The Flatwoods
Monster Of Braxton County, West Virginia
The Flatwoods Monster,
also known as the Braxton County Monster, the
Phantom of Flatwoods, or the Green Monster, is an unidentified creature,
reported to be alien in origin, which was sighted in
the town of Flatwoods in Braxton County, West
Virginia during the early 1950s.
Acknowledgement
This site is based
(in-part) upon the research of: Mr. Frank
Feschino, Jr., and others, and contains excerpts
from their work. We are thankful for their
investigations into this incident and creature,
and the insights they have provided. We have
also integrated numerous contemporary source
documents. We would welcome further
contributions. You may also purchase a
copy of Mr. Feschino's
books here. Information was also
obtained from the
U.S. Air Force's Project Blue Book,
and numerous source documents are
attached.
Introduction
What occurred on
that warm September day in 1952? The
country was alarmed as dozens of UFOs were
report over military installations, and seen in
formation right over Washington, D.C. One
of those objects was seen to be in distress,
headed for the hills of West Virginia, with
others headed to other venues.
 There are two entities
associated with the Flatwoods Monster. The first of
which was described as being a large pulsating red
ball of light that hovered above or rested upon the
ground. Some believe the it may have been a
powered craft that was piloted by the second entity.
However, John Keen reported similar "Orbs" in
and around Point Pleasant, associated with the
Mothman incidents of 1966 and 1967.
However, these were clearly not just localized
phenomena. Reports from across the country
came pouring into the military, police, and
newspapers (and were captured by
Project Blue Book as well).
A sampling of those
documents is
included within this site.
Various descriptions of the second entity,
the Flatwoods Monster itself, exist as well (see
below).
Most of the witnesses agree that it was at least 10 feet tall and
that it had a red face which appeared to glow from
within, and a dark green body, or red glowing eyes
and a dark body. Witnesses described the
creature's head as having bulging, non-human eyes
and as either being shaped like a heart or an Ace of
Spades, or having a smaller head with a large heart
or Ace of Spades
shaped cowling or hood behind it. The creature's body was
described as being human-shaped and clad in a dark
pleated skirt; later described as being green (the
reason for the additional name of "Green
Monster"). Some
accounts record that the creature had no visible
arms, while others describe it as having short
stubby arms; ending in long claw-like fingers, which
protruded from the front of its body; though more
recent re-interpretations show appendages from
it's "neck". In
fact, aspects of the Flatwoods monster are similar to the Mothman.
Mothman is the name given to a strange creature
reported in the Charleston and Point Pleasant
areas of West Virginia between November 1966 and
December 1967, and elsewhere since. However,
this creature, the Flatwoods Monster is named after the area where it
appeared. Unlike Mothman, though, this was
a one time appearance.
The Actual First Hand Record From
Project Blue Book, 1947-1969 - Publication
Number T1206 National Archives
Braxton County, West Virginia
Braxton County, and
the town of Flatwoods in located at the very
center of West Virginia, west of Washington D.C.
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Braxton County, West Virginia
aerial photo |
Braxton County, West Virginia
aerial photo |
Flatwoods
Area |
Welcome To Flatwoods WV |
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Landing Site? The area where to glowing
object set down |
At 7:15 pm, on the
night of September 12, 1952 two brothers, Edward and
Fred May, and their friend Tommy Hyer (ages 13, 12,
and 10) witnessed a bright object cross the sky. The
object appeared to come to rest on land belonging to
local farmer G. Bailey Fisher.
Upon witnessing the object, the boys went to the
home of the May brothers' mother, Kathleen May,
where they reported seeing a UFO crash land in the
hills. From there, Mrs. May accompanied by the three
boys, local children Neil Nunley (14) and Ronnie
Shaver (10), and 17 year old West Virginia National
Guardsman Eugene 'Gene' Lemon, where they all
traveled to the Fisher farm in an effort to
locate whatever it was that the boys had seen.
After traveling about ¼ of a mile the
group reached the top of a hill, where they
reportedly saw a large pulsating "ball of fire"
about 50 feet to their right. They also detected
a pungent mist that made their eyes and nose
burn. Lemon then noticed two small lights over
to the left of the object; underneath a nearby
oak tree, and directed his flashlight towards
them, revealing the creature, which is reported
to have emitted a shrill hissing noise and to
have begun to glide towards them before changing
direction and heading off towards the red light.
At this point the group fled.
Upon returning home Mrs. May contacted local Sheriff
Robert Carr, and Mr. A. Lee Stewert; co-owner of the
Braxton Democrat, a local newspaper. Stewert
conducted a number of interviews and returned to the
site with Lemon later that night where he reported
that "there was a sickening, burnt, metallic odor
still prevailing". Sheriff Carr and his deputy
Burnell Long searched the area separately, but
reported finding no trace of the encounter.
Early the next morning; on Saturday September 13,
Mr. A Lee Stewart visited the site of the encounter
for a second time and discovered two elongated
tracks in the mud, as well as traces of a thick
black liquid. He immediately reported them as being
possible signs of a saucer landing based on the
premise that the area had not been subjected to
vehicle traffic for at least a year. Though it would
later be revealed that the tracks most likely
belonged to a 1942 Chevrolet pickup truck driven by
local Max Lockard; who had gone to the site to look
for the creature some hours prior to Stewert's
discovery.
After the event, Mr. William and Donna Smith;
investigators associated with Civilian Saucer
Investigation, LA, obtained a number of accounts
from witnesses who claimed to have experienced a
similar or related phenomena. These accounts
included the story of a mother and her 21
year-old-daughter, who claimed to have encountered a
creature with the same appearance and odor a week
prior to the September 12 incident; the encounter
reportedly affected the daughter so badly that she
was confined to Clarksburg Hospital for three weeks.
A statement from the mother of Eugene Lemon, in
which she said that, at the approximate time of the
crash, her house had been violently shaken and her
radio had cut out for 45 minutes, and a report from
the director of the local Board of Education in
which he claimed to have seen a flying saucer taking
off at 6:30 on the morning of September 13 (the
morning after the creature was sighted).
After encountering
the creature, several members of the September
12 group reported being overcome with similar
symptoms which persisted for some time, which
they attributed to having been exposed to the
mist emitted by the creature. The symptoms
included irritation of the nose and swelling of
the throat. Lemon was reportedly the worst
affected. He suffered from vomiting and
convulsions throughout the night, and had
difficulties with his throat for several weeks
afterwards.
A doctor who
treated several of the witnesses is reported to
have described their symptoms as being similar
to victims of mustard gas, though such symptoms
are also commonly found in sufferers of
hysteria, which can be brought on by exposure to
a traumatic or shocking event. As can be
seen in the Project Blue Book document
above, the witnesses were not 100%
consistent regarding these effects.
After examining the case, Joe Nickell of the
paranormal investigation group CSICOP concluded that
the bright light in the sky reported by the
witnesses on September 12 was most likely a meteor,
that the pulsating red light was likely an aircraft
navigation/hazard beacon, and that the creature
described by witnesses closely resembled an owl. The
latter two of which were distorted by the heightened
state of anxiety felt by the witnesses after having
observed the former. Nickell's conclusions are
shared by a number of other investigators,
including those of the Air Force. The Mothman
has also been explained by this.
The night of the
September 12 sighting, a meteor had been
observed across three states, Maryland,
Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and had been
mistakenly reported as flaming aircraft crashing
into the side of a hill at Elk River;
approximately 11 miles southwest of the location
of the Flatwoods sighting. Three flashing red
aircraft beacons were also visible from the area
of the sightings, possibly accounting for the
pulsating red light seen by the witnesses, and
for the red tint on the face of the creature.
The shape,
movement, and sounds reported by witnesses was
also consistent with the silhouette, flight
pattern, and call of a startled barn owl perched
on a tree limb; leading researchers to conclude
that foliage beneath the owl may have created
the illusion of the lower portions of the
creature (described as being a pleated green
skirt). Researchers also concluded that the
witnesses' inability to agree on whether the
creature had arms, combined with Kathleen May's
report of it having " small, claw-like hands"
which "extended in front of it" also matched the
description of a Barn owl with its talons
gripping a tree branch.
Alternative
explanations included those put forward by the
local media; that the September 12 group had
witnessed the impact of a meteor which resulted
in a man-shaped cloud of vapor, and those of
Kathleen May and her sons (recorded some time
after the incident); that they had seen some
kind of covert government aircraft.
On September 13,
1952, one day after the Flatwoods Monster
incident, another frightening alien encounter
occurred in Braxton County. A peaceful
sightseeing trip through the West Virginia
mountains suddenly turned into a night of
terror. At dusk, a young couple drove through
Frametown and their automobile inexplicably
stalled and refused to start. Moments
later, a burnt sulfur odor engulfed the area and
sickened the man and wife as strange electrical
charges filled the air as a UFO hovered nearby.
Shortly after, a huge alien confronted the
couple and stalked them while circling the
stalled car.
An
additional
sighting was also reported near Wheeling
West Virginia.
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