The Flatwoods Monster, also known as the Braxton County Monster or the Flatwoods Ghost, is an unknown creature, possibly a Cryptid or alien, that was allegedly sighted in Flatwoods in Braxton County, West Virginia, USA on September 12, 1952.
It all began on the afternoon of September 12, 1952, when the office of Sheriff Robert Carr and Deputy Barnell Long received a call from witnesses to a strange phenomenon. Eyewitnesses claimed that they saw a fiery object flying through the sky, which then fell to the ground in the area of the Elk River. After receiving the message, the sheriff concluded that it was the plane that had fallen (it was later found out that no planes had fallen in this place).
However, late in the evening, another strange message came in, this time from a group of children playing soccer in the school yard. Children saw a falling object that disappeared behind a hill on land owned by the farmer Bailey Fischer. They decided to go in search of the object. On the way, they went to Kathleen May's house and she, along with her two sons, joined the group.
When they reached the hill, Kathleen May noted that the evening mist smelled strongly of metal and that the smell burned her eyes and noses. A dog was running in front of a group of people, but it suddenly returned with a frightened look and its tail between its legs. At the top of the hill, people saw a luminous and hissing object about three meters in diameter less than a hundred meters ahead. Then the people came closer, the night had already fallen and the group already saw two small lights located next to each other.
One of the boys had a flashlight, and when he turned it towards the lights in order to get a better look at them, the light snatched out a very large creature three meters high, which “had a bright red face, bright green clothes, and his head looked like a card the symbol of the ace of spades, his clothes hung down to the bottom and were in large folds."
Suddenly, the creature floated through the air directly towards the group of people, forcing them to flee in panic down the hill. They ran home and that's when they called the sheriff's office. By the time the sheriff and his people arrived at the place of the call, there were already many local residents who were called by the children. Reporter A. Lee Stewart of the Braxton Democrat newspaper also arrived with the sheriff and began interviewing witnesses about the incident. He later noted that everyone who saw the creature was very frightened.
Promotional video:
Stewart also visited the hill, accompanied by one of Catherine May's sons, and himself noted the strange unpleasant smell. But he did not notice anything unusual there. However, when Stewart returned to the hill the next morning, he saw mysterious footprints.
According to Sheriff Carr, eyewitnesses saw a meteorite fall, and on the hill everyone saw just some kind of animal, whose eyes shone in the dark and could frighten everyone. This seemingly plausible explanation does not explain many of the details in the eyewitness accounts.
And the next night brought even more mysteries. A local resident, whose home is on the Birch River, said he saw a bright orange object circling in the sky over Flatfood. Another local woman and her mother claimed to have seen a huge creature about 11 miles from the hill where the first eyewitnesses saw it.
Later, researcher John Keel found another pair that saw the monster, the famous researcher of anomalous phenomena Ivan Sanderson also came to the place, who carefully examined the scene, took soil samples and also interviewed eyewitnesses.
After meeting the creature on September 12, several members of the group reported that they had developed symptoms similar to those they had previously for some time while in the fog emitted by the creature. Symptoms included nasal irritation and throat swelling. Eugene Lemon, 17, suffered from vomiting and seizures throughout the night and had throat problems for several weeks afterwards.
A doctor who treated several witnesses reportedly described their symptoms as similar to those of mustard gas victims, although such symptoms are also common in sufferers of hysteria, which can be triggered by exposure to a traumatic or shocking event.
Skeptics' findings
After reviewing the case 48 years after the events, Joe Nickel, an investigative officer at CSI, then known as CSICOP, a skeptical explanation of the paranormal, concluded in 2000 that the bright light in the sky reported by witnesses on September 12 was likely meteorite, the pulsing red light most likely came from an airplane or a lighthouse, and the creature described by witnesses reminded him of an owl.
Nickel argues that the last two circumstances were distorted due to the heightened state of anxiety felt by the witnesses after they noticed the first. Nickel's findings are shared by a number of other researchers, including those from the Air Force.
On the night of September 12, a meteorite was observed in three states, Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and there was also an erroneous report that a flaming plane crashed into a hillside in Elk River, about 11 miles (18 km) to the southwest. from the alleged place of observation of the creature. Three flashing red lights of the aircraft were also seen from the area of observation, possibly their pulsing red light was seen by bystanders and mistaken for a red color on the creature's face.
Nickel concluded that the shape, movement, and sounds of the creature reported by witnesses also matched the silhouette, flight pattern, and sounds of a barn owl perched on a tree branch, leading the researcher to conclude that the foliage beneath the owl may have created the illusion of the bottom creature (described as a pleated green skirt).
The researchers also concluded that the lack of agreement of witnesses on whether the creature had a weapon, combined with Kathleen May's account of having “small, tenacious hands” that “were outstretched in front of him,” also fit the description. barn owls with claws squeezing a tree branch.
Alternative explanations put forward by local media include that the group witnessed a meteorite fall on September 12, creating a human-shaped steam cloud, and that they allegedly saw some kind of secret government plane.
But even after decades, the mystery remains. Today, the Green Monster Festival is held every year in Flatwoods, West Virginia, from Friday to mid-Sunday, with live music, a museum, and guided tours of the monster's site.