I'm Laura Norton, and this is one strange thing, the show where we search the

nation's news archives for stories that can't quite be explained.

Strangers, we're taking a long hop across the pond.

We're taking flight even to bring you one of the most obscure crypted cases that we've ever come across.

A British moth man.

Well, sort of.

An owl man, actually.

And it's taken us a long time to get to this story.

We also approach this particular episode with a slight trepidation,

because, well, it set in South Cornwall, in the United Kingdom,

and figuring out pronunciations for certain places,

it can be an adventure.

But we have bravely soldiered on.

Now, with that out of the way, we will begin.

Our story is set on the outskirts of a small village called Monon Smith.

It's nestled in the southwestermost part of England, and it's very remote. The population now hovers around a thousand people. And it wasn't much bigger back in the 1970s, when most of the

action of our story takes place. Based on the parish's own website, it's a picturesque little

place. It has a pub, a historic 13th century church, and

plenty of greenery, aka it's the perfect setting for tourists to come upon something terrifying

in your average A-24 movie. Or, on this podcast, to stumble across the unexplained.

Like, say, a giant, owl-like creature said to stand like a man, hiss, and spend a lot of time staring at teenagers who venture too close to that

aforementioned ancient church. It was difficult to find news coverage of these sightings,

...