“It appeared to be a naked guy crawling around on the grass. Although, it had elongated arms and legs…”

The Oxford English Dictionary defines the word cryptid as “An animal whose existence or survival is disputed or unsubstantiated, such as the yeti.” For the following witnesses to living cryptids, there is no dispute. In this series of National Cryptid Society’s case files, you will read what the witnesses have experienced in their own words.

Keep an open mind when reading these accounts, and also remember one’s perception and memory of an event can be influenced by the emotions felt at the time of the occurrence. The contributors to this series of articles are doing the best they can to recount what are in some cases very shocking and traumatic experiences.

If you have a personal cryptid sighting story you would like to tell us, please visit our “Make A Report” page on this site.

NCS Case File #56: The “Crawling Man” of Michigan City, Indiana

Location: Michigan city indiana. Near Washington park

Date: Summer 2012

Submitted by: [anonymous]

*NCS preface: This may or may not be a “cryptid” sighting but it is a rather strange and unusual encounter.

“It was the middle of summer. Heat lighting was flashing over the lake. Several friends and I were at this dudes beach house. It wasn’t very late, maybe an hour or 2 after sunset. We all went outside onto the 2nd story back deck to smoke. I was watching the lightning. The house was only a few hundred feet away from the shore. But the walk to the beach takes a minute because there was a grassy dune between it and the shore. So a couple of us noticed a light beam from a flashlight coming over the dune. It was scanning the grass, like they were walking around or possibly looking for something. Most people on the beach at night don’t use lights. It’s actually pretty bright all night on lake Michigan after your eyes get use to it. The light sweeps by something in the grass, then it shines back onto it. What was illuminated was very strange. It appeared to be a naked guy crawling around on the grass. Although, it had elongated arms and legs. It was moving kinda fast crunched over. It only lasted a few seconds, long enough for all of us to see it.”

“Then, after the thing ran off, the flashlight shines directly at us. It stayed pointing at us until it went out after a few seconds. Creepy. So, were all like WTF was that, we ask asked what each other saw. We all seen a weird stretched out naked guy. I wanted to go down there. I wanted to see if we could find it. But, no one would go and they were creeped out and wanted to go back inside. I was very disappointed, but I wouldn’t go alone. I still regret it.”

“The only explainable thing it could have possibly been was a drunk gangly naked guy. But, I don’t think so because it looked abnormally stretched, the light pointed at us, and it freaked everyone out. It was something strange. I can’t say what the height of it was accurately. But, it didn’t seem very big, maybe around 7ft tall. My husband said it looked like something from a Marilyn Manson music video.”

NCS Notes:

As mentioned before, I’m not sure if I would classify this sighting as a cryptid. Although the mention of elongated arms and legs are really creepy, it could have been, as the witness stated, some naked guy crawling in the grass.

However, what strikes me as unusual is the companion the “crawler” had. The person holding the flashlight in the dunes shines the light on the crawler, but then keeps the light focused on the witness, as to allow time for the humanoid figure to make a getaway.

However, what strikes me as unusual is the companion the “crawler” had. The person holding the flashlight in the dunes shines the light on the crawler, but then keeps the light focused on the witness, as to allow time for the humanoid figure to make a getaway. One individual on the National Cryptid Society Facebook page asked if it may have been the “Rake.” Which, according to other reports of the rake, it is an aggressive humanoid, and this encounter in particular describes the subject as simply crawling in the grass and “running” away.

Another explanation for what the witness observed could be that the individual in the grass suffered from a genetic disease called “Marfan Syndrome.” This condition has the following externally-observable symptoms: Tall and slender build Disproportionately long arms, legs and fingers A breastbone that protrudes outward or dips inward A high, arched palate and crowded teeth An abnormally curved spine Individuals affected by Marfan Syndrome also may suffer from extreme nearsightedness and heart murmurs among other symptoms.



If indeed what the witness observed was an individual with Marfan Syndrome, there is nothing cryptid or spooky about people who have Marfan’s. I’ve known a few people with the condition and they are just like anyone else.

However, what does seem odd and unusual is that a person who has that genetic trait would be crawling around naked in the grass in the dunes of Michigan City, Indiana with a companion holding a flashlight… it’s a very unusual and unlikely scenario. A very creepy, unusual and unlikely scenario. However, it is not an impossible scenario.

As for the “cover art,” I interpreted the story and designed the feature image as creepily as I could. You know, for click bait. And I can’t rightly have a naked man crawling in the grass as a featured image. I’m not sure what I was thinking with the spine… and it looks like the fingers have no bones. As ridiculous as it appears, I’m not changing the featured image because I’ve grown fond of “slender-naked-gangly-elongated-limbed-boneless-rubber-hand-man.”

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