Who’s who in the Owlman Case?

Flying Humanoid

Feb 28

The mid to late 1970s saw a large, winged humanoid-like creature visit the small village of Mawnan… or did it? While the early sightings of this cryptid creature are more than compelling, upon a deeper analysis of the investigators involved and the striking similarities in reports brings into question the authenticity of the “Owlman”.

The vast majority of sightings of the Owlman come from magician and self proclaimed warlock Tony “Doc” Shiels. Every sighting of the original Owlman wave of 1976 was reported directly to Shiels. No third party has been able to verify any of the witnesses or even talk to them, so whether one likes it or not, most of the information of Owlman comes from one source.

To quickly recap, there are four sightings that are directly linked to Doc Shiels: the April 17, 1976 sighting by the Melling girls, July 3rd sighting of Sally Chapman and Barbara Perry, and the sighting of Jane Greenwood the following day, as well as an August 2nd, 1978 sighting of three unnamed French girls.

There is at least one similarity amongst the four sightings: that they were all witnessed by pubescent girls. While that doesn’t necessarily make the sightings suspect, as some have speculated that the owlman is an apparition that is only visible to young girls, but it is an interesting similarity to note. Another similarity is their proximity to a 13th century church. All sightings occurred within a few mile radius of the church, leading some to speculate that it lives in the church or, at the very least, near it.

Sketches of the various sightings provided to Shiels

In the mix of names tossed around in this unique case is Jonathan Downes, director of the Center for Fortean Zoology, who published The Owlman and Others in 2006. In it, Downes contextualizes the Owlman’s presence within a larger flap period of the mid 1970’s. Cattle mutilations, lake monster sightings, UFOs and strange weather plagued Cornwall, and smack dab in the middle of the insanity were the Owlman sightings. These strange events were compiled into a pamphlet titled “Morgawr: The Monster of Falmouth Bay” written by Anthony Mawnan Peller, a psuedonym. For who? Well no one knows, except Jonathan Downes, and he refuses to reveal the identity. However, he takes great care to say that it was not Shiels.

This pamphlet included the Melling case bringing into public awareness and to the attention of the Sally Chapman and Barbara Perry, the very next witnesses. Some say that they made up the story to hoax Shiels, as he was well known throughout Cornwall as the go to man for anything strange. But, as some analysts have pointed out, the similarity in the handwriting of the separate sketches (both from Chapman and Perry, but also Melling) points to a singular creator. Could the sketches have been made by Shiels?

Shiels was a known public persona and attention seeker. Everything he did was a spectacle. He publicly tried to summon Morgawr, a lake monster in a nearby loch, several times, once with his naked daughters surrounding him. When he visited Loch Ness he happened to snap the famous 1977 Muppet Photograph, the authenticity of which is hotly debated even today. It doesn’t take much of a stretch to picture Shiels falsifying witness sketches for another media frenzy.

One question arises: In a world of Sasquatch and Loch Ness Monsters, why invent a flying humanoid creature when other, more “credible” cryptids exist? The answer lies with John Keel. While the events of the Mothman of Point Pleasant occurred in 1966 and ‘67, Keel’s wildly popular book The Mothman Prophecies wasn’t published until 1975, just one year before the Owlman shows up in a rural village in Cornwall. Could it be that the Mothman of Point Pleasant, or a similar creature, traveled over seas making its reappearance just after Keel published his book, or could it be that Shiels was attempting to stir a media extravaganza over the emergence of a similar cryptid while Keel’s book was still popular? In Shiels’ defense, winged humanoids have been seen for decades prior to the Mothman case of the 60’s, some of which being seen in England.

In a blog post on the CFZ website, Downes writes this about Shiels “after all, by his own admission he is a 'charlatan' and a 'thimble rigger', and he has even told me not to "invest belief in anything" especially him! (and this is a man I count as a close and dear friend).”

When it comes to the matter of the original Owlman reports, it is hard to shake off the large shadow of doubt resting upon the entirety of it. Not to mention, the Church of St. Mawnan, the very church that the Owlman is said to reside in, was the center of another Shiels publicity stunt on Halloween, 1986. The newspapers reported that Shiels was committing unspeakable acts of blasphemy inside the Church on Halloween while attempting to summon the Owlman. Shiels didn’t have much to says about it, except what he told Downes in the mid 90’s.

"I did a few bits and pieces inside the Church ... There was a lot of misreporting that I was throwing out challenges to God, and saying I'd smack him in the gob. I don't think God has a gob, and I wouldn't do that anyway to the deity. He'd give me a harder smack back wouldn't he?"

Shiels has a very different version of that night, one that involves hardly any acts of blasphemy and a lot of drinking with a camera crew. This version of events was told to Jonathan Downes. Downes is a somewhat a problematic figure in the story of Owlman’s authenticity. He is a self proclaimed friend of Doc Shiels and has worked with him on a number of occasions, and with wild accusations that his friend was hoaxing the entire thing, Downes may have decided to step in and help add a much needed third party corroboration.

Downes reports an Owlman sighting from the 1989, witnessed by Gavin and Sally (pseudonyms, the only person knowing their identity being Downes). The story is told from Gavin’s diary, of how he and Sally witnessed the creature take flight near the edge of the woods. The sighting matches the established pattern of the Owlman reports, it is seen briefly before taking flight. However, the sighting was only reported to Downes, and again, no third party has authenticated the witness. About the sighting Downes had this to say “the discovery of 'Gavin' and his succinct and believable eyewitness testimony provided an invaluable corroboration to the vast body of 'Shiels-channeled' evidence, and has persuaded even some noted sceptics that there is something to the story after all.”

While that statement, in combination with Downes and Shiels’ connection, might be enough to raise eyebrows, there is a curveball thrown in by Downes himself. A sighting from 1995, an anonymous sighting was reported to the night editor of the Western Morning News in Truro, Simon Parker.

"Dear Sir, I am a student of marine biology at the Field Museum, Chicago, on the last day of a summer vacation in England. Last Sunday evening I had a most unique and frightening experience in the wooded area near the old church at Mawnan, Cornwall. I experienced what I can only describe as 'a vision from hell'. The time was fifteen minutes after nine, more or less, and I was walking along a narrow track through the trees. I was halted in my tracks when, about thirty metres ahead, I saw a monstrous man-bird 'thing'. It was the size of a man, with a ghastly face, a wide mouth, glowing eyes and pointed ears. It had huge clawed wings, and was covered in feathers of silver/grey color. (sic). The thing had long bird legs which terminated in large black claws. It saw me and arose, 'floating' towards me. I just screamed then turned and ran for my life.
"The whole experience was totally irrational and dreamlike (nightmare!). Friends tell me that there is a tradition of a phantom 'owlman' in that district. Now I know why. I have seen the phantom myself. "Please don't publish my real name and address. This could adversely affect my career. Now I have to rethink my 'world view' entirely. Yours, very sincerely scared...
'Eye Witness'.

Downes was reportedly able to obtain the name and address that was given to Parker, but was unable to make contact with the witness. He is also respecting their wish to remain anonymous and not releasing that information, which unfortunately casts a dubious nature onto the report. Downes himself has gone on record about his doubts of the authenticity of the report.

It is possible that the anonymous 1995 witness truly did have an encounter with something and did not feel like discussing it with someone, but it is also possible that Downes planted the story in the media, taking the focus off of Shiels and himself as the creators of the Owlman’s origins.

I must be very clear here, Downes has contributed to the cryptozoological community in many ways, and has done a wonderful job researching and publishing information for ease of access. The CFZ as a whole has put many great cryptozoology books into print, including one of my favorites, George Eberhart’s Mysterious Creatures: A Guide to Cryptozoology. However, I am saying that I would not put it past Downes to add a sighting to add a little bit of perceived credence to a story concocted by his friend.

A short documentary made by Darren Naish

In the above documentary, Darren Naish interviews Downes about the Owlman case, in which Downes has a few surprising things to says about the Owlman. One that he believes Shiels made it up after reading Keel’s book, but instead of saying that it’s hoaxed, he suggests another theory: that its a Tulpa.

In short, a Tulpa is an entity that springs into existence from a strong public belief in it. For example, many think that Slenderman may have sprung into a Tulpa, but that is just speculation. The Owlman could have become real, to the shock of all, especially Shiels, at least according to Downes. “He’s not quite admitted it to me, but he hasn’t told me I’m wrong”.

Now for the frustrating and inconclusive ending: we don’t know. The authenticity of the Owlman has been muddied by dubious characters and anonymous witnesses. The truth of the Owlman may never be known except by a few, namely Downes and Shiels. There are motives that can be drawn from the unfolding saga of the reports and the web spun by Downes, that suggest a hoax perpetuated by two friends, but enough information is shrouded in mystery that it is hard to conclude one way or the other. Perhaps time will tell, and perhaps not.

To hear more about the Owlman check out our episode on it!