Post by auntym on Jan 8, 2015 15:16:39 GMT -6
ufodigest.com/article/phantom-0107
THE INVASION OF THE PHANTOM MARKSMEN
By Brad Steiger
January 7, 2014
A week or so ago, I saw that an author had revisited one of the classics of the paranormal, The Mad Gasser of Mattoon, Illinois, in which a mysterious figure terrified the population of the small town by ostensibly seeking to do them in or make them ill with gas attacks. Law enforcement officials pursued the monster for quite some time before they decided that the Mad Gasser was born of mass hysteria and called off the search for the miscreant.
After reading this bit of spooky nostalgia, I was reminded of one of my favorite paranormal assailants, the Phantom Marksmen of 1952-1954, who pestered both Great Britain and the United States with their unwelcome displays of target practice.
In Great Britain in May of 1952, something shattered the windshield of a car driven by a girl applying for her driver's license, on the Scunthorpe-Doncaster road in Linconshire England. No pellet or anything else was ever found that could have caused the damage.
On that same English road on May 5, the windshield of a truck was suddenly shattered. No pellet, stone, or culprit was discovered.
On the next day, a window exploded on a school bus filled with children on that same road. Fortunately, none of the children were injured.
On May 9, 1952, on a road between Esher and Cobham in Surrey, a motorist named Eric Sykes had his windshield shattered.
Journalists quoted police officials as saying: "There have been about 20 incidents of this kind along here in the last 18 months, and we are completely mystified."
On June 6, 1952, a Pittsburgh woman was wounded in the hip as she held the ladder for her husband while he tightened a shutter on the second story of their home. Her injury was attributed to a "spent bullet," but there was no indication of whether or not a pellet was found in her hip or who had fired the "spent bullet.”
A "stray bullet" was held responsible for wounding a seven-year-old boy in Swissvale, Pennsylvania on June 20. Again, the official account neglected to mention whether or not that "stray bullet" had been found.
Five miles from Newbury in the Berkshires, a motorist reported having his windshield pierced by a bullet on June 12. Police there said that they, too, had had other reports of shots being fired at motorists on that stretch of road. No one, however, had ever found any evidence of the phantom marksmen, not even a spent bullet in some motorist's seat cushion.
Back on the Portsmouth Road between Esher and Cobham, one incident mentioned a hole that had penetrated the automobile's metal door. Still no pellet could be found, and official statistics showed that twenty-two windshields had been shattered on that road within the past fifteen months.
The next day after the release of those statistics, a motorist reported that he had just become the owner of windshield number twenty-three. A feature story in the Evening News claimed that their statistics indicated a more accurate total of thirty windshields shattered on the haunted road.
CONTINUE READING: ufodigest.com/article/phantom-0107
THE INVASION OF THE PHANTOM MARKSMEN
By Brad Steiger
January 7, 2014
A week or so ago, I saw that an author had revisited one of the classics of the paranormal, The Mad Gasser of Mattoon, Illinois, in which a mysterious figure terrified the population of the small town by ostensibly seeking to do them in or make them ill with gas attacks. Law enforcement officials pursued the monster for quite some time before they decided that the Mad Gasser was born of mass hysteria and called off the search for the miscreant.
After reading this bit of spooky nostalgia, I was reminded of one of my favorite paranormal assailants, the Phantom Marksmen of 1952-1954, who pestered both Great Britain and the United States with their unwelcome displays of target practice.
In Great Britain in May of 1952, something shattered the windshield of a car driven by a girl applying for her driver's license, on the Scunthorpe-Doncaster road in Linconshire England. No pellet or anything else was ever found that could have caused the damage.
On that same English road on May 5, the windshield of a truck was suddenly shattered. No pellet, stone, or culprit was discovered.
On the next day, a window exploded on a school bus filled with children on that same road. Fortunately, none of the children were injured.
On May 9, 1952, on a road between Esher and Cobham in Surrey, a motorist named Eric Sykes had his windshield shattered.
Journalists quoted police officials as saying: "There have been about 20 incidents of this kind along here in the last 18 months, and we are completely mystified."
On June 6, 1952, a Pittsburgh woman was wounded in the hip as she held the ladder for her husband while he tightened a shutter on the second story of their home. Her injury was attributed to a "spent bullet," but there was no indication of whether or not a pellet was found in her hip or who had fired the "spent bullet.”
A "stray bullet" was held responsible for wounding a seven-year-old boy in Swissvale, Pennsylvania on June 20. Again, the official account neglected to mention whether or not that "stray bullet" had been found.
Five miles from Newbury in the Berkshires, a motorist reported having his windshield pierced by a bullet on June 12. Police there said that they, too, had had other reports of shots being fired at motorists on that stretch of road. No one, however, had ever found any evidence of the phantom marksmen, not even a spent bullet in some motorist's seat cushion.
Back on the Portsmouth Road between Esher and Cobham, one incident mentioned a hole that had penetrated the automobile's metal door. Still no pellet could be found, and official statistics showed that twenty-two windshields had been shattered on that road within the past fifteen months.
The next day after the release of those statistics, a motorist reported that he had just become the owner of windshield number twenty-three. A feature story in the Evening News claimed that their statistics indicated a more accurate total of thirty windshields shattered on the haunted road.
CONTINUE READING: ufodigest.com/article/phantom-0107