Posted on 03/15/2021 5:30:39 PM PDT by BenLurkin
For hundreds of years, people have looked up at the hazy peaks of California's Santa Lucia Mountains at sunset and seen tall, cloaked figures staring back. Then, within moments, the eerie silhouettes disappear.
These twilight apparitions are known as the Dark Watchers — shady, sometimes 10-foot-tall (3 meters) men bedecked in sinister hats and capes.
One famous observer who felt the presence of the Watchers was the American author John Steinbeck. In his 1938 short story "Flight," a character sees a black figure leering down at him from a nearby ridgetop, "but he looked quickly away, for it was one of the dark watchers," Steinbeck wrote. "No one knew who the watchers were, nor where they lived, but it was better to ignore them and never to show interest in them."
One theory...it's a classic case of pareidolia: a psychological phenomenon in which an observer's brain finds patterns or significance in a vague or random image.
This pattern-seeking effect could be amplified by the presence of fog or low-flying clouds, according to Dowd. Shadows cast against clouds are responsible for another infamous illusion, known as the Brocken specter.
"German locals near the Harz Mountains have, for centuries, reported seeing shadowy figures on Brocken peak," Dowd wrote. "In reality, the Brocken spectre … happens when shadows — like those of a hiker — are cast on particularly misty mountain peaks...."
The spectral figures are usually surrounded by a rainbow-colored halo, produced by sunlight refracting off of water droplets in the fog or clouds, according to the BBC. While it's common in the Harz Mountains, where fogs frequently creep in at low altitudes, you can see the effect on any misty mountainside with the sun at your back and the clouds below you.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
A spiteful, pitiful woman filled with disillusion over misguided dreams.
Hmmm, I’ll take another look.
Only the “middles”? ;-)
I’ve heard of the Brocken Spectre and stories of the witches coven on Walpurgis night, but I didn’t know we had this here.
You know what a scarecrow is, don't you?
Did they demand a shrubbery?
LOL!
That’s almost enough to make a whole GGG topic!
Large humanlike figures were reported in both WW’s.
Terence McKenna had a great term for such “spooky” or “weird” stuff. He called them “metaphysical spankings”, natures way of reminding us we are not at the top of the hierarchy of being.
Ooh, I'm savin' that!
Sasquatch
Thanks BenLurkin. Cryptobiology topic, also fits under Oh So Mysteriouso. If you see a family of sasquatch running from one of these Dark Watchers, ya better run too!
If you come across it, just don't look it in the eyes...
100%
Outdoors/Rural/wildlife/hunting/hiking/backpacking/National Parks/animals list please FR mail me to be on or off . And ping me is you see articles of interest.
“We ran to the garage and pulled out our baseball bats.”
That was silly! Everyone knows those things aren’t in season until later in the fall! ;)
Creepy. The only other-worldly thing I’ve ever seen was my Grandma who came to visit me a few weeks after her funeral.
I know the exact ‘tingling’ feelings you had, but I wasn’t the least bit scared - just happy to see her again! :)
And you can try to tell me it wasn’t really happening, but it was really happening!
[[I quit drinkin’ moonshine in 1996 and haven’t seen any of these things since.....p]]
So what you are saying is that life is boring now?
Everytime I think I see a dark watcher, a chupacabra slaps me upside the head and tells me I’m hallucinating again
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