Over spring break, my fiancée and I visited her family in Crossville, which is a small rural town between Cookeville and Knoxville. While on our way there, we stopped by a small antique mall in Baileyton where one of the stalls had a wall of stickers with various monsters and cryptids on it.
Most I recognized, but one I’d never seen before. It looked like a stereotypical alien had crawled into the Dalek wheelchair that Davros rides in in the “Doctor Who” show. It had the words “Flatwoods” and “West Virginia” framing it.
A quick google search revealed more details. Though, the available information was sparse.
In 1952 following a bright flash of light in the sky, seven people, six kids and one mother, (as well as a dog) reported that they had been harassed by something in darkness. They followed the light they had seen and were met by a ten-foot red creature with a glowing green face and bright eyes. The incident sparked interest for the U.S Airforce, as they were running an operation at the time (Project Blue Book) to investigate extraterrestrials (Roy Wenzl, History.com, Jan 10, 2020).
In fact, it seemed to have sparked interest all over the country and although there hasn’t been any known sightings since then, the monster found its way into West Virginian culture and sits beside Mothman as a popular draw for tourists.
Fans of “Fallout 76” may think this sounds familiar and that’s because it is. Most may not know that a lot of the creatures in popular post-apocalyptic video game “Fallout” uses creatures and cryptids from local lore either directly or as inspiration.
Though of course with any creator, they took artistic liberties and the alien-looking being seems to have changed to a more ethereal and ghost-like figure with a purple glow.
Who would have known West Virginia has so many cryptids.
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