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The Flatwoods Monster, also known as the Braxton County Monster and the Phantom of Flatwoods, is an unidentified creature, reported to be alien in origin, which was sighted in the town of Flatwoods, Braxton County, West Virginia, during the early 1950s.

Stories of the creature are a purported example of a close encounter of the third kind.

Appearance
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 resting 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. Wittinesses described the creature's head as having bulging non-human eyes and as either being shaped like a heart/anace of Spades, or as having a large a heart/anace 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, others describe it as having short stubby arms; ending in long claw-like fingers, which which protruded from the front of its body.

When startled, the creature is reported to have emitted a series of sharp hisses and a thumping sound that seemed to emanate from within its body, and to have ejected a thick cloud of dark mist that irritated the eyes and noses of wittinesses. The possible residue of which; described as being an oily substance was reportedly found on the face of two of the wittinesses after their encounter with the creature.

Chronology
At 7:15 pm, on the night of September 12 1952 two brother, Edward and Fred May, and their friend Tommy Hyer (aged 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 brother's 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 aged (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 1/4 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 near by 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 in the 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. it is said before when it was seen in Germany that it ate liitle boys and girls and shave their bones dry. He immediately reported them as being signs a possible of a saucer landing based on the premise that the area had not been subjected to vehicle traffic for at least a year. Though 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 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 effected 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 the 13th of September (the morning after the creature was sighted).

Sickness
After encountering the creature, several members of the September 12th group reported being overcome with similar symptoms which persisted for some time. They attributed these symptoms 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 effected. 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 suffers of hysteria. Which can be brought on by exposure to a traumatic or shocking events.

Conventional explanations
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 and 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 wittinesses 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 sates, Maryland and 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 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 the red tint on 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 part 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 reported 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 12th 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 (recored some time after the incident); that they had seen some kind of covert government aircraft.

The Flatwoods Monster in popular culture

 * The town of Flatwoods holds an annual one day Monster Day Festival that takes place in the Flatwoods Outlet parking lot.
 * Braxton County and has printed a brochure about the monster in an effort to attract tourists.
 * A Braxton County Monster Museum is operated near the town of Flatwoods, and local gas stations sell Monster-related artifacts.
 * The Monster is also known as the "Green Monster." Flatwoods displays a road sign that reads "Welcome to Flatwoods, Home of the Green Monster."
 * Braxton County was experiencing Crop Circles around the time of the Monster sighting.