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