gleanings from tumblr and from all across interzone.
The Nameless Thing of Berkeley Square
More than 100 years ago, something terrible happened in Berkeley Square.
Nameless Thing of Berkeley Square was a nickname given to the mysterious entity that was encountered in the 18th-19th century in the Victorian era building named 50 Berkeley Square in the UK.
Although most researchers are more inclined to enter this event into the category of the supernatural, many others maintain it was either a known creature, or a mutant or even a cryptid.
Berkeley Square Complex was built in 1740 by an architect named William Kent. This complex was once the residence of prominent figures, among them Winston Churchill 48, who lived in the building. Then, George Canning, British prime minister in 1827. He lived in the building No.50. And in this building, this mystery begins.
Horror on the Second Floor
In 1840 the 20 year old man Sir Robert Warboys heard about eerie rumours in this building. As a student, Warboys laughingly dismissed the tales as urban legend, while his friend disagreed and dared him to spend his night in the haunted 2nd floor room. With arrogance, he accepted the challenge. After successfully convincing the building guard, Warboys was given a room on the second floor, just above the guard room. Later, the room will be referred to as one of the most haunted room in the UK. Warboys climbed into the bed armed with a pistol and a candle. Forty-five minutes later, the guard woke up from sleep. He heard a noise in the room upstairs and a few seconds later, a gunshot sounded. With haste, he immediately got up and ran toward the top. Arriving at the door of the room, he immediately broke it by force. What he saw will never forget for life. Conditions in the room were almost unchanged. However, at the corner of a dimly lit room, Sir Robert Warboys was motionless, dead, still clutching his pistol that still smoke. What is more appalling is the facial expression of Warboys, looking like he had seen something terrible that perhaps fright killed him instantly. The guard found a hole in the wall due to a bullet fired from the gun, but what had been shot? Was it something horrible?
Some years later, “something” came back. This time, he was seen by witnesses who survived the encounter.Experience of Two SailorsIn 1887, two sailors from HMS Penelope in Portsmouth named Robert Martin and Edward Blunden who had just spent money to get drunk come to Berkeley Square complex to rest.
At that time, 50 Berkeley Street has been uninhabited and empty.
Then they had found their way into the basement and broke into it. Upon their break-in they discovered moist ground conditions, so both decided to head upstairs to find a dryer place. Incidentally they chose the building No.50 and slept in the same room once occupied by Warboys.
When entering the room, Blunden who seemed more sober than Martin soon realized that the atmosphere in the room made him uneasy. He said if he felt the presence of “something”. But Martin immediately reassured by opening the bedroom window to let the night wind blows inside. About an hour later, around midnight, Blunden awakened by the sound of creaking door. As he rubbed his eyes, he saw the bedroom door was open and upon wandering to check around, suddenly saw something.
In dim conditions, Blunden saw a strange gray thing creeping slowly on the wooden floor. Along with the creature’s movement, Blunden could hear the friction across the floor, which made him shudder.
Gripped by fear, Blunden ran to wake Martin, who awoke immediately; realizing what was happening in the room. The creature was seen standing in front of them while behind it was the door that was their only hope of escape.
Blunden glanced at the rifle that lay near the window and when he tried to reach for it, the creature suddenly jumped up and extended itself or “landed on the neck” at Blunden. Blunden panicked and began to scream and struggle with the creature. Seeing the opportunity, Martin quickly ran out of the room, down the stairs, out of the building and immediately shouted for help, getting the attention of a policeman who was on patrol. When they returned to the building, they found the room empty, with no sign of Blunden. They began to search the entire building and when they reached the basement, they found Blunden. However, he was lifeless and had been dismembered. On his face was a similar expression of fright as seen at the death of Sir Robert Warboys; Blunden’s face showed an expression of profound fear.In another version, Blunden was not killed in the basement, but was killed by a fall from the window due to fear.
Thomas Lyttleton’s ExperienceSightings of this creatured were not limited to Robert Martin who might be considered a drunk sailor with a false story, there were additional encounters of this creature also experienced by community leaders who seemed to have no reason to lie. One of them was a member of parliament named Thomas Lyttelton who had lived in the same building for some time.One night, when preparing to go to bed, Lyttelton encountered a creature in his own room. He immediately took his rifle and fired. He believed that the creature was shot because he saw it fall. But he could not find any trace or the carcass.According to other witnesses who claimed to have seen it, the creature was nearly out of shape and looked like sticky liquid. When it moved, it produced strange sounds. Descriptions given were sometimes varied, but at least one witness claimed that the creature had a set of tentacles like an octopus.Because of this description, some researchers later concluded that the creature was a type of octopus or other water creature that had mutated and successfully migrated from the river Thames into London’s underground canal which eventually makes it up to Berkeley Square ‘s building through plumbing.It has been suggested that this creature may have been targeting a n ample population of mice or rats that lived in the building when it came across the drunken sailors. However, no satisfactory explanation has been given about the range of appearances over that timeframe.
Source Credit(s): despadanicom.blogspot.com/2011/01/mystery-nameless-thing-of-berkeley.html, cryptidz.wikia.com/wiki/Nameless_Thing_of_Berkeley_SquareCryptid Chronicles readers, what do YOU think??
If you enjoyed this post please comment, Like ♥ and share!
Discover more cryptids and mysterious creatures at Cryptid Chronicles!
Thank you!
Your Chronicler,
Sydney C. Squidney
cryptidchronicles@hotmail.com
http://www.facebook.com/CryptidChronicles
Also follow on http://twitter.com/cryptidfans
• Write for Cryptid Chronicles
• Submit ArtWhat is the Scariest Cryptid You’d Never Want to Meet? -=PART 2!=-
The unsolved mystery of the Van Meter Visitor - a winged creature with a glowing horn that caused terror in an Iowa town 110 years ago
In 1903 residents in Van Meter, Iowa claimed to have seen an eight-foot winged creature with a forehead horn that cast a blinding beam of light. 110 years later the creature and mystery remain unsolvedA bizarre legend and unsolved mystery which has haunted a small Iowa town for more than 100 years is the subject of a new book called The Van Meter Visitor.
For several nights in 1903, the small town of Van Meter, Iowa was terrorized by a giant bat-like creature that emerged from an old abandoned mine.
The identity of this mysterious monster has never been discovered, but over 100 years later a new book is retelling the amazing tale and hoping to shed some light on what happened all those years ago.
The legend dates back to the fall of 1903, when several of Van Meter’s most well respected citizens reported a half human, half animal with enormous, smooth bat wings flying about.
The creature is described as moving at speeds the townsfolk had never witnessed before, plus it let off a powerful stench and shot a blinding light from its horned head.
Each time the townsfolk encountered the creature they fired their guns at it, but this appeared to have no impact on the creature.
On the first night it was first spotted flying across the building tops. The next evening it was spotted by both the town doctor and bank cashier Peter Dunn who took a plaster cast of its ‘great three-toed tracks.’
On the third night, a man spotted it perched atop a telephone pole. Another resident who saw it, described the monster as hopping like a kangaroo, while the local high school teacher likened it to a devil.
Scared and angered by what they had witnessed, the townsfolk followed the creature to an abandoned coal mine near an old brickyard where they heard a noise from the mine.
‘Presently the noise opened up again, as though Satan and a regiment of imps were coming forth for battle,’ reads an article in the Des Moines Daily News from Oct. 3, 1903.
The monster appeared together with a smaller version. In a flash of bright light they sailed away, but returned in the morning when the town’s men had gathered with weapons ‘to rid the earth of them’.
‘The reception they received would have sunk the Spanish fleet, but aside from unearthly noise and peculiar odor they did not seem to mind it, but slowly descended the shaft of the old mine.’
The creature was never seen again.
This amazing tale has survived and been retold for several generations now and a written version even exists in the town’s centennial book.
The new book is the work of Chad Lewis, who has written over 15 books about the supernatural, plus co-authors Noah Voss and Kevin Lee Nelson and help from local librarian Jolena Walker.
The authors visited the quiet town and spoke to local residents who told them the stories about the creature which passed been down and they visited several historic locations including the mine.
Lewis says he has found no evidence to suggest the monster was a hoax, although be believes the facts of the story may have been embellished over the years.
Lewis told the Des Moines Register that even though he said he’s unsure what happened those fall nights in 1903 in Van Meter, seeking the answer was more important than finding it.
‘It was an era when anything was possible. Science was starting to gain momentum. In fact, they had just discovered the mountain gorilla. So the beast in the jungle was real,’ he told. ‘People were open to the fact that anything could happen.’
Source Credit(s): Top photo credit: A sketch, by Kevin Lee Nelson, based on century-old descriptions of the Van Meter Visitor, dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2319503/The-unsolved-mystery-Van-Meter-Visitor—winged-creature-glowing-horn-caused-terror-Iowa-town-110-years-ago.html All other photos © thevanmetervisitor.comCryptid Chronicles readers, what do YOU think??
If you enjoyed this post please comment, Like ♥ and share!
Discover more accounts of unknown winged creatures and other cryptids and mysterious creatures at Cryptid Chronicles!
Thank you!
Your Chronicler,
Sydney C. Squidney
cryptidchronicles@hotmail.com
http://www.facebook.com/CryptidChronicles
Also follow on http://twitter.com/cryptidfans
• Write for Cryptid Chronicles
• Submit ArtWhat is the Scariest Cryptid You’d Never Want to Meet? -=PART 2!=-
