October - Giles High School

Hoax or Reality By Kristin Gillispie
Halloween is here along with the ghouls, goblins,
and other monsters coming out during the night. It’s only
natural for people to immediately think of those creatures
when it comes around. Although, when it isn’t
Halloween, do things still go bump in the night? Do the
slightest sounds give people a slight chill or goose
bumps? While the Halloween monsters are taking a
break, what are the others up too and who are they
exactly?
One of the most famous of these cryptid creatures would most likely be the notorious Bigfoot also
known as Skunk Ape, Sasquatch and many other names. The name varies between countries and
people. Whatever you may call it, Bigfoot is most likely the most questioned cryptid of them all. The
question is, why though? Sightings of this alleged creature have been going on for years and years. The
first documented sighting of Bigfoot was in 1811, where a trader had found foot prints. However, the
most famous Bigfoot sighting would be the Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin film which was at Bluff
Creek, California. Although the shot is very short it shows an ape like creature walking upright. The
film has not yet been proven to be Bigfoot and it hasn’t been proved as anything else. He’s also famous
in the media. Nowadays there are plenty of shows trying to prove his existence such as Syfy’s
Destination Truthand Fact or Faked, while Animal Planet has Finding Bigfoot. As for now, nobody
knows where this elusive creature may be, whether he exists or not, the debate continues on.
Now other than Bigfoot, there are other cryptids, some that you may not have heard of, or you may
never think that one may be near our area. However, I do recall one that is near our neck of the woods
and this would be Mothman. This cryptid resides in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. It’s a bit far from us,
but still somehow seems a bit too close for comfort. The name itself may not be “menacing” but his
story is quite chilling. According to sightings this cryptid has deep red eyes; first thing they happen to
notice. Some people believed that Mothman was actually an alien. On December 15, 1967 the Silver
Bridge in Point Pleasant collapsed. Oddly enough, there were many Mothman sightings the days before.
Some of the sightings claimed that they saw a “huge bird like creature” flying back and forth across the
bridge. Could Mothman be the reason that the Silver Bridge collapsed or just faulty equipment? Could
Mothman be real or just a large snowy owl? Once again, the debate continues.
As for another debatable concept would be the paranormal. As in ghosts, the real things that go
bump in the night. Paranormal investigations are pretty common everywhere. Not too long ago a Syfy
show The Haunted Collector was doing an investigation at Saint Albans, so not too far from us. It
seems like everything we don’t know about, just intrigues us more and more. The media has taken the
paranormal for ride it will never forget; once again Syfy has many shows like Ghost Hunters, Fact or
A Mothman statue in Faked, Destination Truth, The Haunted Collector, Haunted Highway, and other shows. Although,
Point Pleasant, West television shows aren’t the only ones taking the paranormal to a whole new level, so are movies. The
Virginia
box office hits lately have been movies about paranormal experiences. Are ghosts really unrested? Are
we imagining all these things?
There’s more cryptids and unknowns out there, but recently some of the students of Giles have
found out about a new being, Slenderman. Just like Mothman the name doesn’t sound very menacing,
but again his story is quite interesting. He is very tall in stature with long arms, and he wears a black
suit with a tie. One more thing about this Slenderman, he doesn’t have a face. Junior Hunter Carbaugh
says “I found out about Slenderman through the Marble Hornets YouTube series. I enjoyed watching
them, I even watched ten hours’ worth of Slenderman
encounters” Carbaugh and some of his friends have played the
game “Slender” which is a horror game about Slenderman. I
myself have attempted to play Slender, but it’s quite scary.
Don’t worry though, because Slenderman was created during a
paranormal photo shopping contest back in 2009 and he is now
a well-known meme amongst many. Somehow, someway
Slenderman made his way to Giles County.
Investigators Jael De Pardo and
Devin Marble from Haunted Highway
prepare for their night time
investigation for their search of the
Ozark Howler in Jasper, Arkansas.
Syfy’s Destination
Truth host Josh Gates
presents a Yeti
footprint he found
during an expedition
in the Himalayas.
Slenderman
Whether we like it or not there still
“The true mystery of the world is
remain mysteries throughout our
world, if it’s unknown creatures or the visible, not the invisible.”
just unexplored areas of our world. ― Oscar Wilde
Every day we continue our search for
the odd things that amaze us and continue to question what’s myth and what’s not.
All images were taken from Google.
13