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[Music]

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a ufo and occupant in wheeling west

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virginia by charles lear

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on september 12 1952 a woman and six

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boys in the town of flatwoods in braxton

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county west virginia reported that

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they'd had an encounter with a landed

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ufo and a strange creature the woman mrs

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kathleen may describe the creature to a

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reporter as a fire breathing monster 10

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feet tall with a bright green body and a

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blood-red face she said the creature

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emitted an odor like metal that caused

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everyone to vomit for hours after the

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encounter she added it looked worse than

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frankenstein the witnesses all agreed

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that the figure had a red face and 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 and that around the face there was

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a dark hood-like shape that came to a

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point like the ace of spades the

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creatures become known as the flatwoods

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monster by september 15th the case was

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reported in newspapers all over the

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country it is likely that most readers

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are aware of this case but many may not

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be aware of reports from nearby wheeling

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west virginia just a couple of days

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later on september 16 1952 the wheeling

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intelligencer carried an article with

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the headline monster from outer space

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arrives here via saucer according to the

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article the phones of the willing police

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and the intelligencer were kept humming

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as anxious citizens called asking about

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a reported saucer crash and monster in

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an area near the vineyard hills housing

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project callers also asked if it was

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true that a policeman had had his arm

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badly burned and that the burned body of

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a woman had been found the only mention

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in the article of an actual report from

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the callers is that an unpleasant odor

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was produced by the monster the writer

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of the article dent williams chose to

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report the news with an emphasis on

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humor the monster is referred to as

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bashful billy because according to den

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none of the callers had actually seen

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the creature from fairyland but were

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passing on reports from people who had

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talked to people who would talk to

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people who had heard about the vineyard

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hill frankenstein dent reports that

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lieutenant murphy didn't send a

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patrolman to the area because no members

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of the department are equipped with buck

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rogers rocket guns what may be of

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interest to those familiar with the

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flatwoods case is a report from two men

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and one woman according to them they

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were near independence pennsylvania and

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were watching an airplane from

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independence airfield when a ball of

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fire zoomed over the horizon they

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described it as being very small and

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said that it had no sparks trailing

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behind it wheeling resident william

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downey is quoted as saying i've been

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watching every night since i first heard

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of flying saucers and i've never seen

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one until tonight that is

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around the time of the flatwoods

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incident there were reports of fireballs

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coming into police stations and

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newspaper offices all over the

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southeastern united states flatwoods

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investigator ivan t sanderson determined

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that there were six fireballs in total

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and speculated that they were spaceships

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that had started the malfunction over

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west virginia due to its polluted

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atmosphere

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the rumored crash and creature of

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wheeling west virginia

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might have been completely forgotten if

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not for frank fischino jr who published

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a book about the braxton county incident

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in 2012 titled the braxton county

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monster fascino includes the entire

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intelligencer article in his book along

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with an article from the september 16

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1952 fairmount times headlined

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green-eyed monster again reported loose

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in state this article is a more

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straightforward account and includes the

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police explanation that the rumors came

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from the active imaginations of citizens

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who'd read the newspaper articles about

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the incident in braxton county fischino

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speculates frequently throughout his

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book and states as fact that the

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wheeling police had actually discovered

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the burnt remains of the reported

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creature whatever the case bashful billy