What happened
Mawnan church stands on a wooded headland above the mouth of the Helford River. According to the account spread by Tony “Doc” Shiels – a showman, magician and “monster hunter” living in Cornwall – on 17 April 1976 two young sisters on holiday there saw a large winged figure, a “feathered bird-man,” hovering above the church tower. Their father supposedly cut the family holiday short at once. Shiels showed a drawing of the creature allegedly made by one of the girls and named it Owlman. On 3 July that year two fourteen-year-old girls camping nearby reportedly met “a big owl with pointed ears, as big as a man,” with glowing eyes and black pincer-like claws. Further reports from around the church were recorded in 1978, 1979, 1989 and 1995.
Witnesses
According to Shiels – two sisters on holiday and two teenage campers; all accounts are known from Shiels and from a 1976 pamphlet about the Falmouth Bay sea monster.
Explanations and hypotheses
Occult historian Gareth Medway noted that witnesses of the “monsters” promoted by Shiels were either connected to him or communicated only with him, and considered the whole story a probable hoax – Shiels was known for similar stunts. Joe Nickell points out that barn owls nest in church towers, while Lionel Fanthorpe suggested an escaped eagle-owl. The lack of independent witnesses means Owlman should be treated with caution.
Disputed A likely explanation exists, but some of the facts are still disputed.
Sources
- Gareth Medway, Monstrous Tales (Magonia)
- Joe Nickell, The Mystery Chronicles: More Real-Life X-Files (University Press of Kentucky, 2004)
More: Wikipedia (en)