An encounter at the Houston Space Center
As plentiful the modern story of ‘winged monster’ is to come across in paranormal circles and sites documenting these tales in journalistic styles, there are still many one must dig around local archives and internet sites to discover, especially in the case of larger than life gargoyles. Not many stories of these ‘beings’ exist within the depths of folklore, but one seems to stand out amongst the menagerie; but even the most avid researcher may not even know about this one.
Fortean Author Nick Redfern often wrote about the many conspiracies that plagued the NASA program, and eventually released a work titled “The NASA Conspiracies: The Truth Behind the Moon Landings, Censored Photos, and The Face on Mars.” Released on December 20th, 2010, it had explained many curious events, such as staged photos of the Moon Landing,an odd geological formation that resembled a face, and many other oddities; if one were to look in Chapter 13, they would find that Nick Redfern had included an unfamiliar account that was told to him around the early 2000’s (Exact date seems to be unknown from research) by a deceased man’s daughter, Desiree Shaw.
Desiree Shaw’s father, Frank Shaw had encountered something at the Houston Space Center in the late 1980’s, where he had in fact worked on late nights as an archivist. Quite a few remarkable claims were also stated by Desiree as well, as she had claimed that two “security officers” had allegedly flown in to“interrogate” Shaw on what he had allegedly seen. The thing Shaw had claimed to see was something akin to a gargoyle. Details provided by her father were met with distraught directly after the ‘sighting.’ It goes something like this:
Frank Shaw had recently finished his shift, and was apt. to be late to srrive home. He had shuffled into his coat and had made for the parking lot. He seemed to have taken note of the heavy winds at the time, so it was quite chilly. As he was walking toward his vehicle, he had an inexplicable sense to look over his shoulder, and what he saw was less than pleasant. He claimed to his daughter that there was something big perched upon one of the facility buildings, not too far from his vehicle.
Frank described the creature as an imposing humanoid that watched him intently, with two large, bat-like wings and, en-quote, “A large cape draped over its shoulders and back.”
As he looked in terror at the sight, he claimed that he could sense something emanating from the creature, like some sort of malevolence, as if the creature had wanted him to see it. Just then, it had unfurled its wings in a loud cracking sound, and began to take flight. It was almost as if it enjoyed the attention it received.
The bones cracking had alerted Shaw’s primal instinct to run, and he immediately scrambled to drive away from the horrific sight. He didn’t even bother to look in his rear view mirror. His family had took note of his distraught when he came through the door. It was typical for him to be late, but not like this. He then had conceived an idea; he would tell the superior about his encounter the next day, but his family decided against it altogether.. Though he did weeks later without issue. He claims that his superior had shown him other reports of the creature in secret, and had also told him of the reason why the case was opened: it was the mutilation and exsanguination of two patrol dogs that had worked around the building.
It wasn’t until a day or so later that he was interrogated by, en-quote from Desiree herself, “NASA security people who were flown in from somewhere in Arizona… that much I know.”
The officers gave Shaw a strict warning that he would not tell this same story to anybody else; but it would prove futile after Shaw’s passing.
As fascinating as the encounter is to any person intrigued by the notion of winged monsters, it seems to have become quite a enigma within the online circles of paranormal interest. As fairly unknown as the story is, those who have read material on it can often find themselves much, much more intrigued by the notion of a gargoyle creature and the mutilation of two patrol dogs; though in anyone’s case, you cannot blame them for contemplating such an instance. Many ask, what truly happened?
Bibliography
Redfern, Nick. “The Monsters of NASA.” The NASA Conspiracies: The Truth Behind the Moon Landings, Censored Photos, and The Face on Mars, Red Wheel / Weiser, 10 Dec. 2010.
Morphy, Rob. “NASA Gargoyle: (TEXAS, USA).” Cryptopia, 15 Jan. 2011 https://www.cryptopia.us/site/2011/01/nasa-gargoyle-texas-usa/. Accessed 15 Feb. 2019.
“The Houston Gargoyle: A Strange Sighting At NASA’s Space Center.” Anomalien, 17 Oct. 2018, https://anomalien.com/the-houston-gargoyle-a-strange-sighting-at-nasas-space-center/. Accessed 15 Feb. 2019.
Rae, Amber. “Rise of the Gargoyles.” Into the Portal, 2 Jan. 2019 https://www.intotheportal.com/into-the-portal-blog/2019/1/2/rise-of-the-gargoyles. Accessed 15 Feb. 2019.
