Flatwoods and Braxton County UFO Sightings

Flatwoods and Braxton County UFO Sightings
by Alfred Lehmberg

Well, friends and cyber-neighbors, just when you thought all was quiet on the "Flatwoods Monster" front, here's Frank Feschino popping up with yet another compelling data list—an evidentiary audit trail for the ufologically whacked out and impossible, howsoever be it unsettlingly supported!  That's right. Take a deep breath.  We begin.  

To start, this is a list regarding details about the massive amount of UFO sightings occurring over the United States on September 12, 1952.  A massive amount as highly true as it is highly strange.  I'll explain.

As is the now running theme established by previous articles I've written, I reiterate to say there were numerous UFOs sighted on that particular September day.  These UFOs flew, landed and/or were forced down—by jets ordered to shoot them down—at 116 locations in ten east coast States during that 21-hours of sustained activity displayed on Feschino's well referenced "Master Map." Such has been established as so.

THE MAP

Please take the proceeding at face value and for highly suspected fact.  Again.  We're served by it! We've extinction to lose and the universe to gain? 

See, 60 plus years after the fact, people remain unaware—even after 20 plus years of his researching and sifting through the countless documents he's discovered—Feschino has meticulously pinpointed 116 separate locations when and where UFOs were sighted... that day!  This all seems like it might be a little bigger than a quaint country tale regarding 'haints, hillbillies, and hoot-owls, eh?  No, these seem to be naught, frankly, but the insulting and facile go-to lies of lying liars.

Remember that Feschino is able to segregate these numerous objects sighted, in fact, by their shapes, sizes, colors, manners, locations, flight paths and sighting times along a trace of their flight's route!  A picture forms when one knows what was where, when.  He discovers that a jaw-dropping twenty-five different unidentified objects—yes, 25 UFOs—had actually passed over the following ten eastern States: Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington, DC, and West Virginia.  CSI's Papa Joe Nickell doesn't mention any of this, does he.  A statement not a question.  Nor does anyone at CSI Central.  Not even brought up to be debunked, it's not party line over there.  Not dismissible so it's scary too—it's a thin ice for the traversing skeptibunky.  One false step and it's through the ice and drowning in data.

Back at the ranch, the overwhelming amount of UFO sightings revealed by Feschino on that day have come to be known as the "September 12, 1952 Flap."  This flap is actualized by examining the flight characteristics of the UFOs many witnesses described as having been on fire, exploding with pieces falling away, making strange in-flight noises, flying erratically at tree top level, and making crash-landings.  They sound busy.

In the end, after compiling his findings, Feschino establishes that four of the 25 UFOs sighted that day were apparently damaged and struggling to stay airborne as they traveled over the United States. They were making multiple landings as they flew; in other words, Feschino tracked the damaged (?!) UFOs as they puddle-jumped across the Nation like wounded birds.  Combined, these four troubled objects made a documented thirteen crash-landings in three states, Tennessee, South Carolina and West Virginia.  Not surprisingly, West Virginia accounted for ten of those crash-landings.  Papa Joe?  ...Hearing only crickets.

Feschino then plots the flight path trajectories of each object.  He is able to recreate a scenario of events, the "revealed evidentiary trail," alluded to above describing what must have occurred that day back on September 12, 1952.  Follow the evidence, which is to say... not beat it ahead of you with a stick the way the reflex and canted skeptibunky or klasskurtxian contents himself.  See, it remains still, as pointed out above, that the general public is unaware of the magnitude of UFO sightings documented as having occurred across the United States on that all but infamous day... especially the sightings occurring in Braxton County around Flatwoods.

I'd alluded to damaged UFOs above; why were these UFOs damaged and why the abundance of UFO sightings on that day?  To answer the first question: only six weeks before the September 12, 1952 Flap, the USAF revealed White House approved "shoot down orders"... essentially declaring war on flying saucers!  ...WAR!  War with an ET high levels of government had already admitted as fact.  No stretch at all, reader.  Given truth, how would the reader characterize it?  War and shots fired!

On July 29, the Seattle Post Intelligencer reports the following Air Force revelation made the previous day: "Lt. Col. Moncel Monts, Air Force Information Officer, states, 'The jet pilots are and have been under orders to investigate unidentified objects and to shoot them down if they can't talk them down.' "  Everyone knows how chatty UFOs are... you know, so willing to take orders and be accommodating to their Earth hosts.

The article also states, "In Air Force parlance, this means that if a 'flying saucer' refuses to land—jet pilots are authorized to shoot them to Earth, if they can get close enough to do so."  Was there ever a more nuanced declaration of war?

Also on July 29, via a press conference held at the Pentagon to discuss UFOs, it was reported that Major General Roger Ramey "...told the news conference [that] interceptor planes have raced aloft several hundred times as a result of unidentified objects."  Yes reader, the Air Force wanted a UFO!  

During 1952 the USAF received the most recorded UFO sightings made to Project Blue Book in its 17 year existence!  1,501 official reports with 303 of these bona fide "Unknowns" ...meaning visual conditions were such that they should have been able to tell what the flying object was... and couldn't!  Yes reader,  with these overwhelming numbers, the Air Defense Command never had a better opportunity for getting a UFO.  On that hot Indian Summer day of September 12, 1952, they got their chance!

Back in 1952 well-known researchers and investigators were in the dark as to what had actually occurred on September 12.  Some found important pieces of the puzzle but none were able put it all together into a meaningful whole.  None could figure out the "big picture" of events.  They didn't have Blue Book!   They didn't have Feschino's single-minded drive and determination... his opportunity to make right the grievances of forgotten soldiers and airmen of needs lost in this seeming secret air war.

Moving on, what did all of the UFO sightings along the east coast that day have to do with the "Flatwoods Monster" incident in the small town of Flatwoods?  Furthermore, why were there so many UFOs sighted over Braxton County that night, before and after the "monster" encounter on the Fisher Farm?

To answer, the whole of Braxton County, not just Flatwoods, actually had its own flap of UFO sightings during the night!  In 1991, and standing on the shoulders of his intrepid if befuddled predecessors, Feschino picked up the investigation and began his research where the others had had to throw their hands in the air—ultimately giving up, thus the incident was never investigated further, back in the day, and in danger of becoming just another quaint tale of folklore.  Such would not be so on Feschino's watch.

Painstakingly thorough in his on site investigations, Feschino discovers that there were many more sightings than the original investigators were aware of—many, many more, reader, as pointed out above. One of the original investigators, Gray Barker, stated, "I can only begin to cope with the mass of data and correspondence, the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle containing the answer to the mystery—if only it could be put together."  Feschino would make that wish come true.

World-known researcher and author Ivan T. Sanderson also documented many of the objects seen that night, reporting, "As a result of plotting the incidents on a map, we are of the opinion that a flight of intelligently controlled objects flew over West Virginia on the evening of September 12 and further, that one of them landed or crashed, a second and third crashed and a fourth blew up in the air"!  That's some assertion!

Writer Harold T. Wilkins discovered, "The local police, however, admit that on the day of the incident a fleet of pear-shaped objects—dull red, white and gleaming—had been seen over the region. They hovered in mid-air, ascended almost vertically, descended, then flew level, and three strange objects had crashed in the dense woods."

Additionally, Mr. Barker also added, "Within a 20-mile radius of Flatwoods, numerous persons saw what they variously described, as 'shooting stars,' flying 'saucers' and 'meteorites.' "  With all of this information in hand now, Feschino moved forward, conducted his own interviews with Braxton County witnesses and scoured local and national newspaper archives. Most importantly, he obtained the Blue Book files for that day, sometimes even having to digitally enlarge, enhance and re-ink almost unreadable  faded documents to poster size to suss them out!  Feschino then compiled all of his valuable data into a true historical illumination, that evidentiary trail alluded to above.   

Feschino spent decades piling up multiple guided tours through Braxton County with many of the old-timers from the area.  They took him to many of the locations where these sightings occurred and showed him the lay of the land.  After years of researching the UFO incidents occurring in Braxton County, Feschino then plotted the points of UFO activity in the area on a large aviation map and connected them with the surrounding UFO sightings in the other nine other states.

Ultimately, Frank was able to put the big picture together of what had actually occurred that day and chronicled the scenario of events. You see reader, the overwhelming amount of UFOs observed that day were not attributed to joyriding craft aimlessly flying around in circles because they had nothing else better to do on a Friday night! There was a definite reason for all of these UFO sightings on September 12, 1952.  There was purpose! 

Keeping in mind the long-forgotten July 29, 1952 Fall River Herald-News headline, "Jets Told to Shoot Down Flying Discs," Fall River informs us that "Jet pilots are operating under a 24-hour nationwide 'alert' to chase the mysterious objects and to 'shoot them down' if they ignore orders to land"!  Let us now follow the data.

On September 12, 1952, three damaged UFOs flew over the eastern seaboard bearing westerly and headed in different directions upon reaching the Mid-Atlantic coast—one after another, just before 7:00 p.m. EST.  The first UFO headed southwest toward Oak Ridge, Tennessee, home of the
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, worryingly spot-on, penetrated the no-fly zone for that sensitive area and landed in Arcadia, Tennessee.

This sparked a massive search and rescue by local authorities, thinking it was a small civilian aircraft.  No aircraft was ever found or even reported to be missing.  Yet local authorities gave this account: "Patrolmen reported sighting what they believed to be distress flares from the ground where the object was supposed to have fallen."  Witness H.L. Newland said it was "shining bright and big as a car."

The second UFO flew northwest over Baltimore, MD, then flew directly toward Dayton, OH, home of Wright Patterson AFB.  Just before reaching Dayton, this craft was to redirect itself northeast—where it nearly hit a passenger plane near the Wheeling-Ohio County Airport—then flew south, finally crash-landing in the Wheeling, WV area. 

The UFO was reported in several newspapers, "Three commercial pilots told the CAA office in Washington that meteor-like objects flashed by their planes." It was stated, "One pilot said one nearly hit his ship."  Does this sound like a meteor to the reader, this writer wonders? 

Commercial airline pilots contacted CAA officials in Washington, DC to inform them about these, "meteor-like objects," not to report meteors! Does this sound like a meteor, reader?  Besides, contacting high level and career destroying authorities about mere meteors makes no self-regarding sense.  Why not report to authorities that the stars come out at night, or that there was a moon above?  What would the CAA be expected to do about meteors?  Criticism should have to achieve a level of competence to claim to have the support of science.  I digress. 

The third UFO, identified in print by The New York Times as the "FLAME OVER WASHINGTON," headed due west over Washington, DC, low level and towards Flatwoods.  Simultaneously, over the Nation's Capital, several UFOs descended from the skies over Washington, Maryland, and Virginia, forming a suggested aerial perimeter around their damaged sister craft, apparently seeing it safely to the west.  

At this point the majority of information concerning these UFOs descending over this three state area was found only by Feschino in Project Blue Book—no one besides Feschino seems to have ever bothered, apparently, to closely read the entire September 12, 1952 case files! Now, for the record—Feschino discovered that there were actually twelve craft descending to follow the damaged craft west before ascending back into the sky to the north and northwest!  Who says so?  Reported What, Where, and When says so.  Blue Book says so.

Shortly after, UFOs descended from the skies in great numbers over eastern Ohio, the WV panhandle, and western Pennsylvania for two hours—looking, mayhap, for their downed sister craft. These were identified as a "meteor shower"... also, "Flashing meteors" and "balls of fire" by the local press and authorities.

Contrarily, there is no official scientific documentation of reported meteor activity for that day anywhere in the world!  In other words, neither the astronomy record books and sky watching clubs have any record of a meteor or meteor shower occurring anywhere around that day. Yes, the assertion here is that these additional craft were a full-blown search and rescue operation made by ET. Anyway, it seems at least one newspaper, The Boston Globe, reported it remotely right in their headline, "Four States 'Bombarded' by Meteor-Like Objects."  In part, it was reported, "Authorities sought an explanation today for the flurry of meteor-like objects sighted over four states."  Meteor "like," good reader is the admission that they are not meteors or they would be meteors; they are like meteors so a listener can have any idea at all what's being related to them.  Like a thing is not a thing. No, it's well and truly weirdness!  

Simultaneously, to the south of Braxton County, three more objects flying in formation were enroute to Flatwoods from the south, stewarding yet another damaged object.  A fourth craft, a flying saucer, previously sighted over Flat Rock, North Carolina, joined them, shortly after, as they reached Flatwoods. This larger saucer then redirected, headed northwest toward the Wheeling area where the other objects were descending in what could be called a search of their downed craft as suspected and was then sighted to the west of Wheeling over Lafferty, Ohio.  Are you starting to get the picture yet, reader? 

Flatwoods, WV, the geographical center of the state, void of any nearby USAF bases and isolated, was actually the designated area for two of the heavily damaged UFOs to meet and go down together consequent to their conjectured rescue. More specifically, the exact rendezvous point was actually the Fisher Farm plateau, located at the back of the farm known as the hill top.  

Before any of the sightings had occurred over Braxton County, specifically Flatwoods, the first UFO observation actually occurred over the Fisher Farm at about 6:50 p.m. EST.  This UFO was a huge cigar-shaped object that flew from the east, passed over Harrisonburg, VA, then passed over West Virginia, flew toward Flatwoods and passed over the back plateau of the Fisher hill top.

Signed eyewitness testimony Donald Morrison

Here, Feschino and his military colleagues (myself among them) have agreed that this was perhaps a reconnaissance rescue craft that could conceivably have dropped a homing beacon device of some type for the two damaged objects to follow in to the farm landing zone.  Remained, there was a real big problem during this time frame for the UFOs.

The heavily damaged craft flying west toward Flatwoods from the DC area was struggling to reach its rendezvous destination simultaneously with the other damaged craft heading North with its UFO escort. When the three northbound UFOs reached Flatwoods to rendezvous with the damaged, "Flatwoods Monster" craft... it wasn't there. The rendezvous had been missed! The damaged southern craft flew over the Fisher Farm while the other two combed the area for it!

Meanwhile, the incoming flying saucer made a brief pass over the Flatwoods area and then headed northwest. When the damaged craft, containing the "Flatwoods Monster,"  wasn't initially found, all four southern ships departed the area. Subsequently, the damaged southern craft crashed three times in Braxton County and the damaged "Flatwoods Monster" craft landed on the Fisher Farm shortly after. 

Yes, the UFO events occurring in Flatwoods and surrounding regions are actually attributed to a search and rescue mission—a failed operation actually, ending with a close encounter on the Fisher Farm between Mrs. May, a group of boys 12 to 18 and a 12-foot-tall occupant called the "Flatwoods Monster. The following data list was compiled by Frank Feschino, Jr., identifies some witnesses, and shows us a fraction of the UFO activity over Braxton County that night.

Eye witness Donald Morrison with Feschino...

1). Ben's Run, Har—near Newville. About 6:45 PM. A large cigar-shaped red object also described as being shaped "like a bottle gas tank" and about 40-feet long, flew slow at a very low-level just above the tree tops at Ben's Run. Several residents on both sides of Har saw it pass over the town; some saw it pass over the general store and others later watched it until it disappeared over the tree tops in the direction of Flatwoods, about four miles away. Reconnaissance Rescue Craft #1 Witness: Multiple witnesses in Har including Donald Morrison and his family.

2).Flatwoods. Fisher Farm. 6:50 PM. A large cigar-shaped object that emitted fireballs from the rear fuselage flew at a very low over the plateau of the back hilltop of the Fisher Farm.  It looked like a "jet plane" but had "no wings." The primary witness said, "It proceeded across the sky, then halted suddenly, seemed to fall rapidly toward the hilltop."  Reconnaissance Rescue Craft #1 Witness: Flatwoods resident A.M. Jordan.

3). Flatwoods. Fisher Farm. 7:15 PM. A low-flying fiery object flew over the back hilltop area of the farm and directly over the water cistern. A large piece of fire broke off and fell toward the ground as it headed south toward the Sutton Airport then exploded. Damaged Southern Craft #1 Witness: Mr. Hoard.

4). Holly.  An object flying near the horizon over the Sutton Airport exploded and crash-landed shortly after in the area of Holly.  Witness: One Flatwoods witness sighted the object as it passed over the airport and exploded while multiple witnesses saw it go down shortly after near Holly.  Damaged Southern Craft #1

5). Heaters. (5 miles north of Flatwoods) 7:15 PM. A large round-shaped and glowing object flew at a very low-level over the town of Heaters and headed towards Flatwoods. SOUTHERN RESCUE CRAFT #2 Witness: Jerry Marples.

6). Braxton County Airport. (3 miles south of Flatwoods). 7:15 PM. Simultaneously, another large round object flew just above the airport at a very low-level. SOUTHERN RESCUE CRAFT #3 Witness: Multiple sources as told to Ivan T. Sanderson.

7) Flatwoods area. A "saucer" was sighted  just after the time that the other three southern ships were seen flying over and near Flatwoods.  SOUTHERN RESCUE CRAFT #4. Witness: Multiple witnesses including a Braxton County resident who reported a "fireball" and "saucer" as well as other UFOs.

8). Flatwoods. 7:25 PM. A large fiery oval-shaped object flew south overFlatwoods, passed over the school playground, turned, redirected and then landed on the back hilltop of the Fisher Farm.  Damaged #2 Craft - Flatwoods Monster Witnesses: Numerous boys on school playground and adult witness Jack Davis.

9). Sugar Creek. A fiery UFO crashed onto a mountain top across the Elk River between 7:25 and 7:30 PM. Witnesses described it as "a flaming bucket with a tail." Damaged Southern Craft #1 Witness: Woodrow Eagle and other multiple Sugar Creek witnesses.

11). Frametown. About 7:45 PM. A fiery object crashed on a hilltop near the Elk River in the area of Frametown. Witness: Undisclosed hitchhiker. Damaged Southern Craft #1

12). Flatwoods. Fisher Farm. Just before 8:00 PM. Witness: Mrs. May and several boys saw a nearly 12-foot tall metallic probe-like craft that hovered near a tree,  AKA the "Flatwoods Monster." Damaged #2 Craft - Flatwoods Monster Some witnesses also reported seeing a large oval-shaped craft in the pasture of the second field of the farm.

13). Frametown. Approximately 8:25. Another fiery object crashed in Frametown.  This object crashed on the top of James Knoll on the other side of Frametown near Middle Ridge. Damaged #2 Craft - Flatwoods Monster Witnesses: 2 James boys that lived in the area as well as other local residents.

14). Flatwoods. Fisher Farm. Between 10:30 PM.-11:00 PM. A large round object with a flat side that emitted flames from each side, circled the Fisher Farm at a low-level for about fifteen minutes.  Witness: Mr. Bailey Frame. RESCUE CRAFT #4

 There you have it people.  ...Anyone still think all this activity was attributed to a single course changing "fireball meteor," as the USAF counsels via Blue Book or that the "Flatwoods Monster" was a Barn owl in a tree?  Return to the clue queue if true.

Wrapping up, let's remember two missing airmen, fighter pilot John A. Jones, Jr. and radar operator John DelCurto.  These two intrepid airmen, initially denied to Feschino by the Air Force as having ever even served (outrage), vanished into thin air with their F-94 Starfire during the onset of the September 12, 1952 UFO Flap, never to be seen or heard from again.