I have had some really bad experiences with Flies. I remember once when I was playing Dead Island; one was inside our house; this little bastard decided to fly near me, so I clapped at it, hoping to kill it. No dice, though, but it decided to fly in front of me like, “Haha, you missed!” To this day, I swear it momentarily gained sapience because there’s no way it didn’t know what it was doing.
Oh well, it got it deserved because my mother eventually killed it. I’m incapable of doing anything worthwhile when it comes to insects; I’d resort to throwing television to try and kill a gnat. Too bad I’d miss it; further proof that I’m incapable of doing much of anything outside of finding weird stories on the Internet.
Anyway, now that you know my history with pests that had wings, you can likely guess why I picked today’s story. Well, outside of the name (which I’ve said plenty of times, I pick stories if the name is eye-catching). With a name like The Oklahoma Fly Man, I knew right away that there was no way I’d pass up the opportunity to cover something that brings to mind memories of both The Fly and my utter disdain for those aerial jerks. So come along, dear reader; it’s time for yet another tale of high strangeness!
A TERROR UNLIKE ANY OTHER! The Humanoid Insect in the Sooner State!
This, like a great many stories covered on this blog, is one that I stumbled across while browsing the Internet. Unlike those, the original had its page deleted; in fact, almost all of them were. I don’t know if it was vandalism or something, but yeah. I initially found this story on the High-Strangeness Wiki. I didn’t save it, and had it not been for the story also being on the Paranormal-Strange Wiki, I wouldn’t have been able to cover it.
One thing I need to say right off the bat is that I have no idea who wrote this post or where it originates from. There’s no source given, which leads me to suspect that the person who wrote it posted it there. I tried to dig around on the Internet, but I got nothing, so unless someone knows: I think this story begins and ends at the two aforementioned Wikis.
Now then: this story is clearly written by someone whose first language is not English or who is very young. This can be seen from the first sentence; take a look:
The Oklahoma Fly Man is a flies humanoid in The Fly horror movie.
What I believe this is meant to say is that the Oklahoma Fly Man is a humanoid fly, like the one in the horror movie The Fly. I know this because, as you’ll see later, the author of this piece is adamant that the creature looked like that character.
Anyway, let’s finally get into the story. According to the person who wrote this, “he” was at “this grandmother’s house in Henryetta, Oklahoma.” Let me just say right now: I won’t harp on the English for the entire write-up (you can read it for yourself if you’re curious to see the rest of the grammatical errors). I wanted to give one more example. Also, “he” is someone named Manuel; he isn’t named until later in the post. I don’t know why as it’s a vital bit of information, and withholding it is rather silly. My guess is that Manuel is somehow related to the narrator of this story.
One night, while staying at his grandmother’s, Manuel awoke during the night; he needed to use the bathroom. After getting out of bed, though, he noticed he wasn’t alone, for he had a late-night guest in his bedroom. What is it with this month and people having uninvited visitors when they’re in bed? One person has a bipedal fox, another had the Joker in her closet, and now this fellow has a Fly Man.
Indeed, there is no hyperbole in the title of today’s story. Manuel’s late-night guest was a “human-sized fly” that reminded him of the character from The Fly—the original Fly from 1958. The post emphasizes that Manuel was reminded of that film and not the 1986 remake starring Jeff Goldblum. I honestly find it endearing how much this article stresses how Manuel was reminded of the black-and-white film. A shame I’ve not seen either movie; I hear both are amazing, though.
Anywhoozle: standing 6 feet (1.8 meters) away from Manuel in front of the door was a “life size man fly with big hanging wings in the shadow!” I must reiterate here that I haven’t seen the movie, but looking up the monster: it doesn’t appear it had wings. Though, wow, the makeup of that thing is deeply disturbing. Man, makeup and practical effects are truly amazing.
Manuel claims that this creature’s body was “bigger” and like “a whole fly.” Based on the image above, I’m guessing he means that it was akin to a bipedal fly rather than a humanoid fly or in whatever way you would want to describe the thing from The Fly. As you may be able to tell: I’m vaguely familiar with how the body swapping worked in that movie; I never read the story it’s adapted from, by the way.
Anyway, now that we’ve established not only my ineptitude for seeing horror classics but also that this creature is something of a bipedal fly, we can now move on to something I personally found quite funny. According to Manuel, this thing was around 5'6" (1.7 meters). When I first read that, I got a really good laugh out of it because the actor who played the original scientist in The Fly, Al Hedison, was 6'1". Then I realized the writer said “body” and not “the creature itself.” Sometimes, I wonder how I made it out of grade school.
According to the writer, Manuel—despite being so young—didn’t believe this enormous fly to be real. Confident in this stance, he took a step toward the doorway. However, as he did, the giant fly mirrored his movement and took a step toward Manuel. Thanks to the “indirect moon light,” it ended up “revealing every detail; hair, claws, and huge scary fly eyes and mouth.”
Despite this clearly not being caused by sleepiness making a shadow appear like something it isn’t, Manuel still didn’t believe this thing to be real. His urge to use the bathroom, however, was; very much so.
To digress for a moment: I always hear on these paranormal television shows about how kids are more susceptible to the paranormal than adults. Something about their innocence or something like that. Reading this, though, I also have to wonder how infuriating it must be for a ghost or demon that, after weeks or months of biding your time, the moment you strike results in the kid being like, “Haha, you aren’t real, but my Transformers action figures fighting this Tyrannosaurus Rex is! Roar, boom, kaboom! Oh no, Optimus Prime is hurt! Save him, Ratchet!”
Digression over; back to the story. Undeterred by the thing before him, Manuel took another step forward. In his mind, this was all his imagination, and he would pass through the creature without anything happening.
Unfortunately for Manuel, he was wrong; the fly reached out for him with its “big hairy fly claw!” I actually had to look this up, but flies do, in fact, have claws. I should have known they did, but for whatever reason, I didn’t. So yeah, thank you, random story I found on the Internet. You taught me something about flies.
Now faced with the aggression of my fourth grade English teacher—I mean this abomination spawned from Beelzebub, Manuel was instilled with terror and backed away from the creature. Once he was an adequate distance away, he did what I do when I see any sort of creepy crawler: scream for someone. In this case, it was his grandmother who had been sleeping in the bed adjacent to his.
Like a flyswatter out of Hell, Manuel’s grandmother jolted awake and flicked the lights on. This caused the bipedal fly from Dante’s unspoken circle of Hell to disappear. If only it was that easy with normal-sized flies; maybe I would like summertime considerably more.
What happened after that isn’t said, but I imagine Manuel’s grandmother told him it was just a bad dream and, after some consoling, all was fine. As for what is known, the writer of the post states that Manuel’s an artist and “has lived his entire adult life as a christian.” Because of this, he believed that what he saw was a demon of some sort. I’ll get into this more in the theories section.
To end this story, I want to present the final sentence as it was written; I’ve tried to convey it on my own, but there’s one thing that keeps throwing me for a loop. Here it is:
Having just turned 60 he was confident that what he saw that night was real and not figment of his imagination though he understands why some might doubt his story.
Initially, I had to go back and check to make sure that it was said that Manuel was young when this happened. When I did, I kept trying to write the paragraph for this bit, but I couldn’t make it work due to the usage of “having” so suddenly. I feel really stupid, but it genuinely felt like a rug pull. I don’t think I’ve ever had this happen to me, and it feels weird.
Anyway, assuming Manuel is in his 60s now, that would mean this likely happened at some point in the late 1950s or early 1960s. I honestly wish this had been said at the start of the article because finding this out now feels out of place.
With that, though, the story of The Oklahoma Fly Man comes to an end. As short as it is, there are a surprisingly large number of theories. So come along; let’s dive right into them!
Theories
1. A demon
I’m pretty sure if I tried hard enough, I could get Jason Blum to fund a movie about a demonic fly. If only I knew how to write and not ramble like a lunatic.
Let’s start off with this one; it’s the theory Manuel believes in, and it’s the one that piqued my interest the most. Some of you may know this, but for those who don’t, Beelzebub is known as the “Lord of the Flies.” Yes, Beelzebub is an actual figure in theology and not something made up for Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody. While the title of “Lord of the Flies” may seem kind of weird when taken at face value, I always interpreted it as meaning he was something akin to the Lord of Decay and Pestilence.
I’m no demonologist; I barely know theology on a level that would make me an adequate grade-school religious teacher. That said, I do know enough about the paranormal to know that ghosts—be they benevolent or malevolent—gravitate toward children due to their innocence and purity. So I can at least try to speculate on what happened here; it won’t be much, but I’ll try.
Given Manuel was young, it’s possible a demon tried to harm him or possess him. As I said before, Beelzebub is known as the Lord of the Flies, and this thing was itself a fly (a sizable one, too). From the perspective of a Roman Catholic, my instinct would be that it was a demon. As such, I’d need one holy flyswatter delivered to me like it was the holy hand grenade.
Why exactly it decided to appear is beyond me; perhaps it had been there since the house was constructed, and it had been biding its time. If I had to guess: it wanted to latch onto Manuel but ran off because it felt threatened by an adult presence. I honestly don’t know, given my knowledge of this stuff is really poor, and because it creeps me out, I don’t feel like getting in too deep.
It’s also possible someone who has visited played with a Ouija Board and let it in. I don’t play with those things because I don’t own one, nor do I want to tempt fate, and I also have no one to use it with. I have no friends, and from what I hear, you can’t play with it alone. Nice to see I can’t even mess around with paranormal objects when alone; I truly am as lonely as the loneliest number in the world: one.
Now why this possible demon only appeared once is something I cannot explain. Unless Manuel’s grandmother blessed the house, but that’s not said. So, without any confirmation from Manuel, I’d like to think that it was scared off by the presence of an elderly woman. Even demons know that the elderly are not to be trifled with. Anyway, onto the next theory!
2. A lucid nightmare
I’m pretty sure this was the basis for defeating Freddy Krueger; lucid dreaming, that is. I wouldn’t know because I haven’t seen A Nightmare on Elm Street. At least, I can’t remember if I have. You know, it’s a miracle I can even remember how to write after not having done it consistently since 2021.
Lucid nightmares are like lucid dreams, only they’re nightmares. That means they aren’t fun, and you have an increased chance of waking up with spaghetti falling out of your pockets. You wouldn’t want that, trust me.
It’s possible that Manuel dreamt this all, and as time went on, he began to fill in the gaps in his memory. Eventually, he believed that it actually happened when it actually hadn’t. I believe there’s a term for this, but I can’t remember its name off the top of my head. If you know it, feel free to leave a comment telling me.
Anyway, this theory is one of my own, but I figured it was worth mentioning since I’ve had some dreams that I’ve thought were real. Heck, some of them I was adamant were real while in the dream, only to wake up not long after. So, to me, it seems plausible that it may have all been a dream. It would explain why a supposed demon only appeared once for seemingly no reason and then never appeared again (unless we go with the two ideas I presented in the previous theory).
3. Sleep paralysis
I’m not going to lie: a giant, bipedal fly wouldn’t be the weirdest sleep paralysis demon I’ve ever heard of. I once saw a Facehugger from Alien leap onto my blanket once. I still have no idea why I didn’t feel a sense of panic when that happened. Man, sleep paralysis is weird.
If you’ve been reading this blog for any allotment of time that amounts to “a bit,” you likely know that I’m no stranger to sleep paralysis. If you didn’t know that, then you do now! Anyway, sleep paralysis can lead you to see some wild stuff. Seriously, it’s amazing what some folks have seen; I really ought to do a write-up on it.
Anyway, this is as it says on the tin: Manuel had sleep paralysis and thought it actually happened. This is admittedly very flimsy, given Manuel claims to have been walking at the time, but he’s presumably recounting the events of something that happened over half a century ago. Like the previous theory, I’d say it’s possible he could be misremembering things. The human mind is as fascinating as it is unreliable; this is why I didn’t pursue a career in psychology or psychiatry.
4. Manuel was seeing things
The reason your parents always gave you a bedtime: all the monsters come out to do the monster mash. This fellow is one of the ones who stands in the corner and watches everyone having fun; he does nothing but complain about the music selection. A real buzzkill…
God, I’m lame.
Have you ever woken up during the night or really early in the morning and thought you’d seen something? You know, when you have to rub your eyes because you’re super tired but either need to use the bathroom or have to get ready for school or work? I’m sure you know; that’s what this theory posits. Manuel was half asleep and saw a shadow (or shadows) that looked like a giant fly.
This is arguably the most down-to-earth theory, and it’s one I’ve used before this month. It’s one that has helped to explain some experiences I’ve had in my life, too. The human mind is wild, and when it’s still half asleep, it can make you see some weird stuff.
Of course, the only real issue is why this giant fly appeared to reach toward Manuel. That could have also been in Manuel’s mind, but it’s still really strange and makes me tilt my head in confusion. It feels a little more human than imaginary. Though, hey, the imagination of a child is unparalleled. To them, anything can be real and the most epic and awesome thing in the world.
5. It was made up
I think that this theory has been a part of nearly every Decemystery entry this year. It’s become one of my constants, seated alongside self-loathing and self-doubt. The only difference is while those two are real, this theory proposes that this story isn’t.
The things people will do for a cheap laugh are not limitless, but they’re large in number. That’s why this theory is a staple of write-ups like this; people like to laugh at those who are into these topics.
There’s really nothing to discuss here. Someone wrote the article to make people waste their time reading it (and possibly buy into it). The only flaw in the theory is what I’ve said in the past: it feels low-effort. Normally, I’d expect a larger platform so you could fill more people. Though it’s possible the Wikis that I found this story on get more traffic than I’m aware of.
Also, I am covering this story, so if this is a troll, they succeeded. Totally worth it, though, because I had so much fun covering this.
6. An alien
Aliens and insects have a bizarre history, and it’s one I believe I’ve talked about before on this blog. I really need to devote a full-blown write-up to it one day. For now, it’s worth noting that there have been a lot of reports of extraterrestrials that resemble humanoid insects. I guess the fear of being invaded by aliens, coupled with the common fear of insects, was a no-brainer for early Hollywood. Too bad that creativity is dead nowadays.
Also, as a little fun fact: a lot of B-movies in the US from the 1950s and 1960s had aliens that resembled giant insects. There was also a nickname given to these creatures: the BEM (Bug-eyed Monster). That abbreviation was the basis for the Pokémon Beheeyem (pronounced the same way: BEM). Its pre-evolution, Elgyem, is named after the LGM (Little Green Man). I always found that really cool.
Anyway, onto the theory. There is, admittedly, very little to go off of beyond what I said above about sightings of aliens that look like humanoid insects. Given reports of creatures like Mantis Man, you could argue there is precedent; Mantis Man has been known to disappear shortly after it’s spotted. Though why this fellow didn’t make like a tree and log out from Earthling’s server when Manuel saw him is beyond me. I guess there was a fight going on in the bathroom, and it wanted to protect Manuel.
In short: this theory falls squarely on you; if you believe this was an alien that, the moment it saw the light come on, teleported back to its ship: more power to you. Just make sure to remember their weakness is 1950s-era light bulbs.
7. An interdimensional being
I’m starting to think I ought to make an Interdimensional tourism agency. This theory has been popping up in nearly every write-up. Maybe I can use that “law of attraction” thing I heard about to get someone from another dimension to notice my idea.
The first thing I wanna mention is that there is a theory that Mantis Man is an interdimensional being. As such, everything I said in the previous theory about that fellow can be said here. I only say that because I deem it necessary. Okay, now on with the theory.
Like an ungodly number of theories this month, I have talked about interdimensional entities ad nauseam. Seriously, I did these write-ups out of order (a rather goofy choice on my end, but it just happened), so I can’t help but feel I picked an absurd number of stories with this theory—and I haven’t even written every story with it yet. Still, let us dive into it a bit.
The concept of multiple dimensions is by no means a new one; you know it, and I know it. The idea of visiting other dimensions is also not new, so we need not go over it, which means all there is to say is: in a dimension where intelligent life consists of giant bipedal flies, one decided to visit ours and, after being noticed by a potentially angry grandmother, it left. That’s probably for the best because I don’t think a grandmother would take kindly to her grandson being scared by a giant fly.
Regardless of a grandmother using something to beat the living heck out of a giant fly, though, we have yet to discover any other dimensions (or realities, really), so this theory rests solely on your belief in them. If there is one out there where these things exist, I’d prefer to never visit it because tiny insects scare me. I don’t want to know if my heart would survive seeing a human-sized one.
8. A cryptid
You may laugh at the notion that this was a cryptid, but just think about how many of those elusive suckers cease being seen! This bipedal bugger was seen only once, and he vanished when that light came on; he did what I’m certain every cryptid does when the light hits ‘em: poof!
Admittedly, this theory is really flimsy since I can’t think of any other cryptid that bears any resemblance to this one. Still, I wanted to include it because some classify Mantis Man as a cryptid. Otherwise, there isn’t a single thing I could add. If there are reports of giant flies from anywhere, though, I would love to read about them.
9. It was an Interdimensional alien demon fly who causes lucid nightmares and sleep paralysis
Because why the heck not?
10. Christopher Bell
He went back in time to celebrate his Truck championship. Also, I’m certain that one friend of mine is going to be ecstatic to see me give C-Bell some level of acknowledgment. :)
My Take
This is yet another case where I’m torn on how I feel, albeit on a very, very personal level this time. Let’s start with the personal aspect since it’s the shorter of the two theories I hold: that it was, in fact, a demon.
Being a devout Roman Catholic, I am naturally someone who believes in the afterlife and many other things related to that. Those beliefs include demons; it comes with the territory. Given what I said earlier about Beelzebub and the general sinister nature of everything in this story, there’s a part of me that’s inclined to side with Manuel. I don’t know why, but this is one story that really messes with my head in a way that few do. So, on a very personal level, I feel like this was some sort of demon. Why it only appeared once, though, is something I cannot answer.
At the same time, I also believe this may have been nothing more than a case of someone being half asleep; someone perceiving shadows to be something they aren’t. I’ve done this many times in my life when waking up in the middle of the night; I’ve mistaken the shadow of a smoke alarm for a large centipede, another shadow for a mouse, and I’m certain I’ve mistaken other shadows for other things.
Given Manuel was young, it’s more than likely his overactive mind got the better of him. It happens; he was a kid, and kids aren’t known for having the most rational of minds. I also don’t doubt that he would believe it throughout the years if it was traumatic. After all, he was a kid.
Still, I must admit that my inner religious self does get this bad vibe from the whole thing. No matter how hard I try, I can’t fully shake it; it’s like an actual fly that won’t leave me alone because I have a bright screen on. If only I had RAID, but for bad feelings. Maybe that would help me to be less emotionally messed up in the head.
All of that said, if I had to decide, I think Manuel was half asleep, and that caused him to see something that wasn’t there. Alternatively, it’s possible it was a weird attempt at a troll. Though, as I’ve said in the past, I feel like there are better ways to go about getting attention. But hey, it technically worked, given I just spent thousands of words covering it! As I said earlier: it was totally worth it because it was tons of fun to cover.
Conclusion
And so another Decemystery entry comes to an end. I hope you enjoyed this one as much as I enjoyed writing it; it was a delightfully odd story that I wrote at a high point in my life. I can only hope that, when this goes up, I’m still experiencing just as much positivity. Anyway, as always: stay happy, stay healthy, and thank you for reading!
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