The Cornish Owlman
If you believe any of this at all, Cornwall is home to mermaids and giants and a whole host of creatures. But, one in particular might interest legenders: The Owlman. I mean, what animals do skeptics blame for paranormal experiences with the Owlman if they can't claim owls. I kid, I kid. But tonight we dive into the legend of Cornwall's own Owlman.
The first offical recording of the owlman occured in the 1920s, and was first reported in the Cornish Echo. It covered the 1926 incident of two young boys being chased down by a terrifying, impossibly big birds in the woods near Mawnan Church. The boys narrowly escaped the bird's hungry clutches by hiding behind steel grating near the church.
But we'll have to fast forward to 1976 to learn about the most famous (and more detailed) encounter of the owlman. Again, it was two young children who almost fell victim. Jane and Vicky Melling were on a camping holiday with their parents in April 1976.
On April 17th, while at their holiday cottage, June (12 at the time) and Vicky (9 at the time) asked for permission to go exploring in the woods. While on their adventure, the girls came upon Mawnan Church, the same Church that had seen 50 years previous the owlman attack. The girls decided to adventure closer to the church but as they approached something large and strange flying above them caught their eye. They were immediately frightened and turned around to head back to the safety of their parents. They ran right back into their parents' arms and told them what they had seen.
June and Vicky said that the creature was shaped like a large man covered in feathers with two huge wings. They said the wings were a darker shade of grey, almost black. Interestingly, they said he lacked noticable features but I wonder if its just the distance from the ground and the girls fear. Additionally, as an even scarier detail, the man didn't have hands but the wings had protuding talons.
Their father, Don, was shaken hearing the description and seeing the reaction of his girls. He was unnerved enough that they decided to cancel their holiday early (3 whole days). They also let the police know, but nothing came of their investigation.
This wouldn't be the last sighting of the owlman in 1976. A few months later in early July two 14 year olds, Sally Chapman and Barbara Perry asked Barbara's parents if they could go camping. Their parents said of course, and the girls chose a place in the woods near Mawnan Church. They had a fun day and evening, but as they were prepping for bed Sally was streching her legs one last time. Barbara was in the tent, but Sally heard an odd hissing sound. Curious about he sound, Sally went to investigate it. What she found snatched her breath away. When she turned towards the sound to see what caused it she saw a dark, shadowy figure with glowing red eyes. Frozen in terror, she saw what she described as a man-like bird stretch out his wings and directly hiss at her. Barbara, hearing the disruption stuck her head out of the tent and saw the owlman as well. They all stood frozen for a second, and with a final hiss the owlman flapped his wings and flew away.
The girls ran into the tent for safety and waited until first light to go back to Barbara's house. They reported the incident and, throughout the next day, there were other reports of sightings of an owlman. It would be another two years until he was seen again.
The summer of 1978, there was another flap (excuse the pun). Miss Opie, a local woman, claimed to see a devil fly up through the trees near Mawnan church. Later that summr, three young french exchange student had an encounter with what they referred to great feathery birdman with a gaping mouth and red eyes.
After the 1970s, sightings grew lss concentrated but still popped up every few years and he legend continues to this day.
So what is the owlman? Of course, some people will just say a very large owl. But others seem to compare him to North America's Mothman (which is described very similarly). However, it seems that disaster doesn't seem to follow owlman sightings the same way it does with Mothman.
Of course, because many of the sightings were from children it’s believed that it may be a prank played by older teenagers on younger children to scare them (and because they’d be more gullible). Although, that doesn’t explain the flying sightings or sightings later on that were reported by adults.
Thanks to Emma L Holohan for this blogstonishing suggestion!
The blog header image is of Coastal path at Mawnan taken by Graham Horn and licensed under This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
