The story
On September 12, 1952, a group of boys in Flatwoods, West Virginia saw a bright object streak across the sky and land on a hillside farm. With their mother and a National Guardsman they climbed up to look and met a 10-foot figure with a glowing face, a spade-shaped hood and a hissing sound, along with a sickening mist.
Investigators later suggested a meteor and a barn owl, but the witnesses held to their story. The town of Sutton now has the Braxton County Monster Museum, and five oversized monster chairs stand around the county.
What was shown or claimed
- Bright object landing nearby
- Pungent, metallic mist
- Glowing eyes in a spade-shaped hood
Reader reports
Encounters sent in by our readers and checked by a moderator.
Timeline
- 1952Fisher farm encounter
Flatwoods, West VirginiaOn 12 September 1952 a group of local boys and adults in Flatwoods, West Virginia, followed a bright light that seemed to land on a farm and said they saw a tall figure with a head like the ace of spades that hissed and glided toward them, and smelled a pungent mist. Investigator Joe Nickell later suggested a meteor, aircraft lights and a barn owl in a tree.
- 1952Skid marks and a gummy deposit
Flatwoods, West VirginiaThe sheriff's search on the night of September 12, 1952 found nothing, but the next day A. Lee Stewart Jr. of the Braxton Democrat said he found skid marks in the field and an odd, gummy residue. UFO groups called it a landing site. A meteor had crossed Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia that same evening.
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