The Crawfordsville Monster

The Monster Crawfordsville refers to the alleged creature reported by residents Crawfordsville (Indiana) in 1891. This story, "one of the most fantastic of all UFO reports," contributed to the formation of early theories about UFOs as airborne organisms.

Journal Crawfordsville described it like this:

"about eighteen feet [5.5m] long and eight feet [2.5m] wide, and it moved quickly through the air with the help of several pairs of lateral fins. It was pure white and had no definite shape or form, somewhat resembling a large white shroud with fins. Neither tail nor head was visible, but there was one big glowing eye, and some hoarse plaintive sound came from an invisible mouth. he came and often squirmed, as if suffering from unspeakable agony."

Journal Crawfordsville suggested that the newly installed electric lighting in Crawfordsville disoriented the birds, which caused them to hover over the city. The birds' wings and white lower feathers probably led to a misidentification.

At the same time, two local residents, John Hornbeck and Abe Hernley, "chased the ghost around the city and finally discovered that it was a flock of many hundreds of birds called the Screaming Plover."