Mastodawn

Mysterious Times Weekly Roundup W/E 20/05/26

The strange skies have been busy again this week. Between freshly released Pentagon UFO files, reports of mysterious underwater objects off the American coastline, and another surge in crop circle chatter across Britain, the week ending 20 May 2026 has offered plenty of fuel for late night conversations around the campfire.

As always in the world of the unexplained, some stories sit closer to documented fact while others drift into the realms of speculation and folklore. Either way, the boundary between mystery and modern news continues to blur in fascinating ways.

The biggest talking point this week has undoubtedly been the continuing release of declassified American UAP files through the newly launched PURSUE archive. The release, which began on 8 May, includes military footage, FBI files, NASA mission records and historical reports stretching back to the 1940s. Several outlets highlighted photographs connected to the Apollo missions, including strange lights captured during Apollo 17.

Officials stressed that the files do not confirm extraterrestrial life, though many incidents remain officially “unresolved”. ([Sky News][1])

Some of the more intriguing cases include reports of glowing objects making impossible turns over Kazakhstan, military infrared footage from the Middle East, and witness testimony involving luminous spheres over American military facilities. Researchers and sceptics alike have been combing through the material all week, arguing over whether the release represents genuine transparency or simply another carefully controlled data dump. ([Phys.org][2])

Meanwhile, attention has also turned beneath the waves. Reports circulating this week claimed that more than 9,000 unidentified submersible object sightings have been logged near United States coastlines since late 2025.

The reports, compiled through the Enigma sightings database, include accounts of fast moving objects entering and exiting the water, glowing shapes beneath the ocean surface, and apparent “transmedium” craft capable of moving between sea and sky. Retired military officials quoted in the reports expressed concern that at least some of the phenomena may represent unknown technology operating in restricted waters. ([New York Post][3])

Back here in Britain, crop circle season is beginning to stir once more. UFO and anomaly tracking websites have reported an uptick in discussions surrounding unusual formations and strange aerial sightings across southern England.

While no major verified formations have yet dominated headlines, enthusiasts are already watching Wiltshire and Hampshire closely as warmer weather and clearer night skies return. ([Aliens Digest][4])

Elsewhere in the world of oddity and high strangeness, lunar lore unexpectedly entered academic discussion this week through a paper examining Indigenous spiritual objections to commercial activity on the Moon.

While not paranormal in the traditional sense, the debate touches upon something deeply familiar within folklore studies: the idea that celestial bodies are not merely rocks in space, but sacred entities bound to myth, memory and identity. The paper references objections from Native American communities to the scattering of human remains on the Moon and questions how future lunar exploitation may collide with ancient beliefs. ([arXiv][5])

Online UFO communities have also been buzzing over fresh witness submissions involving jellyfish-like aerial anomalies, luminous domes and strange patterned lights appearing in American skies.

As ever, eyewitness testimony remains deeply subjective, but the sheer volume of reports continues to fascinate researchers who track patterns in modern folklore and anomalous experience. ([UFO Stalker][6])

Whether these stories ultimately prove to be misunderstood technology, psychological projection, elaborate hoaxes or something genuinely unknown, they continue to reveal an enduring truth about humanity.

We are still looking upward.

We are still searching dark waters and lonely fields for signs and symbols.

And perhaps most telling of all, we are still telling stories about the things we cannot quite explain.

Further reading and sources:

Sky News UFO files report (https://news.sky.com/story/a-13541565)

ABC News Pentagon UFO release coverage(https://abcnews.com/Politics/pentagon-begins-release-decades-unresolved-ufo-files/story?id=132780534)

Spectrum News UAP archive article(https://spectrumlocalnews.com/us/snplus/news/2026/05/08/pentagon-ufos-unidentified-flying-objects-uap-new-website-tranches-additional-records)

Anomaly Daily sightings database(https://anomalydaily.com)

Aliens Digest sightings archive (https://aliensdigest.com)

Fortean Times magazine (https://www.forteantimes.com)

[1]: https://news.sky.com/story/a-13541565 “‘Never-before-seen’ files on UFOs released by Pentagon | US News | Sky News”

[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFO_files_release_%282026%29 “UFO files release (2026)”

[3]: https://anomalydaily.com “Anomaly Daily — A field guide to the unexplained”

[4]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missing_scientists_conspiracy_theory “Missing scientists conspiracy theory”

[5]: https://www.milkywaynews.com “Milky Way News”

[6]: https://www.zinio.com/publications/fortean-times/3154/issues/735151 “Issue 470 May 2026 – Fortean Times”

Copyright © 2026 Kirst Mason D’Raven / [Mysterious Times](https://www.mysterioustimes.co.uk). All rights reserved. This article or images may not be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form without prior written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations used in reviews, research or scholarly discussion with appropriate credit.

#AlienDisclosure #AlienLife #Aliens #AncientCivilisations #AncientMysteries #Anomalies #BigCats #Bitcoin #BritishFolklore #ConspiracyTheory #Cryptid #CryptidSightings #CryptoNews #Cryptozoology #DarkSkies #FlyingSaucers #Folklore #Fortean #Forteana #ForteanTimes #Ghosts #HighStrangeness #LochNessMonster #MysteriesOfTheWorld #MysteriousTimes #Mystery #Nessie #OddNews #ParanormalActivity #ParanormalInvestigation #ParanormalMagazine #ParanormalNews #ParanormalRoundup #PentagonUFOFiles #QuestionEverything #StayCurious #StrangeWorld #Supernatural #UAP #UFO #UFOCommunity #UFOCommunityUK #UFOFiles #UFONews #Unexplained #WeeklyRoundup #WeirdAndWonderful #WeirdBritain #WeirdNews

Kirst Mason D'Raven May 9

Tsuchinoko

There are certain creatures that seem to belong entirely to the landscape that birthed them. Scotland has the kelpies and water horses that lurk in lochs and rivers. America has Bigfoot, half hidden in pine forests and mountain mist. Britain has black dogs pacing lonely roads and lanes at twilight.

Japan, however, has something rather stranger. Something squat, elusive and deeply odd. A creature that looks less like a majestic dragon and more like a snake that has swallowed a football and become furious about it.

The tsuchinoko is one of Japan’s most enduring cryptids. Depending on where you are in the country, it may also be called bachi hebi, nozuchi or several other regional names. The word “tsuchinoko” itself is often translated as “child of the hammer” because of the creature’s peculiar shape, narrow at the head and tail but swollen in the middle like a wooden mallet. It is said to slither through remote mountain forests, bamboo groves and hidden valleys, leaving behind little more than startled witnesses and contradictory stories.

Unlike many folkloric monsters, the tsuchinoko occupies a fascinating space between yokai legend and modern cryptozoology. It is ancient enough to appear rooted in old Japanese mythology and oral storytelling, yet modern enough to have inspired bounty hunts, television specials and mass public expeditions during the twentieth century. Entire villages have embraced the creature as part of their identity. Rewards worth millions of yen have been offered for a captured specimen. Witnesses still come forward claiming to have seen one crossing a road, darting into undergrowth or coiled silently beside streams deep in the mountains.

And yet somehow, despite all of this, nobody has ever conclusively proved that the creature exists.

Descriptions of the tsuchinoko vary from prefecture to prefecture, which is exactly what you might expect from folklore that has spread orally over centuries. Most accounts describe a snake between thirty and eighty centimetres long with a dramatically thickened centre section. Some reports claim it possesses venomous fangs similar to a viper. Others insist it can leap remarkable distances, sometimes up to a metre through the air in a second bounding motion that defies normal snake behaviour.

Some legends even claim the creature can speak, though it is apparently prone to lying. A fondness for alcohol also appears in certain regional tales, which somehow makes the tsuchinoko feel less like a terrifying beast and more like the sort of dubious local character one might encounter staggering out of a countryside pub at closing time. [1]

One of the most intriguing aspects of the legend is how deeply entwined it is with the Japanese countryside itself. The tsuchinoko is rarely associated with cities or populated regions. It belongs to the hidden Japan of mountains and cedar forests, of isolated valleys and agricultural villages, because Japanese folklore is heavily tied to landscape.

Spirits, monsters and yokai often emerge from the edges of civilisation. They inhabit caves, forests, rivers and abandoned roads. In many ways the tsuchinoko reflects a longstanding cultural idea that nature still conceals mysteries beyond human understanding.

There are possible references to tsuchinoko like creatures in ancient Japanese texts, including interpretations connected to the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, two of Japan’s oldest surviving chronicles dating back to the eighth century. While scholars debate whether these references truly describe the modern tsuchinoko, serpent entities known as nozuchi appear within early mythological traditions. These strange snake like beings were associated with fields, hills and wild places, and may represent an ancestral root of the later legend. [2]

As with so many cryptids around the world, the tsuchinoko underwent a remarkable transformation during the twentieth century. What had once been regional folklore became a national phenomenon. During the 1970s and especially the 1980s, sightings exploded across Japan. Newspapers covered reports seriously enough to fuel public fascination.

Television crews travelled into mountain regions hoping to capture evidence. Amateur monster hunters descended on rural villages carrying cameras, traps and an enthusiasm that occasionally bordered on hysteria.

Perhaps the most famous wave of sightings occurred in Shimokitayama, a village in Nara Prefecture. In 1988, local officials launched a formal “Tsuchinoko Expedition” and offered a substantial financial reward for a live specimen. Hundreds of people joined the hunt. Tourists poured into the area. Shops sold souvenirs and local businesses embraced the creature as a mascot of sorts. Even after no evidence emerged, the legend had already reshaped the village’s identity. Decades later the tsuchinoko remains tied to local tourism and cultural events. [1]

This curious intersection of folklore and economics says something rather important about modern monster legends. Cryptids are not merely creatures. They are stories communities tell about themselves. In isolated rural areas facing population decline and economic hardship, legends can become cultural lifelines. The tsuchinoko hunt drew attention to villages many Japanese people had never heard of. It generated media coverage and tourism. In a strange way, whether the creature existed or not almost ceased to matter.

Yet sightings continued.Witness reports are remarkably consistent in some respects and utterly bizarre in others. Many witnesses describe a thick bodied snake moving unusually quickly through leaf litter or along roadsides. Others claim the creature emits squeaking or chirping sounds. Some accounts insist it can roll like a wheel by swallowing its own tail, a trait oddly reminiscent of the hoop snake legends of North America. [1]

There have also been alleged discoveries of tsuchinoko remains. In 2000, reports emerged from Okayama Prefecture that a skeleton matching descriptions of the creature had been found. Predictably, excitement followed. Also predictably, no definitive scientific confirmation emerged from the claims.[3]

Cryptozoologists and sceptics alike have proposed a variety of explanations for the sightings. One popular theory is simple misidentification. Japan is home to several snake species whose appearance can change dramatically after feeding. A snake swollen from consuming prey may briefly resemble the familiar hammer shaped silhouette associated with the tsuchinoko. Others point toward introduced reptile species such as blue tongued skinks or short tailed skinks, whose stout bodies and unusual movement could potentially explain certain reports. [4]

But there is another possibility, one familiar to anyone who studies folklore seriously. Sometimes legends persist because they fulfil emotional and psychological needs. The tsuchinoko thrives in regions where dense forests still feel ancient and unknowable. Japan’s mountains possess an atmosphere difficult to explain unless you have walked through them yourself. There is an intensity to the silence. A sense that the woods are observing you rather than the other way around. Even now, large parts of rural Japan remain astonishingly wild.

And in wild places, people see things.Folklore often acts as a bridge between rational reality and emotional truth. The tsuchinoko may not exist as a biological species, but as an expression of mystery it is absolutely real. It represents the lingering belief that modernity has not explained everything. That despite satellites, smartphones and endless technology, strange things may still move through forests after dark.

That idea feels especially important in Japan, where ancient folklore and futuristic modernity coexist in fascinating ways. A businessman may ride a bullet train to Tokyo while carrying a lucky shrine charm in his pocket. Rural communities may hold centuries old festivals honouring spirits while teenagers nearby hunt Pokémon inspired partly by yokai traditions.

The tsuchinoko sits perfectly within that cultural overlap between myth and modern imagination.Popular culture has embraced the creature enthusiastically. Tsuchinoko appear in video games, manga, anime and films. They are sometimes comic, sometimes sinister, occasionally even adorable. This pop cultural survival has helped keep the legend alive for younger generations who may never have heard the old countryside stories directly from grandparents or local elders. [5]

Perhaps what makes the tsuchinoko so compelling is that it refuses to fit neatly into one category. It is not entirely a monster. Not entirely an animal. Not entirely a spirit. It slips between definitions as easily as it supposedly slips through mountain grass. Some villagers fear it as a bad omen or messenger of the gods. Others treat it almost affectionately, as part of regional identity and tradition. [6]

There is also something wonderfully human about the legend. Unlike enormous sea monsters or towering ape men, the tsuchinoko feels oddly plausible at first glance. Witnesses are not describing giant glowing dragons descending from the heavens. They are describing a peculiar little creature glimpsed for a few seconds beside a road or stream. The sheer ordinariness of the reports somehow makes them more unsettling.

Most people who have spent time in rural places know the feeling. You catch movement from the corner of your eye. Something darts into ferns or disappears beneath stones before your brain fully processes it. Usually it is a bird, a snake or a trick of the light. Usually.

But folklore lives in that tiny space occupied by the word “usually”.

And perhaps that is why the tsuchinoko endures.

Because somewhere in the deep forests of Japan, beneath cedar shadows and drifting mountain mist, there remains the possibility that something strange still wriggles unseen through the undergrowth.

Further Reading & Sources

BBC Countryfile: British Big Cat Sightings

Official Loch Ness Centre investigations

Smithsonian coverage of giant squid discoveries

Canadian Sasquatch research archives

Australian Museum marine cephalopod research

Japanese folklore archives on tsuchinoko legends

cryptozoology, nessie, loch ness monster, british big cats, giant squid, sasquatch, bigfoot, paranormal news, mysterious times, folklore, strange creatures, unexplained mysteries, cryptids, monster sightings, lake monsters

#Bigfoot #BritishBigCats #Cryptids #Cryptozoology #Folklore #GiantSquid #LakeMonsters #LochNessMonster #MonsterSightings #MysteriousTimes #Nessie #ParanormalNews #Sasquatch #StrangeCreatures #unexplainedMysteries

Kirst Mason D'Raven Apr 1

The April UFO Almanac

April has long occupied an intriguing place in the chronology of unidentified aerial phenomena. As winter loosens its grip across much of the northern hemisphere, longer evenings and clearer skies historically brought more observers outdoors.

Farmers preparing fields, military pilots conducting spring exercises, and ordinary witnesses enjoying milder nights have all contributed to a surprising number of reports during this month.

From nineteenth‑century airship sightings to some of the most famous close‑encounter cases ever recorded, April provides several pivotal moments in UFO history. What follows is a chronological almanac of notable sightings, encounters, and aerial mysteries associated with the month.

Historical Sightings.

April 1897 – The Great Airship Wave (United States)

During the spring of 1897, newspapers across the American Midwest reported sightings of a mysterious “airship” travelling slowly across the sky. While the wave lasted several months, April saw an intense cluster of reports in Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois.

Witnesses described cigar‑shaped craft equipped with bright searchlights and sometimes accompanied by reports of occupants. Some accounts were almost certainly hoaxes, but the sheer geographic spread and consistency of many descriptions has kept the wave in UFO literature for more than a century.

Key sources include regional newspaper archives and later historical analyses by aviation historians and UFO researchers.

April 24, 1964 – The Socorro Close Encounter

One of the most respected UFO cases in modern history occurred near Socorro, New Mexico, when police officer Lonnie Zamora pursued what he initially believed to be a speeding vehicle.

Instead he encountered a small egg‑shaped craft resting on the ground beside a desert arroyo. Two small figures were reportedly seen near the object. Moments later the craft lifted off with a roaring flame and disappeared into the sky.

Physical traces remained at the landing site, including scorched vegetation and landing impressions. The incident was investigated by Project Blue Book and several independent scientists. To this day it remains one of the most credible close‑encounter reports on record.

April 17, 1966 – Portage County Police Chase (United States)

In the early hours of the morning, several police officers in Ohio reported pursuing a glowing object that appeared to move silently across the sky. The chase lasted for more than 80 miles as officers from multiple jurisdictions joined the pursuit.

The object reportedly changed colour and altitude before eventually disappearing. The case gained significant press coverage and remains one of the most unusual law‑enforcement UFO pursuits documented.

Sceptical explanations suggested astronomical objects or atmospheric effects, though some officers strongly disagreed with those conclusions.

April 1979 – Valencia UFO Incident (Spain)

In November 1979 a commercial aircraft was diverted after a close encounter with an unidentified object near Valencia. However, in April of the same year several earlier reports from the region described strange lights manoeuvring over coastal radar zones.

Spanish military radar operators tracked unusual targets during spring exercises, contributing to a growing wave of reports that culminated later in the year.

Spain would go on to release official files decades later, giving researchers rare access to government documentation of the events.

April 1991 – Gulf Breeze Sightings Continue (United States)

The Gulf Breeze sightings in Florida had begun several years earlier but continued intermittently into the early 1990s. During April 1991 several witnesses reported triangular craft and luminous discs over coastal areas.

Photographs and eyewitness reports made Gulf Breeze one of the most debated UFO flaps of the late twentieth century.

April 2007 – O’Hare International Airport Sighting

Airport employees at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport reported a metallic disc hovering above Gate C17. The object reportedly punched a circular hole through the cloud layer before vanishing.

Although the incident occurred in November 2006, investigative reporting and witness interviews released during April 2007 reignited worldwide attention to the case and prompted renewed discussion of UFO sightings near major airports.

On This Day in UFO History – April

April 1 – Multiple reports from the 1897 airship wave appear in Midwestern newspapers.

April 17 – Anniversary of the Portage County police UFO pursuit (1966).

April 21 – Several historical radar sightings reported during Cold War training exercises.

April 24 – Socorro close encounter (1964), one of the most investigated UFO landing cases in history.

April 28 – Numerous modern sightings logged in civilian reporting databases during spring observation seasons.

Modern Database Sightings

In the modern reporting era, April consistently produces a noticeable increase in UFO submissions across civilian databases. Analysts attribute this partly to seasonal behaviour patterns:

people spending more time outdoors after winter.

Common April sightings include:

• Silent triangular craft

• Fast moving lights performing abrupt directional changes

• Orb‑like objects hovering over rural areas

• Structured discs seen at dusk

While most sightings eventually receive conventional explanations such as satellites, aircraft, drones, or astronomical bodies, a small percentage remain unexplained.

Why April?

Several factors may contribute to the historical clustering of sightings during April:

Longer daylight hours and clearer skies in temperate regions.

Seasonal military training exercises increasing aerial traffic.

Astronomical visibility including satellites and planets appearing prominently at dusk.

Greater human activity outdoors leading to more observers.

Whether these factors alone explain the pattern remains open to debate among researchers.

#April #History #MysteriousTimes #UFO #UFOAlmanac #UnidentifiedFlyingObject

Kirst Mason D'Raven Nov 23, 2025

When The Dark Comes Early

The light scattering of snow we had last week has already melted into memory, replaced by that minging, sideways rain that soaks you before you’ve even had the chance to swear about it. The kind of cold that sneaks beneath your clothes and lives there, smug, no matter how many layers you pile on.

It’s Sunday, the dinner is cooking – slow, steady comfort filling the house – and for the moment everything is calm in the bleak midwinter. The radiators tick, the windows rattle, and the sky hangs low and heavy like an old bruise. It’s the perfect kind of day for letting the mind wander somewhere darker, stranger, and colder than anything the East Midlands weather can muster.

These are the afternoons when memory, superstition, and story all blur together, when the veil between then and now feels thin enough to poke a finger through. There’s something about winter that encourages that kind of creeping reflection. Maybe it’s the way the landscape strips itself back to bones, leaving nothing to hide behind. Maybe it’s ancestral… some deep-rooted instinct to gather close to the fire and remember the things that once kept our grandmothers awake at night. Or maybe it’s simply that the world is quieter, and in quiet, old tales have room to breathe.

I always find myself drawn to the peculiar at this time of year. Well… At any time of year really .. to the half-forgotten stories that have clung to our soil longer than any frost. Witchcraft, ghosts, strange rites whispered through generations, the rituals you inherit without ever quite knowing who handed them down first. The bleak midwinter seems to coax them out, coax me out too, into that odd little space where writing becomes almost like divination. You sit there, listening to the wind batter the windows, and stories begin to appear on the page as though you’ve simply unearthed them rather than invented a single thing.

And perhaps that’s why days like this matter.

Modern life races on, screens glowing, clocks ticking, responsibilities shouting over one another, but winter has a way of calling you back to something older and slower.

A stillness.

A presence.

A sense that we are not the first to sit by the fire while the rain lashes the world outside, and we will not be the last. The land remembers its own ghosts, after all. It just waits for the right kind of quiet to release them.

Even now, as the scent of roasting vegetables drifts through the house and Simon – bless him – is busy on his laptop, I can feel that old tug at my sleeve. A kind of whisper saying: sit, breathe, and let the stories in.

And so I do.

Because this season, for all its minging wetness and bone-deep chill, still holds a certain enchantment. It invites you to pause, to reflect, to wander into the unlit corners where imagination grows wild and half-feral.

Outside, the rain is falling harder, drumming its own impatient rhythm. Inside, the fire glows, the house hums quietly, and the world narrows to the warmth of the room and the stories waiting just beyond the threshold.

Winter may be bleak, but it’s in this bleakness that the magic creeps in – subtle, unsettling, familiar as breath.

And on a Sunday like this, with dinner cooking and the world held at bay, it feels only right to follow where it leads…

K x

#editorial #mysteriousTimes #winter2025