On a cryptid-frenzy edition of After Hours AM/America’s Most Haunted Radio — amazing paranormal talk Thursdays 9-11pE with hosts Joel Sturgis and Eric Olsen — we welcome filmmaker Seth Breedlove of Small Town Monsters to talk about his latest projects Terror In the Skies, On the Trail of Bigfoot, and their other filmic explorations into the unknown. We welcome Seth at 10pE; at 9pE Joel and Eric sift through the hottest paranormal news from the America’s Most Haunted Twitter feed.
Terror In the Skies
Illinois may be the Land of Lincoln, but in new film Terror In the Skies, award-winning production company Small Town Monsters and director Seth Breedlove prove it is also something much stranger, exploring hundreds of years of terrifying reports of encounters with massive, winged creatures from around the state. From Alton’s man-eating Piasa Bird legends, to recent sightings of a red-eyed, shapeless creature dubbed “Chicago Mothman,” Terror in the Skies explores a centuries-old mystery.
The film was shot around the state of Illinois in September, 2018, and acts as much as a guide to the constantly changing terrain of the land as it does an introduction to a reality-altering subject. Breedlove contacted numerous witnesses and investigators who claim to have seen massive beings in the sky as recently as last year.
The film promises to open viewers minds to the possibility that such a thing could exist by way of believable witnesses and fascinating photographic, video, and audio evidence. Small Town Monsters made waves in 2016 with their documentary titled The Mothman of Point Pleasant; a film that Terror in the Skies acts as a “spiritual sequel” to, and one that will be followed up in 2020 with by the final film in their “Mothman trilogy,” entitled The Mothman Legacy.
Small Town Monsters is funding Terror in the Skies, as well as a second film (MOMO: The Missouri Monster) through a Kickstarter campaign that launched Thursday, February 7th and runs through March 9th. The campaign offers backers the opportunity to have their names added to the credits of the films, or have the chance to appear on-camera, alongside posters, apparel, DVD copies of the films, and more.
Terror in the Skies is narrated by author, musician and television personality Lyle Blackburn. It is co-written by Seth Breedlove and Mark Matzke, with cinematography by Zac Palmisano, an original score by Brandon Dalo, and sound design by Jason Utes. SRV Films and Santino Vitale are handling VFX and the film contains original illustrations by Matt Harris and Brian Serway. The film is produced by Seth and Adrienne Breedlove. Noted authors Loren Coleman and Troy Taylor are featured in the film alongside numerous others.
On the Trail of Bigfoot
A new documentary mini-series promises to change the way you view the Bigfoot phenomena when it is released in March. The series’ director, Seth Breedlove, grew up in Bolivar, Ohio, and used his hometown as a central location in the project, which, in addition to Northeast Ohio, was also shot in California, Oregon, Washington, Oklahoma, South Carolina, New York – fourteen states in all. The series tracks the history of the Bigfoot subject while also telling Seth’s personal story, tracing how he went from ardent skeptic, to truly believing there could be a real, undiscovered creature lurking in North American forests. Featuring twenty-one Bigfoot enthusiasts, investigators, skeptics and believers, On the Trail of Bigfoot is told in six episodes and is already being hailed as the definitive documentary on the subject.
On the Trail of Bigfoot was shot, edited, written, narrated and directed by Breedlove, who considered the task of creating the series solo as a “filmmaking challenge.” On the Trail of Bigfoot will premiere at the Canton Palace Theatre on Friday, March 29th at 8pm with four of the six episodes being shown. It is also scheduled to play at a film festival in Eau Claire, WI and again at the Kent Stage in Kent, OH in April. The series will see a digital premier on Amazon, Vimeo OnDemand and VIDI Space as well as DVD on March 29th.
Small Town Monsters
Small Town Monsters began as an independent film series exploring lost and bizarre history around the United States. Focusing on small town folklore, our team tells stories through the words and experiences of those who were most affected by them – residents and witnesses.
Released in Spring of 2015, Minerva Monster was the first film in the series, and explored strange occurrences in 1970’s Minerva, OH. Several years later, STM has released Beast of Whitehall, Boggy Creek Monster, The Mothman of Point Pleasant, Invasion on Chestnut Ridge, The Flatwoods Monster: A Legacy of Fear, On the Trail of… Champ, Bray Road Beast; with On the Trail of Bigfoot, Terror In the Skies, and MOMO coming in 2019.
Seth Breedlove is a filmmaker best known for his production company and the films they’ve produced under the Small Town Monsters banner. Before film, Seth wrote for a number of websites, newspapers and magazines and learned some of the skills he employs as a director while working as a reporter. Seth has also appeared on numerous television and radio programs.
In 2013 Seth began working on the concept for a series titled Small Town Monsters. The first chapter in this series is the film Minerva Monster. Seth wrote and directed the film. He has since begun working on more projects which will fall under the Small Town Monsters umbrella including Beast of Whitehall, for which he also acted as cinematographer.
In 2016 Seth directed and edited his first full-length feature, Boggy Creek Monster. He has led the creation of all Small Town Monsters productions.