Don't Ask

There is something particularly insidious and terrifying about nuclear fallout, and radiation sickness.

It is invisible, it is deadly, it renders the surrounding area uninhabitable, and it lasts for centuries.

There is no cure.

Nuclear accidents loom large in our consciousness.

The severity and long-lasting impact of the Chornobyl* Nuclear Power Plant’s radioactive contamination, the worst nuclear accident in history, horrifies and fascinates us!

Knowing that such a disaster occurred during a safety check and was unexpected is terrifying.

There were no signs of the impending catastrophe in Pripyat when the plant’s employees clocked into work on April 26, 1986.

It turns out there MIGHT have been a sign that something bad was going to happen, but supernatural signs aren’t given a lot of credit. Right?

Were the sightings of a creature a warning of the impending disaster?

The Blackbird of Chornobyl is a cryptid that was seen prior to and following the 1986 Chornobyl disaster. 15 different reports by 15 separate employees.

In the months before, a number of the employees at the nuclear plant said they saw a “large, black, headless creature with gigantic winds and fire-red eyes.”

Workers in the control room of reactor #4 even reported seeing a large black creature in the sky only days and hours before the disaster.

Based on the description, it sounds a lot like another cryptid cult favorite, the Mothman.

For those who may not be into cryptozoology or paranormal folklore, the Mothman was a large humanoid creature with large wings and glowing red eyes that was seen in West Virginia, from November 1966 to December 1967. The first sighting of the Mothman was near a road that led to a former World War II munitions plant in the woods.

Those who doubt the existence of such a creature claim that the witnesses must have seen a sandhill crane or heron that was out of its usual migration patterns.

If you have ever seen either bird, you know that the screeching sound and being chased by the bird is common, but they are not seven feet tall or shaped like humans.

The Mothman, most famously, was seen on the Silver Bridge just before it collapsed, killing 46 people.

All workers who reported to have seen the Blackbird of Chornobyl reported experiencing terrible dreams and that their phones would ring only to have no one on the other line, or they received threats from what they assumed was the KGB.

Another story says that people working in and those around the power plant experienced “a series of strange events” that began after they saw a large dark bird-like creature.

It was said that the workers of Chornobyl were so unsettled by the creature and the strange experiences that had occurred after seeing the beast that several employees reported the sightings to their supervisors, newspapers, and even police agencies. A few even narrowly escaped the disaster by quitting after seeing the omen

There really wasn’t much a supervisor of a nuclear power plant could do about the Blackbird that was terrorizing staff, and even if they could have done something, disaster still struck.

This is another cryptid that some people believe exists, while others see the creature as a myth. People are drawn to the idea that there are creatures who share the planet with us who are beyond imagination, and the desire to spot one of these elusive creatures

No one will ever really know as this one remains unsolved but with proof? Explain that one! Look into it, there are factual reports, sightings, and papers. Doctors lawyers, workers, family. Same reports. However, everyone is being convinced it's not real. Some interesting Podcasts out there I highly suggest LPOTL for some insights.

PS Just a nerdy FYI as I am writing this, the reason for the spelling to be Chornobyl instead of Chernobyl, both are correct. The latter is the Russian spelling widely used by US, and Canada took the Ukraine spelling in mid-1990s.