Archive for the ‘paranormal’ category

MonsterQuest S5, Ep. 6 – -“Domestic Disturbance”

February 15, 2026

The Ohio Grassman was kind of featured in Episode 6 of Season 5 of MonsterQuest, which also touched upon some similar Bigfoot subspecies, and padded the hour out with paranormal stories about Amityville and even “time slips.”

Now the Grassman who had previously been covered during Season 2, Episode 4 of MonsterQuest has been previously reported since the 19th century, and is said to make large dens of grass and sticks from which his name is derived. Standing seven to ten feet tall, the Grassman weighs between 300 to 1,000 lbs…

In Galena, Ohio in 2017, a man went walking his Doberman near dusk when a black thing jumped from a ridge to a bush, throwing a rock and then a tree branch at him. Other branches followed, and the man walked through a creek to retreat back to his house. The creature or creatures followed, knocking over his pool furniture, deforming a chain link fence, and knocking underneath a deck that he was standing upon. He later found 15″ foot impressions in his mulch bed…

The Spottsville Monster plagued a family at an isolated farm in Kentucky near the banks of the Green River. In 1975, chickens began disappearing from the farm, with strange noises heard in the field. A chained goat was later taken, with the chain broken. A pony and dogs were also killed. While waiting for a school bus, a large 9 to 10 foot tall creature was seen. The property owners decided to dig in, and with friends and neighbors laid in wait upon a rooftop, firing upon creatures heard in the surrounding woods one evening…

In the Amityville, New York site of the infamous slaughter of an entire family in 1974, the killer contended that “voices within the house made me do it.” The subsequent occupant of the house in 1975 reported seeing two red eyes in the boat house of the property, and later a horned figure’s head seen in a fire. A giant white hooded figure was later seen on a staircase, and the front door was torn from its hinges. These accounts were apparently given as illustrations of hostile presences invading domestic places, although the invaders were more demonic than biological entities.

An encounter with the Fouke Monster in Arkansas in May of 1971 was touched upon, described as being a massive, hair-covered beast. It was speculated that the creature may be following rivers that connect the mid-west. In Southern Indiana a girl with her dog in an isolated setting reported locking eyes with a seven-foot tall ape-like creature with tangled, reddish-brown hair. She fled the site, the next day seeing footprints in the mud that convinced her that she had seen the Fouke Monster…

Although it didn’t seem congruent with the other stories, the last segment of the hour touched upon time slips, a reported paranormal phenomenon where a person unexpectedly travels to a different time period. These often fleeting experiences typically involve witnessing or temporarily existing in a past (or even future) era without using technology, often accompanied by a sense of dread or environmental change. At times a personal awareness appears to be gained by the experience. A 1996 case was cited in Liverpool, England where a then-contemporary person time-slipped into the 1950’s, noting the change in vehicles and stores present…

A 1981 case in South Carolina was touched upon where a young woman in a farmhouse was admonished not to go into a front room, but left alone ventured into that room to observe through a window a man on a tractor in a different season hit on the head by a tractor part. Years later, she learned that her great uncle had died from an accident on a tractor in that location…Spooky, but not fitting in well with the other segments…

“Grave Mistakes,” MonsterQuest S5, Ep 5

January 31, 2026

MonsterQuest at times as in the present episode appears conflicted as to whether it wants to be a Monster show, or a Spooky show. As a result, we sometimes are served up a “Monster Mash” of sorts, a mixture of cryptozoology and paranormal recounts. Perhaps though, you like Igor in the novelty song may exclaim, “Mash good!” It’s just that some of these stories you might want to send to Ghostbusters…

Submitted then for your approval is the terrifying tale of two teens in Michigan City in 1997 at kind of an outdoor party by railroad tracks who saw a 7′ shadow person following the passing of a train. They had the sense of something creeping up on them. Leaving, it appeared that something had left with them, with one teen dreaming of the shadow figure. Returning later to the scene of their encounter, one felt that the atmosphere there changed after another train passed, and perceived something pitch black behind him. He challenged the entity to show itself, and later could feel its presence in his dreams, unable to shake its presence. Again challenging the shadow (big mistake!), he felt it jump on his chest, and felt himself levitated before being thrown down. He called out to God at that point, felt a warmth, and heard the shadow entity scream and then depart. His sleep and mental health improved thereafter…

Now in Harrisville, Rhode Island in the early 1970’s, we have a recounting of a story that inspired The Conjuring. A family in 1971 moved into a 200-year-old farmhouse unaware of its dark history. The woman felt a pain in her leg, finding a small wound. Objects were seen to fly across the room, and snarling was heard in the shadows. Well, the Warrens were hired, a paranormal investigation team that held a seance at the house in October of 1973. The woman fell into a deep trance at that seance, and spoke in a foreign language. Paranormal activity spiked after that seance, with the woman feeling her throat squeezed by an invisible hand at one point. By 1980 the family had had enough, and put the farmhouse up for sale. The decision to hold a seance was felt to have intensified spiritual activity…

Now we leave Spooky Town, and go to the Wind River Mountains in Wyoming where in the summer of 1972 , a large hairy primate was seen by 25 people. A wildlife biologist had the misfortune of sleeping in a tent whose previous occupant had spilled bacon grease upon the tent fabric. At 11:30 one night, the biologist heard something outside of the tent which proceeded to lick the bacon grease from outside of the tent! Thinking that the bacon had lured a bear, the plucky biologist bopped the presumed bear on what he thought was its nose from within the tent! This happened twice, but the ‘bear” didn’t retreat far, stood on two legs, and was seen to be taller than the tent. The creature was then determined not to be a bear as it put its hand on the top of the tent, through which an opposable thumb was seen! The top of the tent collapsed under the weight, and the now-presumed Bigfoot creature fell through, apparently on top of the biologist with only tent fabric separating them! Fortunately the Bigfoot was disturbed enough by this experience to simply retreat back to a wooded area…

No physical evidence of the Bigfoot’s presence was found at that time, but upon returning to his supervisor the biologist learned that numerous people had reported a large, hairy primate running around in the area. The biologist did a study, and found a number of hair samples which were sent for analysis. They were found to be primate hair, but of an unknown species

Then in Silver Springs, Florida in the summer of 1976, a mother and daughter were camped out near a swamp area. The daughter went out to practice animal calls, imitating the call of a baby alligator. Later inside their camper, an unbearable smell heralded the appearance of a small hand with black hair at the window. The hand scratched at the window, and then the camper was shoved; the camper doorknob of the camper door was turned. A second adult creature then appeared and screamed, slapping the juvenile animal who cried, and departing with him. Blood and hair were found on the camper’s license plate, and researchers reported other sightings of the Swamp Ape…

The last story concerned teens who celebrated a birthday party in October of 2007 with a ouija board which reportedly moved over a period of 1-1/2 hours. Three months later, they went to deliver a gift in an isolated section of mountains, experiencing feelings of dread and seeing something 8-1/2′ tall with red eyes and long fingers clawing up the side of a mountain. Standing up, it pursued them, but they were able to escape in a parent’s vehicle. Posting of their experience many years later on social media, other people reported having seen such a creature, which they felt was summoned by the spirit board, or at least made aware of their presence by it…

As the episode warned in closing, when we reach into the darkness, we can’t ever control what reaches back… and who ‘ya gonna call?

MonsterQuest, S5 Episode 4 – -“Hunted”

January 25, 2026

I think that the new MonsterQuest series has hit its stride now, with Episode 4 of Season 5 (“Hunted“) giving us features on the Ohio Dogman, Bigfoot, the Skunk Ape, and the Wisconsin Wendigo. It floated my boat, at least…

In Crawford, Ohio in 1985, a high school runner “Shane” was training by running through a cornfield when he felt that something was staring at him; he didn’t think that it was a bear or wolf as they aren’t indigenous to northwest Ohio. Deciding to flee, the young athlete was paced in his flight by the creature who traveled two or three cornrows to his right, stopping when he did as if toying with him. At the end of the cornfield, the student beheld a canid about 6′ tall with the head of a dog, pointed ears, and long arms…he was felt to be absolutely a predator…

At the end of the cornfield, the young man broke off to the left and sprinted to the house of a friend, finding temporary sanctuary at the bottom of a swimming pool before entering that friend’s house where he spent the night, happily surviving his encounter…

Another Dogman encounter in Green City, Ohio in 1972 was described during which a female teenager out with her boyfriend and others was standing outside their car when she perceived something out in the bushes with almond-shaped eyes. She heard rustling, and saw a silhouette of a large, upright animal which gradually came closer. Mesmerized, she couldn’t break eye contact with the creature, but was urged by her friends back into the car, which fled the scene…

Then in 1924, three miners staying in a hunting cabin heard whistling sounds when about 100 yards from their cabin procuring water. One beheld a large, hairy ape-like creature about 7′ tall, and fired at it, missing three times. That night around midnight, the miners heard a thud against their cabin, and later heard footsteps on its roof. Stones were heard thrown against the cabin, and one of three creatures like the one heard earlier apparently threw its weight against the cabin’s door. The walls were shaking as the assault continued, and many shots were attempted through gaps in the walls at the assailants as the battle continued through the night. Venturing out in daylight, the miners again fired at the creatures seen in the distance. Local newspapers referred to the Bigfoot-type creatures as “Mountain Devils.”

The Florida “Skunk Ape” is kind of a wetlands bog-dwelling Bigfoot of which there have been over 350 sightings over time. In Venice, Florida in 2001, a man while fishing with others heard a roar or howl that was described as being a mix of sounds that a tiger or bear might make. They jumped on their four wheelers, and heard cracking sounds from branches as they hastily departed, apparently being stalked by what they had heard. They went to the house of a girl that they knew nearby, and saw from it something black that stood as tall as a shed that was on the property. The creature later came up to the steps of the house, bringing with it a stench described as being a mix of skunk and road kill. They stayed in the house until the sun came up, and on returning to their camp, found it demolished…

Then in Eastern Wisconsin, we were brought a report of the Wendigo, a gray, gaunt creature described as being a “walking corpse” that often is seen as having the skull of a deer in the 70 to 100 sightings of it from the last century. While filming a movie in the forest towards nightfall, a group of young friends in 2022 heard something stirring beyond their campsite. The white shine of its eyes was seen as the creature approached, and they threw sticks at it, receiving in return a gargling hiss when the apparition was apparently hit. The eyes disappeared to then appear 7′ off the ground. Feeling in danger, the filming group fled, later discovering X-shaped stick structures in the nearby woods. Such structures are regarded to be territorial markers. The Wendigo was felt to be an evil presence, and to have a spiritual aspect to it…

“In the darkness, unknown predators may be on the hunt.”- – Ahahahahaha!

(I’m a predator, too. No pizza is safe around me!)

MonsterQuest S5 Ep3, “Trespassers Beware”

January 17, 2026

“These are the chilling encounters of people who trespassed into the domain of the unexplained and paid the price.” So intones MonsterQuest, and it reminded me of every month when I get my cable bill...

(Warning: possibly disturbing content for sensitive readers. Discretion advised…)

Ah well! – – The third episode of Season 5 entertained with two features about Bigfoot or Sasquatch-type creatures, one concerning a malevolent spirit, and a fourth about a werewolf-type monster…

The tale was told of a 1981 encounter of a boy in a woodland tree stand told to stay there while his father went back to his cabin to retrieve something. At 5 a.m., the boy repeatedly had his boot lace untied as he dozed off; his father upon returning told his son to run back to his camp! Three years later, the young man returned to the same site with a larger group, and heard a yell in the distance. At nightfall, he heard something moving in their camp, and felt nails dragged across their tent before whatever did it ran off into the woods. Emerging from the tent in daylight, they found their camp destroyed, and found 15″ to 18″ footprints. They heard a scream when leaving the camp, and from the bed of a moving pickup truck saw a large branch flying through the air towards them…

An interjected segment was then made of an audio recording made in 1971 and 1972 called “Sierra Sounds” made by a family of shrieks and screams attributed to Bigfoot creatures.

Then in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, construction workers building a mall in July of 2000 reported seeing a 12′ tall Bigfoot creature, and finding 15″ to 20″ footprints in the area. Authorities claimed that both the sighting and the prints were those of a bear. In Seneca Creek State Park, Maryland, a cultural anthropologist found a bone pile with remains of deer, raccoons, and coyotes present as well as crude tools that may have been used for grinding. In October of 2014, that anthropologist began night camping using just a bedroll. On one occasion, he heard footsteps in the tree line, and reported seeing both an 8-1/2′ and a 7′ creature that made calls at different points as if they were triangulating his position; four or five individuals were judged to be present. They began to yell and scream, and he even heard them using a “clicking”-kind of language. They moved as he moved, but the anthropologist avoided fast or provocative movements, and escaped unharmed. He believed that he did not behold Gigantopithecus, but rather advanced hominid creatures…

Leaving Bigfoot for now, the focus shifted to Puyallap, Washington where ancient Native American burial sites were disturbed. In 2011, two friends encountered a malevolent spirit possibly that of Puyallap tribe members that manifested itself through sounds heard on the roof followed by a black entity moving across the ceiling. The witness felt pressed into his mattress, and the entity then collapsed, going from the ceiling into the wall before disappearing. Sleeping in the same room with the friend the following night, the witness felt something wrap around his wrist and then pull his arms apart. The entity was flat and two-dimensional, but felt aggressive. Feeling that he would be alright if he turned on a light, the observer struggled to reach a switch only to find the light inoperative. The entity then leaped into a three-dimensional manifestation, at which point the two passed out. The “shadow entity” was felt to be part of the indigenous people interred in the area…

Lastly in Iola, Kansas a young woman encountered what was described as a massive, terrifying dog. Walking with a boyfriend in 1977, they encountered an area of flattened grass 14′ in diameter that was apparently where something had bedded. They actually urinated on the area, apparently hoping by doing so to drive away whatever had bedded there. The opposite effect seemed to come to pass as the woman at her home at night heard a deep, guttural growl, calling her boyfriend to report “I think I’m being stalked by a werewolf!” Fearful, she went then to stay with her boyfriend, who locked eyes with the creature that had followed, and began tearing siding off the house. It was described as being a black mass with a black muzzle and yellow eyes. A pit bull outside then jumped the creature, and the noise of the resultant fracas prompted a neighbor to call police. Investigating, the body of the pit bull (“or what was left of it”) was found outside…

(Good nightmare fuel, right campers? The writer does not present the accounts as verifiable truth.)

“Cops vs. Cryptids” on MonsterQuest, S5 Ep. 1…

January 3, 2026

Well, MonsterQuest is back after a hiatus so long that most fans assumed the show was gone forever, so never say never, right? In the first episode of Season 5 Cops vs. Cryptids airing Jan. 2nd, 2026, we were treated to treatments of essentially four different cryptids, the episodes united by the theme that all had police investigation or involvement with them. The Beast of the Land Between the Lakes in Kentucky was first considered, with people missing or having been found dead in the area by 1980. The Beast was described as walking on two legs, and having glowing eyes. In a wooded area, one hunter, a fireman, paused to tell another turkey hunter, a cop, that he had experienced something circling his camp. The second hunter later heard growling and saw something massive 6′ to 8′ tall at his camp perimeter. He discharged his firearm at it, and heard a scream before the creature withdrew. The camp of the fireman was later found with his body in it. AI technology was used to generate scenes in this and other segments of the show...

The second installment rather stretched the definition of what a cryptid is, which is usually considered to represent an animal whose existence or survival is disputed or unsubstantiated. Centering on a “Shadow Person” manifestation seen in Monmouth County, New Jersey, these manifestations are mysterious, dark, humanoid figures reported in paranormal experiences, often seen as fleeting silhouettes described as featureless, black solid shapes, possibly being spirits. An officer was investigating a breaking and entering or home invasion call made by an old man, but didn’t see anything. An identical call came through the following night, and the same officer investigated it, this time finding a 7′-8′ black shadow looming over the resident. The entity disappeared at the end of a hallway. The officer called the sister of the man, who related that she had also experienced the shadow person, and that its presence constituted the reason for her moving from the premises. Spooky, yes…but an unknown animal, no…

Then we came to reports on the Goatman, a massive half-human, half-goat creature that walks on its hind legs. In 2006 a Colorado policeman collided with one on the road, but apparently didn’t damage it or his vehicle, although he could hear it moving around in the brush after the collision. Sturdy beast, that Goatman!

The last police encounters with cryptids were reported from the state of Washington, where numerous “Bigfoot” type creatures have been seen, also known as the “Forest Giant” or the “Wildman.” An 8′ tall Bigfoot supposedly dashed in fromt of a police cruiser in 2010, and 14″ and 17″ footprints were later found in the area…

All in all, it’s great to have MonsterQuest back on the air again, and the second episode will reportedly cover military encounters with cryptids. We may at Foxsylvania report on episodes as they continue to roll out from The History Channel, because inquiring minds want to know…

(Please, gentlemen, I can only listen to one of you at a time! And no, Goatman, you may not play Candy Crush on my tablet!)

The Werewolf of “Wednesday…”

September 14, 2025

To my knowledge, there hasn’t been an on-going werewolf character in a regular TV series since Oz on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Josh in Being Human. Fortunately, the Wednesday series on Netflix has introduced a leading werewolf character, a female no less, in the person of Enid, the roommate of Wednesday Addams.

Now Enid is not your typical dark and tormented werewolf character, but instead a rather cheerful and bright-spirited young lady who is just at the start of her werewolf journey, in the process of discovering herself and experiencing her first transformations. She contrasts almost completely with the darkness of Wednesday, having her half of their shared room in bright colors whereas Wednesday’s half is black and gothic. When asked at one point how she feels, Enid responds, “warm and fuzzy!”

Her upbeat nature initially causes Wednesday to keep Enid at some distance, but their relationship grows during the series, and in the second season now completed it’s revealed that Enid is not only a werewolf but an Alpha, capable of changing into her wolf form willfully without a full moon. Should she do so at this point, however, she will be permanently locked into her werewolf form, unable to transform back to human status…

Well, it turns out that when Wednesday is prematurely buried by a series villain and in danger of death by suffocation, Enid’s powerful werewolf form is needed to excavate Wednesday from her grave just in time. Fearless and unshaken, Wednesday declares “I enjoyed that” of her burial experience; you gotta love this dark girl! Enid, however, is locked in her werewolf form and feral, and goes on the lam. She is pursued by (hooray!) Uncle Fester and Wednesday at the end of the second season, with Wednesday riding in the sidecar of Fester’s motorcycle, and Fester ecstatic about the fun they’ll have pursuing such a dangerous creature!

It will be interesting to see the further development of Enid’s werewolf character, who Wednesday promised to pursue and restore. One hopes that Season 3 of Wednesday will not be long in coming…

Buffy The Vampire Slayer Reboot…

June 28, 2025

I’ve got good news, and bad news for y’all. First, the good news…the Buffy The Vampire Slayer TV series is having a reboot! Now the bad news…it will be behind the paywall of Hulu…

Technically more of a sequel than a reboot, the new Buffy series will introduce a new Slayer (Ryan Kiera Armstrong) who is mentored by Sarah Michelle Geller as Buffy. This is probably a good thing as the original series aired largely in the 1990’s, and that cast can no longer really hope to pass as people in their late teens to early 20’s. Reboots and sequels are seldom as satisfying as their originals, and some are outright travesties that should never have been made. Given how influential, compelling, and loved the original series was, however, a reboot or sequel is worthy of consideration. It’s just that there’s a lot at stakehehehe!

Some of the original cast members will be returning, but unfortunately Oz the Werewolf as played by Sean Green won’t be among them…

The reboot will supposedly balance new and legacy story lines, but is unlikely to premier until 2026 as it’s still in the early stages of development, and little information is available…

“Secrets Declassified” With David Duchovny Is Coming!

March 15, 2025

It’s hard to believe that The X-Files aired thirty years ago, and equally hard to fathom that David Duchovny is now 64 years old. Rejoice at least that the guy who brought Fox Mulder of the FBI to life is hosting and producing a new 10-part documentary show on the History Channel called, “Secrets Declassified” that may at least have something of an X-Files vibe to it…

David Duchovny and mysterious secrets seem to go together, and the series promises to “profile the government’s most secretive, strange and mind-blowing activities that have been declassified throughout history.” Topics will, of course, include Area 51...

Secrets Declassified will premiere on The History Channel April 4th, and I’m on board for it!

The truth is out there” – –Fox Mulder

Prepare for “Spooky Season!”

August 22, 2024

“Stranger Things” a Multidimensional Delight!

October 16, 2023