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This story begins in O.P. Schnabel Park in San Antonio, Texas. My friend Cody and I were walking along the trails late at night when we heard a loud, screeching noise that sounded almost demonic and pig-like. Along with the screeching, we heard the sound of claws hitting metal.
We followed the sound slowly to a huge, fenced-in electricity tower. It was dark and hard to see, but we could make out a large-bodied creature or animal of some sort stuck in the fencing, nearly 50 feet from the ground. As we got closer, the sound of the creature grew louder, and its attempts to free itself from the fence became more frantic. We looked at each other and decided to get out of there, booking it back to the entrance of the park and heading home.
A week later, I was out with two other friends, Ryan and Baylis. We had spent the night at a friend’s house and then at Brigadoon Park on the northwest side of San Antonio. Earlier that day, I had mentioned my encounter with the weird creature to them, but they laughed and made fun of it.
After leaving Brigadoon Park sometime after 3 AM, we decided to head home. Dropping me off was the first stop, then Ryan and Baylis, the driver, would go home. As we turned onto my street, a large bird swooped down from the sky. It was huge, probably 7 feet tall with a large body and a wingspan of at least 12 feet, though it might have been closer to 15 feet.
The bird swooped down right in front of our vehicle, causing us to come to a sudden stop. It hovered about 13 feet in the air, right underneath a streetlight. It had a long, pointed beak and feathers as dark as the night. The inside of its wing feathers looked almost silver, as did other parts of its inner body feathers. For nearly 15 seconds, the bird hovered in mid-air, staring straight down at us. The creepiest part was how slowly its wings moved to stay hovering, almost as if it were flapping in slow motion.
My friends were yelling at me, asking, “What is that, Shawn?” Remembering the story I had told them earlier, I replied, “I told y’all.” Then, as quickly as it had appeared, with a flap or two of its wings, it was gone. We continued down the street, and when we got to my house, I wasn’t about to get out of the vehicle. I asked Ryan if I could sleep at his place, and he agreed.
When we arrived at his house and got out of the vehicle, the entire night had an eerie feeling to it. Dogs were howling and barking throughout the neighborhood. We went inside and walked to the kitchen, where we could see his Dobermans through the sliding glass door. They were huddled together, tails between their legs, looking out into the night sky and back at us with fear in their eyes, while the rest of the neighborhood dogs were barking loudly.
This has always been hard to explain to people since the details of my story are unlike anything I’ve ever heard before, though some parts are similar to other accounts. The street where we saw the bird is called Elderberry St., where my grandma lived. The woods behind her house are about 2 miles from the sighting I had shared with Cody earlier that week. It’s a large, wooded area with many places for wildlife to hide, at least it was back then. I’ve never seen the creature again.” -Shawn
