The 'Blue Man' of Bad Axe, Michigan

ELKTON — Picture it — you’re driving along a country road on a Thursday night in the early spring, and out of nowhere, something strange appears from the darkness alongside the road. An illuminated, bluish figure moving very quickly, perhaps even dancing.
Then, in the blink of an eye, it’s gone.

50 years ago, ‘Little Blue Man’ shook up Elkton

Folk in the small town of Bad Axe, Michigan had become unsettled when rumours went around about strange doings in the area. People were beginning to hear tales of a strange humanoid creature haunting the quiet country back-roads. In the space of a few weeks, reports grew in number, the police became involved and events were headed for an unlikely crescendo before the month was out!

It was April of 1958 and the movie theatres had enjoyed a very good year with lots of classics. Horror and science-fiction were leading the way and folk would spend weekend evenings watching aliens coming to Earth with dark intentions. Plots involved weird-looking blobs and critters taking over the minds of good townsfolk or feasting on unsuspecting travellers.

A perfect time for Bad Axe to undergo its own harrowing nightmare as locals were terrorised by a mysterious blue creature!



The early reports came from teenagers driving out in the country roads. Looming out of the darkness, a figure would run alongside the car as they gunned the engine and sped away to safety. Later incidents became more detailed as some people described the creature as ‘over 10 feet tall!’ Others said it was ‘very short’ and misshapen. They all agreed that the monster was blue. Descriptions involved it having a huge head and some said it glowed in the dark…some said it ‘flashed lights at us.’

It didn’t take long for the police to become interested and especially after a bus full of Elkton Junior High pupils was terrorised by the creature. The kids were left in tears and it was clear something had to be done…and urgently! The next day, 6 patrol cars arrived at the school to take descriptions.

With all the police interest – 1950s police interest! – the creature turned himself in and was duly taken down to the station. The resulting ‘mug shot’ is a lost gem of UFO history…

They decided it would be fun to have one of them dress as an alien and go out at night to surprise people. In a garage, they devised a costume, which included long underwear, Weiss’s high school football helmet, Styrofoam attached to the helmet, large gloves, German combat boots with metal soles, a bedsheet with two holes cut out for the eyes and a button sewed on for the mouth, and blinking lights on the helmet and Styrofoam.

“They didn’t have blinking (Christmas) lights back then, so we had to make the lights blink ourselves,” Weiss said. “We had a battery pack attached to the costume.”

The entire costume was spraypainted blue.

“The paint glowed a bit in the light, which added to the effect,” Weiss said.

Museum of Hoaxes - The Little Blue Man

One of the original "Blue Men" as it were. Classic. Indubitably so...but do ya have to be so profane, Kandinsky?

OMG I wish That I was there for this. just to see it.And also Im not sure whether I would have rather been a victim or a participant . LOLOL

reply to post by The GUT
When I stumbled on this picture it had me laughing so hard I had to think of a way of putting it up on ATS.

Big oven gloves and even a cape!

reply to post by bluemooone2
Me too.

It's good to see that the department had a laugh and let the guys off with a warning.

reply to post by Kandinsky


Typical coverup !! ... It was a man in a suit and we're expected to buy that , its same trick Fife Symington tried to pull and I didn't believe that either

reply to post by gortex
Glad you liked it. I was expecting one of the wannabe officials to complain about posting a hoax and not see the comedy in that shot. The OP isn't a *hoax* it's about a funny *hoax.*

My last thread was so dull and serious that a bit of humour had to follow it.

I think a lot of the sightings in forests are someone decided to put on their pyjamas and scare people. But human instinct dictates, run away as you do not know if real or not.

great story. i wonder how many "real" cases were just pranksters that never came forward.

the best part is that costume is as good as some of the films from that time

reply to post by Kandinsky


It is a cool picture , kinda reminds me of these guys ....

reply to post by homeskillet
Just four years earlier in '54, France had a massive wave of sightings reports involving weird-looking humanoids. Over a hundred in one year were reported and we can only imagine how many were not.

Odd folk (usually small and wearing strange outfits) in fields and forest clearings were busy fixing flying machines and crossing the paths of rural inhabitants who were minding their own business. If you search '1954 French Humanoid UFO Wave," there's a lot out there. If you've heard of Jacques Vallee, he made his name writing about them before the Magonia book was published.

Some of those reports turned out to be hoaxes by bad cops, young kids and otherwise normal people with a sense of humour and satire.

I guess the rest are open to opinion and we can interpret them any way we like.

Very interesting story. However, you forgot to mention when the Blue Man came back in 1987 with his friends, only they were found over on the east coast. They've become quite famous, if I'm not mistaken.

en.wikipedia.org...

Originally posted by Kandinsky
reply to post by The GUT

 

When I stumbled on this picture it had me laughing so hard I had to think of a way of putting it up on ATS.

Big oven gloves and even a cape!

And big blue ones. You are a true "Bad Axe," Kandinsky.

Punning, is a disease I'm afraid. So awful & yet so hard to stop. My apologies.

Ya know, even for "believers" it is, imo, very valuable to understand the mythological aspects of the ufo phenomenon. Why so very few are willing to factor that into their considerations is rather hard for me to understand.

It doesn't negate the phenomenon--as a whole--and would seem to give ufologists more credibility.

Originally posted by Kandinsky
If you've heard of Jacques Vallee, he made his name writing about them before the Magonia book was published.

Some of those reports turned out to be hoaxes by bad cops, young kids and otherwise normal people with a sense of humour and satire.

I guess the rest are open to opinion and we can interpret them any way we like.

I'm a big fan of Jacques Vallee and love those stories. its fun to speculate on what was actually happening paranormal or not.

I know for myself that i get caught up thinking that we are unique and people didnt have senses of humor in the distant past but some of those fairy stories just may have been pranksters having a laugh.