Provincetown MA
Beginning of a legend
October, Provincetown Cape Cod, 1939. War is looming in Europe, but the people of this small new England village are about to be terrorized by something more local.
The first sighting was by a group of children on their way home from school. Someone incredibly tall and dressed all in black jumped out from the dunes. The kids described it as being to fast to be human, and as they ran, it’s maniacal laughter echoed behind them.
The next person to see the creature was Marie Costa, as she was walking by the Provincetown town hall one evening, still in October, it leapt out from behind some bushes. The same tall figure wearing all black, but this time it was described as having glowing blue eyes, silver ears and could jump impossibly high. Marie ducked into a coffee shop, her account to the patrons spurred several of the men to give chase, without luck.
The legitimacy in question
The police claimed it was a hoax, but Marie was legitimately frightened, and as the days of October wore on, the sightings continued to filter in. sometimes several a night, and often in several parts of town simultaneously.
The creature took on a name as the reports and rumors circulated through the small town. The most popular name being one you might expect to see in a DC or Marvel comic book, the Black Flash. An homage to its dark attire and quick movements. It was also referred to as the Provincetown Phantom, and the devil of the dunes.
The tales grew bolder, whether it was a pumped-up rumor mill or the creature got bored, it changed it’s tactics from simply scaring people to attacking them.
While on his way home from the library, a teenage local was accosted by the Black flash, saying that during the assault the creature spewed blue flames from his eyes.
The Black Flash encounters authorities
The local police even tried to get their licks in. In one account four officers had the devil of the dunes cornered in a playground, they ordered whatever it was to surrender or they would shoot. I’m not sure if there was a moment of hesitation, or if maybe the response was instant, but the creature simply laughed, and leapt the ten foot fence in a single bound, and even though the officers opened fire, the black flash escaped seemingly unharmed.
At this point the townspeople believed, human or not, that the thing lurking around their town had supernatural abilities. A man named Charles Farley found the creature in his fenced in back yard. Unlike the police, Charles fired a round from his shotgun without warning. Again the Black flash jumped over the eight foot fence with ease and made its escape.
What was the creature really
Now today Provincetown is an incredibly inclusive town, but in 1939 it wasn’t the LGBT haven it is today. So in that context, some of the people believed that the tall, and black cloaked creature was just a gay man intent on frightening children and locals alike. One skeptic who held this view found himself face to face with the Black flash, he described it as very tall, definitely human, dressed in all black, with silver eyes that glowed in the dark. He told the creature to get out of his way. In response the creature slapped the man so hard it knocked him to the ground.
The last sighting of the Black Flash was from a group of kids who saw it coming towards them through the fog. Frightened, they ran home, finding the house empty they locked the doors and listed in fear as the creature tried to find a way into the house. One of the kids thought to put a kettle on, then went to an upstairs window and dumped the scalding water on the creature. It fled, never to be heard from again.
Where did he/it go
There were no more sightings of the Black flash after November of 1939, there were several theories about it’s true identity. Was it a local athlete, tall and strong enough to accomplish all the supernatural feats the creature was said to do. Was it four local teens playing pranks on the locals, sitting two high in a long black cloak, wearing a strainer over their face.
Similarities to other legends
Some people brought up the creatures resemblance to spring heeled Jack, a creature said to have terrorized Britain a century earlier. They were both described as tall, could jump great heights, had silver faces, where spring heeled jack had glowing red eyes the Black Flash had glowing blue eyes, and they both could breath out blue and white flames.
Unlike spring heeled Jack, whose story is now a warning against mass hysteria, the accounts of black flash lasted less than a month, and until the internet was a thing, never left Provincetown. So whatever, or whoever Black flash really was, we can only speculate. Â