Most cryptozoology enthusiasts are familiar with Mothman— the humanoid beast said to be a herald of impending doom. But did you know that Russia is home to a nearly identical creature?
On April 26th, 1986 a horrific nuclear accident occurred at the Chernobyl Power Plant. Reactor Number 4 became catastrophically unstable after employees performed a simulative power outage safety test. A disastrous series of events unfolded which caused an uncontrollable chain reaction. Colossal amounts of energy were released causing the activator core to explode. For nine days, fire consumed the devastated structure and spewed out astronomical levels of radioactive contaminants. Humanity felt the dire implications of a fission calamity. Dozens of first responders agonizingly perished from radiation exposure, cancer rates skyrocketed and babies were born with appalling birth defects. Pripyat, a once-thriving city, had become an uninhabitable toxic wasteland and would remain so for the next twenty-thousand years.
Some believe residents had been pre-warned of the dreadful fallout. In the weeks preceding Chernobyl’s cataclysmic incident, a series of anomalous episodes took place. Locals who lived in close proximity to the eventual ‘exclusion zone’ repeatedly encountered a mysterious creature. Witnesses described its appearance as resembling a giant mutilated headless man with piercing red eyes. Petrified onlookers dubbed the curious aerial fiend The Blackbird of Chernobyl. Those who happened upon the sinister entity suffered from haunting nightmares and menacing phone calls. Citizens began to live in constant crippling fear that they may be the next victim to behold this nefarious figure. An abysmal winged monster was terrorizing the formerly quaint town.