The Owlman of Mawnan

I’m a little surprised that this topic hasn’t come up, at least I searched and didn’t find a specific thread, only a couple of references. Anyways, I thought I would get one going as I am keen to know what other ATS readers think about this. It is one of the more unusual stories, and to be honest, it probably covers more of a paranormal stance than Cryptid, but as Mothman gets coverage here, I’m inclined to believe that Owly will get more attention in this area.

Location of Mawnan:



A little bit of background. The Owlman, or as it’s more commonly referred to, ‘The Owlman of Mawnan’ was a spectral ‘creature’ spotted in woods in Mawnan, England in the late seventies. A little bit of info on him/her/it:

‘Owlman is the name of a strange hybrid creature that, appropriately enough, combines human and owl anatomy. Owlman's size is said to be the same as a regular human. He is often seen flying, which should rule out a person in a costume. He makes a hissing noise and has glowing red eyes. The claws on his feet are unusually large and are black in color. His feathers are generally described as light grey or white. Owlman has been sighted by many witnesses in Mawnan Woods and in the cemetary of Mawnan Old Church in Cornwall, Britain. He mostly appears to young girls.’
Source: Owlman - TinWiki

The first to witness this beastie were two girls who were on a camping trip:

‘In 1976 on April 17, two young girls claimed to have seen a giant owl hovering over the local church tower, as did two other young girls on July 3. In the second encounter, 14-year-old Sally Chapman was camping with a friend, Barbara Perry, in woods near the church. According to her account, as she stood outside her tent, she heard a hissing sound and turned to see a figure that looked like an owl as big as a man, with pointed ears and red eyes. The girls reported that the creature flew up into the air, revealing black pincer-like claws. Sightings of this figure continued to be reported on the following day (when it was described as "silvery grey") and on two occasions two years later, in June and August of 1978, all within the vicinity of the church (Bord, 1980).’
Source: Owlman - Wikipedia

Below is an artists rendering of Owlman, Doc Shiels and the 2 girls:


The critter has been seen numerous other times by people in the area, one of whom was apparently a student from Chicago who went there while on a trip to the UK. Director and Founder of the Center for Fortean Zoology, Jonathan Downes (Jonathan Downes info) wrote and published a book on the phenomena called ‘The Owlman and Others’ in which he gives an exhaustive account of his many investigations into the Owlman entity, and its connection to another local cryptid, Mawgar, a sea monster spotted in nearby Falmouth Bay. He also sheds a little light on a local ‘Wizard’ who seemed pretty active during the sightings of Owlman, and whom has become known as ‘Doc’ Shiels. He (Doc) apparently tried unsuccessfully to invoke the Owlman while local TV channels turned up in the hopes of a good story.

Mawnan Church - it was seen hovering above the spire:


Looking out over Falmouth bay, where Mawgar has been seen numerous times:


I recommend picking up a copy of the book, and if you can take the Doc’s ramblings with a pinch of salt, the information about the Owlman is very interesting. Also, another recommended read (if you can find a copy) is ‘Alien Animals’ by Colin and Janet Bord, which also contains a good section on Owlman (as well as many other cryptids) as well as The Mothman…

Now, it occurred to me numerous times about the many similarities between Owlman and the Mothman, spotted in 1966 in Point Pleasant, WV. Both of them are winged entities, both were reported to have red glowing eyes. Both were reported to be about the size of a man. Both were also said to make high pitched screeching and/or hissing sounds.

Not only that, but I saw some (maybe vague) similarities between their locations and the significance of them. Mawnan Woods and the church there stand on a Ley Line, and is by the sea, whereas Point Pleasant apparently was cursed by Chief Cornstalk and is surrounded on 2 sides by rivers. I know these are vague, but something worth considering??

I hope this has stirred a little interest, and will get the ball rolling on this fantastic beastie… look forward to some discussion!

Edit: added pictures.

[edit on 3/9/2009 by Genus_Unknown]

reply to post by Genus_Unknown


I have not heard of this one before. I was going to suggest it could be a version of Mothman as it does have human characteristics. Whatever it is, I would not want to encounter it during the night.

Originally posted by kidflash2008
reply to post by Genus_Unknown

 

I have not heard of this one before. I was going to suggest it could be a version of Mothman as it does have human characteristics. Whatever it is, I would not want to encounter it during the night.

It's very possible! One thing to note though is that the Owlman has only been seen in a small area, namely near the church, and the woods beside it. mothman tended to be quite the sight-seer, as he was seen in and around Point Pleasant at various locations.

I agree though, coming across this in the woods a night would probably call for an underwear change!

Great thread.

Love reading about a creature I hadn't heard of before.

I'll take a good look at all your links and see if I can get my hands on any of them books.

S + F

reply to post by Genus_Unknown


Great find, I live a few hours from there and had never heard about it!

I will do some digging also and see what I can find.

S&F

Thats great! I look forward to seeing what further info you can bring to the table!

Some more pictures from around there would be great as well, if possible.

I unearthed my copy of Owlman and Others last night, so i'm going to flip through it and see what else I can add.

I found this video on Youtube, an interesting little clip:

I am good friends with the CFZ and one of the people involved in the whole incident (Jon Downes) and it is certainly an interesting account, I would definitely suggest the book the CFZ produces, it makes odd reading.

My best guess? Doc Shiels made a Tulpa, I did some research for Jon on the case a few years ago, and there are some interesting threads to my research, mostly concerning ancient pagan gods, but it never really metered out to a full blown hypothesis that would stand up to scrutiny in the 'real world'.

So, yeah, I'm very aware that Doc Shiels is a powerful magickal character, and also, very much a lot of the latter (a character), he's the best guess for this whole mystery, he was concentrating energy (since most of those involved in the sightings were teens) that he focused onto a Genius Loci that was involved with the ancient church of Mawnaan (who is also an ancient pagan god, spelt slightly differently, and is an OWL GOD).

Hi EJ, and thanks for commenting

I'm familiar with the 'Tulpa' theory, and I think you may have hit the nail on the head. I read the 'Three men Seeking Monsters' book with Jon, Nick Redfern and the other chap and the tulpa features quite prominantly throughout. It certainly is'nt a great leap of faith to imagine if this was how Owlman was created, then surely Mothman could also be a tulpa? especially with the area (Point Pleasant) supposedly being cursed by Chief Cornstalk, the area was probably already charged with energy, as was the area of Mawnan.

Great stuff!

reply to post by Genus_Unknown

OP
very interesting thread but the youtube video link is disabled... its not working. I've always thought that mothman creature was interesting and i read somewhere that it has been sighted all over the world (if someone could tell me where i can read reports on mothman sighting that would be great!). however i never heard of owlman though they do sound similar in description.

Originally posted by codex code
reply to post by Genus_Unknown

 

OP
very interesting thread but the youtube video link is disabled... its not working. I've always thought that mothman creature was interesting and i read somewhere that it has been sighted all over the world (if someone could tell me where i can read reports on mothman sighting that would be great!). however i never heard of owlman though they do sound similar in description.

Hi Codex,

thanks for the heads up. Actually, if you click on the link on that YouTube video, it will take you to the video. Sucks that embedding was disabled, but it is still viewable on the YouTube site.

Funny you should mention it, but I had an email blast over the weekend from a paranormal/cryptozoology website. Some kind of mothman type creature has been spotted, check it out:

naturalplane.blogspot.com...

Genus

These humanoid/animal entities are fascinating.
It seems that, for whatever reason, they are attracted or fixed to a single location, which could create numerous interesting hypothesies.
I think the first thing to do would be to read up on stories from native peoples and mythologies. If it appears that they are a new occurance, then it would require a lot of investigation. The thought of a new, bizzare creature out there enthralls me.

Originally posted by Modwolf
These humanoid/animal entities are fascinating.
It seems that, for whatever reason, they are attracted or fixed to a single location, which could create numerous interesting hypothesies.
I think the first thing to do would be to read up on stories from native peoples and mythologies. If it appears that they are a new occurance, then it would require a lot of investigation. The thought of a new, bizzare creature out there enthralls me.

Oh boy do I miss crumpets...

Actually, interesting you should mention that, as I have come across some Native American articles about winged beasties which, strangely enough, red eyes. I'll have to have a dig on my comp at home and post the links up here. I believe this picture was attached to the article:

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/c462aca22043.jpg[/atsimg]

*edit - spelling!


[edit on 4/23/2009 by Genus_Unknown]

Haha, killer avatar, no?

That is an interesting picture. I feel a few features should be highlighted:
The wings end in slender, three-fingered hands, and it appears to have larger legs than an owl. In fact, it looks rather ape-like.
Unfortunately, this is not the same kind of creature as the Owlman of Mawnan. Those are Native Americans and, as stated before, Mawnan is in England. While these beasties would have shared a common ancestor, it would be more than likely that they have become adapted to their different environments. Geographical isolation tends to do that to species.

Indeed this does appear to be a illustration from Native Amreican legend, but I put it up to show the similarities in description with both The Mothman and the Owlman of Mawnan, which would lead me to believe that both of those critters (and quite possibly the beastie in the illustration) could well be 'Tulpas'. If you remember, Mothman appeared in an area that was allegedly cursed by Native Americans, or namely Chief Cornstalk.

I think I may have to start documenting accounts of winged beasties with glowing eyes, and see what the correlation to them and their geography is *scratches chin thoughtfully*

And indeed, your avatar is most yummy. Needs Marmite tho

Part of my research touched on Jon's theories of the Thunderbirds of Aztec legends, but there are other similar beings in Native Indian mythos as you say, Quetzalcoatl is related to one of these, he had I guess you could say servants that were winged daemons in the guise of our favourite feathered freaks. Forgot what they are called, something like Guarda Gardura? I'll see if I can find it if you don't before me.

I'll try and find my stuff and type it up for you to read, but I definitely think they are loci, minor spirits or gods of the area, and Cornstalk's curse is IMO definitely an attributable point in the whole MM case.

Doc awakening the spirit (If you've read the original CFZ book, and had the benefit of speaking to Jon or even Tony himself you'll definitely understand!) is the Owlman theory in my mind. He wanted a bit of fun, but failed to think just how powerful his own magickal forces would be if they touched on something already ancient in the area.

Originally posted by Genus_Unknown
I read the 'Three men Seeking Monsters' book with Jon, Nick Redfern and the other chap and the tulpa features quite prominantly throughout.

You mean Jon's assistant and the resident Zoologist Richard (Freeman)? Jon's theories mostly centre around the thought form since humans are very powerful, and I'm a firm believer in mind over matter and having done a lot of occult stuff in my past that thought and the law of attraction are not merely stupid whimsy, but are actual, its just humans are too complex to really focus on simple things, but fear makes it easier. I'd certainly be worried about a 8" flying beasty, so my mind would strengthen it, exactly as the method for creating Tulpas. Doc stopped thinking about it, it disappeared and has not been seen since. Doc is as you may have read if you don't know him, VERY versed in the occult, and is certainly a powerful wizard in the real sense of teh word.

If you have Facebook, Jon is available and is quite happy to chat to the general public about his cases, in fact, sometimes gettin him to stop is the key


EDIT:

Ah yes, en.wikipedia.org... are the Hindu version, not the 'Indian' version, but there is one that is indentical in Native American Indian belief. Same creature however in general.

[edit on 21-5-2009 by ejsaunders]

Originally posted by Modwolf
These humanoid/animal entities are fascinating.
It seems that, for whatever reason, they are attracted or fixed to a single location, which could create numerous interesting hypothesies.

en.wikipedia.org...

'Dats what I said They are spirits or 'gods' of place, just so unfortunately happens that as far as I can see, sometimes they become awoken, merely because people stop believing does not make something devolve or non-existant IMO.

Pressed enter too soon, sorry. Note that in the Owlman case the CHURCH was the centerpoint, and churches are apparently big (temples, fanes, they seem to be a roman god achetype but are much older) on genius loci, and strangely enough, the one at Mawnan has some very odd gargoyles which look similar to our friends.

It was also common for churches, particularly christian ones to be built on the sites of previous PAGAN churches, and Mawnan's was devoted to the owl god, who is phonetically also called Mawnan.

[edit on 21-5-2009 by ejsaunders]

reply to post by Genus_Unknown


Genus I bought Mothman Prophecies, the book, today. Found it at a used bookstore. These creatures are intriguing to say the least. I don't ever want to encounter one though. I am already convinced of an alien connection with the whole bunch of them Bigfoot included. How else can we explain not one single shred of physical evidence, versus hundreds of credible sightings. I read a story recently of a couple who came within a few yards of a Bigfoot and it vanished before their eyes; that was before I even read this Mothman story and how ufo's were frequent during his reign.

reply to post by Genus_Unknown


Interesting image. This image tells me Mothman could have head (not as witnesses said) with a lot of fur, or feathers, that would make it looking without a head.

Nothing to do with the Owlman, but it has always intrigued me..

Are there any nuclear plants around the area (mutation)? Or maybe something related to explosives and/or WWII? I've searched but I haven't found anything

[edit on 27-10-2009 by Spinotoror]