Lon Strickler | The Chicago Owlman Sightings, Recent Abductions, & Other Strange Encounters

00:05 Puppet masters almost surely have clearly made me something new. And until you've thoroughly tested every last clue, just to think you know the less you really do! That's true Dr. Seuss. Without TNT, they're lying to us just on- Without TNT, the higher side chat show a one company

00:44 Alright, Hiresight Chatters. As we continue our adventure and examine our weird reality I think it's about time to revisit that tasty slice of the paranormal pie known as Cryptozoology because like it or not thousands of people over the years have claimed to have encounters with everything from Bigfoot and Dogmen to lizard people in modern-day pterosaurs And while I find the subject fascinating, one of my biggest complaints about the field is that we're oftentimes digging up stories and accounts from decades or even centuries ago. Times far removed from our own with entities that should be long gone. But today is a special case people because as you may not know we are in the midst of what seems to be the largest concentration of strange cryptid sightings in my lifetime and probably the largest since that saga of the infamous Mothman of Point Pleasant back in the 60's

01:32 As it seems one or several winged humanoids have taken to the skies of the Windy City and have been seen by far too many people now to be ignored. Well, lucky for us we have one of cryptozoology's most well-known and respected Fortian researchers and investigators to give us a scoop! His name is Lon Strickler, the man behind the legendary Phantoms & Monsters blog author of several Phantoms and Monsters books, host of Arcane Radio, mystic at astral perceptions and the guy to talk to when it comes to situations like we have in Chicago. I know I'm psyched to find out what's going on here as well with several other open and ongoing cases he has on the books. Ladies & Gentlemen, Pennsylvania's own paranormal person-of-interest keeper of the Fortian files and explorer of everything Lon Strickler my good man! Welcome to The Higher Side

02:20 Thanks for having me on, Greg. Yeah this is a real treat for me I've been a fan of Phantoms and Monsters probably around the decade now and i just can't believe we're having such a situation where many people in one area are seeing something like this and to jump right into it what's going on in Chicago? When did this string of sightings first start were up to around 30 or 40 at this point right well right now we're at forty four year and I just put fortieth up yesterday And actually this started back in 2011. There were three sightings in the late summer, early fall and it stretched for about three months there was a photograph taken

03:05 in the Pulaski Road area. And it kind of looked like what the person who's, the witness saw was a sugar glider or large sugar glider. You know, sugar gliders are one of those things you sit and palm your hand. Yeah like a flying squirrel? Yeah, flying squirrel and this picture... It's hard to tell how big it was but it had some size to it but some of the witnesses that we have been getting this year have been saying that some of what they saw looks very similar to that. But then again, there've been a lot of differences in some of these sightings. So our first report... the first report that I saw for this year was in early April and that was originally reported on MUFON and it was by a professional woman who was walking her dog in Oz Park

04:04 in Chicago and she came across this black being about seven foot tall standing in the middle of the park. And she didn't know what to make of it, but basically he's a dog freak. He tried to stay away from her, you know back up behind the witness and this is Jack Terrier Russell so you know those things are pretty feisty. you know. So anyway, this thing she described it as about seven foot high black in color and it had wings on its back folded behind its back and the wings actually stood about a foot and a half above this thing so these are pretty good sized wings. As she stood there and watched it turned and looked at her with these bright red ruby eyes

04:59 You know, that was it. She just had this weird reaction to it and it looked at her...it took off like a rocket just straight up and when I got to the apex, it kind of you know was still in the air unfurled its wings flat them and was gone at a pretty good rate of speed Yeah, it is just so amazing. And I guess I've been hearing some descriptions that are saying an owl man, some that are saying a batman? What do you hear in more of Are they equating it more to an owl or more to a bad in most cases? Well, at first sighting was pretty similar to what the mothman sightings were in Point Pleasant. I've had other similar settings all over the place but mostly and feel higher river valley well anyway

05:51 The next couple sightings after that were described as large humanoid owls, owl men. They were about the same size anywhere from 6 to 7 foot in height 20 to 12 foot wingspan. Both of those, the next two were perched and several witnesses saw it and would just flap its wings and take off But as time went on, the sighting started to be more like a large bat. People even described the wings like it's dragon wings but that membrane type wing... But mixed in with those as well were others that had rounded wings, wings look like an insect or butterfly moth or whatever but the size really didn't change a whole lot

06:51 So, you know some of them had this red eyes. Some of them didn't there were others that were Said to have like a small crest on its head I had sighting just a few days ago where it was reported that There was a crest that went from the head and extended along the back Of this thing so they have missed variations right? Yeah those variations are super interesting and I mean, I guess some feathered creatures tend to malt. We could be dealing with a malting creature that now looks more like a bat than an owl but i guess i've heard you say based on the descriptions it seems like you think there might be actually three different things that have been unleashed on Chicago somehow right?

07:37 I think it's at least three. Man, I would even venture to say there may be up to six different ones but i'm saying i i'm pretty sure it's at least three at this point have you been able to triangulate the sightings on the map and try to find like a source for where these things might be coming from? A nest if you will yeah we've tried that you know we've taken the sightings and actually put them in chronological order panned out of that. I mean, though we have had areas where there have been more sightings than others and of course there've been a lot of sightings downtown along the lake but there are been a lot of sighting as well in South Chicago into Indiana and we got an interesting area down there that were looking into it's well so

08:32 You know, I don't know. These last couple sightings we had this week were along water both of them one was along the Des Plaines River and the other one was along Salt Creek so you know iIdon't know... I mean this last sighting was made near Possum Hollow Woods which is out by LaGrange Park And the woman who saw this was actually an avid bird and raptor watcher. And that's exactly what she was doing when she saw this thing, she looked up out over the park or Salt Creek She saw this huge, which he described as a huge flying shadow

09:17 And, you know being a birdwatcher and knowing the raptors and birds in the area she was amazed by it. Yeah! And she was getting ready to take a photograph of it and by that time this thing took a dive right into the woods. She said dove so fast just couldn't believe she'd never seen dive that quick. She said when I went into the woods The birds in the woods just scattered. And I asked her why didn't she go into the woods? Well, actually she was alongside the road on North LaGrange Road so... She really actually couldn't go in there unless she went over a guardrail and down a slope So yeah but she stood around waiting for this thing possibly to come out and it just didn't But she was on the horn with me about 40 minutes

10:06 I love it, man. To say that like the first sighting is around April and we've had 40 since then...I mean this is mind-blowing stuff! Are there any other major commonalities across the sighting spectrum that we could point to? That add to the overall credibility for the skeptical ones out there? I guess red eyes does seem to be one that comes up quite often. That's a weird detail to add unless you actually saw something like that Yeah, I think the sightings that have been seen at night the red eyes really show up and i don't hear it that much with the daytime sighting. Makes sense So that might be one aspect of it you know The fact that it does come out during the day and has been seen during a day And is not afraid to be see though It does seem to move off quickly

10:57 after it's been seen. People have been having a double time trying to get a photograph of this thing, you know they'd had the camera out and it would just take off so quickly or that it would be at nighttime not enough light and some have actually snapped photographs and nothing was seen on it. So I don't know if that's something I believe that there's some type of supernatural aspect to these beings, even though I think they're flesh and blood. I think there's something that may actually keep them from being photographed as well. Yeah, that's a popular opinion in the cryptid world and i have seen those photos that have been posted so far you're right A few people have snapped off some shots but cell phones just are not good at a distance or with moving objects so you can't really see that much but is there any evidence worth mentioning that does go beyond just the reports of sightings?

11:56 Well, we've had a couple of sketches and that's about it. I tell you the one thing that has really been a big part of this for me is when we talk to the witnesses they don't deviate from what their original report is. I have had several reports where the witness would write down send it to me by email and you know have me contact them by phone and they just will not embellish. They just stick to what they originally said And they stay with that. Even after I've tried to get them to embellish the sighting or what they saw, the description it never deviates. Hmm and that's a good sign and in terms of commonalities, I guess some other ones are...I've heard in more than one report that the sound it makes is like screeching similar to train brakes? I've also heard of course like you said six feet tall and with

12:49 10 foot wingspan, that's a pretty on point number to hear from multiple people. And I guess a few others have conveyed a sense of doom or some type of internal feeling. I'm sure it's a scary thing to see but I guess there are reports of some feeling. I don't know if it's being projected into them or just that's what happens when you see the unknown. You know some of the earlier sightings, the witnesses had that type of emotion where they felt like some foreboding or fear The first sighting that we had received that had any sound was on the Calumet River where a man and his son who were fishing heard this screeching sound. They said it was like the wheels of a train screeching, but then we had another sighting in the Auburn Gresham area of the city when it was actually seen by two police officers that the crowd flagged down and this thing was on top of a three-story building

13:48 And when it took off, they heard a screeching sound. The other sounds that we have heard about was there was an encounter with a man and woman who were down at North Lakeshore Drive 1400 North Lakeshore Drive and this thing flew across their path went up the building side of a building got to the nearer top and just froze still midair like it was looking through a window. Then it leaned back, took a big dive into the trees. They saw that they were going back toward the building because they were there visiting her mother and she lived in that building at condominium and when they turned to corner to head toward the entrance this thing descended right in front of them like midair and the wings were out and it wasn't flapping its wings it was just like it was hovering

14:50 And they stated that they heard a vibration like, I don't know. They even felt it as well but it was coming like a humming coming from the legs. The legs were vibrating. Wow! That's the only sound other sound that we have heard about. That's so interesting because I think possibly that could be a key whenever we talk about multi-dimensional entities the idea of portal openings or something is always talked about and vibration seems to be a pretty big key when it comes to wavelengths and the possible crossing of multiple dimensions. Who knows? But vibration is an interesting detail there for sure. Yeah, it is interesting I started thinking that this may be extra dimensional type being early on because around the same time as some of the earlier sightings

15:46 There were huge flashes of light being seen south of the city in the area around Chicago Heights, and there was another large flash just across the border into Indiana. So I have noticed before when dealing with cryptids that, you know there would be flashes of light sometimes and orbs seen during a sighting of like a Bigfoot or some other type of being. Or after an investigator would go into the area they'd see these orbs in the same area so I don't know if it's related but i believe it is related now I don't know that's where they originated from I just don't know but a lot of these that were seen downtown

16:36 They seem to be coming from under one of the overpasses on Lakeshore Drive. So I don't know if that's where they're hanging out or there are some tunnels in that area as well, yeah there's a lot of underground in that area so...I don't know! I really don't know That's so amazing man and I find this extra exciting because i know Chicago pretty well and I spent some time with that interactive map you have. And, I'm shocked that so many of these sightings are deep in the city! Many of them are right along Lakeshore Drive...I mean that's a tourist hotspot. I mean that is a real corridor of a lot of action there and we have sightings both day and night? That's a little unusual, right? Usually these things are when people are alone in the backwoods somewhere but to have multiple people sometimes couples seeing these things in the city... Wow!

17:29 That is unusual. Most times when I get a report over the years, it'll be either one witness or a witness with their kids or something like that going down the road, a fleeting sighting but no these sightings have been in front of fairly large crowds and several of these sightings have been verified by more than one witness so... Right Yeah it's it is unusual And I gotta ask, I would like to think that people have the sense to be able to tell the difference between a bat-human hybrid and something like a person in a wingsuit or a drone. But you gotta ask that kind of question is there any reasonable explanation for this outside of some cryptid creature? We have looked at every possible explanation You know this thing has been seen along the river downtown along those high buildings

18:25 If that was somebody in a squirrel suit, they'd have done a splat on one of those buildings. There's just no way they could have stopped and flew across the river under bridges over bridges it just wouldn't be possible as far as a drone I just don't see that being possibility because this thing flapped its wings and would turn its head and acknowledge the people that it was going by, and come back. And do all kinds of strange maneuvers. We actually had a sighting out on the lake where there were two of these things seen together. Wow! And they were doing figure eight

19:05 and going around each other and such, and took off. So yeah you know the maneuvers that this thing has demonstrated in the way it has flown in the speed as well... You know if you had a drone you'd hear it so I just don't believe that's what it is at all And as far as wildlife goes you know I've had people say well maybe a St. O'Kraine or a Blue Heron I haven't seen any six or seven foot cranes. You know, a crane doesn't get any bigger than maybe 30 pounds and you know they don't have a wingspan of 10 foot or more so. No they also don't really have the shape of a person either no man i just love it and you mentioned earlier that we have a few police officers who've seen it i feel like that adds a little credibility they don't want that kind of trouble but

19:57 In terms of the local media or the local police, how much attention is this getting outside of the cryptozoology community? Are people in Chicago actually waking up to this thing or would you say it's more of a under-the-radar media blackout. Well there has been somewhat of a media blackout but the residents are getting word. It's traveling word of mouth and I've been saying that for last five or six weeks And I was on the phone with someone just before you call. I'm getting anywhere from 10 to 20 calls a day from just regular residents of Chicago, wondering what this is worried about what it is one know what I think it is and you know, I don't buy into that harbinger or doom theory at all but myself You know even if I did I wouldn't say it and I try to dispel as much fear as I can with people

20:54 But this is, you know since we had the two police officers who were together then earlier we had state police officer and his son near the lakefront see this thing. So, you know that you said to police officers, we've had city workers who have seen it I've had city workers you have contact in me even people do are involved with the political side of the city tell me that City Hall definitely knows about it. And the major media is just trying to stay away from as much as possible Makes sense. Another interesting element that I've heard you talk about is that Chicago tends to get a lot of UFO sightings or at least a fairly steady amount, but since these owl man, man bat sightings these other types of sightings have kind of come to a halt right? Yeah that's something we discovered early. Butch Wachowski and I have... he's mostly into UFOs

21:56 and we've been keeping an eye on the reporting centers. And the sightings in around the Chicago area, over the lake have really waned since it started you know that there was nothing to get onto the CMS, the new found CMS or the New Fork reporter reporting log and see sightings in and around Chicago every day that just hasn't been going on Now, I don't know if this is the reason why. But it's interesting and i've had a couple paranormal investigators also tell me that the actual calls to them for hauntings and other type of activity hasn't been as strong as well so maybe this thing is affecting all that? I have no idea

22:52 Right. I mean, that's interesting to note for sure how is MUFON responding to this? I know cryptids aren't really their wheelhouse but i think all this stuff is connected are they getting on this with you and kind of helping to try to get to the bottom of it You know that's a long story but I will say this when the first sighting came out at MUFON I jumped on it and reported it then after that they had actually gotten altogether about four reports And I'm not going to name names, but the person in charge of everything in state Illinois contacted me and wanted to work together. You know, I've had my issues with MUFON over the years and you know, I told him, well if you're gonna be sincere about this and share information, I have no problem with that. Well that didn't last long

23:41 So I told them, I said, I'm not even going to share information. You know? I don't even want to have be involved with and be fine on this. And for the most part they've been staying away from it now. They had a problem with people who were filing reports not talking to them and they were getting frustrated and getting upset with us thinking that we were telling them Not talk to him well i don't know how they do that because I don't have any of their contact information, so i wasn't talking to these people. Though later on we did have one of the witnesses contact us because MUFON would investigate it with them." Right that is strange you think they'd be all about this but

24:24 You know, you mentioned that Harbinger of Doom theory that you're not really into. Of course that is the closest association to The Mothman sightings in Point Pleasant popularized by John Keele he kind of brought that theory out that it was some type of omen for The Silver Bridge Collapse and I'm sure some people wonder the same thing in this case because there are some parallels and It is interesting that Chicago is the gang violence capital of the country earning at that nickname of Chiraq Could such strong emotional and negative energy manifest such beings? Do you think there could be some energetic effect somehow that's making them come into existence?" You know, I think it's possible. You know, I have been following this phenomena for years now and it does seem that these things show up at times when people are having personal issues, dysfunction

25:18 And quite frankly, I don't know of any city in the United States that is dysfunctional as Chicago at this moment. So that may very well be something but yeah this Arbor Jura Doom Theory Yeah That was perpetuated by John Keogh, I believe Right and in the residence of Point Pleasant when the bridge collapsed it was kind of like an excuse for what happened? But there were other things going on as well, you know the men in black UFO sightings and a lot of other strange things associated with the mothman. But that's a weird area anyway because stuff still happens there I get reports out at Point Pleasant a lot and the fact i'm dealing with

26:00 A couple now who believe that they were somehow affected by the mothman or some type of other entity at one of those TNT cones several years ago, but it's still sticking with them. So I don't know how much it has affected them though. I do believe people have been affected by some things that go on in that McClintic area, that McLintock Preserve area where the TNT plant is located So yeah, and also as far as this Harbinger of Doom theory. There have been disasters where people would claim after the fact that they had seen something in Mississippi River Bridge in Minneapolis, Fukushima, Chernobyl there were people that would come out afterwards and say ah you know I saw a flying bean above before this happened well but it's always after the fact so I don't know you know I really don't know if

26:57 Yeah, I mean things happening near An AT&T facility is kind of interesting because a lot of times people suggest that signals in the air might be doing something to cross over into opening portals, other dimensions. That again it might be some kind of frequency based thing but AT&T Bell Labs Lockheed Martin how often do you find these big companies having some kind of facility nearby? Because that's something I would probably think about Yeah, I've looked into that. The only thing I can think of in the Chicago area is that they have a CERN-like collider that's been in the area for about 40 years now. It's up in one of the suburbs northwest of the city there...I've had people tell me that they've seen some bizarre things in that area but we haven't really had any sightings there

27:58 It's just something that we're looking into as well. You almost got to look at everything really, I mean because these sightings have been spread all over the city plus as far as 2030 miles outside the city is as well so you know we're taking reports and just going with it trying to come up with theories People going into areas and checking them out. So, you know we got a few possibilities I mean we've even gotten to the point where We're using i'm using Conduits or channelers to try to get an idea of what this is

28:36 I even have an RV group that I've been working with as well. So, um... Right You know, I'm almost at the point where you know, I will take any little bit of information and see if I can discern any type of decent information from it Yeah! I heard you talking about working with remote viewers on this And trying to do some sessions around this creature or these creatures Has anything interesting come out of those? You know, we've got a few possible pieces of evidence that may help us. But at the present time I haven't really seen the connection but something that we're keeping on the back burner in case this thing shows up in some place where these RVs pinpointed

29:22 You know, right this time. I really don't want to say a whole lot about it unless we get something that kind of coincides with what we're hearing. Sure sure but you are right about those hot spots and just looking at every possible angle i mean you gotta look for DARPA facilities in the area military bases any of those kind of hotspots because my first thought would be that this would be some kind of deep state project gone wrong or some kind of occult ritual It really does make you wonder. I know there's museums right in that area, possibly someone broke open an ancient statue in the history museum! That ancient Egyptian curse or something yeah... I don't know that's a new angle, I haven't heard anything about that but you know the Chicago area doesn't really have

30:13 a lot of military installations as opposed to some other cities. There are some government projects in and around the city, some independent projects associated with the government we've been doing some checking I've been doing some checking and i've been talking to people that live in this city that are familiar with things that have gone on or have been going on So you know I got a huge list of things on my checklist that just, you know at this point it's really hard for me to kind of put a connection with these that you know. And another thing is check out the witnesses as far as maybe there's a connection between witnesses and this thing going to certain people so far we really haven't made that connection either

31:07 Wow. Well, it's definitely fascinating and maybe it is hard to peg it to anything but in terms of It being a flesh-and-blood creature versus having a paranormal aspect has anybody seen it? Materialize or dematerialized or anything like that no not manifesting are Or disappearing know nothing like that. They usually seems to come from somewhere quickly then move off again But nobody ever sees where it comes from or where it goes to. God, amazing man and also we talked a little bit about the cover-up angle of it that media blackout and that kind of thing I don't think we mentioned this yet but It's in my notes I guess there's been four freedom of information acts to the Chicago police all coming back nothing reported which I would think seems odd considering how many reports you've got they'd have to have some

32:04 Oh, they've got him. I'm quite sure the police officer Albert Gresham stated emphatically that he filed a report now Right you know just because he filed a report doesn't mean they're gonna release it You know normally when you put in a Freedom of Information Act request It takes several weeks before you even hear back We're getting responses within a few days Just stating well we have nothing on record there's nothing ever been reported I made a request for 911 logs that was denied. So, you know, I'm pretty sure they are keeping a lid on it and i've heard a lot of reasons why you know one being tourist because most of the sightings are downtown

32:54 I don't know if that's true or not. I just believe the point where Chicago is right now with as many issues that they do have, I just feel that they think that they don't want to pile on something else. They just don't want a whole lot of people asking them questions about what's going on Well, denying those requests is definitely a bit of a red flag that shows some kind of fishiness going on. Have there been any other red flags in the investigation that we haven't mentioned yet that you've come across? Well yeah I've talked to a few reporters in the city with television stations for the most part and I had at least one verified he knew about it but have had other people that he worked with or they work with

33:43 that simply denied it. So, you know... I don't know. I'm still trying to figure out what the angle was on that. I don't know! It just seems like there is a concerted effort to keep this thing quiet for the most part but people are talking about it. I mean, I talk to people who call me and I ask them where did you hear about it? And they say oh its all over the neighborhood or people are talking about it on the internet So yeah, the word's out. There is no doubt about that. Wow man and I guess it does seem to be more creature than man or more animal than man We mentioned those feelings of fear and those sounds of screeching but sometimes in cryptid encounters people Seem to lock up and sync up with these things and get some type of telepathic message Is anything like that come through? Well this last sighting seemed to be like that

34:43 The woman who was watching this thing, she stated that it seemed like it was... well she said she had like a whimsical reaction to the sighting. Though she was really calm when I talked to her She said it seemed to her that this being wanted her to see it and that it was giving her a message though you know? I don't know When she got ready to take the picture of the thing took the dive so maybe just didn't want to be seen But she, you know, she didn't have any sense of fear or anything from it. But when she said whimsical that was the first time I heard that before so i don't know some people haven't said well I have felt that they knew that I was watching it somehow some of the people well one couple in particular this was on Lakeshore Drive as well said this thing flew over top of them

35:40 flew off, turned its head and looked back at them with these red eyes. Turned on a dime it came right back toward him again like it knew that they had seen it." Yeah you know and of course the one I mentioned where this thing ascended slowly and hovered in front of them... The reaction that they had now there were people there on the other side of the street and in fact she didn't mention that she noticed a flash from her phone camera so it was at night time But her reaction was when this thing took off, ascended away from them. She just fell to her knees. Her husband had actually drag her back to the condo so there have been reactions like that. There was an encounter out in Bowling Brook

36:28 where this woman came across what she described as what she thought were two people embracing on a path by the playground, the park. And it was at night and it was part of her normal routine to take a walk out there and when she came across this thing, she did say I heard like a slurping sound or sucking sound. She didn't know what it was. It wasn't loud but she noticed that but one thing you did notice that kind Freaked her a bit was it about seven foot high, but it was wide Her first reaction was that it was two people embracing each other Because it seemed to have something wrapped around at which I believe were probably the wings right and She didn't notice any eyes or anything. I'm thinking it was probably sleep or something Though it did turn towards her

37:26 As she was standing, she got about within 15 feet of it. And when she realized that it wasn't two people, she moved around through the grass enough to get together side of the park as she was walking away. She became very, very tired. She says like all the energy was sucked out or she had to sit down even though she kept her eye on this thing or see where I was at when she was able to get up. She headed right straight into our house So they did have that effect on her. So I don't know damn so interesting man I mean as someone who's made this their livelihood This has to be super exciting because we're talking about the scale of something maybe that's even surpassed the point pleasant sightings at this point and We're still talking about that and we might be in the middle of something that people are talking about for decades to come Well, I believe this is historical

38:24 As far as flying humanoid type being, these sightings probably the largest group of sightings in one general area since Point Pleasant. Any time a crypt is very rare that you get multiple number of sighting like this The reason why it's happening now I have no idea but yeah it's pretty remarkable and its probably most likely historical event It definitely is man I guess, is there anything else we should note about this Chicago situation before we look at some of the other open investigations you have going on? That's just about it. It's one of these things where I've just got to wait and see what else comes in and maybe we'll get a break or get a good photograph or get some other type of evidence that helps us distinguish what this is, where it's coming from, where it's going and why it's around

39:18 Right. It is kind of tough to say much more than people are seeing something weird, but that alone is just so fascinating and to get into maybe alien abduction a bit in one blog post you talk about David Jacobs who's a big proponent of the hybridization theory that humans are being abducted for reproductive and hybrid making purposes but you go on to say Contrary to David Jacobs' assertions, I have an opposing opinion in reference to alien abductions based on testimony and research I've conducted over the years. Can you tell us about that opposing opinion? What's the why behind abductions based on your research?" Well he admits that the evidence of basically body snatching is that abductees had been reporting similar experience recalling common details

40:12 You know, I really don't know if he's ever gotten a case or mentioned the case like I had gotten when I was working with David Eckhart and his family. I don't know if you're familiar with that case, but... Oh yeah. I'm leading right into it. That is a hell of a case definitely tell us a little bit about his Well basically they lived in the Pensacola area not really far from Galt Breeze where you know You're familiar with Galt Breez and all the craft settings when David was a contractor he had built up beautiful home What he called the home of his dreams and he's family had live there for maybe years so

40:51 when they started encountering these small beings that were coming somehow into the bedroom. He saw them, but you know there was so quick fleeting sightings well over the years he started placing cameras in the bedroom to try and capture these things come in and out I mean these things are actually destroying some of the cameras it got to a point where the only way he could keep a camera from getting destroyed was mounting one of those corner mirrors, security mirrors and shining you know have the camera focused on that and take the reflection off of that thing. That seemed to be the only way he could do it And he would use strobe lights a lot of other things but he did capture it He captured it I have it up on my Facebook page but its video of this being at the doorway in his bathroom

41:51 But when the abduction started, these beings plus what I believe was an overlord, a reptilian type being were coming in through a portal in the bedroom. And I know it sounds ridiculous and sound just so fantastical but I'm telling you, you know, you know, I'll be honest with you. For the first couple of months, I had a hard time believing David as well But he came forth with more and more evidence about these beings actually taking him to other locations, to underground locations, to underwater locations on this planet. He was cured of a real bad case of rheumatoid arthritis. It's just a fantastic story. And this actually went on for almost 10 years I mean his family was being abducted as well

42:48 But he was always taken somewhere other than where his family was taken. And they acknowledged that, that they'd be taking someplace else while he was seeing all kinds of things. They were showing it to him. It was almost like we're going to pick you up and let's take a tour. They were showing him underground caverns where there are other alien beings acting basically as slave labor. There were also human beings that were working in slave labor It seemed that these reptilian type being were the overlords, but this one reptilian was the one who came and got him each and every time. That occurred for about 10 years by the time he talked to me it was almost over with in fact

43:34 They still check up on him occasionally. It's like maybe twice a year around April and once another time in November, it seems to be a cycle where they just come back and check up on him. Wow! But it's a bizarre story but I'm telling you... And there is a lot of what I really have not released. There are some really horrific things he saw and described to me. Can you give us one of those crazy things that he saw? Well, I guess one of them would be when they actually took him into an area of one of these facilities where they would dissect humans. Living humans! They were awake and these reptilians were doing the actual dissecting and they were always cutting them from the back on in

44:28 Damn, and you saw the area where they disposed of these bodies. It was like a huge furnace but they would descend slowly into this cauldron or some type and that's how they would be disposed of Wow And I told him myself what did he ever explain to you? What they were doing He said no he said from what he was told those people just never made it back They were taken for good basically And he said there was another device he had seen where they would take these humans, and they had other beings as well. They put them in like a cylindrical

45:13 type of transport, but it was small. They would actually shrink this thing and shrink whoever wasn't put in there and when they placed in to this device several other these cylindrical pods or whatever they were. This is what they used to transport off planet nice almost like you know Stargate or something that effect but he was able to You know He's very good at drawing because I was working such And he had remembered some of the symbols he had seen. He drew a sketch of this device, he also written down a bunch of formulas that were projected to him telepathically I have taken these forms to a lot of different people they can figure out what it is Wow yeah it's an amazing story you know David was on that paranormal files factor faked

46:11 show with Ben Harris and when they, now they hadn't moved out of the house by then but when they were there they tried to recreate some of things that David claimed. And quite frankly when I talked to Ben he told me you know I have to believe the guy. He said I really can't disprove what he's claiming. I mean I had him on our radio show a couple weeks after the show was aired Cause you know, I had some issues with the way things were shown. But he told me he said right over the radio and said that cannot dispute what he said. I mean, I couldn't tell if he was faking or not there was one instance that really freaked him out that happened and it was something that David had told me before when they had a truck outside

46:57 and it was at nighttime, and they had the production crew and everything out in this truck outside the house. And David was in the house so... David had told me before that when these beings came into the house He believed that there was an electrical charge that kind of surrounded the place and got into the soil around the house because thousands of nightcrawlers would come up to the surface. Hmm, weird! So as they were filming David inside the house David had mentioned that he could feel something happening And they're looking around They can't tell what's going on in the house But when they went outside

47:41 There were thousands of these night crawlers all over the yard on the pathway, on the sidewalks and driveway. And David used to tell me every morning that he would get up after he'd have an encounter at home, he had take the hose and wash down the driveway into sidewalks out into the streets as neighbors used to raise hell about it except all these nightcrawler being Wash down out into the road every time it happened these things came up weird What do you think's behind that some type of field effect or some type of magnetism disrupting their navigation perhaps? Oh, I don't know. You know It just seemed that everything seemed to light up or become charged I guess we would say when they showed up He said there would be power surge in the electrical line sometimes he actually thought

48:32 that some of these beings could travel through the electrical conduits. I did capture an image in his bedroom at one point where this being was coming out of a wall about halfway and then ducked back in, It was hard to see, but it was pretty bizarre. Yeah. So that's basically what was going on with David. I do talk to him occasionally. This is about eight years ago when I started interviewing him And I'm interested to keep touch with him just to know what, you know, try to figure out what's been going on within his family. Yeah it was a bizarre thing and it's interesting because for years he tried to get MUFON in Florida to get involved with it and they just refused to get involved with lot of other investigators turned him down. I just happened to see the video one day when somebody had put her up on YouTube for him

49:31 I started asking around wondering where this person was, you know, where David was. Where the witness was and I got a hold of him by email and we eventually started talking. You know David and I talked on the phone. I think we talked every day for at least four to five hours for almost six months Damn. Yeah, he was showing me all kinds of video and pictures he had taken over the years but there's so much evidence and I really...I am kind of hesitant to release some of it. I have released part of it but there is just so much

50:07 that quite frankly I don't think people can handle. You know, I don't want to start sounding like the government not disclosing anything but yeah man i personally think that some of this stuff is maybe more than what people can handle Well, hearing about experimentation on live people and a cauldron of dead bodies is it's a lot to take in. I mean that alone is a lot to take in but you mentioned these glyphs and these formulas like I've seen some pictures of those that you posted super fascinating and no educated person that you forwarded these two has been able to make heads or tails of it at all have there been any decent guesses

50:49 I sent it to three mathematicians, one at Caltech, one at MIT and another at Brown. And none of them could make heads or tails what it meant. Wow! I was thinking about sending it to someone into quantum physics that's what David said he thought might be work but had one individual tell me that there is nothing in physics that even comes close being able deciphered with that words And I brought that up because we were talking about the other possible motivations for alien abduction, other than hybridization. What do you think the motivation was in David's case? Is it just to transport this information to him somehow? Because if he is seeing slaves and medical experiments it's interesting that he wouldn't be used in that same way

51:41 Yeah, I thought that was interesting. There were some things that had occurred at one particular time he told me that he and his family were sitting down for breakfast one morning and all of a sudden you saw this group of these small aliens walking out the living room into the kitchen and just walking by them He questioned it when that reptilian came a couple days later basically what he was told is that they were giving these other alien beings tours, that they were so fascinated by the way humans lived. That they were almost like giving them a tour of David's place. Wow! I know it sounds bizarre but he was dead serious

52:26 So I tell you, it's like I jump in the wormhole or whatever you want to call it. But every time I talk about her and think about it, it really is some fascinating stuff. You know, I have talked to a lot of people about this over the years and there have been people that have told me stories that closely resembled some of this stuff as well. So, you know, I don't know why he was chosen to see this They told him a few things that may happen in the future, that haven't happened and I don't know if they're going to happen. But they gave dates you know when the certain date comes up every year i just kind of hold my breath hoping nothing's gonna happen this has been going now for about six years and i'm not gonna mention the date i told david i wouldn't do that but

53:21 is the area in this day comes up on hold my breath open something doesn't happen. reports and I wrote this down because it was just a really interesting paragraph. It says, David describes seeing vast underground caverns that he was told were under the earth's surface in these caverns it became obvious what species was in charge the reptilians there were other beans as well namely the lesser class or grays As well as other species. These caverns appeared to be some type of mining operation that uses manual labor, this included human laborers." And I love anything that has to do with the underground! Is there anything more you could tell us about maybe other species he saw or the scope of these operations that are supposed to be underground?

54:18 I do know that there are so many different types of gray beings. You hear about the small grays and the tall grays, well he told me at one point he thought there were at least 11 different types of gray beings. There are some that are just workers or some that are kind of a hierarchy you know i've had other abduction reports over the years it seems to me that the reptilians are more like foremen And that another group of like insectoid type beings are usually the ones in charge everything but i think these beings that are said to be insect water basically some type of reptilian has morphed into.

55:05 another level. Hmm like a butterfly in a cocoon? Basically, I metamorphosis you know I believe that's actually what happens now I have talked to few people about that some who say that well you know he came through and then I came through there but i'm just going by what I hear yeah just white with people tell me that they've seen You know, as far as suppose of hybrid. I think there is some hybrid programs but i don't believe that that's the main reason why people are abducted right? I'm sure it's a whole bunch of reasons yeah! I think the biggest reason is tissue collection or body fluid collection for certain other reasons

55:49 Maybe widening that scope out to just say medical procedures might be better. Experimentation, yeah. Yeah. Damn. Huh? And also just before we start really wrapping it up your next book from what I understand is going to be on UFO encounters right? I decided to change that. Oh, okay! I'm gonna concentrate on what's going on in Chicago Yeah... why? Because there is some behind the scenes stuff that hasn't been disclosed That very well may be able to disclose later down the road But i want it get down and writing, i wanna get all together Put a few of my thoughts into it Maybe little speculation on my part other than what already speculated You know..I don't know

56:37 I think a book may be warranted. Absolutely, I would say so! Considering this is setting the record for a concentration of sites going back all the way to Point Pleasant... yeah it warrants a book Yeah i really don't want to relate it to what happened at Point Pleasant you know all the strange activity that happened during that period there maybe some correlation eventually but I don't know. I don't even know where this whole thing's gonna lead me to. This thing could continue on for indefinitely, i mean...I dunno. Yeah well that's half the fun of it! I'm kinda thinking when the weather changes maybe May

57:18 And all the snow's hitting Chicago, maybe this thing might level off somehow. You know, who knows? I mean, I have people that are scared to death that Kim Jong-un is going to drop a nuclear weapon on Chicago and this is some portent of doom. I don't know. Yeah. And I hear all kinds of things you know if people were freaking out but...I tried to spell it as best I can, I'm telling ya! I did hear people talk about the eclipse and what was going on in Chicago but in fact there was a sighting in Chicago during the eclipse. Huh?!

58:05 And a lot of people saw it too, right downtown. Oh wow! Right by the harbor So I guess one more question would be when it comes to the sightings in Chicago What is the largest number of people that have been able to corroborate a single sighting? I guess the Adler Planetarium Sightings The sighting at the Adler Planetarium We've had two groups that saw this thing as well as the thing at Auburn Gresham or we had the two police officers then I had another witness come forward, and seen this thing in the nearby tree before the police have gotten there. People have been seeing that thing in that neighborhood for about 2 days prior to that as well.

58:51 Oh man, that's just amazing. And I think it adds so much credibility to have a group sighting like that. Just amazing and to have a concentration of sightings like we're having in Chicago just blows my mind. I love it along with all the other wild stuff we talked about before we do close it out please remind people where they can go to follow up on your investigations to get your books or you know to contact you with their own reports if they see something strange out there Well, everything's listed on phantomsandmonsters.com On the right-hand column I've got a couple of links there to some of the bigger stories Some of things we're investigating now I've got 8 or 9 years worth of stories in the archive As well as you can get a daily newsletter free daily newsletter if you sign up for it If you see something You can call me directly at 4102415974

59:48 or send an email to lawnstrickler at phantomsandmonsters.com, or go the website there are several links there where you can make a report and send an email off to me And my books can be found on Amazon all you gotta do is put Lawn Strickler or Phantoms & Monsters in the search and they'll all come up Boom. There you have it people, if you see something say something. Lon great talking with ya good luck on the book thanks again so much You really are the tip of the spear when it comes to cryptids So I really appreciate you spending some time with me and updating the people on the latest Hopefully we can do this again sometime If it keeps up but until then keep doing what you do man It is my pleasure thank you You got it

1:00:33 So there it is, ladies and gentlemen. Lon Strickler the cryptid king of Pennsylvania The lifeblood of phantoms and monsters One of the best cryptid news sites on the internet And I just find this to be so fascinating This is such a large group of sightings Just let me run through the headlines here Bat-like object witnessed over Chicago. New Mothman like encounter in Chicago First Chicago Owl man eyewitness in Oz Park. Mothman seen again by multiple witnesses Third Chicago Owl man sighting reported Fourth sighting, giant bat over Lake Michigan Bat out of hell witnessed by father and son Little Calmet River in Chicago Big humanoid bat witnessed over Calmet Park

1:01:15 A pair of large bat-like humanoids in downtown Chicago. Flying humanoid sighting confirmed, downtown. Large black flying man sighting, Calumet Park neighborhood. Truck driver observes large bat like humanoid gliding over Cicero Illinois. Large winged humanoid encountered again in Lincoln Park Jogger encounters Chicago Phantom near Navy Pier. Giant red-eyed bat flies over couple in Chicago's Lakeview, large humanlike black bat seen by multiple witnesses at Adler Planetarium, Bat like humanoid seen flying over Logan Square. Chicago police officer reports phantom sightings in Auburn Grisham neighborhood. Second phantom leaps from Willis Tower

1:01:56 Huge black shape seen gliding over Albany Park. Human shapeshifts into giant Blackbird on Chicago Tri-State Tollway. Giant batlike entity emerges from under Chicago Lakefront Overpass 7 foot tall man, bat creature perched on downtown Chicago streetlamp. Chicago Phantom flying over Melrose Park Winged humanoid confronts shocking Chicago witnesses Big owl circles offshore near Chicago's Ohio Street Beach Big-winged bean observed on Chicago suburb house roof. Chicago phantom makes another appearance at Lollapalooza. Chicago Phantom sighting red eyes over the water. Strange creature witnessed over Burnham Harbor before solar eclipse and shadowy being lurking about in Chicago's Wicker Park I skipped a lot of them there because they are kind of repetitive headlines, but that's something that...I don't think we should just straight up ignore

1:02:52 I think it's tough to say people are seeing nothing, or that they're misidentifying something which would have such similar descriptions. I also find it suspect that MUFON has gotten reports, LAWN's clearly gotten reports but Freedom of Information Act requests return nothing? Nobody has called the police on this even though a couple officers are actually in the witness pool?! I don't like that. Something definitely seems off there, and I know Lon doesn't really like the Harbinger of Doom angle—I think it's incomplete at best too personally—but I've been told Nick Redfern has written a couple pieces about strange apocalyptic dreams in the Chicago area specifically recently so that's worth mentioning even though i do think that should be thought about symbolically if its connected at all. I don't think these are signs of literal apocalypse but they're still something to throw on the pile of weird

1:03:42 And I know i'll get people saying, oh these cryptid episodes are just dumb distractions. But I really disagree first I do them pretty rarely, because you don't need constant updates. But it's something to keep an eye on and i know i've said many times that i've never really seen anything And it's pretty late in the game now to disclose that i have but truthfully i did see something strange when i was a kid And i don't talk about it because number one i've never really heard A matching encrypted description It wasn't a bigfoot it wasn't an owl man so i don't really have a box to put it in Number two, it was a pretty short situation. Probably 30 seconds or so which can feel like an eternity when you're staring at a clearly intelligent and unknown being but it's still a short amount of time not much happens other than it spots you and then runs away

1:04:31 Number three, I didn't want to be one of those kinds of hosts that makes everything about them and puts themselves at the center of everything. And I still don't want to be that! And number four, I'm the only one who saw it although my parents were close enough to know that i called out for them and ended up a sobbing mess when I knew they didn't see it also And the only reason I'm saying something now, and also not going into a ton of detail is because it did come up with Gordon White when he had me on Rune Soup recently. And i think its gonna be his next episode It feels like it would be kinda shitty to undercut that and leapfrog this in front him Seems like poor podcast etiquette right? If there really is any

1:05:08 But I think i'm going to write something up for the forums because there have been some odd things in my life that when you put them in aggregate and you also put them in the context of a guy who ended up on the path of conspiracy podcaster they become a bit weirder and a bit more impactful. And I do think cryptids are out there. I don't consider them flesh and blood animals, only that they can appear that way? And you can say it's a dumb distraction not worth exploring but if you saw something unexplainable even briefly, ya probably keep checking in on the latest encrypted research every so often...and so we do! I mean biologists are getting hard over the discovery of a new color frog in the Amazon but they don't want to look at this stuff?! Not even curious?? I find that hard to believe

1:05:53 But anyway, that's the show. Hear me on RuneSoup this week I'm also really happy with the next two episodes of THC that you're gonna get Both of them are return guests expanding on their previous appearances because their areas of expertise definitely need an update And to be honest both guests sort of come with some lifestyle or personal belief system elements That i'm not a big fan of It's true whether it's the consequence of being raised with a military background Or someone who is deeply religious These things don't vibe with me at all. But I sort of ignore those aspects because what they have to share is so fascinating and few can do it better, and it's partly these elements that I'm not a fan of that actually drive a person to do the research, so it's all connected."

1:06:39 But I say this all the time, try not to hang on every word a person says. I always see comments like, well I had to turn this off as soon as the guest said X and I think that a lot of times we are missing the forest for trees if you're open minded and know how to interpret or even sidestep a person's biases, you can still learn from them And maybe it's my bias. But what I'm saying is we don't all look through the same lens, and if we can take a person's research and reconfigure it for our own lens, I think we're better off than saying, oh this guest doesn't believe in chemtrails so I'm not going to listen to what they have to say about the history of false flags or this guest drinks the Kool-Aid on vaccines so I can't hear what they have to say about astrology Or this guy has researched GMOs his whole life but because he made a comment about the moon landing happening...I think he must be a disinformation agent

1:07:29 You know, stuff like that. And sometimes it is surprising to find out a person sees through illusion A but is caught up in illusion B... But that's life! We're all on our own journey trying to navigate this weird reality and I hope by now higher side listeners can see why a person was brought here and if they make a poorly thought-out comment on something unrelated, I don't think we should crucify them just put them in the proper context and that includes me Heh, but that was a rather unnecessary rant about something that had nothing to do with today's show. In fact I actually like how in a lot of interviews when it does get political or off topic with Lon he isn't shy about saying, I don't know about that or I really want to go there etc., and that is pretty smart way to be in time where everyone is looking for reasons to pounce on you

1:08:16 That said, one other little bit of news. Like I mentioned, I'm going to be on the next episode of Rune Soup. I'm also gonna be on the next episode of Tinfoil Hat with Sam Tripoli and I'm going to be doing a Reddit AMA this Thursday at 6pm Pacific Time. I'm really excited about it! I think its pretty big plug for me and the show If you're unfamiliar with Reddit, AMA stands for Ask Me Anything So it's like a text comment based Q&A and Reddit can be a raw and harsh crowd so hopefully I don't get beat up too badly but come join in if you want to ask me some questions. I've read a lot of AMAs so i think i know what separates a good one from a bad one, so reddit dot com slash r slash conspiracy at 6 p.m on Thursday the 14th so be there or move on with your life

1:09:07 Of course, today's free show with Lon covered everything we could about the Owlman sightings and we got in-depth into the strange David Eckerd case. And in The Plus Show, we tackled several other open cases Lon has on his plate We got into underground reptilian humanoid encounters in Missouri... ...the strange death of Todd Seas Problems with Mufon, Dogman and Wolfman sightings in Pennsylvania Skinwalkers, Lon's personal alien encounters And one of the creepier things I've seen on YouTube whether it was fake or not Flying manta ray entities All sorts of wild stuff, please do consider signing up for PLUS to support the show and get the full episodes. I think i have one of the most honest pitches in podcasting-I don't try to pretend im suffering and raise a lot of drama over this or that or server costs even though anyone paying attention knows its been a rough summer for us thats my shit to handle. I say signup for THC plus for you not me

1:10:05 If you like the show, pick it up. I keep the price basically as low as it can be because you do have to pay processing fees and service fees for having companies process the transactions so if its like 45 cents a transaction plus 5% I mean there's nothing there at less than $5 bucks So I do like the McDonalds approach Low price, low barrier of entry and high volume I want people to have every reason to get the free show So that's how we do it. And hopefully THC Plus is better for you than McDonalds It's hard to be worse, right? But that's it for me I love you guys Keep your seats laid back Your glasses packed and your pimp hands strong out there! And I'll see ya soon Your move Owlmen Manbats and odd ethereal entities of our mysterious multi-dimensional reality Your fucking move

1:11:04 And then realized it was dark outside It was like coming down from the sky I don't know who or why Must be those strangers that come every night Whose saucers shaped light put people uptight

1:11:41 Leave blue-green footprints that glow in the dark I hope they get home, oh Mr. Spaceman Won't you please take me along? I won't do anything wrong Hey! Mr. Spaceman Won't you please take me along The highest side

1:12:24 I woke up this morning was feeling quite weird. I had flies in my beard, my toothpaste was smeared. I opened my window they'd written my name said so long we'll see you again. Mr. Spaceman, won't you please take me along? I won't do anything wrong Hey! Mr. Spaceman Won't you please take me along the higher side Hey! Mr. Spaceman Won't you please take me along

1:13:32 I won't do anything wrong Hey, Mr. Spaceman Won't you please take me along the higher side?