A random fun fact about me, I have crippling acrophobia. Despite that, I kind of wish I could fly since it’d be convenient. For starters, I could avoid traffic. I could also get a really good view of things. You know, stuff that I think would be useful.
Unfortunately, I’m unable to fly outside of my dreams, so I guess I’ll have to try and find a genie’s lamp. Until I do, there are always mysteries that yearn to be talked about. Luckily for you and me, it’s still December, so mysteries are on the menu every day!
If you read the entry that preceded this one, you’ll know that today, I’m covering two stories from the 17th century. This one will see us jump ahead from 1646 to 1693 and will take us from the Netherlands to Poland. Let’s take to the skies and discuss the truly baffling tale of The Polish Flying Man!
Fly Like an Eagle
Like the other story today, I found this one on Think About It Docs. The original source was an “ancient agriculture handbook” by someone named Jan Kazimierz Haur. I have no idea who this is—or was—nor do I know the title of the handbook. But trust me, that’s the least confounding aspect of this case.
One morning in 1693, a “noble and God-fearing man” awoke. He went outside to pray in his garden when, all of a sudden, he saw something in the sky. It was a “flying man,” but he lacked wings. This led the man to believe that “evil” was carrying this person.
That’s all that’s written about the case; it’s not stated where this flying man went, what he looked like, or what the “noble and God-fearing man” did in the wake of seeing the strange being. However, he wasn’t the only eyewitness as, according to Think About It Docs, there were two eyewitnesses. It’s too bad the testimony of this second witness wasn’t given; I have no idea if the second eyewitness was the man being carried by “evil” or if there was someone else who saw them going for an early-morning flight.
Normally, that’d be where I’d say the story ended, but there’s one other thing I want to make a note of—and it’s the main reason I wanted to cover this case (aside from it being absolutely bonkers). One of the earliest stories I found when I began this 64 write-up series was one called the Polish Flying Leg. I found it on the Paranormal Strange Wiki, and I’d considered covering it. However, I didn’t since I felt there wasn’t enough to work with. But then, I found today’s story; I’ve decided to merge it with this one. So, onto the second mystery!
Break a Leg!
This case occurred at some point in 1985 in Pruszków, Poland. For the record, I won’t be making any assumptions as to whether or not the previous case took place there. According to the Paranormal Strange article, the leg looked to belong to a teenager. Despite that, it was also said to be “human-like” and “giant.” I’m guessing it belonged to a teen with gigantism; the writing on this Wiki is really spotty at best. Still, I really like it because it’s host to a lot of really wild and truly absurd cases (including one that we’ll be getting to later this month).
Aside from being a disembodied leg that flew through the sky, at least one person said they heard “joyful singing” as it made its way through the air. Said singing was described as sounding “feminine.” At least, I believe it sounded feminine; with the way the article is worded, it’s possible that the leg looked feminine rather than the voice sounding feminine. I’m not entirely sure, but I’m going to assume the author was referring to the voice.
The leg was also flying relatively low to the ground—at least, compared to, say, a kite. The leg was purportedly 65 feet (20 meters) in the air. For context, kites—from what I know—go roughly 250-feet (76.2 meters) to 600-feet (182 meters) in the air. At least, that’s what a quick Google search told me; I’ve never flown a kite, so I can’t vouch for how accurate (or inaccurate) that may be.
Anyway, moving on from that, it’s claimed that news agencies caught wind of the story. Being the vultures they are, they helped fuel “the monster frenzy.” Some even went so far as to partake “in the hunt” to find the mysterious flying leg. It’s here where the article mentions that there were “attacks” that would cease during this, only to “start back up again minutes later.” Yet, they give no such details to any attacks. I tried to find reports from 1985 about this case, but I found nothing of the sort; I’ll get back to this in a bit, though.
Various theories went around Pruszków around this time, with the most popular being that this was the work of a “gang of local youth.” At least, I think that’s what the theory posited; the bit after that said the gang “were bombarding the second leg and find the house.” The house part I understand; at some point, a local paranormal investigator and his friend began to investigate the case. From what I can tell, they interviewed some of the locals who were hesitant to cooperate at first but eventually spoke of a “house” that I want to say was where the flying leg may have originated. However, upon finding it, they discovered that it “looked like a normal house.”
The second leg, however, I don’t understand; there’s no mention of a second leg unless I misinterpreted most of the story, and later sightings were the product of a bunch of rapscallions who wanted to have a laugh at the expense of their fellow villagers. If that’s the case, then I can easily believe that; if I lived in a quiet village and there were stories going around about a scary monster or ghost, I’d be tempted to pull a prank or two for a cheap laugh. Well, assuming I wasn’t at risk of being punched into next week.
Anyway, with that, this case comes to an end; there are no additional details to be found on the Paranormal Strange Wiki, nor can I find any reports on this. In fact, I can’t find anything about this case outside of this one article. That leads me to believe that either this is a very little-known case or was outright made up for the site. Both, I think, are possible, but due to the incredibly small amount of information, I won’t be giving it its own theories section; I will, however, include it when I get to my take.
Now, with all of that said, the main reason I brought this story up was that I think it’s possible—albeit very unlikely—that this was the same entity the unnamed man saw back in 1693. Admittedly, there are many differences, such as this being a disembodied leg that produced some sort of harmonic singing, but I thought it was worth mentioning, especially since both involved a flying apparition in Poland. While flying humanoids are by no means a novelty, this one really made me wonder if they were connected. Unfortunately, without knowing where the first case took place, that’s hard to say with any degree of certainty.
With that, though, our stories come to an end. Now, it’s on to the theories; there are a handful of them to go over, so let’s not waste any time and get right into them!
Theories
1. An interdimensional being
To kick off the theories, we have one that’s appeared more times this month than I would ever care to count. The concept of interdimensional beings has all but become a go-to possibility for me nowadays; when in doubt, blame aliens or interdimensional shenanigans. It’s foolproof, trust me!
In the case of this story, I have to admit that I initially thought it worked quite well; the eyewitness (or eyewitnesses; I’ll get to that in a later theory) saw a “man” flying; there were no discernible wings or anything to suggest that he was being assisted in his flight. At face value, I could see why someone nowadays would assume that this was an interdimensional traveler, someone who maybe had some sort of futuristic gadget or gizmo to help them soar through the skies as they went around exploring this foreign world.
However, while it’s fun to speculate that in another reality, humans (or beings similar to humans) have developed the means to not only fly but travel to other universes to explore them, there’s one major issue, and it’s one that plagues every single theory. That is the astonishingly little information available on this case.
Now, look, I get it: this case happened in 1693. People weren’t going around documenting every single little event like we do nowadays since everyone has a smartphone with a camera on it. We don’t even know where this took place or how it was originally documented (the latter of those two honestly being a good reason to suspect this was a hoax, but I’ll get to why that’s not a theory when we get to my personal take). All we know is that “a man” was seen in the sky. We have no idea what he was wearing, what he looked like, or if there was anything to suggest he was even human or looked more like an elf or some other mythical being.
Because of that, I think that this theory falls rather flat. It’s not impossible—not unless you doubt the existence of multiple realities (which I fully understand if you don’t). However, I’d say it’s not very likely; there are other explanations that, in my humble opinion, work better, but this isn’t the time for personal interjections. No, we still have quite a few theories to get through, so let’s get to the next one.
2. A ghost
I must preface this theory by saying that I have no idea if ghosts are capable of haunting entire portions of a country or the sky; I’ve heard of people saying they’ve seen angelic beings in the sky, but I’m sure about something like this. My paranormal knowledge, as I’ve said plenty of times before, isn’t exactly the best.
That lack of ghostly smarts means that I cannot say with any level of confidence why this man believes that “evil” was carrying the man. I also cannot say why this man—if he was a ghost—was flying. I can speculate; maybe his soul may have been going to Heaven. He may have been an angel, and the man incorrectly believed he was evil. I doubt that, though, as I’ve heard seeing angels fills you with a sense of comfort.
Still, speaking as someone who’s religious, I think it could be possible that this was some sort of spirit. Though without any additional information as to what it looked like and if someone had, well, died in the general vicinity, that means we can only guess, and this isn’t the time for me to play the guessing game. No, we still have more theories to go, so let’s make our way to the next one.
3. Misidentification
Our next theory is that it was a case of misidentification. This is arguably the most logical since the eyewitness (more on this in a bit) had just woken up, and he was outside. I’m sure that a fair number of people can vouch for how the Sun comes across as a thousand times brighter when you’ve just woken up. So, it’s possible that this God-fearing man may have looked up and, while still half asleep, mistook a cloud or something else for a flying man; in other words, a case of pareidolia.
Now, granted, we don’t exactly know what this “flying man” looked like. We were told it resembled a man and nothing more; no color, no distinguishing features, just that it was a man who was flying. Those details would have been able to poke enough holes in this theory to deflate it and then some, but without them, I believe it’s easy to imagine a man mistaking a cloud in the shape of a man for an actual man.
There is one other thing that could poke a hole in the theory, though. If the Think About It Docs article was correct, and there were actually two eyewitnesses, then I believe that this theory has a lot more heavy lifting to do. I, admittedly, glossed over this detail a lot when it was first mentioned, but that’s solely due to there being no mention of additional reports, just the one man and how he saw the man being carried by “evil.”
Anyway, if there were two eyewitnesses to this event, I’d say that this theory becomes a lot less likely. While I do believe in coincidences, I’d say that it’d be a bit unlikely two people saw the same cloud and mistook it for the same thing—unless they were together and influenced what the other saw. In that case, then disregard what I just said; they absolutely could have both seen the same thing.
However, as it stands, there’s nothing to indicate that there were two eyewitnesses. Only the one God-fearing man who was praying in his garden. You know, I’m Roman Catholic, but I’ve never heard of praying in one’s garden; can anyone inform me if that’s a thing? I genuinely don’t get that aspect, but I’d love to know if that was (and maybe still is) a thing. Anyway, on to the next theory!
4. An alien
It’s funny how I found the story of the flying man on a website dedicated to aliens, yet there’s nothing to point to this having been an alien. In fact, I didn’t even give this a UFOs/Aliens tag because it lacked any direct connection to the. Because of that lack of a connection, I was tempted to not include this theory at all; the only reason I’m doing so is because it is technically a possibility.
Assuming that aliens have visited Earth and wanted to look around, it would stand to reason they have the means to fly, be it some sort of anti-gravity mechanism or a jetpack (heck, the latter already exists, though it’s expensive). I’d argue that it’s possible that this was an alien. However, “possible” isn’t the same as “probable,” and this theory isn’t probable, at least not with what little information we have.
Now, granted, this did occur in 1693; I doubt that every little thing was documented. Heck, even today, a lot of stuff isn’t documented; that’s life. However, despite that, I think if someone saw another person flying, it’d be talked about a lot more—unless speaking out about that would result in you becoming acquainted with a fiery stake or guillotine. I don’t know; I’m not a Polish historian.
I also imagine that there would have been reports of UFOs in the area; alien sightings are often accompanied by strange lights in the sky and the like. I doubt this was some lone alien who just so happened to be traversing Earth like I do when I play No Man’s Sky.
Last but certainly not least, the eyewitness did say it looked like a man, so I doubt it was an alien. I know there are Nordic aliens (who do resemble humans), but I doubt this was one of them. I’ve never heard of something flying through the air like it was Morphman.
Overall, I’d say that this theory’s very flimsy; it’s certainly possible, but I wouldn’t label it as plausible. Unless, of course, my alien knowledge isn’t up to snuff (which I fully admit, that’s very possible), but I digress; on to the next theory!
5. A humanoid cryptid
Here’s another theory that I considered not including but decided to for two reasons. The first is that this case was featured in the first of Albert Rosales’ Humanoid Encounters book. For anyone wondering: no, Rosales’ book doesn’t include any additional information, nor does he say anything about a second eyewitness. It’s possible the original source mentioned a second witness, but I’m not sure; someone who’s better at research can go scouring for the “ancient agriculture handbook.”
The second is that this entity was human-like. Sure, we may not really know what it looked like in the slightest, but being told it resembled a man is at least something. So, armed with that meager amount of information, I decided to include this theory!
Flying humanoids have been reported—and I don’t just mean beings like Mothman. There are some pretty famous videos of flying and floating humanoids online. Their veracity is something I honestly don’t know as I’ve never looked into them (which I find kind of silly in hindsight). In that regard, this could be some kind of humanoid cryptid, but we have no idea what it looks like, nor do we know how fast it was flying.
To me, that lack of information really throws a kink in this theory. Without knowing it, it’s difficult to determine if this was some sort of humanoid that can naturally fly or if it was a case of the next theory (more on that in a bit). Of course, despite that, I’d say this is more likely than the previous theory, so it isn’t entirely without merit. But I don’t think it has much to work with.
6. A possessed man
Our penultimate theory is more or less the same as the one the original eyewitness put forward. The flying man was possessed by something—presumably an evil force. Of course, if you want to believe that this fellow was possessed by the spirit of King Henry II, you’re more than welcome to do so!
There are stories out there about instances of demonic possession that have led to people levitating and even climbing up walls. If you thought that kind of stuff only happened in lousy horror movies, you’d be wrong. But that’s a topic for another day; now, let’s get back on track. The point I’m trying to make is that floating during demonic possession has been reported and isn’t something that’s exclusive to horror movies. I can’t say I know of any exorcism film that features someone flying through the air, outdoors, as we read about earlier, though.
Of course, it’s possible that thing person—whoever they were—wasn’t flying through the air like a superhero or anything of that nature, but was more floating. Even then, based on what was said, it’s hard to gauge how likely it was that this was a public display of demonic possession. So, personally, I wouldn’t put much stock in this theory, though it is quite interesting to imagine. There should be an exorcism movie where the demon makes a scene in the middle of a major city; just straight-up anarchy and chaos, zero subtlety. That’d be gloriously silly.
7. Superman
They did say that “you’ll believe a man can fly.” I just figured we’d have believed it occurred in 1978, not 1693.
My Take
Okay, so before we get into my take, I want to mention something: the lack of a theory that the flying man story was a hoax. I considered including it, but I ultimately nixed it because the story originated from an “ancient agricultural handbook.” I figured that its inclusion in one meant that, at the absolute least, the author of it either picked up on it while writing the book or it was hearsay from the time period. While it is very much possible that it was fabricated, I’m going to wing it and say that it wasn’t made up and that it was a story that was at least told back when it happened; I will acknowledge that it is very much a possibility, though.
Now, getting to my take, I believe it was a case of misidentification. Given the eyewitness had apparently just woken up and went outside to pray, I’m guessing he was still half asleep and, at some point, looked up and saw either a bird flying or a cloud in the shape (well, “shape”) of a human. He mistook them for an actual man flying through the air and got scared; nothing more, nothing less.
If, by some incredible chance, that wasn’t what happened, I’d have to go with the ghost theory. However, I’ll freely admit that this strikes me as unlikely. Unless the ghost was of someone the man knew, I have no idea why a random spirit would manifest in the sky for this person to see. I also have to imagine that if it was someone important to him, he wouldn’t have thought evil was carrying them. If I were to appear as a ghost to a loved one, I would want them to know it was me and not someone being puppeteered by a demon or the devil.
Of course, it could have been some malevolent entity that wanted to screw with the man because, well, demons are known for being malicious; that’s generally their whole thing (though I know that in some cultures, that’s not always the case). However, speaking from my own lackluster knowledge, I’ve never heard of a demon appearing in the sky one time to mess with someone before going on their merry way to some other person or pace.
Aside from that theory, the only other one that I think has any real merit to it is that this was an interdimensional being. It’s fun to imagine, and I’d love for it to be the case solely for my own adoration of futuristic technology, but just like the ghost theory, I highly doubt it on account of the lack of details. I swear, I did not intend for this month to have so many cases that left me at a dead end because of a lack of details; that just happened because I wanted to cover really niche cases. Dang it, I think that actually means it was by design. Foresight: I do not have it.
Really, though, the lack of details is what makes it hard for me to have much confidence in any theory outside of the misidentification one. But I’d rather not be completely dismissive of the case since I like to keep an open mind as often as possible. With this one, I’m quite confident in my assessment, but who knows: maybe this was a ghost or a being from another dimension. Or maybe it was a possessed man; we’ll never know because there’s no feasible way to prove any of this. At least, not as it currently stands; by saying that, I just now realized this could have been a time traveler who went back in time to find out what happened that day. I think that’s the start of a time loop, but I don’t know since time travel makes my brain hurt.
On one final note, I’ll give my take on the flying leg. Honestly, that one sounds a lot more like a ghost. At least, on the surface, it does; I sincerely doubt the event happened as I can find no documentation of it outside of the Paranormal Strange Wiki. So, yeah, I doubt it’s real. Though, for what it’s worth, it’s creative, and I’d love to know if there’s anything else to it outside of the one article. If anyone from Pruszków—or Poland as a whole—knows anything about the story, I’d love to hear from you.
Conclusion
This was quite fun to write about. Sure, it may have been a bit anticlimactic (at least, I think it might have been), but the sheer absurdity and strange nature of it all made it worth covering. At least, it did, in my humble opinion. Now, I would like to know what you think the truth behind this strange case was; do you believe it was a ghost, an interdimensional being, or could it be explained away rationally? Feel free to leave a comment and as always, stay happy, stay healthy, and thank you for reading!
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