Bat-winged creature seen by family in Washington State

Depiction by SW/LITS

I received an email from a witness in Washington State, who claims to have seen some type of flying creatures that made a meal of their cats. 

Now normally I would suspect the usual culprits, eagles, owls, etc., but the witness claims these creatures have no feathers, that their wings are bat-like and leathery, with claws on the upper area of the wings, allowing them to cling to trees.


In the first email, the witness reported:
We live in the Pacific Northwest on many acres of mostly tree covered land with a creek.  We have seen and heard a strange nocturnal, bat-like creature.  This thing is huge, light grey, skin with no fur, feathers or scales.  It silently swoops down at you with giant bat wings.  It makes a sound like a jungle monkey or bird, thus we refer to it as the monkey bird. 

We keep our chickens and goats, small dogs and cats safely housed at night, however two of our cats who sneaked out one night onto the roof disappeared without a trace of fur, blood or any evidence of what exactly happened.  They wouldn't run away, and our outdoor watch dogs don't allow any coyotes or ground traveling predators anywhere near us. 

There were two of them together and they seemed fearless of me when they swooped down at me more than once and returned way up to the top of the highest trees.  I couldn't get a look at the faces or eyes, mainly the huge grey bat-wings approximately 4' span .are what I could see.  They seem to show up every summer always after dusk anytime through the night.  Locals don't seem to know about them.  I might ask the local Native American Indian tribes to see if they know anything about these creatures. 
Do you know of anyone else who might know what these things are?   My brother and I saw another weird bat-like creature two summers ago that was also quite bizarre yet not like these huge ones.  We were riding our bikes at dusk and this black guinea pig sized thing with bat wings with holes all through the wings ran across the dirt road in front of us and under a bush.  We don't know anyone who has seen anything like that either, but we DID see it. 

We see regular little, common bats all of the time after dusk so we know what they are like.  We know owls, hawks, eagles and all of the normal flying creatures around here and these others are definitely out of the ordinary.

After talking with Lon Strickler of Phantoms & Monsters, who suggested it could be a Eurasian Eagle Owl, I pressed the witness for more information and told the witness that it could be as Lon suggested. 

Eurasian Eagle Owl (Bubo bubo)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_Eagle-owl







The witness reported back:
Thank you for checking with your colleague.  Are the owl wings shaped like bat wings?  Do they cling to the sides of the trees?  Do they make a sound like "Hooooowhahhhhhh, aaahooooowahhhh!  with the wah like the rolling of your tongue?   Also the skin on the chest and wings was grey, mottled with some brownish color like a Mexican hairless dogs skin, and it had like visible blood veins kind of like protruding on the skin area. 

Where can we find a picture of the Asian eagle owl and find out what it sounds like?  These might be moulting or sick or something.  We would love to solve the mystery, and know more about them.  Please let us know if you find anymore info.  Thank you again.


I wrote back and passed along a link that has a number of different owl sounds.
 http://www.owlpages.com/sounds.php

I also said: We have to rule out the plausible explanations.  If it isn't an owl, then what we have is an "unknown".  If you can get any locals to talk about it, they may give you some clues.  I will do some research but I need to know at least your general location.  The Pacific Northwest is a large area.  I lived a year in Tacoma (Ft. Lewis) but never even saw an owl.  Meanwhile, if you find out anything or can get a photo of these things, please let me know!


Witness wrote back:
Thanks again for your help and research.  It is truly appreciated.  We are [location removed by SW/LITS] in a large forested area with a huge creek running all through it. 

We looked through and listened to all of the owl/eagle info and enjoyed it very much.  I can say with certainty that these things were definitely not owls, eagles, vultures or anything like them.  I guess no one would believe us unless they saw them and heard them.  These are real. 

They have huge bat wings with the claw type thing on the top of the wing that helps them clutch the tree.  It is true that they don't seem to flap like a regular bat would.  They quietly swoop and glide.  They sound like those african jungle monkeys and you can see skin, no feathers, scales etc. 

I'm sure these have got to be categorized as unknown.  Maybe someone has been doing some weird genetic experiments with wildlife and releasing them to see what the survival rate will be.  Maybe an environmental mutation. 

We will try to ask others who spend time after dusk in the forests, (if we can find anyone like that these days) whether or not they have seen or heard anything like this.  We will let you know right away if we learn anymore about this. 

Have a wonderful, safe 4th of July.  Such a pleasure to communicate with you.


I sent the witness these links:

http://www.modernpterosaur.com/?p=863

http://www.davidicke.com/articles/reptilian-agenda-mainmenu-43/10762-sightings-of-pterodactyl-said-to-be-routine-in-washington-state

Even glowing, flying reptiles:
http://www.livingpterosaur.com/blog/tag/washington-state/





Revelation!

I was quite surprised that so many people have seen what can only be described as dinosaur-like flying reptiles, most well known as Pterosaurs,  also known as a "Ropen".

It should also be known that I usually don't post cryptid sightings but this witness, who seems very sincere, has also had encounters and sightings of UFOs.  That story is for another time.

Meanwhile, if you have observed flying reptile-like creatures in Washington State or elsewhere, please contact me, or get in touch with Lon Strickler over at Phantoms & Monsters.



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