Have you ever seen something so strange that it fundamentally changed how you view reality? For Reddit user KevinRobertsUSA, that moment came in 2006 near Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, when he witnessed multiple cryptid creatures that he describes as “unmistakably goblins.”
The encounter took place in an unusual location: between a friary and a graveyard in rural Wisconsin. As Kevin explains, “They were circling around some tree and it was quite foggy when they appeared but they were unmistakably goblins. This was around 2006-2007 and I have thought about it every day since.”
The Wisconsin Goblins: Physical Description
The creatures Kevin witnessed weren’t the fantasy illustrations from storybooks. These were flesh-and-blood beings with specific, memorable features.
“The goblins were short and mostly brownish,” Kevin writes. “They had large, toothy mouths, large yellow eyes, and small not-quite-horn nubs on their head.” He estimates they stood approximately three feet tall, possibly shorter, with some variation in coloring. “Some of them were more greenish in color, but they were mostly brown.”
What makes Kevin’s account particularly intriguing is that he wasn’t alone. Another man witnessed the same creatures at the same time, providing independent corroboration. “There was also another man with me at the time who corroborated my story at the time by telling me what he saw before I told him what I had seen and his description matched mine exactly.”
The creatures appeared to be engaged in some kind of ritual or activity. “They were dancing around a tree when I saw them,” Kevin recalls. Whether this dance held significance remains unknown, but it’s a detail that has stuck with him for nearly two decades.
The Witness Who Threatened Violence
Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of Kevin’s story isn’t the goblins themselves, but what happened when he tried to revisit the experience years later. The other witness, who initially confirmed seeing the exact same creatures, later responded with extreme hostility.
“He has since threatened to kill me when I asked him about this years later,” Kevin reveals. When asked to clarify if this was a joke, Kevin was adamant: “The other guy was completely serious. He threatened to kill me and all I had done was reach out to ask if he would be willing to discuss what we had seen that night.”
This reaction raises fascinating questions. Did the second witness experience trauma from the encounter? Did he fear ridicule? Or is there something about acknowledging these creatures that provokes such an extreme response?
Understanding Goblin Encounters
Kevin’s sighting isn’t as isolated as one might think. When he asked the Reddit community for other goblin encounters, multiple witnesses came forward with their own experiences.
Reddit user shadowartpuppet shared a story from a camping trip. A “very level-headed scientific guy” friend confided an experience he’d never told anyone else. “He was driving along a country road in New Jersey, and it was late at night, and his lights were on low beam. He saw what looked like a leprechaun run across the road.”
The driver immediately stopped and looked where the creature had fled. “He said it was just a really small troll-like man wearing a hat like a beanie. They looked at one another and then he ran off. To this day he doesn’t know what it was.”
International Perspectives: Mexican Duendes
The phenomenon isn’t limited to North America. Reddit user AdSeveral3544 shared a family story from rural Mexico in the early 1970s. “My mom is from Mexico and told me a story when she was little at her aunts ranch that there were these goblin like beings harassing the livestock.”
The ranch workers called them “duendes,” a term used throughout Latin America for small, mischievous supernatural beings. The situation became serious enough that armed men responded. “She just remembers a lot of the men that worked on the ranch taking up guns and lots of shots. She said it was really scary what was happening and how the men described the ‘duendes’ or goblins.”
Duende of Mexico City With Video
This wasn’t cartel activity or human intruders. “No cartel activity in the area, it’s relatively a peaceful area. This would have been in the early 70’s,” the commenter clarifies.
A Child’s Window Encounter
Perhaps the most chilling account comes from Reddit user scarlettlyonne, who shared her aunt’s childhood encounter from upstate New York in the early 1970s. “My aunt has sworn up and down that she saw an elf or goblin when she was a child.”
The aunt was preparing for bed when she went to check if her parents had turned off the porch light. “When she moved the curtain, she said she came face to face with a goblin, who was on the porch, staring in through the window.”
The description is remarkably specific: “She described him as being extremely small, with green skin and a block-shaped, square head.” The encounter was brief but terrifying. “She screamed, and the goblin ran off.”
Decades later, the aunt has never been able to explain what she saw, and no one else in the family has reported similar encounters.
The Skeptical Perspective
Of course, there are rational explanations to consider. Memory distortion over nearly two decades could alter details. The foggy conditions Kevin describes might have obscured misidentified animals or even small humans. Psychological factors like expectation or fear could transform an ordinary sight into something extraordinary.
As one Reddit commenter thoughtfully notes: “Honestly, because there’s billions of us and nobody sees goblins. As a casual scroller, with no vested interest and no connection, it’s much easier and more feasible to conclude you’re either misremembering, mistaken, lying or just plain delusional.”
However, Kevin’s response to questions about what “unmistakably goblins” means is telling: “Have you ever seen one? If you had, you would know. It’s kind of like seeing a raven for the first time and realizing you’re definitely not looking at a crow.”
This suggests something about the certainty that comes from direct experience versus theoretical skepticism.
Goblins: From Folklore to Fantasy Games
Today’s video game players know goblins as low-level cannon fodder, the weak enemies you defeat by the dozen in games like World of Warcraft or Dungeons & Dragons campaigns. They’ve been reduced to comic relief in fantasy fiction, portrayed as bumbling, cowardly creatures that pose little real threat.
But this trivialization is a modern phenomenon. For centuries, goblins were taken very seriously across multiple cultures as genuine threats to humans and livestock.
In medieval Europe, goblins were considered real creatures that inhabited the wild places just beyond human settlement. French peasants feared gobelins, Germanic cultures warned of kobolds, and British folklore spoke of various goblin-like beings that would steal children, curdle milk, and lead travelers astray. These weren’t fantasy characters but explanations for real losses and misfortunes that communities experienced.
The entities went by many names depending on the region: hobgoblins, brownies, boggarts, and pucks in Britain; lutins in France; duendes in Spain and Latin America. What united these beliefs was the conviction that small, mischievous, and sometimes malevolent humanoid creatures shared our world.
Medieval grimoires and witch trial records document serious attempts to ward off or control these beings. Farmers left offerings to appease household goblins. Churches performed exorcisms to drive them away. The famous French theologian Jean Gerson wrote extensively in the 15th century about the reality of goblins and other “monstrous” entities.
It wasn’t until the Age of Enlightenment that educated Europeans began dismissing these creatures as superstition. But in rural areas, belief persisted well into the 20th century. Even today, parts of Latin America, Iceland, and other regions maintain traditional beliefs in small supernatural beings.
Perhaps modern sightings like Kevin’s suggest that our ancestors weren’t simply superstitious. Maybe they were observing something real that we’ve trained ourselves not to see or, when we do see it, not to report for fear of ridicule.
Why Don’t More People See Goblins?
Reddit user MyOwnPetG-Virus offered an intriguing theory: “I believe all cryptids are creatures from another dimension that can either pass through to our plane or somehow became trapped here.” This interdimensional hypothesis could explain why sightings are rare and why creatures appear and disappear so mysteriously.
Another possibility is that these beings are simply extremely elusive, living in remote areas and avoiding human contact. The fact that Kevin’s sighting occurred in a specific liminal space between a friary and graveyard, in foggy conditions, might not be coincidental.
The Power of Belief and Experience
What’s perhaps most significant about Kevin’s account is his continued search for answers. Nearly twenty years later, he’s still seeking other witnesses, still trying to understand what he saw. “I am hoping to hear from other people who have seen real goblins,” he writes in his Reddit post.
His experience highlights a fundamental divide between those who have witnessed the unexplained and those who haven’t. As one supportive commenter advised: “Instead of listening to those that don’t believe you, invest in those that do. While I haven’t seen goblins, I have encountered some weird shit in my life. I don’t care to convince anyone. But I do love to talk with people who want to engage due to curiosity or experiences.”
Whether the dancing goblins of Fond du Lac were interdimensional visitors, undiscovered creatures, or something else entirely may never be conclusively determined. What remains undeniable is that Kevin and his companion saw something that night that defied easy explanation and continues to haunt them nearly two decades later.
Have you encountered small humanoid creatures or goblin-like beings? We’d love to hear your story. Send your report to Reports@ParaRational.com
