On this day: MEN WITH WINGS On September 18, 1877, the New York Sun reported that "a winged human form" had been seen flying over Brooklyn. Three years later, the New York Times reported the sighting of a "man with bat's wings... at least a thousand feet in the air.. and determined expression" over Coney Island. In 1908, in eastern Russia, V. K. Arsenyev was walking his dog when he noticed a human-type footprint. Trampling sounds from the bushes caused his dog to bristle and snarl. Arsenyev then threw a rock in the direction of the noise. Abruptly, there was the flapping of wings, and a large black form erupted from the fog and flew off into the thick mist over the river. The dog cowered in terror. In 1936, in Kazakhstan, U.S.S.R., a fifteen-year-old girl walking to school saw a man dressed in black flying through the air at great speeds. A loud rumbling accompanied the man as he flew toward her. Instead of a face, she saw "an entirely black surface." In the 1950s, in southern Brazil, Luia and Lucy Real were walking in a seaside forest when two rapidly moving shadows flew between them and the full moon. Two gigantic birdmen, eight feet tall, landed nearby and crouched down. Luia wanted to go closer, but Lucy insisted that they depart. In 1952, a U.S. Air Force private was on guard duty in Kyoto, Japan, when a loud flapping sound got his attention. A huge bird showed up in the moonlight. The apparition, which had the body of a man, was seven feet tall with a seven-foot wing span. It hovered nearby. Frightened, the private fired at it with his carbine to no avail. When his sergeant came to investigate the shots, he told the private that the birdman had been seen the previous year as well. Text from: Almanac of the Infamous, the Incredible, and the Ignored by Juanita Rose Violins, published by Weiser Books, 2009












