When ranking “Wouldn’t it be great if we had these?” science fiction inventions, innovations and imaginations, flying cars would certainly be #1, followed closely by the thing that would make flying cars able to traverse the universe – wormholes. While Albert Einstein had nothing to say about airborne autos, he influenced the possibility of wormholes with his theories of special relativity and gravity. Since the existence of such a time-space warp requires massive power, they’re often linked to the supermassive black holes that exist at the centers of galaxies. Now, a group of scientists have figured out a way to test whether Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), the Milky Way’s central (and still hypothetical) black hole is also a wormhole. Is someone on the other side doing the same thing? Have we seen this movie plot before?

“If a wormhole smoothly connects two different spacetimes, then the flux cannot be separately conserved in any of these spaces individually. Then objects propagating in the vicinity of a wormhole in one space must feel the influence of objects propagating in the other space. We show this in the cases of the scalar, electromagnetic, and gravitational field. The case of gravity is perhaps the most interesting. Namely, by studying the orbits of stars around the black hole at the center of our galaxy, we could soon tell if this black hole harbors a traversable wormhole.”

That’s the abstract of “Observing a wormhole,” a new paper, published in Physical Review D, written by Dejan Stojkovic, PhD, cosmologist and professor of physics in the University at Buffalo College of Arts and Sciences, and De-Chang Dai, PhD, of Yangzhou University in China and Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. Stojkovic and Dai didn’t just observe Sgr A* — they also watched S2, the star orbiting the black hole. Unlike in Interstellar and other wormhole movies and novels, these physicists don’t believe humans in giant, extremely tough spaceships can travel through a wormhole. However, something much large can, and it could also use its gravity to influence something equally large on the other side. Enter S2 and its possible opposite-galaxy twin.

“In particular, with a near future acceleration precision of 10^-6 m/s², a few solar masses star orbiting around Sgr A* on the other side of the wormhole at the distance of a few gravitational radii would leave a detectable imprint on the orbit of the S2 star on our side. Alternatively, one can expect the same effect in black hole binary systems, or a black hole–star binary systems.”

In other words, unusual movements by a giant star near a supermassive black hole could indicate that the black hole is actually a wormhole. And Stojkovic and Dai measured S2 and found it shaking hard enough to make them shake at the discovery of an actual wormhole … right? RIGHT?

“When we reach the precision needed in our observations, we may be able to say that a wormhole is the most likely explanation if we detect perturbations in the orbit of S2,” he says. “But we cannot say that, ‘Yes, this is definitely a wormhole.’ There could be some other explanation, something else on our side perturbing the motion of this star.”

As Stojkovic indicates in a University of Buffalo press release, current technology is not precise enough to see the movement, nor have they been observing S2 long enough to determine if it has actually moved in a non-standard way. On the good news side, Stojkovic believes this technology will be available in a within-our-lifetime period – possibly in a decade.

What if S2 never moves? That doesn’t necessarily mean Sgr A* isn’t a wormhole, just that there’s no giant star on the other side. It also doesn’t mean that something smaller couldn’t make a trip through it, although the ‘negative energy’ required to accomplish it is still considered to be impossible, even at the particle level.

Turn around.

So then, why keep looking at S2 and Sgr A*? Astronomers, like cryptid hunters, are on a quest. As Stojkovic told Popular Science:

“If one worm hole is found, then there is no reason to believe that there aren’t many others, When we found the first candidate for a black hole, then suddenly we saw millions of them.”

The Impossible Dream.

One phenomenon that has picked up quite a few accounts and attention in recent years is one that lies firmly out in the domain of the fringe, and deals with thin, pale beings that seem to defy any real classification. I have covered such entities before here, and they are commonly referred to by the creepy name “pale crawlers,” a unique branch of the paranormal which has grown to encompass countless very bizarre sightings reports. Here we will take a look at even more such encounters, which really stretch the limits of the odd and leave us wondering what could possibly be going on.

The reports of unearthly pale humanoid creatures lurking about in the shadows cover a range of different descriptions, but one of the most common is that of something very tall and extremely thin and gaunt, with very pale, almost translucent skin. They often appear out of nowhere for reasons we cannot comprehend, can be seen to travel on two legs or four, and one report that demonstrates an eerie sighting of one of these entities comes from Lon Strickler at Phantoms and Monsters. The witness says that this occurred back in 1994, at a place called Willow Creek, California, where he had been visiting his grandparents’ house in the summer of that year. The house is described as a small 2-bedroom place in a rugged wilderness area, with the Trinity River flowing practically right through their backyard, which is overlooked by a deck attached to the house. One evening he went to sleep in a sleeping back in the house’s solarium outside under the stars, and the witness says he woke up in the middle of the night for no discernible reason. After wiping away the remnants of sleepiness he realized that he was being overcome with a distinct feeling of dread that snaked through his veins and provoked within him a flight or fight response, shocking him awake like a splash of cold water, despite the fact that it was a quiet evening and there was no threat to be seen.

After some time (most likely just a minute or two), I turned my head to the side to look into the yard. I had to turn to my side and lift myself a bit to get a better look, but the source of my feeling was impossible to miss. Standing at the bottom of the yard next to the neighbor’s fence line stood a tall skinny creature with skin the color of the moon. It had no hair on it’s head or anywhere else that I could see. It’s eyes where shiny white with a reflective quality, but not bright like a bright light was shining on them right then. Just moon light. Its face had human features, but seemed squished flatter. It’s arms seemed really long, but that could be just because it was really tall. The chain link fence came up to it’s armpits, so it had to be around 7-8 feet tall. Not enough to just step over the fencing, but I didn’t hear it climb over unless it had been in the yard before I woke up and just didn’t get the dread feeling until later. It’s body had dirty brown-dark gray looking rags over its chest and around its hips cover its crotch.

It was looking right at me. I got scared and ducked down into my sleeping bag as far as I could. My sister has always been a heavy sleeper and I didn’t want her to wake up for this anyway. Next thing I hear heavy steps on the deck coming towards the solarium. There’s a wood door with a screened window in the top of it (not opened at the time as far as I can remember). All was quiet for a while, so I peeked out through a small fold of the sleeping bag. Through one of the bottom windows of the solarium next to the door I saw it’s pale large feet. The skin was rough and the toes were gnarled with dirty nails. I curled up trying not to make a sound or move much. The bag was getting stuffy.

He says the next thing he knew he was being shaken awake by his father after having passed out, and he would later find out that no one else had seen or heard anything unusual, there were no footprints or any physical evidence left behind, and his father told him that it had probably all been a bad dream. What did this witness see out there and why was it prowling about this property? A somewhat similar report comes to us from Reddit user “BuckeyeBrute,” who relates an experience his grandfather had at his rural home in a coal mining town in Southeastern Ohio. The grandfather began to get visitations at night from a very otherworldly, tall pale being that seemed to just loiter about the property and watch the house, and the commenter says of his grandfather and his brush with the weird:

He used to be soft spoken and generally reserved but the last time I visited him he was easily startled by noises, constantly checking outside the window, and he won’t let his dog outside unless he goes with the dog and he always bring his handgun with him. I asked him why he was so jumpy and he told me it was because of something he has seen multiple times outside his kitchen window. He claims that he has seen a tall, white, and very thin creature on the edge of his backyard near the treeline. He tells me it has small black eyes, that it’s around 8 feet tall, and that it just stands there watching his house and then vanishes. He said the sightings started about two months ago and I have only seen him twice since he started to see whatever this thing is. I am at a loss for words on how to help him. My grandfather used to be so easygoing, but anymore he’s afraid of my family staying at his house past sundown because he doesn’t want us seeing it either.

A quite bizarre report is also given by a Reddit user called “onionstarseed,” on a thread of humanoid encounters, who says that he and a friend saw a pale white creature they refer to as “an inorganic being” in the wilds of British Columbia, Canada, in 2010. On this evening the two of them were out exploring the area along with the friend’s dog, and they came to a steep cliff overlooking the forest area, and that is when the witness noticed a very peculiar entity down in the trees. He says of what happened:

There’s a steep cliff made out of forest floor when you first walk in. It is only about 10 – 15 feet into the forest area from the “entrance” of the forest. When we were standing at the top of the cliff/ravine before the path way leading down to the rest of the forest and the creek at the bottom which was the only safe way to walk down especially at night, I could see a 7-8 feet tall pure white soft looking figure and it was in between the trees moving around softly swaying left to right back and forth slowly standing (literally touching the forest floor) in the exact same place the whole time we saw it making absolutely no sound and there was absolutely no wind.

It was 7-8 feet Tall, Pure White (When I mean “pure white” I mean Paper, Bone white) Not see-through, Just 2 Pure White Long limbs (from what we could see in the dark). It was so white it looked like it was almost giving off light but it wasn’t because it was not shining or illuminating the trees or ground and Im pretty sure you could see shadow on it from it moving back and forth in the same place between the trees, had no facial features from what we could see and it was swaying back and forth around that I can only describe as 7-8 foot separated curtains blowing in the wind touching the forest floor, but right and left back and forth in a specific motion with no sound at all, absolutely no wind, dead silent. Emanated the feeling of dread and impending doom when I started being “Mesmorized” by its strange movements. I tried my best to squint my eyes and adjust them to the Inorganic Being/dark better to see what it was doing or if I could make out what it looked like better, but it did not help at all it just still appeared as I described. 

I wasn’t even going to say anything about the figure to my friend at first because I was waiting for my friend to say something. We observed it for a couple seconds in complete silence and we’re “mesmerized” by it’s movements, then I asked my friend if he saw it and he said yeah he could as well. We stood silent in fear as we were watching it do its strange unsettling soft swaying movements/trying to adjust our eyes to the Inorganic Being and see what it was doing. As I was in a slight daze watching it sway I started to feel a ominous energy “set in” and felt impending doom (the sinking feeling) in my chest area like when you are going to die or are in a life threatening situation and I had shivers going throughout my body. That’s when I told my friend specifically “I don’t like this”, he agreed and we left immediately. 

There were absolutely no sounds in the forest, it was dead silent while it was moving back and forth. Its movements could have been a lure of some sort because it did not move towards us or anywhere, or it was just letting us know to stay away because it was scared to death as well or just didn’t want us to disturb it. It was literally something you would see in a science fiction horror movie.

In this particular case, the witness claims that he asked around to people from the First Nations, and that they told him it was a creature they called the Sisiutl and other regional names, and that it was a sort of spirit that they did not like to talk about with outsiders. It is interesting to note that many of these cases make mention of a potent sense of this fear that washes over the witness almost as if it is being generated from outside and beamed into them. A case that really exemplifies this is one given by a Reddit user on a post titled “White “creature” in the woods of PA.” The witness says that he was driving his aunt to the airport at around 1 AM in a rural area outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the road is described as having been very dark and a little foggy that night. Then they came across something they could not explain, of which the witness says:

It was facing toward a telephone pole off to the right of the car. The pole was just in front of a garage or small barn structure. All I could see was the back of its head – completely white, no hair – and its hands and its forearms which were also totally white. It looked like it was wearing a dark shirt or something of that nature. But it was facing away from us, leaning into the telephone pole with its arms up against the pole and its head against its arms. Or at least a stance similar to that. The worst feeling I have ever felt Rose up in my chest when I saw it. I felt my heart almost stop and drop into my stomach. I felt sick. And terrified. All I knew was that whatever it was, I didn’t want it to turn around. No matter what. I knew it couldn’t be allowed to turn around, or I would regret it.

I’ve seen a lot of really weird things in my life and felt a lot of really weird sensations. I’ve always been super sensitive to the energy in homes and I have straight up seen ghosts in my parents home, one of which I am very wary of (the other, I am comforted by, but that’s a different story for a different time). But this… this was actually TERRIFYING. I cannot explain the immense feeling of dread and horror I experienced in that moment to you. You could only understand if you’ve experienced it yourself.

This thing was tall, and had distinct arms and legs. It had no hair whatsoever on its body. I don’t know if it had facial features because it was faced towards the pole. Almost like it was counting for Hide and go seek with it’s arms up. It might have been hugging onto the pole. It wore something black. And I experienced the worst and most deeply jolting fear in its presence, and I was only near to it for a few seconds.

What was this thing? This case is rather interesting because it really emphasizes the pure fear these things are often described as emanating, and it is also curious in that it is a rare account of such an entity actually wearing some sort of clothing, and there is also the fact that a great many of these encounter reports take place along lonely roads at night. Reddit user “DistinctEarthling” gives such an account that supposedly happened on Christmas night in 2007, along a darkened rural backroad in Upstate New York. At one point as he made his way along a very secluded dark patch of road that had “barren fields on either side and woods set back,” he claims that he came across something very odd walking along the opposite side of the road coming in his direction. He says of the sight that bloomed up out of the night:

It was not a person. It stood on two long legs, with long arms hanging down from its shoulders. It was strong looking. Lean, muscular, but not beefy in stature. It looked thin at the same time. It stood at least 7 foot tall. It was light colored: not sure whether it was white, tan, yellow or grayish. It didn’t appear to have fur but there was some texture to the skin- it wasn’t smooth. There appeared to be something coming down off its back. I don’t know what this was. All I can recall about it’s face is the small features it had but the mouth and jaw were notably large. And it had pointed things atop its head- 2 things going straight upward with something mingled between the two things. That’s what I got from a quick scan and from my observation of it as it neared my car and my car neared it.

As my car became parallel to it within a split second, I went from looking out my windshield to looking at it from my drivers side window. In that moment, it’s face quickly peered down at me and all I remember was the mouth opened wide. Out came a remarkable scream that I’ll never forget. Gives me the chills just thinking about it. It consisted of a high-pitched shrill/shriek, enveloped by a deep guttural growl. Both sounds happened simultaneously in that scream.
I kept driving all the while. This was all happening so fast that I didn’t even have a chance to be scared or shocked or anything. Later on, I was in total shock after it sunk in. Had my drivers side window been opened fully, it would have touched me, or worse, taken me. I’m certain of it. To this day, I still haven’t worked out what this was.

Quite a disturbing account, indeed. In another report, we have Reddit user “cspin360,” who also saw something very unsettling by the side of the road while driving with his fiancé through a remote road in an undisclosed location within one of the “rust belt states.” He says of the freakish encounter:

I live in a rust belt state about an hour south of our state capital in a rural hilly area. Me and my fiancé were driving from my parents house to a friends for a bit of night swimming. Our way there passes a state park’s boundaries and about 5 miles from any house on the road we seen what looked to be a pale skinned humanoid crouching on the side of the road. From behind you could see the spine of this creature poking out of its back and it almost looked as if it was hunched over roadkill. I could see it turn it’s head in our direction as we passed it but I didn’t get a good look at it’s face. Before seeing that me and my fiancé were very skeptical of the paranormal.

From the state of Illinois we have a report from Ranker, with a witness who was driving on his way home from a friend’s house in rural Illinois in an area with many creeks and woods when he had his encounter. His girlfriend was with him at the time, going home herself in a separate car, but later on she would call him in a state of frantic panic, and would give a very strange tale. The bizarre story goes as follows:

On Friday night she and I were at a friend’s house and decided to leave at around 1 am. It’s very foggy outside being that we live near rivers and creeks in rural Illinois. She goes to the gas station on her way home to the rural town where we both live about a block away from each other. I get home and don’t hear from her for a bit until she calls me very shaken up and crying. She says on her drive home she saw something crouched in the road on the right side. It looked to be fairly small possibly a child. She rolled her window down and asked if they were okay, and got no answer, only continued sobbing. She pulls over and gets out of the car walked up to whatever this was and attempted to ask if it needed any help. The thing stands up on two feet at over six feet, pale and hairless, and lets out a god awful screech and runs off of the road into some pretty dense woods near a tributary of the Kaskaskia river. She can’t say it was a boy or a girl but can say she’s never heard something like that before. She’s pretty jarred by the experience.

Yet another sighting reported to Lon Strickler of the site Phantoms and Monsters supposedly occurred along a dusty old road in South Texas in 2009. The witness says:

Me and a friend were driving home during the early morning hours in 2009 here in south Texas, near Brownsville. A bipedal, hairless & pale glowing humanoid or being of some sort jumped out of the brush towards my car as we passed. We were driving at 20 to 25 mph. This being screamed at us…a very shrill high-pitched yell. I’ll never forget it. When I fully looked at this humanoid my heart just stopped. It did not look anything like a Hollywood character of what an alien might look like. It was definitely not of this world. We then sped off as fast as we could and did not look back.

As frightening as these reports might be, perhaps even scarier still are those reports of pale humanoids or “pale crawlers” right within the confines of one’s home, and there are a few very disturbing cases along these lines. One is give on the site Ranker, by a witness who was at the time staying with her parents at their home in Texas. She says that one day she was just taking a nap on a futon in the middle of the day, and that at one point she opened her eyes to see that she wasn’t alone there. She says:

As I opened my eyes I saw, for only a second, the image of some white humanoid creature kneeling on its hunches looking at me. It couldn’t have been that tall since its eyes where only a inches above my bed. I could see the top of it’s knees which it was resting it’s head against. While I can’t remember many details about it’s face I knew, somehow, that it wasn’t entirely ‘right,’ for lack of a better term. I can’t remember if it even had any hair on it’s head, or the color of its eyes, but I can remember that it’s skin was very pale and it looked as if it were just skin and bones. I don’t know why the image of this creature was so vivid even though I only saw it for a second but even to this day it stands out.

Perhaps even more spectacular is an account given by a Reddit user who also saw something incredibly odd in his home when he was 14 years old. At the time it was around 10 PM at night, and the witness had gone to sleep on the sofa in the living room. As he lie down to try and sleep, he then heard a scrabbling, scratching sound that kept him awake and which was odd because the family did not own any pets and everyone else was in their rooms. The witness describes the spooky ordeal that would follow thusly:

So I’m lying down as as soon as I close my eyes (it’s like I blinked), I hear something crawling on the shaggy carpet, like it was crawling fast in circles, I could hear it loud and clear. I stay frozen thinking what the fuck???? The crawling sounded as if it what scraping itself against the carpet while moving. I hear it coming closer to me, next to the couch and it goes back off to the same spot where the sound started, which was like 5 feet away from the couch in this empty space in the corner of the living room.

Curious, I take a small peak and as I can remember, it looked like a human crawling on all fours, except the body was backwards (like if you lie down facing up, and then arch your body up with your hands and legs), and it was dark pale skin and I didn’t see a head, only it’s legs and hands. It wasn’t wearing anything, it was dark from my view so i didn’t see it’s entire body. At that time, I never ever played any scary games, and now that I’m older, I can say the creature looked like something out of a silent hill game. Like the skin texture. I know I wasn’t asleep because I barely got on the couch and when I jumped, I was still wide awake, I wasn’t sleepy at all. I know it wasn’t a dream.

These reports don’t really seem to comfortably fit within any traditional area of the paranormal, making them a phenomenon that really deserves its own classification, and which leaves us scrambling for answers. What could these sorts of entity be? Are they ghosts or spirits of some kind, aliens, demons, undiscovered animals, interdimensional interlopers, or something else all together? With such numerous differences in appearance reported, perhaps this is a phenomenon that encompasses several different possibilities, none of which are easily explainable with our current knowledge. Whatever they are, these “pale crawlers” represent the weird of the weird, inhabiting their own realm of the paranormal and evading any real understanding.