All of us are familiar with Halloween, even if we don’t celebrate it. For most people, it is a fun night of the year where people get dressed up in all manner of spooky costumes and attend parties, or gather a group of friends to watch scary movies, and, for the younger ones, venture outside Trick-or-Treating, collecting vast amounts of sweets and candy. There are, though, many accounts on record that are far from fun, and that have made Halloweens past, at least for those involved, a truly scary occasion.
While we will look at some of the more paranormal encounters shortly, it is perhaps best to start with some of the darker accounts on record, many of which were thought to be Halloween pranks but were found to be anything but. On October 15th, 2015, for example, the body of Rebecca Cade was found hanging from a fence in Ohio. For hours, people walked by assuming it was a Halloween display, until it was discovered to be real. Her injuries made it clear she had been murdered.
A similar incident occurred the previous year, on October 29th, 2014, in Long Island, New York. Witnesses saw a man drag a decapitated body into the street and kick the head to the opposite curb. Many mistook it for a Halloween stunt and continued on with their day until someone tried to move the body out of traffic and realized it was genuine. Police later identified the victim as 66-year-old professor Patricia Ward. She had been killed by her 35-year-old son, Derek, who reportedly had a history of mental illness and lived with her. After the killing, he died by suicide by stepping in front of a train.
There are many more similar Halloween encounters. For example, a 42-year-old woman in Delaware died by suicide on Halloween, hanging herself from a tree in her front yard. Her body remained there for five days because neighbors assumed it was part of the holiday decorations. In a similar case in Los Angeles, residents of an apartment building passed what they believed was a disturbingly realistic prop with severe facial damage; after several days, they discovered it was a man who had died by suicide from a gunshot. In 2012, in Pennsylvania, a 9-year-old girl was shot in the shoulder and arm by a relative who, in the dark, mistook her black-and-white Halloween costume for a skunk. In 1992, 16-year-old exchange student Yoshihiro Hattori was fatally shot while trying to attend a Halloween party. He and a friend went around to the back of the house upon arrival, leading the homeowner, Rodney Peairs, to mistake them for intruders and shoot Hattori.
As well as these accidental deaths and bodies mistaken for props, there have also been some dark, brutal murders committed on Halloween. On Halloween night in 2012, for example, Rebekah Gay answered the door to her mother’s fiancé, John White, a church minister in Michigan. He killed her, hid her body in nearby woods, then returned to dress her three-year-old son in his costume and drive him to his father’s home. White even asked his congregation to pray for Rebekah’s safe return. Her body was found about 20 hours later. He was convicted of her murder and later died by suicide in prison. White had a long history of violence against women. In 1981, he invited 17-year-old Theresa Etherton to see a racetrack he had built in his basement and then attacked her; she escaped, and he served two years in prison. In 1994, he killed a woman with whom he was having an affair and left her body in a wooded area. Because prosecutors could not prove intent, he was convicted of manslaughter.
Another chilling case occurred in 2011 in British Columbia. Eighteen-year-old college student Taylor Van Deist left home dressed as a zombie to meet a friend for trick-or-treating. She texted that she thought someone was following her and was later found near railroad tracks with serious injuries; she died in the hospital shortly afterward. Matthew Foerster was arrested, confessed during questioning, and was sentenced to life in prison for her murder.
Arguably, one of the most horrific Halloween crimes occurred on Halloween night in 1974, in Pasadena, Texas, when Ronald Clark O’Bryan laced candy with cyanide after he had taken out a huge life insurance policy on his own children. He dished out the poisonous sweets to his son, Timothy, his daughter, and several other children in the area. Timothy was the only one who ate the candy, tragically dying a short time later. O’Bryan was arrested and charged with his murder and was executed for his crimes a decade later.
While these accounts are indeed tragic and horrifying, there are others on record that are seemingly paranormal in nature.
Without a doubt, one of the strangest accounts to have unfolded around Halloween occurred in Provincetown, Massachusetts, in 1939, when multiple residents of the town reported having unsettling encounters with a “tall figure” wearing black clothes, and, according to some witness statements, had “glowing eyes”.
With Halloween approaching, Provincetown was beginning to quieten down as many of the “summer tourists” had left for the usual abodes in various places across America. On this particular evening, a local woman, Mary Costa, was walking past the town hall when something suddenly leaped out of the nearby bushes. According to the report she made later, this figure was at least eight feet tall, and had “pointed silver ears and glowing blue eyes”. This strange entity stared at Mary for several seconds before suddenly jumping, almost directly upwards, eventually disappearing. As soon as it had done so, Mary turned and saw the dim lights of a local coffee shop window, and she immediately ran towards it. She burst inside and blurted out what had happened to her. Several of the men inside the coffee shop immediately ran outside to see if there was any sign of the attacker, but their efforts were in vain.
Mary reported the incident to the local police, who recorded the incident but did little to follow it up in any serious way. However, during the days that followed, more and more reports of an almost identical nature were made to the police, forcing them to take this strange prankster more seriously. All of the details in each of the reports resonated with each other; the figure dressed in black from head to toe; it wore some kind of cape that covered its head and back, it had glowing eyes, which some witnessed reported as red, while others claimed they were a silver-blue color; it had pointed ears, and perhaps strangest of all, a “weird buzzing” sound often accompanied this menacing figure, a sound that some witnessed likened to a fly or a bee. Of even greater intrigue, this figure seemingly had the ability to leap at least ten feet into the air.
In fact, the police had their own encounter with this bizarre figure around the same time the reports began to increase. On the night in question, they received a call that the figure had been spotted in the playground of a local school. The school premises were surrounded by a tall fence, and the police saw an opportunity to trap and apprehend the culprit. Four police officers arrived at the school a short time after receiving the report, each with a flashlight in one hand and their gun in the other. Not long after they entered the school grounds, they saw the bizarre figure in front of them caught in their flashlight beams, with one officer stating that instead of a face, the figure had a “silver painted mask”. The officers ordered the figure to freeze or they would shoot. Rather than doing so, however, the curious entity leaped into the air, clearing the tall fence with ease.
As the reports increased, so did the media coverage of the encounters, and in turn, many different monickers were bandied around. Some referred to the attacker as The Provincetown Phantom, while others called him the Devil of the Dunes. Others still named him The Phantom Fiend, or The Black Phantom. However, it was The Black Flash that stuck, and quickly, all references to the bizarre encounters used this name.
Perhaps one of the strangest aspects of the reports made to the police was that on several occasions, they received reports of encounters with the Black Flash from two different locations at the same time. This suggested to police that there very well could be more than one menace to deal with, and, over the years, some researchers have even pondered if some kind of portal or teleportation device was utilized, making The Black Flash either an eccentric scientist-type figure, or something more supernatural in nature. Indeed, one particular report from a local teenager perhaps suggests just this. He claimed that he was making his way home from the library when the Black Flash appeared out of nowhere right in front of him. Most terrifying of all, though, the witness insisted that the figure had “spat blue flames” towards him from its mouth.
Despite this last report, although unsettling, none of the encounters were violent. More often than not, this figure simply leaped out of somewhere (although witnesses could rarely establish just where the figure had leaped from) in an effort to scare the witness. It would then simply leap into the air and disappear, with most encounters with the Black Flash lasting no longer than a few seconds. One witness, Charles Farley, even fired his gun at the figure, certain that he had hit it. However, rather than drop to the ground, the figure simply “laughed” back before leaping over a tall fence and disappearing into the night. Does this suggest some kind of bulletproof body armor, or is it another sign that the Black Flash has more of an otherworldly quality to it than many might wish to believe?
It is hard to ignore the similar details of the Black Flash encounters to those of Spring-Heeled Jack, who terrorized Victorian England a century earlier. This strange figure would often leap out of nowhere in an effort to startle people, with many of the witnesses stating it had glowing red eyes and blue flames coming from its mouth. Moreover, Spring-Heeled Jack had remarkable leaping ability, able to clear high fences and even two-story buildings in one jump. Although most of the sightings of Spring-Heeled Jack had slowed as the nineteenth century neared its close, there were tentative sightings in the early 1900s and 1940s, and even speculative reports from as recently as the 1970s. Might we consider that there is some kind of connection between Spring-Heeled Jack and the Black Flash of Provincetown, and if so, just what might that connection be?
Whatever the truth, sightings and reports of the Black Flash slowed dramatically as November unfolded, with at least one researcher, Theo Paijmans, claiming they ceased entirely. However, there are odd reports of this strange menace in the years that followed, with the last (known) reported sighting taking place one cold evening in December 1945. The account is detailed in the book Passing Strange by Joe Citro (it can also be found in Robert Cahill’s New England’s Mad and Mysterious Men), and states that on the night in question, four children from the Janard family were outside in the front yard when they suddenly noticed a strange figure heading in their direction coming out of the fog. Although their parents were not at home, they immediately ran inside the house to take cover from the menacing creature.
Suddenly, the sound of the doorknob of the front door being turned reached their ears as the Black Flash tried to gain entry to the property. For several minutes, each of the doors and windows rattled temporarily as the creature tried all potential points of entry. While three of the children hid behind furniture, the oldest boy, Allen, proceeded to fill a bucket with hot water. He then ventured up to the second floor of the property, opened the window, and peered outside. There, directly below him, was the Black Flash. He tipped the water out, watching as it drenched its target. The figure let out a “startled gasp” before it ran off back into the fog.
If we return to the previously mentioned Robert Cahill for a moment, when he traveled to the region decades later to speak with witnesses, he learned of the account of a local pool shark named Eight Ball Eddie. According to what Cahill learned, Eddie was dismissive of the sightings, convinced that the Black Flash was nothing but a man in costume. However, one evening as Eddie was returning home, he encountered the Black Flash for himself. Eddie, still insistent that the figure was merely a “tall man”, stood there looking at the figure, which wore a black hood and had glowing, silver eyes. After several moments, Eddie ordered the figure to get out of his way. The figure, though, lunged toward Eddie and struck him across the face, forcing Eddie to fall to the ground. At this point, Eddie was beyond unsettled by the incident, and after dragging himself to his feet, he turned and ran as fast as he could. The next morning, Eddie still had a “red handprint” where the figure had struck him.
There were, as we might imagine, many explanations put forward in the months and years that followed. Before we look at some of those, though, it is worth our time exploring the year 1939, in general, and how the entire New England area experienced a series of bizarre events. In January, for example, a bizarre “sea monster” washed up on the shore near Wood End. Although it was officially ruled to be a “decomposing basking shark”, many people claimed it bore a remarkable resemblance to an aquatic creature witnessed in 1886 by George Reedy. Whatever the truth, this was just the first of the bizarre events in the region that year. For example, it would eventually come to light through an annual police report that cases of “dog bites and stray cats” had reached an “all-time high” in 1939. Then, in September 1939, several arson attacks occurred, for which a local 40-year-old man was later arrested. In short, the mindset of the people of Provincetown was geared toward something out of the ordinary. Of course, whether this played a part in the sightings of the Black Flash that unfolded in October and November of that year remains very much open to debate.
One suggestion put forward was that the Black Flash was nothing more than four teenagers who were playing a Halloween prank on the town that carried on too long, by the Chief of Police, Anthony Tarvers. He even claimed that he knew the identity of one of the teenagers, although none of these statements were part of an official police press release. He claimed that the boys split into two groups of two, and then one stood on top of the other’s shoulders, using a black cape to cover themselves and using a flour sifter as a makeshift mask. It is interesting to note that he promised to speak with the teenager’s parents, and shortly after he made that statement, the sightings came to an abrupt stop.
The explanation, though, has several holes that can’t be ignored. Perhaps one of the most glaring of these is how the boys – if that is what they were – managed to scale such heights on one leap? Moreover, how did they manage to overpower their potential captors (on several occasions) without being uncovered? Even more glaring, how did the “boys” manage to withstand being shot from close range, and even stranger, how did they manage to pull off the illusion of glowing red or silver eyes and blue flames from the mouth?
With all of these questions in mind, we might consider whether Tarver was simply wide of the mark in his assessment, or whether that statement, an unofficial one, remember, was one he made to simply calm the townsfolk, as well as create the determination that the local police force had succeeded in stopping the infamous Black Flash.
It isn’t just strange creatures lurking in the shadows that have taken place on or around Halloween. On Halloween night 1963, for example, in the small town of Trancas in Argentina, three sisters witnessed a strange, otherworldly object up close. On the night in question, the three sisters were settling down at the Moreno family home, with Argentina and Jolie having traveled from the town of Rosario to see their sister, Yolanda, as well as their parents. They each had their young children with them, and each of their husbands was away on military service. On this evening, following the sudden failure of the electric generator, the family had eaten their evening meal earlier than usual, before settling down in their bedrooms not long after.
At around 9 pm, however, the live-in domestic worker, 15-year-old Dora Guzman, suddenly ran to the main part of the house, claiming there were “strange lights” moving along the railroad outside of the house. The sisters’ parents remained asleep, while Jolie was in the middle of feeding her baby. Argentina and Yolanda ventured to where Dora was, immediately noticing the look of concern on her face, something which was unusual in itself. When they asked her to explain to them what she had seen, she stated that there were some kind of “machines” near the tracks. There was frequent guerrilla activity in the area, and the two sisters contemplated whether that was what Dora had seen. Quietly and cautiously, the two sisters opened the front door of the property and, along with Dora, ventured outside to investigate.
With one sister holding a flashlight and the other a small handgun, the three young women made their way toward the railroad tracks, keeping themselves hidden within the crops. They could see the strange lights moving in the distance; now and then, a strange “beam” would shoot upwards into the night sky. They began to question if there had been a train crash or if a guerrilla group had targeted a passing train. Then, they saw what seemed to be “human silhouettes” moving close to the lights, causing them to stop their approach immediately. They remained where they were for several moments before deciding to carefully continue towards the tracks. The closer they got, they could eventually see that the lights were connected to a solid object – the underside of a disc-shaped craft. The craft appeared like one disc on top of the other, with a green beam of light running in between them, creating a “tunnel” effect. After several moments' pause, they decided to move closer.
Moments after they did so, however, a pair of “dim greenish” lights appeared directly in front of them. Moreover, they were heading in their direction. To begin with, despite the surreal nature of the events they had witnessed, they contemplated if the lights belonged to one of the farm workers’ (Rodriguez’s) pick-up trucks, but before they could contemplate anything more, the three young women were completely enveloped within the green glow. It was at this point that the trio looked upwards, immediately noticing a huge disc hovering directly over them. Everything around them, including their clothes and faces, glowed green. The craft turned slowly in the air as it continued to hover overhead. From this angle, the three witnesses could see several windows or portholes on the underside of the craft.
Then, a beam of “solid light” emerged from the middle of the craft’s underside and stretched to the ground, a light that the witnesses later described as somehow “solid”. Several moments later, Yolanda stepped forward and placed her hand into the strange light. The other two looked on as the light simply went straight through her hand, as opposed to stopping on it as a “normal” light would. Yolanda also stated that although she didn’t feel any pain when her hand was in the light, she could feel distinct heat coming from it. Then, without warning, the beam began upwards, back towards the craft. As it did so, the three young women became aware of a strange mist that had appeared directly underneath the object, each particle glowing green and seemingly visible in the glow of the light. This strange fog-like mist began to grow thicker as the three witnesses continued to stare at it in awe. It was several moments before the two sisters noticed that Dora appeared to be in some strange trance.
The two sisters did their best to free Dora of the apparent spell she was under, but she continued to stare blankly at the mist above her. Then, the green glow was replaced by a bright orange, while above them, several yellow lights were now spinning on the underside of the aerial vehicle. Also at this point, the craft began to rock from side to side before a sudden burst of flames appeared, the force of which forced all three of the young women to the ground.
By now, they feared they were under attack, and so quickly staggered to their feet and ran back to the house. Although they ran as fast as they could, they occasionally looked back to see if the object was following them. Although it wasn’t, it did appear to be moving over the farmland, as if carrying out some kind of visual survey of it. They were fast approaching the main house. However, just as they were about to go through the front door, the glow from the object suddenly vanished. They stopped and turned around, a little shocked that the object was nowhere to be seen, even though only a second earlier, it had clearly been moving across the land.
The three young women went inside the house, by which time, Dora had seemingly come out of her trance, and appeared to be suffering from delayed shock, screaming that she was burned. The sisters’ parents and their other sister all came running to the scene to see what had happened. Dora hadn’t been burned, but it took a considerable amount of time to calm her down. The sisters looked at the clock, realizing it was just after 10 pm, meaning the incident had lasted just short of an hour.
News of the incident soon spread, and with it came corroborating witnesses. One neighbor, for example, Francisco Tropiano, claimed that he witnessed strange lights over their home at around 10 pm on the night in question. He claimed they lit up the entire area before suddenly disappearing. Another witness, a local doctor, claimed he was driving his car when he witnessed “almost 50 strange lights” traversing the sky. Moreover, when investigators examined the area of the actual sighting, they discovered a “dusty white residue” that, when analyzed, showed it was not indigenous to the surrounding soil. This substance was only found at the alleged landing site and nowhere else.
Just what happened that Halloween night in Trancas in 1963 remains unexplained. Despite the three young women being asked repeatedly to speak of their encounter by various investigators and members of the press, they didn’t once waver from their version of events and, by and large, were considered reliable witnesses. And as bizarre as the encounter might have sounded, especially at the time, in the years that have followed, there have been many other witnesses to other UFO encounters that have described very similar details; the green glowing light, for example, or the solid, slow-releasing beam of light that came from the craft itself, not to mention the shape and dynamics of the craft.
Ultimately, while Halloween is a time for mischievous fun, watching horror movies with friends, attending parties, or even venturing to a scary location to “spook” themselves, on occasion, the pretend horror and frights are very real. Of course, while this is almost certainly just coincidence, after all, murders, accidental deaths, and even UFO sightings happen all year round, we should perhaps contemplate, if only in the back of our minds, if something about this time of year really does “thin the veil”, and perhaps influence humanity to act out such horrors, or simply unleash strange figures such as the Black Flash or strange vehicles from other worlds. It is certainly spooky food for thought, and perhaps something for us to keep in mind as we celebrate Halloween, both this year and in the future. Is it all fun and games? Not always.
