Welcome to Phantoms & Monsters 'Personal Reports' - cryptid & unexplained accounts directly from the archives of Phantoms & Monsters, and the Phantoms & Monsters Fortean Research team. Narrated by Lon Strickler. Join us in the chat, discuss, and ask me questions about the accounts. Featured in this edition: Have you ever met someone who looked just like you? Perhaps you’ve walked up to a person you thought you knew only to find they were a stranger. If so, you may have met a real-life doppelgänger. What is a doppelgänger? The word comes from German meaning “double goer.” Today, it’s often used to describe two strangers who look so much alike they could be twins. Seeing a doppelgänger can be startling. That’s true whether it’s a person who looks just like you or someone who could be your friend’s twin. It’s no wonder, then, that doppelgängers are also common in frightening stories. Many times, a doppelgänger is the double of another character. They are like the character in many ways, most often in looks. However, the things that make them different are more important. The doppelgänger often differs from the main character in the values they hold. This results in them making choices that lead them down a different path. For example, “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” by Robert Louis Stevenson. In this story, both characters share the same body. However, they are opposites, with Dr. Jekyll representing good and Mr. Hyde evil. There is also a historical attribute to this phenomenon. President Abraham Lincoln supposedly saw his doppelgänger when he saw two faces in the mirror on the night of his first election in 1860. The second face was pale and sickly, which his wife, Mary, interpreted as a sign of death or sickness during his second term. Only a few months after his second election, Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth. So, what do you think a doppelganger represents? Listen to these accounts and form your opinion. Hi. My name is Lon Strickler. I hope that you enjoy listening to Phantoms & Monsters Personal Reports. I have a question for you. Have you ever had an unexplained sighting or encounter? Do you have photographic and/or video evidence of your experience? Would you like to share your unique story with our readers and listeners? Please feel free to forward your account to me, either through my email lonstrickler@phantomsandmonsters.com or call me at 410-241-5974. You can also go to my website at https://www.phantomsandmonsters.com and use the contact link on the homepage. Your personal information will be kept confidential if requested. I have been a paranormal and anomalies researcher & investigator for over 45 years. My reports & findings have been featured in 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.' I have been interviewed on hundreds of radio & online broadcasts, including multiple guest appearances on 'Coast to Coast AM.' One of my encounters was featured on Destination America's 'Monsters and Mysteries in America' television show for 'The Sykesville Monster' episode. I am a published author of 9 books on various cryptid & supernatural subjects. Do you have a report or encounter that you would like to be read on 'Personal Reports' & featured on the Phantoms & Monsters blog? Contact me at lonstrickler@phantomsandmonsters.com Would you like to help us out? https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lonstrickl0 Phantoms & Monsters Homepage & Blog - https://www.phantomsandmonsters.com Books by Lon Strickler - https://www.amazon.com/~/e/B009JURSD4 You can also support us by using PayPal at https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=3LSJFKCLRD2V8 Credits: All content licensed and/or used with permission.

Welcome to Phantoms & Monsters 'Personal Reports' - cryptid & unexplained accounts directly from the archives of Phantoms & Monsters, and the Phantoms & Monsters Fortean Research team. Narrated by Lon Strickler. Join us in the chat, discuss, and ask me questions about the accounts. Featured in this edition: The wendigo has been misappropriated from its original context in Algonquin folklore. The word "Wendigo" roughly means “The Evil Spirit Who Devours Mankind.” Originally it was depicted as a cannibal ice giant and cautionary tale relevant to the realities of Algonquin life. Euro-American popular culture mutilated it into what may only be described as a "zombie-were-deer." First, the Algonquin monster has relevance to their traditional way of life. Their culture was reliant on teamwork, so selfishness is a deadly sin to them, and the wendigo is the ultimate embodiment of that. Secondly, wendigo psychosis is a real mental illness and was historically used as a justification to destroy the Algonquin culture. There are written accounts in the last two centuries of people suffering from this illness being murdered by their peers. So then, how was the Wendigo tale altered? This goes back over a century to Algernon Blackwood's story "The Wendigo." The story does not depict a Wendigo but seems to get it confused with the Inuit (not Algonquin) creature Ijiraq and possibly the Tariaksuq. In the story, the monster burns away a victim's feet with friction, while in myth the Ijiraq is sometimes described as stripping the flesh off its victim's shins and if it survives then it becomes a faster runner. The Ijiraq is otherwise described as a trickster who kidnaps children or lures hunters by pretending to be caribou. So, it is easy to assume Blackwood read about the Ijiraq and then twisted the details for his own story. Now Euro-American popular culture takes the name of an Algonquin cannibal ice giant and applies it to a zombie-were-deer; it has been utterly stripped of its original context and symbolism. I doubt there will ever be much push-back against the zombie-wear-deer version since it has been burned into popular culture at this point. Now, that being stated, I'm going to present several modern-day accounts that some of the witnesses described as the ‘Wendigo.' Then you can determine what the creature in the report is. Is it an original folktale of the cannibal ice giant or something a bit more contemporary? Hi. My name is Lon Strickler. I hope that you enjoy listening to Phantoms & Monsters Personal Reports. I have a question for you. Have you ever had an unexplained sighting or encounter? Do you have photographic and/or video evidence of your experience? Would you like to share your unique story with our readers and listeners? Please feel free to forward your account to me, either through my email lonstrickler@phantomsandmonsters.com or call me at 410-241-5974. You can also go to my website at https://www.phantomsandmonsters.com and use the contact link on the homepage. Your personal information will be kept confidential if requested. I have been a paranormal and anomalies researcher & investigator for over 45 years. My reports & findings have been featured in hundreds of online media sources. Do you have a report or encounter that you would like to be read on 'Personal Reports' & featured on the Phantoms & Monsters blog? Contact me at lonstrickler@phantomsandmonsters.com Would you like to help us out? https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lonstrickl0 Phantoms & Monsters Homepage & Blog - https://www.phantomsandmonsters.com Books by Lon Strickler - https://www.amazon.com/~/e/B009JURSD4 You can also support us by using PayPal at https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=3LSJFKCLRD2V8 Credits: All content licensed and/or used with permission.

Welcome to Phantoms & Monsters 'Personal Reports' - cryptid & unexplained accounts directly from the archives of Phantoms & Monsters, and the Phantoms & Monsters Fortean Research team. Narrated by Lon Strickler. Join us in the chat, discuss, and ask me questions about the accounts. Featured in this edition: This episode will contain a few of the more bizarre and outrageous reports that I have received over the past 40+ years! Every so often I will set aside an exceptional account to include in a 'Weirdest of the Weird' compilation, which I will then present to my listeners. Please comment on this episode and tell me what you think about my presentations. Offer suggestions. Forward your encounters to me. As I have stated since I started the blog 19 years ago - YOU, MY AUDIENCE, ARE PHANTOMS & MONSTERS! Hi. My name is Lon Strickler. I hope that you enjoy listening to Phantoms & Monsters Personal Reports. I have a question for you. Have you ever had an unexplained sighting or encounter? Do you have photographic and/or video evidence of your experience? Would you like to share your unique story with our readers and listeners? Please feel free to forward your account to me, either through my email lonstrickler@phantomsandmonsters.com or call me at 410-241-5974. You can also go to my website at https://www.phantomsandmonsters.com and use the contact link on the homepage. Your personal information will be kept confidential if requested. I have been a paranormal and anomalies researcher & investigator for over 45 years. My reports & findings have been featured in 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.' I have been interviewed on hundreds of radio & online broadcasts, including multiple guest appearances on 'Coast to Coast AM.' One of my encounters was featured on Destination America's 'Monsters and Mysteries in America' television show for 'The Sykesville Monster' episode. I am a published author of 9 books on various cryptid & supernatural subjects. In addition, I am an intuitive who has worked with hundreds of clients who sought help with their personal hauntings and unexplained activities. I never charge for my services. If you feel that I can help answer your questions, please feel free to contact me. Thanks for your consideration. Do you have a report or encounter that you would like to be read on 'Personal Reports' & featured on the Phantoms & Monsters blog? Contact me at lonstrickler@phantomsandmonsters.com Would you like to help us out? https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lonstrickl0 Phantoms & Monsters Homepage & Blog - https://www.phantomsandmonsters.com Books by Lon Strickler - https://www.amazon.com/~/e/B009JURSD4 You can also support us by using PayPal at https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=3LSJFKCLRD2V8 Credits: All content licensed and/or used with permission.