| Flatwoods,Braxton County West Virginia |
| The Flatwoods Monster, also known as the Braxton County Monster and 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. Stories of the creature are a purported example of a close encounter of the third kind. 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, 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. 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. Ufologists believe the it may have been a powered craft that was piloted by the second entity. Various descriptions of the second entity exist. Most agree that it was at least 10 feet tall and that it had a red face which appeared to glow from within, and a green body. Witnesses described the creature's head as having bulging, non-human eyes and as either being shaped like a heart/an Ace of Spades, or as having a large heart/Ace of Spades shaped cowling behind it. The creature's body was described as being man-shaped and clad in a dark pleated skirt; later described as being green. 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. Excerpt from www.wikipedia.org Copyright (C) 2000,2001,2002 Free Software Foundation, Inc. 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA |
| In April 2007, we stopped by to visit Flatwoods, West Virginia for a preliminary check before any possible future investigation would begin. Surprisingly, the town was very easy to locate, off of exit 67 on Interstate 79. When it comes to small towns, Flatwoods takes the cake. The population was only 348 at the time of the 2000 census. While driving north on US 19 you are greeted by a sign when entering the town that reads, "Welcome to FLATWOODS home of The Green Monster. Even though the town encompasses an area of less than 3 miles, attempting to blindly search for the crash site on the old Fisher farm seemed futile. That wasn't our goal this time around anyway, since we had not yet gained permission . In 2002 the town held a 50th Anniversary celbration in honor of the event from 1952 and even played host to acclaimed Ufologist and nuclear physicist Stanton T. Friedman. There are numberous photos from this event available on line which show them at the crash site. So, even now, we believe it is same to presume that the site is still accessible. But, under who's control, we do not know. We will be researching this further and attempting to gain access to the crash site. A return visit has been tentatively scheduled for this summer. |
| (Click for larger views) |
| Photo by TJ Harter |
| Original eye-witness sketch |
| An interesting sign at the end of town |
| One of the few places in this small community |
