The Floating Apparition

On October 31, 1975, there was a strange sighting in the small town of Primrose, Alabama. Residence in the community reported seeing a floating apparition adorned in a red cloak. The mysterious creature floated into nearby woods and vanished into thin air. It was Friday evening around seven-thirty on the foggy night of Halloween. Donald Ryan and his wife Andrea were getting groceries out of the trunk of their car when they saw the strange figure. The couple's three children stared at the object outside the window of their home. The Ryan's gathered their groceries quickly from their car and rushed inside their home. Andrea began calling other neighbors in the subdivision to see if they had seen the mysterious figure also. There was a total of eight neighbors who admitted they saw the floating creature. Mr. Moore was the Ryan's neighbor who lived across the street. He retired early that year from the local post office. Mr. Moore was always snappy for no reason to the younger people who lived in the neighborhood.

"Those damn teenagers!" said Mr. Moore. "Always up to no good."

 He believed it was teenagers that lived in the neighborhood playing a prank on the other neighbors. Donald disagreed with Mr. Moore about the teenagers. He had seen the thing float into the woods and vanished right before his eyes. The other neighbors who saw the apparition also agreed this couldn't have been teenagers. The local news station was sent images from one of the neighbors' polaroid cameras. The news station ran the story of the strange sighting the next day. The camera crew was sent to the subdivision and interviewed many of the neighbors who saw the figure. All the neighbors told the same stories of seeing the thing floating slowly along the paved road inside the subdivision and vanishing into the woods nearby. The news crew walked into the woods along with some of the neighbors. They found no evidence of the strange creature anywhere inside the woods. Many people in surrounding counties thought it was a fake image.

"People will do anything to get on television," said Mrs. Prewitt.

Mrs. Prewitt and her husband Paul lived fifty miles away in the town of Aster, Alabama. She had been keeping up with the story of the floating image in Primrose. The people of Primrose began to be the laughing stock of the county. This made the people there really mad.

"How could they be so cruel," said Andrea. "I wish they could have seen it for themselves."

"Don't worry about it," said Donald. "Everyone has their own opinion."

A month later, the same floating image was spotted in the town of London Falls, Arizona. Someone took a picture of the image and sent it to several media outlets. Soon everyone was seeing the floating apparition throughout cities across the United States. The people of the town of Primrose didn't feel like they were the laughing stock any longer. The floating cloaked apparition was being seen all over the world. They began feeling honored that they were the first to witness seeing the image. The last sighting of the floating image was in January 1976 in Greenleaf, Ireland. A local farmer claimed he saw the floating image go into the woods near his cattle pasture. He told reporters that his dog Arnold was barking like crazy around nine o'clock. When he went outside, he saw the strange figure floating into the woods then disappeared. 

"I was scared as hell!" said the farmer. "I got Arnold ran inside my house and locked the door."

People began to make up stories about the floating image being a woman roaming the east side looking for a lost love. Parents started telling stories to their children about the floating image to scare them for misbehaving. The floating lady in the red cloak would steal them and take them into the woods to eat them if they keep being nasty. A French artist named Raphael Bateau painted a picture of the floating woman in the red cloak. The painting hangs in the famous Cartier Museum in Gagne, France. People come from all around the world to see the famous portrait. The people of Primrose, Alabama, became well known with a new television show called Strange Sightings of the Unknown in 1984. The town of Primrose was the first sighting of the well-known floating image. It was the top story to air on the show hosted by William Holmes. The show's central focus is on paranormal sightings seen around the world. William visited the town of Primrose, Alabama. He interviewed several of the neighbors who witness seeing the floating cloak image. He was shown where the image went into the woods and disappeared. Mr. Clark was the neighbor who caught the floating figure on camera. 

"Would it be okay if I took a few of the pictures?" asked William.

"Here, help yourself," said Mr. Clark.

Mr. Clark handed William several of the photos for the television show. Mr. Holmes took several more trips that year across the United States and other countries claiming to see the floating vision. The show lasted only three seasons. Mr. Clark later wrote a best seller book about the floating image. In the novel, he included pictures and many stories about sightings of the image seen across the world. He did many television interviews promoting his book. In June 2001, he was paid a generous salary for the book being made into a science fiction movie. The title of the film was called The Red Cloak. Mr. Clark passed away at age ninety-six in September 2018 from natural causes. The newly built public library in Primrose was named in his honor. The floating image was never seen again after January 1976. It has become the story of many urban legends across the world. The people of Primrose know where the popularity first was known drifting, slowly down their streets on a misty Halloween night. Primrose today is one of several famous towns that tourist frequently visits. They enjoy hearing the tales of the floating image and seeing pictures taken by the late Mr. Clark as a popular tourist attraction.