The Braxton County Monster: A Strange Machine Or A Barn Owl?

In his 1953 book, "Flying Saucers from Outer Space," pioneer UFO researcher Donald Keyhoe wrote about his January 1953 telephone conversation with Albert Chop, USAF public liaison. The topic of the conversation was the "Braxton County Monster."

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 Mr. Chop told Mr. Keyhoe the Air Force's explanation for the "monster," which was purely speculative. Chop stated: 

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"The group did see two glowing eyes, PROBABLY those of a large owl perched on a limb."
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"Underbrush below MAY HAVE GIVEN the impression of a giant figure."
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"In their excitement they IMAGINED the rest." 

"Say whaaa..."

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In Joe Nickell's "investigative" article on the Flatwoods case, he writes the following about the Air Force's explanation and then adds his "opinion": 

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"I believe this generic solution is correct...Several elements in the witnesses descriptions help identify the Flatwoods creature specifically 'Tyto alba', the common barn owl, known almost worldwide."
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"Considering all the characteristics of the described monster, and making allowances for misinterpretations and other distorting factors, we may conclude (adapting an old adage) that if it looks like a barn owl, acted like a barn owl, and hissed, then it most likely was a barn owl,"
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"And so a spooked barn owl in turn spooked the interlopers and a monster was born." 

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Now, let us go back to the first article to appear in the WV press, where the witnesses described the so-called "Monster." This article appeared in the Charleston Daily Mail on Sunday, Sept. 14, 1952, "Braxton Co. Residents Faint Become Ill After Run-In with 10-Foot Monster." Information states: .
"They said it had a black shield affair in the shape of an ace of spades behind it and wore what looked lke a pleated metallic shirt (sic) skirt." 

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Here, the black shield affair was actually an outer helmet covering the red head, which was actually an inner helmet. The pleated metallic skirt was in reality the lower torso of the figure that was surrounded by thick pipes. 

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On September 15, 1952, the next article that described the "Monster" appeared in The Charleston Gazette. The article headline read, "Braxton Monster Left Skid Tracks Where He Landed. (Special to the Gazette)." 

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The source information for this article came from A. Lee Stewart, Jr. who was a photojournalist and co-owner of the "Braxton Democrat" newspaper in Sutton. He was the very first person to talk to and interview all of the eyewitnesses. The article stated the following: 

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"SUTTON. Sept 14-The phantom of Flatwoods:
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...Left tracks from six to eight feet apart. Wore a suit of green armor...looked like a mechanical man... Was 10 feet tall, four feet wide. Had a blood-red face. Sported a black, spade-like cowl, which extended a foot or more above its head. It had claw-like 'toy' hands too, and orange-green eyes the size of half-dollars, according to Mrs. Kathleen May...'It lit up like a Christmas tree,' Mrs. May said, with some sort of interior lighting system." 

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Later that week, on September 19, 1952, the innacurate drawing of the "Monster" appeared on the TV show "WE THE PEOPLE." The figure was portrayed as a cloth-cloaked, skirt-wearing being with long arms and claws. 

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During his 20-year investigation into this case, Frank Feschino interviewed and taped many of the eyewitnesses involved in the incident. Here are some of the quotes from those interviews: 

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Mrs. May:
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"We got close enough to it so I could see exactly what it was...I was as close to it as the length of a small car. I was close enough that it squirted oil out all over my uniform" *
"The thing lit up fom the inside."
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"It looked more metallic."
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"Now, it didn't have arms...It looked like, something like antennae sticking out from it, between the body and the head."
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"The head was a red color. Now right around the neck it looked like the neck would rotate."
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"It was just kind of floating. It was about a foot to a foot and a half off the ground."
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Fred May: "It was mechanical; it was not alive. Maybe inside the thing - there could have been something that was alive. What I saw was either a small spaceship or suit of some of kind. Something it was wearing. It was mecanical."
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Fred May: "Over the head was a big ace- of-spades covering, it was somthing that looked like a helmet, and I think it was."
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Fred May: "What mother described as the pleats of hanging drapes, were actually tubes running vertically...They were metal, they were actually metal pipes...They were as thick as my arm."

Fred May: "The eyes were portholes." 

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Feschino, a school trained illustrator and painter actually worked with these witnesses on numerous occassions and did police-style renderings of the so-called "Monster."
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He also interviewed Fred May at the site of the encounter near the oak tree and was told additional details.

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21 years of intrepid research and cogent scholarship on the part of Frank Feschino are not impugned by the likes of the less than salient Joe Nickell... Giant Owls? Not before the incident... not after. Hallucinatory Gas? Not before the incident... not after. Oil-oozing Pick-ups? Not before the incident... not after.  Combine the "White-House-Overflying Summer Of Saucers" in 1952 with the freshly minted Military "Shoot *Them* Down" orders... and you get Flatwoods on September 12th, 1952!

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The reader might consider, too, that persons living for generations in a locale become abundantly familiar with the flora and fauna of their environment.  Roc sized barn owls are remarkably absent from the local lore.

No, if the reader is interested in the details of this compelling true life science fiction tale...?