Welcome to Walking the Shadowlands, the podcast that delves into the realms of the mysterious, unexplained, and supernatural. Before we start out first episode of this new year, 2024. I’d like to welcome all my listeners, my returning listeners and those new to this podcast. Welcome to you all. I hope you all had a safe and happy holiday period, however you chose to celebrate it, or not, as the case may be. It’s lovely to have you with us.

In today’s episode, we have a special guest, a seasoned investigator, prolific and well known author who has devoted his life to exploring the enigmatic and otherworldly. He’s the mind behind the renowned “Phantoms and Monsters” blog, a hub for chilling accounts of UFO sightings, cryptids, and paranormal phenomena.

I had the privilege of sitting down with the man himself—Lon Strickler. With a career spanning decades, Lon has not only written extensively on the subject, with nine books under his belt, but he’s also led a team of investigators on the front lines of the unexplained.

We’ll be diving into Lon’s early experiences, including a haunting encounter at the historic Gettysburg battlefield that set him on a path towards the paranormal. From there, we explore his journey into Fortean research, the inception of his blog, and the multitude of chilling reports that flood his inbox daily.

With that, are you ready to Join us as we peel back the layers of the unknown, and venture into the shadowlands together? Let’s begin

Lon Strickler

Lon Strickler is a Fortean researcher, author, and publisher of the syndicated ‘Phantoms and Monsters’ blog. He began the blog in 2005, which has steadily grown in popularity and is read daily by tens of thousands of paranormal enthusiasts, investigators and those seeking the truth. His research and reports have been featured on hundreds of online media sources. Several of these published reports have been presented on various television segments, including The History Channel’s ‘Ancient Aliens,’ Syfy’s ‘Paranormal Witness’, ‘Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files,’ and Destination America’s ‘Monsters and Mysteries in America.’

He has been interviewed on hundreds of radio & online broadcasts, including multiple guest appearances on ‘Coast to Coast AM.’ He was also featured on Destination America’s ‘Monsters and Mysteries in America’ television show for ‘The Sykesville Monster’ episode. Lon has written 9 books and is currently the host of Phantoms & Monsters Radio on YouTube.

Lon, was born and raised in south central Pennsylvania, near the Gettysburg National Military Park and Battlefield. After living in the Baltimore, MD metro area for 40 years, he eventually moved back to his hometown in 2016.

Fortean Tales & Anomalies with Lon Strickler

Marianne: I’d like to welcome you to Walking the Shadowlands podcast and thank you so much for agreeing to talk with me, particularly at such short notice. That was really awesome of you. You caught my eye for a number of reasons, least of which is the sheer amount of number of books that you’ve put out. You have what, nine books?

Lon: I have written nine books. I have four of them in circulation right now.

Wow! That’s a fair amount of books to have written on a subject that absolutely fascinates me. Can you share a bit about your background and what led you to become interested in investigating unexplained and mysterious phenomena?

This all started when I was young. I’d been involved with the paranormal ever since I was very young. I knew something was going on with me. I’m an intuitive. Right. And I use it in my work. And I have for many years. But the first time I had an experience that I could remember was when I was nine years old. Because I live very close to the Gettysburg battlefield, and I moved back here several years ago. And I’m still very close to Gettysburg. Anyway, it was one summer day I rode my bike to the battlefield. Which I did a lot. I was kind of a history nerd as a kid. But I was really interested in what was going on there and the story. And, I read all about it and such. Anyway, I was in an area called, the Valley of Death, which is between Little Round Top, the Devil’s Den and the Wheatfield. I was on the road there, and I, for whatever reason, it was just almost like a, television screen opened up in front of me.

 I was in the battle. I mean, I literally was seeing soldiers, hearing gunfire, smelling gunpowder. The whole 9 yards. And that lasted for about 30 seconds. And just all of a sudden vanished. So, at that point. Being a nine years old, it’s still a little hard to understand. Though, I did have an inkling that something’s going on with me.

Yeah. So from that point on, I was very aware of what I was doing and gaining more insight, as to what I could do. And what I could sense and such. And, as years gone by, as I got through high school and started doing investigation. Now, this first encounter I had was in 1967 or 68. And then going into high school in the early seventies and I started doing investigations, locally in southern Pennsylvania. When I graduated, I moved down to Baltimore. Around Baltimore down south into Maryland. And I lived down there for about 40 years. Raised the family and at that time I was doing cases. And got involved with doing the blog and that’s where we’re at. And it just lead off from there.

With your experience when you were this young boy… do you feel that was a time slip type of episode?

It could have been either a time slip. Or some type of portal. Or interdimensional portal. Or gateway opening up. I really don’t know what it was? I mean, if it had happened, if I was older, I probably could have got a better sense of what it was. But, it just came on so suddenly. And really, it was just like, I was there. I mean, being fascinated by what was going on. And the shock and then the horror of what I was seeing, it was all hitting me at one time. And before I knew it, it was over with.

Wow, that would have actually been pretty scary for a young kid, for anybody to see. Especially for a young kid. And the trauma of that, I guess, must have stayed with you for quite some time?

Yeah, I thought about it. I mean, it’s, it’s still fresh in my mind after all these years. It’s probably one of the most profound things that happened to me in my childhood, but yeah, I remembered.

So that led you into the path that you’re actually on today. What is a Fortean? Fortean, is that how you pronounce it? Research.

Fortean refers to Charles Ford. Charles Ford was back in the late 19th century, early 20th century. He actually was from Albany, New York. He wrote several books about the unknown, the unexplained. So, many societies or groups will use that term fortean, because it kind of covers everything. I like to call it an eclectic look at the paranormal and supernatural, because it encompasses a lot of different aspects of it.

Oh, that’s a good way of looking at it. You started your blog which you called, now let me think, Phantoms and Monsters?

Yeah. Yeah, I started the blog in 2005. Right. I had been writing. And really writing wasn’t something I really did at all. I was invited to write some of my experiences on another website. And the person who ran the website, just told me, say, you ought to start a blog. Or write your own, for your investigations, write your own stories. So I just said, okay, well, I’ll go ahead and start the blog and then that’s what I’ll do. And as I started doing that and people started reading it and started sending me cases as well as their own experiences. Then it started growing from there.

And so now you get a lot of people sending you information.

yeah, I get, a multitude of sighting reports every day. And I’m grateful for that. And the fact that people do trust me and my team to go and do investigations. I have a pretty large team. About 20 individuals throughout North America. And we tried to get boots on the ground on cases, if we can. We’re pretty successful. If one of my people cannot do the case themselves, I will usually be able to find someone to do it for us. But when people do ask for help, we’re pretty accommodating. And of course, as far as haunting cases and, other spirit cases, I am a remote viewer and I do a lot of remote cases. And I have for years. And that’s been pretty successful. I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished with that over the years.

For my listeners who may not know what remote viewing is, could you explain that a little bit, please?

Well, remote viewing is, it’s really not a psychic endeavour, though it does become one eventually, especially with me. But basically, what you’re doing is you’re taking information you try to and especially if you’re working a case. Say, you got a haunting and you’re trying to figure out what it is. I usually like to work with either a monitor or another individual who will feed me the questions and then we will write, both of us, down our answers.

It goes by several phases. We use scientific remote viewing or comprehensive remote viewing, either one. But as we get more information and we start picking up on things – and look, anybody can do this. I don’t think you have to even be psychic to do it. I think anybody can learn to do it, though. I just don’t have the patience to teach people how to do it myself. But I was fortunate to have been trained by someone who was a remote viewer and was employed with MI6 and when they retired, they trained me. So, it became very helpful in my work. I’ve used it for hauntings and other cases that you’re remotely, as well as cases I’m doing in person. Especially cryptid cases,

That’s an area that fascinates me, is cryptid cases. But actually, you focus on all sorts of anomalies, not only cryptids. And some of your listeners and your viewers send in some really interesting stories. I read one just the other day about this woman who sent this information to you about seeing a face change in the car. Could you share that experience with my listeners?

 It was a husband and wife were in a car in LA. And she was driving, her husband was in the passenger seat. He was watching out the window and when it came to a red light he was looking at the gentleman that was driving. And the guy’s face morphed. Or changed. Or shapeshifted somehow. And it almost looked alien in appearance. She did send me an image that she said, that he said, was was what it looked like to him. And that we do get a lot of cases like that. We do get a lot of encounters of people that see things like that, that they just can’t explain. Humanoid cases or possible extraterrestrial cases. Well, that’s just 1 of many very similar type encounters that we do receive.

When I read that it immediately brought to mind that one that was doing the rounds about the woman who got off the plane because the person next to her wasn’t who he appeared to be.

Yeah, that, that’s something that happened about a couple months ago, I guess.

Was it that long ago?

And the video’s been out, made the rounds around the internet. But yeah, she was quite upset about it. And apparently somebody else on the plane acknowledged that this person that she was talking about, had shifted or changed in some way. So, but she felt this being was a reptilian. Or some other type of being. And yeah, it caused quite a stir. A lot of people on the plane actually reported it.

Yeah, very interesting. And do you find that her’s I don’t feel is an isolated incident? I actually tend to feel like this is happening more and more recently in the past few years. Have you noticed that, Lon?

I don’t know if it’s happening more. I think people are less reluctant to come forward and talk about it.

Yeah! That’s it!

When I first started doing this. And I’m talking about way back 40 years ago. It was very hard to get people to talk. And many times, I just had to drop cases where they just would not give me any information. It has gotten easier over the years, especially with the internet. And then of course, with paranormal television, people feel less reluctant and, more at ease. And it also has to do with the way you talk with people as well. If you give them an impression that you’re interested in their story. And you listen to them and don’t interrupt them. Listen to what they’ve got to say. Then maybe interject after they’re done talking. Seems to calm them down a lot. And I feel that type of approach to any type of encounter or sighting, with the witness itself, works much better.

Oh, yeah, absolutely. Could you perhaps highlight some of the most intriguing or baffling cases that you’ve come across, in your extensive years of doing this?

Wow, it’s been a lot. I’ve had encounters myself, but this case that we’ve been working on now since 2011, the Chicago Winged Humanoids or Chicago Mothman Phenomena has really dominated a lot of what we’ve been, investigating over the years. There’s a lot of other things that have been going on here in Pennsylvania.

We’ve been looking into cryptic canine cases. Upright canine, people called dog man. There seem to be different types. But that phenomena has reared its ugly head in the past decade, more so than before. Though it’s something that has happened for a long time. Right. But that’s something I’ve been interested in for a long time.

As far as hauntings and such go, I have worked on cases all over the country. And even in Europe remotely. And each one’s got its , own little aspect to it, that will usually surprise you. But some of the hauntings I’ve been involved with have been pretty intense. Many times, it’s not something where I go into and work for a weekend and get it done.

There have been cases. I’ve worked on for years. There’s 1 case out in Iowa in Sioux City that I’ve been involved with that had to do with a pretty malevolent being. That was causing issues with a family. And particularly one of the residents. It was something that the family had been dealing with at different locations they had lived at. And, it’s followed them around. And, that’s something that we just resolved about a year and a half ago. But that case itself lasted about 11 years.

That’s a long time, A long time for people to be dealing with that.

Yeah, it’s not like it is on TV. People just don’t seem to understand that. I mean, it takes time to work these cases out.

Have you ever had cases that you’ve come across where you’ve perhaps doubted the authenticity of what’s being told to you? But later found out that it was true?

Yeah, you almost got to have a sceptic view of most things that come to you. you know, that that’s one aspect of our investigation or my investigation that I use. I let the witness actually tell me what has been going on with them. What they’ve been experiencing and such and as it goes on, I listened to it, but sometimes some people will try to embellish on it. And I can usually pick up on that. That’s a red flag. Many times. Now it doesn’t happen a lot, but it does happen. But normally I’ve been lucky enough to have cases for the most part where people have been very honest with me. Very forthcoming. Particularly with what’s been going on in Chicago. I can probably count on both hands how many people that have tried to pull the wool over our eyes. We’ve had hundreds of reports. And at this time, we’re like at 163 sightings and encounters that we believe are viable. Encounters. Well, we’ve had a few.

You’re talking about the mothman figure, the humanoid figure? Can you perhaps tell us a bit more about that? For my listeners who may not know what you’re referring to…

Starting in 2011, there were three sightings of a winged being in South Chicago that got reported to MUFON. And when MUFON posted it on their case management system. Me and another gentleman saw a guy I was working with, Manuel. And it raised a stir within the paranormal community for a while.

But then the signings faded away until 2017. Then they came back with a flurry. And we were getting two to three settings a week. Within the Chicago, Chicagoland area. Which was in Chicago and around Chicago. It was actually going into other states nearby as well. And since that time starting in around late 2019, most of the sightings have been concentrated around O’Hare International.

Now, there have been some variations of the sightings of these beings. But for the most part these winged humanoids, that we call them. The description has been maybe 5 and a half to 7 foot in height, very dark in color, emaciated looking. Sometimes very shiny, sometimes looking wet. The wing structure was that like a gargoyle or a bat. Anywhere from 10 to 15 foot wingspan, with a very small head.

And in most cases, they had red eyes. That aspect of it was very similar to the mothman of Point Pleasant sightings, but it was different. Those were an insectoid type being. And the head and eyes were kind of set into the upper body. This had a distinct head, in Chicago. And yeah, it has continued. And it’s been very consistent.

And many times we do still get reports from people who have had no idea ,that this phenomena has been going on, in and around Chicago. Until they start going on the internet and see it. Then they contact us. But yeah, it’s been something that we’ve been very active with. I’ve written 2 books about it so far.

I probably will try to do a third, as it starts waning, at some point, I suppose. Right. I don’t know if that’s going to happen or not. But there’s been a lot of other activity involved with it as well. There have been other humanoid sightings. There are certain areas around the airport and in the airport and also neighbourhoods in the city were they’ve been concentrated.

But, all in all, we’ve had sightings within 200, 250 miles of the city itself. So, it’s a wide area. Now I was just out there about a month and a half ago. And it was interesting. I mean, we didn’t have reports while… we were actually working on a film. But it’s Yeah, it’s something that we’ve been very involved with. And I’d have to say at this point now, through all the years I’ve been investigating, this is probably the most unique investigation I’ve been involved with.

Right, wasn’t there a UFO photographed over O’Hare Airport at one stage?

Back in 2000, in 2006 or 2000? I don’t know exactly the date. But there was a UFO seen at O’Hare. A lot of people saw it. It was a saucer type craft that people saw ascending to the clouds. And kind of punch a hole through the clouds. We’ve had at least 2 other sightings of UFOs during this investigation that were, I wouldn’t say they were actually associated with the winged humanoids, but I think there was a reason behind them being there at the time. Okay, but witnesses did record UFO activity associated with it. Now, Chicago itself it’s been very well known for UFO activity, as well as other paranormal activity. It’s a very active city. The region itself is very active with a lot of different things. So, the fact that all this happened around that area, didn’t really surprise me. But to have a cryptid type phenomena, happening in a city or an urban area like Chicago ,is very unusual.

Very unusual. And where there’s one, there must be others . One would assume that there’s more than one of these beings.

Oh, yeah. Oh, I think there’s many of them. Yeah. I mean, this winged humanoid phenomenon is not just concentrated in one area. We got a lot of sightings worldwide, but I think most of the sightings have been reported in North America.

Yeah, I’ve not heard of one here in New Zealand. It’s not to say there hasn’t been one.

I just don’t know of one in New Zealand or Australia at all.

No. No, it’s really interesting. I know we, here in New Zealand, have our version of the Bigfoot. We call him the Moehau Man. Amongst other names. That’s what the local Māori call him. And I know Australia has the Yowie. They’re all over the world. So, There’s no reason why that cryptid could not be worldwide as well, although we haven’t seen it here. But it doesn’t mean it isn’t here. Well,

I think the hairy hominid phenomena is a worldwide phenomena.

Yes, yes, it absolutely is.

Personally, I don’t think for the most part that they are an indigenous species. I think them like a lot of other cryptids are interdimensional beings. Now, look, I also believe that there may be individual areas where there are indigenous beings like the Pacific Northwest, Florida, other parts. Where there’s a lot of wilderness and a lot of food source, and such. But there are a lot of individual sightings of these beings that just don’t seem to be Indicative of being an indigenous species. They just seem to pop up and then go away. And many times we just don’t find any type of evidence, any physical evidence of them even being there. Let alone a body.

Yeah, absolutely. that’s what I’ve heard as well. And also I have heard that there’s very often UFO activity around where Bigfoot’s been sighted.

Yeah there have been some UFO sightings connected with Bigfoot, especially here in Pennsylvania. We’ve got two well known cases of that happening. As far as other places, yeah, there’s some cursory evidence that there may have been some UFO activity associated with Bigfoot. But it’s not a regular thing.

I mean, it does happen. But Bigfoot sightings are associated with other phenomena. Like orbs and other paranormal phenomena happening around the same area. Possibly associated with the sighting itself. There are some times when we do get a sighting report. And we’ll go to the location day or two later ,and see a lot of orbs. And a lot of other strange things going on that may be associated with the Bigfoot phenomenon.

It’s really interesting, isn’t it?

I find, it quite interesting and some very credible witnesses as well, that have seen these.

How do you navigate the fine line between being open minded, and maintaining a healthy scepticism when it comes to evaluating reports of paranormal law or unexplained events?

It’s difficult sometimes. I don’t like to let on to witnesses that I don’t believe them, when I’m talking to them. I Will, like I said before, I will take the report and I will do some research. See what else had happened in the area. But something very similar to what they have seen. Or if the phenomenon itself is somewhat known, I’m not above talking to my colleagues about certain cases. Because frankly, we’re in this together. We’re trying to figure out what’s going on. You do have to be a sceptic, to some degree. But you just can’t believe everything you hear because … look, I mean, a lot of people say a lot of different things. But if I do get a case and I do find out that there’s some problems with it, I’m not afraid to tell the witness that I just don’t believe him. It doesn’t happen a lot. But it does happen.

Right and that’s good that you’re straight up with them because you gotta be straight up.

Yeah, you can’t let him hang on.

Yeah, that’s the best way to be. How do you. handle cases that seem to be… seem to challenge the boundaries of our current understanding of what reality is?

I think the paranormal itself is beyond reality. Yeah. I don’t think there’s too much involved with the paranormal. Or the unexplained. Or the supernatural, that doesn’t go beyond the boundaries of human thought. You almost had to be open minded with everything. Invariably any case or any type of phenomena that we’re investigating usually,. Is associated with other phenomena as well. Very rarely we’ll get one phenomena. Like say we’ll get a cryptid sighting and something else doesn’t eventually pop up in there.

Many times if I got a report of a Bigfoot and I’m looking into it, I’m sending somebody out to look at it. And they start talking with the witness. Usually, if you get their confidence, they will usually say, there’s something else that happened. Maybe it doesn’t have anything to do with this? But? You say, well, tell me, it may be associated? I mean, who knows? Yeah. And a lot of times it does work itself into the case. Because it is an important aspect of the case. So, yeah, we get that a lot.

Yeah, I can imagine you would. In your experience, what are the commonalities amongst these mysterious incidents that set them apart from conventional explanations?

Hmm, that’s kind of tough. I can see there are a lot of commonalities .But really there isn’t. Right. I think you must have to take each case on an individual basis. Right. Because if you don’t, you’re going to miss out on some things. Right. That’s one thing I tell the folks on the team. And I pretty well let them go their own way. I’ll refer a case to them. That’s in an area where they live at. And they’ll ask, but what do you want me to do? Investigate it, the way you would any other case. But if you do find some things that are unusual, and if you want to talk about it, or that’s what we’re here for. Let’s go ahead and put our heads together and see what else that may come up with this. And, it does make for some interesting conversation. This, whole phenomena that’s been going on Chicago. My first task force that we put together, with this. And was like, 8 of us working on it at the time. I think each one of us had our own explanation as to what was really going on.

It is not like we all thought the same thing. I think most of us at this point now, after all these years, believe that there’s some interdimensional aspects to it. Just because the sightings are fleeting, they happen and then they disappear somehow.  We have had people actually see these things vanish into thin air. We’ve had people see them disappear out of thin air. Yeah, I think the totality of all the evidence that, and even though most of it, if not all of it, is anecdotal. I think most people That are working on this at this point, believe that there is some type of interdimensional reasons behind this. And because we just don’t believe they’re very indigenous. First of all, if there were, there’d be pictures and photographs. And other evidence associated with this, and we’re just not getting that.

So, I think at this point now, it’s pretty safe to say that this is, these are supernatural beings. And we’re going to use that, when we do our investigations. That’s always in the back of our mind.

Right, of course. Let’s talk then, a little bit about different areas of what you’ve researched. Let’s start with the Black-Eyed-Kids. What can you tell us about the Black-Eyed-Kids?

Well, you know, I wrote a book about alien disclosure. And, other things associated with abduction and encounters with aliens. And a lot of people, want to associate the Black-Eyed-Kid phenomena with alien beings. I don’t know if that’s really true or not. And I didn’t mention anything in the book about those. Because I’m just not sure what they are? I think they are possessed. I think there is a possession of some type. But I just don’t know to the degree, of what it really is. Is it some type of spiritual manifestation? Or is it some type of otherworldly involvement there? We just don’t know.

There’s evidence or anecdotal evidence that it very well may be something extraterrestrial or otherworldly. At this point, we just don’t really know what it is! It’s just an enigma like a lot of other phenomena. It’s just an enigma. And until we get any concrete evidence. Or maybe sit down one day and talk to one who can get a straight answer. We just don’t really know what they are.

Right. For listeners who aren’t aware, black-eyed-kids is a phenomena, that’s not new. I did a episode on this. And I think it was in my first season of our podcast. And this, our conversations for the 12th season. So it was a while ago. In the research, I came across some native American legends of a particular tribe, who talk about the black-eyed-children. And they say that when the black-eyed-children… the children were normal initially. And then something happened. And they got taken away, or they disappeared for a couple of hours. Or something.

When they came back, their eyes were always black. And and they were always malevolent. Yeah. With malevolent intent. Was back in, pre- colonization times. So it’s not a new phenomena ,by any means. And really it sort of came to the fore in the seventies, I guess? Didn’t it? When people started talking about them more. And what happens is these children, they’re usually children. And there’s usually at least two of them… will approach a person sitting in a car, or they’ll knock on a door and ask to be let in.

And the person, while the person may feel extreme fear. And not understand why they feel this feeling. They don’t usually see the children’s eyes. The children are generally looking down when they’re speaking. And then they look up, and the person notices their eyes are black! Yeah. Some people have found that their eyes are almost hypnotic. And they find themselves reaching to open the door without realizing that they’re doing it.

Yeah, that’s common in many of these encounters. Many times they will get aggressive especially in speech. They do insist on coming into a home many times. Or come up to a driver that’s in a parking lot. All of a sudden this thing shows up, this being shows up. And asks for a drive, asks for a ride ,or something .Or help or something.

Why they do that? There’s just no real explanation as to why. Because normally when they are rejected they just take off somewhere. They just fade away. So, yeah, I mean, it’s kind of a disturbing aspect of the phenomenon. But when you talked about the indigenous talking about this? Yeah, a lot of the phenomena that cryptid phenomena in particular. But, other otherworldly phenomena, can be traced back to the indigenous tribes. The indigenous people. Especially here in North America. It’s kind of part of their religion. Now, when they do hear about it. When you talk to them about it.

Sometimes you’re lucky enough to talk to an elder. Or someone, who’s well-known in the tribe. Which I had been lucky enough to be able to do. They usually have an explanation as to what’s going on. But as far as the black-eyed-kids, I only know of one instance… where it may have been involved with something to do with a tribe. Because it did happen on a reservation,. Navajo reservation. But they really don’t have an explanation for it. I mean, they just think it’s another worldly being. It’s just part of what they experienced. Because they experienced all kinds of different things.

Yeah, absolutely. I personally tend to feel that the interdimensional beings like the fae, or fairy folk. Or in New Zealand, we call them the Patupaiarehe. A friend of mine’s son had an experience with black-eyed-children, at the base of a mountain in New Zealand. In the center of the North Island ,called Mount Pirongia. It’s a known place where the Patupaiarehe exist. So I tend to feel there might be some sort of connection between the two. A dimensional, portal, where they live at. But anyway Regardless, I tend to feel that they’re interdimensional. They’re really interesting and they always inspire fear. A primal fear, in the people that they approach. I’ve never heard of one that does not… even grown, solid, military men who aren’t scared of much, have expressed fear, when being approached by these children.

Yeah, that’s very common. Most of the reports I get from people who had any of these encounters, have experienced. There’s a lot of questions. But they almost always have some type of fear associated with it. Yeah.

And it’s like a predatory. A lot of them have said that the black-eyed-child felt like it was predatory. I did hear of a case where a couple let a black eyed child into their home. Some years ago. Decades probably. And both the husband and the wife suffered extreme ill-health after the child had been in their home.

Yeah, I have heard something similar to that as well. Most of the times that somebody does leave them in they will come in, and for some reason, just disappear somehow. Either they’ve either disappeared out the door. Or some people say they vanish. Some people say they go to another part of the house and vanish. There’s no real resolution that’s just one main aspect of the whole phenomena. It’s like, there’s just no real rhyme or reason as to what they, why they were there and. what their real purpose was? So, yeah, that’s, that’s the enigma about this, about the black-eyed-kids.

And the other thing with them is they always have to ask permission to come in.

Yeah. Like a vampire or…

Like a vampire. Yeah. Another being, yeah. So I kind of tend to feel maybe the energetic, vampiric type beings. Because they do create this fear. And there are a lot of beings out there who live off fear energy.

Well, yeah. And they may be psychic. Psychic vampires are able to pull energy from people. You hear a lot about that. I mean, I have known people who actually do that. But, maybe that’s something to do with the fear. Maybe it’s the witnesses. Or the victim, you want to call it. Feels like they’re losing themselves. As a result of this being they encountered. So, there may be something to that.

Yeah, it was really interesting, regardless. And it’s something that obviously we’re not going to have any resolution of, in the near future. Who knows? But it’s very interesting. So listeners, if you ever come across one of these black-eyed-kids, don’t let them in your home. Just don’t. It’s not worth it.

I wouldn’t let them in. No,

Me neither. So we’ve got the black-eye-kids. We talked about some cryptids. UFOs, do you have a lot to do with UFOs and sightings?

I had never seen a UFO or what I would call an actual craft. I’ve seen a lot of orbs. I’ve seen a lot of lights in the sky. I just don’t know what they are.

Right.

The whole, UFO phenomenon, even though I do write about it. I do investigate some aspects of it. Especially, where there’s possible alien life associated with it. Or some other type of life, or beings associated with it. I am really not convinced as to what they really are as of yet. Do I believe that they’re interstellar travelers? That find their way to our planet and such? I don’t know if I really believe that. I think they may be portal travelers. I think they may use wormholes or some type of other advanced travel. That they can time travel.

I believe that’s very possible. I Do think alien beings for the most part, are what people see and describe as alien beings may actually be evolved humans? I think humans are a universal species. And I think they come in various forms. Evolved forms. I think many times what people see, may actually be evolved humans that come back? And maybe trying to change things that they possibly had screwed up at some point in the distant past?

But we have really no way of proving that. Right. I think if they are among us. That they may have pulled us out of the fire. And saved us from ourselves, to some degree, at some point. Is that why they are here? Who knows? But I like to believe that they are kind of like looking over and watching things. To make sure we don’t all kill ourselves off. But who knows? Who knows what they are?

I’ve had experiences that I just really can’t explain. Um. The year my wife was sick and before she passed away, I had several encounters. And when she did pass, I do believe I was abducted. And taken aboard a craft. Or just someplace else. And was shown a lot of different things. I don’t think they were malevolent. I don’t. In fact, I know they weren’t. It just seems that they wanted to interject information that they felt was necessary for me to know. Right? I have known a lot of experiencers in the past. I have written about a lot of experiencers and I, I think for the most part, they may have an agenda or they seeking to interject. Or some type of singularity with us that may be possible?

But I, over the years, after I’ve looked into the phenomena itself, I believe that these beings may, like I said before. May possibly have been some type of evolved human. And they lost what they may have had at one point. Like what we have ,is that we believe there’s an afterlife. That we believe there’s something beyond our physical being. And I don’t think they have that. And I think that’s what they’re searching for. I think that’s why people experience abductions. Some type of experimentations. Sometimes good, sometimes bad. But I think they’re searching for answers.

That’s an interesting perspective for sure. Well, certainly there are some that are. It’s been my experience that –  I’ve never been abducted. I was always a willing experiencer.  And they never ever.. I remember being in classroom situations. Like classroom, where they were teaching me things that I needed to know. And doubtless you experienced that as well. And yeah, it’s very interesting. Very interesting times we live in, Lon, I reckon.

Oh, absolutely. I, I think people are more open minded and more willing to, to maybe accept or even think about. A lot of this to do with either UFOs or aliens. Or other otherworldly beings I’m not pessimistic about it like a lot of people are. I think we will eventually get answers. But I don’t think we’re going to get the answers unless they allow us to know those. The answers to our questions.

Right. And again, that depends on the species you’re dealing with as well.

 Of course. There are a lot of people who describe a lot of different things out there. Right. And I, I know the beings that I was, that I had an encounter with were all greys. I mean, they were literally like eight to nine foot in height. And it was always three of them.

Always three.

Always three. I don’t know why that is? But there’s always three. And I had two encounters at home. And I did have the one encounter in another location. Which I still haven’t figured out where it was. Though I know I was taken. Because when I was brought back, there was a lot of time missing. Things just weren’t exactly the way they should have been when I got there. Right. And they did impart some information to me that I have written about. But, most of it was historical. I think they want us to know that they’ve been around us for a long, long time. And they have been involved with our history. To a pretty substantial degree.

They created us. Have you had any experiences in the past couple of years? In the past decade? Or has it quietened down a little bit for you now? As far as interaction with star people goes.

Well that encounter I had was in 2015. Right. I may have had another one? Though I had very little recollection of it. And can’t really say that there was something that happened. That was Around 2000 and 20. But I really don’t know what it was? I didn’t see any beings. I just don’t know what happened?

But you just have this feeling that something happened?

I just know something did happen. But I just can’t describe it. And that’s a major part of so called abductions, and encounters that people experience. And, they’ll go on and live their life for 20, 30 years or more. And, at some point, they just, it just comes back to them. And that’s when they become curious as to what really happened.  I have seen several regressive hypnotic sessions. I have referred people to several. It’s not something I normally do. Because, I think in some aspects it can be more hurt than help, to some people. But if people are insistent on having it done. If they bug me enough, I will probably try to hook them up with somebody. But it’s not something I normally recommend.

I’m kind of , of the attitude, Lon. That if I’m meant to remember something, I will remember it. If it’s important knowledge for me to have, it’ll be there when I need it. I had an experience when I was a youngster. Five, or something like that? When they took me up on a ship. Physically took me up. And told me I would forget that experience, until I needed to have the memory back of it again, for my work. And that’s exactly what happened. I didn’t remember till I was in my thirties.

Oh, that happens to a lot of people.

Absolutely.

Most regression hypnosis sessions that I have been involved with. Or that I’ve witnessed, many times it gets into past lives. Oh, interesting. Yeah. I’d say most of the time there’s a past life realization in the session. Which I find fascinating. Now, I’ve never been regressed. Yeah. I don’t know if I ever would or ever want to. I do have recollections of a past life. And of course, everybody has a deja vu moment. Where they think they’ve been there before at some point. But I do believe that many instances in my life may be connected with a past life.

To the point where I just really feel so strong about it. And then as time goes on, I’ll start picking up bits and pieces about it. That’s why I’m so attracted to Gettysburg, I think. Because I think I did fight there. Or was involved with that battle at some point. I don’t know if I died there or what? But I, do have a very strong feeling. A certain area on that battlefield, when I’m there.

Very strong pull like that is always an indication. You investigate a lot of hauntings and stuff like that as well.

Maybe not as much as I used to. But yeah, if there’s a situation. Especially if they’re kids involved. Because, I have worked with a lot of kids. Many times when I have gotten involved with a so called haunting. Or an oppression. Or some type of attachment case. Usually, and it seems to work out like this many times. Members of the family have psychic inclinations to them. And a lot of times that involves the kids. And many times the parents will come to me and say, our child has mentioned this, this and this. Is seeing this. Experiencing that. And what do you think it is? And if I do get their permission to work with the kid, I will do that. And I have done that on several occasions. A few of the kids I have worked with in the past over all these years, have literally become psychics.  A few well known actually. So, yeah and I’m kind of proud of that because I was able to answer their questions and help them get through that.

That’s awesome.

To where they wouldn’t fear it and they developed their abilities as time has gone on because of that. And yeah, I mean, that’s just one, that’s a very gratifying part of what I’ve done in the past.

Oh, yes. I can see how that would be very satisfying. To know that you’re making a positive difference, in their lives. And helping them come to terms with their abilities. Yeah, I totally get that. That’s what I do, a little bit, with my. Facebook group. I answer spiritual questions and I help people find their path a little bit. It’s very satisfying knowing that you’re making a difference. Even if it’s just planting the seed. At least it has a chance that it’ll sprout later and they’ll run with it. Do you find, apart from your Chicago area, that there are certain geographical areas that have a higher frequency of unexplained incidents?

Oh, I think there are a lot of places like that. I know here where I live at, in Pennsylvania, there are four or five areas that are well known for activity. Gettysburg being one of them. I think the energy is somehow transferred to the location and causes it to become very active. Then, of course, there are other areas where I think historically. And for whatever reason, there, there does seem to be a lot of activity there. But I think worldwide, there are certain hotspots. I call them hotspots. For paranormal activity is indicative, or inducive to the location. And the fact that I live in the United States and I, I’m able to either go there or talk to people that do have these experiences. And then, of course, I do have an archive. And, I can kind of go back and reference a lot of that. There are places that seem to have a high concentration of activity.

Right. And do you think it’s potentially because some of these places are on ley lines? Or energy grids that run through the earth?

Well, I think. Ley lines do pay some, reason as to why things do happen there. I know in Chicago, in particular, there is a very strong presence of ley lines from the lake, westward. And in fact, we do believe there’s at least two ley lines that run right through O’Hare. But there are others within the city itself. That’s that place has just got a lot of lay line activity, for whatever reason. Now, why that is, we just can’t really explain that. A lot of times when you do get a location where there is a haunting, just even in a house, or a property. It does seem that there is lay line activity that’s somewhat sensed. Or I can pick up on it. Right. I think lay lines do play a role in paranormal activity. I don’t say, that’s the panacea as to why things happen. But I think it does offer beings to it .

That’s pretty interesting. Because, ley lines, for listeners who aren’t aware. Are sort of like – think of them like electric power lines. Where energy runs along them. And there is a thought that spirit can tap into that energy. And interdimensional beings can tap into that energy, to come into this reality. And there’s been a lot of study done on lay lines. One person that immediately comes to my mind is Bruce Cathie. Who was a New Zealand pilot.

He did a massive study on lay lines and grids around the world. Unfortunately, he’s dead now. Otherwise, I’d love to talk to him about his work. And he was probably the first one that I heard of who put that out into book form some years ago. Do you think the rise of digital media and the internet… do you think because of that, there’s been an increase in the number of reported unexplained phenomena? Or has it just made the sharing of these stories more accessible for people?

I think both. I think people are able to see more. I’m not saying that paranormal TV or paranormal digital is, Is really helpful, but I think it brings more… It brings it out in the open for people, to either see it, then think about it. And then become less hesitant to come forward. If something does happen or something happened in the past. Right. It makes it more accessible to everybody. I think the Internet has a lot to do with why we’re so involved with the paranormal now. It’s so much easier to contact people now, if someone does have an issue. That they can just go online. Google something. And usually find several people that may be able to help them. You kind of got to separate the wheat and chaff. You got to pick the person who you do trust. And there’s a lot of people out there that they’re just charlatans. They just don’t really know anything. But, I think people are smart enough and wise enough to be able to figure out what. Or who can help them. So in that respect, I think the internet has been very helpful and I think digital as well. And of course, it’s very easy for spirits to manipulate digital information. Because it  can be manipulated.

Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. At our basics, we’re all just energy. So, it’s not hard for them. I’ve heard of cases. There was one case in particular where there was a train crash in the States, you’ve probably heard of this. And I can’t remember the name of the chap. His family kept getting phone calls from him and he actually died In the crash. But, his family kept getting phone calls from him for days, I think, after the crash.

I have had several instances where people have reported that to me. Now, I haven’t personally experienced that. You know, wired communication. Or wireless communication seems to be the playground of parallel activity. It started back as far as even the Mothman phenomena at Point Pleasant, where Kiel and others were getting phone calls and getting…

That’s right!

Some type of wireless or wired communication with dead people. And ever since the telephone was invented, you’ve heard stories of people talking to the dead somehow. Or somehow the energy or the life force was somehow able to communicate with the living. We hear a lot of that.

That’s right. I’ve forgotten about that with the mothman case that they did get these phone calls. That’s really interesting. Yes. And it’s not actually uncommon at all. One area we haven’t really talked about is Time slips although we briefly touched on it with your experience, have you had many experiences reported to you of time slips or timeline shifts and stuff like that?

Yeah, you hear a lot of it. People are very confused by it. They don’t even realize that some times that it’s even happened to them until they realize that they’ve lost time .Or that things just don’t seem to be right. Possibly they went into another reality and things are a little bit different, but it’s just not the same.

You know, matrix glitches. Or I hear a lot of different phenomena like that. Even associated with cryptids. I mean, people have even mentioned that they’ve seen. Cryptids going through portals and just disappear or. Yeah, I mean, it does happen. People talk about well, of course, then the 411 phenomena, people going missing and such.

I think a lot of that has to do with either time slip or portal travel. Either by accident. Or something where a person would accidentally go through and show up in another reality. And then show up miles away when they come out of it. I think the time slip phenomena, the matrix phenomena is real. But it’s just something we really haven’t comprehended, at this point. I think as we go further and further into, some other types of computing. If we go into, as it evolves that we may be able to get some type of answers to that. I’m hopeful of that. But I think the future does, give us some type of hope that we will be able to get some answers.

Yes, there’s some interesting things with quantum computing.

Quantum computing is something that’s going to become mainstream eventually as it becomes more affordable. Yeah. And I think when it becomes a consumer product, at some point, we may very well start getting more answers that we just don’t have at this point.

Very interesting. What advice would you give to someone who’s interested in exploring the world of unexplained phenomena, and wants to get involved in investigations?

Well, the first advice I can give anybody that’s wants to do investigations of the unexplained is to listen first of all. Just don’t go into a situation, start asking questions. Listen to what they’ve got to tell you first of all. Then when they’ve told you what they want to tell you. Then start asking a few questions. Make them gain confidence in you. Because if they do start to gain confidence in you, they’ll start coming out with more and more that they just don’t know. May possibly be part of what they’re experiencing. I think Listening and gaining confidence. Which is the best advice I can give anybody gets involved with the paranormal.

Are there any upcoming projects or cases that you’re particularly excited about? Apart from your man in Chicago?

You know, I really don’t know because something could fall on my lap at any time. I always hear something unusual. it Just depends how far it goes. And to what degree it gets to you just never know. I mean, I’m quite sure something’s going to happen at some point, where it’s going to grab our interest. And then we’re going to look into it much, much further. At this point right now, I’m looking at certain things. And just like the Chicago thing, the cryptid canines. And other things that people talk about. But. That’s the whole, that’s the great thing about the paranormal and the supernatural. You just never know what’s going to raise its ugly head and show you. And then you get interested and then get involved with it. There’s always something out there.

Always something. What lessons have you learned in your years of investigating the unknown that you think could benefit both researchers. And the general public?

Never discount anything. Never discount it. Keep an open mind. Many times something that just doesn’t seem like it could possibly happen, or be real. Will eventually turn into something much bigger. Something happens to where it becomes… it blows up into something major.

Could you share one of those cases?

Well, there have been several hauntings I’ve been involved with. Where I thought they were just… actually we’d be going in there and looking into something very minor. But as time has gone on, we have found more and more. Or different levels start getting involved. In other words, in fact, there was a case that we did in Wales. In Neath ,Wales.

It was a haunting at a restaurant. And it seemed very benign originally. But then, it started getting to the point where the owner would come into the restaurant in the morning. And would see candles lit and salt shakers strewn all about and things like that. And then it got to the point where customers were actually seeing apparitions walking through the restaurant.

Well, we knew at that point, something was definitely going on. And we, even though I was in the United States and doing the investigation online. And watching through the computer. And through cameras and such. We did have people on site and it turned out that the history behind that, that location delved as far back as the Norman age.

I mean, it was like 1000 years of history involved with that, that 1 building. And it just got into different levels, especially in the basement. We were just getting. We were just getting all types of different apparitions showing up, and it seemed like the more we worked on it, the more that showed up. It was almost like it was they were nudging themselves for us to see. What happened eventually, was that we found out through remote viewing, that there were there were 2 graves. Unmarked grays behind the restaurant, 2 children. And eventually the bodies were found and we determined that that’s what was haunting the location. But there were other things getting involved with it as well. Yeah. It was a lot of history involved.

Had a lot to do with the Normans. And monks that were present at a Norman work that was built there. And then we got into the civil war period with the round heads. And then it got further on into the early part of the 20th century, with World War One. Which was the period of time where these two children had died, and were buried in unmarked graves behind the place. Was a lot of work, but we eventually figured out what was going on. And now that was maybe about a dozen years ago that we did that investigation. But I was able to talk to one of the gentleman. Though, they sold the restaurant. Since then it hadn’t had any activity, after we were done.

So that was… we did figure out what was finally going on. But we had to go through a lot of different things to go through that. And, a lot of cases we’ve been involved with in Great Britain and the English Isles seem to. Seem to have a lot of history involved with it where other things do show up. It does happen here in the states occasionally when you do cases, but especially there.

Oh, because of the old history of the place. Oh, absolutely. Yeah, did you ever go to Leap Castle in Ireland?

I have never been over there. I have never been to Europe.

In Ireland, there’s a castle called Leap Castle. And it’s well known. It has an elemental that resides in there that’s not friendly to people. And a lot of people go there to try and experience this elemental. Which to me is stupid. Why would you put yourself in harm’s way?

Well, I’ve never been one to want to do that. I never did really understand why people like to go places and stir up stuff. And to see things. I mean, it’s bad enough that things come to me. And I can sense things around me. Right. I can go to I can go to an antique shop and just have the worst time of my life trying to get through an antique shop. Or go to a funeral. Or go to a cemetery. There always seems to be something there that wants to let you know that they’re there. That’s really hard when you’re a sensitive.

It’s all about boundaries, eh? Yeah. And, and like living people, there are spirits that will always try and go over your boundaries.

Always. Always. I just never have understood why people will go into a situation like that and literally get nasty with an energy just so they can see it or communicate with it. That usually doesn’t turn out to be a good thing. Yeah. Many times, I have worked with so many people. Who have tried to be paranormal investigators who have not protected themselves and then pick up something and bring it home with them. Then all hell breaks loose and then they don’t know how to get rid of it.

Right. Yeah. I used to have a paranormal investigation team. And I always made sure that each person was responsible for putting some form of protection up. Are you there? Yeah, we keep getting this electrical interference, which is really interesting. I’ve never had this before. It’s really interesting.

It happens to me a lot. Yeah, yeah. When I’m talking about cases involving energies and spirits and such, it does happen to me a lot.

Yeah, that’s not uncommon, is it? With spiritual people.

Not at all.

What do you believe is the greatest potential significance for understanding and exploring these unexplained phenomena for humanity as a whole?

I really don’t know if there is any benefit to it. I guess for some of us there is. For me, I know it’s the satisfaction of being able to help certain people. I don’t know if we find out about UFOs, cryptids aliens or whatever. If we do get answers to what these things are, are we going to benefit from it? I don’t know. I think if we do find out about certain phenomena, I don’t think it’s gonna become a moot point. I think it’s something else that’s going to come and take its place at some point. But I think we’ll always be interested in it.

Right. Do you think that just speaks to human curiosity?

Absolutely. I think that’s a big part of it.

And wanting to know about the unknown. It’s also the fear of the unknown, I guess, in a way. Because people fear what they don’t understand. So yeah, that’s really interesting. So, for you, what is your very favorite area of research?

Oh, it’s cryptids in particular.

I knew you were going to say cryptids.

Yeah, it’s cryptids. I mean, of course I started out with working with energies and spirits and such. And I still do. But I the cryptid world just really fascinates me.

Me too.

And I’m just You know, it’s kind of taken over much of what I do. And people who listened to me and read what I write and said they want it, that’s what they want. That’s what they want. I’M not saying that the spirit, the, the interest in the spirit world has lessened over the years. I don’t think it has, but I think as time goes on, most people do kind of gravitate to something that’s more interested in their life. And cryptids seems to be, that’s something I’m fascinated with. 

I’m really fascinated by it as well. Because, it’s cryptids being creatures that perhaps exist, perhaps don’t exist. But for a lot of them there’s more leaning towards they do exist. But we just don’t have tangible proof.

Yeah, that’s that’s that’s the big thing. That’s the caveat. We just don’t really have the physical proof as to what these things are. I think we will eventually get some answers. But like I said before, I don’t think, I don’t think the interest is ever going to diminish. I think people are always going to be interested in these unknown beings.

Yes, I know my listeners like cryptid stories they find. ..And I guess also part of it is that monster in the closet type thing, you know?

Exactly. Yeah, yeah. It’s that human curiosity.

Lon, I’ve really enjoyed our conversation .

Me too!

I realize it’s getting late where you are in the States. I don’t know what time it is there, but it’s only 2 p. m. tomorrow here in New Zealand.

Yeah, it’s it’s about, it’s a little over 10 here. Yeah,  so there’s quite a difference in time. I’m from your future. Oh time travel. That’s one thing we haven’t covered.

Well, I work a lot of, I have a lot of friends in Australia I work with. And in fact, there’s several people who I do remote view work. That live in Australia. So, yeah, I have a bit of an Aussie connection there with people. Yeah, we do a lot of work together. Remote viewing is something that is tangible and real.

And it’s so real, that your government trained people in it during the wars. That’s how real it is. It’s not woo woo at all, folks. And anybody can do it. It’s a basic human ability. You just need to know how to do it. I think intuitive, being intuitive. Everybody’s intuitive to some degree, and I think it has a lot to do with it. I was lucky enough to be able to learn from someone who was trained by the government. Or by the military. And that kind of puts a whole new aspect. Or realization as to what it can be used for. Definitely does. And yeah, it’s helped me out immensely in several cases.

Yeah. It’s really valid. They did make a movie about it, and I think it was called Men Who Stare at Goats. Which was quite interesting.

Yeah, I tell you. That movie really kind of opened a lot of people’s eyes.  A lot of people watched it and said, well, that just can’t be done. Well, I’ve seen it done. It can be done.

Can absolutely. And it makes a huge difference.

People, there are a lot of applications for it.

Yes. Both good and bad, for sure. Look, Lon, where can my listeners reach you? Are you on all social media?

I am on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or X, whatever you want to call it nowadays. Telegram. And of course I, I have a YouTube channel that we, FAMs of Monsters Radio. FAMs of monsters.com is the blog. My team website is cryptidhunters.org. That’s the FAMs of Monsters 14 research team. So, yeah . I’m kind of involved with a lot of different things. And if people have sightings and have something that they don’t understand when I ask questions, just contact me. My email is lonstrickler@ phantoms & monsters.com. And if you go to phantoms & monsters.com, you can find all the links to me there.

Awesome. Lon, thank you so much for your time today, tonight.

No problem.

It’s been absolutely fantastic and I’ve really enjoyed our conversation.

You take care and thanks for having me.