More On The Flatwoods Monster
This was going to be an answer to the Flatwoods and UAV post, but it became so long that I figured it deserved it’s own post. I had no idea that it would generate so much commentary! If you haven’t read it, be sure to do so, and don’t forget to read the discussion, which is even more interesting.
Today, I re-listened to an interview with legendary Fortean Ivan Sanderson about his Flatwoods investigation, which took place about 2 days after the incident. The recording was from one of the Long John Nebel shows in 1968. Sanderson said that he and other investigators (including Gray Barker) talked to scores of witnesses and determined that there were SIX glowing objects seen on the night of Sept. 12, 1952 in and around the Sutton/ Flatwoods area. They determined this by the descriptions that placed “flaming, glowing” things flying through the night on six separate trajectories, sometimes within 200 feet of witnesses (meaning that they considered the idea that people had seen the same thing from differing angles.) They all traveled in a line from north to south, and I believe he said that the trajectories were almost evenly spaced apart.
Arriving at the site, they could still smell the horrible, “molten metal” odor, which was greatly diminished by that time. They also found an area of crushed grass and soil where the object had been sitting when seen by the witnesses. There were also three deep and evenly spaced “horseshoe”-shaped depressions at the edges of the flattened area, each about 2 feet in diameter.
One resident on a neighboring hillside to the “monster” sighting was watching through binoculars and saw a red-turning-to-orange object lift off the hill–apparently after the encounter. It faded out and disappeared.
At least two of the objects were witnessed crashing into hillsides. Sanderson/ Barker et al trudged to the sites and found broken trees and branches, flattened vegetation, something that looked like ashes, and most interestingly, small strips of something that resembled white plastic.
One of the people with Sanderson was a chemist from Monsanto. He took some of the “strips” (which were described as the size of “a pinky finger” i.e. about 3-4 inches long) to a lab. The samples were placed in varying chemical solutions with no results until someone suggested that they try water. The sample swelled up and grew to about 9 inches, and resembled “reptile skin.” (!)
One thing I liked was his comment that he had no idea what the monster witnesses had seen, even after questioning them for about 3 days–separately, and in groups. He reported that they never changed their stories, and were consistent in details, never adding any, even when prodded to do so.
Unfortunately, Sanderson hardly mentions the physical appearance of the monster, except its “spade-shaped” head and blue, glowing “eyes” that appeared to be scanning the surrounding hills. The place at which the “monster” scared the bejeebers out of the witnesses and where the UFO had apparently landed was the highest point in the area, and afforded a view of 14 miles or more.
Commenter Bill Hancock wrote that the National Guard was on the scene right away. Sanderson said that a shotgun-wielding posse was formed to go up the hill and look for the monster, and that they came back almost immediately, saying that they had seen nothing. What do you want to bet that they met up with military types who warned them away and told them to shut up?
As Bill says-just like the Kecksburg Incident (and Roswell etc. etc.)
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Jan 08 2007 
January 8th, 2007 at 7:22 am
Wow! All this evidence there of military presence and activity, depressions and marks on the ground, multiple witnesses sightings of UFOs and a “monster’, a nauseating metallic stench that hung in the air for days and only slowly diminished…and all of this hubbub because some over-imaginative locals thought they saw a streaking glow in the sky , went up a wooded hill to check it out, got scared by a Barn Owl, and went screaming home in panic.
…..the Gospel According to Joe Nickell and CSI-(COP).
January 8th, 2007 at 8:29 am
Just for Fun…
You might find it amusing that a “killer sasquatch” movie out on DVD after a SciFi channel run..a film put together by the Schifrin family (famous composer Lalo does the soundtrack and son Ryan directs) and titled “Abominable”…is set in a fictional northern California small town called Flatwoods. County locals have dubbed the giant hairball (who comically looks like a monstrous caricature of legendary character actor Jack Elam) the “Flatwoods Monster”, and “Flatwoods Monster” reports show up frequently in “tv news accounts” in the movie, all prompting the local Sheriff to snort “I don’t believe in no Flatwoods Monster!”
January 8th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
I have Mr Sandersons investigation in one of his books. (cant recall which one) Its certainly very well carried out.
I for one dont believe in the ETH (despite having seen several UFOs in my time, not close, but I dont think I would want to get close….a friend of mine got close, but thats another story…) But this is very convincing, perhaps aliens dont visit `often` but they do visit `sometimes`?
As for the Owl theory, a farmer friend of mine saw a giant owl once, and he mistook it for, you guessed it, a giant owl. An ornithologist told him that there was an Eagle Owl in the vicinity, and he said he never believed Owls got that big.
Im pretty sure people who lived in woods would be familiar with owls. (but they are pretty spooky birds, arent they?)
January 8th, 2007 at 2:54 pm
Yes, those owls are tricky. Joe Nickell (who wants, I think, to be considered the new Phil Klass) claimed they saw a barn owl sitting up in some evergreen-type tree (maybe a nice bushy cedar?) and thats why it was nearly twelve feet tall. Of course that means when the “monster’ moved—which it did—the owl merely uprooted the tree straight out of the ground and drug it around with it (STRONG birds, those owls). I’m amazed that they didn’t see the owl furiously beating its wings to do this, OR hear the noise of the wing beats. Most odd.
And the owl even hauled the uprooted tree over and under the projecting limb of a second tree, so that it could trick the bemused witnesses into believing it was really 12-feet tall, based on the later-measured height of that limb. Man, these owls are devilishly clever and perverse !! AND the owl somehow engineered a sickening metallic stench that hung in the air for days and made people sick.
But wait! Joe says these people only IMAGINED this overpowering stench that made some of them throw up. It was all in their minds (nevermind that others smelled it later, in a weakened form, including Ivan Sanderson). Even the DOG that went up the hill with them had an overactive imagination and imagined that HE got sick, too !!!!
(And, according to some versions, imagined he got so sick he imagined he died….anybody out there know if there’s any truth to this? Did the dog die?)
Yes, I am always astounded by the subversive mischief of owls. They are among CSI(COPS) favorite “suspects”/”perps” in all manner of odd incidents.
Hmmm.Maybe Joe Nickell is secretly Owlman.
January 8th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
Frank Feschino reports to me that multiple first person testimony says the dog… died. No games or stretches…
[Who says I can't be brief?] [g].
January 8th, 2007 at 4:24 pm
Okay…so the Dog psyched himself right on “out of here. Whoooeee! Such is the power of an overactive imagination….according to CSICOPS!
January 8th, 2007 at 4:41 pm
A lot of people got ’sick’ that night, too, more imagination…
I’m just glad Nickells is around to swab out our throats or we’d strangle on our own spit, you know?
January 8th, 2007 at 6:09 pm
Nickell’s smugness along with the condescending attitude and the illogical back-engineering of “evidence” has made him a favorite of mine for a long time. He’s actually funnier than “believers” in this regard, but only to non-dogmatic observers with a sense of humor.
January 8th, 2007 at 6:37 pm
So… not so much a “throat swab”… more a Coca Cola douche? [g].
January 9th, 2007 at 8:53 am
I’ve even read a dismissal of the witness claims which stated that the noxious odour came from the stored rotting kills of said owl - how’s that for an overactive imagination!
Anyway, moving swiftly on, I found this article in the Magonia UFO database. It includes details of the take-off of one of the glowing spheres.
Sep. 13, 1952 Frametown (West Virginia). Mr. and Mrs. George Snitowski and their little girl suddenly found their car stalled, and an unpleasant smell (ether mixed with sulphurous smoke) filled the air. Mr. Snitowski thought a chemical plant might be burning in the area and walked toward a strong light visible in the woods, in spite of the nauseous smell. Coming near it, he felt pricklings throughout his body, had to stop, lost his balance several times as he returned to the car, where he found his wife terrified, pointing to a giant creature (3 m tall), human-shaped, 10 m away. They locked the car as “it” inspected the vehicle, glided away and went into the woods. Soon afterward, the sphere of light was observed to rise gradually, to swing like a pendulum, and to leave a luminous trail. (Paul Lieb)
January 9th, 2007 at 1:18 pm
In regards to what Mothphotographer said, I dont know about connecting the flatwoods monster with UAV’s, but I urge anyone to take a good look at the original description of the LADY OF THE OLIVES from the FATIMA
January 9th, 2007 at 10:46 pm
“Butterfly,”
Thanks for locating that report. Like mant UFO reports, it seems that the case becomes more elaborate and detailed as we look closer. I particularly like the detail of the “sulfurous smoke.” This is not an isolated case of a “brimstone” odor in association with an entity event. Many books, including those of Keel and Jim Brandon discuss this aspect of the phenomenon. Hellfire from Satan, or our attempts to assign an identity to the unexplained?
January 9th, 2007 at 10:52 pm
“BoudiccasSpear”
I don’t know what you are referring to. The only info on “Lady of the Olives” that I could find was “By virtue of the medal of Our Lady of Olives — so goes the tradition — the persons who carry it are preserved from lightning wherever they be during a storm. But there is a second privilege related to the medal of Our Lady of Olives. It protects women who are about to become mothers and assists them in the hour of birth.”
There was no lightning or pregnant women about during the Flatwoods incident, as far as I know. You must be more clear.
February 27th, 2007 at 8:11 am
Hello Greg,
In reference to my last post. I should have explained that the LADY OF THE OLIVES is in reference to FATIMA. The incident in FATIMA, PORTUGAL in which 3 children were visited by an entity over a tree who gave them 3 prophecies. I am sure you are familiar with that. The last prophecy was supposedly given to Pope John Paul the 2nd. Well, the original description of the LADY OF FATIMA was not anything closely resembling what we see today in religious iconography. Infact, as I stated in my previous post, she resembles the FLATWOODS monster…and the WANDIJA creatures of old ABORIGINAL lore. The Lady of the Olives was supposedly an entity with large dark eyes, and resembled a 12 year old girl, she was projected by a beam of light, emitted from a cloud. The artist redering based on the original description is very reminiscent of the flatwoods monster. Recently a book was written about it by Joaquim Fernandes & Fina d’Armada.
BOUDICCA