Children's Encounter With Odd Humanoid (Isle Of Wight; May 1973)

[Carse]

This thread has been established to consolidate ports originally appearing in the Ella Hewett thread:
https://forums.forteana.org/index.p...cident-trawlers-fireball-sighting-1957.62931/
... and the 'Funny Little Hut' CE3 thread:
https://forums.forteana.org/index.p...-hut-can-anyone-identify-this-ce3-case.63092/
======================

...[O]ne from Modern Mysteries of Britain by Colin & Janet Bord (which has some absolutely fantastic accounts of high strangeness and encounters with weird beings)

The strangest case in this chapter deserves far more space than we are able to devote to it. It is a classic example of the strange experiences so often reported by children, who sometimes seem to be able to see things denied to their elders. This is not in any way to belittle their experiences, which are so obviously real to them; children 'uncontaminated' by adult concerns may well see through windows on to other realities. Chapter 18 on the Little People contains several strange experiences reported by children, and thisnone could well join them, except the entity in question was nearly 7 feet tall.

The encounter between a seven year old girl, a boy of about the same age and a colourful entity took place early in May 1973, not far from Sandown airport on the Isle of Wight. The entity spoke to the children and showed them around the interior of a windowless metallic hut which he said he had just made. It had two levels, the lower containing an electric heater and simple wooden furniture with the walls 'papered' in blue-green with a pattern of dials, the upper less spacious and with a metallic floor. The entity wore a bright yellow pointed hat which joined the red collar of his green tunic. On top of the hat were a round black knob and antannae. He wore white trousers with 'wooden slats' protruding from the bottom and from his sleeves. On his white face he had triangular marks for eyes, a square brown nose and yellow lips which did not move. He had only three fingers on each hand, which were covered by blue gloves, and only three toes on his bare white feet. The children asked if he was a ghost and he replied "Well, not really, but I am in an odd sort of way." When they pressed the point, asking "What are you then?" he would only say "You know." and nothing more. He said that he had no name and that there were others of his kind. He drank river water after cleaning it and ate berries.

On being told the story the girl's father did not at first believe her, but later became convinced she was telling the truth, and the boy also confirmed that he had seen the entity. However, on what level did the children see him? They were talking to him for over half an hour, during which time two workmen were repairing a post nearby, and they paid no attention to the entity or his hut, as if they could not see him.

It's some time since I read this account in the book but it stayed with me because it's really odd and, in particular, because of the quoted dialogue between the children and the 'entity'. However reading it back now two thoughts strike me -

1) a seven year old in 1973 would only be 51 today so presumably there is every chance these kids are alive and well somewhere. I wonder what they think of their experience viewed through the lens of adulthood?

2) while the description of the 'entity' is very strange, the details of the furnishing of the hut and the conversation they had are very... human. Could they have met a real person while playing who lured them into a real hut of some sort to abuse them, the memory of which has become twisted due to the trauma of the experience?

The whole thing is very, very odd. Anyway please accept my apologies if this is not the case you were thinking of!

 

[lordmongrove]

I seem to recall reading, i think in Jenny Randles' 'Mind Monsters' of a case of two children meeting a clown like entity that resided in a windowless metal hut in some woods.

 

[Andy X]

Straight away when I read the original post I thought you were talking about this one from Modern Mysteries of Britain by Colin & Janet Bord (which has some absolutely fantastic accounts of high strangeness and encounters with weird beings)

It's some time since I read this account in the book but it stayed with me because it's really odd and, in particular, because of the quoted dialogue between the children and the 'entity'. However reading it back now two thoughts strike me -

1) a seven year old in 1973 would only be 51 today so presumably there is every chance these kids are alive and well somewhere. I wonder what they think of their experience viewed through the lens of adulthood?

2) while the description of the 'entity' is very strange, the details of the furnishing of the hut and the conversation they had are very... human. Could they have met a real person while playing who lured them into a real hut of some sort to abuse them, the memory of which has become twisted due to the trauma of the experience?

The whole thing is very, very odd. Anyway please accept my apologies if this is not the case you were thinking of!

... What a fantastic tale in every sense. God knows what the truth behind the children's story is...as you say, they're likely still around.

 

[humanoidlord]

The Llanerchymedd case was well investigated and reported in FSR. There were some doubts about aspects of it. And some links with an exercise from Valley were found. ...

jenny whats your opinion on this weird case from the island of wight :

historydisclosure.com/two-children-close-encounter-strange-humanoid/ ?

Link is dead. The MIA webpage can be accessed via the Wayback Machine:
https://web.archive.org/web/2018011...wo-children-close-encounter-strange-humanoid/

 

[RaM]

About the same time they were closing down the rocket test
facility on the IOW wounder if there is any connection.

 

[Carse]

That's one of my favourite cases of High Strangeness and I'd never read some of the details in that article before, so thanks for linking to it!

 

[Jayceedove]

jenny whats your opinion on this weird case from the island of wight : http://www.historydisclosure.com/two-children-close-encounter-strange-humanoid/ ?

I recall that case from the BUFORA files at the time, but it was just before I became director of investigations and was not possible to follow up later.

It is an interesting old style folklore type encounter and very visually imaginative. That it depends entirely on the testimony of two quite young children is a reason to be cautious. Not because they cannot see UFOs or they cannot be trusted, but mostly because of the way they see and interpret things at a time of life when we do experience sensory information more vividly and in some regards colourfully.

So the fact that this reads more like a story than an eyewitness account is a problem - though not necessarily because it is made up. This is how children tend to see the world and describe it.

It reminds me in many ways of the kind of sightings reported by the Sunderland family of children near Flint, Wales, which Paul and I wrote about in the book 'Alien Contact'. All you can do is relate what they said and be cautious as to how you interpret what they say.

The Sunderland children later became involved in the famous Green Stone and other magical quest yarns that read even more like Tolkien than real life. I began to see that as more allegorical than literal and, to be honest, today in the same situation I would never have written Alien Contact.

I was very young then - in my 20s still (it was my second book) - Paul made the first contacts with them and persuaded me to get involved and he wanted a new motorbike. He loved his Triumph Bonnevilles and I loved him and perhaps some unwise thinking happened after that.

The family did okay out of it and were happy for the book to appear and I made sure they read it all as it was created so they could ask for changes. But in retrospect it is the one book I would rather not have published.

Of course, the main player in the Sunderland family, Gaynor, went on to marry a famous UFO writer and FT columnist.

But that as they say is another story.

Overall - though - from my time on that case with its similarities to the one linked from the Isle of Wight I would find it interesting but have to regard it differently because of the age and imaginative mind set of children of such an age.

 

[humanoidlord]

I recall that case from the BUFORA files at the time, but it was just before I became director of investigations and was not possible to follow up later.

It is an interesting old style folklore type encounter and very visually imaginative. That it depends entirely on the testimony of two quite young children is a reason to be cautious. Not because they cannot see UFOs or they cannot be trusted, but mostly because of the way they see and interpret things at a time of life when we do experience sensory information more vividly and in some regards colourfully.

So the fact that this reads more like a story than an eyewitness account is a problem - though not necessarily because it is made up. This is how children tend to see the world and describe it.

It reminds me in many ways of the kind of sightings reported by the Sunderland family of children near Flint, Wales, which Paul and I wrote about in the book 'Alien Contact'. All you can do is relate what they said and be cautious as to how you interpret what they say.

The Sunderland children later became involved in the famous Green Stone and other magical quest yarns that read even more like Tolkien than real life. I began to see that as more allegorical than literal and, to be honest, today in the same situation I would never have written Alien Contact.

I was very young then - in my 20s still (it was my second book) - Paul made the first contacts with them and persuaded me to get involved and he wanted a new motorbike. He loved his Triumph Bonnevilles and I loved him and perhaps some unwise thinking happened after that.

The family did okay out of it and were happy for the book to appear and I made sure they read it all as it was created so they could ask for changes. But in retrospect it is the one book I would rather not have published.

Of course, the main player in the Sunderland family, Gaynor, went on to marry a famous UFO writer and FT columnist.

But that as they say is another story.

Overall - though - from my time on that case with its similarities to the one linked from the Isle of Wight I would find it interesting but have to regard it differently because of the age and imaginative mind set of children of such an age.

i like this report because it has quite an vallee-ish atmosphere about and indeed ot seems more like some entity parodying an alien contact than an true one
also the mince pie stealers case is proof that adults too have encounters with kooky and zanny "aliens"
while i have heard of the sunterland case, what is that green stone you talk about?

 

[humanoidlord]

al

I recall that case from the BUFORA files at the time, but it was just before I became director of investigations and was not possible to follow up later.

It is an interesting old style folklore type encounter and very visually imaginative. That it depends entirely on the testimony of two quite young children is a reason to be cautious. Not because they cannot see UFOs or they cannot be trusted, but mostly because of the way they see and interpret things at a time of life when we do experience sensory information more vividly and in some regards colourfully.

So the fact that this reads more like a story than an eyewitness account is a problem - though not necessarily because it is made up. This is how children tend to see the world and describe it.

It reminds me in many ways of the kind of sightings reported by the Sunderland family of children near Flint, Wales, which Paul and I wrote about in the book 'Alien Contact'. All you can do is relate what they said and be cautious as to how you interpret what they say.

The Sunderland children later became involved in the famous Green Stone and other magical quest yarns that read even more like Tolkien than real life. I began to see that as more allegorical than literal and, to be honest, today in the same situation I would never have written Alien Contact.

I was very young then - in my 20s still (it was my second book) - Paul made the first contacts with them and persuaded me to get involved and he wanted a new motorbike. He loved his Triumph Bonnevilles and I loved him and perhaps some unwise thinking happened after that.

The family did okay out of it and were happy for the book to appear and I made sure they read it all as it was created so they could ask for changes. But in retrospect it is the one book I would rather not have published.

Of course, the main player in the Sunderland family, Gaynor, went on to marry a famous UFO writer and FT columnist.

But that as they say is another story.

Overall - though - from my time on that case with its similarities to the one linked from the Isle of Wight I would find it interesting but have to regard it differently because of the age and imaginative mind set of children of such an age.

also i have said many times that ufos arent just "aliens are visiting earth because i say so lol", its much more complex we have the infamous mothman wave that had less to do with mothman and more with an bunch of bizzare yet clearly related tales of MIBs,ufos and its ocupants and a bunch of other weird stuff
we have also thousands reports of bigfoot or hairy man style creatures seen on ufos (my favorite being the 50's violent hairy dwarfs case), we have too tales of people being abducted and taken underground to god knows where, we have tales of messianic figures seen inside of ufos or after the witness prayed to "ward" them off
the list just goes on and on, an good starting place is albert rosales humanoid encounters, serie of books

 

[Jayceedove]

Yes, I tend to agree that aliens are not strange enough to explain what we see. They will likely have their own history of encounters when we make contact and they will - say - um, you thought that was us? We thought it was you!

 

[humanoidlord]

Yes, I tend to agree that aliens are not strange enough to explain what we see. They will likely have their own history of encounters when we make contact and they will - say - um, you thought that was us? We thought it was you!

funny i had the same thought one day, but yeah they are gonna get confused when we ask them about the ufos

 

[sherbetbizarre]

Here's a link to the Bufora Journal issue: https://bufora.org.uk/documents/BUFORAJournalVolume6No.5JanFeb1978.pdf

And here's a recent article: https://www.curiousarchive.com/sam-the-sandown-clown-alien-man-in-black-or-folie-a-deux/
which includes a map of the area...

And this guy goes there to attempt to find where Sam first appeared:

AND six years ago we even had our own IHTM in the area!
https://forums.forteana.org/index.php?threads/shadow-person-encounter.60970/

we caught sight of a figure. It was about six feet tall, very slim in build ... but with an oversized, bulbous head.

 

[charliebrown]

I never heard of this event, but I am not surprised.

I think wights are magical creatures that can connect to a person’s emotional side and obviously the isle is full of these magical creatures.

These children played with a wight.

But there are stories of humanoids playing in nurseries with young children in order to learn human emotions.

 

[catseye]

I never heard of this event, but I am not surprised.

I think wights are magical creatures that can connect to a person’s emotional side and obviously the isle is full of these magical creatures.

These children played with a wight.

But there are stories of humanoids playing in nurseries with young children in order to learn human emotions.

I understood the derivation of the name of the Isle of Wight to come from a celtic word that was to do with the stretch of water, rather than from mystical beings?

 

[PeteByrdie]

I understood the derivation of the name of the Isle of Wight to come from a celtic word that was to do with the stretch of water, rather than from mystical beings?

It's not entirely clear, but I have read in books that are probably unhealthy reading attempts to derive 'Wight' from the same root as 'witch' and 'wicca'. I don't think that's an official view.

'Wight' in earlier times meant a human being, and more broadly a sentient creature, coming into modern fantasy through William Morris' translation of Grettis Saga's (from memory) 'draugr' (an undead barrow dwelling creature) as 'barrow wight', meaning 'sentient creature from a barrow', I guess.

EDIT I suppose the point I was making is there's little chance the 'Wight' in 'Isle of Wight' refers to supernatural creatures, as that's a relatively recent association with the word.

 

[catseye]

It's not entirely clear, but I have read in books that are probably unhealthy reading attempts to derive 'Wight' from the same root as 'witch' and 'wicca'. I don't think that's an official view.

'Wight' in earlier times meant a human being, and more broadly a sentient creature, coming into modern fantasy through William Morris' translation of Grettis Saga's (from memory) 'draugr' (an undead barrow dwelling creature) as 'barrow wight', meaning 'sentient creature from a barrow', I guess.

EDIT I suppose the point I was making is there's little chance the 'Wight' in 'Isle of Wight' refers to supernatural creatures, as that's a relatively recent association with the word.

That's pretty much where I was also coming from. All the derivations I can find have 'wight' down as being from a celtic word meaning 'split' or 'division' because it's in the middle of the Solent.

All in all though, not the 'Isle of Ghosts' that people sometimes try to turn it into.

 

[Sabresonic]

al

also i have said many times that ufos arent just "aliens are visiting earth because i say so lol", its much more complex we have the infamous mothman wave that had less to do with mothman and more with an bunch of bizzare yet clearly related tales of MIBs,ufos and its ocupants and a bunch of other weird stuff
we have also thousands reports of bigfoot or hairy man style creatures seen on ufos (my favorite being the 50's violent hairy dwarfs case), we have too tales of people being abducted and taken underground to god knows where, we have tales of messianic figures seen inside of ufos or after the witness prayed to "ward" them off
the list just goes on and on, an good starting place is albert rosales humanoid encounters, serie of books

Are Albert Rosales books worth buying ?

 

[Paul_Exeter]

Are Albert Rosales books worth buying ?

They are essentially an almanac of humanoid cases, and do provide the necessary details for further research. However, they are not a field investigation of each and every report.

 

[Sabresonic]

They are essentially an almanac of humanoid cases, and do provide the necessary details for further research. However, they are not a field investigation of each and every report.

So I be better just looking up on the internet ?

 

[Paul_Exeter]

So I be better just looking up on the internet ?

A lot of humanoid reports are little more than basic accounts through the media or a UFO group and so often contradictory and/or evolves over time from the original account. So books are your best option as many humanoid encounters have been researched in the field. For example, Malcolm Robinson's two Case Files of Scotland books are a bargain on Kindle and he also has books dedicated to the Robert Taylor case and the A70 UFO and humanoids case for a couple of quid each. You may not agree with everything he has written but he did get out there and interview the witnesses and dig out the facts.

 

[Sabresonic]

They are essentially an almanac of humanoid cases, and do provide the necessary details for further research. However, they are not a field investigation of each and every report.

A lot of humanoid reports are little more than basic accounts through the media or a UFO group and so often contradictory and/or evolves over time from the original account. So books are your best option as many humanoid encounters have been researched in the field. For example, Malcolm Robinson's two Case Files of Scotland books are a bargain on Kindle and he also has books dedicated to the Robert Taylor case and the A70 UFO and humanoids case for a couple of quid each. You may not agree with everything he has written but he did get out there and interview the witnesses and dig out the facts.

Ah cheers going to buy the paperback as I don't have Kindle (yet) as love the books with a sketch or 2 and it was another website I used to on called Alienexpanse Forum UFOnauts : What they look like and has 20 pages of some wonderful drawings and art.

 

[Paul_Exeter]

Back to that strange Isle of Wight humanoid, it made me think of the Distortion theory as per this article:

https://ufoconjectures.blogspot.com/2022/04/ufos-as-sensory-lure-by-jose-antonio.html


“UFOs and Fortean apparitions live in a liminal zone, beyond the reach of our ordinary state of consciousness”

 

[charliebrown]

I just read the Isle of Wight is the most visited place in England.

Gay Baldwin in the 1970s wrote a series of books called the Ghosts of Wight calling Wight the most haunted place in the world.

People flock to the following places in search of ghosts:

Hare and Hounds
Arreton Manor
Knighton Gorges
Whitecroft
Ventnor Gardens
Golden Hill Fort

Wight sounds very mysterious ?

Lewis Carroll, Winston Churchill, Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens among the many who stayed on the island long periods of time.

 

[BS3]

Back to that strange Isle of Wight humanoid, it made me think of the Distortion theory as per this article:

https://ufoconjectures.blogspot.com/2022/04/ufos-as-sensory-lure-by-jose-antonio.html


“UFOs and Fortean apparitions live in a liminal zone, beyond the reach of our ordinary state of consciousness”

Yes this has always seemed a strange, rather troubling case. I'm convinced the written phrase "Hello, and I am all colours Sam" might have some bearing in getting at what might have happened, not really sure how though.

One thing that does weaken the story somewhat is that the second, unnamed witness never really gave any independent confirmation of 'Fay''s narrative other than a general statement than it happened, so it remains essentially one child's story.

 

[Paul_Exeter]

Did anyone ever try to track down the two workmen who were nearby? Presumably they were working for the landowner and so traceable, or were they a part of the ‘experience’?

 

[PeteByrdie]

One of the things I enjoy about cases such as these is that they don't seem as filtered through our cultural expectations as some cases. I often wonder whether many fortean experiences have been altered in the witnesses' memories by their need for it to make sense to themselves and to whomever they relate their experiences. Every now and then, someone describes something seemingly so impossible or improbable, and so distinct from anything elsewhere recorded, it's baffling they were courageous enough to tell anyone. In this case it was kids, but it's also happened that adults have related such improbable events. I don't know what to make of it, which is what I like about it.

 

[Ghost In The Machine]

I understood the derivation of the name of the Isle of Wight to come from a celtic word that was to do with the stretch of water, rather than from mystical beings?

I think it's from Old English, as there "wiht" means being, person, creature, thing and sometimes ghost... But I'd assume the Isle of Wiht just meant the island of people. It can be supernatural (as Tolkien picked up with his barrow-wights) but it can also just mean "being" or "created thing".

 

[Ghost In The Machine]

It's not entirely clear, but I have read in books that are probably unhealthy reading attempts to derive 'Wight' from the same root as 'witch' and 'wicca'. I don't think that's an official view.

'Wight' in earlier times meant a human being, and more broadly a sentient creature, coming into modern fantasy through William Morris' translation of Grettis Saga's (from memory) 'draugr' (an undead barrow dwelling creature) as 'barrow wight', meaning 'sentient creature from a barrow', I guess.

EDIT I suppose the point I was making is there's little chance the 'Wight' in 'Isle of Wight' refers to supernatural creatures, as that's a relatively recent association with the word.

Yes, "wicca" has got to be totally unrelated to "wiht". Although "weight", apparently, is. Wiht seems to refer to supernatural and mundane beings in Bosworth-Toller's dictionary - he gives examples of it coupled with other words to describe things like wizards and devils - but it is the other words there doing the heavy-lifting. Wiht as you say just seems to mean "thing" or "person".

 

[BS3]

One of the things I enjoy about cases such as these is that they don't seem as filtered through our cultural expectations as some cases. I often wonder whether many fortean experiences have been altered in the witnesses' memories by their need for it to make sense to themselves and to whomever they relate their experiences. Every now and then, someone describes something seemingly so impossible or improbable, and so distinct from anything elsewhere recorded, it's baffling they were courageous enough to tell anyone. In this case it was kids, but it's also happened that adults have related such improbable events. I don't know what to make of it, which is what I like about it.

I would imagine that most experiences are edited in our memories, never mind Fortean ones!

It may be just be that this case is filtered through a different set of cultural expectations - those of a 7 year old. Plus of course the additional 'filter' provided by the father, who passed on the story and seems to have been a UFO 'experiencer' of sorts.

As with many of these type of experiences the logic seems to be more that of dreams, rather than anything else. The really puzzling bit are the details like the "wooden slats". Why would you invent these? The only thing they possibly bring to mind are the straw emerging at the wrists and ankles of the Wizard of Oz scarecrow.

 

[charliebrown]

Beside special, magical, sentient creatures running around the Isle of Wight, there are numerous ghosts.

The Old Royal National Hospital was attached to the Ventnor Botanical Gardens where thousands of people died from tuberculosis.

The massive building was torn down in 1969, but be brave to walk the gardens as many people claim dead patients and phantom nurses are walking through the gardens with you.

I will never see this Isle, but it sounds interesting to visit.