Big Foot. The American Indians had their own mystery entity “Sasquatch” that dwelled in the woods and in many cases these areas were deemed by Native Americans to be forbidden regions to hunt or dwell within.

Elusive entities

Even such supposedly super natural myths as Werewolves or Vampires in Eastern Europe have an actual shred of evidence to support their existence as do many of these cryptozoological beasts who live in the twilight world of forbidden knowledge and little understood folklore. For instance, when there are archeological finds of pioneer graves where the rib bones encasing the human heart have been intentionally dislodged and crossed with the head decapitated. We now know it was as a suspicion of the deceased having been a Vampire. This gruesome practice was used to keep the living safe from a nocturnal visit by the undead! We know that Vampire behavior may have originated due to superstitions that came from outbreaks of rabies that infected the population and caused the horrific behavior of those afflicted with a brain virus causing their eyes to redden, their mouths to froth, and their behavior to seem Demonic!

The unforgiven

There are cryptic accounts of medieval villages plagued by mysterious murders that the people suspected was that of a werewolf! Throats being ripped out by a supernatural being who had been bitten by a wolf became common place. Often it would end in a chase and apprehension of one of the villagers suspected of evil behavior who then become the focus of vengeance being ritually murdered according to the method dictated by the superstition. Just as suspected witches were burned at the stake a suspected werewolf would be shot with a silver bullet or decapitated with a silver sword.

 Alluring evidence

The very term “Lycanthropy” is an actual medical condition where a person suffers from the delusion that they are capable of transforming themselves into a wolf. How would such a state of delusion develop in a person under the conditions of the medieval times far removed from the bizarre horror genre that society chooses to amuse itself with today? Yet, there are historic accounts of townspeople in pursuit of a killer whose tracks change from that of an animal beast to that of a normal man once they have captured the suspect at the time that the supposed killer converts back to human form. Of course ancient man often used superstition and wives tales to explain the unknown. To Native Americans this might be seen as shape shifting!

In ancient Africa tribal legends formed around beings that dwelled in the trees at night and could be seen by imaginative story tellers who also believed in the healings and curses of witch doctors. Man has always relied upon the disturbing substitute of reality for the bizarre and often macabre in order to satisfy his thirst for explanation in the absence of truth and the illumination of fact. Yet, there has always been a grain of truth to substantiate the legends that are often chilling to behold and even to this day continue to appeal to us in awe when the impossible trespasses upon our imaginations once again.

Operation Trojan Horse

Author and researcher of the forbidden knowledge, John A. Keel once speculated from his lengthy experience in investigation that the Fortean phenomenon, ghosts, UFO’s, strange creatures of the night, and all other manner of super natural manifestation were the product of a deceptive central source that has co-existed with mankind ever since he first set foot on the face of the earth. He called these things the “broken record in the Sky” the reoccurring mysteries that kept mankind questioning his own reality, from the “Mothman” who terrorized the towns people in the vicinity of the Silver Bridge collapse in December of 1967 to the fascination over the Abominable Snowman during the time of Sir Edmond Hillary’s climb of Mount Everest in the 1950’s the sinister existence of the unknown threatens even modern society’s grasp upon our beliefs. As a free-lance reporter Keel’s obsession with the unknown began with a UFO sighting over the Egyptian pyramids in 1953.

Demonic in origin

In an article published by the now defunct “Omni” magazine a story contained the account of two former US Air Force Project Blue Book investigators whose findings were that the visitations of UFO’s, landings of flying saucers, chases by jet interceptors, and even alien abductions could be explained as Demonic activity intended to mislead followers of the Christian God into a misguided fascination with the bizarre and unknown. One thing seems for sure that we are definitely in an age of uncertainty! It is interesting to note that the two veteran intelligence officers reviewed all of the original files began by the first Director of Project Blue Book, Captain Edward Ruppelt, whose wildly successful book “The Report on UFO’s” in 1956 became a best seller and called into question the possibility of a massive government cover-up over the compelling enigma.

In Part II we will explore some more of the compelling evidence that has given credence so some of these enduring conundrums we call legend and fairytale.