August 29, 2025 • 8 mins
Original Blog by Charles Lear: https://podcastufo.com/a-1972-ufo-and-creature-report-from-florida/ In 1972, Norman R. Chastain, a Jacksonville electrician, claimed he had a chilling face-to-face encounter with a UFO and a strange “devil-looking creature” while night fishing near Blount Island in Florida. For two years, he kept silent—afraid of ridicule—until a lecture by Stanton Friedman inspired him to come forward. Chastain described a glowing, half-sphere UFO with flashing orange and blue lights, and later, a bizarre humanoid figure in a silver-grey suit with pointed ears, glassy eyes, and a strange device that paralyzed him with a blinding flash. His story grew stranger when, days later, he discovered mushroom-like “flesh-colored heads” growing in his backyard, which he thought were connected to the UFO. The case was covered in the Jacksonville Journal in 1974 and later revisited in UFO Report magazine by B. Ann Slate, who called it one of the most unique UFO cases ever reported. Was Chastain’s story a mix of reality, hallucination, and misunderstood natural phenomena—or a genuine extraterrestrial encounter? Join us as we break down one of Florida’s strangest UFO encounters, its connection to the Kelly-Hopkinsville Goblins, and the curious aftermath that left investigators puzzled to this day.
UFO Books by Charles Lear: 👉 https://tinyurl.com/mptc57f2
Support the Show & Stay Connected!
👉 Join us on Patreon — Get ad-free podcast episodes (for any media player) for as little as $2/month:
https://www.patreon.com/MartinWillisPodcastUFO
🛸Did you have a UFO/UAP Encounter? Leave Us a Voicemail: https://podcastufo.com/ufo-sightings/ufo-encounter-voicemail
🧢 Podcast UFO Merch (Shirts, Hats & More): https://tinyurl.com/mrybmnwb
📬 FREE Sign Up for Our Weekly Newsletter — Get updates on upcoming guests, blog posts, and more:
http://eepurl.com/LPHKD
🌐 Our Website:
https://podcastufo.com
📱 Follow us on Social Media:
Twitter (X): https://x.com/PodcastUFO
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PodcastUFO
📺 Subscribe on YouTube (It’s Free!):
https://www.youtube.com/user/PodcastUFO?sub_confirmation=1
UFO Books by Charles Lear: 👉 https://tinyurl.com/mptc57f2
Support the Show & Stay Connected!
👉 Join us on Patreon — Get ad-free podcast episodes (for any media player) for as little as $2/month:
https://www.patreon.com/MartinWillisPodcastUFO
🛸Did you have a UFO/UAP Encounter? Leave Us a Voicemail: https://podcastufo.com/ufo-sightings/ufo-encounter-voicemail
🧢 Podcast UFO Merch (Shirts, Hats & More): https://tinyurl.com/mrybmnwb
📬 FREE Sign Up for Our Weekly Newsletter — Get updates on upcoming guests, blog posts, and more:
http://eepurl.com/LPHKD
🌐 Our Website:
https://podcastufo.com
📱 Follow us on Social Media:
Twitter (X): https://x.com/PodcastUFO
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PodcastUFO
📺 Subscribe on YouTube (It’s Free!):
https://www.youtube.com/user/PodcastUFO?sub_confirmation=1
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
The nineteen seventy two UFO and Creature Encounter Report from
Florida by Charles Lear. In the January twenty eighth, nineteen
seventy four Jacksonville Journal out of Florida, there is an
article by Lloyd Brown headlined did a Creature from UFO
Land Here that tells the story of a Jacksonville man's
report of a UFO and creature encounter in nineteen seventy two.
(00:35):
He is said to have delayed in reporting it because
he was afraid of being called, in his words, some
kind of nut. According to the account, he decided to
come forward after attending a lecture at Florida Junior College
by the director of the UFO Research Institute, Stanton Friedman.
According to Brown, two years ago, sixty two year old
Norman R. Chastain of twenty five oh seven Kershaw Drive
(00:59):
found a plant growing in his yard that looked like
a devil's head and brought it to the paper, and
a picture of him holding it was published in the journal.
That picture is presented in the nineteen seventy four article
as well. Testain is said to have not mentioned an
incident prior to finding the plant, and that he decided
to talk about it now. According to the account, late
(01:21):
at night on January twenty sixth, nineteen seventy two, Chestain,
an electrician for the Seaboard Coast Railroad Company, was fishing
near the eastern tip of Blat Island in the Saint
John's River. At around three a m. He noticed, in
his words, several orange and blue lights from over the
Saint John's Bluff monument. He thought they were from a
(01:42):
police or mosquito control helicopter, but he heard no sound.
He said, after a few minutes, the lights came directly
towards my boat, and I could make out the outline
of something like half of a ball, with lights flashing
and changing colors about every minute. Testain said. He turned
off off the lights of his boat and put out
(02:02):
the Coleman lanard he had burning, and the object moved
slowly back to the bluff. He said his boat had
run aground at this point, and that he went ashore
to find something he could use as a lever to
get his boat loose. After finding a two by six,
he stopped to rest seventy five feet away from his boat.
Chestain said that at this point I raised my spotlight
(02:23):
to see if my boat was still in the mock,
and in the edges of the bushes, I saw the
darnedest humanlike creature one could ever imagine. At this point,
it is said he was hit by a bright white
light that made him dizzy, causing him to lay down
in the grass. According to Brown, Testain set his legs
and arms were tingling, and that he stayed where he
(02:44):
was and prayed until daybreak. He then crawled inland for
he stayed until he regained his strength. At around noon,
his boat had drifted about fifty feet off shore, and
after swimming out there, he noticed, in his words, an
overpowering stench in his hair and clothes that wasn't there
before he met the devil looking creature. He said. He
(03:06):
washed and threw his clothes away before going home, where
his wife commented that he didn't look right, and he
told her he'd got in seasick. According to Brown, three
nights later, Chastain was dreaming that he was on another
planet when he was awakened by a thunderclap and saw
that it was raining. He noticed the same smell and
stayed awake for the rest of the night, holding a gun.
(03:30):
He is quoted describing what he found in his yard
after going outside the next morning. There in the grass
directly behind my boat, at the same distance the creature
was positioned on Blount Island, was a cluster of several
flesh colored heads looking at me. And they looked so
much like that devil looking creature I saw on the
island that my first thought was the ufl was over
(03:53):
my house that night looking for me. He went looking
for witnesses among his neighbors, but they were all away,
and and he, in Brown's words, dug up the plants
and brought one to the Journal. Chastain is said to
have described the plant as having teeth, big eyes, a
wide mouth, pointed ears, and blood coming from it. He
(04:13):
said that each plant shriveled up into a ball within
six hours of being dug up, and that no more
have grown since. According to Brown, the Journal contacted the
botany department of the University of Florida and was informed
that the plan in question was a type of mushroom
known as a stinghorn. While this case seems like a
(04:33):
silly one off that didn't get beyond the local news
blogger Allen Garuta shared a report about the Case on
her blogspot dot com site UFO Experiences, saying, the following
article is my favorite UFO story. It ran an UFO
report about fifteen years ago. I don't have the exact
(04:53):
date of the magazine because the pages have been torn out.
I know you will find it as intriguing as I do.
The article by b and Slate is headlined the Alien
of Blount Island. It starts off with Slate describing six
hundred people being turned away from a packed auditorium at
Florida Junior College full of people waiting to hear nuclear
(05:15):
physicist Stanton Friedman give his lecture Flying Saucers. R Real
Testain is said to have been there and afterwards to
have written a letter to Friedman at the UFO Research
Center in California. According to Slaate, the contents of that
letter and the subsequent scientific research now being conducted as
(05:36):
a result, may make Norman Chastain's encounter the most unique
and conclusive in UFO history. After this, Tastain's encounters described,
and there are more details about his boat, said to
be a sea camper with lighting features he built himself,
and there are more details about the creature. According to Slate,
The creature was wearing a tight fitting suit that the
(05:59):
witness can compaired to old fashioned men's underwear, except that
it shone slightly and was dark silver gray. The creatures
described as around five to five and a half feet tall,
with small arms, a large head, eyes that protruded and
resembled glass, reflecting, light pointed ears, and a slightly angular chin.
(06:21):
The glowing disc is said to have been on top
of its head. According to Slate, Chestain and the alien
looked at each other, and then the creature suddenly raised
his left hand, which held a flat device about three
inches across. She says there was a blinding flash, and
then the numbness started, a slow paralysis that began in
(06:43):
his neck and moved throughout his body. The rest of
the account is similar to that in the journal, but
there are these additional details regarding Chastain's dreams. Chestain began
to experience vivid dreams of another planet with strange looking
beings from remarkably huge flowers and assembly lines which put
out saucer shaped craft. The creatures reported in the nineteen
(07:07):
fifty five Kelly Hopkinsville incident are brought up as being
similar to Chastaine's creature. Although the description of the creature
is scant in the journal, a picture of one of
the k h creatures said to have been drawn by
the Air Force is presented in that article, and at
the end of the Captain it says Chastain wonders if
(07:27):
this could be the same type creature he saw the
rest of the UFO report. Article describes Chastain's state of
fear and excitement upon discovering the heads, and explains that
they were stainkhorns, but Slate questions whether the prosaic explanation
for the heads eliminates any connection between the alien on
(07:48):
the island and the peculiar growth in Chastain's back yard.
Charles Lear is the author of The Flying Saucer Investigators,
available in its second edition at Amazon. Doctor cop
The nineteen seventy two UFO and Creature Encounter Report from
Florida by Charles Lear. In the January twenty eighth, nineteen
seventy four Jacksonville Journal out of Florida, there is an
article by Lloyd Brown headlined did a Creature from UFO
Land Here that tells the story of a Jacksonville man's
report of a UFO and creature encounter in nineteen seventy two.
(00:35):
He is said to have delayed in reporting it because
he was afraid of being called, in his words, some
kind of nut. According to the account, he decided to
come forward after attending a lecture at Florida Junior College
by the director of the UFO Research Institute, Stanton Friedman.
According to Brown, two years ago, sixty two year old
Norman R. Chastain of twenty five oh seven Kershaw Drive
(00:59):
found a plant growing in his yard that looked like
a devil's head and brought it to the paper, and
a picture of him holding it was published in the journal.
That picture is presented in the nineteen seventy four article
as well. Testain is said to have not mentioned an
incident prior to finding the plant, and that he decided
to talk about it now. According to the account, late
(01:21):
at night on January twenty sixth, nineteen seventy two, Chestain,
an electrician for the Seaboard Coast Railroad Company, was fishing
near the eastern tip of Blat Island in the Saint
John's River. At around three a m. He noticed, in
his words, several orange and blue lights from over the
Saint John's Bluff monument. He thought they were from a
(01:42):
police or mosquito control helicopter, but he heard no sound.
He said, after a few minutes, the lights came directly
towards my boat, and I could make out the outline
of something like half of a ball, with lights flashing
and changing colors about every minute. Testain said. He turned
off off the lights of his boat and put out
(02:02):
the Coleman lanard he had burning, and the object moved
slowly back to the bluff. He said his boat had
run aground at this point, and that he went ashore
to find something he could use as a lever to
get his boat loose. After finding a two by six,
he stopped to rest seventy five feet away from his boat.
Chestain said that at this point I raised my spotlight
(02:23):
to see if my boat was still in the mock,
and in the edges of the bushes, I saw the
darnedest humanlike creature one could ever imagine. At this point,
it is said he was hit by a bright white
light that made him dizzy, causing him to lay down
in the grass. According to Brown, Testain set his legs
and arms were tingling, and that he stayed where he
(02:44):
was and prayed until daybreak. He then crawled inland for
he stayed until he regained his strength. At around noon,
his boat had drifted about fifty feet off shore, and
after swimming out there, he noticed, in his words, an
overpowering stench in his hair and clothes that wasn't there
before he met the devil looking creature. He said. He
(03:06):
washed and threw his clothes away before going home, where
his wife commented that he didn't look right, and he
told her he'd got in seasick. According to Brown, three
nights later, Chastain was dreaming that he was on another
planet when he was awakened by a thunderclap and saw
that it was raining. He noticed the same smell and
stayed awake for the rest of the night, holding a gun.
(03:30):
He is quoted describing what he found in his yard
after going outside the next morning. There in the grass
directly behind my boat, at the same distance the creature
was positioned on Blount Island, was a cluster of several
flesh colored heads looking at me. And they looked so
much like that devil looking creature I saw on the
island that my first thought was the ufl was over
(03:53):
my house that night looking for me. He went looking
for witnesses among his neighbors, but they were all away,
and and he, in Brown's words, dug up the plants
and brought one to the Journal. Chastain is said to
have described the plant as having teeth, big eyes, a
wide mouth, pointed ears, and blood coming from it. He
(04:13):
said that each plant shriveled up into a ball within
six hours of being dug up, and that no more
have grown since. According to Brown, the Journal contacted the
botany department of the University of Florida and was informed
that the plan in question was a type of mushroom
known as a stinghorn. While this case seems like a
(04:33):
silly one off that didn't get beyond the local news
blogger Allen Garuta shared a report about the Case on
her blogspot dot com site UFO Experiences, saying, the following
article is my favorite UFO story. It ran an UFO
report about fifteen years ago. I don't have the exact
(04:53):
date of the magazine because the pages have been torn out.
I know you will find it as intriguing as I do.
The article by b and Slate is headlined the Alien
of Blount Island. It starts off with Slate describing six
hundred people being turned away from a packed auditorium at
Florida Junior College full of people waiting to hear nuclear
(05:15):
physicist Stanton Friedman give his lecture Flying Saucers. R Real
Testain is said to have been there and afterwards to
have written a letter to Friedman at the UFO Research
Center in California. According to Slaate, the contents of that
letter and the subsequent scientific research now being conducted as
(05:36):
a result, may make Norman Chastain's encounter the most unique
and conclusive in UFO history. After this, Tastain's encounters described,
and there are more details about his boat, said to
be a sea camper with lighting features he built himself,
and there are more details about the creature. According to Slate,
The creature was wearing a tight fitting suit that the
(05:59):
witness can compaired to old fashioned men's underwear, except that
it shone slightly and was dark silver gray. The creatures
described as around five to five and a half feet tall,
with small arms, a large head, eyes that protruded and
resembled glass, reflecting, light pointed ears, and a slightly angular chin.
(06:21):
The glowing disc is said to have been on top
of its head. According to Slate, Chestain and the alien
looked at each other, and then the creature suddenly raised
his left hand, which held a flat device about three
inches across. She says there was a blinding flash, and
then the numbness started, a slow paralysis that began in
(06:43):
his neck and moved throughout his body. The rest of
the account is similar to that in the journal, but
there are these additional details regarding Chastain's dreams. Chestain began
to experience vivid dreams of another planet with strange looking
beings from remarkably huge flowers and assembly lines which put
out saucer shaped craft. The creatures reported in the nineteen
(07:07):
fifty five Kelly Hopkinsville incident are brought up as being
similar to Chastaine's creature. Although the description of the creature
is scant in the journal, a picture of one of
the k h creatures said to have been drawn by
the Air Force is presented in that article, and at
the end of the Captain it says Chastain wonders if
(07:27):
this could be the same type creature he saw the
rest of the UFO report. Article describes Chastain's state of
fear and excitement upon discovering the heads, and explains that
they were stainkhorns, but Slate questions whether the prosaic explanation
for the heads eliminates any connection between the alien on
(07:48):
the island and the peculiar growth in Chastain's back yard.
Charles Lear is the author of The Flying Saucer Investigators,
available in its second edition at Amazon. Doctor cop
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Football’s funniest family duo — Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs — team up to provide next-level access to life in the league as it unfolds. The two brothers and Super Bowl champions drop weekly insights about the weekly slate of games and share their INSIDE perspectives on trending NFL news and sports headlines. They also endlessly rag on each other as brothers do, chat the latest in pop culture and welcome some very popular and well-known friends to chat with them. Check out new episodes every Wednesday. Follow New Heights on the Wondery App, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free, and get exclusive content on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And join our new membership for a unique fan experience by going to the New Heights YouTube channel now!
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.