The McMellin Monster of Monongalia County

I've got another crazy vintage newspaper article for ya'll. This is from the May 7th, 1902 edition of The New Dominion, a newspaper out of Morgantown, West Virginia. In this article, a haunted ravine between McMellin (spelled incorrectly in the article) and Sand Springs (now home to a camp ground) in Monongalia County is found to be home to a horrible beast with six inch teeth and claws like an eagle! Interestingly, there's a blurb directly below this story about a large bear being seen in the same vicinity...but there's no way that this beast could be a simple misidentification, right?? You can check it out for yourself over at the Chronicling America website.

MODERN ST. GEORGE

Finds His Dragon But Fails To Kill It

Horrible Beast With Teeth Six Inches Long and Claws Like an Eagle Discovered Near Sand Spring--Brave Lumberman Fires at it and Vanquishes it--Others news from Morris Cross Roads

Special to the New Dominion

MORRIS CROSS ROADS, MAY 6--A deep ravine between McMellon and Sand Springs has for some time been considered as being haunted. The people in the vicinity have reported several brands of ghost stories but none had ever seen anything extraordinary. Although several solemnly declared that they had heard "strange things" and had fled without making an investigation. 

It remained for Jack Harris a lumberman, to solve the mystery. He was returning to the camp near midnight when he was suddenly confronted by the most terrible looking beast that mortal man ever saw. The animal was about the size of a hippopotamus and resembled a dog somewhat. Harris fired at the monster with his revolver and the thing never budged but let out a roar that made the trees tremble. He then fired 5 more shots at it when it turned its tail and absquatulated. 

According to the man's description the great animal had teeth 6 inches long and and its claws were something like an eagle's. It's hair was white with large black spots on it.  When still it assumed a crouching position as if to spring upon its prey and in disappearing it made leaps fully 10 feet long so Harris declares.

Theresa's Note: After taking a good, hard look at the details of this story, I'm now convinced that this is a fairly early example of a West Virginia cryptid known as The White Thing or White Thang. The White Thing is actually a pretty broad term, and covers a wide array of white-colored monsters all the way from Sheepsquatch to things that just sort of defy classification---including a large number of sightings of extremely large canine-type monsters roaming around the area of Monongalia County! One of the absolute best resources for information on these monsters is the book, White Things: West Virginia's Weird White Monsters by Kurt McCoy, but this article on Mysterious Universe by Brent Swancer is also a good place to start if you're looking to delve into this strange topic a lil' further! 

  

Braxton County's OTHER Monster Seen by Delivery Driver

From The Charleston Daily Mail, 31 December 1960
Continued below

Just eight years after the infamous events of September 12, 1952, the people of Braxton County and surrounding areas began to chatter about seeing...another monster?

On Friday, December 30th, 1960, Charles Stover was driving the backroads between Braxton and Webster Counties. The 25 year old was finishing up his route, delivering for Dutch Oven Bakeries, and was headed back home. At around 11 p.m., he was in the vicinity of Hickory Flats. As he came around a curve, he spotted a creature on the edge of the road, glaring at him. The creature was "standing erect, with hair all over his face and body." He estimated that it stood about six feet tall. 

Stover stopped his truck a short distance away from the creature, took another look, and found it still standing there, glaring at him before 'roaring off.' Understandably shaken Stover took off and didn't stop until he found a restaurant-filling station still open. He spilled his coffee as he nervously tried to explain to the men in the station what he had seen. They told him that eerie cries had been reported in the woods near that area over the past couple of weeks. Now, with an actual sighting, some of the group decided that this would be the perfect opportunity to witness this thing for themselves. They went home and armed themselves with rifles and shotguns, and traveled out to the spot where Stover had his sighting. Fortunately for the creature, all the men found were some upturned rocks and a couple of 'marks' in the otherwise frozen ground. 

NOT what Stover described

The next morning, Stover's wife reported the incident, which appeared in the Charleston Daily Mail and other papers. She wanted to emphasize that her husband was not drunk. He had really seen SOMETHING that spooked him so bad that he couldn't sleep all that night. She believed him, his boss believed him, and the posse of men believed him, vowing to continue their search for the mysterious hairy beast. 

But what was it that he saw? Obviously, a 6 foot tall, hairy man-creature absolutely does NOT fit the description of the 1952 Flatwoods Monster reported by Kathleen May and others. However, it does sound like a Bigfoot (well, maybe a juvenile or relatively small one). What I find interesting is that not one news source I came across ever used the term 'Bigfoot,' or seemed to make any connection between a Bigfoot-esque creature and what Stover witnessed. The term 'Bigfoot' was coined two years earlier to describe the mysterious creature that had left its oversized footprints in a wooded area of northern California. I guess its possible that the name hadn't yet caught on yet here in central West Virginia, or that local news media simply didn't feel like this WAS a Bigfoot. Maybe they just wanted to cash in on the notoriety of the Flatwoods Monster, which, according to the article in the Daily Mail, sent 10,000 to 15,000 visitors into Braxton County.

 Nevertheless, Stover's sighting wasn't an isolated incident. Over the next year, several interesting monster sightings were reported throughout central and north central West Virginia. Strangely enough, none of these additional monsters were given the Bigfoot moniker either---they were simply the "Braxton County Monster on the move." I'll be sharing some newspaper clippings from these additional sightings throughout the next week...so check back throughout the week for more monster madness! 

The Vegetable Man

West Virginia is a pretty weird place! We've got Mothman. We've got the Grafton Monster. We've got the Flatwoods Monster. We even have Sheepsquatch, the Ogua, and a variety of Bigfoot roaming the hills of our state. But, it terms of weirdness, all these pale in comparison to the story of The Vegetable Man.

Sometimes referred to as the Veggie Man, this absolutely eerie West Virginia creature first appeared in Fortean literature in a 1976 newsletter published by West Virginia's own controversial ufologist, Gray Barker. However, the encounter with the Vegetable Man actually dates back to nearly a decade before.

In July of 1968, a local bow hunter named Jennings Frederick was roaming the woods outside of Fairmont, WV. The U.S. Air Force veteran was hunting woodchucks, unsuccessfully, and was about to head back, when he heard what was described as “high-pitched jabbering, much like that of a recording running at exaggerated speed.”

Just then, Frederick looked up and saw one of the weirdest creatures to ever have been reported in West Virginia, and possibly, the whole country. He described an extremely tall being, well over 7 feet high. Although it was vaguely humanoid in shape, the creature was extremely thin. It's coloring was a yellowish-green, which in my mind creates a picture of a chlorophyll-based stalk of celery!

Long ears and yellow, slanted eyes were also noted, but the most horrifying feature of the creature seems to be its arms. The arms, which were no bigger around than a quarter, ended in what appeared to be three long, slender fingers tapering off into suction cups.

Frederick observed that he thought the being looked sickly, which was confirmed with a strange, telepathic message he received as the whirring, high-pitched jabbering increased. "You need not fear me. I wish to communicate. I come as a friend. We know of you all, I come in peace. I wish medical assistance. I need your help."

Frederick didn't have the opportunity to make sense of what the creature was trying to convey before it reached out and wrapped it's 'hand' around his arm. The suction cups attached to his arm and begin sucking his blood, sending a jolt of pain up his arm. However, as the blood could be seen seeping up through the creature's arm and body, where it reached the yellow eyes and began to swirl and oscillate. This hypnotic effect seemed to alleviate Frederick's pain as it 'fed' on his blood for the next two minutes.

When the Vegetable Man had finished its vampiric feeding of poor Frederick, it sprinted up a steep embankment and disappeared at a supernatural speed, leaving Frederick's arm in pain and with several small wounds where the creature had suckled. Before fleeing the scene himself, Frederick heard what he interpreted as the creature's craft being propelled by a propulsion system.

No one ever saw the Vegetable Man again, and it is understandable why Frederick would wait so long before telling his unbelievably weird story of what seems like a close encounter with an extremely odd creature from another planet.

As an interesting side note, I can confirm that a Jennings Frederick and a Jennings Frederick, Jr. did live in Fairmont, WV. Jennings Frederick, Jr., who went by Skip, did serve in the US Air Force during the Vietnam War and his obituary interestingly notes that he loved art and science, and was known to be able to draw whatever he saw. Unfortunately, he passed away in 2012 at the age of 62.

Further Reading:

Cryptid Wiki---Veggie Man

Vegetable Man: Cryptopia by Rob Morphy. 11 July 2016

Winter Fun with Monsters!

Happy Friday! It is officially winter here in West Virginia, and even our out-of-this-world monsters are ready for some snowy fun! This piece is called Fun in the Snow (2011) and its by artist John Meszaros.  Check out his DeviantArt profile, NocturnalSea, for more awesome artwork. How many of these extraterrestrial visitors can you name?

The Braxton County Monster Drawing

On September 12, a group of kids playing football noticed what they thought may have been a small plane crash outside Flatwoods, WV.  The boys, accompanied by two of the group's mother, a teenage neighbor, and a dog, grabbed a flashlight and made the trek up the hill to discover what was going on.  What they saw that night was, perhaps, literally out of this world.  The creature, which would be known as The Flatwoods Monster, the Braxton County Monster, or simply just 'The Being' was so unique in appearance, that even 66 years later, its form is immediately recognized.

Red face framed by a strange spade-shaped head.  Tiny, claw-like arms.  Glowing yellow eyes.  A green pleated skirt?!  What the hell was this thing? Some believe that the group saw a creature from outer space.  Others believed that it wasn't the creature itself, but a small vehicle or protective suit for a spaceman.  Some simply believed that the group chased down a meteorite and were spooked by a large owl seated on a low hanging tree branch.    

No matter what you believe the Flatwoods Monster to be, it is pretty undeniable that its form is easily recognizable to many, in and out of the paranormal community.  The creature has been featured in video games, toys, lanterns, comic books, over-sized chairs, etc. There is simply nothing else like it in the world.  But...is the iconic monster image that we immediately recognize as the Flatwoods Monster REALLY a good representation of what the group saw that evening?  And where did the artwork for it come from?

The photo above is a clipping from a Charleston Gazette article dated Tuesday, September 23, 1952. The caption states that the drawing was made by a New York sketch artist based on the descriptions of the creature given by Kathleen May and Gene Lemon. It was most likely created when the pair, accompanied by Sutton publisher, A. Lee Stewart, Jr., traveled to New York City to appear on the television show, "We The People." As they told their tale and showed the image, which both witnesses agreed was accurate, eerie music played in the background for the audience at home. Later when they returned to West Virginia, a photo was snapped of May and Lemon at the Charleston Greyhound Bus Station.

As the years rolled by, interest in the sighting waned, but then later saw a resurgence.  Aided by researchers, namely Frank Feschino, it was discovered that maybe the ridiculous, cartoonish portrayal of the creature wasn't EXACTLY what the witnesses had seen. What the witnesses had really seen was described as much more mechanical in nature, with the creature's flowing, pleated skirt really being similar to corrugated metal and its claw-like arms being more like antennae.  This updated version of  the creature's appearance can be found on the cover of Frank Feschino's book, The Braxton County Monster: The Cover-Up of the Flatwoods Monster Revealed.   

Although perhaps more accurate, the newer version of the Flatwoods Monster's appearance is decidedly less fun than the older version and the original is still the main inspiration for artists creating memorabilia and souvenirs to this day.  And, as an added bonus...just recently the original drawing itself has been found!  Believed for years to have been lost, an anonymous citizen of Braxton County came forth and let the piece be photographed.  You can see the photographs over at the  Braxton County Convention and Visitor's Bureau website as well as find tons of information about West Virginia's 'other' monster.

*If you find yourself in Braxton County, make it a top priority to visit the visitor's center for a HUGE collection of monster memorabilia, souvenirs, and information on the creature and other attractions around the county!*