The Flatwoods Monster

Join us on this episode as we dive into the eerie and fascinating stories surrounding the Flatwoods Monster, a creature that has haunted West Virginia folklore since 1952! A bizarre cryptid for sure! We discuss eyewitness accounts, possible explanations, and the lasting impact of these mysterious sightings that remain unexplained to this day.

Thank you for listening! 

Rebel Road theme music by: B3yondBeatz Tony Simms

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

I have to have my snacks. Snacks for just when I feel like snacking. Just leave me some ammo and water.

SPEAKER_01 0:12

Some chips in the Welcome to the Rebel Road Podcast and our bi-weekly mini episode that we like to call a road snack. I'm Haley. And I'm Mary. And if you're new here, welcome. We hope you love the show. And please hit that subscribe button so you never miss an episode.

SPEAKER_00 0:34

Yes, please follow us and share our little podcast with all of your weird loving friends and help us grow. That is a little thing, and it does such big things for Haley and me.

SPEAKER_01 0:50

Can you believe that? No, time has flown by, and I'm gonna blame CERN on that. We've been blaming it on CERN for a couple years now, Mary. But you know, they say if you love what you do, the time flies, and we love talking, and we love talking about all the strange topics, conspiracies, theology that is not quite mainstream, and the cryptids. And listeners, maybe your story. So if you have an experience with something weird and supernatural, maybe it's a little out there. We would love to hear them and possibly have you on the show sometime. We've had some folks reaching out. We love seeing that. So you too, please reach out to us.

SPEAKER_00 1:36

Yeah, you can reach out to us at rebelroadguest at gmail.com, and I promise we will get back with you. We've had a few reach out, like Kaylee said, and we're working on a few possible episodes and even a few inspiring and possibly strange testimonies because we do love a little or a lot of Jesus here on this podcast.

SPEAKER_01 1:58

We certainly do. We really want to grow the show into a wonderfully weird and supportive community. So if you have been thinking about it, email us today. You just never know. So, Mary, let's get to it. What's the tasty road snack that we have today?

SPEAKER_00 2:16

Today, Haley, we are transporting back in time to 1952 in the beautiful state of West Virginia here in the United States. Have you ever been there, Haley?

SPEAKER_01 2:27

I've not. That's one that I've not been to.

SPEAKER_00 2:30

Okay. Well, we went, I think, as kids for Civil War stuff. My dad and my little brother, they were all about the Civil War. But it is absolutely beautiful there. And we are going to Braxton County and the town of Flatwoods, where a bizarre entity glided into the sights of several different witnesses with glowing eyes, hissing sounds, and a mysterious putrid mist. Let's tell that story.

SPEAKER_01 3:00

The air in Flatwoods smelled of damp earth and sweet summer grass, but on the evening of September 12th, 1952, it turned into something foul and dark. 14-year-old Edward May and his younger brother Freddie were playing outside when they saw it. A streak of red fire tore through the sky and crashed behind the crest of the hill on the Fisher Farm. Breathless and full of excitement, they ran to find their mother, Kathleen May, and a local National Guardsman, 17-year-old Eugene Lemon. Together with a small group of neighborhood boys and a loyal dog, the group set out to find whatever had fallen from the sky.

SPEAKER_00 3:46

As they climbed the hill, a thick greenish mist began to swirl around their ankles. It didn't move like regular fog. It felt heavy, almost oily. Then came the smell, sharp, and with a metallic taste that burned the back of their throats, like the scent of a machine shop on fire or sulfur from a struck man. The dog was the first to sense it. He bolted ahead, arcing into the darkness, only to return moments later with his tail between his legs, whimpering and running back towards his home. Someone whispered. At the base of a massive oak tree sat a pulsating red-orange ball of light. Eugene shined his flashlight in the direction of the oak tree. The beam cut through the eerie mist, and for a terrifying second, time seemed to stop and the forest fell silent. Floating just above the ground was a nightmare. It stood over 10 feet tall. Its body was a dark metallic cylinder draped in what looked like a pleated green skirt. The group stood motionless, eyes wide in disbelief, but it was the head that froze their blood. It was shaped like an ace of spades, blood red and glistening with two glowing eyes staring back at them. Not human eyes, but otherworldly and hollow.

SPEAKER_01 5:12

Creature didn't walk. It hissed with a sound like escaping steam, and it glided toward them, the haze swirling around the entity. Panic hit the group like a physical blow. The mist seemed to thicken, making their lungs ache and their eyes began to sting. They turned, falling and scrambled back down the hill, sliding through the mud and briars. A powerful fear seized the group, and the metallic stench clung to their clothes and burned their skin. They ran for the safety of home. By the time they reached the May House, the symptoms of the putrid mists began to set in. Eugene collapsed, his body racking with convulsions. Kathleen and the boys were gripped by a violent, unstoppable nausea. Their throats began to swell, and Kathleen May gripped the edge of the kitchen table, her head spinning. The metallic, burnt match smell of the mist was no longer just in her nose. It was in her pores, clinging to her hair and the fabric of her dress like an invisible oil. Mom, it burns, one of the boys whimpered, clutching his stomach. They were all pale, eyes bloodshot and watering, as if they'd been standing in a cloud of pepper spray. Kathleen, fueled by a mother's protective panic, grabbed the telephone. Her hand shook so hard she nearly dropped the receiver as she dialed the Braxton County Sheriff. It wasn't a plane, she told the operator. Her voice raspy. There's something on the hill, something not right. And really different. The fact that it floated for me, that's gonna immediately for anything be a solid no. But Mary, let's talk about what happened after this. Did the sheriff arrive? I mean, this is a true eyewitness account, right?

SPEAKER_00 7:30

Yes, it's very true. So about an hour later, an editor from the local newspaper actually arrived and he was able to convince Eugene, who was still very sick, to take him back to the site. So poor Eugene, he takes this reporter back up that hill. And when they got there, the reporter reported that the entity was gone, but the air was still thick and that strange smell was still lingering. He said he had never seen humans so terrified. And the next day he went back out and he found tracks of an oily, gummy substance. How gross is that? Now the police did arrive as well, but not until later. They had been busy with multiple reports of a downed aircraft. So lots of people called this thing in, and the police claimed that when they got there, they didn't smell anything or find any traces of any greasy tracks or a monster. But it's interesting that their police dogs refused to go back into those woods. They wouldn't even go up that hill.

SPEAKER_01 8:30

So what happened with the dog that was in our group? Do we know?

SPEAKER_00 8:34

Well, some say it was found dead in the yard, and uh that's sad. And other reports claim um it was just sick for a few days too, and then it was fine. So I'm gonna choose to go with that later account, but that's not widely known. Nobody really knows what happened to the dog.

SPEAKER_01 8:50

Yeah, I agree. I'm gonna stick with uh the dog was fine because we love our pups here on Rebel Road. So, Mary, were there any other sightings or just this one of the Flatwoods monster?

SPEAKER_00 9:05

There were a few, and just five miles from Flatwoods in Heaters, West Virginia, we have another account written in her own words. And so this is the account of Audra Harper. Okay, well, let's read that one.

SPEAKER_01 9:23

One night, Jay and I started to the store and were taking a near cut through a field. We looked up on the hill and saw a fire. I said, I wonder who that is up there. And she said, Oh, probably just fox chasing. We might have said a half dozen words and glanced back up again, and this time it was a ball of fire. This time we couldn't take our eyes away. As quick as quick can be, the ball of fire vanished, and a tall black figure, three heights of a man, stood in the same place. We started running, crossed the barbed wire fence that I never even saw, and came to a gate. We opened it and Jay started to close it. It is right behind us, she said.

SPEAKER_00 10:13

I didn't think it was possible, for it would have had to run twice the distance we did. I turned around and fastened the gate before I looked up, and there it stood. I can't remember anything, but just this huge black shape. We turned and ran through a field that in daylight you can hardly find a path between the rocks and boulders. Jay had the light and I didn't have any, but I never even stumped my toe. I think God must have been directing my feet. We made it to the store, half scared to death, knowing we still had to return the same way we came. We tried to borrow a gun, but everyone thought we were just imagining things. They didn't believe a word we said.

SPEAKER_01 10:52

We started back alone, but two neighbor boys had come down for a beer or two, and they went back past this awful place with us. To have an experience like this and have no one believe us was terrible to bear. Then a woman and some children saw a huge form of sorts at Flatwoods, a few miles from us. And they even had her on television and wrote a big story about the Flatwoods monster. I know we saw something just as bad. I'm 33 years old, and there is no insanity in our family. I think I'm at least average in smartness, but think me crazy if you will. I will never believe anything else.

SPEAKER_00 11:38

So she wrote this account a few years after it happened. But can you imagine the frustration and fear you would feel, no one believing you? And I couldn't find anything about her friend that was with her. She's never been named. But the two of them, I mean, again, horrifying to experience this.

SPEAKER_01 11:57

Yeah, it's kind of like what I've said a few times here on the podcast. People just don't want to talk about what they've seen or experienced because of the fear of what others would think. And that combined with just the trauma of the event, that is terrifying. So they were running through a field of rocks and boulders in the dark of night, and neither girl fell. I mean, that is amazing.

SPEAKER_00 12:22

Yeah, their guardian angels were doing top-notch work that night for sure.

SPEAKER_01 12:28

What do we think this thing was? It's not a typical cryptid. And with the plane crash before, are we thinking that it was an alien? But you know, it's not your it wouldn't be your typical little green man alien at all. Uh let's look at the description again from the May Boys. Now they saw this thing uh up close. It was 10 feet tall. Now, I don't know, Mary, have you seen anything 10 feet tall?

SPEAKER_00 12:57

10 feet tall is absolutely giant. I have one of those Home Depot skeletons, the 12 foot tall ones. His name is Frazier, and it's massive. So 10 feet is just equally as terrifying. I mean, look at our ceilings. Most ceilings are eight-foot-tall ceilings. So imagine a head sitting two more feet taller than your ceiling. I think sometimes when we describe things, we don't really lock in on visually what that was. So just the height alone is terrifying.

SPEAKER_01 13:29

It is terrifying. So listeners, imagine this with us. It's dark, your adrenaline is pumping, but you just climbed a hill, and you see this eerie greenness. And then this thing. It's a monster with a head that is shaped like an ace of spades, and it has a dark hood over the head. And the eyes are described as being large and amber with a greenish, orangish glowing hue. The face was noted to be deep red in color, and now you have the body being described as being covered in dark robes or this metal dress in the appearance of either black or a dark green in color, and it has these large folds. So even creepier, the creature has twisted, small, claw-like hands.

SPEAKER_00 14:29

Yeah, and let's not forget this thing also seemed to just glide or hover towards the group while making a hissing sound. That's an extra little creepy factor. And then there was that pungent odor in the air that made the group nauseated, as well as that mist that seemed to follow it. For several days afterwards, they were sick. They experienced throat irritation, vomiting, and nausea. Now, what was that? It was like being exposed to some type of a chemical or something.

SPEAKER_01 14:59

Well, with the downcraft and the hissing noise, maybe something was escaping from the ship or alien thing, whatever it may have been. It it gives me kind of like a horrifying robot vibe.

SPEAKER_00 15:16

Yeah, you know, I could see that with that metallic body and the odd-shaped head and hollow eyes, but are we sure?

SPEAKER_01 15:24

With that little question, I'm going to ask was the Flatwoods monster only seen on September 12th? I mean, it had an impact. It has become folklore in the region. And why are we not thinking robot? You know, what else do you have, Mary?

SPEAKER_00 15:45

Well, 20 miles down the road from Flatwood near Strange Creek, West Virginia, on September 13th. So the next day, the creature was seen again. This time by a couple, George and Edith Snitwaski, who had their 18-month-old son with them, and their sighting was a little bit different. Let's tell that one.

SPEAKER_01 16:08

George and Edith Snitowski and their 18-month-old son were driving along Route 4 at dusk, between Braxton and Clay Counties, when their car suddenly stopped and the engine cut off. George got out of the car and tried to restart it, but it would not start. The road was dark and lonely, and the baby started to cry. As George and Edith were trying to figure out their next move, a strange, pungent smell suddenly filled the air. When the couple turned to find the source of the putrid smell, they saw a bright light, and then suddenly a ten-foot-high creature was hovering in front of them.

SPEAKER_00 16:48

The creature had taken off the robes and hood that previous witnesses had seen the entity wearing. But there before George and Edith, hovering in front of them, was a reptilian, bony alien. The creature had lizard-like hands, which it dragged across the hood of the car before turning and disappearing into the woods. As soon as the creature had disappeared, the car restarted and the couple sped off into the night.

SPEAKER_01 17:16

Reptilians? I wouldn't have guessed that if I had a hundred guesses, but I love it. I know, right?

SPEAKER_00 17:24

That escalated real fast. But it didn't harm them. It either was the reason their car stopped or the reason it restarted. Now, investigations into these sightings were done with the sheriff's department, and they widely discounted them because while the creatures were gone by the time they got there, and there was never any smell or evidence. You just had these terrified people telling their stories. And to make these sightings just a little more credible, though, representatives from the U.S. Air Force came to investigate the area. And interestingly, the Flatwoods monster incident was investigated under Project Blue Book, which is, you know, the U.S. Air Force's secret program for analyzing UFO reports. And the report is now declassified. You can actually go and find it. And the sightings of the Flatwood monster to this date still remain a point of significant debate. Now the Air Force claimed that people just saw a meteor, a barn out in a tree, and that gas, it was just swamp gas.

SPEAKER_01 18:28

Well, that does sound like a solid official response. Nothing to see here, folks. So just keep moving along. So Mary, this is close to the Appalachia Mountains. Yeah, it is. Yeah, of course, of course it is. So if we look at a map and follow the sightings, it seems Audra and her friend would have would have seen it first. And then it made its way to the boys and their mom. Then the next night, our couple, it was moving south. Were there any other sightings after George and Edith?

SPEAKER_00 19:05

No, none that I could find. After those two nights, that was it. But it had a big enough impact on that community to turn it into a legend, whatever it was. And I'll point out there is a lot of UFO activity in the skies around there in Braxton County in those areas.

SPEAKER_01 19:23

Uh Mary, does it have any other names? Like for example, Bigfoot is also known as Momo. So is there anything else that the Flatwood monster may be called?

SPEAKER_00 19:35

Yeah, it does. Several, actually. There is the Braxton County monster, Braxy, the Phantom of Flatwoods, the Green Monster, the Frametown Monster, or Flatwoody. Okay, so a lot.

SPEAKER_01 19:50

I do kind of like Braxy or Flatwoody. I think that sounds kind of cool. Well, there you have it, friends. The Flatwoods monster. Let us know what you think. Reptilian, alien, cryptid, robot, or a barn owl. Definitely not an owl, I'm sorry. Yeah. And as always, we hope you enjoyed this little episode. And please share it with a friend if you did. And remember to hit the subscribe button. And we will catch you next week. And since we are kind of in alien territory again, Mary, what are we doing next week?

SPEAKER_00 20:28

We are going to explore the moon and the now controversial moon landings, Haley.

SPEAKER_01 20:35

Well, that's gonna be fun. I knew we were going to space, and I really can't wait for that and those discussions. But uh until then, friends, keep it weird. And as always, if the flatwoods monsters get too weird, just pull it all back to Jesus. Bye. Bye.

SPEAKER_00 20:57

That's good.