Weeping Angel

**Habitat** | Cities, Graveyards

**Weeping Angels**are purported creatures that are named after the alien menaces from the British sci-fi television series Doctor Who. These cryptids are said to be hostile living statues that move closer when you look away or blink, identical to the creatures from Doctor Who. This has fed the fire to some conspiracy theorists stating that Doctor Who is based off of a true story. More than likely, however, the aliens from Doctor Who are based off of this supposed cryptid.

## Sightings

The first documented sighting was found in a noble's journal from 1500's France. Archeologists uncovered it in the 1980's in the ruins of an ancient castle. The translated account reads:

*"Just over the ridge, the angels reside; sobbing, weeping, covering their eyes to hide their shame. Crying for all of their victims. You would think you would be safe in the presence of angels; decieved. The second you look away, blink, cover your eyes, the angels will creep closer and closer, never breathing, never living. Breaking humans, breaking them in two. Hungry. Always hungry. However, they weep; weep for all of their victims, ruthless, yet remorseful. Never stray near, never approach, and most important, never look away, never cover your face, and never blink. Always fear the weeping angels of old."*

This document is interesting as it was the very first recorded report of this creature and it mentions its current name. Many conspirators show this as proof that Doctor Who is real considering that this document is very similar to a line in several episodes. Some people went as far as to say that this entry was written by a man named Jean Forgeron, which translates to John Smith. The main protagonist in Doctor Who, The Doctor, occasionally goes by this alias. However, this rumor was a hoax. The noble who wrote this entry is anonymous.

There was no other mention of these 'weeping angels' until the early 1950's when an anonymous man went to the police station in New York where he reported that he was being chased by a 'stone angel'. He reported to the police that he had merely gone to his wive's grave to lay down a bouquet of roses like he did so every year, when he noticed a '6-foot angel statue' with its back turned to him. The man was familiar with the cemetery, and had never noticed this statue before. He approached the statue to see if there was any sort of sign stating when it was erected. As he approched the statue, he noticed that its eyes were covered with its hands. He said that he was looking around for any sort of something to explain when this statue was put up, as he said that he was 'spooked out for some reason, and [he] just got a bad vibe from it'. He claimed that he dropped the bouquet from shaking so vigorously, and when he rised from picking up the flowers, the angel's eyes were uncovered, sharp fangs were drawn, and its arms were stretched forward with 'menacing claws tryin' to claw [the man]'. Shocked and utterly afraid, the man began to ran. The man claimed that every time he looked back, the angel was closer and closer. This erupted into a 25-minute long chase through Brooklyn. The man said that he somehow managed to outrun the creature until he was able to hail a cab. Each time he looked out the window to see if the angel was still pursuing him, he saw it with its eyes covered on top of some building. The man claimed that the angel eventually disappeared and he went straight to the police station.

After he told his story to the police, the man was diagnosed with schizophrenia and psychosis. The next day, the man was placed in a mental asylum from which he mysteriously disappeared from soon after.

There have been several other reports of angel statues showing up in odd regions of the world before mysteriously disappearing. However, the most interesting story took place in Manhattan, New York  in 2009.

A homeless man named David Welsh seeked out crypozoologists and told them his terrifying story in 2009. The man lived with 30+ other homeless individuals in an abandoned factory for about 4 years, until many of his friends began reporting strange activity at night. Many of them reported strange sounds or peculiar shadows in the narrow corridors as they slept, but some actually reported seeing 'a man with angel wings' standing in the entrance to the building. They then reported that it abruptly vanished. Welsh was skeptical, though he admitted that he was mildly spooked out. One day, however, Welsh returned to the abandoned building after a long, cold day of collecting money. He was immediately terrified as a dozen angel statues 'with their eyes covered' were lining the pathway into the abandoned building. They were not there a couple of hours beforehand, and he knew that they could not have been built that quickly. Scared and wary, the man slowly walked into the building keeping his eyes on the statues. He soon made it into the factory and was greeted by his friends. He quickly asked about the statues, and his friends claimed that they had no idea what he was talking about. Baffled, he led them toward the entrance to show them the statues, only to find that none of them were there. The man admitted that he was 'paranoid' by this point and had 'an incredibly hard time falling asleep'. The man claimed that he finally did only to be awakened by a loud scuffling. He looked around and saw that all of his friends were still asleep in their sleeping bags. 'I was too scared to move...' Welsh said. He claimed that the scuffling sound persisted for a while before finally ceasing. 'After about an hour, I finally dozed off again,' Welsh continues. 'I woke up again about 10 minutes later, only to find all twelve of those statues standing in a straight line in the center of the room. I basically screamed like there was no tomorrow.' This, of course, roused his friends, but David continued, saying: 'I swear to God, I blinked, and they were all gone.'

'After that restless night, I stayed out for a long time collecting money. Eventually, dusk came and it got far too cold to stay out any longer, so I ruefully went back to the factory.