Since the early 2000s, the river banks of Hackettstown, New Jersey, have been the site of a bizarre series of encounters. From a creature called, the Mantis Man. It is almost always described as an elusive, and sometimes transparent entity that seems to exist on the edge of reality.
Standing between 6 and 8 feet tall, this creature is typically described as being built like a person, but insectoid in feature, with large dark unblinking intense eyes.. Witnesses usually note:
A haunting, semi-transparent or “camouflaged” quality much like predator. Many witnesses have noted that the creature looks like “pale brown” or “greenish” mist that they can see through, leading some to wonder if they are witnessing a creature using advanced stealth technology or if the entity is partially phased out of our reality.
It moves with a jerky, unnatural movement that mimics a praying mantis, with long, spindly limbs.
Witnesses have reported hearing a low-frequency “humming” sound and experiencing tingling feelings in their skin, similar to standing near a large electrical transformer.
The Vanishing Act: Several accounts describe the creature simply “fading” into the fog or the brush, rather than walking away. One notable witness, Paul Jacks, who encountered the entity while fishing, has explicitly pushed back against the media’s “giant bug” portrayal, saying that it felt more like an “apparition” or a “humanoid shadow” than a biological insect.
1. The Fisherman’s Encounter (Stephens State Park, ~2002)
Two brothers were fishing near the river at Stephens State Park back in 2002. It was dusk when one of the 2 noticed his brother, who was about 50 yards downstream, had suddenly frozen. The witness later described hearing a strange, high-pitched vibration in his ear just before he saw it: a 6-to-7-foot-tall, slender form standing at the edge of the riverbank. He described the creature as having the “thighs of a grasshopper” but the upright posture of a man. As he watched, the creature turned, peered back at him over its shoulder with an unnerving, deliberate stare, and then simply evaporated into the twilight like a dissipating fog.
2. The Bridge Sighting (Newburgh Road, Hackettstown)
One resident, a man identified in local reports as Mr. Strickler, saw the figure while driving home from the drugstore in broad daylight out on Newbrurgh Road. He initially mistook the figure for another fisherman standing in the water. As he slowed his car, he realized the figure was nearly 8 feet tall with “long, thin arms hanging off it.” He described it as pale brown and semi-transparent—not a mirage, but a solid object that seemed to possess a “weird, see-through” quality. It moved toward the treeline with a strange, fluid grace before vanishing into the dense woods.
Source(s): https://cryptidz.fandom.com/wiki/Mantis_Man
