Looking for The Owlman

Welcome to Mawnan Smith.  Its a quaint little village near Falmouth, Cornwall, UK.  Nice place to shake off jet lag.

Mawnan Smith Church....

Its not famous for much.  The name reflects the earlier presence of several blacksmith shops but that was a long time ago in an industrial age.  Now...well, there is always The Owlman.

Who?  Or if you prefer Woooooo?

The local legend is that back in the 1970s there were several sightings of a manlike figure with the features of an owl.  It had red glowing eyes and menacing claws.

These manifestations appeared to have some common features.

1. They occurred near the church in Mawnan Smith.
2. They were reported by adolescent females.
3. The reports were publicized by a fellow who was something of a local "character", a certain Tony "Doc" Shiels.

Paranormal researchers have come up with the usual blather about prehistoric mounds and so forth. Flat out hoaxing is certainly a possibility.

It is also possible that the excitable witnesses actually saw an "Eagle Owl", a rather sizable owl that while not native to the area does wander through occasionally to get the birders excited.  They do look formidable.

With the obvious exception of "Nessie", the UK does not have a lot of large mysterious critters clumping about. Just not a big enough country one supposes.  So Owlman has caught on a bit.  He features in a 2013 Scottish horror film:

And The Owlman of Mawnan Smith is a "point and click" video game something along the lines of Myst!

Our wanderings about did not result in any sightings of avian/human hybrid monsters, and one would think that with the time zone disruption we were experiencing this would be the ideal moment for The Owlman to make a cameo appearance!

This is the closest we came: