Posted by: Loren Coleman on November 11th, 2006
Eleven years ago on the eleventh day of the eleventh month…
November 11, 1995, Zacapa, Guatemala – During a spate of bizarre animal killings in the area, Alicia Fajardo encountered a strange winged creature on her property at around one o’clock in the morning. She described it as about four feet tall, with large bat-like wings, huge oval-shaped eyes, and a large mouth with huge protruding fangs. It was covered with dark hair and had a tail and claw-like feet. The creature flew away in an upward spiral emitting a strange humming sound. (Source: Albert S. Rosales, Humanoid Contact Database 1995, case # 2565, citing Jorge Martin, Evidencia OVNI, issue #12).
November 11, 1995 – On this night in El Rosario, Puerto Rico farmer Elliot Feliciano fired his gun at a large creature that jumped the fence surrounding his home. He described the creature as between 3 to 4 feet tall, endowed with large eyes, and having what appeared to be wings. A large goat was also found dead and mutilated in the area. (Source: Albert S. Rosales, Humanoid Contact Database 1995, case # 3143, citing Scott Corrales).
Today, most of these would be lumped in the “Chupacabras” file, no doubt, if seen in a Latin country. In West Virginia, they might be called something else.
More on Mothman in the coming days…on the 40th anniversary of the “first” sightings in West Virginia, and the enduring influence of John A. Keel on the stories.
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct). Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015. Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.