Vanishing Headlights, The Demon Flyer & Other Mojave Mysteries

[genex17]

The Mojave desert stretches from California to Nevada about 100 miles east of Los Angeles. The Mojave bears a close resemblance to the UK's barren Moorlands,mostly shrubs and grass instead of cacti. It's often called the "High Desert" for its' 2000-4000 foot elevations.

A man driving a deserted back road along the Mojave desert at 1 am with a near full moon, notices a pair of headlights coming up on him at a rapid rate. He was going at 62 mph and expected the vehicle to pass him, but instead it was tailgating him with those high beams. Annoyed, he put on the brakes until he slowed to a stop. The lights retreated down the grade and instantly went out. He thought better of turning around and looking for a car with the headlights out and continued on, and after calming down, realized he didn't see a car. Just those lights.

 

[EnolaGaia]

The stalking headlights were first seen some distance back, but they closed until they were right behind the driver's car - right?

Can you be more specific about the "grade" bit? It sounds like the driver was on an uphill grade when slowing down, and the mystery lights may have retreated in a manner suggestive of a car drifting (i.e., out of gear) back down the slope until out of sight.

 

[genex17]

Yes, the lights were tailgating him on a uphill grade, then when he slowed and stopped, he noticed in the rear view the lights retreated and suddenly blinked out as if the driver shut them off. Retreating as if going in reverse, not turning around.

I just gave a short summary. The full story is at the Desert Oracle Podcast 004 and start at 3:13 into the podcast.

https://www.desertoracle.com/episode-004/ on iTunes or Stitcher (Google Play)

 

[Yithian]

I very much enjoyed the first interview in this compilation (the second has been posted elsewhere).

The interviewee is M.L. Behrman, who has written a book entitled Mojave Mysteries:

https://www.amazon.com/Mojave-Mysteries-Desert-Paranormal-1/dp/1540583864

Topics too diverse to pigeonhole (preview at book link), but they make me simultaneously really want and yet really not want to visit the Mojave!

The contents page gives a hint:

 

[Yithian]

I needed an easy read for my late-night train rides home each evening and, amazingly, Amazon managed to send this half way around the world in a little over forty-eight hours!

I could, with my professional hat on, whine about the periodic grammar errors, the inconsistent punctuation and the overly verbose throat-clearing introductions, but in spite of all those imperfections, the narrative voice is a rather good one, and I'm enjoying a lot of the tales.

Here's the first that I found particularly striking. If you like it, pick up a copy of the book yourself so the man can buy a coffee or two—it's cheap.

 

[Yithian]

No takers on this?

I thought there might be some comments on the two accounts.

I'll add some of my own tonight.

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

I needed an easy read for my late-night train rides home each evening and, amazingly, Amazon managed to send this half way around the world in a little over forty-eight hours!

I could, with my professional hat on, whine about the periodic grammar errors, the inconsistent punctuation and the overly verbose throat-clearing introductions, but in spite of all those imperfections, the narrative voice is a rather good one, and I'm enjoying a lot of the tales.

Here's the first that I found particularly striking. If you like it, pick up a copy of the book yourself so the man can buy a coffee or two—it's cheap.

View attachment 64727View attachment 64728View attachment 64729View attachment 64730View attachment 64731

It started like numerous other alleged accounts from the USA of extant pterosaurs - until the description of the flat face. The presence of "teets" in the subsequent account, if indeed this described the same creature, indicate a mammal, rather than reptile but I cannot think of any known megabat with a face like that.
Happy reading!

 

[PeteS]

The opening post reminded me that in 1980, me and a carful of friends drove about 100 miles through the Mojave. We were pressing on somewhat because it was daylight and boy was it hot. A large tatty pickup appeared behind us (not from nowhere) tailgated us, flashing it's lights. I began to slow down whereupon said pickup swerved violently to the right, skidded madly on the earthy sand on 2 wheels almost toppling over and tore off in the opposite direction. I really did boot it then (a rented Z28 Camaro) encouraged by mates. We saw nothing more of said pickup. It occurred to me that the driver had the intention of robbing the car but when he got close enough realised that there were 5 big lads in the car which might prove too much.

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

The Golden-Crowned Flying Fox is the largest bat in North America and I suppose it could look vaguely demonic, if you were unfamiliar with the creature and glimpsed it in twilight.
This photo shows a female nursing its baby, with the left side teat clearly visible. The problem is that its wingspan is not thought to exceed 6 feet. Perhaps there are a few mega-megabats roaming the Mojave?

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

The Golden-Crowned Flying Fox is the largest bat in North America and I suppose it could look vaguely demonic, if you were unfamiliar with the creature and glimpsed it in twilight.
This photo shows a female nursing its baby, with the left side teat clearly visible. The problem is that its wingspan is not thought to exceed 6 feet. Perhaps there are a few mega-megabats roaming the Mojave?

View attachment 64747

Correction. Only one article claimed that megabats have been spotted in mainland USA, with the majority of articles stating the the largest bat in North America is the Greater Mastiff bat. This insectivorous bat is substantially smaller than the huge fruit bats, with a wingspan of only a couple of feet and so would appear to be even less of a fit for the "demon flyer" described in Yith's book. Sounds to me like, if a megabat was seen in the USA, it was likely to have been illegally introduced from its normal Pacific habitat or an exotic escapee. Mind you, with California being such a major producer of figs, it would be megabat heaven!

 

[Yithian]

No takers on this?

I thought there might be some comments on the two accounts.

I'll add some of my own tonight.

I forgot this, but I find now that my comments are limited to two rather general points:

• Many of the tales take place late in the day and after dark. The author mentions several times his own experience of significant fatigue after a long day in the desert and only infrequent respite in shade. The effects of dehydration and sunstroke could easily contribute to an altered state of consciousness and greater succeptibility to misperception.
• Similarly, the primary environments in which these phenomena take place are a) the desert and b) the road—long, straight montonous road; both have (like the sea and polar terrain) been know to induce hypnotic states in which sense data are more easily over/misinterpreted.

I reluctantly have to 'row back' my earlier enthusiasm for this book a little—it tailed off.

The majority of the last third comprises reproductions and discussion of local newspaper articles from the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. I'm not personally lacking in imaginative fancy, but, for me, the allure of these 'mysteries' is lacking; it's mostly a series of badly written and 'creative' stories that never resolve. Their purpose was to offer transient entertainment to the under-entertained, and they don't bear much re-reading at a distance of a century or more.

I offer instead one of the creepiest anecdotes, from earlier in the book (click to enlarge):

 

[Paul_Exeter]

Just come across this. I am fascinated by such humanoid 'bat-wing' creature accounts but I found this a hard read, far too verbose. Could really do with some headings, times and dates and locations and perhaps even some illustrations as unfortunately it just comes across as folk-tales and not especially reputable.

 

[Yithian]

Just come across this. I am fascinated by such humanoid 'bat-wing' creature accounts but I found this a hard read, far too verbose. Could really do with some headings, times and dates and locations and perhaps even some illustrations as unfortunately it just comes across as folk-tales and not especially reputable.

All fair points, although I might quibble that far more poorly narrated accounts routinely float up in the waters of Forteana.

As to your desire for times, dates and precise locations, it simply isn't that kind of book; there's no investigation here. The author fairly sets out his stall at the outset and states that what he has to offer are 'tales as I heard them' and his personal contextualisations and theories.

You take it or leave it.

 

[Yithian]

Is anybody with superior cyberstalking skills to mine able to confirm that M.L. Behrman is still alive?

His website is offline and his YouTube and Instagram accounts have not been updated in a significant period of time.

The last reference to him I can find is from his latest appearance of Coast to Coast AM (26 July 2022), but after that he seems to have dropped off the virtual radar, as it were.

 

[Yithian]

Is anybody with superior cyberstalking skills to mine able to confirm that M.L. Behrman is still alive?

His website is offline and his YouTube and Instagram accounts have not been updated in a significant period of time.

The last reference to him I can find is from his latest appearance of Coast to Coast AM (26 July 2022), but after that he seems to have dropped off the virtual radar, as it were.

Bump to this.

No further activity from M.L. Behrman.

I'm beginning to suspect he has died or been incarcerated.