The Flatwoods Monster

September 12^th 1952, a report of an unidentified extraterrestrial seen in Flatwoods, Braxton County West Virginia. It was soon to become known as the Flatwoods monster, also called the Braxton county monster or the phantom of Flatwoods.

Two brothers, Eddie and Freddie May and friend Tommy Hyer witnessed a bright object go across the sky. The object seemed to have landed on a nearby farm owned by G. Bailey Fisher.

On their way to the farm the boys stopped and got their mother Kathleen May. Three more boys joined the party Neil Nundey, Ronnie Shaver, and Eugene Lemon. Once they got to the farm, Lemons dog ran ahead of the group barking and howling. Then the dog came running back with its tail between its legs. They travelled another ¼ mile to a small hill and on the other side they saw a pulsating ball of fire. They also came across a pungent mist that burned their eyes and nose.

Lemon noticed two small lights left of the object under an oak tree. He shined his flashlight on it; he and Kathleen saw the creature. The creature made a shrilling hiss and moved towards them. Then it suddenly turned and moved towards the fiery object. Lemon passed out, the boys grabbed him and they all fled in a panic.

Mrs. Kathleen May said, I was as close to is as the length of a car, a small car… I was close enough that it squirted oil all over my uniform. She also said, now it didn’t have any arms. The drawing shows arms, but it didn’t have any. It looked like something like an antenna sticking out from it, between the body and the head.

The appearance of the creature, it was 10-12 foot tall. It had a red face which appeared to glow from within and a green body. It had huge pulsating eyes, behind its head it had a dark ace of spades shaped thing. The creatures body was man-shaped that was covered by a dark green skirt. Some witnesses claimed it had no arms, others claimed it had short stubby arms in front of its body with claw like fingers.

Mrs. May contacted the sheriff’s office; both the sheriff and his deputy reported finding no trace of the encounter. Newspaper reporter A. Lee Stuart investigated the area the next day; he reported there was a sickening burnt metallic odor. He also reported seeing to elongated tracks and traces of black fluid.

Others that have went to investigate the next day said they saw crushed grass made from a large circular object.

Sickness followed, after the creature encounter several members of the Sept. 12 group reported being overcome with illness. All of their symptoms were similar and persisted for some time. They all attributed to having been exposed to the mist from the monster.

A doctor that treated them said their symptoms were similar to victims of mustard gas. It must be noted that suffers of hysteria show the same symptoms.

Kathleen May and a drawing of
what the monster looked like.

The story made national news and government officials were afraid of a nationwide panic. The government put out a statement to quickly dismiss the encounter. They said it was nothing more than a meteor. There was a meteor sighting in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia that night. Then said the monster was nothing more than an owl in a tree.

George Snitowski and his wife Edith saw the thing on their way home. Their car stalled and wouldn’t start, as they were sitting there a foul odor started to seep into the car. Then they both saw a bright light flash and George said, down in the woods he saw a dimly lit sphere.

He went to investigate, as he got closer to the sphere his legs began to tingle, as if they were falling asleep, he also was getting sick from the foul odor. He decided to go back to the car.

Then he said in front of the car was a strange creature 9-10 ft tall shaped like a human, with arms and head attached to a bloated body. He could not make out anymore features because it was dark.

Out of the corner of his eye George saw the sphere life into the sky; suddenly it swooped, climbed upward in a bright dazzling light, and then vanished. When he looked outside the car the creature was gone.

Freddies drawing of the monster.

Investigators of the Flatwoods monster dismiss Georges report, because he didn’t tell anyone of what he encountered until after the event made national news.

Mid 1990s Kathleen May was interviewed about the sighting. She said a local reporter received a letter from an unidentified government agency that revealed the creature was some sort of rocket experiment that had gone wrong. There were four rockets launched that day and all four crashed to earth.

Whether the Flatwoods monster was a real alien, creature, or rocket will probably remain a mystery forever. But that doesn’t stop the locals from having the Green Monster festival every year.

Mike Morris