Flying "Things": A Review

As I mentioned a couple of days ago, good friend - and fellow creature-seeker - Ken Gerhard was planning on coming up from San Antonio to lecture yesterday for the Dallas-Fort Worth Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) group, on the subject of weird flying entities, including Mothman, the Flatwoods Monster, the spate of "Flying Humanoids" that have been reported from Mexico over the last few years, and much more.

As Ken had to work Saturday, it was close to the witching-hour when he arrived at our house; but that didn't stop me, Dana and Ken hanging out and generally having a good time, as we sat around talking about music, current projects, and - of course - those pesky winged-things!

It was around 2.00 a.m. that we finally turned in for the night, and before any of us knew it, Sunday morning had arrived, and the 30-minute drive to the venue was beckoning. And, I'm pleased to say that Ken had an excellent turn-out of somewhere between 45 and 50 people. So, you may ask: what of the lecture? Well, Ken began by talking about his background, and revealed that when he was a child his mother worked as a travel-agent. As a result, she had the opportunity to travel regularly and widely - and took the young Ken along, too - to such locations as the Amazon Jungle, Australia, and Loch Ness; to name just a few cool places.

Of course, and not surprisingly, it didn't take long before Ken was well on the road towards becoming a cryptozoologist.

And, with that said, it was onto the subject of the lecture: unknown flying entities; some of which seem definitively cryptozoological in nature, and others that appear to straddle the fields of cryptozoology and ufology.

The clearly-captivated audience listened attentively as Ken discussed his investigations of (A) giant bird-like entities in South Texas (as well as Pterosaurs reported from the same area); (B) Cama Zotz - a bat-deity from the Mayan culture; (C) huge winged monsters seen in the Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico; and (D) the Lechuza - a witch that was said to have the ability to transform itself into what resembled a giant, white owl.

Ken also dug deep into the famous - and highly-intriguing - 1950s stories of the Houston Batman; the 1960s events at Point Pleasant, West Virginia, as chronicled in the pages of the late John Keel's The Mothman Prophecies; as well as the creepy tale of a "flying witch attack" from Mexico in 2004 - a case that you may know about; since it was all across the Net at the time of its occurrence.

In addition, Ken referred to a thought-provoking report of a winged, Chupacabra-type entity seen in Texas a couple of years ago, and revealed to the audience the details of a couple of new TV shows he's currently working on: one on the mysterious flying entities of Mexico; and the other on werewolves. From what Ken has told me, both productions sound like essential viewing.

Perhaps weirdest of all - and truly Fortean in nature - were those "flying entity" reports that involved very human-looking creatures that seemed to have mechanical wings strapped to their bodies, along with what were possibly "jet-packs" or "control-panels." Secret military experiments? Maybe. However, the fact that, in one such report at least, the entity had a "demonic face" seems to leave this matter open to a more-than-liberal degree of interpretation.

Ken also dug into another interesting facet of the puzzle: the correlations between sightings of huge winged creatures and animal/cattle-mutilations. Although the data was brief, it suggested that further follow-up on such matters may prove to be eye-opening.

Then, after a length Q&A session, it was time to relocate to a local Mexican restaurant for food and liquid refreshment, where the debate continued at a fine and steady pace.

But things were not quite over: after returning to our house that evening, Ken was faced with a five-hour-drive back to San Antonio. That's dedication for you!

So, all in all, it was a great afternoon, and one filled with thought-provoking tale after thought-provoking tale of a wide variety of monsters of the skies.

And as Ken noted, as we certainly don't have all the answers yet as to what these entities may be, his research and on-site investigations are set to continue.

And be sure to check out Ken's book on the matter: Big Bird!, published by the CFZ.