The.
Whovians.
Were.
Right.
Being the best friend of two newly-minted Whovians, I am naturally inundated almost daily with stories from the various adventures of the Doctor; one of the beings I have heard so much about is the Weeping Angel. In Doctor Who, if you blink when you are looking at one of these stone angel statues (heads up for the uninitiated, the Statue of Liberty is one), they kind of kill you by sending you back in time to another period.
So far, I haven't found any stories of that happening in the West State Street Cemetery of Athens, Ohio, but I was intrigued when I heard of the legend that surrounds the "Angel of the Unknown Soldiers," who stands over a grave in the cemetery weeping for the souls of the unnamed dead who are buried in that cemetary, which is said to be heavily haunted.
No, I don't just mean its head is looking down and its eyes are downcast. I mean, according to legend, this thing actually weeps.
Legend has it that the angel statue, which is surrounded by an iron fence to protect her, moves; people passing by say that they have seen her stone wings flutter. She got her more informal title, though, because most of the stories surrounding her come from people who have reportedly seen tears streaming down her face. Beneath her eyes, dark stains can actually be seen, but it has never been proven if those are actually tear stains or just marks from dirt and dust that has settled there over the years.
I would love to one day get out there and see this statue for myself (it's just one of the many strange goings-on in Ohio, often proclaimed by my father to be the weirdest state in the Union), and I would love to bring my two Whovian friends along--especially the one who is scared to death of the Weeping Angels and for whom I decided to write this post in the first place. (I hope you enjoy this when you read it, by the way.)
Is she the guardian angel of the lost souls of the West State Street Cemetery? I mean, orbs are oftentimes seen around her, and the cemetery itself is loaded down with disembodied voices, apparitions, and unidentifiable sounds, so...maybe she could be.
Does she really move and weep? That's a question, readers, I hope to be able to give you an answer to someday--if I haven't been sent back in time, that is.
Don't blink.
So today I learned about another strange, freaky creature that was reportedly first spotted in New Jersey, my wonderful home state. Joining the list capped by the Jersey Devil (or Leeds Devil, if you're being particular), mutant pineys, and Snooki is the Grinning Man.
This entity, was allegedly seen for the first time in New Jersey in the 1960s. He is described as being over six feet tall, without any hair and with beady eyes that are set far apart in his large, domed head and he always wears a gigantic, "hideous, shark-like grin." (Mysterious Universe) Another disturbing this about this guy is that people who see him don't describe him as having a nose or ears. His skin is decribed as either greenish or tan (but how tan--this is, after all, Jersey) and he apparently wears "a shiny metallic-like set of green overalls." (The Paranormal Files)
But I can't just blame Jersey for this creey guy running around--he's also been spotted in West Virginia, near to where the Mothman sightings occurred. In fact, John Keel, the paranormal investigator and author of "The Mothman Prophecies," is widely regarded to be the first investigator to mention the entity in his book The Complete Guide to Mysterious Beings. In the book, he gives an account of the first alleged sighting, which took place on October 11th, 1966, around 9:45 at night in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Walking home on New Jersey and 4th Street and then turning on a road adjacent to the New Jersey Turnpike, two boys named James “Jimmy” Yanchitis and Martin “Mouse” Munov felt nervous because "they had heard that a neighborhood woman had been chased by a “tall, green man” earlier that evening in the same area." (Mysterious)
Jimmy saw him first. The Grinning Man was standing in scrub brush on the other side of a fence behind Mouse and he seemed to be staring at a house across the road, ignorant of the boys. Jimmy described him to both Keel and the police:“He was strangest guy we’ve ever seen…He was standing behind that fence. I don’t know how he got there. He was the biggest man I ever saw.” (Mysterious)
When Jimmy told Mouse what he was seeing, Mouse turned and saw "a huge figure clad in a green, one-piece suit that seemed to be reflecting the streetlight above." (Mysterious) In his report to the police, Mouse said: “Jimmy nudged me and said, ‘Who’s that guy standing behind you?’ I looked around and there he was…behind that fence. Just standing there. He pivoted around and looked right at us…then he grinned a big old grin.” (Mysterious)
The boys ran. Hell, if I saw a giant man in a shiny one-piece suit staring out from behind some bushes and grinning, I'd run too, gathering details for this blog be damned. I mean, I love discovering new information to share with you guys and all, but come on....
Amazingly enough, there was a UFO sighting that took place at the same time 40 miles north of Elizabeth; this led people to believe that the Grinning Man had come from that UFO, but I don't know if I believe that; if the UFO sighting took place at the exact same time, how could some being from aboard the ship have been seen outside the ship at the exact same time 40 miles away?
I know, I know. Beam me up, Scotty.
And, as I said before, the Grinning Man was also spotted in West Virigina; a man named Woodrow Derenberger was driving in an area about 40 miles (what's up with the whole 40-mile thing?) from when Mothman was sighted in 1966 and heard a crash before seeing a vehicle pull up beside him, a vehicle that was "pouring fire from both ends and was similar to a kerosene lamp in shape." (The Paranormal Files) Like in the New Jersey case, the man who stepped out of this strange vehicle was wearing shiny green overalls (maybe the aliens are going with the Pa Kent look now), except in this case he allegedly spoke to Derenberger telepathically about UFO sightings in the area after introducing himself as "Idrid Cold" (The Paranormal Files), producing a more solid link, if it's true, to UFO activity than present in the original New Jersey sighting. According to the Paranormal Files website, however, "this UFO connection is only present in the Derenberger case."
The Grinning Man has also been spotted right in Point Pleasant, causing some people to draw a connection between him and Mothman.
To me, this guy sounds like some sort of alien life-form, different from the typical "grays" in appearance and certainly actions; as far as I know, nobody has ever claimed to have been abducted by the Grinning Man. And if it is true that the Grinning Man tried to speak to Derenberger about UFO sightings in the area, perhaps he is trying to gather intelligence on his fellow aliens' activities--although that begs the question, why would he have to talk to an earthling to find such information out?
I don't know, fellow weirdos. I guess I just have to chalk this one up to an unknown for now (even more unknown than normal, I mean). In the end, I guess what it means overall is that Jersey just got a little bit weirder.
