South Texas Thing - Strange Object on Path [Butterfly]

My vote is also for butterfly, simply because if it was a cow/calf/goat it would probably be seen by or cautious of the dog.

I don't know this particular dog, but whenever I have walked various dogs, they go ballistic at any kind of farm animal, and the farm animals usually skedaddle out of there, not calm enough to lay down.

Our (very handsome!) dog friend here is in the same general position when he is looking towards the thing (assuming it's large, physical, and on the path) than when he isn't. Any dog I've had goes into immediate LOOKATTHETHINGOHMYGODITSADEER mode when they so much as sense another animal, regardless of dog breed. Thus, the thing is probably not visible to it. Thus, butterfly.
This puppy is almost 2, she's a rescue with no prey drive and has a lot of anxiety from her being dumped with her mom and siblings in a Texas field in the summer, she doesn't even go after cats or squirrels. And thank you! I'll tell her she has a fan :)
 
I live in San Antonio, I am not in the country to be around cattle or farm animals. This park is shares a fence line with townhome backyards, when we walk into it, we walk alongside townhome and high rise apartments all around us, not to mention my own sub that I drove out of it but it doesn't touch this park but it's 1/2 mile from my home and it's all fast food and retail here. It's an urban oasis. I can take photos of the actual park, it's not secluded even if it looks that way.
 
It would be nice to see the original hi-res photos.
Yes it would it's what I need before I post it on less kinder forums to see if someone else has photographed or seen this. I am not a tech person, I don't know how to post or upload the pics, I have them for sure ready. I did ask before so I'm looking through messages right now and if someone provided a walkthrough of how then I'll do it.
 
My vote is also for butterfly, simply because if it was a cow/calf/goat it would probably be seen by or cautious of the dog.

I don't know this particular dog, but whenever I have walked various dogs, they go ballistic at any kind of farm animal, and the farm animals usually skedaddle out of there, not calm enough to lay down.

Our (very handsome!) dog friend here is in the same general position when he is looking towards the thing (assuming it's large, physical, and on the path) than when he isn't. Any dog I've had goes into immediate LOOKATTHETHINGOHMYGODITSADEER mode when they so much as sense another animal, regardless of dog breed. Thus, the thing is probably not visible to it. Thus, butterfly.
Calf/cow could explain the tail-looking bit sticking to the left and the slightly bulkier dimensions. Sheep have very short tails. Texas is also cattle territory with a capital "T". The image is too grainy and fuzzy to capture ear size. Also there are different types of cattle with different types and sizes of ears. The ears in the image may be pointing backwards rather than sideways. It's also difficult to make out whether the head is facing forward or slightly to the right.

Some images of sitting calfs and cows showing tail and ears:

8DB8258F-A84B-438C-B07A-1AFA877AE56C.jpeg
15B2A218-E0C1-43A6-A7C5-98C3FF762EA4_4_5005_c.jpeg
C1465C7E-C117-4B55-80EC-34E997FAC778_4_5005_c.jpeg
Texas is cattle country but I am in San Antonio and in the suburbs, If it was farm life from the country, I would have called the police/park ranger, Walgreens and affluent subs are right outside of a very busy street. When I showed this to my friend who's an SAPD officer he's the one who told me to take it to someone, that it warranted a closer look. It was also 90 feet away from me. People's backyard share the fence with this park. This park is just stuck into our area with businesses, restaurants, houses and apartments for days.
 
Yes it would it's what I need before I post it on less kinder forums to see if someone else has photographed or seen this. I am not a tech person, I don't know how to post or upload the pics, I have them for sure ready. I did ask before so I'm looking through messages right now and if someone provided a walkthrough of how then I'll do it.

Do you use google drive?
 
Yes it would it's what I need before I post it on less kinder forums to see if someone else has photographed or seen this. I am not a tech person, I don't know how to post or upload the pics, I have them for sure ready. I did ask before so I'm looking through messages right now and if someone provided a walkthrough of how then I'll do it.
im going to tag @Mick West he can tell you.
 
It was also 90 feet away from me.

Are you saying that you saw it at the time?

Or are you saying "in the photo it kind of looks like it's in a spot that was 90 feet from me"?

If the latter, I think the people here are saying it actually looks more like something small that's close to you (eg, a butterfly).
 
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was also 90 feet away from me.
Can you explain why you are so sure of this? It is between you and a point on the path that is possibly 90 feet away. If it is sitting on the ground, then it would be that far away, as far away as that point on the ground. But if it is in the air, it is closer, possibly a lot closer. And of course the closer it is, the smaller it is.
 
If you didn't see it at the time it's kind of impossible to say that.



Actually, I think it's okay that we don't know the seconds - seems less important now.



I must be missing something. I keep looking for the 3024 x 4032 3.8mb one but all I see is smaller photos.

Help?



That's a tremendous match - great work! Has my vote.



As one who lives among cows that wander freely on the back roads I don't think it's impossible that a calf could be sitting like this while the mama was off-camera; seems like a normal occurence to me.

My big question about the calf hypothesis would be whether there are cows in that park and/or whether cows in that part of the country have the ability to wander free.



How about "medium or medium-low information zone"? ;)

There's certainly a lot more to go on than a few pixels in a distant sky.
Nice to see your posts have left the moderation queue.

You don't know that. It looks the same as a small black object close to you, the position in the image simply creates an optical illusion that makes you think it's sitting on the path when it's not.

Consider: If there had really been a big black object there, you'd have seen it at the time.

It's much more likely you didn't notice a butterfly.
This is the original uncropped photo, that big black thing is 90 feet from us and I know it's big because for scale my ex is in the next pic that i took yesterday in the same spot. I also have this pic that I put through a filter but I'm not sure what it means, I don't know how to tell weight. I don't know how I would have seen a butterfly or any insect from that original photo, that would actually be incredible. Not everything is bigger in Texas, I was snapping pics and walking in that direction.
 

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that big black thing is 90 feet from us and I know it's big because for scale my ex is in the next pic that i took yesterday

It's only big and 90 feet away if you assume it was in that spot. What we're saying is that it most likely wasn't in that spot: that appearances can be deceptive and it's not always easy to tell the difference between things that are large and far away and things that are small and near.

Here's a fun little example (from series 2 of The Mighty Boosh when Vince and Howard are stuck on a desert island):

Screen Shot 2022-10-23 at 13.08.01.png

 
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Sorry for the extreme editing but so were all on the same page, it seems you saw some sort of very large drone out your truck window, but your ex did not even though she was looking at the same place you were. Yes? And after parking you did not see a drone. Correct?

Then you took pictures while walking in the park, and while you did not notice or see anything unusual at the time, you did see something strange in 1 or 2 pictures after reviewing them. Does that sum this up?

As noted above, the shadows seem strange.

If we look at this photo, we can see the shadows are going from left to right. The sun is somewhere to the left of the scene, right?
1666488877801.png

But when we look at a close up of the object, the shadows are going from sort of right to left. Note the pointed beak of the object casts a shadow on the "ground". It's almost opposite of the shadows of the trees. Something is not right. Maybe, as Mendel suggests, it's not a shadow at all but part of the object, but it sure looks like the beak is casting a corresponding shadow.


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Thank you for your extreme editing! That is what I need. I am a 51 year old woman, I am not an excited young person and I appreciate this kind of breakdown. Of course nothing makes sense, not the anything about any of this picture or my day at the park.

And yes, I did see a drone, my ex did not. I told her to take a pic and she didn't because she said there was nothing and by the time I got to the stoplight, I didn't see it again and I defo didn't see it at the park. The park being 1/2 mile from my home, when I turned out of my sub, I saw the drone above the park and I am a wet blanket, I totally didn't want to go if there was an event or 5k or something with a lot of people but there was nothing.

I saw it in1 picture only. And I almost didn't. I just wanted a few pics to text my cousin and when I was going to attach this one is when I saw the black thingy in the distance and though it was a Boston Terrier so I zoomed and I yelled out to my ex, who also still lives w/me that I got one of the dogs in my pic, they were super cute but it wasn't them, she said they left anyway and she saw that when she went back to my truck to lock it. When I zoomed in on this thing, it got my attention and my first thoughts when I showed this to my father was that maybe someone needs help. Maybe something is buried there, a wrongful death or if it isn't that, type of manifestation of energy. Or like an omen without the brooding child.

I may have to accept that the more I know, the more I don't. We may get to uncover a clearer image of it if someone can manipulate my source files or whatever they're being called but once we actually see it and if it's not what we know, it could be something we don't. Thank you for your help, I will try to find out how to upload the files people need. THIS was at 1:55pm on my timestamp, Texas is all sun, we're being hit from everywhere here :) I don't know how to help with the shadows or sun, I can only give you facts from the timestamp.
 
Can you explain why you are so sure of this? It is between you and a point on the path that is possibly 90 feet away. If it is sitting on the ground, then it would be that far away, as far away as that point on the ground. But if it is in the air, it is closer, possibly a lot closer. And of course the closer it is, the smaller it is.

Because I was there and it's 'sitting' next to a cactus patch and the only one at the foot of the trail and that's the only spot that WIFI is lost, it's the spot I had my ex stand in and photographed for scale after I measured the distance. I mean, it could be in Mexico, maybe my new iPhone was undersold to me for it's powerful camera. The lens can only capture so far in distance. If this was a paper photo I'd be screwed, there would just be a black dot in the distance but with zooming, I can see where it's positioned next to and find it easily.
 
@Lore, what we are suggesting, thanks to @jarlrmai, is that...

This 'thing' in your picture:

4F8A30D2-5EC6-4F43-A6F3-6AC0AC51AA1A_4_5005_c.jpeg

Is actually this thing:

2B4B4A69-E19B-4836-AA81-43C13A67AC39_1_201_a.jpeg


It's a butterfly called American Snout native to Texas. It was never on the road. You only accidentally happened to capture it in one of your pictures as it was flying across to the left. It only looks like it's on the road because a picture obviously freezes all motion and it happened to freeze the butterfly in a way that looks like some creature's on the road 90 feet away. But actually it's much closer to the camera and it's flying. We hope this was helpful.

Welcome to Metabunk! You're one of the sweetest things I've seen on this forum for a long while.
 

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Because I was there and it's 'sitting' next to a cactus patch and the only one at the foot of the trail and that's the only spot that WIFI is lost, it's the spot I had my ex stand in and photographed for scale after I measured the distance. I mean, it could be in Mexico, maybe my new iPhone was undersold to me for it's powerful camera. The lens can only capture so far in distance. If this was a paper photo I'd be screwed, there would just be a black dot in the distance but with zooming, I can see where it's positioned next to and find it easily.

I'm going to splice this pic of a real butterfly into your pic
11.png
ee.jpg

now depending on where i move the butterfly (i scaled it slightly larger in these below so you can see it better), our eye will think its far away and big or close to us and small. this is the exact same sized butterfly moved around the canvas. pink arrow points to my butterly i added.

note: my butterfly does not change depth, as it can't. it is a layer of a pic that is on top of your pic.. the "depth" of view is the same in every photo

ff.jpg
 
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Any dog I've had goes into immediate LOOKATTHETHINGOHMYGODITSADEER mode when they so much as sense another animal, regardless of dog breed.
But dogs do the same thing when they see unfamiliar inanimate objects as well. Their little canine brains run through the options, starting with "What kind of animal is that, a thing I chase or a thing that chases me?" before eventually concluding "No, it's just a broom, or maybe a new sofa cushion."
 
Lore has been kind enough to email larger versions of the photos, so if anyone wants to download them they're in this folder here:

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/12n6NJGQcfY_TxrYIbV9wqx7ATcLOrBpy

Not quite as large in file size as the originals but I believe the resolution is the same.
hhmm...i think its fair to say the full size pics dont help much. just mentioning in regards to whether she needs to make the full size available on other forums.

@Lore thank you for doing that though!! now we know :)
 
Are you saying that you saw it at the time?

Or are you saying "in the photo it kind of looks like it's in a spot that was 90 feet from me"?

If the latter, I think the people here are saying it actually looks more like something small that's close to you (eg, a butterfly).
But dogs do the same thing when they see unfamiliar inanimate objects as well. Their little canine brains run through the options, starting with "What kind of animal is that, a thing I chase or a thing that chases me?" before eventually concluding "No, it's just a broom, or maybe a new sofa cushion."

This puppy is here by force. I have to take her on a lead to my own backyard, I have to leash her, walk her through the living room, across the sliding door threshold and when I let her go on the porch she stands next to me and won't move until I do. She won't walk in the neighborhood. When she walks by other dogs, she doesn't even look at them, she walks glued to me. Whatever happened in that field, it scared her and she got scared by the rescue people for sure, when she got dropped off at 12weeks at my house, the rescue lady was so indifferent about it, she really needed to be in a different job. I think what runs through Sophie's brain is I need to be with my mom and that's it, she really does not like the outdoors. Crickets scare her :) I have them for my reptiles and she's scared of them.

Naturally she's 100% not scared of fireworks or thunderstorms. :) She's scared of things that normally don't scare dogs.
 
Nice example, first I saw a medium sized animal eg a goat lying on the path (lack of shadow though saiz this is not what it is)
Then after JMartJr said the butterfly its nearly impossible to unsee it.
It always surprises and disappoints me how homogenous the world is (has become), like if you said you took this photos 20km inland from here (barcelona) I'ld believe it.
 
When all of the other objects are casting obvious shadows why isn't this object? The object is very dark yet the ground immediately to its right is as bright as the other parts of the path not in shadow. Assuming the object is large and sitting on the ground there should be at least some shadow present where there is none.

If the object is a butterfly, it is much closer to the camera than the hypothetical large animal on the ground, and its shadow may be lost amongst the cluttered ground beside the path or entirely outside the field of view of the camera.

And something about the brightness and contrast of the object, compared to the other objects at the same hypothetical distance, does not seem right to me. The object is too dark compared to other dark sunlit objects at that distance, and matches the darker tones of nearby objects, like the dog. Compare the darkest parts of the object with the shadowed sides of the dark rocks that appear to be at that same distance. If the object is a nearby butterfly than it may well be shadowed by the trees to the left, which could explain its very dark tone of the underside of its wing.

Looking at and for shadows is important in sunlit images, they will be consistent throughout the image. If they are missing then things are not as they first appear to be.
 
Some quick math on the camera used with the pixel count from the full size image gives a very ballpark figure of 0.86 metres away for the butterfly, the image is pretty wide angle 14mm FF equivalent according to the EXIF in the 1st post.

American Snout approx wingspan 2 inches, 1 wing = 1 inch. 48 pixels in image

1666602958803.png

If we knew the length of the lead we could likely approximately place it depth wise in the image.
 
Wow, respect for the butterfly ID.

Even reading the butterfly posts I couldn't see it at first. Then something clicked and I can't see anything else now. First pic in OP it's still hard to make out but the second pic it seems clear as day.
 
This is the original uncropped photo, that big black thing is 90 feet from us and I know it's big because for scale my ex is in the next pic that i took yesterday in the same spot. I also have this pic that I put through a filter but I'm not sure what it means, I don't know how to tell weight. I don't know how I would have seen a butterfly or any insect from that original photo, that would actually be incredible. Not everything is bigger in Texas, I was snapping pics and walking in that direction.
Hi. Thanks for posting this, and especially, going back and taking more pics at the same spot. :)

I had an idea: Since the spot is accessible to you, what if you went back there,
at the exact same time of day, so that the shadows would be very similar,
and placed a little lightweight office-sized trash bin (maybe 4 or 5 gallons)
in that spot, 90 feet away?
Whether it does or does not cast a shadow on the right hand side, might be useful information.

Just an idea. Anyway, welcome to the site.
 
When we have multiple observers seriously analyzing the picture seeing anything ranging from bovines to butterflies, I'd say nothing's very obvious.

;)
I'd say that's a strength of how this place works. In cases that are not initially obvious, you get some brainstorming, with various posts along the lines of "it looks like an (something) to me." But where True Believer sites stop at "it looks like a bigfoot/alien/ghost," folks here take the next step, and try to find evidence to back it up. So MB often identifies not just that it's a plane, but the exact plane. Not just a butterfly, but the exact species. Or the exact bumps and shudders of a camera gimbal mount.

That's pretty unique on the ol' Interwebs, and the more we can show people how to do this sort of thing, the better.
 
Whether it does or does not cast a shadow on the right hand side, would be useful information.
if it is an invisible thing that has been following her for some time, and only appeared in this photo as a camera fluke... then it wouldnt leave a shadow.
 
Scrolling through the results of a Google image search for "American Snout butterfly" is interesting:

Screen Shot 2022-10-24 at 13.12.24.png
Link: American Snout images

The distinctive feature on both the object in the photo and the butterfly's wing of a light/white blob located above two other light/white blobs in a sort of triangle looks to be standard for this type of butterfly.

I also notice that in photos taken from a certain angle they can appear somewhat leaf-like, which was also an earlier guess:

1666622088215.png

I suppose the other thing to do on the next walk would be to keep an extra special eye out for butterflies. Though my guess is that their "emergence season" is pretty short and it was probably already at the tail end of it a week or two ago.
 
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Oh, and here's a snippet from Texas Public Radio broadcast last month answering the question "why are there so many American Snout butterflies in the San Antonio area right now?"

Screen Shot 2022-10-24 at 08.43.48.png

https://www.tpr.org/environment/2022-09-14/american-snout-butterflies-swarm-south-and-central-texas

You're right, when you look at it with your helpful American Snout comparison image in mind, the butterfly hypothesis appears more obvious.

4F8A30D2-5EC6-4F43-A6F3-6AC0AC51AA1A_4_5005_c.jpeg

In light of all the above, am I correct in thinking that the members agree the protrusion is actually the snout rather than the right wing?
 
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I also notice that in photos taken from a certain angle they can appear somewhat leaf-like, which was also an earlier guess:
yea i was wondering if maybe the females were less vibrant (like birds). and obviously different camera filters and/or settings -and natural lighting- would give different coloring results.
brownguy.jpg

The distinctive feature on both the object in the photo and the butterfly's wing of a light/white blob located above two other light/white blobs in a sort of triangle
yea they are a pretty identical match as far as location.
pic from this post.
1666625525913.png

pic from my previous post
1666626037818.png
 
yea i was wondering if maybe the females were less vibrant (like birds). and obviously different camera filters and/or settings -and natural lighting- would give different coloring results.
It has to be close, if that's it, and from the shadows around the dog, they've stopped in tree shade to take the picture. It may even have been in the darker shade of the umbrella.
 
It has to be close,
i think it has to be close too because it is out of scene within 1 second time.
the second photo (with no "ghost"), has the same fast shutter speed so the ghost should still show in that one...since he's lying on the path allegedly.
a dog, cow, or sheep (whether real or ghost) would take more than 1 second to leave the frame if he was actually 90 feet away.
 
Oh, and here's a snippet from Texas Public Radio broadcast last month answering the question "why are there so many American Snout butterflies in the San Antonio area right now?"

Screen Shot 2022-10-24 at 08.43.48.png

https://www.tpr.org/environment/2022-09-14/american-snout-butterflies-swarm-south-and-central-texas

In light of all the above, am I correct in thinking that the members agree the protrusion is actually the snout rather than the right wing?
I think it's both, they are aligned somewhat.

But a few alignments fit.
 
I'd say that's a strength of how this place works. In cases that are not initially obvious, you get some brainstorming, with various posts along the lines of "it looks like an (something) to me." But where True Believer sites stop at "it looks like a bigfoot/alien/ghost," folks here take the next step, and try to find evidence to back it up. So MB often identifies not just that it's a plane, but the exact plane. Not just a butterfly, but the exact species. Or the exact bumps and shudders of a camera gimbal mount.

That's pretty unique on the ol' Interwebs, and the more we can show people how to do this sort of thing, the better.

Couldn't agree more.

Threads like these are a testament to the power of group effort aligning with humble curiosity. And yet members also simultaneously showing grace in recognizing invaluable individual contributions of other members. Camaraderie was in rare display and like giddy schoolboys and schoolgirls members are revelling in the simple fun of a 'school science project'.

In the age of self-promotion and toxic rivalry, it's a rare beauty. Too rare.

P.S. Kudos to @Lore, this thread wasn't about debunking anything. Just pure dilettante science. No claims were declared at the outset, no hypotheses were stubbornly insisted. Just everyone being equally curious about what that thang is in the picture. And I think we got quite a definitive answer.
 
Couldn't agree more.

Threads like these are a testament to the power of group effort aligning with humble curiosity. And yet members also simultaneously showing grace in recognizing invaluable individual contributions of other members. Camaraderie was in rare display and like giddy schoolboys and schoolgirls members are revelling in the simple fun of a 'school science project'.

In the age of self-promotion and toxic rivalry, it's a rare beauty. Too rare.

P.S. Kudos to @Lore, this thread wasn't about debunking anything. Just pure dilettante science. No claims were declared at the outset, no hypotheses were stubbornly insisted. Just everyone being equally curious about what that thang is in the picture. And I think we got quite a definitive answer.
Thank you @LilWabbit I appreciate the kudos, I didn't hoax this or try to put what I thought it was in it because it doesn't help anyone if we're trying to see what it is together and it does exactly that, it causes problems so that's why I presented it as it is, an unknown that I was hoping was a glitch. I have come to terms with a possible harbinger, I've seen this in my life before as I mentioned originally and just never got anything on film, I thought I was just projecting my energy. I was going to open post this to the world on some popular platform but I'm not going to. I have a connection to vultures, I have written a lot about them, I've won a couple awards for my stories about them and the last time I saw something close to this image, was the week my dog died but it was floor to ceiling and in my room for the splittest of seconds. Any time there's been a light of change, this thing appears always with a birds-ish head and this time, I got it. The first and probably only time in my life. I defo will include it in a future book because it's extraordinary and comforting.
 
Thank you everyone for helping me with this and extra thank you for everyone's patience on my inept technology skills :) I am just bad at computers :) I appreciate the effort and just in sharing this thing with me, it's weird patterns, it's defiance of the laws of this planet and the wonder, that's something we should all never lose that curious wonder.
 
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