Could this astonishing New York Times report on September 12, 1880, report the earliest sighting of the legendary American monster, the Moth Man? In any case, the description is very similar.
“One day last week, a miraculous phenomenon was seen on Coney Island (Brooklyn, New York). At least a thousand feet (300 meters), there was a strange object in the air and it was moving towards the coast of New Jersey. He looked like a man with wings like a bat and legs like a frog (apparently with membranes).
The person's face could be seen and he had a rather stern or even cruel expression on his face. The movements that he made with his legs resembled those of a swimming frog, and together with the movements of the front limbs (with wings), he made a flight. Of course, no frog could behave this way, but if it had the head of a human and the wings of a bat and at the same time made movements like it floats and flies, that would be an accurate description of that monster from Coney Island.
We will also add that when the whistle of the locomotive sounded, this monster flapped its wings and they were an alarming thick black color. This object was seen by many people, including famous ones, and they all agreed. that it looks like a flying man heading for New Jersey.
About a month ago, exactly the same described object was seen over St. Louis and these citizens were sober and believed to be trustworthy. A little later after St. Louis, a similar creature was seen by the residents of Kentucky when it flew over the state. And nobody saw him at a height lower than a thousand pounds.
This is undoubtedly the most amazing and unusual object of all which people have seen and it is urgent to find out what habits he has, what character and where he is going. No one doubts that this aerial vision is a man who is equipped with wings. Apparently, someone solved the problem of heavenly navigation and invented wings that can support a person in the air and can be controlled. Who is this adventurous pilot and what is his goal?
However, this phenomenon directly contradicts the customs and habits of aeronautics. If anyone had invented such wings, they would have started advertising such air travel long before it was even improved. He would announce that he can fly to Europe in 24 hours and that he is ready to show it for 50 cents to anyone who wants to see this car. Later, he would borrow money to pay for the flight costs in the interests of science, and then publish a book on the science of aeronautics.
And then, just before the flight itself, he would suddenly disappear or “accidentally” destroy his wings, and after the outbreak of the crowd's indignation, everyone would soon forget about him. So it usually happened with many inventors of balloons or other devices capable of supposedly flying across the sky. This mysterious man did not follow this path and he is probably not a professional aeronaut.
Promotional video:
One of the experimental aircraft of the early 20th century (USA).
There is no doubt that this person or scientist or other person, currently unknown, created the wings like a bat and legs like a frog, which can transport a person through the air like under sail. Why did he not patent his device and report nothing to the press?
There can be only one reason, he could not do it, in other words, this man was planning something criminal. This probably explains the cruel expression on his face. It cannot be just theft or robbery, since there is nothing in his suit where he could put the loot."
This eminently entertaining note ends with the suggestion that this strange flyer may have been the local preacher, Mr. Talmage, who was also interested in crime. The author of the note suggests (with obvious irony and derision) that Mr. Talmage could have spotted many examples of crime from such a height and added them to his collection.
This journalist may have had personal scores with this preacher, but it is hard to imagine that he wrote this entire article just for the sake of the last paragraph. Moreover, the article also ridiculed the “inventors-aeronautics”. It is possible that in 1880, US residents did see a strange flying humanoid in the sky. Whether it was the same Moth-Man or another flying alien is unknown, there is no photo or drawing of this creature.