The Owlman is pretty much the United Kingdom’s version of the iconic Mothman from the United States. The Owlman is hardly as well known as the Mothman but here I will go over some of its history and what exactly it is believed to be by some.
It comes from Cornish legend as the first and most well-known sighting is reported to have come from the civil parish of Mawnan at the parish church. The story first came to light after writer, magician and artist, Anthony “Doc” Shiels claimed to investigate a report of two young girls who were on holiday in Mawnan who witnessed a large winged creature hovering over the St. Mawnan and St. Stephen’s Church in April 1976.
There are varying stories of the encounter, as folklore tends to go, but most stories tend to agree the two girls were called June and Vicky Melling. The girls, aged 12 and 9 allegedly had an encounter with this “feathered bird-man” that had scared them so much that their father cancelled the family holiday early.
Sheils wrote about this in a letter which was published in a pamphlet called Morgawr: The Monster of Falmouth Bay by Anthony Mawnan-Peller.
Sheils later claimed a 2nd sighting of the creature by two 14-year-old girls called Sally Chapman and Barbara Petty in July of that year. The story goes that they were out camping in woods near Mawnan where the first sighting had been reported, they were also apparently already aware of the first sighting as they had read the Morgawr pamphlet. According to Sheils, Chapman said the encounter happened during the evening when they were confronted by what looked like a big owl with pointed ears, the size of a man and that its eyes glowed red. Apparently, they believed it to at first be someone playing a prank on them and attempting to scare them, upon laughing at it the creature suddenly flew up into the air, causing the girls to scream. Apparently black pincer-like claws were witnessed as it flew up into the trees.
Shiels was able to obtain sketches from the girls of the encounter and concluded that both pictures were similar enough to confirm the creature and different enough to know the girls didn’t collaborate.
After these two alleged sightings there were an uptick of sightings reported, some by Shiels and others by witnesses themselves, hitting a high-point from 1978 to 1995, the descriptions of the Owlman in most of these subsequent sightings were practically identical to its description in the 2nd sighting by Sally and Barbara.
One sighting was published in a book called The Owlman and Others by Jonathon Downes where a woman under the pseudonym of Miss Opie claimed to see a monster that looked like a devil, flying up through the trees near the Mawnan church in 1978.
Jonathon Downes also claimed to interview another witness to Owlman about a young man and his girlfriend who saw the creature and noted about its red glowing eyes. Another sighting in 1995 is also claimed, this witnessed by a woman from Chicago who was on vacation in Cornwall wrote to a publication called the Western Morning News about seeing a man-bird with a ghastly face, wide mouth, glowing eyes and pointed ears.
Many have questioned the authenticity and believability of these stories, especially the two original stories and other sightings brought forward by Anthony Shiels. Shiels was also heavily involved in another monster case in Cornwall called Morgawr, where he claims three naked witches summoned the ancient sea monster through a summoning ritual which led to numerous sightings of it in Cornwall. Shiels has also wrote books on how to hoax things such as hauntings, UFO and monster sightings. He is also said to be an admirer of the Mothman Prophecies, which is alleged inspiration for Owlman.
The three witches also just happened to be Shiels wife and two daughters. Many of the sightings of this monster as well as the Owlman were brought forward by Shiels from apparent interviews with witnesses, many of these people he happened to know personally and others who were never seen again, leaving the possibility they weren’t even real to begin with. Hysteria from Shiels bringing the supposed sightings to light can also account for other sightings brought forward by people themselves. Shiels has previously said he gets enjoyment out of haunting houses and raising spirits. Shiels has been the architect of a number of supposed hoaxes and legends, even leading to media outlets avoiding anything which his name cropped up in.
So, it does unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, depending on how you want to look at it, look like the Owlman is a simple case of hoax and hysteria and mis-identification of normal owls in the area caused by Anthony “Doc” Shiels in one of his many potential fantasies for self-enjoyment and fame. But nonetheless it is a pretty cool creature and Shiels has a fairly imaginative and trick-filled mind if he did make this up.
Perhaps in a future blog post I will go more in-depth on Anthony “Doc” Shiels and his history of alleged antics, which is all a mystery in itself kind of.
As well as that there is some significance to be paid towards the witness brought forward by Jonathon Downes and the witness who reported their sighting to a news publication, as they were some of the very few witnesses not brought up by Shiels.
Despite the above there are some who still may choose to believe and from time to time there is still the odd under-reported sighting.
In an article by the Mirror a man called Mark Davies and his friend Chris Power talk about their strange and terrifying alleged encounters at the graveyard in the church, he also talks about leys which we covered in another post earlier on, and he claims this is why the area is active with paranormal activity and also claims the area is dangerous.
He goes on to say that he heard hissing and flapping in the trees that went right over his head. He said he then saw the figure and described it having horns on its head, during this time he said he was also getting replies on his EVP recorder, a device used by paranormal investigators and enthusiasts in an attempt to capture ghostly voices we can’t hear with our own ears.
The man then goes on to claim that he believed there was demonic energy and that it was unsafe and also said his friend was attacked by an unseen force that scratched his arm and broke his camera. He advises people not to go to the area.
So, does the Owlman really exist? Was it all just a big hoax that caused hysteria? Truth is we don’t really know and so for now it remains in the hall of the not entirely explained.
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