Crazy Critter of Bald Mountain. - [Alien|Cryptid]

The Crazy Critter of Bald Mountain. - [Alien | Cryptid] - Nov 14 1974, Chehalis, Lewis county, Washington, USA - aka: "Glowey" , "The Beast of Bald Mountain."

 • About this Alien: Early morning, Mid November 1974, A "fiery object" fell from the sky near Bald Mountain, Chehalis, Lewis county, Washington. Within a week, Something glowing was sighted by two separate parties, two elderly motorists & one deer hunting grocer who came face to face with a glowing, horse sized creature, described by them as "covered with scales, standing on four rubbery legs, with sucker like octopus tentacles. Its head was oval, football-shaped with an antenna sticking up. it gave off a harsh green, iridescent light like a neon sign." -- NASA, The Smithsonian, Lewis County Civil defence & the M.I.B (men in black) supposedly got involved..

• History: The 'crazy critter' was Earliest dubbed as such by 'Jim Brandon' in his book, Weird America: "a Guide to places of Mystery in the united states" [1978] - The full entry goes as follows:

 "Bald Mountain (Abt. 20 mi. E of Chehalis.) Even Walt Disney's Fantasia sequence was never like this Night on Bald Mountain. Beyond question the most exotic "crazy critter” yet seen frightened motorists around November 17. 1974. It was horse-sized, covered with scales and standing on four rubbery legs with suckers like octopus tentacles. Its head was football-shaped with an antenna sticking up, according to the first person who ran into it, Seattle grocer Ernest Smith, who was deer hunting. And, as if that were not enough, ‘‘The thing gave off this green, iridescent light," according to Smith. ;

Shortly after this first sighting, but before there had been any publicity, Mr. and Mrs. Roger Ramsbaugh of Tacoma were driving along S.R. 7 one evening when they saw a dull glow near the side of the road. At first they took it for a neon sign in the fog, but as they drew alongside, they were terrified to see the same thing as Smith had.

The area was about five miles from where a fiery object had been seen crashing to earth on November 14. According to some reports, Lewis County Sheriff William Wister had at first investigated, but was told by air force and National Aeronautics and Space Administration officials to drop the matter. A special NASA team, including a heavily armed military unit wearing uniforms with no insignia, replaced county officials."

As most of my usual readers know, I really don't like to look at Alien or Creature cases with skeptic-vision. I hate having to write from the position of a debunker and i despise being a fun-pooper, especially when it comes to fun & interesting monsters. – But seeing as nobody else who has reported on this case so far has mentioned it in a somewhat rational light yet: I'll come right out and say it; With both critter terminology being used & a Fantasia, 1940's reference blatantly made within the first and earliest mention of this one, there's more than a few reasons to doubt this one entirely. For starters, I'd like to point out the slightly obvious, its called the 'crazy critter.' – That would usually be enough for me to label it as a fearsome critter and call it a day, but i must point out that earlier in the same book. Jim Brandon, also dubs another 'cryptid' from the same year, Better known today as the 'Enfeild Monster' [The Enfield case, on p.48]) As a "Whangdoodle!"  which sounds like a nonsense word (and it is...) but to those privy to fairies & folklore might know that 'whangdoodle' is also a colloquial slang term for an 'imaginary animal' - [The Websters dictionary says "Whangdoodles" are "imaginary animals whose nature and features are purposely left undefined. Compare gyascutus and snipes."] –- In other words, he essentially, right off the bat, calls the other creature, something the witnesses 'made up.' - that, coupled with literally naming this one the "crazy critter" casts some doubt if he was taking either encounter seriously at all! 

[The Enfield Case - p.48])

– Aside from that, Jim does not give a source for his quotes on this case, nothing in the bibliography; his book seems to be the earliest and only mention or report of the 'crazy critter' until modern day, his book was made 4 years after the supposed witnesses encountered it in 1974... I have been unable to find any reliable information about this situation, nor public record of an 'Ernest Smith' or 'Mr. and Mrs. Roger Ramsbaugh' beyond this one and only mention... Though I will say, To his credit: Both the Sheriff & Meteorite crash where in fact, real!! - From the newspaper articles below we can at least say, he did not entirely fabricate the situation! - according to papers from the week, Both NASA & the Smithsonian seem to have been involved, as where the Lewis county civil defence force (they issued a warning for the public to stay away due to "possible radiation dangers.") - As well as Seattles UFO reporting centre: one "Bob Gibble" received reports of the object at 6:20 PM and according to him the meteor was from Taurid the constellation “especially rich in fireballs.” - so there ARE certainly a number of articles which do indeed report on a "Radioactive Meteorite crash" in the area, with the sheriff saying that a "curious public" who came from far and wide to check it out. (However, in the following days, the situation was soon re-reported to have been a mistake! a lumber "slash fire" was to blame for the lights.) - [see articles below]

"Meteorite search in County" Nov 15th with a map of the location in lewis county included! - [https://www.newspapers.com/image/25466653/?match=2&clipping_id=155115172]

["Meteor crator" slag fire https://www.newspapers.com/article/spokane-chronicle-1974-11-16-meteor-cra/114874633/ ]

[ "Sheriff spent days chasing shadows" - Nov 16th 1974 https://www.newspapers.com/article/longview-daily-news-1974-11-16-sheriff-s/114874245/ ]

[Anybody found a meteorite? Nov 17th 1974. https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-bellingham-herald-1974-11-17-anybody/114874707/ ] 

-- I do like that both Sgt. Ken Peterson (the Helicopter pilot) & Bob Gibble seems to be skeptical of it being an actual meteor or a slag fire, saying that "metorites don't usually stay lit when they crash land". Sadly there's not one mention of what colour the glow would have been in any of the papers I read, nor any mention of 'armed militiamen' replacing anyone, nor any sightings of a fantastic 'glowing, horse sized creature'... Before you ask, I really don't have much add about The M.I.B's supposed appearance as both NASA, Smithsonian & others where definitely present, and according to the papers, the Lewis county Civil defence director issued a radiation warning, but no mention of 'armed militia men" can be confirmed as per the above articles. There's really nothing much to say to that credit that beyond what Jim said in his book (It feels that Jim dramatized things a bit? (as is common with such cases since forever.) - Judging from the other papers, nerdy astronomers seem to have been a bit more present with reporting on the case, before any Alien Enthusiasts at least. - Though, that could be what the sheriff meant by a 'curious public' –– But Then again and at the risk of sounding silly or overly conspiratorial: The news story did change pretty fast! Headlines switched from "METEOR!" to "meteor?" literally within a day! - (This is more likely than not, because they are experts in that field, not M.I.B agents... Again, this case seems to be missing from most Ufology/Cryptid books & with decent reason too. That is to say, There's 0 alien evidence, aside from exaggerated hearsay...)

Sheriff William H. Wiester (1926-2017.)

Beyond all that; the Sheriff (arguably the most 'real' person named in jims book) passed away a few years ago, 2017, at the age of 94. (R.I.P!) - No word on the Grocer or "the Ramsbaugh's" (worth note that there's very little information to be found about who the author Jim Brandon was.) So, Sadly, it seems its a bit too late for an interview or to ask those involved to clarify things... So, I'd suppose unless someone else involved with the case (perhaps more likely, their families.) step up to say something, or unless some obscure book or magazine that I could have missed shows up (...I'll update if one does.) or unless someone local can gives this case some further in person investigation, Further information about this supposed Glowing green anomaly surfacing feels quite unlikely!!! - still it seems that the meteor caused a stir! and thats interesting for its own reasons.

Modern Interest: This alleged alien seems to have had a popularity "boom" after Rob Morphy of the Cryptonaut podcast did an article/episode about it back in 2016. included was Tim Morris's art of the creature (seemingly the first one to illustrate it.) Soon fans started to write and draw a variety of original takes on the crazy critter. [and who can blame 'em right? he's very cute!] - As with most 'cryptid' cases, this eventually resulted in someone lifting the info directly from Morphys page & plagiarizing word for word to the cryptidz wiki, (my arch nemesis.) from there, i suppose the concept pollinated like folklore and the creature eventually wound up in the Metazoo card game. - (which is now Infamous for a number of reasons.)

...After that, there's sadly just not much more to be said about the critter, other than that its a minor case from 70s, a fun creature design was attributed to it years after the fact, and there's sadly very little further information which is easily found (And there for, its all the more fun to illustrate & to try and attempt to research more about it!!) [My Japanese U.M.A friends more recently have begun to draw it too which is always great fun to see!! :D]

--SO! was there actually a green glowin' scaly-space-slug-horse hiding somewhere in the bald mountains? - Who can really say with 100% certainty? As usual dear readers, I'll let you decide!

Art sticker by @samkalensky part of my fearsome critters/aliens collections of monster stickers! check my shop and follow me for many more :)