FT267

For six seasons, the American television show Lost captivated an audience of millions across the globe. Its uplifting, albeit anti-climatic, ending left some aficion­ados scratching their heads over the abundance of puzzles bereft of answers. One of the show’s biggest mysteries concerned the existence of the dreaded Smoke Monster, the clanking, slinking, tubular terror that periodically squirmed from its dank lair somewhere on the island. Where did it come from? What was its purpose? Well, its mystery presumably now remains locked in the vaults of television lore.

Strangely, similar murderous mists have peppered worldwide folklore, suggest­ing that the fictional Smoke Monster of Lost’s fantasy island may have its roots in a darker reality.

The 1825 edition of The Terrific Register Or, Record Of Crimes, Judgments, Providence, And Calamities contains “An Account Of An Uncommon Tempest”:

Mr Brydone, a late ingenious traveller, says in his account of Malta, that on the 29th of October, in the year 1757, about three quarters of an hour after midnight, there appeared to the south-west of the city [Valletta, presumably] a great black cloud, which as it approached changed its colour until at last it became like a flame of fire mixed with black smoke. A dreadful noise was heard on its approach, which alarmed the whole city. It passed over the port, and came first to an English ship, which in an instant was torn to pieces, and nothing left but the hulk; part of the masts, sails, and cordage, were carried along with the cloud at a considerable distance. The small boats that were in its way were torn to pieces, or sunk; the noise increased, and became more frightful. A sentinel, terrified at its approach, took shelter in his box; both he and it were lifted up, carried into the sea, where he perished; it traversed a considerable part of the city, and laid in ruins almost every thing in its course. Several houses were thrown down, nor was there any steeple left standing in its passage; the bells, with the spires of some, were carried a considerable distance; the roofs of the houses were demolished and beat down, which, if it happened in the day-time, must have caused a dreadful slaughter, as the people would have all run to the churches. It went off at the north-east point of the city, and, demolishing the light-house, it is said to have mounted up into the air with a most frightful noise, and passed over the sea to Sicily, where it tore up some trees, and did other damage; but its force had been spent in Malta. The number killed and wounded was near 200; and the loss of shipping, houses, and churches was very considerable.

However the learned may differ in opinions concerning this singular phen­omenon, the sentiments of the people are concise and positive; they declare with one voice that it was a legion of devils let loose to punish them for their sins. There are a thousand persons in Malta, who will make oath that they saw them within the cloud, all as black as pitch and breathing out fire and brimstone. They add that if there had not been a few godly persons amongst them the whole city would certainly have been involved in universal destruction. [1]

Terrifying indeed, but possibly a misinterpretation of a genuine freak of nature. But what about some of the other accounts of equally devilish smoke monsters?

In the summer of 1945, Lieutenant Ernest G Bentley and his American comrade Sergeant Utz were walking through the mountain range close to Wha Chee, a village in western China. In surrounding ranges villagers had been busy felling trees, but this particular location was abundant with foliage, making it look particularly odd, runn­ing adjacent to so many barren areas. Wondering why the locals appeared not to frequent the area, the soldiers were suddenly met by a group of children who, through terrified wails, attempted to discourage Bentley and Utz from their journey. Confused by the actions of the children, the soldiers were even more shocked when an elderly woman hurried by, eager to collect wood from the summit. However, her journey was cut short, for within seconds she came scrambling out between a crack in the rocks, followed by a smoky, transluc­ent, and tubular column. The woman screamed in horror as the misty shape appeared to engulf her. [2]

Terrifying pillars of sinister smoke have been observed closer to home too. In Edinburgh on 23 November 1904, one Godfrey Anderson, while taking an evening stroll, became unnerved by a black, smoky form which rose from a nearby drain. Four feet long and two feet high, this caterpillar-shaped entity oozed towards a stationary horse and in one vaporous swoop engulfed the poor animal. The horse reared up, revealing its ripped throat, and suddenly the smoke monster vanished into thin air. [3]

In Runcorn, Cheshire, in 1953, the festive season was disturbed by a tall, black apparition which killed 53 pigs at a farm owned by Harold Crowther. The Sunday Graphic of 27 December reported that the 15th-century farmhouse had been plagued by unusual events since 10 August, when a ghostly figure, resembling the deceased father of Mr Crowther’s wife, appeared; but it was clear that the monster which killed the pigs was an altogether more malevolent spectre.

Mr Crowther reported that: “Two days after the loss of the last pig, I saw a large black cloud about seven feet in height, shapeless except for two prongs sticking out at the back moving about in the yard. The shapeless mass approached me, stopping about four or five feet away. Then it turned in the direction of the pigsties, passed into an outhouse and disappeared.”

This conjunction of dark, smoky or cloudy forms with vampiric characteristics recurs elsewhere; some accounts of the Highgate ‘vampire’ mentioned the appearance of a hulking, black mass said to drain the energy from its victims. A similar figure lurks in Argent­inean folklore, where it is known as El Petizo. Reputed to have fallen upon a number of travellers in the area, this tall, black apparition most recently attacked a young boy in 2002 as he was cycling nine miles southeast of Rosario de la Frontera. As Scott Corales reported: “The young man managed to unholster his shotgun and fire two shots, but when he saw that this had no effect, promptly drew his knife and stabbed it without causing any apparent harm. Frightened, the youth tried to escape, only to find that ‘El Petizo’ knocked him down again without saying a word, dragging him by the hair to the side of the road. The young man stated that at that point he began screaming at the top of his voice and that this is what saved him: his cries were heard by a local man who rushed to provide assistance… The fearful shape disappeared without a trace when it became aware of the other man’s presence.” [4]

In 1935, a similar vampire-like spectre was reported to be haunting a village near Gnjilane, southern Serbia. The monster was immune to gunfire and prowled a rural area where it spooked the cattle. It was said to have been cornered by several bold peasants one afternoon, but as they fired at the thing it vanished through a door, filling the air with three loud knocks. [5]

The Evening Hour of 15 January 1896 carries a strange story of a ‘burning beast’, somewhere between a clanking smoke monster and a more traditional dragon: “COW, MONSTER, OR GHOST? – Reappearance of the Fearsome Thing that Pirate Hicks Discovered Fifty years Ago”

Neil Hopkins, of Glocester, Rhode Island, was returning from his work on Dandelion Hill, near Putnam, a few nights ago, when, at the darkest spot in the road, a strange beast gave him chase. He cannot exactly tell what it was, as he caught only a glance of it as he ran. Hopkins is certain that the creature was some supernatural beast that lives in Glocester forest.

“It seemed to be all a-fire; it had a hot breath”, Hopkins told his neighbours.

“There was a metallic sound, like the clanking of steel against steel. The beast didn’t seem to be strong in the wind, for it chased me only a short distance, and then plunged off into the woods. I could hear the dead branches and twigs crackling under the heavy tramp.”

Hopkins says it was as big as an elephant, and that he is certain it had no tail. Opinion is divided as to what it was that scared Hopkins. Some think that it was only the escaped circus bear that held up several farmers and scared their horses…

Others think that it was the famous Glocester monster, the “burning beast” that Hopkins saw. The “burning beast” has been seen only once before. That was 57 years ago last summer, when it appeared to four Glocesterites, John Jepp, Ben Cobb, Ben Saunders and Albert Hicks, the pirate, who was afterward hanged on Liberty Island in New York Bay. Hicks was a native of Glocester. He and his companions were digging up the Page farm one night trying to find Capt. Kidd’s supposed buried gold, when the monster frightened them away. They dropped picks and shovels and ran for life. Some Spanish doubloons had been previously found on the Page farm, but the gold diggers never cared to searched [sic] further after their awful experience.

Hicks used to describe the beast thus – “It was a large animal, with staring eyes as big as pewter bowls. The eyes looked like balls of fire. When it breathed as it went by, flames came out of its mouth and nostrils, scorching the brush in its path. It was as a big as a cow with dark wings on each side like a bat’s. It had spiral horns like a ram’s, as big around as a stovepipe. Its feet were formed like a duck’s and measured a foot and a half across. The body was covered with scales as big as clam shells, which made a rattl­ing noise as the beast moved along. The scales flopped up and down. The thing had lights on its sides like those shining through a tin lantern. Before I saw it, I felt its presence and I smelled something that was like burnt wool as it went by. I had a feeling of suffocation when it came near me. The monster seemed to come from nowhere and to go away in the same manner.”

There are many people in Glocester who believe that the beast still haunts the forest not far from the Providence turnpike, and that it was it that gave Hopkins his fright.

Within the realm of high strangeness, all kinds of phenomena have been connected with columns or shrouds of smoke. UFOs, ghosts, phantom hounds and manimals have all been reported as transforming into smoke, or emerging from it. Are these disparate phenomena possibly connected? Might they all originate from the same dark, unknown cavern which spawned Lost’s unholy smoke?



Notes
1 Cate Ludlow, ed: Tales From The Terrific Register, History Press, 2009.
2 Although this story remains amongst my files on the subject I have long since lost any source(s) for it. Can any FT reader help identify an origin for this admittedly unlikely-sounding tale?
3 The story is recounted in Jerome Clark & Loren Coleman’s classic Creatures of the Outer Edge, Warner Books, 1978.
4 Scott Corrales: “Argentina – Shadow Creature ‘El Petizo’ Attacks A Young Hunter”, 22 Feb 2002, Rense.com.
5 Morning Post, 2 Feb 1935. I have come across unsourced reports of a similar entity encountered at Jicotea Las Villas, Cuba, some 20 years earlier.



Sources
Neil Arnold: Monster! The A-Z Of Zooform Phenomena,CFZ Press, 2007.
Jerome Clark & Loren Coleman: Creatures of the Outer Edge, Warner Books, 1978.
Peter Haining: The Mammoth Book Of True Hauntings, Robinson, 2008.
Cate Ludlow, ed: Tales From The Terrific Register, History Press, 2009.