Except From The
Wheeling Intelligencer:
"Bashful Billy" the monster from outer
space and Southern West Virginia, arrived in
Wheeling by flying saucer yesterday, and
promptly set tongue wagging and telephones
burning. Even the Wheeling Police
prepared to call out all Space Cadets.
Telephones of the Wheeling Intelligencer
and city police kept humming last night as
anxious residents attempted to confirm the
rumors, but in true Hollywood style, the
Monster apparently vanished without pausing
to light a single cigaret with his fiery
breath. One call to the Intelligencer
office asked if it were true that the
horribly burned body of a woman was found at
Vineyard Hill, and that a city policeman was
burned mysteriously about the arm.
Police Lt. John P. Murphy reported
similar calls pertaining to an injured
policeman, and in one instance was asked to
send a patrolman to Vineyard Hill for guard
duty.
Since no members of the department are
equipped with Buck Rogers rocket guns,
Lieutenant Murphy declined to assign a an to
the area.
"The only green-eyed monster I ever heard
of was a jealous woman" Detective Howard
Millard said last night.
Callers also reported that an unpleasant
odor was produced by the monster, [Editor's
Note: This is similar to reports of
the Flatwoods Monster, as well as another
famous monster "Springheeled Jack"] who
evidently hasn't heard of chlorophyll since
he's newly arrived on this planet, and
police admitted there was something smelly
about the way the rumor was started from no
apparent source.
[Editor's Note: Prior to the 1990s,
Chlorophyll was a widely used ingredient in
oral products, from throat spays, such as "Chloraseptic",
to mouth washes. However, it was
ultimately banned...]
The irony of
this series of reports was the way in which
the media ridiculed those that saw the
Wheeling Monster, and dismissed it out of
hand, yet the day before in another part of
West Virginia that matter was take
seriously.
Do to the lack
of seriousness by the police, this incident
was poorly investigated, resulting in little
first hand accounts from the time of the
incident. Perhaps we will never know
if this was the same creature, or even of
the same type/species. It will
probably remain, yet another mystery of that
by-gone era.
