09/12/2026
On the evening of September 12, 1952, a group of seven people in Flatwoods, Braxton County, West Virginia, saw a fireball streak across the sky near dusk and fall beyond a hillside.
They went to investigate.
The group — Kathleen May, a local beautician, along with Eugene Lemon, Teddy May, Ronald Shaver, Neal Nunley, Teddy Neal, and Tommy Hyer — made their way up the hillside. What they reported seeing stopped them cold.
A pulsating light. Two powerful beams cutting through the dark. And then a large figure — nearly twelve feet tall, red-faced, draped in green, with a head shaped like the ace of spades — floating toward them. A metallic odor hung heavy in the air.
They fled.
A later investigation of the site found a lingering odor, two large skid marks, and trampled grass.
The creature was never seen again.
The Flatwoods Monster — also known as the Braxton County Monster — has been part of West Virginia legend ever since. An annual convention is held in Flatwoods to this day, and a museum dedicated to the story sits on Main Street in Sutton.
What Kathleen May and those six others encountered on that hillside in 1952 has never been explained.
Fact, folklore, or something the mountains decided to keep to themselves?
📖 Source: e-WV West Virginia Encyclopedia — "Flatwoods Monster"
