Rocket-Man spotted over Cannock skies Cannock and Burntwood news
Feb 19 2009 By Mike Lockley
These were the headlines in the post following a sighting by Burntwood resident Clive Wright whom we spoke to today. At the end of the day neither he or us can explain what it was that he saw. He doesnt believe that it was a man-shaped balloon because if it had been it wouldn't in his opinion followed a straight trajectory across the sky, what he is inclined to favour is a man wearing a rocket pack, which is not impossible, shades of James Bond!
My own sister Carole saw something like this some years ago, while walking through Gravesend in Kent. She was with another woman when the 'man' came over, and does not believe he was wearing any device at all !
Date: February 8 2009 Time: 1100am
Five locals witnessed a figure traveling, seemingly unaided, over houses on Sunday morning. One described it as looking like Superman. Three witnesses Clive Wright (68) his wife Janet (68) and their 14-year-old grandson Nicholas were watching quite a number of seagulls and noticed what they thought was one in the middle moving quite slowly. Clive got up to take a closer look and realized it was a flying man. He searched the sky for the plane he had bailed out of, but could see nothing. All he could see was the man travelling in a controlled, straight line, travelling from Ryecroft shops to Gentleshaw Common. He ran upstairs to get his binoculars but when he returned the flying man was gone.
Is it a bird? Is it a plane?
No, our readers are sure it was a man, flying without wings across the skies over Gentleshaw Common.Five locals have contacted The Post after witnessing the figure travelling, seemingly unaided, over houses at around 11am on Sunday, February 8. One described it as a ‘Superman’ moment - a clear case of ‘to Chadsmoor and beyond.’
But eagle-eyed Boney Hay villager Clive Wright believes those who reckon they witnessed something supernatural are talking a load of kryptonite. The 68-year-old, who spotted the flying man from the living room window of his Sunnymead Road home, believes the pilot was travelling with the aid of a jet pack - a strap-on engine made famous in the 1965 James Bond movie, Thunderball.
Clive’s wife, Janet, 68, and 14-year-old grandson Nicholas also witnessed the Chase’s own rocket man.Clive said: “To say it was strange would be an understatement. And the ‘bottle’ didn’t come into it because none of us drink.“At first I was watching quite a number of seagulls and noticed what I thought was one in the middle moving quite slowly. I got up to take a closer look and realised it was a flying man. I searched the sky for the plane he had baled out of, but could see nothing.“All I could see was this man travelling in a controlled, straight line, travelling from Ryecroft shops across to Gentleshaw Common. I immediately went upstairs to get my binoculars and went out on the backyard, but he was gone. Some kind of Dan Dare spaceman - that’s what it looked like.”
He added: “The only explanation is that he was wearing a jet pack, although I was surprised he was travelling over a densely populated area.”One householder, who asked to stay anonymous, said: “I don’t know where he’d been drinking, but they certainly serve some pretty strong stuff. Either that, or I witnessed the world’s worst case of wind.”
On January 6 2011, at around 9:15am, the witness was driving on Silas Creek Parkway in Winston-Salem North Carolina. As he slowed the car at the Peter’s Creek intersection he lookedup to see something ‘floating’ fairly high in the sky in a southeasterly direction. It was likesomething he had never seen before. It was very dark against the light blue morning sky,elongated vertical, strangely shaped like a humanoid figure. He stopped at the bank and caughtsight of it again, high over the tree line, he asked the teller if she could see it also and she said shecould (must have been in the drive through), he called another teller to come over and she also sawit. As the puzzled witnesses watched a flock of birds crossed overhead, and he joked“Well at least I hope birds don’t start dropping out of the sky like the news has been reporting allover the globe!” It kept moving very slowly, much slower than a runaway balloon would travel. It was like a hefty man suspended in the air except it had to be bigger than a person. It was in sightfor at least 20 minutes.
Another case from America 1st September 1966
A man shaped object was seen in the air over Scott Mississippi USA by local resident,Mrs James Ikart, by the time reporters had dashed to the scene there was nothing to be seen.
On November 15th four young people were driving through the local park McClintic Wildlife Station near the Ohio River when they were astonished to seea tall man like figure with wings standing in front of an old abandoned pwer plant "Its eyes werea blazing red, some two inches in diameter" It then waddled away into a nearby deserted building. They contacted the Police to report the matter. A few days later the little town of Point Pleasant was in upheaval as armed me n searched the locality for any sign of the 'weird creature' Within a few weeks over one hundred people had reported seeing this entity, which was described as "Taller and broader than a man grey in colour with luminous red eyes. John Keel himself visited the locality and spent three weeks there,when he established that most of the witnesses who had seen the 'Moth man' has suffered from eye ailments, one woman was so frightened she dropped her baby! In addtion to this John tells of a strange indivudual( Men in Black?) that visited the local County Court house asking for directions, described as 4'6" strange black eyes covered with thick lenses,black long hair, cut like a bowl haircut with his hand kep firmly in his pocket all of the time. (Source: FSR Volume 13, No 2 , March April 1967 John Keel 'North America 1966)
Now, we dont know what it was for certain that Clive and my sister saw? but one presumes that if it had landed that would have been a completely different story!
In the UK there have been similar stories, some of which have been written about by Jon Downes, involving the sighting of a weird winged human-like creature figure at Mawnan, which is situated about 3 miles south of the port of Falmouth on the south coast of Cornwall, during the late 1970s.
The Owlman, as the creature would later be dubbed, is generally described as silvery feathered, five-foot-tall, humanoid with a large mouth, pointy ears, glowing red eyes and large wings. The first documented sighting of the Owlman - sometimes referred to as the Cornish Owlman or the Owlman of Mawnan - took place on April 17, 1976 involving Vicky and June Melling, who watched a creature, similar to the above description, hovering over a church steeple in Mawnan. The two girls were said to have been so frightened by what they saw that their father Don Melling cut the family holiday short by 3 days to go home early.
A few months after this first sighting, on July 3rd 1976, two fourteen-year-old girls, Sally Chapman and Barbara Parry, were camping in the woods near the same church where the Melling girls first sighted the Owlman. According to Sally’s account, as she stood outside her tent she heard a strange hissing sound and turned to see a figure that looked like an owl as big as a man, with pointed ears and red eyes. She further reported that the creature flew up into the air, revealing black pincer-like claws.
Other sightings of the Owlman include a July 4th 1976 sighting by a woman named Jane Greenwood, an August 2nd 1978 sighting by three young, unnamed French girls, who described the Owlman as a big, furry bird with a gaping mouth and round eyes.There was also a 1989 sighting by a young unnamed couple. The most recent sighting of the Owlman apparently occurred in 1995 when a young woman saw what she described as a manbird, with a ghastly face, a wide mouth, glowing eyes and pointed ears.
These are matters that we will wish to speak further about with Jon when we see him shortly.
Today a reporter from the village magazine came to interview us( circulation 10K and on line in the States) so all in all, not a bad day. Yesterday my daughter Vickie brought Abbey round for a walk in the meadows. Here she is! spot the stick on the right hand one!- just above the 'snout'
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