In West Virginia folklore, the Flatwoods Monster, also known as the Braxton County Monster or the Phantom of Flatwoods, is an entity reported to have been sighted in the town of Flatwoods in Braxton County, West Virginia, United States, on September 12, 1952.
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History
At 7:15 p.m. on September 12, 1952, two brothers, Edward and Fred May, and their friend Tommy Hyer (ages 13, 12, and 10 respectively) said they saw a bright object cross the sky and land on the property of local farmer G. Bailey Fisher. The boys went to the home of Kathleen May, where they told their story. 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 Lemon, traveled to the Fisher farm in an effort to locate whatever it was that the boys said they had seen. The group reached the top of a hill, where Nunley said they saw a pulsing red light. Lemon said he aimed a flashlight in that direction and momentarily saw a tall "man-like figure with a round, red face surrounded by a pointed, hood-like shape". Descriptions varied. In an article for Fate Magazine based on tape-recorded interviews, UFO writer Gray Barker described the monster as approximately 7 feet (2.1 m) tall, with a black body, a dark, glowing face, an elongated head, non-human eyes, and a large, circular cowl behind the head. Some said it was colorless. Others said it was green. Others described drape-like folds. According to the story, when the monster made a hissing sound and "glided toward the group", Lemon screamed and dropped his flashlight, causing the group to run away.
The group said they had smelled a "pungent mist" and some later said they were nauseated. The local sheriff and a deputy were investigating reports of a crashed aircraft. They searched the site of the reported monster but "saw, heard and smelled nothing." According to Barker's account, the next day, A. Lee Stewart, Jr. of the Braxton Democrat claimed to discover "skid marks" in the field and an "odd, gummy deposit" which he attributed to a "saucer" landing.
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Conventional explanations
After examining the case 48 years after the event, Joe Nickell of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI), then known as CSICOP, concluded in 2000 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. Nickell claimed that 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 night of the September 12 sighting, a meteor had been observed across three states--Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. According to Nickell, three flashing red aircraft beacons were also visible from the area of the sightings, which could account for descriptions of a pulsating red light and red tint on the face of the supposed monster.
Nickell concluded that the shape, movement, and sounds reported by witnesses were 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.
References in popular culture
Flatwoods held an annual festival to celebrate the "Green Monster". The three-day festival included a weekend of live music, the Green Monster museum and trips to the site of the original sighting. The last year the festival took place was in 2006.
See also
- List of reported UFO sightings
- Mothman
- Owlman
References
External links
- Investigative Files: The Flatwoods UFO Monster - Skeptical Inquirer
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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