FIELD FILE · OWLMANFLYINGLOCAL LEGEND

Owlman

Also known as Owlman of Mawnan, Cornish Owlman

A man-sized, owl-like figure reported over Mawnan church in Cornwall in 1976 – a modern legend shadowed by the showman who first publicised it.

The Owlman is one of Britain’s strangest modern monsters: a feathered, winged “bird-man” said to haunt the woods around the 13th-century church of St Mawnan and St Stephen, which stands on a wooded headland above the mouth of the Helford River in south Cornwall. Unlike most British cryptids, it has no deep folkloric past – the legend begins in 1976.

According to the story, on 17 April 1976 two young sisters on a family holiday, June and Vicky Melling, saw a huge winged creature hovering above the church tower. Their father is said to have cut the holiday short. The account reached the public through Tony “Doc” Shiels, an Irish-born artist, stage magician and self-styled wizard who was then busy “raising” monsters around Falmouth, and who said the girls’ sketch showed a feathered man with pointed ears. The name “Owlman” comes from his accounts.

Further reports followed. On 3 July 1976, according to Shiels, two 14-year-old campers, Sally Chapman and Barbara Perry, saw a “big owl with pointed ears, as big as a man” with glowing eyes and black, pincer-like claws, rising from the trees near the church. More sightings were claimed in 1978, 1979, 1989 and 1995, often by teenage girls and holidaymakers, and the cryptozoologist Jonathan Downes collected them in his 1997 book The Owlman and Others.

Doubts have shadowed the tale from the start. Many early witnesses were known only through Shiels, the original sketches have never been produced, and the occult historian Gareth Medway has suggested the whole affair was one of Shiels’s playful hoaxes. Others think the girls simply saw a large owl – perhaps an escaped eagle-owl – in the twilight. Either way, the Owlman has become a fixture of Cornish weird lore and of horror fiction.

Type

Flying

Status

Local legend

First reported

1976

Best-known location

Mawnan church woods, near Falmouth, Cornwall

Also called

Owlman of Mawnan, Cornish Owlman

Reported in

England

What witnesses describe

A man-sized, grey-feathered figure with an owl-like face, pointed “ears”, large glowing red eyes, wide wings and black, pincer-like claws on its feet. Said to rise silently from the trees.

Where and when it’s seen

Woodland and the churchyard around St Mawnan’s church on the Helford estuary, mostly at dusk in summer.

Notable sightings

1. April 17, 1976The Melling sisters Mawnan, Cornwall

   Two young sisters on holiday, June and Vicky Melling, reported a huge winged figure hovering above the church tower. The account was publicised by Tony “Doc” Shiels.

2. July 3, 1976The campers’ sighting Mawnan woods, Cornwall

   According to Shiels, two 14-year-old girls, Sally Chapman and Barbara Perry, saw a man-sized “owl” with glowing eyes standing among the pines near the church.

3. Summer 1978Renewed reports Mawnan, Cornwall

   Teenage visitors again described a feathered, owl-like creature flying up through the trees near Mawnan church, extending the legend.

What could explain it?

• Large owls – particularly the Eurasian eagle-owl, sometimes kept and occasionally escaped in Britain – can look startlingly big and man-like in poor light; barn owls also nest in church towers.
• Many early accounts came only via Tony “Doc” Shiels, a professional showman who openly staged “monster-raising” events; a hoax is widely suspected.
• The original drawings and first-hand testimony have never been independently published, making the core story impossible to check.

Legend, culture and tourism

The Owlman appears in Cornish ghost tours, the 2013 horror film Lord of Tears, the play Horse Piss for Blood and many paranormal TV shows. It is often compared with America’s Mothman.

Places to visit

Where it’s reported

England Cornwall

Owlman in the news

No recent headlines about the Owlman. Our news desk checks every day — see all cryptid news.

First published October 13, 2026 · Updated October 14, 2026