Saw mantis-like being when in a rural town in east Texas when I was around 8 years old. Basically, my brother and I were in the town with my dad while he was renovating a house. We were staying in the house while he was working on it. I don't have many memories from back then but this sticks out.

It was dark out, probably around 7 o'clock at night. My father was cooking dinner while my brother and I were playing and doing stuff kids do. The porch door was open with a fly screen door closed, there was a hallway running from the front of the house to the back. As we ran across the hallway we both noticed something peeking around the corner from the porch. It looked like a giant cockroach/mantis with massive black eyes just staring. It was nearly as tall as the doorway, slightly hunched over. Both my brother and I saw it and felt extremely terrified. 

We ran to the kitchen and tried to get dad to have a look but he just brushed it off. Peeking around the corner again we saw it still standing there, still staring. Our dad finally agreed to look but it had disappeared. I believe this is the only time we saw it.

About 2 years ago I brought it up with my brother and he remembers it as well. Hard to put it into words, it's a lot clearer in my mind.

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