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Plate 1 A towering figure with a hood shaped like the ace of spades, a round face with two eyes, and a broad skirt-like body

Flatwoods monster

A towering, man-like figure that a group of boys and a local woman reported near Flatwoods, West Virginia, on 12 September 1952.

Cryptids and folklore creatures. Also called Braxton County monster, Flatwoods phantom, Green monster.

Meaning

Near dusk on 12 September 1952 some boys playing football in Flatwoods saw a fireball streak across the sky and come down beyond a hillside. With Kathleen May, a local beautician, they went to look, and said they saw a man-like creature nearly 12 feet tall and about four feet wide (e-WV, the West Virginia Encyclopedia). May and Eugene Lemon reported it, and a search of the area that night found nothing (Visit Braxton).

What did they see?

The investigator Joe Nickell visited in 2000 and talked to witnesses. He concluded that the fireball was a meteor, seen that night in at least three states, and that the creature was a barn owl protecting her young (Snopes). Braxton County has since put up five huge chairs painted in the monster's image (Visit Braxton).

See also

Mothman, Kraken, Sea serpent, Loch Ness Monster, Champ (Lake Champlain monster), Bigfoot (Sasquatch).

Sources

  1. Flatwoods Monster (e-WV, the West Virginia Encyclopedia), e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia, entry 2127, West Virginia Humanities Council
  2. The Flatwoods Monster (Visit Braxton, WV), Braxton County Convention and Visitors Bureau, Visit Braxton, WV
  3. What Was the Flatwoods Monster? (Snopes), Snopes, Snopes

Last reviewed September 28, 2026 by Rory Hansen. How we research

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