Dirt Angel
Sometimes in strange parts of the world like Red Oak Bluffs, traditions can clash with nature and create unintended consequences. Many of the town's settlers were Christians (much of the town still is) and introduced burying of the dead in coffins to the area. With the eddies of oddness swirling through Red Oak Bluffs, this traditional funeral rite has led to the creation of a disturbing cryptid that haunts the town when conditions are wrong.
When buried in a coffin, a human corpse may undergo a transformation while under the soil. Indeed, it would even be proper to call it a metamorphosis in the truest sense: a larval form of a creature pupating in a cocoon, and emerging as a winged adult. This is the unholy process which creates a dirt angel. With the coffin acting as an artificial cocoon, the transformation of human body to a flying horror is possible.
The time and place are important to the metamorphosis, but the locals can't seem agree on the specifics. Of course, typical assumptions about full moons, the witching hour, midnight, spring, Halloween, and so on and so forth are brought up in ghost hunting circles but none of these seem to be a constant across sightings.
Basic Information
Anatomy
Dirt angels have a human silhouette, and may be mistaken for one at a distance or in the dark. But the illusion is shattered when seen moving, They have pallid skin, stretched thin over a skeletal frame. A powdery silver coating covers the body, giving the impression of luminescence. An angel's limbs are long and gangly, but not enough to give away their inhuman nature at a glance. Their most striking feature as seen from afar is the set of delicate wings that can unfurl from the back. Huge and translucent, cryptozoologists argue about whether they are more bat-like or insectile in nature. The wings are tucked under a skin fold at rest but can extend with a sharp snap.
For the unlucky witness who has had a close view, the most memorable feature is the horrible transformation the mouth has taken. Curled into a tight spiral is a long and tough proboscis, ringed by the teeth of the once-human form.
Ecology and Habitats
Dirt Angel sightings are usually reported near cemeteries, where they perch hunched over the tombstones.
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