Owlman 706321 224014755 2008-07-06T23:03:04Z Lightbot 7178666 Units/dates/other {{For|the DC Comics supervillain|Owlman (comics)}} {{Infobox Paranormalcreatures |Creature_Name = Owlman <!-- Commented out because image was deleted: |Image_Name = Owlman2 FT17 17.jpg --> |Image_Caption = An eyewitnesses drawing of what they believe was Owlman |Grouping = [[Cryptid]] |Sub_Grouping = Local legend |AKA = Cornish Owlman,<br>The Owlman of Mawnan |Country = [[United Kingdom]] |Region = [[Mawnan]], [[Cornwall]] |Habitat = |First_Reported = [[April 17]],[[1976]] |Last_Sighted = 1995 |Status = Local legend }}'''Owlman''', sometimes referred to as the '''Cornish Owlman''' or '''The Owlman of Mawnan''', is a [[cryptozoology|cryptozoological]] creature that was sighted in the late 1970s in the village of [[Mawnan]], [[Cornwall]]. The Owlman is sometimes compared to America's [[Mothman]] in cryptozoological literature.[http://www.boudillion.com/Moth/mothman.html] ==Reports of sightings== In 1926<!--1926 is the correct year according to the source. Please do not "correct" to 1976--> The ''Cornish Echo'' described how two young boys were attacked by a "strange bird" in the area. The boys saved themselves by running into a grate. As they cowered in the grate in the back the creature let out screeches of frustration, unsuccessfully pecked at the bars of the grate, then flew off.{{Fact|date=April 2007}} The bird was killed, but nobody who examined the body could specifically identify it.<ref>[http://www.cfz.org.uk/features/morgawr.htm Morgawr: The Monster of Falmouth Bay ] - A. Mawnan-Peller, The Center for Fortean Zoology (1995)</ref> <!--This reference is about a sea monster, and barely makes reference to the Owl Man.--> 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). A further sighting took place in 1989, when a young man and his girlfriend saw a creature "about five feet tall...The legs had high ankles and the feet were large and black with two huge 'toes' on the visible side. The creature was grey with brown and the eyes definitely glowed."[http://www.cfz.org.uk/features/owlman.htm] The most recent apparent sighting is from a single witness in 1995. She reported a "man-bird... with a ghastly face, a wide mouth, glowing eyes and pointed ears" as well as "clawed wings". The woman, a student from [[Chicago]], described her experience in a letter to a newspaper in [[Truro]].[http://www.cfz.org.uk/features/owlman.htm] ==Speculation on the Owlman's nature== In ''Alien Animals'' (1985), [[United Kingdom|British]] [[paranormal]] researchers Janet and Colin Bord pointed out that Mawnan church is built in the middle of a prehistoric earthwork. They suggested that the church may be built on a [[ley line]] (a straight line that passes through and links several ancient sites), and speculated that the appearance of the Owlman may be a manifestation of earth energy in this place. However in a later book "Modern Mysteries of the World" 1989 they retracted this and stated that they believed that the sightings were probably of an escaped aviary bird rather than a paranormal phenomenon. ===An Eagle Owl?=== A more straightforward explanation may be that the Owlman sightings were of an escaped [[Eurasian Eagle Owl|eagle owl (''Bubo bubo'')]], a species that can grow more than two feet long, with a wingspan of nearly six feet. This is supported by a report by [[Karl Shuker]] of a late 1980s sighting of the Owlman. The witness described it as four feet high, with two large toes on the front of each foot. it ducked down and forwards before it took off. Shuker states that this "calls to mind a very large owl". The structure of the feet is also consistent with an owl identity, as owls have an arrangement of the toes known as [[zygodactyly]], in which two toes point forwards and two backwards (Bock and Miller, 1959). A colony of eagle owls exists in [[North Yorkshire]], and the bird is reportedly capable of crossing the [[English Channel]]. [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/11/14/nowls14.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/11/14/ixhome.html] Perhaps the most comprehensive study of the Owlman was undertaken by [[Jonathan Downes]], the founder of the [[Centre for Fortean Zoology]], in his book ''The Owlman and Others'' (1997). ==Owlman in Popular Culture== A part Owl, part Human god named "Ugín" features as the main [[antagonist]] in [[Cult Of Luna]]'s album [[Eternal Kingdom]]. == References == <references/> == Books == * Bord, J. and C. "Alien Animals" (Granada 1980) (pp135-139, 141) * Downes, J. "The Owlman and Others" (CFZ 2006) * Shuker, K. "The Unexplained" (Carlton 1996, 2002) (p37) ==See also== * [[Mothman]] * [[Spring Heeled Jack]] == External links == * [http://www.cfz.org.uk/features/owlman.htm The Owlman of Mawnan] * [http://www.newanimal.org/owlman.htm The Cryptid Zoo: Owlman] * [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/north_yorkshire/4436122.stm Eagle owls in Yorkshire] {{Cryptozoology}} [[Category:Cryptids]] [[Category:Cornish folklore]] [[sv:Ugglemannen]]