Sightings increasing, still no definite answers.
June 25th 1982
John Claybrook
Since the first sighting of the “creature” two weeks ago another person has come forward with their story of seeing the creature and came to speak to me about her sighting. Mrs. Byre, who lives at the end of North Center Street, is the latest person to see the winged boogeyman of Ashland.
“I was about to go to bed, but I had to let Tiff, my rottweiler, out for her bedtime walk. We saw something duck around behind the storage shed out there in the back of the yard. Usually Tiff chases anything that comes into the yard away, but not last night. Tiff wouldn’t even come out of the house. Her hair stood up from her neck to her tail. She wouldn’t budge.
“I went back into the house, grabbed my .38 and a flashlight and went out to see what was back there. Halfway through the yard I saw it step out from behind the shed and start walking towards me. It had these big red ‘pop’ eyes… I know that the police told those other folks it was a bird, but these eyes were bigger than any bird’s. And it didn’t have a beak. It was easily six maybe seven feet tall with big wings that it kept folded up behind its back.
“I screamed and ran for the door. It chased me back to the house; Tiff was going crazy, barking her fool head off. I jumped up the steps and into the house. I slammed the door shut and Tiff and I hid behind the couch with the .38 aimed at the door. That’s when I called the police. They sent a car out, but I think it was long gone before they got here. I gave them a statement, but they looked at me like I had been drinking a little too much. I know what I saw and I know I haven’t run like that since elementary school. I’ll admit that I was a little skeptical when I read that story of what those folks saw a couple of weeks ago. I’ve seen it. Everyone out there should be careful. Who knows what this thing is or what its capable of.”
I called a biologist at Randolph Macon who is familiar with the story from a few weeks ago. He said that it was likely a sandhill crane. Although they are rare, they sort of fit the description. A sandhill crane stands anywhere between five and six feet tall, has about an 80 inch wing span and has patches of red around its eyes.
I went to Mrs. Byre and the original witnesses houses with a picture of a sandhill crane and asked them if what they had seen matched the picture of the crane. They all were pretty adamant that what they had seen was not what was in that picture.
Keep me informed folks. If you see something you find unexplainable, let me know. I’ll do my best to keep all of you informed about the weird goings on in our little town of Ashland.