Three boys from a juvenile detention center in Vermont have escaped and are on the run. They encounter a large winged owl-like creature that seems to be hunting them.

I received the following account:

"I am forever haunted by this experience. It was April 1977. Two other young guys and I were in a juvenile detention center in Vergennes, Vermont. It was way out in the country and we had made plans to escape that day. We asked for passes to walk across campus to the infirmary. Then when we got outside we ran through the apple fields, up along the creek, and headed north. At one point a bull chased us out onto a tree fallen in the water.

We finally got away and continued running for what seemed like hours. It was a heart-pounding, drenched with sweat ordeal, going through brush fields and a slightly wooded area. We were very tired and running sloppy when all of a sudden, what sounded like a helicopter, was overhead. We ran under a tree and a big shadow went over us. We looked up. A giant creature landed on a thick branch. We just saw its back at first. It looked like a person's back but like a bodybuilder's, with rippling muscles and long legs. We were trying to figure out what it was. It was about 5 to 6 feet tall. When its head turned completely backward, these huge red orangish round eyes, that seemed to be glowing, were staring right at us! They had a hypnotic effect. We were all frozen in fear as it looked at us like prey, and it seemed to be looking for the weakest one.

All of a sudden the branch broke from the weight of this big creature, but its claws were locked on and those huge wings unfolded. The wind from those wings was very strong and it carried the branch up over us and dropped it right in front of us. Then it turned its body while hovering above us. I yelled, grabbed a branch, waved it, and made lots of noise. It looked a little bewildered and very quietly turned away and glided off without hardly making a sound. I believe it thought we were injured prey and probably hunted other animals like that. I also believe it was trying to scatter us by dropping the tree limb nearby. It was a huge.

My native people's Owl legend calls them 'big hoots.' They had horns like Horned Owls. It was brown with a grayish-speckled underbelly, huge claws that could grab a person, and an enormous beak. I think this is what people call the Mothman.

One of the guys hung himself a few months later. He was really freaked out after the encounter and turned himself into the authorities. His name was Jim. I believe if we were not hiding from the helicopter we thought was overhead it would have snatched Jim. He was the weakest and lagging behind. It did seem to be concentrating on him when it was staring us down with those big orange-red glowing eyes.

I have been telling this story for over 40 years. Most people think I am crazy when I talk about an owl with a ten-foot wingspan." FP