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This was posted in a thread in "It Happened To Me", but i thought it might be better to split it off into Cryptozoology so as not to distract from the original poster's sighting report...
http://www.cfz.org.uk/features/owlman.htm
The "Owlman" seems to have some similarities with the Mothman (and also maybe Jersey Devil?), but seems a bit more of a flesh and blood creature, especially in the one sighting that was not linked to the apparently somewhat dodgy character of Doc Shiels (I don't know much info on Doc, but the name rings a bell - wasn't he involved in a sea/lake monster hunting expedition which used some sort of mystical/demonological stuff to try and find the monster? I vaguely remember it being linked to Aleister Crowley...)
The 1989 sighting by "Gavin" (notably the only one not linked to Doc Shiels) sounds rather more like a sighting of a real bird/animal, although the description is consistent with the other sightings. Is it possible that an out of place real owl or other large bird of prey could have been responsible (are there any owls big enough? the biggest i have seen is an Eagle Owl which could have been 3ft tall, but certainly not 5), or do people think this was more likely to be a hoax or some sort of paranormal phenomenon?
http://www.cfz.org.uk/features/owlman.htm
The "Owlman" seems to have some similarities with the Mothman (and also maybe Jersey Devil?), but seems a bit more of a flesh and blood creature, especially in the one sighting that was not linked to the apparently somewhat dodgy character of Doc Shiels (I don't know much info on Doc, but the name rings a bell - wasn't he involved in a sea/lake monster hunting expedition which used some sort of mystical/demonological stuff to try and find the monster? I vaguely remember it being linked to Aleister Crowley...)
Does anyone know if the pictures the girls drew are online anywhere? Would be interesting to actually see them...Although not widely read outside Cornwall, this booklet was available extensively throughout the county and was read by many people including two young girls of fourteen, Sally Chapman and Barbara Perry, who in early July 1976 were camping in the woods by Mawnan Old Church when they, too, saw the Owlman.
They met Tony on Grebe Beach, below Mawnan Old Church the day after their sighting. Sally, who was from Plymouth, had been staying with her friend Barbara, (who would only admit that she lived 'quite near the river'). Sally approached Tony and said: "Are you Doc Shiels? We've seen the bird monster."
Sally described what they had seen: "It was like a big owl with pointed ears, as big as a man. The eyes were red and glowing. At first, I thought that it was someone dressed up, playing a joke, trying to scare us. I laughed at it, we both did, then it went up in the air and we both screamed. When it went up you could see its feet were like pincers"
Her friend added some details of her own: "It's true. It was horrible, a nasty owl-face with big ears and big red eyes. It was covered in grey feathers. The claws on its feet were black. It just flew up and disappeared in the trees".
Although as Tony admitted at the time, it is possible that the two young ladies were trying to hoax him, he is convinced that they were genuine.
He separated the two girls and had each of them draw a picture of what she had seen. The two pictures are dissimilar enough to rebuff suggestions of collusion but have enough points in common, both with each other, and with the other accounts of the 'creature' to be considered as a significant piece of evidence.
Both girls made brief additional notes underneath their pictures. Sally's read: "I saw this monster bird last night. It stood like a man and then it flew up through the trees. It is as big as a man. Its eyes are red and shine brightly".
And Barbara wrote: "Birdman monster. seen on third of July, quite late at night but not quite dark. Red Eyes. Black Mouth. It was very big with great big wings and black claws. Feathers grey."
The two girls agreed on most points with their pictures although Sally thought Barbara had 'done the wings wrong'.
The 1989 sighting by "Gavin" (notably the only one not linked to Doc Shiels) sounds rather more like a sighting of a real bird/animal, although the description is consistent with the other sightings. Is it possible that an out of place real owl or other large bird of prey could have been responsible (are there any owls big enough? the biggest i have seen is an Eagle Owl which could have been 3ft tall, but certainly not 5), or do people think this was more likely to be a hoax or some sort of paranormal phenomenon?