The Skin Creek Sasquatch (1976)

The Mysterious Monsters movie poster.
You can watch the documentary on YouTube!

Sometimes life imitates art. That seems to be the case one summer night when two Braxton County teens, Ronald Stark and Clifford Barnes, were driving to see an outdoor movie called Mysterious Monsters.  The Mysterious Monsters, which came out in 1976, was a documentary style film, hosted by Peter Graves, featuring stories and evidence of the Loch Ness Monster, Big Foot, and other strange creatures from around the world. Neither boy, however, were prepared for having their OWN unexplained experience that evening!

It was August 17, 1976 at approximately 8:15 p.m. They were leaving I-79 at the Skin Creek exit (if anyone knows where this exit is, please let me know. I've never heard of the Skin Creek area before.) when they spotted an 8-foot tall ape-like creature standing in the road. As they got closer to it, it ran off and disappeared into the brush. 

The Braxton County area is no stranger to monsters. In 1952, it was home to the infamous Flatwoods Monster, a strange, metallic figure with a head resembling a spade, which may or may not have emerged from a downed UFO. However, as previously discussed on Theresa's Haunted History, Braxton County has had quite a few Bigfoot sightings over the years, as well, with many of these creatures all getting lumped under the Braxton County Monster moniker. You can check out my series of articles about that here: The Braxton County Monster Wrap-Up . I guess I'll be adding today's entry to the collection, too!

Anyway, this fun little story comes from a newspaper clipping I came across recently. It's from the Independent, dated 25 August 1976. I came across this clipping during a recent trip to the Gray Barker UFO Files in Clarksburg! I'll be writing about that trip soon, but I wanted to share this lil' tidbit. Out of multiple folders STUFFED with Bigfoot sightings and information, I thought this particular story would be of interest to readers of Theresa's Haunted History. And...it's not the only strange story from that trip that I'll be sharing in the upcoming weeks, so stay tuned for plenty of West Virginia Weirdness!

The Independent
25 August 1976

 

The New Martinsville Monster

 

The Raleigh Register 12 January 1961

Today's blog post is the third installment of my 'Other' Braxton County Monster series!  So far, we've had Charles Stover's December 30th sighting in Webster County, followed by a report on January 5th, 1961 by W.C. Pierce in Pocahontas County, which actually happened some time the previous October. Both of these sightings were compared by the local newspapers to the 1952 Flatwoods Green Monster sighting, despite having completely different appearances. 

This third potential sighting happened on Tuesday, January 10, 1961 near New Martinsville, WV. A young woman, Mrs. Gene Chute, came home late, only to find a barefoot, long-haired, wild looking man in her house. The 'monster' grabbed her, but she was able to get away and run to a neighbor's house. Afterward, she was so unnerved by the experience that she was admitted to the hospital for treatment of shock. Obviously, no sign of the wild man was found.

The article's author does note that it isn't likely the Braxton Monster traveled this far north, but a tongue-in-cheek headline about the monster being on the move was still added to grab the attention of those following the story. It certainly grabbed my attention, but I'm not as quick to label this creature as a potential Bigfoot as I was the previously mentioned two cases. The witness makes no mention of the creature being COVERED with hair, nor does she comment on its height or foot size. I'd love to be able to track this witness down and see if she recalls any additional details that will help in solving exactly what attacked her that night in her own home. Until then, this is just an interesting story, and a small piece of the legend of Braxton County's Other Monster.

Please be sure to check out the first two articles in this series!

Braxton County's OTHER Monster Seen by Delivery Driver

Braxton Monster Causes Car to Stall in Pocahontas County