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monster of the ufo

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by charles lear much has been written

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about the 1952 flatwoods monster

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encounter in braxton county west

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virginia

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it is a bizarre tale that received

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national press coverage at the time

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and is still celebrated today as part of

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west virginia's weird history

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you can have your picture taken in one

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of five giant flatwoods monster chairs

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located in various areas around braxton

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county

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and you can visit the flatwoods monster

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museum in the town of sutton

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with all of the focus on the monster

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itself certain aspects of the case tend

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to be overlooked

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for one thing this was the very first

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report of a creature associated with a

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ufo

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for another the case was looked into by

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some of ufology's very first

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private investigators on september 12

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1952

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reports of fireballs flying through the

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air came into newspaper offices and

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police stations from all over the

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southeastern united states

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searches were made for the most likely

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suspects downed planes and fallen

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meteors

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and none were found then in braxton

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county west virginia in the town of

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flatwoods

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a group consisting of six boys ranging

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in age from 10 to 17

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were playing football in the fading

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hours of daylight

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one of the younger boys caught sight of

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a fiery object in the sky and alerted

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the others

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they watched as it flew over them and

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then seemed to land in the nearby

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farmer's field

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they were eager to investigate and ran

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to the home of kathleen may

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mother of two of the boys eddie 13 and

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freddy 12.

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the group of boys excitedly told her

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what they had seen and one of them

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17 year old eugene lemon found a

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flashlight

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mrs may joined them as they went up the

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hill that led to the farm

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the following account comes mostly from

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one witness fourteen-year-old neil

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nunley

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ahead of the others

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as they went up the hill they saw a

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reddish pulsating light

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they passed through a gate in the fence

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around the field and dutifully closed it

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behind them

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as they got closer they encountered a

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fog that had a quote

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pungent irritating odor end quote the

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fog became thicker as they approached

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the light

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quote it was just like a big ball of

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fire end quote

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he said he couldn't estimate the size of

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the light but others described that it

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was quote

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as big as a house end quote with the

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focus on the light no one noticed a

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figure near the hilltop 15 feet to the

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left

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lemon then looked over and saw two spots

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of green light

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thinking they were animal eyes he aimed

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the flashlight at them and revealed a

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tall humanoid figure

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the figure had a red face with two

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openings like eyes that projected beams

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of greenish orange light over their

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heads

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around the face was a dark hood-like

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shape that came to a point like the ace

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of spades

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not only described the body as being

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dark and colorless

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but others said it was green mrs may

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said she saw folds as if the body was

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draped in fabric

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most of the witnesses agreed that the

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body from the waist down was not clearly

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visible

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whether or not the figure had arms was

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another area of disagreement

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mrs may said she saw claws because the

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figure was under a limb that was 15 feet

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off the ground

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its height was estimated to be around 10

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feet tall

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lemon fell back with the screen as soon

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as he saw the figure

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nunley said it came toward them but

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moved along an ark that would take it to

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the ball of light 50 feet down the hill

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according to him its movement was even

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and not like walking

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as it moved toward the light the

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witnesses fled during their exit their

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panic was such

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that no one bothered to open the gate

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mrs may reportedly

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cleared it in a single leap the story

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made the local papers that sunday

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and by monday the news was national it

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caught the attention of grey barker

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a man then living in nearby clarksburg

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west virginia

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who had been born and raised in braxton

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county barker was a frustrated writer

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and science fiction fan who ran a

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theater booking agency

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he contacted ray palmer publisher of

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fate magazine

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and offered to investigate and write an

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article for the magazine

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palmer accepted his offer and gave him a

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deadline the article was due the

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following monday and barker had only

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that weekend available to investigate

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when he went to braxton county kathleen

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may and eugene lemon were in new york

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city

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they had been invited to tell their

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story on the television show

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we the people the only witnesses

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available that first day were the

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remaining boys

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and barker was able to interview them on

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tape he was most impressed by nunley

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whom he described as being quote a very

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level-headed and unimaginative youngster

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end quote he was able to interview lemon

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and mrs may the following day

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the article was printed in the january

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1953 edition of fate

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and marked the beginning of barker's

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life in flying saucers

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he went on to become the chief

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investigator for the short-lived

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international flying saucer bureau link

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available in the written version of this

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blog

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founded his own publishing company and

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wrote several books on the subject

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he was a colorful and controversial

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character who was less interested in

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solving the flying saucer mystery

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than he was and using it as a source of

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creative inspiration

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he wrote about the braxton county case

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in more detail in his classic 1956 book

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they knew too much about flying saucers

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while barker was in braxton county

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he ran into another investigator ivan

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sanderson

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who was on assignment for true magazine

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and the north american newspaper

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alliance

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sanderson was a well-known cambridge

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educated naturalist

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who wrote books and articles on the

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subject during his travels he had

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developed an interest in creatures that

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were described in legend but were

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undocumented by science

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he coined the phrase cryptozoology for

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this unique field of study

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sanderson had an interest in all things

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unusual and fit the profile of a

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fourteen

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link available he and barker would

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develop a lasting friendship

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both would be regular guests on the long

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john nebbel show

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link available which was the first radio

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show to feature discussions on the

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paranormal

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sanderson's investigation was thorough

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and was described in the september 12

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1954 charleston west virginia daily mail

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according to that account he enlisted

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the aid of earl walter and bird ash

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members of the charleston chapter of the

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national speleological society

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together they made an extensive survey

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of the area interviewed five of the

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young witnesses repeatedly

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and found other area witnesses who had

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observed fireballs

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sanderson focused on the fireballs and

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determined that five

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objects had passed over the area

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traveling from northwest to southeast

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he issued a 26-page report that was

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carried by newspapers all over the

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country

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and at least one in britain sanderson

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was recorded

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link available describing his findings

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to john neville in 1953.

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during the interview sanderson described

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six objects and speculated that they

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were spaceships having trouble in a

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polluted atmosphere

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william and donna smith of downey

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california were on their way home

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when they stopped to investigate the

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story their findings were reported in

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the civilian saucer investigators winter

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1953

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quarterly bulletin number two link

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available they added significant details

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not mentioned by barker or

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sanderson according to their report the

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quote monster

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end quote emitted a mist that covered

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the may boys faces with an oily

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substance their throats later swelled to

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where they couldn't swallow

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eugene lemon was affected in a similar

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manner and still had pain

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two weeks later furthermore lemon's

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mother reported that

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at the time of quote the landing end

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quote the house shook violently and the

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radio went off for 45 minutes

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and then came on again by itself finally

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the smiths located a 21 year old woman

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who'd been confined in a clarksburg

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hospital for three weeks

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after reporting a similar encounter with

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an odiferous quote

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monster end quote a week before the

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flatwoods incident

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so where was the air force storing all

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this donald kehoe pondered that question

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in his 1953 book

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flying saucers from outer space he wrote

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that he spoke with albert m

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chop of the air force press desk at the

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pentagon according to chop the air force

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had ignored the incident

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but kehoe later heard otherwise from

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other sources

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according to them air force intelligence

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quote worked through the west virginia

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state police securing all the details

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end quote

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and followed up by sending two men who

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posed as magazine writers

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and interviewed witnesses the project

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blue book file in the case contains

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news clippings but no record of the

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investigation

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there is however an intriguing document

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that mentions soil samples from another

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case that had characteristics similar to

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those of soil from flatwoods

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it ends with the requests that quote the

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utmost priority be given to the lab

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analysis

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of subject samples end quote it seems