The Lone Pine Mountain Devil

Anyone who knows me knows I love local cryptid stories (the Fresno Nightcrawlers being the best example) and love how each state seems to have it's own folklore surrounding a cryptid of some sorts. Some can argue that Bigfoot is California's "official" cryptid and I'm not here to disagree with that completely, but want to introduce a lesser known cryptid native to California, and one not too far from Central California.

I'd like to present to you the Lone Pine Mountain Devil.

The Lone Pine Mountain Devil is said to be a winged creature that is a distant cousin of the Jersey Devil. Early accounts from priests who were traveling in the area describe small "winged demons sent from the depths of hell"

Lone Pine itself is a small town about 100 miles due east of Fresno with the population of roughly 2000 or so people. But here's the kicker, it's a four hour drive. Why you ask? Because the quickest way to drive there is to head south to Bakersfield then head east to Tehachapi and then back up to Lone Pine itself. Scenic route indeed.

 For whatever reason the creature seems to inhabit this area and witnesses have described it as a large furry creature with several wings. It has razor like talons and numerous venomous fangs. The cryptid is said to attack it's prey by first hitting the chest and then the head of it's target. Most predators eat the meat of its prey whereas the Mountain Devils are said to prefer only the soft cartilage of the face and sometimes torso and completely ignore the rest of the carcass and leave it to scavengers.

Could this be an actual creature or nothing more than another folk tale? It's description lacks classification as my first thought was perhaps some sort of reptile but the fur and multiple wings rule that out. Could it be the descendant of some sort of undiscovered dinosaur? Or is there a small pack of some unknown creature roaming the southern Sierra Nevadas preying on those that wander to close it where it lives?

All I know is I think a road trip is in order. I'm curious what the town's folk have to say about this local legend.

Weird Fresno wants to hear your ghost stories!

So I want to share some ghost stories for Halloween, but not mine. It seems everyone has a ghost story or knows someone who has. And I want to hear them, but don't e-mail me. I want to hear the story in your own words and the emotions that came with your story.

So here's what I want to do. Whoever wants to share their story, call the Weird Fresno hotline at (559) 481-1057. From now until October 30 I will take any call and will compile all the stories together (I can download them as a .mp3 file) and upload it to YouTube and on Halloween post it and share it with everyone.

Can't wait to hear what you guys have to share.

Several UFO sightings seen in Central California over the past week

In the last part of August 2009, there were several UFO sightings reported to the National UFO Reporting Center of UFOs seen in the central part California. I'm not sure if they are all the same craft, there are a few similarities but I think they are different craft. Still I believe they are worth mentioning in hopes that maybe someone else has seen one of them and will then report what they saw. Below is what was reported linked back to the original report.

Occurred : 8/16/2009 14:00
Location: Auberry, CA
Shape: Triangle
Duration:15 seconds

Silver triangle shape - Silent

I hesitated to report this, as we only saw this for a short time. We live in the Sierra Mountains about 4,200' elevation. Sitting at the table and looking due south thru a huge window, we saw a long silver triangle (jet or plane [?]) close at a low elevation. What is unusual is we live under a flight plan for Fresno - Las Vegas & back. These go north of our home. This craft appeared to be 1 mile or closer and low, almost equal with our elevation. At most I estimate it might have been 5,000'. It was headed west and when it tilted it was totally sleek from pointed nose to the tail which was completely straight across. No wings, just a very long thin triangle shape. We ran to the west deck & couldn't see it anymore. Did our eyes deceive us? No noise.

Possible fighter jet, w/no markings, but no noise.
Link.


Occurred : 8/18/2009 09:03
Location: Fresno, CA
Shape: Other

Two Jets following or escorting an unknown white dot looking craft.

I was walking with my mother on the Dakota and Fruit ditch in Fresno, Ca. I heard two jets so I looked up and saw that they were really close, and then I looked back up and saw that they were following something. The UFO was a white dot it kind of looked like the international space station does when it goes over. It had no blinking lights like the jets. It looked peaceful, moved slowly it looked to me as if the jets were escorting it somewhere.

We live close to the airport and it has an air defense base, I heard jets take off about ten minutes before, they were heading north then turned east, when I saw the two jets following this craft side by side they were head south west.

I remember the time being 9:03am because that is when I twittered about it.
Link.


Occurred : 8/19/2009 21:00
Location: California (central part), CA
Shape: Diamond
Duration:10 secs

On Aug 19, 2009 around 9:00pm me and my family were driving back from San Francisco to San Diego. We don't know exactly where we were but we were definitely in central California, deep in the boonies. As we were heading South, on our right side of the road we saw a diamond shaped flying object. It had red and green lights that surrounded the object. The object was first low then it tried to fly away but it seemed like something pulled it back then it went like 3 feet closer to the road then it went lower again. That's all I could see, we were driving too fast for me to see if it went in the sky or not. The object was definitely close to the ground, maybe about 4-5 feet off the ground.

I'm not good at describing how it moved but it certainly moved.
Link.


Occurred : 8/24/2009 17:30
Location: Modesto, CA
Shape: Changing
Duration:15 seconds

It looked like three bright dots, small gap then three more bright dots. it was dancing gracefully a mile or two above the horizon.

Link.


Occurred : 8/26/2009 20:45
Location: Clovis, CA
Shape: Triangle
Duration:2 minutes

Three flashing red lights in a triangular shape seen south of Fresno

I saw three flashing red lights in the formation of a triangle. View looking south of Fresno at an approximate 30 degree angle from horizon. Maintaining formation, they lowered until I could no longer see them past the trees.
Link.


Occurred : 8/26/2009 21:30
Location: Modesto, CA
Shape: Cigar
Duration:45 Min.

Two crafts spotted over Westfield shopping cntr. Modesto

2 crafts 1 with bright lights across could be cigar or saucer shaped. Other was cigar shaped deep bright neon blue glowing. It would glow and then fade out and come back. The other one hovered up and down quit a bit and side to side like having engine trouble. The blue cigar one stayed close as if to make sure the other was ok. A police or military white I think with markings plain stayed close by flying between them. Then they faded out. The hight I would say would be about 15 to 20 stories up in the sky.
Link.


Occurred : 8/27/2009 21:00
Location: Modesto, CA
Shape: Light
Duration:15-20 minutes

3 unidentified aircraft over Modesto, CA

August 27, 2009 9:00pm PCT I was riding my bike tonight and observed what appeared to be two aircraft of some kind at about 1000 ft. above our neighborhood. There were about 10 people in the street watching.

The highest craft had two bright white lights on it, and the craft appeared to be hovering, then moving a few feet, and then hovering again.

Beneath this craft was a second craft that had two very bright neon-blue lights. It made wide circles about 100 feet under the other craft.

Both craft made small changes in altitude and direction, but generally stayed in the area above our neighborhood for about 15-20 minutes or so.

A third craft (with blinking red and white lights on it) started to close on the higher craft, and this one looked more like a conventional aircraft.

At one point it flew between the two craft (below the higher one and above the lower one). At that point the lower one (with the bright neon-blue lights on it) began flying in a fast semi-vertical circular pattern.

The third craft continued on, and eventually the higher-flying craft began to fly away in a northwestern direction.

I ran to my house and got my camera, but by then they were all gone. I checked, and no else had a camera to take any photos.

I called the Modesto Police Dept. to see if anyone else had reported seeing the lights. I was told that someone else had called in, but no record was made of the call. Nor were they interested in making one of my call.
Link.