The Braxton County Monster The very name brings up memories of one of the biggest UFO landing stories

of the 50's. Why has this important event fallen by the wayside and been overshadowed by Aztec, Roswell, and other incidents? It was rated the 11th most important news story of the year by the wire services. It was investigated by some of the biggest name paranormal investigators of the time, names such as Ivan Sanderson, Gray Barker, Frank Edwards, John Keel, and Charles Hapgood . Yet this sighting has been relegated to a side-bar in the history of UFOlogy. While a few aspects of this case such as luminous eyes and a dog's reaction to the entity are common in UFO lore, an entity matching the creature's description has only been reported in one other case. Is there enough of a trail to probe this early and intriguing incident? While the story of the "Phantom of Flatwoods" has been recounted numerous times, most of the references are derived from a few basic sources, and real digging hasn't been done. Microfilm of the local newspapers surrendered dates and names, and UFO literature yielded a wide variety of details that could have been distorted by the filtering of information through many people across many years. The basics of the story are this: On the evening of September 12, 1952 a huge fireball was sighted moving in from the Atlantic Ocean over the states of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. There were reports of sightings of the fireball from many states that ringed these three states. The CAA Tower (the precursor to the FAA) received reports from several planes, and the Tower at Wheeling, West Virginia was told by one pilot on his radio that the fireball nearly clipped the wing of his plane. Ivan Sanderson put forth the theory that there were five fireballs, or constructs, as he called them. Others felt that there was only one large meteor that accounted for all the sightings, but Sanderson theorized there must have been at least five "constructs" to explain the various landings and crashes and aerial objects reported that night. One of the fireballs seemed to crash on a hillside at Sugar Creek, a rural area just outside Gassaway in Braxton County. This was witnessed by a local person who reported it to the sheriff as a crashed airplane. One landed on a knoll near Frametown, West Virginia and was seen landing and taking off by two members of a family who lived near the knoll. Number three passed the Sutton Airport and was last seen going south. Number four disintegrated in the air above the west side of Charleston, West Virginia, the state capitol. Fireball number five landed on a hilltop in Flatwoods, West Virginia. This is the fireball that was to become a part of West Virginia history and UFO history. A group of boys were playing football in front of the local grade school when they saw a strange sight. A huge, slow-moving fireball crossed the sky, rounded the ridge of a nearby hill, and settled slowly to the ground. The boys decided to climb the hill to see the "meteor". On the way up the hill they were joined by members of the May family, whose house was halfway up the hillside on which the "craft" landed. The group that climbed the hill consisted of Neal Nunley, Ron Shaver, Kathleen May, two of her sons Eddie and Freddie, Tommy Hyer, and Gene Lemons (who at seventeen was the oldest of

the children). It was stated in some press reports that one of the boys playfully told the group at the May house they had seen a "flying saucer" land. As they climbed the gradual incline in the foggy night they walked into a thick smoky mist that caused their eyes to water and burned their throat. A dog that accompanied the group ran ahead, then bolted back down the hill whining and yelping. About a hundred yards away through the mist they saw the glowing craft off to one side pulsing and emitting a hissing noise. As they walked toward the object they saw two lights that gave off beams like the headlights of a car. When one of the boys turned the only flashlight they had brought along toward the beams they received the shock of their lives. The creature in the dark was about ten feet tall and around four feet wide. It had "a bright red face, bright green body, a head that resembled the ace of spades, and a skirtlike garment that hung in folds from it's waist down. When the monster seemed to float across the ground toward them, the group panicked and fled. Gene Lemon passed out and was supported and propelled down the hill. When they got to a gate they had earlier passed through and closed, they went over, under, or through the nearly five foot tall gate. A couple of the boys claimed that Mrs. May cleared the gate in a leap! When they got to the house and called the sheriff, he was investigating the supposed craft that crashed at Sugar Creek. The group was still affected by the strange "mist" they had gone through on their trek. The dog reportedly lay under the porch and whined and vomited for hours afterward. A few hours later a group of local people gathered their courage and went up the hill to investigate. They found some skidmarks on the ground in the area where the monster was sighted. The tracks were later blamed on a tractor. The heavy metallic smell that sickened the witnesses still clung to the site. On the grass where the craft had been sitting was a sticky, dark substance that turned out to be the natural product of a hearty grass known locally as "tar-grass". At this site no physical evidence was found. The group of locals that beat the sheriff to the scene had trampled the hillside and eradicated any evidence that could have been recovered. As in so many cases, the testimony of frightened, sincere, and decent people is all that is left to mark the passing of a mysterious "visitor" to our little back-water planet. None of the original witnesses that can be found care to discuss the incident further. No considerate person could fault them. The after effects of the press scrutiny in the 50s, along with the ridicule, second guessing, and sometimes insulting explanations of their stories offered by skeptics would cause anyone distress. Add to that the fact that the event occurred over forty years ago and it's easy to understand why they would like put this behind them and get on with their lives. But the legend of the "Green Man" will not go quietly, and the story will remain one of the old favorites of many UFOlogists. *************************************************************

This information is part of a work in progress, "The Braxton County Monster", a book and video project by "Weird Wonderful Productions. For further information e-mail me at Matt M777 @ aol.com or snail mail to: Matt Mullins P.O. Box 2854 Charleston, WV 25330-2854