This Paranormal Life - #401 The Mantis Man - Alien or Cryptid?

Episode Date: January 14, 2025

The world of the paranormal is a strange one. Just when you think you've heard about every cryptid under the sun, you find yourself by a river in New Jersey, looking into the cold dead eyes of a 7 foot praying mantis. How have we never heard of this cryptid before? Well, because maybe this creature isn't actually a cryptid after all...Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTubeJoin our Secret Society Facebook CommunitySupport us on Patreon.com/ThisParanormalLife to get access to weekly bonus episodes!Buy Official TPL Merch! - thisparanormallife.com/storeIntro music by www.purple-planet.comEdited by Philip Shacklady Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What happens to all my iPhone charging cables? Does a goblin steal them in the night? Why do cryptids love swamps so much? All of these questions you can find the answer to on THIS PARANORMAL LIFE! Hello everyone and welcome back to This Paranormal Life, the comedy paranormal podcast where every week myself, Rory Powers, and my co-host Kit Grier-Mulvenna investigate a brand new paranormal tale and come to a conclusion as to whether or not it truly is paranormal. Wow. Even though we are on our second episode of the year so far, this is actually technically the first episode recorded in 2025. Right. Using the power of magic and Hollywood and editing. We were very different place psychologically

on episode 400. Which I think you can tell, because our brains were pretty much spaghetti by that point. Yeah, do you think? It worked thematically then, didn't it? It worked to just kind of, yeah. I've always said that I shouldn't drink because my IQ is low enough as it is.

You know, you can't afford to lose any points. Absolutely not. It's actually, I think you can hear, it sounds like I'm slurring my words right now and I'm stone cold sober at two in the afternoon. I shouldn't do it. And yet I did. I did for episode 400, just to kick back with my friend Rory and, and to investigate a paranormal case.

But I do think I should be, I don't know if I should be partaking in dry January, but I should be, January I need to be sobering up, all right, to the cold hard realities of the pod, to the paranormal. We need to straighten up. And honestly, life. Get back to business. I need to get my life together, bro. Oh, okay.

I just need to like, I'm a horrible dad. I don't think we need to go into this on the podcast. Cause that also, that seems like some personal stuff. Sometimes my daughter's like talking and I'm just like, yeah, daddy needs a whiskey. All right. Just, just play with your toys or whatever. Cause yeah, daddy's going to be in the pub.

All right. You're like, you know what, daddy, could you, you know what he'd love? A little, remember the little toy that daddy loves? Jack Daniels. His little action figure, Jack Daniels? Maybe you could get it for daddy. You're like on the kitchen floor, lying down, just in your underwear. So it sounds like you had an interesting Christmas break then.

It was successful. Okay. It was successful. I actually, I had one goal, you know, forgetting New Year's resolutions. I had a Christmas resolution, which was- Hell yeah. Post-pandemic. I haven't seen my family in years,

my extended family, by the way, my parents, aunts, uncles, siblings, whatever. And you've been trying to see them too, like they're trying to get in contact, but they seem to try and avoid you whenever possible. Well, it's because I'm sick as a dog every eight days, thanks to... That seems like a different thing

that needs to be addressed. Because they don't want to see, I'm like a rabid sick dog. Get you up to Christmas dinner in a bio suit. He was masked up, fully protected. He could barely fit Turkey through the opening where he was receiving his oxygen. So that was my one goal, which I did achieve for the first winter in ages.

I didn't really get sick. Hey, well, well done. And you haven't been sick since none of the holiday period. I mean, a little bit of a runny nose, obviously, but not properly. Not bad. Did I make my whole family sick? Yeah, obviously. But not properly.

I was bedridden for a weekend or two. Yeah, of course. I don't count that. That was New Year's weekend. What about you? How was yours? Was it successful? Mine was interesting.

I went back to Northern Ireland to catch up with the family, looking forward to just getting together with all of my loved ones and having a big celebratory dinner. Turns out it wasn't a dinner. The whole thing was one big intervention to try and get me in one location.

What? It turns out the whole family's actually not that keen that I've spent the last five to seven years hosting a paranormal podcast and decided that this was the time, Christmas day, like Ebenezer Scrooge, I would have some sort of awakening and they could trick me into becoming a lawyer

or work for charity or something like my brother does. Well, thank God. I assume you still have your cyanide tooth like I do. No, I lost it. I lost it in the turkey. He tried to bite down. I bit on a kernel of corn instead. I said, see you later, f**kers.

See you in hell. And I bit down on what I thought was my cyanide tooth. But unfortunately, it was just the corner piece of a Brussels sprout. And I actually didn't die. Which was so bitter you thought you were dying. You were like, I'm fading from this world, mama. Joking aside, I did have a really nice Christmas.

I think the highlight for me was, I know we always joke about my brother being incredibly rich and handsome and successful and being kind of a philanthropist and all that kind of stuff. The highlight for Christmas this year truly was the moment we both opened up our presents that had been gifted from our sister this year. And my brother, this is not a joke, my brother got a plaque that you can put on the wall

and hang your medals. That I think the plaque says like mission accomplished. And you know, you can hang all your medals. But I think the plaque says like mission accomplished and you know you can hang all your medals you've gotten from like trophies like marathons and things like that. She gives you just a roll of bin bags. She's like you just you own a bunch of shit. Put it on your head. She can put your shit in bin bags I guess. I got a rubber ball on an elastic string.

Like a dog? Attached to a strap that you can put on your head. Yeah. And you can punch the ball and it kind of will go and come back. I think we've all seen that game on Instagram actually. Yeah. Looks pretty fun. Yeah.

Yeah. So that was my gift. So it's kind of like calling here something that you can literally fill with the many achievements that you've managed to accomplish in your life. And Rory, you could do this for hours, but you're never going to get tired of this. It's a ball on a string. And yeah, I spent most of my time back home with the ball on the string because you can play little games where you see how many times you can punch it and stuff like that.

There was only a few times it got wrapped around my throat and I had to be resuscitated at the dinner table. Um, we had a lovely break, lovely New Year's, but we're excited of course to be back with you guys for another fresh year of this paranormal life. This is episode 401 of the podcast and let me tell you we're this late in the game and I think this might be our best episode yet. There was a chance we didn't come back, wasn't there? There was a chance we hit 400. I'm not saying I thought about it, but now that we're saying it, there's something funny about it. It's episode 401! It's like, wow.

So you really sailed right past a really nice place to end the show forever. Right, kind of end of the year, we did a best of episode, did episode 400. If you actually watch the video recording of episode 400, right at the end, Kit and I are both trying to bite down on a tooth. We're searching in the mouth to try and end the fog there. There's just something funny about having such an amazing

emotional high point, and then being like, and 401! And we're back! 401's great too. 401 is really exciting. Really exciting, guys. Yeah, I kind of wish I'd picked a... Well, no, it is an important case, obviously,

is what I'm saying. You know, I'd kind of wish I'd picked a well. No, it is an important case. Obviously. This is what I'm saying You know, I think I think this time last year knowing that it was a new year We did a themed episode that was like the ten superstitions to avoid, you know, very Thematic a great start for everyone totally this year also important the case that we're covering today A lot of people will know what it is already because they've read the title I can't see you'll know from the description. No one's show him the title. I'm like trapped in the recording right now This is like Black Mirror y'all can see the title everyone hearing me Today's episode we're back in one of the most wonderful and weird states in America. Oh.

New Jersey. Okay, I don't know why I wasn't expecting that person. I was expecting a more off the beaten track state. In terms of the paranormal, New Jersey knocks it out of the park. They've got Mothman, the Jersey Devil, so many paranormal creatures. But today, we're investigating a creature even stranger than all of those combined. What?

Prepare yourself, Kit, as we tell the tale of the New Jersey Mantis Man. Whoa, what? Ha ha ha ha! Let me tell you, by the end of this episode, you're gonna be the one that's praying. Yeah. Like a praying mantis.

Got it. Praying he doesn praying mantis. Got it. Praying he doesn't turn up. We're going to hear all about it right after a quick word from today's sponsors and a reminder you can get every episode of This Paranormal Life ad free on patreon.com forward slash this paranormal life. Please come back. I just- Why would they not come back?

Yeah. No, why would they not come back? It's just like I said, because we teed it up as like 401 and like, yeah. All right. Best year. Hey, 2025 best year yet. No, why would they not come back? It's just like I said, because we teed it up as like 401 and like, yeah, all right, best year, hey, 2025, best year yet. But a big, exciting year. Biggest, the biggest episodes for this year. Please come back, because-

The Mantis Man. The Mantis Man. Hey, you know, he might not talk about The Mantis Man. Think about that. I'm going to talk pretty much exclusively about The Mantis Man. There might be something more exciting, even cooler and snappier. I've been looking up a lot of mantis facts. Oh, right.

I've been working on my mantis impression. Come back. We're done. And we're going to talk about the mantis man. Okay Kit, the legend today kicks off along the banks of the Muscannet Kong River in New Jersey. It was dusk and two men were kicking back and doing a little fishing. Damn, we just aren't biting today.

Well Paul, catching a fish is a bit like making love. All you can do is dangle your worm out there and hope you don't get a catfish. While fishing. Alright, I've clearly left out a section of the story here that I probably was supposed to keep in because it jumps straight to, he slowly turned his head towards the buzzing. So if we could have some kind of buzzing sound effects, that would be great, Phil, at that point in the story.

And then that's when Paul Jacks saw it. Paul Jacks? Yeah, we're moving, this isn't a well-written story. I'm starting to realize that right now. That's the guy's name I'm pretty sure but that's when he saw it. No clues as to why did we need to cut to this dramatization at all? One of these men Paul sees something up river and he turns his head in the direction of whatever this thing is And that's when he saw it standing down downriver, twitching between the trees,

was a seven-foot mantis-like creature staring at him with jet black eyes. You've spotted something like this. You know, Kit, you're a fisherman in the wild. What's your first thought? Gun, shoot. Where's my bullets? Gun, shoot!

Yeah, kind of a terrifying situation. You know, you are a hunter. You've come out there to catch an animal, you know, as a fisherman. But you're not at the level of hunter where you're out there with a rifle, you know, hunting bears. Fisherman's the lowest level of hunter.

You know at the hunting lodge, the fishermen don't get a look in. They got to sit at the kiddie table while the other hunters post up the bar. Yeah, the other hunters are like, got the head of a bear inside of a bag and they're wearing like a coat made of eagles. They announce they arrive at the bar by just slamming a shotgun down on the counter. Right, and the fishermen are like, I actually, sorry to interrupt gentlemen, I actually caught a trout earlier today

Which was a freshwater fish not usually seen in these these parts and he was uh, golly he must have been half a foot Three inches. Yeah Exactly. So yeah, I don't think you're not prepared for an encounter with a beast like this. Look, it's fine I know to laugh about the idea of seeing a seven-foot mantis man But Kit it's time to take this case seriously. Because I want you to listen to how the creature is described. The two men said the creature was fading as it moved upriver, almost as if it was disappearing and reappearing in a fog.

Paul panicked and began to flee upstream, away from the beast, trying to keep one eye on the creature as he ran. But Paul wouldn't be able to track him for long because within four seconds, the creature literally disappeared into nothing right in front of him. Convenient for the story, but I do like that.

To me, this is giving Predator a la Alien vs Predator. Yes, someone exactly disappear into the forest. I know this is all quite hard to believe. We're getting started very quickly in today's episode, but hey if you don't believe me, why don't you listen to Paul tell this story himself? That's when I saw the movement on the bank, something hideous and huge. When I first saw the creature, I was like, what the heck is that? This thing had the skin of a snake where our abdomen is and where all our organs are. It had a very narrow core. The creature's eyes were black, very large,

but set in the front, so it had binocular vision. And those insect eyes had paw in its sights. This thing was fading very quickly as it moved up the bank, and all that time never took its eyes off of me. It was one, two, three, God. It vanished completely, but I'm sure that it was still there. Maybe you question yourself, you know, did that really just happen? But it did.

It was a praying mantis man. That's the only way I could describe it. Praying mantis man. Yep. That's the only way. I don't disagree. We really are on episode 400, aren't we? Ah! Woo!

I like that guy, I will say. I like his energy of what he's... Right? Because very often we'll have like, especially back, I don't know why, back in the day, we always had witnesses, you know, where I would be like, hey, we've got a recording of one of the witnesses describing it.

And it'd be like, by the way, he was kicked in the head by a donkey as a child. He has three teeth. He drinks a bottle of vodka a day and you're, go on, oh my gosh, he came over the ridge and it's like pulling teeth, listening,

pulling three teeth, listening to this guy. Specifically. I'm glad that Paul here is, he's like, alright, I'm sitting in the boat, boom, praying mantis man, right in front of my vision. He's got two eyes, boom, boom, left, right, two eyes. There's a lot of clips that, you know, as a paranormal investigator,

you really want that sound bite where he's like, it was a praying mantis man is what it was. I was on the river, I looked up, I saw a bug, the size of a man, it was seven foot tall. The way he talks is so like straightforward and direct. Yeah. It does really help.

I mean, look, I know we're all joking around here. Ha ha ha. A bug the size of a man, stalking fishermen in a river. But the people I think you'll find in today's case, the people who have seen this thing, they take this shit very seriously. And I do want to, you know, I want to address

early on in the podcast. The one thing that I do know about fishermen is that they are stereotypically known for a bit of exaggeration. True. Good point. You know, you catch a, uh, a one foot, seven foot praying mantis man. Yeah. Was it maybe just a very large regular praying mantis bug?

Uh, it's also worth noting that I am not a fisherman. So, uh, in the past on this podcast, when I have said that my penis is roughly the size of a baby elephant trunk, that is fact, not exaggeration because we are reputable members of society. Too big. If that were the case, too big. Look, we don't just have to take the words of these two men. The creature was seen by two more fishermen.

Yes, still fishermen, but witnesses nonetheless. Who else is at a river? Who else is at a river but teens shooting up heroin or fishermen? And who would you rather get the witness testimony from, huh? Drinking teens, fishermen, and at one point, baby Moses. Those are the only people that are down by the river. But what you'll find is, kid, that their description of the encounter is not only the same as each individual but they start to detail some very interesting characteristics that are gonna raise some questions in today's case.

Joe Parenti and his brother were down at the same area, the same river, fishing in the isolated waters of the Muskenetcong River, when all of a sudden, Joe started to feel a vibration in his right ear. He turned his head slowly to see a seven-foot mantis man at the banks of the river. Oh yeah, he back. It looked like it was eating something, and Joe had just interrupted dinner time. I caught from the corner of my eye

a creature that was seven feet tall, brown and black scale. This giant mantis man was feeding on some kind of prey. Joe had interrupted its meal. To my amazement, I saw a humanoid, seven feet tall, looking down at me, but yet with the head to the tilt, moving its mouth. A monstrous mouth, straight out of a nightmare.

I was so damn scared. It was the eyes. His dark eyes were just so intense. I believe it could kill me. The creature Joe saw matched other sightings almost exactly. The f*** off, no. What do you think about? No, no, no, no, no.

I need more information. We're not discussing anything at this point. We're not discussing anything. Paul Jacks and Joe Parenti, two individuals that have both seen, they don't dance around it. They're like, I was at the river and I saw a bug the size of a f***ing car.

You never see a bug. You never see a giant bug. Yeah, it's insane. It's insane. I don't know if really ever on this paranormal life, we've just had giant bug be the cryptid. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. In hindsight, yeah. There's usually a bit more ambiguity and romance to it. They were down there. They saw something. It looked a bit like this. It looked a bit like that.

Whereas you talk to these guys and they're like, Mantis Man, giant praying mantis man. No question about it. That's what it was. All right, look, let me engage paranormal investigator mode. I've just been reacting to this as Rory's nemesis, really trying to shut the thing down. Which is cruel, by the way. But let me step in.

I don't deserve that. To this paranormal life investigator mode. Yeah. And say, okay, let's think about this. But let me step in. I don't deserve that. To this paranormal life investigator mode and say, okay, let's think about this. Giant insect cryptid. We've seen in previous cases about UFOs. We had a scientist. Hello. Sarbacher, isn't that his name?

Can't remember his first name. He sounds like a bug for sure. It was on one of the big expose investigations into looking through declassified documents. And there was a physicist called Sarbacher and he had worked on government programs. And it was towards the end of our investigation, we kind of read one of his letters and it kind of humorously, humorously, casually just drops that he's like, yeah, I worked on a bunch of that shit. And they said that aliens were like bugs or whatever.

Yeah. And he drops these kind of weird, like this very famous scientist dropped these kind of weird, weirdly casual pieces of information about aliens. But that stuck with me, that he said they were allegedly they're like insects and that's how they can withstand huge G-forces, how their crafts can travel across space and time without destroying their bodies like it would to a human body.

Because they don't got no bones. Yeah, they're invertebrates, etc. I don't really know how bugs work, but I don't think they have bones. So that's a thing. Yeah, that's why like, the spider can jump off the roof of your house and survive. Right. Even though proportionally, if we did that, we would be Heinz tomato soup. That's interesting.

Why do they have to be bugs? Why did the aliens have to be bugs? They couldn't have been like pandas. You know, they had to look like anything on this earth. They couldn't have looked like a kitten or something. Wouldn't that be nice? I got baby panda. You know, we've all seen the videos. They're very cute. They just roll around. They don't, they're pretty aimless. I think it's because you've seen videos of baby pandas, they would be incapable of operating a space program I think. With their little paws, like trying to reach the buttons and stuff. Whereas you know praying mantises would try, if they were big enough. They just can't reach

the buttons on the control panel. They're like, we've evolved beyond prayer. We're no longer praying mantis. We use science. Whereas like you have a little cute monkey or something. He's never going to conquer the world. His love of bananas gets in the way. That's what the aliens think about us. We are the cute monkeys to them that will never be smart aliens because we love bananas so goddamn much. Humans, humans are funny and sad that way, aren't they? Cause we love bananas. We are part monkey.

I think that's how science works. We're part monkey. We also love war and hurting each other. Sure, like monkeys. Not that well, they're not to the same extent that we love it. We love like drones and shit for some reason. That's just cause we have a brain.

If you gave a monkey a gun, he would shoot every other monkey in the zoo, for sure. I'm not a scientist. I'm not a zoologist, but hey, have we ever tried giving a monkey a gun before? Just to see what happens? Hear me out here. Just give them a potato gun. Like we don't need to, there doesn't need to be dire physical consequences here. Oh yeah, you know what we should do? We do the die hard thing, where we give the monkey the gun, but it's got no bullets in it. So when the monkey is like, oh yeah, you know what we should do? We do the die-hard thing, where we give the monkey the gun, but it's got no bullets in it. Yeah.

So when the monkey is like, oh yeah, is this a gun do? He grabs my head and pops it like a water balloon. It's like, oh, forgot you're really strong. You guys actually don't need bullets. Humans are kind of weak and chubby. That's why we needed weapons and stuff. That's why we need clothes and body armor. Crazy. Look, my second point.

No, I love this. Let's keep going. In support is that, you know, there sometimes goes a theory, it feels a little wacky but there sometimes is a theory that there's creatures on Earth looking at you jellyfish. Occasionally people will be like, did you know jellyfish DNA doesn't match any other type of animal? They're on some kind of other path of evolution that is very different to everything else that's going on. And sometimes people wonder, is that because they are aliens? No, not in a,

not in like a, they didn't come down in a UFO. No. But maybe, let's say DNA that was on a microbe on an asteroid once crashed into earth. Yeah. A hundred thousand years ago, or no, a lot longer, millions of years ago and then it started a separate chain of evolution. Are there creatures here on earth, which were once aliens, but they've now evolved on earth instead? For the record, I think it was a jelly ship, but I can see why people would disagree with that hypothesis. I think it was a UFO made of goo that kind of came down, most likely jizzed in the ocean and the jellyfish were created.

Yeah. Kind of salt burned into the ocean. I think we all know that praying mantises are the most, by far, even like biology teachers are like, for real, is this guy really from Earth? Like, he's very different to all the other bugs. The idea of a biology teacher knowing everything all about bugs and they're teaching you, this is a bumblebee, this is a ladybug. Between you and me, this thing is f***ed up. This thing is wild.

I don't know what's going on with this thing. Yeah, when they were learning to be a biology teacher on day one of class when they were showing the prey mantis, they were like, oh hell no, no, no, no. Yeah. I think Joe's testimony, the second one, is really where the story does get interesting because Joe claims the moment he saw the mantis man, he was put into a trance-like state where he experienced a strange tingling sensation, a loud humming inside of his head, among other symptoms. You know, we're looking at something here possibly beyond a cryptid. We're drifting into something extra-terrestrial, just like Kidd said. I mean, listen to how he describes his encounter with the Mantis Man.

I was getting the sense that this creature was sucking information right out of me before I was even thinking it. Wake up. Finally, the mantis released its hole on Joe's consciousness. And there was a fog that kind of came through. And it was nothing but steam. And then it cleared and gone. I couldn't control myself. Then I lost grip of my bodily functions. So

at this point in the reenactment, he has fallen to his knees in the swamp. He just paused at the right time there. I think he was going into a lot of detail what happened. He's like, I couldn't control myself, I fell to my knees and well, you know, I kind of lost control of every bodily function if you know what I'm saying. And so the producers like stop talking. He's like, so you know what I'm trying to say is my asshole was ripped a new one. What do you think about these symptoms from the sighting? This is starting to sound kind of familiar

and it's a lot of symptoms that we hear about not encrypted cases. Yeah I mean let me throw back to you. I mean do that you're saying it sounds very familiar is that with a specific case you're thinking of or something? I don't want to put words in anyone's mouth or jump to any conclusions too early in the podcast. But what we're seeing here is a lot of similarities between instances where people have come in contact with aliens or UFOs.

Nausea, mind reading, disappearing bugs. Oh yeah, I don't know what that's got to do with it's all very paranormal Yeah, yeah. Yeah. No look Yeah, mind reading. Absolutely bugs can't do that as far as I'm concerned. Yeah. Yeah, because if they could I wouldn't be stepping on So many snails in a given week They would simply telepathically tell me to not step on them But they don't write if they could minds, spiders would stop coming into my apartment. Because for a spider, that's like trying to live in Jigsaw's house.

You were going to be killed in some kind of satanic way, sacrifice to the spider gods. You're not living for more than 15 seconds in my house. Yeah. So if they could read minds, they'd stay far away. Whereas, as you say, many alien cases describe something, I guess, by read minds, they'd stay far away Whereas as you say many alien cases describe something I guess by all accounts aliens never talk, you know You would say for alien cases You know the frustrating thing is they often look very similar from case to case and they're quite stereotypically humanoid Which is sometimes disappointing but I would say everything else about their behavior is not that stereotypical.

Aliens truly have zero Riz. And like, their chat game is weak. It's dry. They also have no drip. No drip, no Riz. Some of them are literally dripping with goo and other substances, but in terms of fashion, when was the last time we saw one of these motherf*****s in some cool like metal suit or something, you know? Yeah. The last person to look cool in a swamp was Sam the Jester. You mean to tell me you're a hundred thousand years more advanced than we are and you haven't even heard of Chrome Hearts, Rick Owens, Gucci?

Right. Okay. I know that one. I didn't know the other two ones he said, so I was feeling a little out of place there. Yeah, they very rarely talk with individuals. It's mostly sucking information from people or just trying to leave as soon as you catch a glimpse of them. You are right in the dictionary definition of Riz. They do not have any bedside manner. They don't have any chat. They just, they're inart scientific. Bug-like, because they're not. Not to be confused with Bud Light. Bug-like.

Bug-like is a totally different drink. It's delicious. Yeah, so can I get a Bud Light? I'm all out, I've got Bug-like. It's like a bug. Which is a rusty can of river water. Yeah, but I think that's, I think it, that almost feels more realistic because I think we are mammals. We are animals. We are mammals.

That means, and being a mammal means you have hair on your body. You like sucking on tits. And I think you like rock music. I think that's what all mammals like you know what I mean like from bears through to humans. Before Kit got married that was his Tinder bio Hairy body loves sucking on tits Listen to Pearl Jam all right, that's what mammals- I'm bug-like and I like Bud Light Cuz the amount I'm drinking you think I got eight arms. This insect is have-in-sex. How about that?

Have-in-sex. I put the sex in insects. Not incest. People have confused that before. You know, this case is great because what we're seeing is each witness reporting really the same thing. A towering insect like creature that resembles a humanoid praying mantis down by the exact same river every time. One police report detailed the case of someone referenced

as Mr. Strickler, who was another witness to the Mantis Man. The police report testimony said, quote, I saw something strange a few weeks ago on the river near my home here in Hackettstown, New Jersey. I was driving home from the drugstore on Newburgh Road. As I drove near the bridge over the river, I noticed to my left something, in brackets, I thought it was a fisherman, standing in the river just off the south bank. I slowed the car and looked closer. It wasn't a person. It was a transparent-like bug with a weird shape. It moved slowly towards the bank and into the trees. I drove further along so I could see it coming out

of the trees, but that's the last I saw of it. It was eight foot tall or so, and had long thin arms hanging off it. The color was a pale brown, but I could see through it. The head was small compared to the body. It was sunny that day, so I thought it might be glare from the weather, but after, I thought back, I realized I wasn't seeing a mirage or a glare. Damn broad daylight.

Yeah, spotting this thing. This case is putting a whole new spin on the song, I went down to the river to pray. This is written by the bug. Look, we need to figure out what this thing is for ourselves. It's not gonna be up to just the witnesses today, Kit. We need to look at the the options, look at the theories, and figure out whether or not we think the Mantis Man is real. Is it a cryptid? Could it be something more otherworldly? We need to talk theories and maybe even see a detailed painting of the creature done by one of the real life witnesses.

Oh, he did it again. We'll maybe see a piece of evidence. We just might. Can you guess what's coming up? Can you guess what's coming up? I think switch off now, guys. I think given Rory's track record, he says maybe it's a hard no. It's a hard no to that thing happening.

The first ad break you started by saying please don't go away. He might not exclusively talk about a mantis man. They came back. I talked about the mantis man non-stop for 30 minutes. Now I'm saying there might be some evidence. So I think he should definitely. If there is evidence just say there is. There could be some evidence. Maybe a painting done by one of the there is evidence, just say there is. There could be some evidence. Maybe a painting done by one of the witnesses. No, good enough for me. I think I'll leave.

Maybe, maybe we'll see it. Right after a quick word from today's sponsors. Getting dressed should be simple. If you're like me, you wanna look good, feel comfortable and be ready for anything. That's why I love Dior. It's not active wear, but it's not just fashion. It's the best of both worlds, where performance meets style.

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knew and loved The Beatles. The list of people I talk to is surprising and their stories are fascinating. The Beetleology Interviews. Subscribe now. Acast helps creators launch, grow and monetize their podcasts everywhere. Acast.com. All right, welcome back to the podcast. Of course, Kit will yell at me anytime we come back from the break And I don't immediately make good on every single promise that I made directly before the ad break So why don't we take a look at the painting? That's right. There is a painting done by I just say I regret saying I should shoot the creature you asked me what I would do at the start of the episode

If I saw this thing and I said shoot it immediately now, that's interesting. Why do you think that is a mistake? Because I think we're dealing here with something potentially rather precious to our understanding of our place in the universe and life as we know it. Right, so you should sneak up behind it and execute it in the back of the head. I'm calling the police and scientists

to tell them that I found this undiscovered life form. And the scientists are like, oh my God, if we could get this thing's brain to the lab, we could understand the secrets of human consciousness. I'm like, yeah, it's going to be pretty tough. The brain is pretty much blasted all over the river bank. I hit it with a 12 gauge and then give it another hock tour just for fun. Yeah, they're like, if we can bring it to the lab, we can examine it and maybe understand our place in the universe. You look up at the creature's limp body drifting down river. You're like, yeah, I can probably fish it out if you want. Yeah, I mean, this seems like something who even when spotted just tries to run away.

So at the very least, it doesn't deserve to die, right? It's not a threat to humanity. Yeah, the video did look threatening though. When you see, I mean, the animation we were shown was like a bowling animation. It was quite bad. Oh, yeah. But yeah, I mean, you can imagine a praying mantis blown up to eight feet tall is life threatening. Terrifying. If you've ever seen Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, you know, when they like meet an

ant in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and it's like the size of a rhinoceros. Yeah. But then again, I think in that movie, the ants turned out to be friendly and they started riding the ants. Yeah. Although we do know that praying mantises in real life, I believe, don't they notoriously- Oh, we're going to get onto this.

The dark shit that they do. Let's hold it for later then. Side note, I was such a chubby kid growing up that I watched all of Honey I Shrunk the Kids, an incredible adventure and tale of shrinking down to the size of a flee and exploring the wilderness of your backyard. And the best part of that entire movie for me was when they find a cookie in the garden and the cookie's the size of a house.

And they're just eating this cookie for like two days. And my little fat ass is like, oh my God. God, I wish that were me. I'd be shrunk, shrink me now if I could eat a cookie that big. Genuinely. It's like, really? You'll never see any of your loved ones ever again. I'll take the cookie. I'll really take the cookie. They can just buy you a bag of cookies. They're really cheap. I think the movie showed how dangerous it is to be that size.

At one point, they're almost killed by rain. Water almost kills them. And I'm like, damn, that cookie's big. Getting back to the painting, this painting was actually done by one of the witnesses that we heard earlier that retold their encounter on the TV show called Monsters and Mysteries in America. I don't know which witness it was but it was one of the ones that we heard from. They wrote in a post three years ago. I was on the television show monsters and mysteries in America Having been a witness to well an odd Apparation while fishing on the Muskinek Kong River in New Jersey

They portrayed it as basically a cartoonish praying mantis of improbable size I'm gonna go ahead and say I don't necessarily think that's just the fault of the creative directors of the TV show. Yeah, didn't those words come out of your mouth, guy? A lot of people described it as they were like it was nothing else it was a seven-foot praying mantis man. Sure. But this individual said not the case at all. I had even submitted sketches to the producers prior to the taping sketches that I used to paint the picture shown below. The other witnesses on the episode also described a humanoid so why the program opted to depict a giant bug is not clear. That is actually a fair point. In the TV show it we're not looking at something here that is half

human half mantis. It is just an enormous bug. Yep. It really is. Yeah, they didn't make any effort to use artistic license. It is a blown up bug. Right. So let me tell you, Kit, my mind was blown when I saw the painting done by a witness of the creature that was seen that day. Check this out. that was seen that day. Check this out. Yeah, I don't like that. Isn't that genuinely kind of terrifying? So for the record, what we're seeing here is not a praying mantis. It is essentially the head of an alien gray,

but the kind of torso and legs and upper body of something that is a bit more like a bug. The arms of the thing kind of dangling off of it, but they are transparent, almost like mist. But this thing looks way more like we're talking, if you saw that, people would go to alien before they would go to bug. Yeah, it is, I will say it is pretty much perfectly threading the needle between alien, grey and praying mantis. I'll say that because clearly what we're getting at here is the reason praying mantis was used was the proportions of the body as we can see here an incredibly fine waistline. This thing is hitting the Atkins diet on the Zempik. It is getting every Hollywood fad diet going to get that waistline.

Its waist goes down to such a fine point that its entire upper body looks like it's a ghost that's emerging from a genie's lamp. It looks like a wisp of smoke that's coming out of its own legs. Which is true of a praying mantis. And praying mantises are also, I guess am I right in saying, they're basically the only humanoid bug in the sense that they stand on two legs kind of. Oh, there is even more weird pragmatist facts. Let me tell you. So I love this.

This is good. I knew you'd love this. It's quite an artful little oil painting. It would be actually a nice little scene on a I mean, let's face it, not not in a gallery, but in a charity shop, you'd see this oil painting. If it didn't have the alien in it. Not in a gallery, but in a sane asylum. Or some similar institution.

Yeah, genuinely terrifying. I think when I saw this, everything clicked into place. I started to realize, what were... We need to kill all bugs. Everything clicked into place. I called my mom, told her I loved her. I donated a bunch of money to charity. I watched Starship Troopers and I thought it was a documentary about World War II.

I thought that's what World War II was. World War I was all the human shit. World War II, I assumed, was us versus bugs. Once we'd figured out our differences. I do want to just quickly latch onto, I thought that was very interesting. He called it a quote unquote apparition. Yeah. Seemingly referring to the see-through nature of this thing.

It was coming and going. Yeah. I mean, this is it. You know, when, when have we ever investigated a cryptid where people talk about mind reading, the creature disappearing, being put in a trance-like state. Joe Parenti said he was caught in a trance. And as we heard in the clip,

that the creature was sucking thoughts and information out of his brain before he could think it. Bigfoot isn't doing that. Well, hey, according- Well, don't get you started on Bigfoot. No, I'm just saying according to the real Bigfoot fanatics he has a jetpack there's nothing there's

nothing Bigfoot can't do I think the last time you talked about Bigfoot you're trying to tell me he was an interdimensional time traveler yeah and I was like I thought he was a big monkey yeah I thought he was a big guy in the hairy dude in the woods look the alien theory is a strong one, but for the sake of argument, let's look at other possible explanations for today's case. All right, number one, we got to talk about it. A science experiment gone wrong. Is this an experiment gone wrong kit in terms of DNA splicing?

Right. Or did a man have sex with a bug? I suppose we have to face the fact that if everyone's calling it a praying mantis and if a praying mantis is an established Normal not cryptid being here on earth has been here for millions of years Yeah, it's a little bit of a speed bump in our story, right? You know, how do we how do you square that circle? No, and I suppose you either square it by saying no no No, it's not really like a praying mantis or yeah, something else weird is going on. Yeah, we hear this a lot in cryptid cases. If there's a weird creature in the woods, you know, the hypothesis is there's some experimental lab nearby splicing human DNA with praying mantis DNA to create the most faithful soldier part, all spiritual, uh, to go out on the

battlefield. Um, and then this monstrosity gets loose. Uh, Resident Evil style kills all the scientists probably with his little hands and then runs out into the jungle. And now he can turn invisible, I guess. The corporation that made sea monkeys, uh, accidentally did something, created a giant sea monkey at all the scientists. Right, right. Or this is, yes, some sort of genetic crossbreeding where humans had sex with a bug and it became enormous for some reason.

Yeah. I don't know. Maybe this mantis was praying he would get laid and that's what happened. It came true. But unfortunately, to put a little pinhole in that hypothesis, according to one website, scientifically it would be impossible for the Earth's atmosphere to sustain

a praying mantis that large. Sure. I was really hoping you were gonna say, I Googled it and no, a woman could not birth a praying mantis. Yeah, I think just being that size alongside the Earth's atmosphere and gravitational pull, it would just kind of crumple.

Right, I think that's part of why we have bones, yeah. Right, to keep us up. Number two, this isn't a mantis. Could it be a different cryptid that lives in the woods? Like a lizard man or a vegetable man that is just getting confused with a praying mantis, right? It could be we've seen a lot of weird shit, especially in New Jersey This could be a cryptid that has just coincidentally been given the name mantis man, right? Yeah, it's possible

It's just something I mean that would be a whole other kind of worms and just a different cryptids what you're saying Yeah, I think that is encrypted the kind of worms. That's kind of You don't want to find one of those. That's a shit theory What the theory is the theory is just maybe it's just a different paranormal case. We'll cover that another day, right? Well, there's not that many theories. You can't just have two theories So I had to add another one in there. What if it's just nothing like anyone said it is it's Like it's like I don't deserve to be put on blast like this. This is crazy. Here's the theory

Carrots don't exist anytime anyone said they've eaten a car or seen one was actually something else look I'm obviously delaying the inevitable which is reaching my favorite explanation number three this mother An alien sure he's from another planet. It isn't a bug It is a little gray guy or more specifically a tall gray guy They No gender them. Well, he's the mantis man. So I think it's safe to gender. Yeah. Why did they gendron's unnecessary? No, I will throw out an option number four just in case people aren't biting for the first three and personally I kind of agree with this one, too

I think all praying mantises are aliens. Even the little ones. Right, that's what I said earlier, yeah. Yeah, I genuinely believe that it could be jellyfish theory. You think that? Kind of. A little bit now that I've done my research. Because Kit, let me tell you some facts about praying manti, all right?

Well, you need this. You tell me if this thing came from Earth! When you hear about what it does and what it's like You look me in the eyes and say yeah that popped out of some creatures vagina at some point This is Rory 14 years old doing a science presentation at school You tell me teachers like Rory keep your voice shut the fuck up you sit down You tell me, miss! Alright, we're gonna kick things off with the most dramatic one.

They are the one of the only creatures, maybe the only creature... So not the only. Maybe! I don't know! I'm not a biologist, alright? But all I know is they're one of the only, if maybe the only creature, that engages in sexual cannibalism. Does that sound normal to you? Right, but by definition, if there is one other creature that does it,

that would make it more normal than not normal. Look, I just think it's weird for something that in theory shouldn't be that intelligent to engage in something this bizarre. Yeah, I was going to bring up the sexual cannibalism. It's kind of the main thing. Some people, yeah, hopefully people know this, is it's kind of the only fact that ever gets brought up around a praying mantis is often during the mating process, the female praying mantis will decapitate the male and eat his head. Hey, don't kink shame. All right, we all have our ways of getting off.

I think we have to draw the line somewhere. We're all for a little bit of rough play in the bedroom, but decapitation and then cannibalism, I think, might be taking it a little bit too far. Yeah, that has got to be one of the weirdest things. Apparently, though, in 2016, researchers found out that the female mantises who ate their partner produced significantly more eggs than those who did not. So I guess there is a biological reason. Protein, innit? Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, I feel like, look. Y'all don't want to know what goes down in the bug kingdom. You guys see that movie, Bugs Life? They have their own little world down there. They have a circus. I heard a caterpillar with a German accent. How does he speak English and how did he travel far enough to have an accent different from other bugs?

Where was he during the war? They've developed flight. Caterpillar was actually part of Operation Paperclip. He was brought to the US after the war to design rockets for the US military. Look, I've watched some documentaries and that's what I was saying earlier. Us mammals, what did I say? We love Alice Cooper sucking on titties and what was the third one? Being covered in hair, I think. But our rules don't apply to the bug kingdom.

Yeah, they're two different things, the animal kingdom and the bug kingdom. We're actually all classified as animals. Totally different. Not really. kingdom and the bug kingdom. We're actually all classified as animals. Totally different. Not really, but they, they have different rules. They don't even speak English down there. Yeah. Well, yeah, they don't. They don't pay taxes.

They don't pay anything. You don't have money. You're making my point. Money are, crumbs are money to them. Do you understand this? They don't have, they don't have an economy. They don't have an economy. They don't have an economy. They don't have an economy.

That's why Kit and I are on the same page here. They don't have Snapchat or Instagram. Can I talk? They instantly want a gram of cookies. That's what they want. That's their Instagram. What I'm saying is, the cannibalism, yeah, it is crazy. But there's also lots of other insane shit that bugs do.

Oh, I don't like this. I thought you were on my side. They like eat their own babies and shit. I think spiders do that. Right. And things that do that came from outer space. No, we can't apply our logic to the bug kingdom. Right. We can't apply earth rules to alien creatures. That's what Kit is saying. Glad to see that we're on the same page, brother, as we near the end of the podcast. Few other weird facts about praying mantai,

just in case you weren't convinced yet that they were aliens. They are also the only insect capable of turning their heads from side to side, which is frankly f**ked. I don't think that's- It is. They have little heads and necks.

Cause owls can do that. The only insects, I said, the only insects that can do it. Sure. Cause if you ask a beetle a question, it has to be like, yo, what's up? It has to move its arm. No one can see that.

Well, if they're on YouTube, they can see that, but audio listeners, Rory, is it rotating his entire body to illustrate the point? If you like, if you tap a spider on the shoulder, it has to... They have like eight eyes. It has to turn around for a praying mantis. They have a head they can turn, which is just alien to me for sure. Mantises are also capable of jumping with the extreme precision of a cat. Was this written by praying mantises?

They mostly feed on other insects. Some mantises are known to eat prey as large as a hummingbird. That is bad. That's not good. There are bugs that eat birds, I think. Yeah, ones that when they get big enough up there. So I'm just saying-

There's a spider, these birds. Yeah, that's crazy. Oh, don't talk about that. Yeah, I'm just saying, look, it's one thing to decide whether or not this creature is an alien, or whether it is a Mantis human creature. The bigger question is, are all praying mantises aliens? Did they come from another planet? The question is, who's going to join the fight?

Who's going to join the fight to shut them down? Hey, we did investigate at one point, a whole bunch of declassified government operations that was really fun to go through the list of all these operations over the years that the government has put money into and one of them was called Operation Insect Allies. Right. I believe that was what's the company? DARPA? DARPA that's right that was a DARPA project. So who are they working with here? I'm going to say the praying mantises. You know, I'm a bleeding heart liberal. I love environmentalism, Save the Planet, credit

Dunberg, all of that stuff. But look, we all hate bugs. We all know that. And we know they have to exist and they uphold Earth's biosphere and that's great and all. I also like not having to deal with them. Nothing better than going on holiday to a location where there's no bugs. Oh my god. I remember one New Year's Eve, I went to visit my family in Germany, in Freiburg, Putzingen. And part of the trip, we were out there. We decided to go up the mountain to a bunch of vineyards.

They kind of look over the city and my uncle, Uncle Walter decided it would be a good idea to put all the kids in the back of this big truck. And it'd be like, Hey, that'd be fun. It's like a big pickup truck with an open back. You can ride in the back and I'll drive everyone up. Well, it's, yeah. It's rural Germany. I don't think there were many rules.

And I was like, hell yeah, this sounds like a great idea. This is going to be so much fun. Driving up that mountain, the truck was just large enough to hit the branches of every tree along the road as we drove past. And it was a bug storm. It was a... It was like something from a nightmare. From like a f***ing Tim Burton movie. It was raining crickets and spiders down onto all the children in the back.

And we couldn't get out of the car, because the thing's going like 30 miles an hour. It felt like a mission in Red Dead Redemption, where I'm in the back of a truck trying to shoot bugs out of the f***ing sky. It was terrifying. So when he said it was gonna be fun, it was just not for the reasons that you thought. It was fun for the bugs!

It was fun for the bugs, for sure. They gotta terrify a bunch of kids. And we're talking about bugs. You know when bugs get kind of big that you're like, I know they don't, but I think that one does have bones. Yeah. Like that one does have bones. Yeah. That one for sure. It's got at least one.

Yeah. Cause the size of this thing, oh my God, it was really horrific. And you're seeing, cause you're in a different country, a different place, you're seeing bugs you've never even seen before. Shit with two heads, nine legs. It didn't have two heads. One of them I think said my name at one point before I curb stomped it. It was a terrifying situation.

I don't like it. Rory. It was really, really horrible. So look, I'm just, seriously. Rory's brother was like, Rory, we're at the house. You dry-nosed kicked him in the head. Get away, you foul beast.

And because we were in Bootsingen, all the bugs had German accents. Just like the little caterpillar. Look, that brings us to the end of the story today, to the end of our investigation. The first one of the year into the New Jersey Mantis Man. Oh, I need a beer. Wow, starting off on a high. Wow, Kit, what are your thoughts on today's case?

I'm throwing you right into this one. We could have gone to conclusions 20 minutes ago. We really could have. I'm throwing you right into this one. We could have gone to conclusions 20 minutes ago, we really could have. I'm not saying that in a mean way, I'm just saying no facts have appeared in the last 20 minutes. You're like, I don't want to say this in like a mean way, but you should have been aborted. Not in like a cruel way or anything. Um, well that hurts my feelings. That does, because the uh, actually put a lot of love into this. I wanted to knock it out of the park. The first, first case back.

I'm not saying I don't like it. I'm just saying that, um, you know, it's been a, the second half of the podcast has been a rip roaring ride into why bugs are weird. Um, that's fine. Yeah. Most of the last facts were just about bugs. They weren't even about aliens or men. I would, uh, look, I'd be lying if I didn't say,

this isn't your fault, but I'm disappointed because- You keep saying really mean things to me. Because, okay. And pretending like they're not gonna hurt my feelings, but they are for sure. Because, and it's nothing to do with you. It's just to do with the case itself. We see this time and time again.

Apparently I have a bug's heart, which is no bones, weak. No hearts have bones. No hearts have bones. That's why a rib cage exists to protect the heart and vital organs. For God's sakes, man. I have a bug heart. It's small. It's weak.

I think bugs have more than one heart too. Do you know spiders have like blue blood or something? It's weird. It's not red though. Our rules don't apply to them. Right, because the bug world's so different. Yeah, it is really different. Their up is down, their blood is blue. Have you seen these hang upside down?

It is their up is down. Have you seen the size of their cookies? It's like those are just our cookies to a bug. They don't make their own big cookies. Whenever we get a case like this, I'm just saying that... Don't say anything mean to me again. Please let me talk. All right, sorry.

For the love of Christ. You're right. For the love of, the love of bug Christ. For the bug of Christ. You know, we often get cases like this where they, they, they're on a red hot trajectory. You know, it's like the hot new indie band. They're just, they're going, ah, the buzz is crazy. They're just rising up the charts, rising up the charts. Uh-oh, it tops out at 45 in the charts.

They just hit a wall. The glass ceiling. Where it just, it's like, it just peters out. It just peters out because as we heard, the bug in this case just faded into nothing. A lot of bugs can't get out windows. So the glass ceiling is a real problem with bug cases. They literally can't smash the glass ceiling.

So, um, you know, so I, it's like, I get it. I get why we have, I totally get why we have a limited number of witnesses. They kind of appeared, saw some humans were like, Oh shit, I didn't mean to turn off my invisibility. Got a dip. And then they kind of left the saw some humans, were like, oh shit, I didn't mean to turn off my invisibility. Got a dip, and then they kind of left the planet, presumably, for good. So I understand why there's few witnesses, but then it leads to that frustration where we're just,

I'm not saying it's a terminal podcast case, but like we're lacking that physical evidence maybe. Yeah, I mean, does having six-ish witnesses, seeing the creature in the same time zone and same area, does that make it more or less believable to you? Well, far more, but we're just lacking, I think what we want, right, the next nice step would be, where's the bug prints?

Did the guys run ashore and there was bug prints on the banks of the river? Yeah, I guess, yeah, this kind of terrain, you're not really picking up clean footprints, right? If it's just going to be like swampy ground mud. It's hard to say. It's hard to say. This mother****** got wings, by the way. Did I tell you that? They were kind of floating around. They were wispy, translucent. So, you know, I'm just saying that would be the ideal, right?

Yeah, I actually, that's the part I like about this story is a lot of cryptid cases, you're investigating something and you know, it was seen in 2006, but it was also seen in like the 1800s. And immediately you kind of lose this illusion of it being something that could be like a biological animal. Yep.

Because aside from turtles, you know, there's very few creatures that just have that lifespan. Yeah. Um, especially mammals. So, um, you know, a story like this where we have a cryptid that's just seen by a few people in the same location with very similar descriptions. Actually, this is bang on the money for me in terms

of what I like in a cryptid case. As you said, we're missing a lot of that kind of stuff, um, like evidence, DNA, any kind of samples taken from the site. But then again, the lack of DNA and the lack of evidence is kind of something that you see much more with, uh, alien cases and UFO cases. So that could kind of be an also bit of an explanation there too. Yeah. It's a tough case. It all comes down to our bar for evidence, isn't it?

And I'm trying to temper my love of aliens because imagine, Rory. Now let it loose, baby. Imagine we were... Set the bugs free. Imagine we were talking about the Loch Ness Monster right now and we had like six guys

who said they saw it while they were on a fishing trip we'd be like get the **** out of town where's the photo you know what I mean yeah when it's encrypted we're like yeah where's the physical evidence but then someone's like maybe it's an alien and we're like oh okay that's the trick even like we'll be investigating a ghost and we'll be like bullshit no evidence didn't happen then we're well, some people say the ghost came from a UFO. Oh, f**k. Oh, shit.

Really? Yeah, no, that actually could happen. Basically it all comes down to, did you remember that space is big? Oh, shit, you're right. Space is real big. We've been put on blasts a lot by our audience for favoritism when it comes to paranormal cases. Traditionally, we love our UFO stories.

We're quite harsh on cryptids and ghost stories. Maybe this year, 2025, we need to bring that certain level of optimism and open-mindedness to back to the other cases. Get back to our roots, brother. Get back to the bug life. That's why today I'm giving the Mantis Man a yes yes That is literally the opposite of what I thought you were saying. I'm gonna give it a yes today from me I think the mantis man might be real Couldn't agree more brother. It's a double yes this week for the Mantis Man.

You're like, no, I was saying no to him. That's right. I think, look, I'm not saying it's a cryptid. I'm not saying it's an alien. I think there could be something here. And in terms of the world of cryptids, the Mantis Man is a creature that to me may exist. Well, at the end of the podcast, I sadly also have to make a decision

as to whether I think it's real or not. And today, I am going to give it a... Yes! Because I am a sucker. Look, I'm a sucker! And it reminds me a lot of some previous cases that we've enjoyed, the YesRUFO cases. But, um, hell yeah. It was just, uh, we need to frame that picture. It's a good picture.

We need to frame the picture. I'm glad that you were, you came around in the end, Kit. I think the story is ridiculous, but interesting, and I think it has enough evidence, witnesses, testimonies, and paintings to back it up and make it a credible cryptid sighting. Let me tell you folks, I feel like I'm back in Freiburg right now with the bugs raining down on me. I can feel them on my shoulder. I think any second now, just because we made this information public, don't be worried if the invasion comes. All right? Because now that we've disclosed the fact that praying mantises and the mantis man might be from another planet, this could

be the start of some sort of bug revolution. They're going to be talking to you in your dreams telepathically. Rory, it's me from the forest. I'm gonna need to recruit my Uncle Volter to join us on the front lines. Just keep stomping the bugs, Rory. We're almost at the vineyard. Wow, thank you so much to everyone

for listening to this week's episode. I didn't search the inbox to see if this was emailed in as a suggestion, this was a Rory original. So if you did, thank you so much. If you wanna submit your own stories, you can do so. You can email us at thisparanormallifepodcast at gmail.com with stories you want us to investigate that either you've researched yourself

or maybe there are cases that happen to you. Were you a little boy in Germany, and you got rained on by insects? I want to know about it. And this is also an exciting time, you know, now that this information is out, we will be recruiting people for the Bug Wars. No, I don't know about that, but...

We are looking for brave men and women to join the front lines to fight the bugs. I think though, as I said, you know, living in a part of the world where bugs aren't an issue, I think we will be, you know, like, I live in Ireland and, uh, Ireland has an army, but, uh, you know, I think they play Tetris kind of most of the day. I think they're, you know, mostly chill. It's like the Canadian army, you know, they've all got long hair and shit. Right.

It's like, it's pretty, we're the reserve, we're the reserve. Yeah. We're holding it down in case shit spills over, you know. Oh, you need some peacekeepers in some part of the world? All right, we can send a couple of guys. We don't need our guns though, do we? No, we'll leave the guns here.

Right, right. And I think in the bug wars, you know, maybe I'll be part of that Irish army reserve, which is like- The last line. I'm not really the front line. I'm not really front because we're not that trained either. We ain't got the budget. You know what I mean? We're going to let the big players. I'm looking at you, America. Yeah. Rory, you could be your American. You could be in the front lines of the American army. Oh bro, forget that. If we're talking recruiting soldiers for the bug wars, we're starting with the Australians. Those motherfuckers have been fighting bugs

since the day they were born. They're the ones with like scars down their eyes, big cigars, so when you're on like the carrier jet, you know, the bumpy ride, and like Kit and I are being sick into bags, because we've never gone to war before. There's all these Australians being like, first time fighting a bug, mate!

So yeah, I remember mine. I just popped out of my mother's womb had to take a beetle by the neck but I don't got necks that's what they don't tell you you know these guys have been fighting bugs since the very beginning and because Australians have the phrase I'm not here to f**k spiders right but for once in their lives they will be there to f**k up spiders oh yeah they have that written on like the side of the helmet. Yeah. That will be great.

That's right. So please sign up today. We're looking for volunteers and fighters. The only good bug is a dead bug. The great thing about the bug wars is, you know, unlike human wars where we have, you know, technology, armored vehicles, body armor. So really, you know, it's quite advanced now.

You need guns and things like that. Bug wars, anything goes really. Knuckle dusters, nun chucks, shuriken. There's no such thing as fighting dirty with a bug. They come from dirt. That's just their fighting. Whatever goes.

Just don't try and break any bones. They don't have them. So that doesn't work. So there's some things that work on humans that don't try and break any bones. They don't have them. Yeah. So that doesn't work. So there's some things that works on humans that don't work on bugs. Flamethrower, that would be a good one. Yeah, that could kind of work. So yeah, lots of ways to do it.

Do I get to pick which bug I want to fight? No. In the war? Because I'm not saying I've picked like the easy ones, but there's some bugs I don't mind or there's some that I don't like. This is Rory at the D-Day landings, just looking out over the boat.

I didn't sign up for this. I'm saying, no, I'm staying in the boat. Can I pick which beach I go to? Cause this one is crazy right now. I was- I wanna go to one of the other ones way down there. Yeah. I love in the bug wars,

kids come back from the front line after killing like six spiders, and I'm just in the trenches beating the shit out of a ladybug. The thing's not even big. I've just caught it in a headlock. Like I'm doing my part. I wasn't able to take them out,

but I think I tenderized them for you guys. Thank you so much everyone for listening to this week's episode. Wow, first case of 20. Well, shit, we're on a a tear now, right because we just drunkenly said Atlantis was real on the last episode So you're saying on broken streak. Is it crazy to say we're gonna go all 20 25 without a single no Holy shit, is that possible? Well your episode is next right? So only you can know what's what's coming up Let me just say, things are looking good. Okay!

Things are looking good for next week. I don't know what Roy's gonna think, but I think things are looking pretty good. Mantis Man Part 2, he's back. It's a safe bet. It's very safe. But thank you for tuning in this week. If you enjoyed this episode or any episode of the show,

why not head over to patreon.com forward slash this paranormal life. We recently just celebrated the end of 2024 with our big Q and A episode, a big look back at the podcast, a live stream on YouTube, episode 400. So it's an amazing time to be a fan of the show and listening to the stuff that we're making here. And it's important to note that all of those 400 episodes wouldn't exist

without the support that we get over on Patreon. Thank you! Check it out! You can get a bunch of cool shit over there. And of course, one of the rewards is a shout out at the end of the episode. Did you say the link? You must have. I did, yeah. Patreon.com forward slash this paranormal life. Check it out. Support the show.

Yeah, it's the best way to support the show. And ensures that not only will we be back next Tuesday with Kit's episode, but we'll be back for episode 500, 600. Whoa. Podcasting from the front line in the bug wars. Damn. But what we're going to do is we're going to shout out to people who supported us

on Patreon right now. So thank you to Christopher Brown Christopher Brown Sounds a little buggy to me friend. Do you think I think normal name? No? I don't know mr.. Brown Christopher Brown like a beetle Like a brown little bug because I know you started a bug killing militia I just don't want you to get too trigger happy.

The bugs are among the ranks, our own ranks. I really do think. Christopher, I'm just gonna be keeping an eye on you. That's all I'll say. And it seems here that you do have at least an email address and a lot of human things like a- Well, you have money, human money, to support us on Patreon, which I do appreciate. No, actually, shit! He gave us crumbs! Oh... He donated crumbs! things like a well you have money human money to support us on patreon which i do appreciate no actually shit he gave us crumbs oh he donated crumbs well i'll give you that so i that that would have got through my radar you know i mean so fair play you caught that your little bug little bug bastard we see you christopher we will take the though, we need every bit of food we can have. Thank

you also to Cody Gillespie. Cody Gillespie sounds like they'd be part of a downtown Manhattan rat pack. We are running around me and the 8th Street gang. Cody Gillespie, Johnny Muffins, and Tony Opera. I'm just a little confused because we have been talking about different types of animal warfare So he's in a rat pack right Human gang yeah human gang right Sorry my throat is the voice is incredibly sore my vocal cords. Yeah, does he sing?

What does he do in the rat pack? I never tried it, but let me see Yeah, does he sing? What does he do in the rap pack? I never tried it, but let me see. Aaaaaaah! Oh, that's horrible, Cody, stop it! Please don't do that. Somewhere over the rainbow! We appreciate your support through the very limited amount of money you've been able to make releasing vinyl. In the 50s, apparently. Thank you Cody.

And thank you finally today to Megan Primo Johnson. Let me tell you something folks, someone who gives themselves three human names is trying a little bit too hard. Primo is barely a real human name. Right, that's like a ant calling himself, oh my name's Mike Sandwich Jones. It's like I have the second one with just a thing you eat. So I don't know Megan, let me see how many arms you got. Right. Because if you have eight arms it would be cool because if you were on the front line with us you could hold eight guns. But I don't want to put eight guns in the arms of a bug. You've accepted having bugs in your ranks so early on the

race yes you need some some what do you call double agents right informers exactly some spy flies yeah thought you're gonna laugh more at that spy flies Megan is close to buggin you're're bugging me right now, Megan. Thank you so much, Megan. Welcome to the front line. I hope you are human. And if you aren't, have mercy on us. Thank you to everyone who supports us on Patreon.

We really appreciate it. Thank you. And of course, you know, if you don't want to support us on Patreon, there's so many other ways to do it. You guys could probably just skip forward from this bit to be honest. No, this is really valuable. This helps support the show. Really? You can head on over to YouTube where we release all of these.

That's really important actually. We do video podcasts, we do live streams and a bunch of cool stuff. We're on Instagram and TikTok and we do social media, cuts of all the cool bits of the podcast. Or you can just leave a review right here in Spotify or Apple podcasts. That really helps us giving us a good review. So anything like that would be fantastic. Thank you so much for listening.

And of course, we will see you again next Tuesday for our third Double Yes of the year. Whoo! See you then. See you then! both worlds, where performance meets style. I wear my Dior pants to work, out with friends, on hiking trails, and everywhere in between. If you haven't tried Dior, you've gotta feel the difference for yourself. Head to Dior.ca slash comfort and get 20% off your first purchase today. That's Dior.ca slash comfort.