Flatwoods, West Virginia. September 12, 1952. A group of boys playing in a schoolyard sees something bright streak across the sky and drop behind a hill on the Bailey Fisher farm. With one brave mother and a flashlight, they climb that hill in the dark to see what fell.
What they found was waiting for them.
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Legend at a glance
Legend: The Flatwoods Monster, also called the Braxton County Monster
Where: The Bailey Fisher farm, Flatwoods, Braxton County, West Virginia
When: September 12, 1952
Category: The Skies (lights and encounters)
Status: Unexplained to believers, explained to skeptics, and beloved by Braxton County
Up the hill
The boys ran for the hill, stopping along the way at the May house. Kathleen May, mother of two of the boys, grabbed a flashlight and went with them. A seventeen-year-old named Gene Lemon, who had been in the National Guard, joined them, along with a dog that ran out ahead.
As they climbed, a strange mist hung in the air, with a sharp, metallic smell that stung their noses and throats. The dog ran over the crest of the hill, then came racing back with its tail between its legs.
The thing in the flashlight beam
Near the top, the group saw a pulsing red light, and off to one side, two shining eyes. When Gene swung his flashlight up, it lit a figure they would describe for the rest of their lives: around ten feet tall, with a glowing, reddish face, a tall pointed hood-like shape behind its head, and a dark body that seemed to glide toward them.
Everyone ran. Some of the witnesses later said they felt sick for days afterward.
The night that put Flatwoods on the map
The story spread fast. Newspapers and reporters descended on the little town, and the Flatwoods Monster became one of the most famous close encounters of the 1950s.
What the skeptics say
Investigators, including skeptic Joe Nickell, have pointed to a meteor seen across three states that same night, an aircraft warning beacon on the hill, and a barn owl perched in a tree, its pale face and hissing cry magnified by fear, darkness, and a flashlight beam. Believers point out that the witnesses never changed their stories.
Braxton County's favorite neighbor
Today, the monster that once sent kids screaming down a hill is Braxton County's favorite neighbor. The Flatwoods Monster Museum is in nearby Sutton, and giant monster chairs are scattered around the county for visitors to find and sit in.
The end of Holler Nights
This was the final episode of Holler Nights. Thank you for sitting by the fire with us all season. Bramble and Bone returns with Season Two on Monday, November 16.
Sources
Snopes, "What Was the Flatwoods Monster?"
Braxton County Convention & Visitors Bureau, "The Flatwoods Monster: Folklore"
Joe Nickell, investigation of the Flatwoods incident, Skeptical Inquirer
Pull up a chair, Holler Dwellers
Have you sat in one of the Flatwoods Monster chairs, or heard this one from family in Braxton County? Send it our way, and it might just end up on the show.
New episodes every Monday. If you enjoyed this one, a quick rating or review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts helps more folks find their way to the fire. 🕯️
Holler Nights is Bramble and Bone's limited bonus series of Appalachian ghost stories, legends, and things that go bump in the night. Find every episode in The Archive.
Told by Silas Cade. Researched and produced by KT.
