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| One highly strange Indian Summer night in West Virginia... something along the lines of what the kids playing football saw fron the school playground and then went to get their mom, to investigate. |
"The Flatwoods Monster:
a New Book Chronicling Frank Feschino's ongoing
30-year Investigation into the "Flatwoods Monster" Case.
by Alfred Lehmberg
...Yet somehow, Feschino ever manages to bounce back to his feet! He continues his work on the case he has devoted half his life to... the "Flatwoods Monster" incident! You go, Feschino! Excelsior!
This drawing was used during the live nationwide broadcast of the TV show featuring the interviews of two guest witnesses, Mrs. May and young National Guardsman Gene Lemon. Before the program aired, the artist sat down in the studio, as we've reported before, and interviewed the witnesses as he drew his "illustration." Sadly, the artist had misinterpreted their already well-reported previous descriptions of the figure seen in Flatwoods! The outcome of this drawing would be disastrously disingenuous!
In his new book, "The Flatwoods Monster: From Myth To Reality," the author exposes a massive amount of new evidence revealed only as a result of his unceasing investigation! All this but adds to his case, reader... and further exposes the massive, well-concerted, and evidenced "flying saucer" cover-up by the United States Government... ...and an undeclared airwar with ET? Read on!
This close encounter incident involved a downed UFO and its alien occupant, a 12-foot-tall armor-clad being encountering a group of townspeople shortly after it crash-landed in Flatwoods, West Virginia. This terrifying UFO incident quickly made headlines across the globe, was steadily aired on radio across America, and was one of the biggest news stories of the year!
...Yet, there will be the inevitable downside to the story indicated only by the lack of officialdom's intitutional courage and constructive imagination. See? The Government had clandestinely worked through the West Virginia State Police to sabotage the story and discredit it!
Purportedly, in order to prevent a Nationwide panic to a World already jittery over the glut of UFO sightings during that summer of 1952, according to Donald Keyhoe, the police visited Flatwoods shortly after the incident and planted their seed of "doubt." Truly, they publicly joked about the story, gave false information about the incident, and debunked the honest witnesses in front of several newspaper reporters—a cheap and humiliating shot and a kind of stochastic terrorism!
...Only, and but days after the incident, the United Press picked up the story and shot it around the world! Consequently, and sadly, much of the information contained in these newspaper articles was inaccurate and convoluted. It would become decidedly more risible... and for decades!
As a result of the false information given to the press during the process of this official cover-up, the encounter (and its UFO!) was said to be brought on by hallucination, mass hysteria and the passing of a nearby meteor over Flatwoods. We've already written that these explanations were wholly ridiculous by orders of degree...
A result of this distracting subterfuge? The Flatwoods incident was beginning to be viewed by many as... too sillily far-fetched! A few days later, insult was added to injury when an inaccurate illustration of the so-called "Flatwoods Monster" appeared on the "We The People" television program, which aired on September 19, 1952.
This drawing was used during the live nationwide broadcast of the TV show featuring the interviews of two guest witnesses, Mrs. May and young National Guardsman Gene Lemon. Before the program aired, the artist sat down in the studio, as we've reported before, and interviewed the witnesses as he drew his "illustration." Sadly, the artist had misinterpreted their already well-reported previous descriptions of the figure seen in Flatwoods! The outcome of this drawing would be disastrously disingenuous!
The abject inaccuracy of the artist's work resulted in a drawing that portrayed the figure as a garment-wearing "monster" with arms and claws, cloaked with a pointed cloth hood, and sporting a long-pleated dress that floated in the air like some loathsomely smelly faerie. Subsequently? This inaccurate portrayal of the "Flatwoods Monster" incident was deemed too far-fetched! It became doomed in relegation to some obscure West Virginia folklore tale... the truth of which was never likely to be revealed!
Forty years later? Illustrator Frank Feschino, Jr. began his investigation, researched the story extensively, and uncovered the original documentation on the case. He worked assiduously with most of the original witnesses. He was tireless!
Through his interviews and by doing police-style forensic renderings, he discovered that the nearly 12-foot-tall figure was not a "space monster," but was actually a large metallic "space suit," if the reader would allow, resembling a small rocket ship capable of maneuvering and hovering around on the ground.
By the use of his professionally trained so professionally produced illustrations, both paintings and drawings, Feschino has rewritten the history books, reader, bringing to life the true likeness of the "Flatwoods Monster."
Since the release of Feschino's previous "Updated and Revised Edition" book, "The Braxton County Monster," he's continued to relentlessly research and investigate the "Flatwoods Monster" incident for another decade. He's accumulated the largest collection of "Flatwoods Monster" research materials in the world! He has used this material to document this case in explicit and exquisite detail!
Moreover, Feschino conducted more first-hand interviews with the witnesses involved in this incident than any other modern-day researcher to date. His stolid inquiry has revealed an undeniable massive wave of UFO sightings over America! This single encounter would involve 21-hours of sustained UFO sightings that day... and even reveal that three other UFOs crashed in the United States that night! Furthermore, he uncovered the additional alien encounters occurring in West Virginia in the wake of those other UFO crash incidents. It was a busy night.
As Feschino's ongoing investigation progressed over the past decade, he continued to discover a vast array of new information, which he entered into his existing storyline to complete his final (?) and definitive book on the "Flatwoods Monster" incident.
The new book, now in one complete volume, contains additional historical documentation about the incident, further information about the September 12, 1952 UFO flap, newly discovered news clippings, new illustrations, maps, and many uncovered rare photographs.
The author first guides the reader through aviation’s historical backdrop leading up to the Flatwoods Monster incident. He then delivers a meticulous walk-through of the encounter itself, and culminates it in a vivid, moment-by-moment retelling of the days that followed. Furthermore, value added, the book includes an amazing scientific assessment of the "Flatwoods Monster" by indefatigable military aerospace historian Michael Schratt, and then also reveals the full story of another incident involving another "monster" encounter in Braxton County, which followed the Flatwoods incident! It is a full plate requiring no seasoning.
Indubitably! To date, "The Flatwoods Monster: From Myth To Reality" is the most complete book ever written about the "Flatwoods Monster" encounter and the UFO events surrounding this terrifying incident.
Frank Feschino's 30-year research investigation into this incident, the longest ever conducted into a UFO case, continues to uncover the lurid truth behind this controversial story! Truly, it unravels the government's cover-up! Subsequently, Frank Feschino, Jr. is recognized by the UFO community as the authority on the
"Flatwoods Monster" case.
Closing, the following quotes are listed, as compiled by Feschino, to exhibit the popularity of the "Flatwoods Monster" incident over the years from 1952 until the present day. One key quote (of many!) was chosen from each year and taken from various media sources! These include books, TV shows, radio shows, podcasts, newspapers, magazines, and internet websites.
This article is copyright-protected, as they all are. (
)...
FLATWOODS MONSTER
MEDIA QUOTES: 1952-2025
1952. “I will file this story in my archives as one of the top stories of the day." Daniel Seymour; Master of Ceremonies for NBC television talk show, We The People. Two "Flatwoods Monster" eyewitnesses, Mrs. May, Gene Lemon and Braxton County Democrat newspaper reporter, A. Lee Stewart, Jr. appeared on this episode.
1953. “On September 12, 1952, the nation’s wire services crackled with the news of a 10-foot red-faced monster, which sprayed a foul, sickening gas and sent seven Flatwoods, W. Va. residents into panic." Gray Barker; FATE Magazine, January 1953.
1954. “One has the impression that here, some entity was clad in a giant spacesuit and equipped to withstand differential pressures and the gravity and atmosphere, unlike the world it came from.” Harold T. Wilkins; Flying Saucers on the Attack.
1955. "Three years have now passed, since the story of the "Phantom of Flatwoods" was flashed all over the civilized world by the way of the press and the radio to become what the press services rated as the No. 11 news story of the world." Holt Byrne; Beckley Post-Herald newspaper. 11 September 1955.
1956. “What happened to the Monster? Braxton County Woman Feels Glowing Object was Jet Ship. Discovery in 1952 stirred up nationwide ‘Martian’ debate.'" Donald Seagle; The Charleston Gazette newspaper. 7 October 1956.
1959. “Those who saw the thing were terrified. Those who investigated were it convinced it had been there. But what it was and where it came from constitute the mystery of the Flatwoods Monster.” Frank Edwards; Stranger Than Science.
1963. “The final incident in the summer's panic occurred on the evening of September 12 when a family group near the town of Sutton, West Virginia, saw a flaming object flash across the sky and apparently land on a nearby hill.” Donald Menzel and Lyle Boyd; The World of Flying Saucers.
1966. “The flash had spotlighted an immense, man-like figure with a blood-red face and greenish eyes that blinked out from a pointed hood. The party was in definite agreement about one characteristic of the alien and that was the sickening odor it seemed to emit.” Brad Steiger; Strangers from the Skies.
1967. “Probably the most frightening landing incident on record, considering the physical description of what was thought to be an occupant and its actions, is the Flatwoods, West Virginia incident.” Coral and Jim Lorenzen; Flying Saucer Occupants.
1968. “During the first years of the flying saucer craze, it was mostly strange lights, discs and windowed craft, which were reported. None had proved dangerous in any way, and none had landed. But in 1952, the first of two stories about menacing space creatures appeared in newspapers and magazines. On the night of September 12, 1952, near Sutton, WV…” Dale White; Is Something Up There-The Story of Flying Saucers.
1969. “About 4-meters tall, the figure had a blood-red face and ‘floated’ toward the witnesses who fled in terror. A lingering smell and skid marks were found.” Jacques Vallee; Passport to Magonia.
1973. “The United States has something still better to offer us with the Flatwoods Monster. In September 1952 in the little West Virginia village of Flatwoods, some children swore they saw a monster.” Jacques Bergier; Extraterrestrial Visitations from Prehistoric to Present.
1975. “Actually, relatively few of the sightings of UFO occupants have created much excitement outside of the relatively narrow world of UFO enthusiasts. But there are a couple of American monsters that have become classics in their field. On September 12, 1952…” Daniel Cohen; Monsters; Giants and Little Men from Mars.
1976. “They saw under trees, a creature, about 12-feet tall, which looked horrible to the witnesses: it had a sort of cowl or hood around the ‘head,’ and 2 big eyes, fixed round and luminous. The thing moved by floating and then the witnesses got scared and ran away.” Claude Mac Duff; UFOlogy-The Journal of UFO Research, Fall 1976.
1977. “They didn't see a saucer, but did see a ‘monster’ ten-feet high, four-feet wide with bulging eyes a foot apart, blood-red face and glowing-green body.” Susy Smith; Strangers from Outer Space.
1978. “Not all aliens are reported as undersized. The ‘Sutton Monster,’ nine feet tall with bulging red eyes and a bright green body, moved ominously towards onlookers in the West Virginia country side.” Van Geloven & B.V. Riel; Strip-paperback Nr. 1 UFO. Germany.
1979. “The Flatwoods Monster in Braxton County, a foul-smelling thing that oozed evil, apparently landed in a bright, shiny object in a desolate area.” Robert Robinson, Associated Press writer.
1980. “Flatwoods: What was perhaps the most frightening case on record of an encounter with a ‘UFO creature’ allegedly occurred on the evening of September 12, 1952, near the small community of Flatwoods.” Ronald Story; The Encyclopedia of UFOs.
1982. “One of the more frightening of the early landing reports came from Flatwoods, WV. in 1952.” Editors of Readers Digest; Mysteries of the Unexplained.
1989. “Two very bizarre reports involving entity sightings, from the many on record, were the Flatwoods, West Virginia (USA) case of 1952, and the Kelly/Hopkinsville (USA) case of 1955.” Janet and Colin Bord; Unexplained Mysteries of the 20th Century.
1991. “During the night [eyewitness] Gene Lemon became seriously ill, suffering the same inflamed throat as the other boys but also went into fits and convulsions." John Spencer; The UFO Encyclopedia.
1993. “The things they saw that night in late summer have never been fully explained. To this day the mystery is still shrouded in mystery. It’s become part of the folklore of West Virginia. It’s the tale of the Braxton County Monster.” Benjamin Caldwell; The Charleston Gazette newspaper.
1994. “The widely discussed Flatwoods incident reportedly occurred on September 12, 1952. The Flatwoods, WV. incident allegedly involved a giant humanoid monster with glowing eyes.” David Ritchie; The Definitive Guide to UFOs and Related Phenomena.
1995. “The party reached the hill but fled in terror from a hooded monster ‘worse than Frankenstein.’” Peter Brookesmith; UFO-The Complete Sightings.
1996. “It was 10-15-feet tall and had a blood-red face with two greenish-orange eyes that glowed like a wild animal’s.” Patrick Hughe; The Field Guide to Extraterrestrials.
1997. “The first alien encounter in the classic science fiction mould occurred on September 12, 1952, in Flatwoods, West Virginia USA. It remains highly unusual and is not easy to dismiss as a hoax.” Jenny Randle; Alien Contact-The First 50 Years.
1998. “The case of the Flatwoods Monster has become one of the most famous incidents in UFOlogy.” W. Haden Blackman; The Field Guide to North American Monsters.
1999. “To everyone’s considerable astonishment, the beam highlighted a grotesque-looking creature.” Jerome Clark; Unexplained.
2000. "How Monsters Appear...And so a spooked barn owl in turn spooked the interlopers, and a monster was born." Joe Nickell. Skeptical Inquirer. November/December 2000.
2001. "Members of that group, who were nearly scared out of their wits by what they found on that hillside, have been the butt of many jokes and ridicule. One party, even suggested that what they saw was merely a barn owl perched on a limb." Monster Remembered. Gary Harris. Midstate Star. October 2001.
2002. “What happened in West Virginia that night in September, with several seeming UFOs landing all over the rural countryside and unloading creatures is almost like a scene from War of the Worlds.” Loren Coleman; FATE Magazine, September 2002.
2004. “One of the objects crash-landed on a rural hilltop in Flatwoods, West Virginia. A group of schoolboys saw the object maneuver across the sky and seemingly fall to earth. The boys and two adults headed off to look for the object. Soon a twelve-foot tall being from the downed craft terrified these innocent people.” Frank C. Feschino, Jr. The Braxton County Monster-The Cover-Up of the Flatwoods Monster Revealed.
2005. “On September 12, 1952, one of the strangest and most terrifying apparent extraterrestrial encounters took place near Flatwoods, a small town in West Virginia. The bizarre image of the alien creature was immediately seared into UFO folklore…Despite the media attention; the case was quickly dismissed and buried by authorities and debunkers." Rosemary Ellen Guiley; FATE Magazine, January 2005.
2007. “It was the twelfth day of September during the Indian summer of 1952. Brace yourself. It is not my intent to shock you, but perhaps as a result of an undeclared war with bona fide extraterrestrials involving the United States—let that sink in—there came to be a crash-landed alien craft with at least one occupant.” Alfred Lehmberg; UFO Magazine, November 2007.
2008. “Nothing in life had prepared them for what unfolded next - a 12-foot, metallic object, red in the chest region, topped with a medieval-like cowl, and green from the waist down, emitting a sulfuric odor.” Mannix Porterfield; West Virginia South Magazine, January 2008.
2009. “The scare in Flatwoods, West Virginia on September 12, 1952 could be compared to that of a horror movie of the period...The group saw a pair of ‘lights’ shining beneath a large oak tree. After shining a light in the direction of the object, the group were astonished to see a bizarre creature staring back.” Meta-Religion.com. Sept. 2009
2010. “An amazing, gripping encounter...the “Flatwoods Monster” case. It will stand in history as one of the premier investigations.” Team IQXS Researchers - MD, July 2010.
2011. “The entity that Freddie May and others saw came out of a UFO that had crashed during the dogfight between U.S. Air Force jets and unidentified objects...in 1952.” William J. Birnes, UFO Magazine publisher; UFO Magazine, Volume 23, No. 13.
2012. “Researcher Frank Feschino has done such a thorough job of digging into the Flatwoods case and its secrets, it’s doubtful that even government insiders would have to say more about it.” Whitley Strieber, radio talk show host of Dreamland. November 2012.
2013. “The ‘Flatwoods Monster’ is one of the most significant alien contact incidents in modern history and Feschino proves the case beyond any argument. The ‘Flatwoods Monster’ incident should have been the ultimate wakeup call for America.” Professor Frank Thayer, Dept. of Journalism and Mass Communications. New Mexico State University. January 2013.
2014.”The Flatwoods Monster, a mysterious visitor to earth, is an extraterrestrial reported to have been sighted in the town of Flatwoods in Braxton County, West Virginia, United States on September 12, 1952. One man in particular has taken the investigation into the Green Monster as a life’s mission to discover the truth and uncover the cover-up of the incident...Frank Feschino.” West Virginia journalist John Clise. May 2014.
2015. "The Flatwoods Monster Is The Creepiest Extraterrestrial Being of All Time. What started as a flash across the sky turned into one of the most iconic images of alien activity in the world." Writer Tim Unkenholz. June 2015.
2016. "On September 12, 1952, a small town named Flatwoods in West Virginia became the subject of an eternal mystery after a group of Flatwoods residents had a strange encounter with an unidentified creature. The creature of the alleged encounter is now known as the Flatwoods Monster." Gabrielle Pickard, Top Secret Writers. August 2016.
2017. "On the night of September 12, 1952, in the town of Flatwoods, West Virginia, there occurred one of the strangest close encounters of the third kind ever reported... a hissing, ten-foot-tall creature with a head like a spade and glowing red eyes." Counting Down the 13 Most Famous UFO Encounters of All Time. Johnny Brayson, The COMET Television Channel. July 2017.
2018. "No matter what you believe the Flatwoods Monster to be, it is pretty undeniable that its form is easily recognizable to many, in and out of the paranormal community... just recently, the original drawing itself has been found!" The Braxton County Monster Drawing. Theresa's Haunted History of the Tri-state. September 2018.
2019. "West Virginia folklore includes many alien and monster-like characters, such as Mothman, Big Foot and the Yeti. One such monster has made a big resurgence in the past few years, becoming a part of the state’s pop culture...The story of the Flatwoods Monster." The W.Va. Monster that Crept Into International Pop Culture. WV Public Broadcasting. October 2019.
2020. "FLATWOODS, W.Va. – On September 12 in 1952, a family in Flatwoods said they were visited by an alien spacecraft. That mysterious night became national–and eventually international–news that put Braxton County, West Virginia on the map." Paranormal W. Va.: The Flatwoods Monster. WBOY News. October 2020.
2021. "Somewhere in between the notoriety levels of the Mothman and the Ogua lies one of the most visually iconic creatures in all of cryptid lore: the Flatwoods Monster...The attention paid to the encounter led to an investigation by the U.S. Air Force as part of Project Blue Book, the government investigation into alleged UFO sightings and alien encounters." The Bizarre True Story of the Flatwoods Monster. Benito Cereno. July 2021
2022. "Newspaper stories were carried throughout the country, radio broadcasts were carried on large networks, and hundreds of phone calls were received from all parts of the country. The national press services rated the story 'No. 11 for the year.'" In 1952, The Flatwoods Monster Appeared and Terrified People in Braxton County West Virginia. Vintage Everyday. March 2022.
2023. "The Flatwoods Monster has become a cultural icon, inspiring many works of art, literature, and film. Its eerie appearance and mysterious origins have captured people’s imaginations for decades, and the legend shows no signs of fading." The Mysterious Legend of the Flatwoods Monster. Unbookedlife.com. April 2023.
2024. "The Flatwoods Monster stands out as one of the most detailed and memorable UFO encounters from the 1950s. Unlike many sightings that offer only brief glimpses or faint lights in the distance, this incident involved multiple witnesses, each of whom saw the creature up close and described it with precise, unique details." The Flatwoods Monster. Abovethenormnews.com. David Freeman. November 2024.
2025. "Frank Feschino gets credit for doing the legwork on this [Flatwoods] case...If we can go back to 1952, this is exactly where it all went down." The Light Gate podcast. Military Aerospace Historian and UFO investigator Michael Schratt. September 2025.
Let the record show: truth may be buried, distorted, and mocked—but it never dies! Thanks to Feschino? The Flatwoods Monster walks again, not as folklore, but as forensic fact!
READ ON! RESTORE JOHN FORD!
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