Strange Humanoids

nivek

As Above So Below
Police Officer Encounters Strange Creature with Glowing Head in Pennsylvania- Late August, 2017

8-23-17-2-268x300.jpeg


Sketch Used With Permission of the Witness

On an evening in late August, 2017, a police officer riding down a road in a wooded location in a southwestern section of Westmoreland County, PA saw something that startled him. Ahead of him on the side of the road, the officer observed what appeared to be a ball of very dull white light low to the ground. He was familiar with the area and had never noticed any type of lighting in that location. As he moved closer and was about 50 yards from the round light, it suddenly rose up or stood up from the ground.

It was then that the witness observed something that he couldn’t process. The officer told me, “it was the weirdest thing I have ever seen.” The ball of light was actually the head of a very strange being that looked to be about 6 feet tall or larger. It was tall and almost skeleton thin. The officer was of the opinion that the creature when he first observed it, had been lying on its belly on the ground with its head facing toward the road. It then stood up facing the road. In that dark location, he saw the dull light from the glowing head illuminating the upper section of the body of the creature.

While the officer watched, the creature turned toward the right. The dull illumination from the head lit up the shoulder area. The creature then turned and faced him, then turned to the left and took off at an incredible speed away towards a location away from the road. As it moved off, the witness could see its arms swinging. The officer indicated that it took off at a speed that you could only call abnormal. “it was faster than anything I have ever seen. It was there, then it was gone.”  The witness assumed that the creature moved on two legs, however, he could not see the lower sections of the body in the dark.

The witness described what he saw as standing 6 feet or taller. The head was about 8-10 inches in diameter and shaped like a ball. He said the head was just a ball of light, possibly egg shaped but pretty round. The light emitted seemed to be just a dull white. The light illuminated the shoulders, the top of the chest and a section of the arms. The witness could not see the hands. The chest looked to be about 18 inches across. The waist appeared to be small, but the arms were abnormally long. The long limbs also looked skeletal with no muscle mass. The skin tone of the body appeared to be dull grayish-blue. The witness could not see any facial features.

The entire experience only lasted about 10 seconds. The officer was confused as to what he saw and about what could move so fast. He pulled up his vehicle to the location where the creature and been standing and turned on his vehicle spotlight. He looked around the area but saw no evidence on the ground. The officer, after the experience, continued to try to make sense out of what he had encountered but he could not figure it out. I was contacted soon after the incident and we later discussed the incident in detail.

Notes: While this is a very strange report, many very odd creature encounters have been reported for years from Pennsylvania and all across the country. There have been other reports somewhat similar, and there have been other cases reported where the creature involved had a glowing effect in the dark.

During the many years that I have been investigating such cases in Pennsylvania, I had the opportunity to interview state troopers and municipal police officers who also reported some very strange encounters. In most cases, they talked with me confidentially about what had taken place.

Stan Gordon's UFO Anomalies

.
 

nivek

As Above So Below

Misty Humanoid Creature Observed Moving Across Road in Derry Township Pennsylvania


CR-1024x768.jpg

A section of the Chestnut Ridge near Derry, PA. Many Bigfoot and other cryptid encounters have been reported all along the ridge.

On the evening of September 10, 2018, a man was riding down a rural road in Derry Township in Westmoreland County. It was a rainy night when his headlights caught something about 75 feet ahead of him that seemed to “appear out of nowhere.” Whatever it was, it was in the middle of the road and moving from left to right.

The witness said when he first saw this being he first thought it was fog. He soon realized there was no fog in the surrounding area. The witness said it was hard to describe what he saw, and that it was a humanoid form that was foggy or misty in appearance. The man stated that it was a “foggy white form” that was about 6 ½ to 7 feet tall. The creature seemed to be somewhat stooped as it moved. The physical traits that stood out to the witness were the huge muscular shoulders and a small waist. There was a head but he couldn’t see it clearly.

The arms and legs were also not clearly discernable. The witness observed the creature from its left side for several seconds. The creature crossed the road and entered into a field where it seemed to just vanish. The man could not see its feet and stated that it moved “almost like it floated.” The witness didn’t notice any smell or sounds during the observation.

The incident took place only a short distance from the Chestnut Ridge where there has been a long history of UFOs, Bigfoot, and other cryptid encounters.


.
 

nivek

As Above So Below
London Man Shows ‘Humanoid’ Photograph

A man in London says he has taken a picture of a humanoid figure.

Oscar C., a 20-year-old college student, told Cryptozoology News he and a fellow student were taking photographs for a university project at a park in North London when they observed the oddity on September 17, at around 7 a.m.. He provided a specific location but has been omitted for privacy reasons.

“The park is surrounded by forest and we were shooting some photos amongst the trees, when suddenly I heard a rustling noise that gradually got louder, as if something was coming closer,” he said about the event.”I looked towards the trees where the noise seemed to be coming from and saw something moving in the trees.”

That’s when the alleged entity showed up, he says. He described it as a 6-feet-tall humanoid that “looked somewhat like a human”. “But the way it behaved it was definitely not human,” he added. “It moved faster than I’ve seen any human move. It only emerged from the trees for a few seconds and I was able to take one picture before it ran back into the woods.” The blurry picture initially fails to show any clear humanoid-like figure, but an analysis is in progress.


“It behaved like an animal, possibly hunting, but I don’t know what it could have been hunting for. It also had unnaturally bright coloured red hair. I caught a brief glimpse of its face and looking at its eyes, I believe it did not have a human level of cognition, but rather it was acting purely on instinct like a wild animal. I have no idea what this thing was except that I know it was not a human being,” said Oscar.
london-bigfoot.jpg
 

nivek

As Above So Below
Friends Find Grey Pale Humanoid Inside Of Sewers

While several friends were out and about walking towards a nearby park to hang out, they came across a sewer system there. Being rather naive, they decided to explore this location. A large grate covered the sewers but the bars were bent open. The opening was big enough to squeeze through.

The guy explained that his friend was intuitive enough about things like this. He said she has experience with paranormal type stuff. Because of this, they wanted to find out what was there as it was an interesting mystery to them. They soon noticed light was coming through part of the grate (at the top) enough to see somewhat inside.

This is when things got weirder. After entering, they discovered a smaller tunnel that led higher up. This room was partly filled with water and at the bottom, there was a noticeable amount of graffiti along the walls of the tunnel passage. Moments after wandering around in there he said a long lanky arm appeared to stretch out. What resembled an arm anyway was not moving. He said it could have been a plank of wood perhaps. Looking around, he found some rocks and stacked them up, so he could see further inside. Light continued to peek in and then he noticed what resembled a grey hunched figure, that had a bony looking body.


Unsure of what he was seeing fear soon crept in. He mentioned seeing its back along with part of its neck and the top of its arms. Whatever it was, it wasn’t moving and possibly it could have been a homeless person who starved them-self to death. While he wanted to take a picture of this, his girlfriend refused to enter and she was the one who had a phone with her. Both of them decided something wasn’t right with this so they hightailed it out of there.

The best they both could figure was, this might have been something that escaped from a secret project of some kind. Allegedly, an Army Depot exists in this area and they do testing on animal subjects. To them, it is all speculation but he remembers what was there. It might be something more paranormal related like a grey alien or wraith of some kind. There has been no update posted yet or where this occurred.

.
 

nivek

As Above So Below
'Glimmer Man': Multiple Encounters and Physical Contact (Amazing Account)

A woman recalls her multiple contacts with a 'glimmer man' entity at different locations. Now, her boyfriend is experiencing the same phenomenon!

"I want to tell you about a series of events that have happened to me, starting in 2012 and could still currently be happening. My story is what I have recently found out could be called the 'glimmer man.' I had never heard of anyone else seeing anything like I’ve experienced before and I have also never seen the movie 'Predator' (I know, lame, but I just never have). My close friend Nick is obsessed with all things supernatural and I am obsessed with true crime, so he suggested I watch 'The Missing 411: The Hunted.' I did (loved it) and by the end I was pretty disturbed because I had never before heard of anyone seeing something that was essentially a translucent figure before like I had. It really took me back because for YEARS I have thought that either I had a psychotic break, or that I’m a medium and can see ghosts. It never occurred to me that it could be something paranormal or anything like that.

I told my friend Nick that I had seen a translucent being before but that's all the detail I could admit to him. He told me I had probably seen what's called the 'glimmer man' and sent me a podcast so I could have my sanity validated. I have never told a single soul these stories. I have tried to block it out of my mind because I realized after the fact that it could be something sinister, and if it wasn’t, then I couldn’t tell anyone because I was sure they would think I was insane. This has really freaked me out for a lot of years now, I vowed I would never tell anyone, but after listening to the other stories, I really think I need to. I refer to this thing as a 'mass' because that’s the best way I could describe it.

Physically it was translucent and had no discernable edges, however I could tell it was made of something. If you took light, got it to refract through a prism and took a picture of it. The cut that picture into ¼ inch squares and faced them every single direction you can, all at random, that’s what it looked like. I could see the blue, green and red bouncing back to my eyes but it all moved like static so I couldn’t hook on to a single section or color for long. This description is the same for every time I’ve seen it. The shape and size are the only thing that changed, and it was by no means smooth. Usually the upper half would be sort of distended but in a very rough almost rocky cliff like shape.

One last thing before I start, two months before the first incident, my roommate Kylie made a suicide attempt that lead to her accidentally drowning in the Boise River. It was not actually her intention but very long story short, she passed away. I say this because I thought that this 'glimmer man' was her coming back as a ghost at the time. I thought she had come back to talk to me. I wanted in my mind to believe it was her. I say that to explain why I did not panic when I saw the 'thing' on the first incident. I cannot explain why I was so calm on the second.

So here it goes: October 2012 - I had moved to Portland, Oregon from Boise, Idaho in the wake of my roommate’s death. I was in my room alone at about 11 pm. My room has a sliding glass door that connects straight to the backyard. I looked over towards the door in the corner of the room and I see a strange mass that was about 4 ft tall and 3 ft wide. I would estimate the depth to be 3 ft as well, and was completely translucent. I blinked because I had assumed it was my eyes playing tricks on me, but it was still there. I felt very calm. The figure was very obviously focused on me, it didn’t have eyes but it’s almost as if the top part of it was leaned in a little closer than the rest and if I moved around the room, it would turn in my direction. Immediately I think 'this is a ghost, it needs to tell me something.' So I reached out my hand and the 'mass' came towards me and lifted my hand, very gently and weakly, but I did not have to use the regular amount of muscle it takes to lift my own arm. It was clearly lifting my arm for me. I would describe the feeling as if you took two opposite magnets and tried to force them together, not the strength of it, but just like an invisible force that you can physically feel pushing you. It was completely even pressure where it would touch me, and it could move my hand and arm if I had it relaxed.

I held out my arm and asked it to tell me who it was. The mass pushed on my arm to the left and led me through my room to group of magazine posters on the wall. It lifted my hand up to the posters and put my hand over a picture of a band I had liked. This is a band Kylie loved as well, so I said 'move my hand up if yes and side to side if no, but are you Kylie?' The mass moved my hand up. I got very emotional, cried immediately, but I held it together because I wanted to talk to her. I went and got a blank notebook and a pen and asked the mass to write to me what it wants to say while I held the pen. The mass would move my hand while I had it on the paper, but none of the drawings made any sense, so I asked it to move the pen instead. I was BARELY holding on the pen, I just had it between my fingers to keep it upright. The mass started to move the pen across the page. I realized that I couldn’t be imagining things because I could literally see the pen moving by itself, even though I was still holding the bottom of it slightly.

This went on for probably two hours. I tried and tried to get this thing write something legible, but nothing looked like any type of letter, it was all just strange designs and shapes. I believe I still have this journal in my parent’s storage area in Idaho. I plan on finding it and sending pictures of it once I leave Alaska this fall.

This is where things get really nuts. What I am going to say next is why I have never told anyone any part of this story before. If someone told me this, I would never think they were sane. My new roommate Alexa came into my room to ask me who I was talking to. All of the sudden the mass got very tiny, like the size of a mouse, and it sat in my hand. I told her I think Kylie is here talking to me and to watch this. I say ‘please move the pen for me’, the pen and my hand start to move across the paper and Alexa freaked out. She said this is insane and she doesn’t know what’s happening, but she said I need to stay away from her for the night. I was honestly too preoccupied to care about her reaction and we didn’t get along well anyways so I just let her go.

She goes to bed and the mass gets really big, skinnier than before but probably 2 ft taller than the start. It starts pushing my hand left and leads me to the door, out to my living room and to my front door. I said no I’m not going and walked back to my room, but it just keeps putting this pressure on my hand to get me to go out in the living room again. I oblige because at this point, I am convinced that this is like the lost soul of my close friend and nothing she could do would be dangerous. I go outside and it leads me to my car. I must have gone back in for my keys and coat because I remember wearing a coat, but I don’t remember exactly how I got it or my keys. At this point I’m in the car and I tell the mass 'move my hand left or right for turns, up to stop and down for forward.' The mass leads me out of my neighborhood and down at least a full mile to an area that is sort of industrial but also like an abandoned park. I don’t know how to describe it totally and this is the only time I’ve ever been to this location. There were several big trees surrounding this place. It was like an open sort of park behind an industrial building so there were no lights and there were several random pieces of abandoned scrap metal, just assorted random things everywhere. I got out and it was very clear that the mass was putting pressure on me to go forward. I’m going wherever it’s telling me to go.

We get to this 6 ft tall and 10 ft wide (ish) metal structure that has a little ladder on the side. It wants me to go up the ladder, so I climbed it. Then it’s jolting my hand forward, but forward is the ground below. It wants me to jump off the structure, which I did one time because it wasn’t too high and I sat down before I jumped to lessen the impact. Then the mass puts pressure on my hand side to side, which we had agreed was no, leads me back to the ladder and signals up like it wants me to climb. At this point, I’m realizing that I don’t think this is my dead friend anymore. I’m thinking something is tricking me, but I also didn’t want to completely give up in case it was her. I climb up one more time and stood at the top, the mass signaled me to jump, but I told it no. I said it’s not fair because I’m alive and this could hurt me, so if 'you' have something to tell me, you need to find another way.

I climb down from the ledge and the mass tried twice more to lead me back to the metal structure. I just couldn’t be there anymore alone in the dark in a weird part of Portland. I didn’t want to be arrested or killed, so I said enough, I’m going home. The mass tried to control my hand the entire ride home, even getting out of my car and walking up to my house. But keep in mind, the pressure is not that strong, so I was easily able to ignore it. I walked straight to my room and I kept feeling the pressure on my arm trying to get me to go outside. At this time, and for the whole time we were on our ‘outing,' the mass was about the size of a basketball. I tried one last time to communicate with the mass via pen and journal, but I still couldn’t get anything legible, so I decided to tell it that it’s time to go. I walked out back and told the mass 'it’s time to go, if you are Kylie then I hope you go to heaven now but I can’t do anything further, so you need to leave.' The mass went about 10-15 ft in the air and hovered. It was big at this point, at least 7 ft, and then I walked back inside and closed the sliding glass door. I was hoping it was gone but I saw the mass a few more times out of the corner of my eye. I chose to ignore it and just kept repeating 'you need to go away, I can’t do anything for you I’m sorry,' and eventually it was gone. I didn’t see it again for a long time. I never talked about it and my roommate never brought it. I had decided I must have a strange ability to talk to ghosts but I obviously cannot tell the good from the bad. So I knew that I couldn’t communicate with them if I ever saw them, for my own safety.

About 6 months goes by, I moved into a new house in Portland with my brother and close friend. I drove down to Southern California for the Coachella Music Festival in April 2013. A friend and I drove down for the weekend and then had to drive all the way back up the I-5 back to Oregon, but he had to drive because I dropped my driver’s license on the first day of Coachella so I had no ID. As soon as we crossed over the Oregon border, we stopped in a town (I believe Ashland) with a DMV so I could get a replacement temporary ID and share the driving. I had to fix my makeup before I went to get my picture taken and all that, so we stopped into a grocery store to use the bathroom. I believe it was a Safeway. As soon as I got into the bathroom, I saw it, a vibrating translucent static mass just standing in the corner very ominously. I looked straight at it and assumed it was a ghost and I thought it was probably lost if it’s just sitting here in this bathroom. I can’t explain why I did this. I’m not actually a brave person whatsoever, but at the time I just felt overwhelmingly calm. I can’t express to you how unlike myself that is for me to do.

I proceeded to fix all of my makeup in the mirror, then I turned around and looked at the mass that was still very obviously there and I said 'you look lost. You can come with me if you want.' My thought process at the time was that maybe I’ll get another chance to help some lost soul or something. I had blocked out most of my first experience and wasn’t immediately remembering how terrifying it was. I did not touch the mass this time, but I could feel it following me in the same way you can feel something watching you. I walked out of the store and to the car where my car buddy was. He never mentioned anything about the mass being in the car, which could be because he slept almost the whole rest of the way, but I could see it in the rear view mirror from time to time. This mass never changed size or shape, it was always about 4 ft tall and 2-3 ft wide, sort of rectangular but very rounded.

As we drove, I started to remember how bad of an idea this could be and realized I didn’t want to do it anymore and that I didn’t have anything left to say to the 'mass.' When we got back to Portland, the mass followed me inside my house and stayed in my room for the next two days. I ignored it almost the whole time and I started to feel guilty about that because I had told it to come with me initially. The night before the last time I saw it, I told it 'I’m sorry, I don’t want to do this anymore. I don’t think I can help you, you should leave so you can find someone who can.' The mass stayed in the corner all night and then the next day it was gone forever.

Since that time, there has been multiple occasions where I have seen something like the mass out of the corner of my eye, but I have always avoided looking directly at it. After a few years of avoiding looking, I completely stopped seeing them. I live in Seward, Alaska now with my boyfriend. We have a house in the forest on 5 acres with a lot of tall trees. He watched 'The Hunted' with me and afterwards I told him 'this really freaks me out because I have seen that before' referring to the saran wrap-like thing the woman in the movie had described. He told me immediately 'That’s what I’ve been seeing looking in our windows.' He told me he has seen these things multiple times and multiple at a time. He is a hunter and he will see them almost every time he goes on hunts alone but almost exclusively out of the corner of his eye, very rarely can he get a full front view of them. He says they’re following alongside him, and they don’t have any trouble getting over obstacles like trees or rocks. He knows about Bigfoot and Skinwalker Ranch, but that is literally the extent of anything he knows about this sort of thing. I know he could not have made this up and he said it to me before I told him any details from my experiences. Even now, he knows far less than what I’ve written here. It worries me that maybe the reason he sees them is because of me. He said it’s only been in the last two years that it has happened and that’s how long we’ve been together. Evidently his sightings have been increasing lately which is why I feel like I can’t waste any time in getting this information out to you.

One last thing, my boyfriend has seen these so many times at our house in Seward, Alaska and we live 4 miles from a location where Michael LeMaitre vanished on Mount Marathon in 2012 during the annual 4th of July race up the mountain. Our town swells to over 10,000 people during this race so there were plenty of people to search or to have seen something but no trace of him was ever found after numerous searches of the area. The animals all leave the area because of all the tourists and there was no evidence of an attack, and this mountain is so close to downtown it’s impossible he could have been lost. Makes me wonder if there is a connection." JS

.
 

nivek

As Above So Below
Crawling Humanoid Roams Near Home in Rural Quebec, Canada - Phantoms and Monsters Report

A young rural Quebec resident describes a crawling humanoid that would roam the forest near his home

The following account was recently forwarded to me:

"These incidents occurred during my teenage years, at 16 years old. I lived in a small town of 2000 people, mainly surrounded by boreal forest, in a region of Québec, Canada. This place was great, as we often saw deer and it was usually a quiet and safe place. To put this in a bit of context, my house was located at the side of a dead end and the only light source at night was from house. There was a single street light at the end of the road, but it only lit a part of the street and the forest behind it.

We were a dog family. I only had small dogs when I lived there. Everyday we needed to let them out, as all dogs do. But at night they were almost impossible to see because of the darkness. Our terrain was kind of big and the light sources were weak.

I was a gamer at that time and I was often up late. So I was the one who needed to take out the dog at 2 am, because it stayed with me while I was playing. One night I opened the door and waited for my dog to do his thing while trying to look at it. I only was able to saw the reflection on the light in its eyes when it looked at me. I started to look around, because there were sometime deer roaming in the woods under the street light or wild turkeys moving around, when a little dark spot catched my attention. It looked like a human head coming out of the bushes, but I wasn't able to see it because it was a bit in the dark. I didn't want my dog to run after whatever it was (it had a tendency to run away after wild animals), so I called it. It didn't listen to me but the thing in the bushes started to crawl towards the street slowly. It looked like a human, with thin limbs but a normal body and a slightly long neck. I started to freak out a bit and shook the treats cup so my dog would hurry. It came inside running and I shut the door as fast as I could. I turned off the lights in my house so I could have a view of what was outside. The strange being crawled fast, almost running like a dog with every limbs broken, as a improvised crawling movement. The being passed under the light, where I saw it had no fur, like a shaved animal. It was disgusting. I was afraid and standing in the dark. The being ran towards the light and continued on the street, where I wasn't able to see it because the houses in my neighborhood were delimited by trees. I locked the door and went to sleep with my dog. I talked to nobody about it.

A couple months later I went to bed kind of early one night (11:00 pm) and went to watch some videos on my phone. These were gaming videos and I had earphones on. A sound on the video was recurring and I thought it was annoying, like a distant weird scream. After a couple minutes the video finished and I went to see another, but during the loading the sound occurred again. I took off my earphones and waited for the sound. I heard it and immediately had tears in my eyes. It was coming from my window. My room was at the second floor, so I looked down in the forest if there was some movement. The only light near the forest entrance was the moonlight and an underwater light in our pool that emitted a small halo around it. I wasn't able to see anything, but the sound occurred again. It was like a mix between a distorted scream and a pig having his throat slit, or a strong pain whining from a dog. I looked down and saw something that passed so fast it was really hard to see it but I barely saw a human-sized being with thin limbs crawling like a spider. It wasn't running after anything, but the sound occured another time. It was the most horrible thing I ever heard. I closed my window quickly. I heard it again three other times, and it stopped after that.

I talked to my dad about the sound and he told me it was probably a deer being attacked by a wild animal. I was so scared of it I barely walked in the woods at night the following 3 years, before moving in a city to go at a university.

Even this day I have never heard of an animal or being like that. There were barely any reports of wolves, coyotes or bears in my area, and believe me I made a lot of discoveries exploring the forest in this town." -
AB

.
 

nivek

As Above So Below
8-9 Ft. Tall 'Whistling' Disfigured Humanoid Encountered in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania

A group of friends were camping out on the Montour Trail in western Pennsylvania. One of the group encounters a 8-9 foot unknown humanoid while gathering wood. A frightening incident!

The following account was forwarded to me by a 2nd party:

"At the time of writing this I am living in western Pennsylvania, a little south of Pittsburgh. I was in Boy Scouts for most of my life so I feel very comfortable in the woods and go camping often. Upon hearing Governor Wolf's school closure plan I decided that it was time for some cold weather camping. It was March, it wasn't that cold but it did drop to 40 f at night, and the people who I went weren't really avid campers. If you're from Pittsburgh you may know the Boggs campsite on the Montour Trail in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. That's where we went. They, of course, only brought weed and alcohol and didn't bring any sleeping bags, blankets, or pillows. So naturally I assumed they were going to sit by the fire all night.

It was light when we first got there and the fire pit was still smoldering, very cool, we use the coals from the previous camper's fire to light ours and immediately I knew that I would have to provide wood for the fire until I went to bed. They passed out beer at around 3 PM (times are gonna be a bit dodgy because I wasn't near my phone) and after having 2-3 beers I just wanted dinner. They made Ramen noodles and cheese which was amazing (they had a weird name for it) and burgers over the fire. By this time it would have had to have been close to 5 PM because it started to rain a little bit, as was forecasted. So we took shelter in the shelter that was on site and occasionally one of them would throw some sticks on the fire (sticks were all they seemed to be able to find even though I brought 2 saws and an axe) and I would cut up some logs.

By the time the rain stopped all 4 of us smoked a blunt and were sitting around the fire. It was light out, so we'll call it 7 PM. After a while of just hanging out they ask if I had any blankets. I always have blankets. Nothing special but we've had some pretty bad snow storms in the past and a couple scratchy car blankets are always useful. They each got a blanket except for 'R', as we'll call him, who got my summer sleeping bag that I brought just in case.

By now it was dark, 9-9:30 PM, and the fire was getting low. I start off to find some more wood because they wanted to smoke another blunt. Now you have to understand that I'm 6'5" and a semi frequent user of the devils lettuce so my tolerance is kind of high. I return with the wood and we spark up another blunt, a smaller one, and just kinda hang out and talk and listen to music while were high. Good times. Eventually the fire, again, dies down a little bit and, again, its my job to get more wood. Because we had been there for a while and there were people there before us most of the wood near the shelter was either really small or all used up so I had to keep going farther and farther away from camp to find wood. It was 12:30 AM, and close to 50 degrees still so were all doing well. I have a flashlight, a really nice one that I use for scuba diving, that is kind of bright so I use it on the low setting on land.

At this point I'm far enough away from camp that my friends can't really see me. There's like an embankment between the Montour Trail and someone's driveway that you have to cross to get to more woods. But I'm comfortable alone because I knew what I was doing and they could hear me if I needed them.

I start to hear a weird whistling sound, kind of like someone inhaling through a snorkel, but I chalk it up to the wind. The air was starting to get kind of cold so I just took back what I had and put some on the fire. 1-2 AM, ~40 degrees with some wind, nothing severe. I have on 2 long sleeve shirts and an Army surplus coat that is SUPER warm but my friends are in windbreakers and hoodies and, oh yeah, its raining. Off to get more wood.

This time I started taking into consideration the type of wood that I would collect. There was a lot of pine but that burns fast which is why I had to go collect it so often. The stretch of woods near the driveway was pretty much all pine, a few maples but nothing big. So I keep walking knowing that this area has both conifers and deciduous trees in close proximity to each other. As I'm wandering and collecting wood I notice that the rain has turned to a super fine snow. Time to head back, just in case it picks up.

Then the whistling started again, a lot louder now. Ok, weird. There isn't any more wind than there was before. Maybe it changed directions. I keep walking. By now I can hear the music from camp and pick up the pace a little bit. Just as I summit the embankment and prepare to clamber down the other side a LOUD noise echos behind me. Tree fell? Shining my flashlight around I couldn't see any signs that that was the case and didn't see any source. Deer knocked something over? In my head it doesn't matter because I'm back at camp anyways and I can try the marsh behind our shelter next time. 3 AM? They were COLD. The temperature dropped to around 30 degrees and the wind and snow had picked up. Car blankets helped the boys a little bit but they weren't able to go to sleep in the tent that I brought without freezing, except for 'R' who slept like a rock all night after about 3:30 AM. We decide to finish off the weed and give the last beers a good talking to.

It's about 4:30 AM. I'm about ready for bed at this point because I'm not super high or drunk or anything but I was definitely tired. I offer to go collect more wood before I retire to my 0 degree sleeping bag and cot (I camp comfy when I don't have to carry it far) and they said they would join me. they must have been cold. We split up and I end up heading back to where I was before, except this time I left my flashlight on high and I made a bunch of noise to scare off that deer or whatever that was there earlier.

I end up a little further away from camp that I had intended to be because there were only pine branches on the ground over here. Then the whistling starts again. This time I could tell the direction it was coming from, my left, and shined my flashlight around that area before just returning to collecting wood. Then the sound stops briefly, then picks up again in a different direction less than a minute later. This time in front of me and a little to the right, back into the pines. Maybe the branches of certain trees catch the wind just right and make the noise, I think "whatever" and move on. Then on my way back the noise was following me, darting from left to right but always like right behind me. I don't see anything so whatever. Then the noise makes like one sharp whistle and pauses, then I hear it, "Damn it's cold out here."

It was 'R', but I couldn't find him with my flashlight so I called "where you at?" It sounded like he turned around because I heard a branch snap and a bit of movement. I pointed my flashlight at where the sound was coming from and I didn't see 'R' anywhere. Maybe he's behind a bush or a tree or something. I call out again "R?" No reply this time. He might be lost or something because we weren't at camp and he saw my flashlight moving so he came to look. "R, where are you?" Nothing. Then, louder. "I'm going back to camp," because I thought he was trying to scare me. Shining my flashlight around one last time I spot something dive into a bush about 40 feet from where I had heard 'R' turn around. "I see you big man, grab some wood and come back." He's 6' and 230-250 lbs. I shine the light around for a few more seconds then turn around again and start walking.

The whistling is back. No matter what speed I moved at it always seemed the same distance away. I decide that I'd just kind of sit under a tree and wait for 'R' to pass by because he had to come back some time, right? I wanted to save the battery of my flashlight so I turned it off and closed one eye, so it would adjust faster. By now the snow had picked up a good bit, which is another reason to stop, in case 'R' got lost. I couldn't really see super far because there was a lot of cloud cover despite it being a full moon. The whistling never got closer but it did start to move around a little bit, in a really odd circle. It would start in one spot, stop, then promptly start in another spot that was in a different direction. I realized that it had to be the wind or something because it was moving super fast and was moving at random. Cool, now where the f*ck is 'R?' I turn on my flashlight between whistles and call out again "R?" It's important to note here that the whistling never picked up while I looked around. It normally only stopped for a second or two. It was SUPER quiet.

The snow was laying on the ground and we had 2-3 inches on the ground by now so maybe that muffled it? Anyways, upon not hearing 'R' I thought that maybe I missed him or didn't hear him at all and started to head back to camp. As I stood up and brushed the dirt off my ass I shined the flashlight around one more time. I was thinking in my head "I definitely heard him." After I stood up with the wood in my arms and began to walk back towards camp I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. My flashlight, being a diving light, has a wrist mount that I was wearing so I could use it and carry things. I turned towards and and scanned the area with my flashlight. Nothing. Not even 4 steps more and I saw another movement. Now the whistling was back. Damn that gets annoying, sounds like a fat guy who just ran up the stairs. Flashlight was on low so I could see maybe 40 ft around me and didn't see anything but I knew it was time to pick up the pace.

Now the whistling was followed by flashes of movement. Great, it's not the wind. At this point I'm speed walking, being tall I can MOVE if I have to and I was definitely traveling at jogging speed. 'R,' a lumbering beast when he runs, could not move this fast or this quietly through the woods. I decided to turn off the flashlight and move into some brush that was close by. Not sure why but I was getting a little freaked out and had the shakes even though I was warm. It was silent again. Well f*ck me. What is it? Is it hunting me? Coyote? Not a coyote.

There was a good period of silence, then there was whistling. This time it wasn't doing circles around me, it was just moving around where I had turned off the flashlight. My eyes adjusted and I peeked out from under the bush that I was rolled up under (I tried). Nothing, just that damned whistling. By this point I was pretty much sober, like if I got pulled over I could NAIL the field sobriety test. I waited for a little while the thing just kind of looked around. Then I heard it speak. In a really gargled impression of me it called out "Big man." It took everything I had not to panic. Holy sh*t. Not 'R,' not human, not a deer, not the wind. Then it spoke again "R" cutting off really strangely like you just lifted the needle off of a record but picking back up again with "back to camp" still in my voice. MY F*CKING VOICE! I normally don't like hearing recordings of myself anyways but now I REALLY don't like them. It said a few more things, in different voices that I didn't recognize. All the voices were either talking about how cold it was or questions like "what was that?" and "stop f*cking with me," but they all seemed like whoever was talking had some something built up in their throat.

Then it went quiet. I poked my head out of the bushes again and saw something sitting against a tree in the same position I had been in. Left leg straight out, right leg at an angle, hands behind my head. It could have fooled me as being 'R.' We both kind of sit the same way except his ADHD usually makes him fidget with his hands. OK, so who's sitting in the woods with me. I lay there, silent, and just watch. It begins to whistle. Ah, so that's where that was coming from. It moves its hand around in a fist out in front of it, the same way that I look around with my flashlight, and then started to stand up. Oh f*ck it's tall. I only weigh 166, skin and bone mostly so when I say that this thing was skinny don't take it lightly. I could see how thin its long spindly arms were silhouetted against the snow that coated a bush behind it. When it stood up it was hunched over, not sure if I was slouching when I stood up but I certainly do slouch. It walked a few paces away from the tree and stood up the whole way. HOLY SH*T!

I worked with backdrops for theater productions and the walls we use the most are around 8 feet high and this thing would have easily been able to see over one. I'm talking by at least a foot. It slowly peered around, no hair on its head and its side profile showed a SUPER disfigured skull. The jaw hung pretty far down and there weren't really lips that stuck out but it was hard to tell because of how dark it was. It let out one final "R?" Big man?" Kind of like someone with tortures would say it because they were just random words that it strung together. Then it SCREAMED!

My dad used to take me to airshows a lot as a kid and this has to have been the same pitch and volume as an F-16. I couldn't move. It peered around, head just seemingly sweeping the area. Then it crouches down and leaps for a tree with the lowest branch being around 10-15 feet and lands feet first on one of the branches and sits there, squatting, whistling, and just staring around. Then it takes off. Faster than should be allowed in nature. I count to ten in my head. The forest sleeps. I slowly make my way out from under the bush and begin to creep back towards camp, this time avoiding using my flashlight or making any noise if possible. I climb the embankment and take one last look towards the woods, unsure if that just happened or if I was asleep. I tumble down the other side of the embankment and return to the relative safety of the big fire with 'Y' and 'J', the other two who went for wood.

"Where's your wood?" asks 'Y'. "Oh it, uh, had bugs." "It's fine, we got a lot anyways." They stacked up a solid pile of oak and pine, not enough for the night but enough for a little while at least. "Where's R?" I ask warily. "Check the tent" there he was passed out snoring the way he always does. Well, ok then. I climbed into my sleeping bag to warm up a little bit because I was covered in snow when I got back. Then I heard it scream again! Oh please don't tell me it's coming here. The other two looked at me wide-eyed. Normally, if I recognize a sound, I say what it is out loud so they know what's up. I had no response. They asked if I heard the first one. Good, they heard it too. I answered with a nod as I unlocked the car in case we needed to book it. They asked if I saw it. Nod. What was it? No f*cking clue. I described it to them quietly so that I could listen for more noises and I told them about it imitating my voice. 'Y' was pretty freaked out 'J' thought I was bullsh*tting him and said it was some kind of owl. I got out of my sleeping bag threw my coat back on and joined them at the fire.

For the first time in awhile I looked at my phone. 5:45 AM. We looked up native owl calls and came up empty handed. The same with every other animal we tried. 'J' seemed a little nervous. 'Y' suggested that "maybe its a truck on the highway." "Yeah that's probably it" I replied blankly and 'J' gave me a look that said that he knew it probably wasn't. They didn't sleep. I forced sleep upon myself so that we wouldn't die on the car ride home.

The next morning we went for a walk. It didn't snow much after I got back so you could kind of follow my footprints. The tree the thing leaped onto was out of reach of me on J's shoulders. 'R' was still asleep, but I think I might have been able to reach it if I was on his shoulders. The tree I sat under had scratch marks on it. I think they're from deer shedding the velvet off of their antlers but it creeped me out nonetheless. The tree it sat under had footprints EVERYWHERE. There seemed to be no order to them at all. It was amazing. It looked like it had run over every square inch of that area, coming as close to the bush I was in as 2 me-lengths.

I don't really know much about cryptids or anything but when I got home I Googled "north american tall skinny cryptid" and the second result was from parade, a list of cryptids. After ruling out everything else on the list I came across the picture of a Wendigo that has antlers. Not quite but pretty close described as, tall and skinny and super fast. I did my research and every picture has antlers but I can't find any evidence that, other than a few movies, it had antlers. I don't know. What I saw definitely didn't have antlers but it matched everything else, even down to the whistling. I'd appreciate some feedback." JD

NOTE: The Wendigo can take various forms. I just don't think that it is a Wendigo. They are aggressive, according to reports I've read over the years. There have many similar sightings throughout Pennsylvania in the past few years. Stan Gordon and I recently discussed it during his appearance on Arcane Radio. This is some type of unknown flesh and blood humanoid. That's all we have at the moment.

Lon Strickler


.
 

nivek

As Above So Below
Tall Pale Humanoid Approaches Shocked Camper at Ovens National Park, Nova Scotia

A young camper is approached by a tall pale humanoid while sitting on a trail bench in the Ovens National Park in Nova Scotia at night. Was it a spirit or an actual living being?

"Before this incident, I had never had a paranormal experience in my life. That being said, my boyfriend seems to have enough for the both of us.

We went camping in the early fall of 2016 at Ovens National Park, Nova Scotia. We had just arrived back from spending the summer in western Canada and hadn't seen each other in four months. So we decided to spend some time together and go camping with another couple that were close friends of ours. We booked the cheapest cabin at the campground for two nights and headed out.

The first day we spent there was pretty uneventful. To give some context, the park is famous for its sea caves that are carved into the rocky cliffs of the Nova Scotian east shore. The first day we hiked the trail that overlooked the caves (or the Ovens as they were called) and we were able to go down into some of them. That night we had a campfire, but turned in early. So we sat inside the small cabin and started playing cards. My boyfriend was being a sore loser, and seemed to be acting kind of strange. He abruptly said he was going for a walk and left the cabin. I was pretty annoyed and just let him go for a while and didn't chase him.

After about half an hour I started to get a bit anxious and called his cell. This is where things started to get really weird. He didn't answer at first, but he called me back right away. When I answered he seemed to have calmed down a bit, and I asked him where he was. He said he was sitting on a bench on the trail, then he asked where I was. This confused me a bit because I hadn't left the cabin since he left, and I wasn't likely to since I'm terrified of the dark. I told him this and this suddenly freaked him out. He said he was coming back to the cabin. It was weird because he's generally pretty level-headed and hard to actually scare.

So after about two to three minutes I hear running footsteps coming to the cabin and my boyfriend comes tearing through the door. Then this is what he told me:

He had walked out to the trails to get some fresh air and sat down on one of the benches to look out at the ocean. The moon was pretty bright that night. so everything was illuminated pretty well. Then he said he heard someone walking by and he saw this really tall and pale figure stop and look at him, and then continue on. For some reason he assumed this was me coming to look for him, and that's when I called him and told him I was in the cabin. He said, that in retrospect, the figure was inhumanly tall and pale and couldn't possibly be a person. He was not himself for the rest of the night and didn't seem normal until lunch the next day. Do you have any idea about what this might have been?" LB

.
 

nivek

As Above So Below
Small Hairy Hominids Observed by Fossil Hunters in West Texas Flatlands

A man and his daughter were fossil hunting in the flatlands east of the Davis Mountains in west Texas, when they encountered 4 small hairy hominids.

I recently received a telephone call from a witness 'RI' who lives in West Texas. He and his daughter had an encounter with 4 small unknown hominids during a recent excursion in the second week of June 2020.

RI and his daughter share a hobby. They enjoy searching for fossils, native arrowheads and other artifacts. This particular day, they were searching an area approximately 4 miles south of Fort Stockton, Texas in the flatlands adjacent to the Davis Mountains.

They had been out for a few hours when his daughter mentioned that 'something was following them.' RI turned around and he noticed 4 small upright hair covered beings scattering as he looked in their direction. He was confused as to what these were. He estimated that they were about 150 yards away from them and that they ranged from 2 to 3 foot in height. They had dark fur and reminded him of what people described as Bigfoot, but much smaller.

For about an hour, these beings would gather back into a group and continue to follow RI and his daughter as approximately the same distance. Each time RI turned to look at them, they would quickly scatter and attempt to hide.

RI asked if I thought that he should attempt to capture one of beings. I tried to dissuade him from doing so and recommended that I try to have an investigator in the area talk to him first. I have contacted an affiliate of the Phantoms & Monsters Fortean Research to contact the witness. RI has agreed to take them to the location.

Lon Strickler

Untitled.png
 

nivek

As Above So Below
'Gliding' Humanoid Seen Near Ocala, Florida

A woman described a bizarre encounter while traveling with a friend on Rt. 40 near Ocala, Florida. The witness was in the front passenger seat, as they were returning to Ocala after spending the day in Dunnellon. It was approximately 3PM on an unknown day in mid-October 2017. She observed a human-like being 'gliding' slowly above the treetops near the road...watching this strange sight for several seconds as they approached and passed the anomaly. She commented to the driver, who also saw the unknown being.

The witness described the being as gliding horizontally just above the trees. It was shaped like a human, but had no wings or device keeping it aloft. It was wrapped in a black material or membrane. The face was that of a man, but very pale w/ jet black hair on its head. She states that it was about 5 ft. in length and that she got as close as 30 ft. to the being...so she was quite close and able to obtain a good description. She also said that she was very shocked by the encounter and that the sighting has bothered her since.


.
 

nivek

As Above So Below
Unknown Humanoid, Possible 'Grey' Alien, Observed at O'Hare International Airport

"I was at O’Hare International Airport doing a pick up of some air freight from the United Cargo facility on the night of July 31, 2020. It was about 10 pm local time and I was backed up to the dock waiting to be loaded when I saw what looked like a small child walking along the grassy area by the street lights over by the road. At first I thought it was just another driver taking a walk while taking a smoke break or just stretching his legs. As I watched him, I started to take notice that it did not look like any person I had ever seen in my life. It looked like it was a very skinny and small child and the way it walked was also different. It looked like it was limping as it walked. The arms were also very skinny and hung down to its knees, looking very, very skinny. What we would call 'skin and bones.'

I watched it for almost a minute and saw two semi’s pass by on the road next to where it was standing. Both trucks apparently didn’t notice it and simply drove on. There was also activity across the street by the control tower, but they also apparently never noticed it as it idly walked under the streetlight. When I did get under the light, I could see that its skin appeared a light shade of grey and it appeared to not be wearing clothes. Its head was out of proportion with its body and it appeared to be looking at the airplane that was being brought toward the fence across the street and the activity around it. I eventually decided to get out of the truck and take a closer look, hoping it wasn’t a small child that had wandered off or been abandoned.

As I got out and walked toward it, it turned when it must have heard me and I called out. As I got closer to it, It became alarmed and the closer I got I realized that it wasn’t a small child as I first thought. I called out to it again and then it turned toward me and I saw that it had huge almost bug-like eyes that were black in color. Its body appeared a light shade of grey under the light of the streetlight. I picked up my pace toward it and that’s when I saw it take off and start to run away. It ran faster than any human I’ve ever seen. It could have easily outrun an Olympic sprinter. It was gone in a blink of an eye and all I remember was someone banging on the door of my truck telling me to come inside and get my paperwork. It was the damnedest thing I have ever seen in my life."

Investigators Notes:

I spoke with the witness via phone and he described the sighting in detail. The witness has been a truck driver with over 17 years of experience, the last 5 years as a local/regional driver for a larger LTL (Less Than Truckload) company. The witness says he has picked up hundreds of loads from all over the airport in his time with the company and has never seen anything out of the ordinary in all that time.

When asked about the sighting, the driver described sitting in his truck waiting for it to be loaded when he noticed the being walking along the grassy area and looking across the street. He stated that the entity seemed to be interested in the activity as a large cargo plane was being brought into the unloading area. When asked to describe the being he saw, the witness stated that it looked about the height of a child of about 9 -10 years of age and appeared to not be wearing any clothes. He described the head as almond shaped and way too big as compared to the rest of the body. He also described the eyes as insect-like, very large and the blackest of black and piercing. The witness describes the feeling like this entity could see straight into him, straight into his very mind and that brought a feeling of fear and discomfort. When asked what compelled him to leave his truck and investigate, the driver was curious and was hoping it was not a child that had wandered off or had been abandoned wandering around in a very dangerous area with semi’s and other traffic going by to endanger it. When asked why he did not take any photos of the being, he stated that he was unsure if he should in case it turned out to be a child.

When asked to describe what happened when he approached the entity the witness stated that as he got closer, the entity turned to look at him and he saw the large eyes and the entity became alarmed when he called out to it. He described that the entity turned and began to run away from him, he described the speed at which it ran as blazing fast, stating that he had never seen anything run that fast before.

When asked about what happened afterwards, the witness hesitated but eventually said he really doesn’t remember what happened after the entity had run away. He only remembers someone pounding on the door of his truck to wake him up and that he thinks he might have walked back to his truck and then dozed off. He stated that when he went inside to pick up his paperwork he was told that his load had been ready for almost an hour and that is why they had gone outside to wake him up. The driver stated that he doesn’t remember anything about the time between the sighting and when he was waken.

NOTE: We received a sighting report of an unknown humanoid ascending into a bright oval UFO on January 23, 2020 in the Rest Haven Cemetery located on the O'Hare International Airport property. If you look at the map I've provided below, United Cargo is located directly east of the same cemetery. Is there a connection between these sightings. Is this a 2nd unknown humanoid, possibly alien being, observed at the airport? Are the winged humanoids and these other humanoids one in the same or associated with each other? - Lon Strickler

 

nivek

As Above So Below
Screenshot_20210106-180225.jpg
.

Mystery over trail of four-toed footprints that appeared on car overnight

A woman has been left baffled after finding a trail of footprints on her car that didn't quite look human. Alicia Smith of Scartho found the odd marks on her vehicle on Thursday morning.

A set of six footprints can be clearly seen walking over the windshield and the car's roof. They are only a few inches long and appear to have just four toes, sparking speculation on what might have made them.

0_JWR_HMB_311220_footprints.jpg


Alicia and her partner were stunned when they saw them. They've shared the bizarre pictures in the hope that someone can suggest what they were.

"We'd never seen anything like this before, it was very odd," she said. "They're a strange shape and only have four toes, and don't quite look human. I'm not sure if it was a child. And why would someone be barefoot in this weather?"

0_JWR_HMB_311220_footprints_02.jpg


"The car was parked outside our house all night so whatever did it must have been just outside. We didn't hear or see anything. It was 10.30am when we came out and spotted the footprints. We had no idea what made them, and wanted to see if anyone else had seen anything similar. We really want to hear people's suggestions on what they might be."

The trail starts near the corner of the driver's door, and progress up the windscreen. They then go across the roof and disappear. Whatever made them must have had cold feet judging by the layer of frost coating the car.

There's no trace of a fifth toe on either of the feet, although the maker might have been walking awkwardly due the temperature.

.
 

nivek

As Above So Below
Creepy 'humanoid' spotted crawling around like crab on CCTV as leaves dogs spooked

Footage of a weird creature said to be the legendary cryptid "La Mona" or a "ghoul" was shared on Reddit. People debated whether or not the bizarre figure was a human. A bizarre video shows a creature with weird "bent legs" running around on all fours while several dogs desperately bark at it.

In the clip, filmed at night, the figure crawls towards the camera with a crab-like motion and a dog scampers around yapping at it. A second dog then starts urgently barking in the background as the mysterious thing gets closer to the camera.

The video, recorded on home CCTV in Costa Rica, was uploaded on Reddit by user u/fit_then_fat in "humanoid encounters" where people debated if the figure was a "ghoul", "La Mona" or something much more mundane.

One person commented: "I would think this were a human if it weren't for the odd back leg. There are too many bends in the back legs. With that said, video could still be faked."

Similarly, another user said: "The way those legs are bent is making me question it, I mean also I can touch my toes when stretching so I know it’s possible but either way, creepy." But other people were convinced the weird figure was just a human having a rollicking time on all fours, for reasons only they know.



.
 

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
There's usually some seed things like this sprout from. Could've been some group of very human people with some weird characteristic or social practice that's become warped beyond it's original interpretation over time.

Or, it could have been a race of real acid-trip jug heads. Who the hell knows :)

Evolution though, seems to have a difference of opinion and generally prefers the head on top where those useful eyeballs can rotate around looking for stuff to eat and stuff that wants to do the eating.
 

nivek

As Above So Below


Sacred 'Mermaid' to be Analyzed by Japanese Scientists

A centuries-old sacred 'mermaid mummy' is set to be scientifically analyzed by researchers in Japan in an attempt to determine the true nature of the mysterious creature. According to a local media report, the rather nightmarish oddity (seen above) is said to have been captured by fishermen sometime around 1738 and subsequently passed through the hands of various owners until ultimately winding up at a Buddhist temple in the city of Asakuchi at some point in the last century. The curious creature, which resembles the half-human, half-fish construction of a classic mermaid, was showcased at the site for decades until being put into storage to protect the puzzling specimen.

Seemingly forgotten since then, the purportedly mummified mermaid was rediscovered by Hiroshi Kinoshita of the Okayama Folklore Society while studying the works of a famed Japanese natural historian Kiyoaki Sato, who wrote about mysterious creatures. After tracking down the location of the ancient relic, the researcher brought it to the attention of scientists from the country's Kurashiki University and suggested that they examine the peculiar specimen. Remarkably, the temple was open to such an analysis of their treasured piece and turned the approximately one-foot-long creature remains to a team of specialists from the university.

The group plans to conduct an array of tests on the alleged mermaid including a morphological analysis, DNA testing, and CT scanning. Other team members will attempt to determine the process by which the creature was mummified and Kinoshita, who thrust the oddity into the spotlight in the first place, will be providing a folkloric look at the relic in order to tell its complete story. The researchers say that they'll unveil their complete findings later this year. Those hoping that the study might determine find that the creature really was a proverbial mer-being may wish to temper their expectations as examinations of similar relics has always found that they are simply two prosaic animals, such as a monkey and a salmon, artfully sewn together.

.
 

nivek

As Above So Below
Scientists working to unravel mystery of 300-year-old mummified ‘mermaid’ with ‘human face’ and tail…



MORE PICTURES

.
 
Top