What are the Flatwoods monster? What are they? Are they monsters or aliens? or was it just a misinterpretation?
We shall go through this decade-old mystery.
1. The Flatwoods Monster
About 70 years ago, in the small town of Braxton County, West Virginia, people were visited by a creature that was quite hard to describe verbally. They weren’t sure about the appearance of the creature, that decided to taunt them intentionally or unintentionally. People kept wondering if it was a monster or their misunderstanding.
1.1 First Encounter with the Green Monster
The story began in 1952, in the town of Flatwoods in West Virginia.
One evening in September, Edward May, Freddie May, Neil Nunley, and Tommy Hyer were playing on the lawn of Flatwoods elementary school around 7 p.m. When suddenly they saw a bright object cross the sky above them. They were enchanted to see such a thing until it disappeared, surely landing on the hillside, on the farm of a local farmer. They were all excited to analyze the crash site. The boys quickly ran to Edward and Freddie May’s Home to inform their mother, Kathleen May, about the site.
As soon as Kathleen studied the site, she called the National Guardsmen, Eugene Lemon. The boys, Kathleen, the guardsmen, along with their family dog, Richie, formed their group to inspect the site.
After the group reached the sighting, they saw a pulsing red light. Eugene shone his flashlight towards it just to see a 10-foot-tall creature, which had lean twisted claw-like hands. The creature’s head was shaped like a spade and it wore a dark metal dress. In addition to that, the creature had glowing orange eyes and seemed to hover over the ground. There was mist around it, the smell of which they were not successful in recognizing. The group said that they were chased out of the site when they saw that creature hissing and levitating toward them.
Kathleen and Eugene later informed the authorities about the event and they even drew designs of it for reference research was done on this. However, nothing unusual was found.
1.2 The Second Encounter
Only after a few moments, the 10-foot creature seen by Mrs. Audra Harper, in the hills above the town of Heaters, nearby Flatwoods. Audra was walking with her friend to a nearby store. They decided to take a shortcut through the woods when she noticed a ball of fire on the hill. When she tried to check again, the fire had disappeared. Just then they saw a tall dark silhouette of a figure standing in the place where she had seen the fireball. They ran as fast as they could to escape the creature.
1.3 Third Encounter of the 10-Foot Tall Being
After this Flatwoods incident, just the next day, it had another sighting. This happened near Strange Creek, also near Flatwoods. Edith and George Snitowsky were driving around a rural area at night, between Braxton County and Clay on route four, along with their 18-month-old son. The car suddenly stopped working, and even George’s attempts to start the car failed. The road was pretty empty and deserted and they had already thought no one would come to help anytime soon. Just then they realized that the air had begun to fill up with a sulfurous smell and they saw their baby cry after seeing a strange bright light.
After a while, they saw a 10-foot figure floating over the car’s front. The couple said, the being hauled its claw-like hands over the car’s hood and then it wandered into the surrounding until they could see it anymore. Right then their car started again and they quickly drove out of that site.
The couple’s story was very similar to the previous two cases but rather than pointing out its spade shape, they said its head was bony.
2. The Braxton County Monster or Braxi
After several sightings, the being was now known by various names like the phantom of Flatwoods, The Flatwoods Monster, The Green Monster, Braxton County Monster, or a more affectionate version, Braxi.
Braxi’s hysteric encounters had made The Flatwoods monster a legend in West Virginia. But what are they? monster? alien?
Whether the being, that had been seen by the group of witnesses that night, was something supernatural or usual was a majorly debated topic.
3. Theories about the Monster
3.1 The Purported Alien Crash Site
Many believed that the Flatwoods monster had something to do with the purported alien crash site, known as the Roswell Incident, that had taken place just 5 years ago before the monster was seen in Braxton County, West Virginia.
The event had propelled the idea of UFOs for the focus of the USA’s imagination that possibly, the streaks they saw in the sky were none other than the result of the government-ordered military examination, the airplane’s light that was used as help alert to guide aircraft.
It’s also worth mentioning that, on the day of the incident, the local newspaper did report a meteor. The Maryland Academy of Science had also reported a sighting of a meteor in Baltimore at 7 p.m. The meteor had moved over Maryland Pennsylvania and Flatwoods. And for the strange smell, it could have been the smell of the flora found there or the smell of the sulfur springs, which the state is known for. But if it was that way, countless residents would’ve identified the smell but they didn’t.
3.2 Just a Huge Owl?
Another famous theory about the Flatwoods monster is that it might have been a really big barn owl. The usual size of a barn owl is about 10 to 16 inches. Therefore, maybe it was an owl sitting on a tree.
Those spindly hands could be the branch of the trees and the claw-like shape was from its wings. And its spade-like shape also seemed similar to that of an owl, the dark feathers around forming a hood-like structure. As for the red light, female barn owls are said to have a reddish appearance or it may have been the light from an airplane.
If it was a barn owl, maybe she was protecting her children and when the flashlight was shone towards her, she screeched.
4. The Flatwoods Monster Museum and Conclusion
Whether it was something related to the purported alien crash site or an owl couldn’t be justified but there were several documents related to The Flatwoods monster being an alien. Out of which, Gray Barker, a figure in the field of ufology, was one of the first beings to write about the Flatwoods monster.
There’s also a Flatwoods monster museum located in Sutton, where there are various artifacts related to the Flatwoods monster. There are newspapers, articles, and photographs according to the witnesses who saw the Flatwoods monster on sight. There’s also a replica of the Flatwoods monster, designed accordingly to the witnesses’ story, for the visitors to spectate.
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