Monsters and unusual creatures of almost every description have been reported over the centuries. From dinosaur-like animals to fairies to bizarre hodgepodges like the Jersey Devil, there seems to no limit to the variety of unexplained creatures people claim to have seen with their own eyes. One of the most curious types of sightings - and quite rare - are those of human-like beings that fly. "Human-like" because in most respects they look like us, except that they have wings.

In most cases, these odd creatures are not assumed to be either angels or devils (as traditional depictions have them as human-like beings with wings), but as something else. Something quite unusual.

Brooklyn Batman. Over 100 years ago, a man named W. H. Smith told the New York Sun that he saw a "winged human form" flying over Brooklyn, New York on September 18, 1877. Just about three years later, there were multiple reports from Coney Island, Brooklyn, of a man with bat-like wings flying overhead at approximately 1,000 feet. The man was flying toward the New Jersey coast, witnesses told the New York Times, and that he bore a "cruel and determined expression" on his face.

Wingless Angel. It's easy to dismiss such sightings as misidentified birds or alcohol-induced illusions when one or two people report them. When as many as 240 people, however, attest to seeing the same thing, the reports are far more difficult to discount. Such a sighting look place over several of days in June, 1905 in Voltana, Spain.

The accounts consistently described a woman dressed in white flying through the air - without the aid of wings. The woman sometimes flew against the wind, and one woman said she might have heard it singing as it passed overhead.

Flying Robot. It was the winter of 1936 in the Pavlodar region of Kazakhstan in what was then the U.S.S.R. when this sighting took place. Mrs. E. E. Loznaya was a 15-year-old girl then, and one day as she was walking to school on a quiet road, her attention was caught by a strange figure above her. Flying quickly across the sky was a man-like figure dressed completely in black. Despite its speed, the girl was able to see and describe it clearly. He was "of medium height and his black clothes covered him completely, like overalls," she said. It made a rumbling noise and appeared to her to be wearing a helmet of some kind, had a black surface where the face should have been, and wore a "rucksack" on its back.

Russian Legend. There had been legends of a flying man in the Soviet Union, but not quite like the one described above. Hunters around the Sikhote Mountains near Vladivostok claimed to have come across prints of a barefoot human that ended abruptly, as if he had taken off into the air. Such a creature was actually seen by writer V.K. Arsenyev in July, 1908. "I saw the mark on the path that was very similar to a man's footprint... then something rushed about nearby trampling among the bushes. Then I stooped, picked up a stone and threw it towards the unknown animal. Then something happened that was quite unexpected: I heard the beating of wings. Something large and dark emerged from the fog and flew over the river."

Brazilian Birdmen. In the early 1950s, a couple was taking an evening stroll near their home by the sea at Pelotas, Brazil. When two fast-moving shadows crossed their path, they looked up to see what they at first thought were two enormous birds flying about 30 feet above the ground. It was soon evident to the couple that these were not birds at all when the two flying creatures descended vertically and landed not far away. It was then clear that they looked like men, standing about six feet tall. Discovering they were being watched by the couple, the two "birdmen" squatted close to the ground, as if trying to hide. The female half of the couple convinced her husband to leave - and quickly.

Next page >Mad Inventors and Flights of Fantasy