VIDEO UPDATE:
Published on: Monday, August 03, 2009
NORTH PORT -- It's Mutual UFO Network's case No. 17015.
North Porter Michael Rowley's bizarre story is fit for a lost episode of television's "X-Files."
After several alien sightings, Rowley has had his claims investigated by MUFON of Florida.
MUFON is composed of people "seriously interested in studying and researching the phenomenon of Unidentified Flying Objects," according to the MUFON Web site. Information collected is used to "educate the public" about UFO sightings and "plausible contact with intelligent life outside" of the Earthly atmosphere.
A resident since April, Rowley, 58, and his 15-year-old son, Shane, say they have encountered two, 9-foot-tall, pale aliens in their yard on at least three occasions.
The first time Michael saw the creature, he was outside at night fixing a water pump.
As he approached the water pump, Michael claims he heard a "swoosh" sound and saw branches being pushed into the woods near his home on the eastern end of town.
"What the heck was that?" Michael said he asked Shane. "There was something tall and thin that rushed out of the woods. But there where no breaking sounds (of branches being walked on). It was like the thing didn't even step on the ground. Then it disappeared."
However, Shane says he already knew what it was because he witnessed the alien a day earlier.
Shane said on April 10, he was at home in bed. The room didn't have curtains.
Shane said he looked out the window and saw a figure outside.
"It was pale, gray and very tall, in the 9-foot range," he said. "The face was larger than average, round and hairless. The eyes were large and more oval-shaped, and dark to the point where you could not see the pupils."
He said he could not see the alleged creature's hands as if they "nearly touched the ground."
Shane was shocked to see another one behind the first one in a tree.
"It was crouching sideways and was halfway up a palm tree," he said. "It was a medium-sized creature, green in coloration (and) textured skin, much like sandpaper or scales. Its face was the shape of a heart or spade, with elf-like, pointed ears."
He said it was on the tree "bobbing its head back and forth" as though it were looking at the other creature and then at him, Shane explained.
After about five minutes of staring at the creatures around 1 a.m., he said he lost time.
"It was 8:30 (a.m.)," he said. "I don't know what happened in-between."
As crazy as it sounds -- and Michael will admit it sounds crazy -- he worries his son was abducted for a short time.
The father and son said they believe they have both previously seen "plate-shaped" UFOs when they lived in Cosmopolis, Wash.
"(They were) flying on their sides, with an unearthly blue color ... flying downward for momentum, then up and out," Michael said. "I think they might have followed us to North Port."
After two more alleged experiences seeing the creatures, Michael wrote to the Mutual UFO Network of Florida. He explained that he captured on tape a "blinking red (eyeball-like) light in the woods, that made a 'Chewbacca'-like sound."
Shane was angry at it for following him.
"I went into woods with a scythe to defend my home," Shane said. "My father would not let me."
Michael told his son, "if you go into those woods, who is going to have to go in there and get you?"
After Michael's second encounter with the creature, where he said he startled it in his yard, he says he finally has proof it exists.
"It left a footprint in the sand and I made a plaster cast of it," he said. "I took pictures and invited the MUFON UFO Network to come investigate."
Michael says the footprint is not from a human.
"It's hoofed and clawed and is about 18 inches long. It came from a dragon-like creature."
Michael described the creature as cryptid -- a term used in cryptozoology to describe a creature that lacks scientific support, such as a Big Foot or Yeti, as well as extinct species some claim to still be living today.
MUFON field investigator Morgan A. Beall visited the Rowleys.
On May 21, he started case No. 17015, which includes a half-hour documentary he made of the Rowleys' encounters, photographs of the footprint, the negatives and the plaster cast.
According to his findings, Beall wrote "based on case studies, the nature of the witness testimony and other surrounding occurrences points toward the possibility of the abduction phenomenon. More evidence is needed to determine this opinion."
Beall recommended a lie detector test, having the footprint cast examined by independent experts, having the video evidence examined by a professional and having a Florida MUFON abduction specialist examine the case.
Michael said he would like to have Mary Margaret Zimmer, assistant state director of MUFON, examine Shane.
"I think she will be able to help him find where he was taken when he lost time when he was possibly abducted," Michael said.
According to Zimmer, neither of the Rowleys have contacted her yet.
"Shane is a minor, so I would need his father's permission to examine him," she said.
The Rowleys say they are convinced they are
being followed by the creatures.
"I want to sell my home," said Michael, who is on disability benefits. "We are considering moving to England. Maybe they will not find us there."
E-mail: eallen@sun-herald.com
By ELAINE ALLEN-EMRICH
BRIANA WESTERVELT
Staff Writers
Source: Charlotte Sun
