The Atlantic Ocean Winged Abomination was an airborne cryptid reportedly sighted by refugee's travelling from the Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico, under extreme duress after being swept out into the Atlantic.
For over twelve days the castaways subsisted in abject conditions, with some survivors resorting to rationing a new mothers breast milk, and eventually cannibalism of those who died. In August 2004 journalist Joaquín Asención of the El Vocero reported scathingly on the incident, criticizing the slowness of public and authority response and the plight of asylum seekers and "boat people" in general. Of the eighty two people who set out in search of a better life, thirty seven survived. Many had committed suicide by leaping into the sea in order to boost the chances of the remaining survivors.
As well as outlining the appalling depths to which these starved and shark-swarmed people had to stoop just to survive, Asención reported a bizarre incident witnessed by most of the survivors.
While the refugees fought for survival among the wind, waves and merciless sun, a "monster" with vast wings appeared in the clouds before them. Overcome by dread, passengers huddled together to read from a New Testament that had been found in the vessel, but as they read from the holy book, its pages inexplicably vanished their hands.
The exact appearance of the creature was scantily described, but it was said to have reptillian bat-like wings like an antique illustration of a pterosaur, with an outsized human skull for a head.
There are several explanations as to what the creature could be. Theories include:
- An undiscovered species or cryptid (unlikely)
- A demonic entity
- Interdimensional being
- A hallucinatory or semi-mythical vision accessed through extreme collective stress. Parapsychological studies have frequently found a link between trauma in people (especially children, of which there were many on board) and paranormal experiences. The vision of the demonic being and the disappearance of the Bibles pages could be seen to reflect the refugee's feelings of being abandoned and likely doomed to die at sea without salvation.
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