THE FLATWOODS MONSTER

In 1952 a group of people claimed to have seen a monster in the forest near Flatwoods. It started when two boys saw a pulsing red light crossing the sky. They ran to one of the boy’s home and got his mother. The group headed out to find where the object crashed and along the way picked up several more local adventurers, including one with a dog. Leading the group was Gene Lemon, a 17-year-old National Guard member. Through the mist in the forest Lemon spotted two lights that appeared to be eyes in a tree. When he focused the light on the eyes, he fell back in terror. According to a local newspaper, Lemon says he saw “a 10-foot monster with a blood-red body and a green face that seemed to glow.” 

Seven people in the group claimed to have seen the monster. Some of them described the monster’s hands as having claws. Sketches were made based on witness accounts, and rather than appearing tree-like, as the illustrations in the show, the drawings depict more of a robot looking creature.

The Air Force concluded the fireball was just a meteor. The Project Blue Book files say they confirmed this with an astronomy club out of Ohio. As for the monster, although the Blue Book file does reference the case as the “West Virginia monster so called (sic),” it does not attempt to explain it. Skeptics did put forth the idea that it had to have been just an owl on a tree.

When it comes to the burns on the faces of the children, supposedly some had reported nausea, but nothing more severe. However, the burning of the kids’ eyes and the radiation traces in the forest are reminiscent of another UFO case. 

In December 1980, Vickie Landrum, her grandson Colby Landrum, and their friend Betty Cash were driving home after eating out in Dayton, Texas. While driving on a deserted stretch of street in a dense forest, they claim to have come upon a large diamond-shaped object hovering over the road at tree level. The object had flames coming out of the bottom. The adults got out to take a better look. Vickie ended up getting back into the car to comfort her grandson who was terrified. They claim the vehicle then began to heat up. The metal was too hot to touch, and even the dashboard started to melt enough to where a handprint was left where it had been touched.