Tel Aviv Bats:
Merit, Mayhem or Myth

By Carl Montague

Although widely known throughout the Judeo-Islamic cultures, the legend of the Tel Aviv Bats is rarely mentioned outside the region. While stories of these mysterious creatures have been discarded for centuries as nonsense by religious councils, there is no denying that the accounts of the Tel Aviv Bats have risen to mythical status.

Dating as far back as 120 a.d. tales of flying men with bat-like features have woven their way into the fabric of the history of the Middle East. So connected with factual data are these stories that it is difficult to investigate regional legend without inclusion of the bats; from geographical information to tall tales.

Children of all ages know of the exploits of the Tel Aviv Bats and consider them defenders of their people.

During World War I there were reports of bat-like men aiding small villages in central Turkey against invading Soviet troops. These were unusual as they took place far north of their usual habitat. Evidence of their heroic stance is depicted in a monument erected in 1921 in the town of Yozgat.

Not all accounts, however, depict these creatures as good. Legends in the southern region of Negev tell of hoards of demonic bat-men plundering villages and destroying crops. These tales lasted for decades and the bats are depicted in many of the areas folklore as forces of evil.

In 1948, a young photojournalist named Joseph Yaffee caused a mild uproar when, while covering the strife of the newly formed Israeli nation, he published the only known photo of a Tel Aviv Bat.

Photograph purportedly taken by Joseph Yaffee in 1948

Unlike previous descriptions of encounters, this photo did not show the bat as human-like, and although the photo was later found to be a hoax, it did, for a time, add a new wrinkle to the legend.

In 1963 evidence was uncovered in Israel’s Central Mountains near the Jordan Valley that supports the idea that these bats exist. Hollow bone fragments from wings were found during a mineral excavation. These bones were much larger than any species of bat in this part of the world and unrelated to any known bird.

Front page of the Tel Aviv Times June 8, 1963

Although we may never know the full truth behind the myth, or whether they are forces of good or evil, or indifferent to these definitions, there is no doubt that we have not heard the last of the Tel Aviv Bats.

– Carl Montague is a foreign correspondent for the New Conservatory Chronicle and is the author of the best-seller, Demon Tablets: History of the Occult and Supernatural in Islam.