The Flatwoods Monster or Braxton County Monster is a very interesting example of how two different types of people
perceive a single situation.
In general, many believe that life elsewhere in the universe exists and even though we're dealing with this particular
example back in the early fifties, I would suggest the excitement of thinking about flying saucers whizzing around our
skies would be prevalent even back then.
The more sceptical of us would reach for a more down-to-earth reason to why this small group of people in West Virginia
believe they observed what they thought was an encounter with a creature from another realm and I think it's only fair
that we place both perceptions side-by-side for their respective merits.
.........................................
The General Account:
In the early evening of 12th September 1952, Edward (13 years-old) and Fred May(12 years-old) along with their friend
Tommy Hyer (10 years-old), were playing football at a nearby elementary school, when they witnessed a bright, glowing
object moving at speed across the sky.
This object 'came to rest' or 'crashed' on a nearby hill that was part of the property belonging to a Mr. G. Bailey Fisher.
The two May brothers are reported to have raced to their home and informed their mother (Kathleen May) of what they
saw.
Whether the expression 'flying saucer' was used or not, we do not know. But I would strongly suggest the word 'Ufo' was
not as some accounts imply because such an abbreviated definition didn't become mainstream until well into the sixties.
(Although, the title was allegedly used in classified official documents from the late-fifties)
Mrs. May, her two sons, Tommy Hyer, some other children -Neil Nunley (14 years-old), Ronnie Shaver (10 years old), Teddy
Neal (13 years-old), Ronnie Shaver (10 years-old) and Eugene Lemon (17 years-old) decided to visit the assumed crash
site that the boys had witnessed. Eugene Lemon was also in the West Virginia National Guard.
![[Image: attachment.php?aid=1651]](http://rogue-nation3.com/attachment.php?aid=1651)
Arriving at the location at the top of the hill on Mr. Fisher's property, the group observed a large pulsating ball of light
and also noticed Eugene Lemon's dog was troubled by the situation. Kathleen May remarked that: "the night was foggy
and there was a mist in the evening air."
It's also reported that this mist held a foul odour and effected the group.
Mrs. May commented "The air had a metallic smell which burned our eyes and noses."
The older boy noticed two small lights under a tree to the left of the group and aiming his torch to that position, Kathleen
May reported that it was a creature that began to bound towards them. With a 'shrill-hiss', the alleged upright creature
approached the group and then changed direction and 'glided' towards the glowing light.
The group is said to have fled at this point.
Kathleen May contacted the Braxton County Sheriff Robert Carr the same night and for an unknown reason, also spoke
to the co-owner of the local newspaper, Mr. A. Lee Stewart. Stewart of The Braxton Democrat newspaper interviewed the
group and along with Eugene Lemon, revisited the location of the alleged incident.
Stewart and Lemon noticed a pungent, metallic-like odour still in the area, but the glowing light and alleged creature
had gone. Sheriff Carr and his deputy also searched the location and apart from the strange smell, found nothing.
It is reported that Stewart returned to the site the next morning and discovered two elongated grooves and an unknown
black liquid. However, this claim is countered by a report that a local man drove his pickup truck to the location to see
what happened and the cause of the gouges.
Bouts of sickness, eye and nose problems were also later reported by the initial group.
That's the 'encounter'... it's difficult to discover where the actual description that caused an artist to render the famous
image that is in the photograph above came from, but one may conclude that Kathleen May and Eugene Lemon in the
same picture agreed with the painting.
Description:
A large creature, between seven and 12 tall, stood hovering next to a nearby oak tree. Wore some sort of green armor
and a black cowl shaped like a spade from a playing card over it's blood-red head and bright glowing red eyes.
Some of the witnesses reported seeing two claw-like hands near the creature's head, one of which may have been
holding a device. The being let out a shrill hiss and started towards them in a slow gliding motion.
.........................................
Alternative Occurrence:
A meteor, some swamp gas and wild imaginations... rationality demands that these standard -yet unusual, phenomena
must be responsible for what Mrs. May and her young group observed.
Some researchers comment that the residents of Flatwoods regularly saw meteors and believed the flying saucer incident
was such an beholding. There are also references to three aviation beacons positioned on the hills nearby and these could
assist in construction of the account.
Swamp gas is also a known in that area and it's been debated by researchers that in actuality, it was only the newspaper
owner who commented on a alleged 'strange odour'.
The creature could have been a barn owl sitting on a branch. Barn owls are known to hiss if disturbed and if deemed the
bird was alarmed by the group in the dark , could have attempted to defend itself by producing it's claws out in front and
give rise to the presumption of 'claw-like hands'
The illnesses have been suggested to have been caused by fright and anxiety.
.........................................
My view:
The real account of what happened that night in September 1952 has no doubtedly been corrupted over the years and
the ratio of give-and-take in a story tends to be 20%-omission of what's not enticing and 80%-addition for readership
demand and private agendas.
However, the bones of this report haven't really altered too much and ignoring the possible 'inflation' of the account by
the newspaper owner and later biased researchers from both sides of the spectrum, my only surprise is how the reliability
of the people directly involved has been trampled upon!
The same rationality I offered in the alternative perception must cause any neutral reader to raise at least one eyebrow
when it's deemed that the multiple individual 'natural' occurrences must have ALL to have been involved at the same
time to bring about the duping the witnesses fell for, into believing they were involved in an unnatural experience.
The young males could have likely enhanced the experience by thinking that the comics, newspapers and televisions
relating images of flying saucers from Mars invading the rural areas of 1950's America, were real... were true.
But Mrs. May as well...?
The group standing in the Virginian darkness are assumed by sceptics to have seen a passing meteor, then when arriving
in a place where a land-set aviation light through trees and mist could be observed, interpreted this distant image as a
smouldering object that had crash landed.
A watching barn owl sitting on a hidden branch, decided the mist-shrouded figures had approached too closely, attempted
a half-hearted attack that resulted in the bird fleeing towards the same red-glowing illumination.
We'll also assume that the wings of the owl took on the appearance of a cowl behind the alleged alien's head and the
estimated stature of the unusually-looking off-worlder was gleaned from the height of the bird's flight. The sulphuric smell
was from the mist and the dog just didn't like the dark.
All rational -and I use that word loosely, rational explanations that are proposed with hopefully the best interests at heart.
If such a level-headed scenario is enhanced by vivid imagination and the lack of information about their town's surroundings
at night and ornithology, then it lends weight that nothing really strange occurred on the outskirts of Flatwoods.
The only different options I can offer is that all of these people are hoaxers or their account is true.
The rational explanation is that all the boys and Kathleen May experienced the same hysteria and possibly after discussing
the incident later, the story-line was agreed upon. To do this, we must accept that all of the alternative suggestions had to
come into play at the same time and be consciously approved as an alien visitation by all who took part that evening without
ever offering each other another explanation.
If the children and the adult did decide to concoct a story of crashed star-vehicles and eye-glowing aliens, then it also means
that none of them would ever be able to tell the truth and as of to date, no evidence of a deceptive accord has surfaced.
So we're left with the final suggestion, that what Mrs. May and her eight cohorts saw was something that doesn't fit into what
we generally believe happens. But that would mean...!
perceive a single situation.
In general, many believe that life elsewhere in the universe exists and even though we're dealing with this particular
example back in the early fifties, I would suggest the excitement of thinking about flying saucers whizzing around our
skies would be prevalent even back then.
The more sceptical of us would reach for a more down-to-earth reason to why this small group of people in West Virginia
believe they observed what they thought was an encounter with a creature from another realm and I think it's only fair
that we place both perceptions side-by-side for their respective merits.
.........................................
The General Account:
In the early evening of 12th September 1952, Edward (13 years-old) and Fred May(12 years-old) along with their friend
Tommy Hyer (10 years-old), were playing football at a nearby elementary school, when they witnessed a bright, glowing
object moving at speed across the sky.
This object 'came to rest' or 'crashed' on a nearby hill that was part of the property belonging to a Mr. G. Bailey Fisher.
The two May brothers are reported to have raced to their home and informed their mother (Kathleen May) of what they
saw.
Whether the expression 'flying saucer' was used or not, we do not know. But I would strongly suggest the word 'Ufo' was
not as some accounts imply because such an abbreviated definition didn't become mainstream until well into the sixties.
(Although, the title was allegedly used in classified official documents from the late-fifties)
Mrs. May, her two sons, Tommy Hyer, some other children -Neil Nunley (14 years-old), Ronnie Shaver (10 years old), Teddy
Neal (13 years-old), Ronnie Shaver (10 years-old) and Eugene Lemon (17 years-old) decided to visit the assumed crash
site that the boys had witnessed. Eugene Lemon was also in the West Virginia National Guard.
Arriving at the location at the top of the hill on Mr. Fisher's property, the group observed a large pulsating ball of light
and also noticed Eugene Lemon's dog was troubled by the situation. Kathleen May remarked that: "the night was foggy
and there was a mist in the evening air."
It's also reported that this mist held a foul odour and effected the group.
Mrs. May commented "The air had a metallic smell which burned our eyes and noses."
The older boy noticed two small lights under a tree to the left of the group and aiming his torch to that position, Kathleen
May reported that it was a creature that began to bound towards them. With a 'shrill-hiss', the alleged upright creature
approached the group and then changed direction and 'glided' towards the glowing light.
The group is said to have fled at this point.
Kathleen May contacted the Braxton County Sheriff Robert Carr the same night and for an unknown reason, also spoke
to the co-owner of the local newspaper, Mr. A. Lee Stewart. Stewart of The Braxton Democrat newspaper interviewed the
group and along with Eugene Lemon, revisited the location of the alleged incident.
Stewart and Lemon noticed a pungent, metallic-like odour still in the area, but the glowing light and alleged creature
had gone. Sheriff Carr and his deputy also searched the location and apart from the strange smell, found nothing.
It is reported that Stewart returned to the site the next morning and discovered two elongated grooves and an unknown
black liquid. However, this claim is countered by a report that a local man drove his pickup truck to the location to see
what happened and the cause of the gouges.
Bouts of sickness, eye and nose problems were also later reported by the initial group.
That's the 'encounter'... it's difficult to discover where the actual description that caused an artist to render the famous
image that is in the photograph above came from, but one may conclude that Kathleen May and Eugene Lemon in the
same picture agreed with the painting.
Description:
A large creature, between seven and 12 tall, stood hovering next to a nearby oak tree. Wore some sort of green armor
and a black cowl shaped like a spade from a playing card over it's blood-red head and bright glowing red eyes.
Some of the witnesses reported seeing two claw-like hands near the creature's head, one of which may have been
holding a device. The being let out a shrill hiss and started towards them in a slow gliding motion.
.........................................
Alternative Occurrence:
A meteor, some swamp gas and wild imaginations... rationality demands that these standard -yet unusual, phenomena
must be responsible for what Mrs. May and her young group observed.
Some researchers comment that the residents of Flatwoods regularly saw meteors and believed the flying saucer incident
was such an beholding. There are also references to three aviation beacons positioned on the hills nearby and these could
assist in construction of the account.
Swamp gas is also a known in that area and it's been debated by researchers that in actuality, it was only the newspaper
owner who commented on a alleged 'strange odour'.
The creature could have been a barn owl sitting on a branch. Barn owls are known to hiss if disturbed and if deemed the
bird was alarmed by the group in the dark , could have attempted to defend itself by producing it's claws out in front and
give rise to the presumption of 'claw-like hands'
The illnesses have been suggested to have been caused by fright and anxiety.
.........................................
My view:
The real account of what happened that night in September 1952 has no doubtedly been corrupted over the years and
the ratio of give-and-take in a story tends to be 20%-omission of what's not enticing and 80%-addition for readership
demand and private agendas.
However, the bones of this report haven't really altered too much and ignoring the possible 'inflation' of the account by
the newspaper owner and later biased researchers from both sides of the spectrum, my only surprise is how the reliability
of the people directly involved has been trampled upon!
The same rationality I offered in the alternative perception must cause any neutral reader to raise at least one eyebrow
when it's deemed that the multiple individual 'natural' occurrences must have ALL to have been involved at the same
time to bring about the duping the witnesses fell for, into believing they were involved in an unnatural experience.
The young males could have likely enhanced the experience by thinking that the comics, newspapers and televisions
relating images of flying saucers from Mars invading the rural areas of 1950's America, were real... were true.
But Mrs. May as well...?
The group standing in the Virginian darkness are assumed by sceptics to have seen a passing meteor, then when arriving
in a place where a land-set aviation light through trees and mist could be observed, interpreted this distant image as a
smouldering object that had crash landed.
A watching barn owl sitting on a hidden branch, decided the mist-shrouded figures had approached too closely, attempted
a half-hearted attack that resulted in the bird fleeing towards the same red-glowing illumination.
We'll also assume that the wings of the owl took on the appearance of a cowl behind the alleged alien's head and the
estimated stature of the unusually-looking off-worlder was gleaned from the height of the bird's flight. The sulphuric smell
was from the mist and the dog just didn't like the dark.
All rational -and I use that word loosely, rational explanations that are proposed with hopefully the best interests at heart.
If such a level-headed scenario is enhanced by vivid imagination and the lack of information about their town's surroundings
at night and ornithology, then it lends weight that nothing really strange occurred on the outskirts of Flatwoods.
The only different options I can offer is that all of these people are hoaxers or their account is true.
The rational explanation is that all the boys and Kathleen May experienced the same hysteria and possibly after discussing
the incident later, the story-line was agreed upon. To do this, we must accept that all of the alternative suggestions had to
come into play at the same time and be consciously approved as an alien visitation by all who took part that evening without
ever offering each other another explanation.
If the children and the adult did decide to concoct a story of crashed star-vehicles and eye-glowing aliens, then it also means
that none of them would ever be able to tell the truth and as of to date, no evidence of a deceptive accord has surfaced.
So we're left with the final suggestion, that what Mrs. May and her eight cohorts saw was something that doesn't fit into what
we generally believe happens. But that would mean...!
Edith Head Gives Good Wardrobe.