– – Once again, Monsters & Mysteries in America took us in a recent episode on a journey into occurrences involving paranormal entities. The first segment presented the Rake, not an agricultural implement but a shadow adversary which is described as being tall and sometimes faceless with long arms, large hands, and long, pointed fingers. Interestingly enough, the Rake can also extend tendrils from its back, and inspires fear and dread in its victims, stalking an individual for life; there appear to be some similarities with Slenderman. The reported incident took place in Erie, Pennsylvania where a female now employed as a tattoo artist was sent to a boarding school where she went out after hours with her boyfriend, a forbidden practice. Fear of being detected by the school’s proctor and his dog apparently served to attract the Rake, with the entity then repelled by the approach of the proctor and dog. The nocturnal stalker then supposedly visited the young lady at about 3:30 in the morning in her dorm room, the second encounter arousing her room-mate whose conscious state was sufficient to drive off the entity. The experience was reported to the school dean, who supposedly took the report seriously, bringing in a medicine woman to cleanse the premises. This was most unusual for a Catholic institution!
Then in Sykesville, Maryland a hairy monster about seven feet tall was supposedly encountered in an outbuilding by a woman living near the town. She called the police, with an investigating officer basically being bowled over by the creature as it exploded through the door and beat a hasty retreat. Although the monster disappeared, the police received many calls thereafter about it, and 14″ footprints were found that were distinctive for having only four toes. Things apparently then settled down a bit until May of 1981 when a factory worker while fishing saw a neanderthal-like being and reported the incident. A massive manhunt and investigation followed that apparently included what were described as being federal agents and vehicles, the whole “men in black” thing. While evidence was reportedly found, the man making the initial report was denied access to it, and firmly told to go home. A curfew was imposed at that time, and townspeople were scared. Opinions were ventured that the creature was “Something (that) got washed out of the mountains by hurricane Agnes in 1972.” Interestingly enough, the local official record on the incident is blank…
Finally, the third segment presented the Lechuza, a feathered, female, frightening, shape-shifting witch. Backstory legends tell of an old medicine woman in the American southwest who strayed from healing to black magic; this didn’t please the local villagers, who slaughtered the said woman, who in turn is now in payback mode, and manifests herself as kind of a witch-owl. Owls, you see, are regarded to be gods of the damned and heralds of doom in some folk cultures. Anyways, in 1964 in the vicinity of Roswell, New Mexico (yes, that Roswell), Juan and Maria Ramos had a baby, with infants seeming to draw the Lechuza. The witch manifested herself as a ball of fire and apparently gravely sickened the child’s father, but was driven off or killed with a cross-inscribed bullet as was prescribed by a white witch; blood and feathers were found following the episode. A second incident was covered from 2010 where teenagers David and Mike Garcia hunted around in an abandoned structure in Austin, Texas, where they encountered dropping temperatures and heard noises that transitioned to voices as well as screeches and clawing sounds. Something black-feathered slapped itself against window glass as if trying to get at them, a thing with remarkable and terrible eyes…
– – Monsters & Mysteries in America is again providing us with some new episodes, which happily gives us something to write about. In one episode first aired in 2014, a bizarre hybrid beast called Sheepsquatch was profiled, described colorfully as being “a cross between mutton and man.” This might be a great description for an offbeat underdog wrestler, but refers to a creature sighted in the Appalachian mountains of Kentucky. One encounter detailed occurred in July of 2004 by friends Dakota Cheeks and Ricky Joyce, who while staying in a hunting cabin awoke to find their 150-pound dog with his neck broken. They later stayed in a camper, and became aware of something pressing against it. Therafter, they encountered a 9′ tall creature with long, taloned arms that emitted an “ungodly, gut-wrenching growl” at them. The beast charged, and while they fired at it, the duo apparently failed to hit anything. Retreating, the friends came back later and found drag marks, while it was uncertain whether the creature was wounded and dragged itself away, or had dragged prey away.– Quite the ambiguous, open-ended account, yes?
FOXSYLVANIA 
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