Over the last several months I’ve been pondering a particular phrase, which I’ve taken slightly out of context and used to describe shadowy, evasive characters that occasionally show up at various locales around the globe. These “personages,” for lack of a better term, run the gamut from those phenomenon associated with cryptozoology, extraterrestrials, and presumed “interdimensional” beings the likes of Bigfoot, Mothman, and others strange Fortean creatures. It is possible that sightings of such creatures are explainable, and at other times they could be ethereal in nature, such as with the state of mind that occurs when Transcendental Meditation mantras are evoked. But getting to the heart of the matter, the term I’m referring to with relevance to these characters now is “folk devil,” which, in its original context (first used by sociologist Stanley Cohen in his 1972 book Folk Devils and Moral Panics), meant an individual or group blamed for inconveniences or social problems, as perceived by the media.

What got me thinking about the use of this term with regard to Fortean phenomenon is the less-often observed parallel many “strange beings” have with bad luck and general negativity. Take, for instance, the appearances of so-called “shadow people” and, in specific, shadowy entities who appear to have a penchant for wearing Stovepipe hats (a rather curious accessory that has long been associated with villains over the decades… just think Snidely Whiplash). Withing cryptozoological circles, this kind of character might be lumped in alongside reports of Bigfoot who, very strangely, are sometimes reported wearing human clothing!

But while we’re looking at strange, otherworldly beings who have been witnessed wearing peculiar apparel, I want to go ahead and share a unique encounter sent to me recently by a Gralien Report reader, pertaining to an 1838 encounter with a tall, hairy humanoid which, by virtue of its devilish claims, seemed to indicate that he was actually the biblical Cain from the book of Genesis.

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There is so much fantastic information available today pertaining to Fortean subjects and the unexplained. Thanks to their circulation among various websites, books, magazines, and other media, it seems as though the world today is just rife with unexplained peculiarities, all fit for the taking, should some curious researcher ever care to dig in, watch for patterns and parallels, and compile the proper data into a magnum opus of enlightened understanding. Doing so, it is feasible that one may come along soon and write the next great paranormal blockbuster: an esoteric expose’ illuminating the fringes of our existence to a broad base of readers and fans the likes of John Keel’s The Mothman Prophecies, Whitley Strieber’s Communion, Loren Coleman’s Bigfoot: The True Story of Apes in America, or Brad Steiger’s Shadow World series.

However, the task of successfully compiling a unique blend of source materials for a project like this doesn’t come without its difficulties. Namely, when digging through the multitude of information made available today by the Internet, there exists a routine process of having to separate the proverbial wheat from the chaff. In other words, not everything made available to the curious researcher is factual, and even some of the most reputable-looking source material can turn out to be pure fabrication when examined closely.

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The old familiar rhyme reads, “Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack jumped over the candle stick.” Whether it be a wicked Jumpin’ Jack the likes of which once terrorized Victorian England, or more obscure references to a leaping World War II era “Spring Man” in Czechoslovakia, circumstances involving fiendish beings with uncanny leaping prowess are some of the most obscure stories to stem from Fortean circles. Arguably, these reports are also some of the most interesting a wide-eyed researcher may trouble himself to uncover–but don’t be fooled: these Jacks are far more adept at jumping than merely what’s required to bounce across a candle’s flame.

Perhaps the best known among legends of leaping devils are those involving London’s Spring Heeled Jack, the famous phantom attacker whose extraordinary physical abilities helped secure his peculiar title. Sightings of a devilish-looking man–often dressed in various macabre or otherwise bizarre-looking clothing or armor–date back to 1837, when a businessman returning from work reported seeing a wicked-featured man leap over a nine-foot wall surrounding a cemetery. Though he was startled by the encounter, the witness did not report being harmed by the strange being he met during his walk home that evening. With time however, the curious interloper’s startling physical features would be the lesser of the evils associated with his appearances.

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It is often said in Fortean circles that the mysterious appearance of the Mothman, a winged cryptid monstrosity that appeared in the vicinity of Point Pleasant, West Virginia in the late 1960s, was prophetic in nature. Traditionally, researchers have felt that the creature’s presence represented some sort of omen, warning of terrible things to come; specifically, the collapse of the Silver Bridge on December 15, 1967. Though the Mothman certainly isn’t the only winged creature alleged to exist in the realm of the unexplained, it is by far the most famous. Nonetheless, its cousins, reportedly seen at various times and places elsewhere around the globe, are also sometimes seen to be harbingers of ill fortune.

Philosophically, we might find trouble in the possibility that one instance could influence an entire community of beliefs; much the same as we would question whether chickens or eggs came first in the lineage of farmyard fowl, it is equally worthy of consideration whether the perception of misfortune associated with winged monsters is truly a cultural constant, or if it is merely one that has been infiltrated by the widely reported Mothman flap in between 1966-67. After all, since the creature’s strange appearance more than four decades ago, similar circumstances have been attributed to various other winged-devils in locales elsewhere around the world.

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