The Ombra

Testimonial & Description:

“I hate to close my eyes. I hate sleeping, and I even hate to blink. The split second that each blink occupies is still long enough to see it. I can still see that shadowed face attached to that sickly body as it motioned for me to close my eyes”. – Written by Anonymous, 2005

Description:

The Ombra is said to live in the wooded areas in the regions making up New England, New York, and New Jersey. It has been seen and documented by several people during camping trips and expeditions for several years. He is described as a “sort of Sandman like creature, in that he comes to those who try to stay up until the wee hours of the morning in order for them to go to sleep quickly” writes one camper who refused to give his or her name for this story. “The Ombra came within touching the surface of my tent as I was trying to read. I could hear his sickly breathing as it came closer and closer, until it suddenly went away into the night as I turned off my lantern and laid my head to sleep”.

The Ombra gets its name from the fact that it is widely described as a shadowy figure, or a creature that inhabits the shadows. In fact the term, “Ombra” means shadow. When the creature stands in the dark, most people report that it is at least six and half feet tall, and has the appearance of a sickly human being wearing a long coat.

When The Ombra stands in the light, he is shown to have long, boney arms that are incredibly pale, just like the picture on this page of his face. The Ombra also has long legs of the same description as the arms with feet that look inflated but incredibly strong. He is sometimes described as wearing a long, black coat that looks tattered and worn, but some reports have him look different.

The scariest part of The Ombra has to be his face. The Ombra’s face is incredibly pale with eyes that are also pearl white. They seem to be so piercing that “even after seeing the monster’s eyes, I still see it on occasion” said Michael Smith-Rothchild, a man who saw the creature back in 2010 and whose story we will share in due time. But when looking down towards his mouth, one notices that he has no actual mouth. He has a slightly opened mouth that can’t move much since it has a tiny row of stitches that keep the mouth mostly shut.

However, it is what The Ombra does that sets it apart from all the rest. Of all the letters, stories, and reports that have been found that fit in a description that fits into The Ombra, all write that they have lost the ability to hear. It is this lost sense that most people dread the most because they can always hear a constant sound of “whoosing”, like wind, or other nightmarish sounds.

Note: Some people swear that The Ombra can open its mouth, and when he does, the creature starts to make loud noises that sound like wind in the middle of a hurricane.

Abridged History of “The Ombra”:

The Ombra has had an interesting past. Several people have seen it ever since the beginning of European Colonialism in the United States. The Ombra is known by many different names. Hessian Soldiers, who were orignally from Germany and came to the United States during the Revolutionary War, call the creature “Böser Weihnachtsmann” which literally translates to “Evil Santa” because the soldiers saw the creature around the Christmas of 1776. The term, “Böser Weihnachtsmann” is rarely used, if at all, to this day. The group of Hessian soldiers made up the British guard of Trenton, New Jersey that was sacked by George Washington’s men after they crossed the Delaware River. There are some passages from some soldiers that can still be read today but that is for another report.

Before the Revolutionary War, however, some people did see the Ombra. Sightings of The Ombra were concentrated.

In Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey. The first documented sighting from a European settler can be traced to 1703 in the coastal town of Fairfield, Connecticut. The sighting was from an anonymous Dutch Merchant who described the creature as “Lacht schim” which was translated as a sort of smiling or laughing shadow. The creature, at the time called the “Lachtschim” instilled a sort of fear in the surrounding communities. Soon more sightings of the “Lachtschim” were documented in the forests near Hartford, New York City, and Newark.

Another important group of people to find The Ombra was the Pequot Indian tribe of Eastern Connecticut. The small Pequot tribe migrated to Eastern Connecticut in the early 1500s. Both their whereabouts before and their reasons for leaving said region is not exactly known, however there are some sources that may point to a motive. There are a series of carvings in the woods spanning from near Buffalo, New York to Ledyard, Connecticut that show a picture of a tall creature standing next to a longhouse as some people seeming leave the house on the other side. Some people find this as definitive proof that The Ombra chased the Pequot Indian tribe away.

The Pequot Indians called the creature “Nipowi Cipay”, or “Night Spirit”. We know this because there are also some journal entries that come from around 1640 from an early settler to the region. His name Thomas Connors, a Mohegan translator who wrote down some of the chilling stories that he heard from some Pequot Indians. Some stories were passed down from as far back as four generations prior and some were as recent as days or weeks prior to the recordings.

It cannot be doubted that many people have seen this horrible creature. However, there are many stories that will never been found. Ever since the big camping boom around the 1950s and 1960s; park rangers, police, and other residents have discovered empty tents, trailers, and RVs in the woods with no one inside. And the few tents, trailers, and RVs that are identified to a person have nearly always been of someone who has been never seen again. Not even a body is found.

This was around the time when the reports about a shadowy figure tormenting campers started to spring up left and right all over the tri-state area. And even with these terrifying reports, more and more people decided to camp. Some of these reports will be released in the near future with some dating as far back as the 1950s. Also, some other Ombra stories will be released that were written as far back as the 16th century. This menacing creature has been here and will always be here. At least in the tri-state area in the Northeastern US, humans are not at the top of the food chain.

All that we can tell is that The Ombra has been around for so long. So long that The Ombra has been a sort of famous campfire tale that has been changed often through the years. The Ombra has been often connected with The Rake. The Rake is another very well known cryptid that has been found in up-state New York, much like The Ombra. It is undeniable that The Rake has something to do with The Ombra, but it is unclear what that could be.

Some people believe that The Rake was The Ombra’s sibling, or child. Others believe that The Rake was The Ombra’s lost pet that ran away from The Ombra long ago.

And still others believe that the The Ombra and the Rake are one in the same, just two seperate names for one terrifying creature. However, it is certainly one question to ponder as I go on to share the terribly true tales associated with The Ombra.