Not much of a set up here. This is the introduction for Hyde who is a crafting gremlin that helps Kira Grasdon out. I really need to remember this species though. Crafting gremlins turned out to be a great creation. Enjoy!
Pretty hard to tell what these things are. You can’t see them with the naked eye because they only appear on cameras. One could think they’re invisible, but there is probably more to them. Still, they are fairly interesting considering many do admit that they actually exist.
Studying videos and a few photographs show the Air Rods to be cylinders ranging from 4 inches to 3 feet long. They have no clear head, so you can’t tell the front from the back. Not when they’re zipping around at least, which is the only way you see them. Multiple pairs of either fins, wings, or limbs can be seen along their bodies too. They come up as streaking and squirming 3-dimensional creatures. The 3D part is important because it brings more credence to their existence.
Another aspect of the Air Rods is their behavior. They do not pass through objects like a ghost. Instead, they go around. Some sightings show them following people or animals either solitary or in a group. They may even circle the target who has no idea they are around and does not get harmed. Videos show they can move in groups and might be playing tag in the air. Either way, they appear to have some level of sentience and activity instead of being nothing more than mindless optical illusions.
So, what are they?
Clearly, they’re aliens that escaped from Roswell, New Mexico and have spread across the world. They stay hidden from view, but their technology doesn’t allow them to hide from the cameras that began getting used in the 1990’s. I mean, they crashed here so long ago that what was advanced before has been left behind by us. We might have even adapted their technology to create what we’re using now and improve on it. That makes sense, right?
Being more serious, Air Rods are thought to be (and possibly proven to be) nothing more than insects. These bugs move so fast that they leave motion blur in the video, which will hide their true form. It can also happen with birds, but it’s usually bugs. For example, moths darting around at night will be caught by surveillance cameras that only pick them up as streaks of light. The strange appendages that one might think are fins are created by the animal’s wings moving so quickly. So, it could all be an optical illusion . . . Or that’s what the aliens want you to believe.
Back on May 1, 2022, I did a post giving a bunch of information on sloths. Sadly, it wasn’t their holiday, but now it is. I couldn’t find any pictures from back in April on the blog, but that’s when my son and I got to experience a sloth encounter. By the way, all of the sloths were rescues that cannot be reintroduced to the wild. It was a lot of fun and we learned a lot about them. Enjoy and take a lesson from the sloth and take it slow today if even for a little bit.
This week didn’t go exactly as planned and I partially blame the weather. It got cold about halfway through and the sun is going down earlier. Makes it hard to take walks for exercise, relaxation, solitude, and Pokemon Go. This hasn’t helped my stress, which was high enough to reactivate my 3 AM panic attacks. So, I hit Friday with some energy, but was barely staying awake by about 1 PM. Muscled my way through work, an appointment, and time with my son before writing this post before bed.
I’d like to say I’m getting to sleep in, but I’m already away now because my son has an early morning appointment. Tomorrow is similar, but we’re going with my parents to a breast cancer walk at the beach. Need to get out of the house today and tomorrow by 8:30, which is going to wear us down for a full week of school/work. Guess it’s going to be early bedtimes for me and my son just to make sure we can make it through whatever is thrown our way.
My energy isn’t helped by last weekend and ensuing week being rather busy, which I’ll blow right through in one paragraph:
Fasting for Yom Kippur was a success even though I was running around for most of the day. Got a really bad headache with an hour to go, so I rested until food arrived. This event led into Sunday when I heard from an old friend and we hung out for lunch and then dinner. Forgot he said he would be around, but it was nice to chill and chat. Of course, this carried over into Monday when I decided to get my flu shot and then hunker down for editing. My body didn’t like the flu shot this year and wiped me out, so I had to take Tuesday off to recover. Went to work the rest of the week where the usual challenges happened then I would rush off to an appointment. Took time to sneak in a little Pokemon Go each day to do the event challenges and would get home to eat a late dinner, collapse, and wake up freaked around 3 AM with no idea why . . . No idea how I’m still standing, but I am.
This didn’t help with editing and I’m getting worried about my writing ability. I got through 3 chapters of Darwin & the Demon Game before I had to go back to work. I got one chapter done per day off, which doesn’t sit well with me. Can’t tell if I was being meticulous or unfocused. Even the Pokemon Go outings weren’t that bad since I made sure to edit first and only went out for 30-60 minutes before getting lunch. Can’t figure out why it’s becoming harder and harder to edit and write. My mind is definitely not as sharp as it used to be and the spark of creativity isn’t as potent. Just feels like something hit my mind so hard that I can’t muster any of my old ability and desire. It’s been slowing down ever since the divorce and then the court stuff at the start of the year, but now it’s downright pathetic.
Since I have my son this weekend, I won’t be doing any editing. I’ll be focused more on squeezing in a few December blog posts to get that off my plate. Really need to find a way to edit during the week too, but there are so many GODDAMN appointments after work that I can barely breathe. Been trying to do a little editing when I get in, but there are other early arrivals that result in talking. Same thing with lunch and breaks. Since I’m a TA, I don’t have an office or desk to retreat to, so I’m stuck walking around with a chapter of my book that I’ll never touch. Maybe I’ll get lucky this Wednesday, but I’ll definitely get to editing next weekend. Only one appointment then and it’s early morning. Still looking like I’m only going to be able to do 1 chapter per day with editing, which I assume will be the same if I ever get back to writing. As I said, pathetic compared to what I used to be able to do.
Only other interesting thing I did was watch a documentary on Vince McMahon of the WWE. It’s called ‘Mr. McMahon’ and it’s on Netflix. I used to watch WWE starting in September of 1998 through probably March of 2010. I watched a bit in the 80’s too, but then switched to cartoons. So, I was mostly into the Attitude and Ruthless Aggression Eras, which was a big focus of the documentary. Have to say that I found it really fascinating, especially from a psychological perspective. Just seeing how different people described different events. The mentality behind certain decisions and the unapologetic personality of a few people kept my interest. Might be another reason I didn’t get a lot of editing down, but I was done by Sunday evening. I would really recommend the documentary for anyone into WWE, wrestling, or even looking for character inspiration.
Goals for the week?
Make it to next weekend.
Time with son when he’s here.
Introduce son to ‘Courage the Cowardly Dog’.
Rest up when possible.
Stay warm.
Try to reduce anxiety . . . Looking into herbal stuff since prescription meds always hit me with terrible side-effects.
Continue doing daily walks for exercise. The bike can’t be used until after Halloween due to my son’s costume being on it.
I wasn’t going to do this one later, but realized it has a connection to the Snallygaster. Not only similar names, but the connection to racism. Although, this one comes from the swamps of Florida, Georgia, and Louisiana instead of Maryland. I’ll get to the racist part at the end, but let’s see what this thing actually is.
This is a large aquatic reptile with a spike on its back, thick hair, and no limbs. It moves by using its propeller-like tail to get through the water. The Snoligoster uses its tail to throw a victim onto the spike and make a collection of bodies. Since it’s tail is made of boney plates, it can burrow into the ground and uses the tunnel to scrape its meals off. Instead of eating them whole, they grind the corpses into mush and eats them like a slurpee. As time went on, they would develop a more crocodilian head.
Now, I tried to find more about this beast, but things got strange. A story said that it eats ‘shadow flesh’ of men, but I couldn’t figure out what that meant. This was stated in a 2015 book about fearsome creatures from lumberjack lore. The Snoligoster now knows the difference between a good shadow and an evil shadow. If it impales an evil person, they eat that shadow and a person will feel just fine. I don’t know what this means because I assume the person is dead and not feeling anything. So, what could the ‘shadow flesh’ come from?
This is a personal theory. Originally, the Snoligoster story involved a man hunting down a runaway slave in Florida. He found the slave impaled on a skinny tree that turned out to be the Snoligoster’s spike. People left the creature alone because they felt it would serve as a warning towards evil-doers and any slaves who wanted to escape. Here we have the racist origins of a creature that has been pulled away from that concept, but won’t be able to shed it entirely. I think the ‘shadow flesh’ was originally a reference to it eating slaves in order to prevent them from escaping. It’s no different than the Snallygaster being used to scare African Americans into staying indoors at night.
(Not 100% sure where I was going here. Possibly about how we examine and interpret the world through our own senses and mind. Yet, we can run into people who view things differently. Do we all share the same reality or do we live in a world where billions of realities are converging to make some kind of system?)
Definitely enjoying the odd names on a lot of these creatures. This one really caught my eye. I mean, Snallygaster sounds like something out of a Monty Python sketch or Dr Suess book. Yet, it’s not. So, what is it?
Found in Frederick County of Maryland, this is a flying creature that is supposedly a mix of dragon and bird. It was originally seen in the 1730’s by German settlers who named it Schneller Geist or ‘quick spirit’. Back then, it had demonic parts added to the dragon/bird combination, which is why seven-point stars were painted on buildings to ward it off. It would go on to have a metallic beak with sharp teeth and tentacles added to its visage. In 1909, it would be given curved talons and a single eye in a newspaper article. They also said it screamed like a locomotive.
It was said that the Snallygaster would silently swoop down to take children and farm animals. Then, it would suck their blood. Simple as that, but still fairly frightening if you’re living in the 1700’s.
There is a natural enemy of this cryptid. It is a bipedal mammal called the Dewayo and they’ve fought many times. This creature is said to be a wolf that walks to a man. It is said to have come from the Pennsylvania Dutch lore, but it shares similarities to a German creature called the Hexenwolf. It is interesting that we have two cryptids who are linked by a violent rivalry. You see that a lot in ancient folklore, but it’s the first time I’ve seen one that’s only from the last few centuries.
There is evidence that the Snallygaster was revived in lore in the 19th century to scare newly freed slaves. Using folklore creatures was apparently common, so the Snallygaster was said to go after black children at night. This would prevent African Americans from going out, especially at night. It also stopped their immigration to other areas by creating a lot of fear towards the supernatural. So, the legend of the Snallygaster was utilized to push a racist agenda, which is sadly not uncommon in our history. Taking ‘innocent’ things and twisting them into hateful ones is something that we can all think of even modern examples of.
So, what do you think about that last section? Any other examples that come to mind about an innocuous symbol being repurposed for hate? I’m saying swastika right now to get the obvious out of the way.
Legends of Windemere 