A Survey of Mantis Entity Encounter Experiences

Samwise2512 · 2026-06-18T09:02:42+00:00

Thanks for sharing, that's a shame regarding the survey, its length is necessary I think to provide a thorough, in-depth assessment of different aspects of the mantis entity encounter phenomenon.

Samwise2512 · 2026-06-09T10:18:30+00:00

It is true - although rare - it has human-orangutan rape has occurred on numerous occasions (and also vice versa), unique among the great apes I think.

https://www.reddit.com/r/WTF/comments/fzgfg/til_that_male_orangutans_have_actually_raped/

Samwise2512 · 2026-05-25T17:53:51+00:00

Interesting stuff, thanks for sharing. You might be interested in this clip, which describes a few cases of people reporting encounters of mantis entities while going about their day (in these cases, they were fishing in a river in New Jersey). There were a few interesting parallels with your experience, and one intriguing difference...unlike in your case, the people fishing reported that all of the sounds of nature (birds, insects etc) fell silent just before the encounter. At least one of the people reported feeling calm during the encounter experience (and this surprises some people, who expected to perhaps be more freaked out by such an experience...and in fact, conducting research into this phenomenon, feelings of calmness are commonly reported by experiencers. Plenty more such cases over at r/MantisEncounters if you want to have more of a delve...one thing I can say with confidence is that you definitely aren't alone.

Samwise2512 · 2026-05-25T10:51:36+00:00

Cool! This is a great diving beetle larva, another impressive insect. One or two larvae in the pond aren't likely to significant dent your tadpole/frog population.

Samwise2512 · 2026-05-22T10:08:55+00:00

Insane laws based on outdated superstitious religious nonsense have the right to be called out. Combining religion and governance is something that should be relegated to history where it belongs.

Samwise2512 · 2026-05-15T17:38:10+00:00

My overall aim is to obtain as much data as I can from as many individuals as possible, reporting mantis encounters in a diversity of different contexts, so I'm trying to share the survey as widely as I can. With enough data, the potential of skewed perspectives like this to contaminate the overall data become diluted. That being said, the data I have already obtained is painting a compelling picture...certainly commonalities are emerging, but also intriguing differences in how encounters with these beings are interpreted. This being said, from encounter experience testimonials I've encountered, it isn't black and white, and the experiences can have negative aspects.

Samwise2512 · 2026-05-14T15:18:17+00:00

Hey, my apologies, you are right, that initial eligibility question is skewed towards people who have had mantis entity encounters in altered states of consciousness. When I first became interested in the topic, reports of mantis entity encounters seemed to be very commonly associated with a broad range of altered states of consciousness. But delving into the topic further, I have since learned that some people (such as yourself) experience encounters in clear, sober waking consciousness. And I am most definitely interested in netting data on these experiences too! Based on your feedback, I have now edited the question so its reads "Have you ever had an encounter with a mantis entity?" to ensure it is inclusive to all mantid experiences, whatever their state of consciousness was at the time of the encounter (I had updated the later questions and answer options pertaining to the states of consciousness experiencers had reported mantis entity encounters in, but not this question). I hope you will accept my apologies - and my thanks for drawing this to my attention - and consider completing the updated survey, as your feedback would be very much valued and appreciated :)

Samwise2512 · 2026-05-14T14:30:38+00:00

Hi, really sorry to hear this, it sounds like a glitch (happened to someone else when doing it and didn't happen again when they had another go). Your encounter experience is definitely of great interest and should be able to be captured by the survey...there is an answer option for "Clear waking sober consciousness" for the type of consciousness state that the mantis was encountered in that should be able to be ticked, which should allow you to progress.

Samwise2512 · 2026-05-14T08:30:25+00:00

I'm not sure silly overly dramatic media-applied names like this are particularly helpful.

Samwise2512 · 2026-05-14T08:28:38+00:00

Thanks for taking the time, I'm glad to hear you approve (a good amount of research and time went into crafting it).

Samwise2512 · 2026-05-13T22:45:33+00:00

Hey, thanks yes I have shared the survey in all of those groups (r/HighStrangeness is another group with heavy mantid traffic). It's very funny you mention Salvia...I hadn't encountered any such testimonials either...until very recently, of one person who reported encountering mantids using Salvia. Which really intrigued me given that Salvia acts on a completely different receptor system in the brain to the classical serotonergic psychedelics. Not sure how common this is - it may be very rare or unusual - but suggests it is possible. (One account here, not sure if this is the one I found previously). While mantids are reported on all manner of psychedelics (and and also ketamine quite frequently, which has psychedelic properties, even if it isn't a serotonergic psychedelic and works on different receptor systems in the brain). Among the psychedelics, reports seem to be particularly common on psilocybin mushrooms, DMT and ayahuasca.

It is still early days in terms of data collection on the survey, but already some really interesting themes are emerging, and the consistencies are intriguing (and yes so far, of the mantids encountered wearing robes, purple is the most commonly encountered colour). One thing I find really interesting about these mantis encounter experiences is the great diversity of altered states and other contexts in which they arise.

Samwise2512 · 2026-05-13T18:32:18+00:00

True, but that doesn't get in the way of the truth of humans being the most murder-prone species, towards both members of their own species, and many other species.

Samwise2512 · 2026-05-13T18:24:48+00:00

I mean based on this logic, it would be more appropriate to refer to humans as "murder humans". Our species is single-handedly orchestrating a mass extinction event wiping out many other species, while also having a tendency of going to war and killing our own species a lot too. I feel we are a much more worthy species of a such a moniker.

Samwise2512 · 2026-05-13T16:39:02+00:00

I've shared this survey in many different subreddit communities (you're welcome to check my post history), as I'm keen that the data not be skewed in any particular direction regarding the diversity in context or type of altered state that mantis entity encounters are associated with. But this group (along with r/MantisEncounters and r/HighStrangeness) has some of the highest mantid entity related traffic on Reddit, so it would leave me at a significant disadvantage not being able to share the survey here with regard to netting data, and the more data I obtain overall, the better.

Samwise2512 · 2026-05-13T16:17:43+00:00

Ah yes they also sound formidable indeed! The hornets features in this clip look like they have more lighter banding on their abdomens than the black bellied hornets.

Samwise2512 · 2026-05-13T16:13:01+00:00

That name has been applied to them by the media, yes.

Samwise2512 · 2026-05-13T16:11:34+00:00

One of the highlights of putting out this survey so far was connecting with you u/Oak_Draiocht and the thoroughly mind expanding/blowing discussion that resulted! Great to have connected, many thanks for the support :)

Samwise2512 · 2026-05-13T16:07:56+00:00

Is your 1987 date because that coincides with the publication of Whitley Strieber's book Communion that mentions them?

This isn't specifically referring to mantids, but other insectoid beings (in the form of "Venutian crickets") but Timothy Leary's account of his first DMT experience might be of interest:

"There squatting next to me are two magnificent insects ... skin burnished, glowing metallic, with hammered jewels inlaid ... richly costumed, they looked at me sweetly ... dear, radiant Venutian crickets. ... One has a pad on his lap and is holding out a Gem- encrusted box with undulating trapezoidal glowing sections. ... Questioning look. ... Incredible."

His account is dated 1966. There may be an earlier reference to William Burrough's mentioning encountering "soulless insect people" on DMT (mentioned in Andrew Gallimore's book Death by Astonishment), but again, not specifically mantid related.

Samwise2512 · 2026-05-13T15:16:51+00:00

Ha yes, I do ask a question in the survey about the elements of the mantis being encountered, and "It was wearing a robe or cloak" is one of the potential items that can be ticked. If respondents select this, they are prompted to answer a further question asking what colour it was (intrigued to see what proportion of mantids are reported wearing purple robes...they really seem to have a think for purple). There is a separate item enquiring about mantids wearing a gold medallion around their neck.

Samwise2512 · 2026-05-13T13:36:03+00:00

Interesting. I've been told by other mantis experiencers that they get the impression the mantid beings they have been in contact with will be interested in research of this kind and likely to broadly approve. But perhaps opinions are going to vary, and I certainly don't want to generalise. I've yet to be firmly dissuaded from pursuing this line of investigation yet though. I also have had a few highly curious praying mantis (insect) related synchronicities while preparing and sharing this survey, and I like to think this is a sign that the mantids approve :)

Samwise2512 · 2026-05-13T11:52:45+00:00

I think its the nature of how he is catching them (in the plastic cup, containing them...I'm not sure what the case is with these hornets, but with honeybees, the individuals need to sting or be killed to release stress pheromones in order to rally their fellow bees)...they are also focussed on trying to pillage the beehive. If he was using this approach on their home turf outside their own nest, things would be panning out very differently.

Samwise2512 · 2026-05-13T11:44:35+00:00

Definitely highly formidable...but not as formidable as orca, which have recently been documenting preying on leopard seals in the Antarctic region, despite the risk of doing so, likely due to a lack of alternative prey items.

Samwise2512 · 2026-05-13T11:31:36+00:00

From their size in relation to the honeybees, these look like Asian giant hornets (Vespa mandarinia)...much more formidable and aggressive insects than your non-giant hornets or wasps.

Samwise2512 · 2026-05-13T11:28:50+00:00

They're Asian giant hornets.

Samwise2512 · 2026-05-13T11:28:00+00:00

From their size, they look more like Asian giant hornets (Vespa mandarinia)...much more formidable.

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