1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:03,160 Speaker 1: People like to call Appalachia quiet, but locals no better. 2 00:00:03,279 --> 00:00:05,960 When the sun goes down, the mountains don't sleep. They 3 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:30,440 watch Follow Me down the rabbit Hole about the Appalachian Mountains. Hello, friends, 4 00:00:30,440 --> 00:00:32,560 and welcome back to the rabbit Hole. I'm your host, Danny, 5 00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:35,079 and today we are talking about the cryptids in the 6 00:00:35,119 --> 00:00:39,880 Appalachian Mountains. Because I got this cute little doll. I 7 00:00:39,880 --> 00:00:41,759 guess I wouldn't call it cute, and I probably wouldn't 8 00:00:41,759 --> 00:00:44,240 call it a doll either, this little figurine of the 9 00:00:44,240 --> 00:00:47,240 flat Woods Monster, and so it kind of sent me 10 00:00:47,399 --> 00:00:52,359 down this rabbit hole about cryptids in the Appalachian Mountains. 11 00:00:52,600 --> 00:00:55,200 I started in West Virginia. Some of them branch out, 12 00:00:55,240 --> 00:00:57,640 but actually most of them are in West Virginia, So 13 00:00:57,640 --> 00:00:59,079 I don't know what's going on there. But if you 14 00:00:59,159 --> 00:01:01,640 live in West Virginia, could you send me some folklore 15 00:01:01,759 --> 00:01:07,599 like what's happening there. But thank you Dan and Lawnes, Kristin, Gabrielle, 16 00:01:07,920 --> 00:01:11,840 Dolores Silas and Todd for requesting this episode. And Todd, 17 00:01:11,879 --> 00:01:15,000 thank you for sending me the flat Woods Monster figurine. 18 00:01:15,040 --> 00:01:17,519 I appreciate that. And of course, before we get started, 19 00:01:17,560 --> 00:01:19,879 I love to think our sponsors. So thank you Wise 20 00:01:19,879 --> 00:01:22,359 with Gold for sponsoring my podcast. Guys, if you want 21 00:01:22,359 --> 00:01:24,400 gold and silver delivered straight to your front door for 22 00:01:24,480 --> 00:01:26,640 as little as fifty dollars a month, you can go 23 00:01:26,680 --> 00:01:29,799 to rabbit Hole dot gold right now. That helps them 24 00:01:29,879 --> 00:01:32,200 know that you're shopping with me with my podcast, and 25 00:01:32,239 --> 00:01:33,959 it really helps us support us over here at the 26 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:37,799 rabbit Hole. So we really appreciate that. The Appalachian Mountains 27 00:01:37,840 --> 00:01:41,480 are older than bones, older than trees, older than memory itself. 28 00:01:41,680 --> 00:01:44,519 They stretch from Alabama to Canada like a scar across 29 00:01:44,560 --> 00:01:49,640 the continent, eroded, hollowed, and riddled with caves, mines, tunnels 30 00:01:49,680 --> 00:01:52,560 that run deeper than maps can even follow. We're not 31 00:01:52,640 --> 00:01:55,920 talking about just one cryptid. We're talking about a whole 32 00:01:56,280 --> 00:02:00,519 pattern of cryptids, a cluster of encounters spanning century where 33 00:02:00,519 --> 00:02:04,799 people report creatures that don't fit biology, folklore, or logic. 34 00:02:05,120 --> 00:02:09,639 Some are ancient, some arrive suddenly, some seem to follow disaster, 35 00:02:10,199 --> 00:02:14,000 and almost all of them are still being seen. The 36 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:17,039 most well known of these cryptids is Mothman. On November twelfth, 37 00:02:17,080 --> 00:02:20,360 nineteen sixty six, near Clinton and West Virginia, five men 38 00:02:20,400 --> 00:02:23,080 were in the local cemetery preparing a grave for a burial. 39 00:02:23,400 --> 00:02:25,840 They looked up and saw something that looked like a 40 00:02:26,039 --> 00:02:31,039 brown human being lifting off from some nearby trees, and 41 00:02:31,080 --> 00:02:33,319 then it kind of like flew over their heads and 42 00:02:33,479 --> 00:02:36,599 was gone. They said it didn't appear to be a bird, 43 00:02:36,840 --> 00:02:40,240 more like a man with wings. And then three days later, 44 00:02:40,280 --> 00:02:43,560 on November fifteenth, nineteen sixty six, the most infamous sighting 45 00:02:43,560 --> 00:02:47,479 occurred near Point Pleasant, West Virginia. Two young couples, Roger 46 00:02:47,520 --> 00:02:53,120 and Linda Scarberry and Steven Mary Malette, reported this like 47 00:02:53,319 --> 00:02:58,280 large black creature whose eyes were glowing red, standing at 48 00:02:58,319 --> 00:03:01,439 the side of the road near the area. So the 49 00:03:01,479 --> 00:03:04,400 TNT area was actually the site of a former World 50 00:03:04,400 --> 00:03:08,120 War two munition's plant, and it's very important for this story. 51 00:03:08,599 --> 00:03:12,000 They described this creature as being quote shaped like a man, 52 00:03:12,120 --> 00:03:14,560 but bigger, maybe six or seven feet tall, and it 53 00:03:14,599 --> 00:03:18,159 had big wings folded against its back end. Quote. However, 54 00:03:18,240 --> 00:03:20,759 they were unable to discern its face due to the 55 00:03:20,840 --> 00:03:24,360 hypnotic effect of its eyes. In fact, the creature's eyes 56 00:03:24,400 --> 00:03:27,280 didn't seem to be on its head because it didn't 57 00:03:27,280 --> 00:03:29,159 seem to have a head at all, and it didn't 58 00:03:29,199 --> 00:03:32,400 have a neck. It just seemed like the eyes were 59 00:03:32,439 --> 00:03:37,240 like in its chest. Freaked out by the creature's movements 60 00:03:37,319 --> 00:03:40,080 because it was moving toward the door of the TNT plant, 61 00:03:40,360 --> 00:03:42,479 the group sped away from the scene. They were like, 62 00:03:42,520 --> 00:03:44,919 we gotta get out of here. Then they watched as 63 00:03:44,960 --> 00:03:47,400 the creature spread its wings and rose into the air 64 00:03:47,439 --> 00:03:50,639 to follow the car. The creature kept up with them 65 00:03:50,879 --> 00:03:53,400 while they were going upwards of one hundred miles an hour, 66 00:03:53,599 --> 00:03:56,159 screeching all along the way. When they got to the 67 00:03:56,199 --> 00:03:59,919 city limits of Point Pleasant, the creature just stopped and disappeared. 68 00:04:00,479 --> 00:04:02,240 And they weren't the only ones to see the creature 69 00:04:02,240 --> 00:04:05,199 that night. Another group of four also witnessed this quote 70 00:04:05,280 --> 00:04:10,080 unquote bird three different times that same night. After the 71 00:04:10,080 --> 00:04:13,120 reports of this made the local newspaper, more people came 72 00:04:13,240 --> 00:04:17,480 forward with similar sightings. Two volunteer firemen reportedly saw a 73 00:04:17,600 --> 00:04:23,480 large bird with red eyes. A contractor, Noelle Partridge, reported 74 00:04:23,519 --> 00:04:26,480 that he was watching TV when the screen suddenly went 75 00:04:26,759 --> 00:04:30,759 dark and then this weird pattern filled the screen and 76 00:04:31,439 --> 00:04:34,680 he heard a loud whining sound outside. He described it 77 00:04:34,720 --> 00:04:38,360 like a generator winding up. His dog also started to 78 00:04:38,360 --> 00:04:40,199 like howl from the front porch, so he was like, 79 00:04:40,199 --> 00:04:42,639 I should go out and see what my dog's howling at. Like, obviously, 80 00:04:42,639 --> 00:04:45,240 something weird is happening. So he pointed his flashlight in 81 00:04:45,279 --> 00:04:48,199 the direction of where his dog was howling, and he 82 00:04:48,240 --> 00:04:50,920 saw these two red circles that looked like eyes or 83 00:04:50,920 --> 00:04:54,360 maybe like bicycle reflectors. Either way, he knew they weren't 84 00:04:54,360 --> 00:04:57,639 animal eyes, and he was freaked out, but his dog 85 00:04:57,839 --> 00:05:00,439 chased after this thing with the eyes. He went back 86 00:05:00,480 --> 00:05:03,040 inside to get his gun to chase after his dog, 87 00:05:03,199 --> 00:05:05,199 but decided that he was just way too scared. He 88 00:05:05,240 --> 00:05:07,879 wasn't going after his dog. His dog would probably come back, 89 00:05:08,240 --> 00:05:11,759 except the dog never did. And all this happened on 90 00:05:11,759 --> 00:05:13,759 the same night as the other sighting is November twelfth. 91 00:05:14,560 --> 00:05:17,560 The next day, on November sixteenth, Ralph Thomas and his 92 00:05:17,600 --> 00:05:20,079 family spotted a funny red light and the sky that 93 00:05:20,199 --> 00:05:23,759 moved and hovered above the t and tea plant. A 94 00:05:23,800 --> 00:05:26,959 friend of the family, Marcella Bennett, said, quote it wasn't 95 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:29,199 an airplane and they couldn't figure out what it was 96 00:05:29,399 --> 00:05:32,160 end quote. So she drove to the Thomas household with 97 00:05:32,279 --> 00:05:34,519 her baby in the back seat, and as she was 98 00:05:34,519 --> 00:05:35,959 getting out of the car. She was getting her baby 99 00:05:35,959 --> 00:05:39,079 out of the car, this figure appeared near her car. 100 00:05:39,279 --> 00:05:41,680 She said, quote it seemed as though it had been 101 00:05:41,759 --> 00:05:44,240 lying down. It rose up slowly from the ground, a 102 00:05:44,279 --> 00:05:47,519 big gray thing, bigger than a man, with terrible glowing eyes. 103 00:05:47,639 --> 00:05:51,439 End quote. This creature scared Marcella so badly that she 104 00:05:51,560 --> 00:05:55,319 actually dropped her baby. She quickly recovered. She grabbed her 105 00:05:55,319 --> 00:05:57,439 baby off the ground and then like ran inside into 106 00:05:57,480 --> 00:06:00,160 the Thomas household because she was freaked out out and 107 00:06:00,199 --> 00:06:03,000 obviously the whole Thomas Stanley's like watching this encounter from 108 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:05,120 inside the house, so they're freaked out too. As soon 109 00:06:05,160 --> 00:06:06,959 as she gets in the house, they locked the doors, 110 00:06:07,800 --> 00:06:10,279 They called the police, and mothman had vanished by the 111 00:06:10,279 --> 00:06:14,639 time the authorities had arrived. Marcella really didn't recover from 112 00:06:14,639 --> 00:06:18,000 this event for months. She was so distraught that she 113 00:06:18,199 --> 00:06:21,360 sought medical attention at the time. They didn't diagnose her 114 00:06:21,439 --> 00:06:23,800 with it, but I think that she probably had PTSD 115 00:06:23,879 --> 00:06:26,319 because of the memories and anxieties that haunted her from 116 00:06:26,319 --> 00:06:29,439 that night on. She even swears that the creature visited 117 00:06:29,480 --> 00:06:33,720 her own home on other occasions outside of this one occasion, 118 00:06:34,279 --> 00:06:37,000 because it sounded as if like there was this woman 119 00:06:37,040 --> 00:06:39,439 screaming outside of her house every now and then, like 120 00:06:39,639 --> 00:06:42,360 just like weird sounds were happening, and it freaked her out. 121 00:06:43,240 --> 00:06:47,959 But again that could be the PTSD trying to explain 122 00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:50,959 it away. And because of one of the original four's 123 00:06:51,240 --> 00:06:54,600 descriptions of this creature, they literally called it a bird. 124 00:06:54,959 --> 00:06:58,680 A Mason County Sheriff George Johnson believed that the sightings 125 00:06:58,680 --> 00:07:01,680 were just this like large green heron, So I looked 126 00:07:01,720 --> 00:07:05,240 up a green heron, and green herons, compared to other herons, 127 00:07:05,439 --> 00:07:08,680 are short and stocky, with relatively short legs and thick necks. 128 00:07:09,199 --> 00:07:12,240 This thing didn't really have a neck, but the way 129 00:07:12,279 --> 00:07:14,920 that the heron kind of holds its head, it holds 130 00:07:14,959 --> 00:07:17,120 its head really close to its body, as if it 131 00:07:17,160 --> 00:07:20,639 doesn't have a neck, And because it holds its head 132 00:07:20,680 --> 00:07:22,399 in a certain way, maybe you couldn't tell that it 133 00:07:22,439 --> 00:07:24,040 has a head. Maybe it just looks like it's all 134 00:07:24,079 --> 00:07:26,759 just part of one body. But they're also only like 135 00:07:27,199 --> 00:07:30,079 sixteen to eighteen inches in length, and they have yellow eyes, 136 00:07:30,199 --> 00:07:33,399 not red eyes. They don't fit the description of being 137 00:07:33,439 --> 00:07:37,199 this like seven foot tall thing with glowing red eyes. 138 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:41,040 Plus green herons can only fly up to thirty miles 139 00:07:41,079 --> 00:07:42,600 an hour, so it would not have been able to 140 00:07:42,680 --> 00:07:45,519 keep up with the car going one hundred miles an hour. 141 00:07:45,839 --> 00:07:49,519 A wildlife biologist from West Virginia University, Robert L. Smith, 142 00:07:49,600 --> 00:07:52,560 told reporters that the descriptions sounded more like a sand 143 00:07:52,600 --> 00:07:55,839 hill crane. This is a bit more plausible because a 144 00:07:55,879 --> 00:07:58,759 crane stands almost like four feet high, and it has 145 00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:01,439 a wingspan of six and a half feet, and they 146 00:08:01,439 --> 00:08:04,399 do have red eyes. But typically they only fly somewhere 147 00:08:04,399 --> 00:08:06,560 between like twenty five and thirty five miles an hour. 148 00:08:06,839 --> 00:08:08,959 They can get up to fifty miles an hour with 149 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:11,879 the right tailwind. But it just doesn't make a whole 150 00:08:11,920 --> 00:08:14,959 lot of sense still because everyone describes the saying as 151 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:18,040 being like six to seven feet tall, like bigger than 152 00:08:18,040 --> 00:08:21,480 the average man, with a huge wingspan, and that's making 153 00:08:21,519 --> 00:08:25,000 weird noises. Smith says that the bird could have wandered 154 00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:27,879 out of its natural migration pattern and then ended up 155 00:08:27,959 --> 00:08:30,839 in Point Pleasant, and because it's not a common bird 156 00:08:30,879 --> 00:08:33,080 that everyone would see all the time in that area, 157 00:08:33,159 --> 00:08:37,120 maybe that kind of adds to it. But the bird 158 00:08:37,120 --> 00:08:39,120 would have left eventually, right like, it wouldn't have just 159 00:08:39,159 --> 00:08:41,879 hung out for days. It would have eventually left on 160 00:08:41,919 --> 00:08:45,320 its migration pattern going back to wherever it's supposed to be, like, 161 00:08:45,360 --> 00:08:48,559 why would it have stayed for so long? The press 162 00:08:48,600 --> 00:08:51,279 dubbed the flying creature Mothman, after the character from the 163 00:08:51,320 --> 00:08:54,879 popular Batman television series of the day. It was believed 164 00:08:54,879 --> 00:08:57,240 that Mothman was living in the old T and T plant, 165 00:08:57,279 --> 00:09:00,320 which is why the original foresaw him heading toward that door. 166 00:09:00,480 --> 00:09:02,919 Why so many people kind of saw him in the 167 00:09:02,960 --> 00:09:06,480 same area, And this would also be a great place 168 00:09:06,519 --> 00:09:09,440 to hide because of the several hundred acres of woods 169 00:09:09,440 --> 00:09:12,639 in large concrete domes that surrounded it. There is also 170 00:09:12,679 --> 00:09:14,840 a network of tunnels in the area that made it 171 00:09:14,919 --> 00:09:19,159 possible for the creature to move around underground without being seen. 172 00:09:19,679 --> 00:09:22,759 Because of Mothman, along with other UFO sidings and the 173 00:09:22,799 --> 00:09:25,639 fact that men in black were visiting the area, after 174 00:09:25,720 --> 00:09:28,159 some of these events, people started to believe that it 175 00:09:28,200 --> 00:09:31,480 was all related. This brought a lot of attention to 176 00:09:31,519 --> 00:09:35,360 the area, with researchers, investigators, and monster hutters all flocking 177 00:09:35,399 --> 00:09:40,080 to see if they could capture Mothman or at least 178 00:09:40,279 --> 00:09:43,240 get a glimpse of him. Author John Neil was one 179 00:09:43,240 --> 00:09:46,279 of the most famous authors to write about Mothman. He 180 00:09:46,320 --> 00:09:49,679 said he doesn't believe that Mothman is an extraterrestrial. He 181 00:09:49,759 --> 00:09:53,320 thinks we have been having encounters with the supernatural first 182 00:09:53,360 --> 00:09:57,080 centuries and Mothman is just another one along the lines 183 00:09:57,639 --> 00:09:59,960 of like an elder god that comes in the full 184 00:10:00,279 --> 00:10:04,440 of UFO aliens, monsters, demons, angels, and even ghosts. However, 185 00:10:05,039 --> 00:10:09,159 the origins of Mothman may have been found two centuries 186 00:10:09,200 --> 00:10:14,360 before these incidents with the Cornstock curse. Chief Cornstock was 187 00:10:14,399 --> 00:10:18,039 a prominent Shawnee leader in the Ohio Country during the 188 00:10:18,080 --> 00:10:21,639 seventeen sixties and the seventeen seventies. He is known for 189 00:10:21,720 --> 00:10:25,440 his role in defending Shawnee lands against colonial expansion. He 190 00:10:25,559 --> 00:10:29,759 led forces in Lord Dunmore's War, including the Battle of 191 00:10:29,799 --> 00:10:34,639 Point Pleasant. He was defeated, but advocated for peace afterwards. 192 00:10:34,840 --> 00:10:38,159 He wanted his tribe to stay neutral in the Revolutionary War. 193 00:10:38,200 --> 00:10:41,120 He was not choosing sides, and in seventeen seventy seven 194 00:10:41,200 --> 00:10:46,120 he visited Fort Randolph to negotiate with American authorities, but 195 00:10:46,840 --> 00:10:51,039 was imprisoned by the fort's commander instead. After a militia 196 00:10:51,080 --> 00:10:53,840 man was killed near the fort, which they blamed on 197 00:10:54,279 --> 00:10:58,080 the Shawnee people. Chief Cornstock and three others were murdered 198 00:10:58,120 --> 00:11:02,279 by angry soldiers despite being promised safe conduct while they 199 00:11:02,279 --> 00:11:05,080 were being held at the fort. He was shot eight 200 00:11:05,159 --> 00:11:07,480 times before he fell on the floor, and as he 201 00:11:07,559 --> 00:11:10,519 lay there dying in this smoke field room, he was 202 00:11:10,559 --> 00:11:13,320 said to have pronounced his curse. He looked up to 203 00:11:13,320 --> 00:11:16,440 his assassins and spoke to them, saying, quote, I was 204 00:11:16,480 --> 00:11:19,120 the border Man's friend many times. I have saved him 205 00:11:19,120 --> 00:11:21,799 and his people from harm. I never warred with you, 206 00:11:22,159 --> 00:11:25,360 but only to protect our wigwims and lands. I refuse 207 00:11:25,480 --> 00:11:28,679 to join your pale face enemies with the red coats. 208 00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:31,600 I came to the fort as your friend, and you 209 00:11:31,720 --> 00:11:35,480 murdered me. You have murdered by my side, my young son, 210 00:11:35,559 --> 00:11:37,559 because his son was also at the fort with him. 211 00:11:37,879 --> 00:11:40,360 For this, may the curse of the Great Spirit rest 212 00:11:40,440 --> 00:11:43,159 upon this land. May it be blighted by nature, May 213 00:11:43,200 --> 00:11:46,320 it even be blighted in its hopes. May strength of 214 00:11:46,360 --> 00:11:49,279 its peoples be paralyzed by the stain of our blood 215 00:11:49,399 --> 00:11:52,440 end quote and legend has it. As soon as he 216 00:11:52,519 --> 00:11:56,120 finished speaking these words, he died. The other natives he 217 00:11:56,240 --> 00:11:59,440 was with were tossed into the river, but Chief Cornstock 218 00:11:59,559 --> 00:12:03,639 was actually buried near the fort on Point Pleasant, and 219 00:12:03,679 --> 00:12:05,679 he stayed there for decades while the town was built 220 00:12:05,759 --> 00:12:09,240 up around him where the old fort once stood, until 221 00:12:09,360 --> 00:12:12,000 eighteen forty when they dug up his remains and then 222 00:12:12,080 --> 00:12:15,519 moved him. After moving his remains a couple of times 223 00:12:15,600 --> 00:12:19,399 because they moved him twice after the original burial, they 224 00:12:19,440 --> 00:12:22,919 placed a grave for him in the two Indie Way Park. 225 00:12:23,879 --> 00:12:27,679 This isn't the only monument made for Chief Cornstock. Another 226 00:12:27,759 --> 00:12:31,519 monument that stands eighty six feet tall, was dedicated in 227 00:12:31,559 --> 00:12:34,840 August of nineteen oh nine. It was a month behind schedule, actually, 228 00:12:34,879 --> 00:12:38,000 because the night before the original dedication ceremony in July, 229 00:12:38,639 --> 00:12:41,240 there was like a beautiful clear sky. Then all of 230 00:12:41,279 --> 00:12:44,360 a sudden, lightning erupted and struck the upper part of 231 00:12:44,360 --> 00:12:46,480 the crane that was supposed to put the final piece 232 00:12:46,519 --> 00:12:49,240 of the monument in place the next day during the dedication, 233 00:12:49,600 --> 00:12:51,559 they had to wait for the crane to be completely 234 00:12:51,559 --> 00:12:55,840 repaired before they could actually dedicate the monument. The day 235 00:12:55,960 --> 00:12:59,480 it was finally dedicated, another bolt of lightning struck the monument, 236 00:12:59,639 --> 00:13:03,399 damn the capstone and some granite blocks. Many believe that 237 00:13:03,440 --> 00:13:07,039 the lightning was vengeance tied to the curse and I mean, 238 00:13:07,519 --> 00:13:10,360 the southeastern corner of Ohio and the surrounding area of 239 00:13:10,399 --> 00:13:14,639 West Virginia are considered to be extremely haunted, even though 240 00:13:14,720 --> 00:13:18,240 Native Americans regarded this land as a quote haunted spot, 241 00:13:18,440 --> 00:13:23,399 plagued with ghost lights, phantoms, and strange creatures, Mothman being 242 00:13:23,440 --> 00:13:26,639 one of them. Many tragedies and disasters were blamed on 243 00:13:26,720 --> 00:13:29,399 the curse. The nineteen oh seven coal mine disaster that 244 00:13:29,440 --> 00:13:33,399 happened in Manonga, West Virginia. It was actually the worst 245 00:13:33,440 --> 00:13:36,120 coal mine disaster in American history, with three hundred and 246 00:13:36,159 --> 00:13:39,879 ten miners being killed, and the nineteen forty four tornado 247 00:13:39,879 --> 00:13:41,840 that killed one hundred and fifty people in the area, 248 00:13:41,879 --> 00:13:44,720 and so many more disasters. It seems like anytime there's 249 00:13:44,799 --> 00:13:47,320 like a natural disaster or just like any sort of disaster, 250 00:13:47,600 --> 00:13:50,840 they blame it on this curse. Well, after a year 251 00:13:50,879 --> 00:13:54,399 of torment and reports of Mothman sightings, everything seemed to 252 00:13:54,440 --> 00:13:56,799 come to an end with the collapse of the Silver Bridge, 253 00:13:57,000 --> 00:13:59,080 which is also blamed on the curse, but also kind 254 00:13:59,120 --> 00:14:01,440 of blamed on Mothma a little bit so. On December 255 00:14:01,440 --> 00:14:05,279 fifteenth of nineteen sixty seven, just over a year after 256 00:14:05,279 --> 00:14:08,879 the first reported sidings of Mothman. Around five pm, a 257 00:14:08,960 --> 00:14:12,320 seven foot bridge linking point Pleasant to Ohio, crossing the 258 00:14:12,320 --> 00:14:16,919 Ohio River collapsed. Unfortunately, this was at the height of 259 00:14:17,000 --> 00:14:19,879 rush hour, so dozens of vehicles were dropped into the 260 00:14:19,960 --> 00:14:23,879 river and forty six people were killed. Now, some people 261 00:14:23,919 --> 00:14:27,879 blame this tragedy on the Cornstock curse, while others think 262 00:14:28,039 --> 00:14:31,759 maybe Mothman was an omen trying to warn them that 263 00:14:31,840 --> 00:14:35,919 something might happen, because after the bridge collapsed, the sidings 264 00:14:35,960 --> 00:14:39,320 completely stopped. But what was really odd about the bridge 265 00:14:39,320 --> 00:14:41,840 collapse is that the family that lived near the T 266 00:14:41,960 --> 00:14:44,279 and T plant, which, by the way, it was like 267 00:14:44,360 --> 00:14:46,480 really desolate out there. It wasn't like a lot of 268 00:14:46,480 --> 00:14:49,000 people lived near the TNT plant. It was kind of 269 00:14:49,000 --> 00:14:50,879 in the middle of nowhere. So there was a family 270 00:14:50,879 --> 00:14:55,000 that lived near and they had seen more than twelve 271 00:14:55,080 --> 00:14:58,120 eerie lights that flashed above their home and vanished into 272 00:14:58,159 --> 00:15:01,600 the forest at the same time as the bridge was collapsing. 273 00:15:01,960 --> 00:15:05,320 And then a strange looking guy who was short, dark skinned, 274 00:15:05,519 --> 00:15:08,279 vaguely oriental, and dressed in a black suit and tie 275 00:15:08,559 --> 00:15:10,799 showed up at the office of a local reporter asking 276 00:15:10,840 --> 00:15:13,679 her questions about the incident, and kind of like all 277 00:15:13,759 --> 00:15:16,440 the UFO sidings in the area. So she was super 278 00:15:16,440 --> 00:15:19,399 busy at the time, right because this bridge had just collapsed. 279 00:15:19,759 --> 00:15:23,200 She's trying to deal with national reporters coming in, and 280 00:15:23,240 --> 00:15:25,639 she's like the local liaison for all these people. She 281 00:15:25,679 --> 00:15:28,600 didn't really have time for some guy who had no 282 00:15:28,759 --> 00:15:32,440 credentials to wander into her office asking her about all 283 00:15:32,519 --> 00:15:34,600 the UFO sidings in the area. So she just like 284 00:15:34,679 --> 00:15:37,159 handed him as file folder full of like all the 285 00:15:37,200 --> 00:15:40,519 clippings from all the sightings that people had reported. Was 286 00:15:40,559 --> 00:15:42,240 like here you go, my guy, Like, I don't really 287 00:15:42,320 --> 00:15:44,240 know what to do. I can't help you right now. 288 00:15:44,360 --> 00:15:45,960 But he was pissed. He was like, no, I want 289 00:15:46,039 --> 00:15:49,279 to talk to you about what you know about all 290 00:15:49,320 --> 00:15:53,600 these UFO sidings. Well, she just kind of sent him 291 00:15:53,600 --> 00:15:57,559 on his way. So he started going to all the 292 00:15:57,600 --> 00:16:01,360 people's houses, like all the people that had reported something 293 00:16:01,399 --> 00:16:03,759 about a UFO. He started visiting them and asking them 294 00:16:03,799 --> 00:16:06,799 like very specific questions. But this man made people feel 295 00:16:06,879 --> 00:16:09,919 super uneasy and uncomfortable. He claimed to be a reporter 296 00:16:09,960 --> 00:16:15,000 from Ohio, like specifically like this tiny little town right 297 00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:17,200 outside of Columbus, Ohio. But then when people would talk 298 00:16:17,240 --> 00:16:18,960 to him about Columbus. He's like, oh, I don't know 299 00:16:18,960 --> 00:16:22,440 where that is, which Columbus is one of the biggest 300 00:16:22,480 --> 00:16:26,639 cities in Ohio. So and for you to say that 301 00:16:26,720 --> 00:16:29,240 you lived in this tiny little town just miles away 302 00:16:29,279 --> 00:16:34,200 from Columbus, you're lying. There's no way. But as with 303 00:16:34,279 --> 00:16:38,279 everything they tried to explain away Mothman, the favorite excuse 304 00:16:38,360 --> 00:16:40,679 was that it was an owl and not a creature. 305 00:16:40,799 --> 00:16:43,519 But the size again just doesn't add up. And it 306 00:16:43,559 --> 00:16:46,440 wasn't just Mothman that was being seen. There was also 307 00:16:46,600 --> 00:16:51,000 poultrygeist reports, UFO sidings and strange lights and sounds happening 308 00:16:51,039 --> 00:16:54,440 all throughout the same time. And what's up with this? 309 00:16:54,519 --> 00:16:57,480 Like man in black showing up and asking all these questions, 310 00:16:57,519 --> 00:17:01,399 like something is important about all these things. Mothman has 311 00:17:01,480 --> 00:17:03,919 left such an impact on the community that they still 312 00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:06,599 have a festival in his honor every single year. They 313 00:17:06,640 --> 00:17:11,559 also have a museum in Point Pleasant dedicated to Mothman. Next, 314 00:17:11,599 --> 00:17:15,880 we have the Flatwoods Monster. At seven to fifteen pm 315 00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:20,119 on September twelfth, nineteen fifty two, brothers Edward and Fred May, 316 00:17:20,240 --> 00:17:24,119 along with their friends Neil Nunley and Tommy Hier, were 317 00:17:24,240 --> 00:17:27,680 playing in the lawn of the flat Woods Elementary School. Suddenly, 318 00:17:27,799 --> 00:17:30,720 a bright object crossed the sky and crashed into a 319 00:17:30,839 --> 00:17:34,039 hill on the property of a local farmer, ge Bailey Fisher. 320 00:17:34,200 --> 00:17:35,960 The boys were only twelve and thirteen years old at 321 00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:38,599 the time, and curiosity got the better of them, as 322 00:17:38,960 --> 00:17:41,359 would happen with little boys, so they decided to go 323 00:17:41,480 --> 00:17:43,759 check it out. Well. On their way to the crash 324 00:17:43,799 --> 00:17:46,400 site just happened to be the may household, so like 325 00:17:46,880 --> 00:17:50,559 Edward and Fred's house, so they went in. They told 326 00:17:50,599 --> 00:17:52,599 their mom, like, hey, we just saw this crazy thing. 327 00:17:52,720 --> 00:17:56,079 Their mom, Kathleen, was like, mm, you're not going by yourself, 328 00:17:56,160 --> 00:17:59,079 let me come with you. So Kathleen decided to accompany 329 00:17:59,079 --> 00:18:01,240 the boys, but she all wasn't gonna go alone either, 330 00:18:01,599 --> 00:18:03,799 so she called her cousin, who happened to be a 331 00:18:03,839 --> 00:18:07,519 West Virginia National guardsman, Eugene Lemon. They also took their 332 00:18:07,559 --> 00:18:10,720 dog Richie with them like for good measure. When they 333 00:18:10,720 --> 00:18:13,119 got to the hill, they saw a pulsing red light 334 00:18:13,359 --> 00:18:16,680 and Eugene then shined his flashlight up the hill to 335 00:18:16,759 --> 00:18:20,799 see what they could find, and what they saw was terrifying. 336 00:18:21,559 --> 00:18:24,119 They saw a ten foot tall creature with a head 337 00:18:24,119 --> 00:18:27,200 shaped like a spade. It was wearing what appeared to 338 00:18:27,319 --> 00:18:30,759 be a dark metal dress, and this creature's hands were 339 00:18:30,799 --> 00:18:33,519 twisted and clawed, and it seemed to have eyes that 340 00:18:33,559 --> 00:18:38,680 glowed an eerie orange yellow color. This creature didn't walk, instead, 341 00:18:38,680 --> 00:18:43,000 it actually levitated off the ground and this strange, sickening 342 00:18:43,200 --> 00:18:46,400 mist just hung in the air. It did not smell good. 343 00:18:47,440 --> 00:18:50,359 Upon seeing the group, the creature hissed and glided quickly 344 00:18:50,359 --> 00:18:53,160 toward the witnesses, and with that the group was like, nope, 345 00:18:53,480 --> 00:18:55,960 we are out of here. Some of the members of 346 00:18:56,000 --> 00:18:59,960 the group actually suffered from throat irritation, vomiting a nausea, 347 00:19:00,160 --> 00:19:03,720 which persisted for days after the sighting. The incident was 348 00:19:03,759 --> 00:19:07,480 reported to local authorities as usual, and they went out 349 00:19:07,599 --> 00:19:12,039 that same night allegedly to search for whatever the group 350 00:19:12,119 --> 00:19:15,640 had seen, but claimed to have found nothing, literally nothing. 351 00:19:15,839 --> 00:19:18,160 They didn't see anything, they didn't hear anything, they didn't 352 00:19:18,160 --> 00:19:22,279 even smell anything. The next day, a local reporter went 353 00:19:22,319 --> 00:19:24,519 out to the site and claimed to have found skid 354 00:19:24,559 --> 00:19:28,680 marks in the field and a quote old gummy deposit, 355 00:19:29,079 --> 00:19:33,599 which were attributed to a flying saucer by local UFO enthusiasts, 356 00:19:33,759 --> 00:19:36,680 not necessarily by that reporter. Remember that this is all 357 00:19:36,720 --> 00:19:39,279 happening like five years after the Roswell incident, and the 358 00:19:39,279 --> 00:19:42,799 idea of UFOs had kind of been floating around and 359 00:19:42,839 --> 00:19:47,160 being talked about by so many people. UFO enthusiasts were rampant. 360 00:19:47,240 --> 00:19:50,599 Everybody wanted to see one. So locals thinking it was 361 00:19:50,640 --> 00:19:52,839 a UFO was like this huge deal. They're like, we 362 00:19:52,880 --> 00:19:57,000 have a UFO now. This creature sighting sparked national news, 363 00:19:57,079 --> 00:20:01,000 as it would after Roswell. It was in the newspapers 364 00:20:01,039 --> 00:20:04,880 across the country and on radio broadcasts on large networks. Reportedly, 365 00:20:05,039 --> 00:20:07,440 hundreds of phone calls were received from all parts of 366 00:20:07,480 --> 00:20:10,319 the country, and this story was ranked at number eleven 367 00:20:10,599 --> 00:20:13,759 of the year. People from all over came to question 368 00:20:13,839 --> 00:20:16,640 the may family, a minister from Brooklyn, a special reporter 369 00:20:16,680 --> 00:20:20,839 from Pittsburgh, and UFO writers came to the area to investigate. Eventually, 370 00:20:21,079 --> 00:20:24,279 the light was dismissed as an airplane and the creature 371 00:20:24,480 --> 00:20:28,359 was dismissed as an owl sighting. But that just doesn't 372 00:20:28,400 --> 00:20:31,799 make any sense. Have you ever seen a ten foot 373 00:20:31,839 --> 00:20:36,480 owl ever? Besides like statues like the one at Bohemian Grove, 374 00:20:36,519 --> 00:20:39,119 which we won't get into, I don't know, like maybe 375 00:20:39,160 --> 00:20:42,039 you can dismiss the other attributes to an owl, like 376 00:20:42,079 --> 00:20:46,240 the eyes and the gliding, but not the size, and 377 00:20:46,400 --> 00:20:50,200 that doesn't explain the weird missed smell and the symptoms 378 00:20:50,240 --> 00:20:53,480 the group was having. And of course these symptoms were 379 00:20:53,559 --> 00:20:57,079 just said to be like a side effective hysteria. But 380 00:20:57,640 --> 00:21:00,759 you know what else can cause these type of symptoms. 381 00:21:01,559 --> 00:21:07,559 Mustard gas. Mustard gas is technically a viscous, oily liquid, 382 00:21:07,799 --> 00:21:10,960 not a gas, but when it's dispersed, it disperses like 383 00:21:11,000 --> 00:21:14,359 this fine mist of liquid droplets. That way, it can 384 00:21:14,400 --> 00:21:17,960 remain airborne for hours, but it's heavier than air, so 385 00:21:18,039 --> 00:21:22,319 eventually it settles. It can smell like garlic onion mustard, 386 00:21:22,559 --> 00:21:25,880 or have no smell at all. Although not directly reported, 387 00:21:26,039 --> 00:21:29,039 I'm sure it can also probably smell like sulfur because 388 00:21:29,559 --> 00:21:35,519 it's actually a sulfur chemical, and its symptoms include nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, ie, irritation, 389 00:21:35,680 --> 00:21:40,440 swelling or pain, difficulty breathing, coughing, shortness of breath, hoarseness, 390 00:21:40,440 --> 00:21:43,200 and so on. The Symptoms of the gas actually depend 391 00:21:43,240 --> 00:21:45,480 on how long a person is exposed to it, and 392 00:21:45,519 --> 00:21:47,839 because this group was only exposed for a short time, 393 00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:51,920 that could account for their few symptoms. But the mustard 394 00:21:51,920 --> 00:21:54,920 gas theory doesn't really add up either, because the police 395 00:21:54,920 --> 00:21:57,319 went out to investigate the site that same night and 396 00:21:57,400 --> 00:22:00,799 smelled nothing. If it was mustard gas, it would have 397 00:22:00,880 --> 00:22:04,599 still smelled like something, probably, or at least they probably 398 00:22:04,599 --> 00:22:06,400 would have slipped on it, because it's supposed to be 399 00:22:06,440 --> 00:22:08,880 this oily liquid and once it settles on the ground, 400 00:22:08,920 --> 00:22:11,160 wouldn't it have made the ground slick? Even if the 401 00:22:11,160 --> 00:22:13,640 ground is grass, it would have made the grass slick. 402 00:22:14,279 --> 00:22:16,119 And the police were like, no, we didn't see anything, 403 00:22:16,400 --> 00:22:21,240 nothing out of the ordinary. That is, if the police 404 00:22:21,359 --> 00:22:26,000 actually went to investigate that night and I couldn't find 405 00:22:26,039 --> 00:22:27,400 if they did or if they didn't, I don't want 406 00:22:27,400 --> 00:22:29,480 to say that they don't not try to call them liars. 407 00:22:29,960 --> 00:22:32,680 But that's not to say that it was even mustard gas. 408 00:22:33,559 --> 00:22:36,240 The creature was drawn by Kathleen May. There's how we 409 00:22:36,279 --> 00:22:39,440 get this depiction of it today. But this siding wasn't 410 00:22:39,440 --> 00:22:42,400 the first siding of this monster. Not long before the 411 00:22:42,400 --> 00:22:45,400 most famous siding of the monster, a woman named Audra 412 00:22:45,720 --> 00:22:49,640 Harper reportedly saw this same monster. She said she saw 413 00:22:49,680 --> 00:22:52,759 it walking through the woods near her home, which was 414 00:22:52,839 --> 00:22:56,039 closer to the town of Heaters. Heaters is about five 415 00:22:56,039 --> 00:22:59,599 miles north of Flatwoods. Harper and her friend were walking 416 00:22:59,640 --> 00:23:01,839 to the door, but the road was just like not 417 00:23:01,880 --> 00:23:03,960 in very good condition, so they actually decided to cut 418 00:23:03,960 --> 00:23:07,279 through the woods instead, which actually made their trip shorter too. 419 00:23:07,599 --> 00:23:09,680 About a half mile into their trip, they noticed this 420 00:23:09,799 --> 00:23:12,480 ball of fire on one of the hills they were passing. 421 00:23:12,759 --> 00:23:15,720 At first, they dismissed it because it could have been 422 00:23:16,079 --> 00:23:19,440 anything somebody burning something like it literally could have been anything, 423 00:23:19,680 --> 00:23:21,400 they thought like at the time it was probably a 424 00:23:21,440 --> 00:23:25,400 neighbor fox chasing, but when she glanced back at it, 425 00:23:25,640 --> 00:23:30,039 the fire had completely vanished. In its place stood a tall, 426 00:23:30,160 --> 00:23:35,359 dark silhouette of a man shaped figure. The pair ran terrified. 427 00:23:35,839 --> 00:23:38,920 After the September twelfth siding, there was a siding near 428 00:23:39,119 --> 00:23:42,960 Strange Creek, about twenty miles south of flat Woods. George 429 00:23:43,039 --> 00:23:46,279 and Edith Nadowski, along with their eighteen month old son, 430 00:23:46,440 --> 00:23:49,240 were driving in a rural area between Clay and Braxton 431 00:23:49,279 --> 00:23:52,559 County on Route four when their car suddenly died out 432 00:23:52,559 --> 00:23:55,720 of nowhere. So George tried to restart the car like 433 00:23:55,839 --> 00:23:59,240 anyone would, but it wouldn't restart, and it didn't help 434 00:23:59,519 --> 00:24:01,759 that it was night time, so there's no one around, 435 00:24:01,960 --> 00:24:04,160 and there wasn't going to be anyone around for a 436 00:24:04,160 --> 00:24:06,440 while because they're like on this rural route. So the 437 00:24:06,480 --> 00:24:09,440 couple were trying to figure out, like what do we 438 00:24:09,480 --> 00:24:11,240 do next, Like how do we get We can't get 439 00:24:11,279 --> 00:24:13,960 the car to start, Like we don't have cell phones, 440 00:24:14,119 --> 00:24:16,160 so do we just like take off walking with our baby. 441 00:24:16,799 --> 00:24:22,119 That's when they smelled this foul, sulfurous smell. Then a 442 00:24:22,160 --> 00:24:24,519 bright light filled the air and a ten foot tall 443 00:24:24,559 --> 00:24:28,480 creature hovered in front of their car. In their description, 444 00:24:28,559 --> 00:24:31,240 the creature didn't have a spade shaped hood as usually 445 00:24:31,279 --> 00:24:34,680 depicted and as described by the other group, but instead 446 00:24:34,759 --> 00:24:39,279 its head was reptilian and bony. It dragged its lizard 447 00:24:39,359 --> 00:24:42,319 like hand across the hood of the car before drifting 448 00:24:42,359 --> 00:24:45,759 away into the woods. Oddly enough, as soon as the 449 00:24:45,799 --> 00:24:49,720 monster was gone, the car restarted without any issues, and 450 00:24:49,759 --> 00:24:53,519 then the couple, of course, like sped away. This creature 451 00:24:53,559 --> 00:24:56,319 has become folklore in Braxton County. There is an ice 452 00:24:56,359 --> 00:24:58,839 cream shop where you can take pictures with a painted 453 00:24:58,960 --> 00:25:02,200 iteration of the mom Monster, and a museum that operates 454 00:25:02,200 --> 00:25:06,480 in the town of Sutton, a few miles south of flatwoods. Unfortunately, 455 00:25:06,680 --> 00:25:09,680 the monster has not been reported since the original incident 456 00:25:09,759 --> 00:25:12,880 in nineteen fifty two. However, it has left its mark 457 00:25:12,920 --> 00:25:16,160 on the community. They say, if you stand outside at night, 458 00:25:16,240 --> 00:25:21,039 you can still almost feel it. Next, we have the 459 00:25:21,079 --> 00:25:25,839 Grafton Monster. On June sixteenth, nineteen sixty four, around eleven pm, 460 00:25:26,079 --> 00:25:30,839 Grafton Sentinel reporter Robert Cockrail saw a mysterious creature near 461 00:25:30,880 --> 00:25:34,839 the Tiger Valley River outside Grafton, West Virginia. He was 462 00:25:34,920 --> 00:25:38,400 on Riverside Drive outside of Grafton when he saw this creature. 463 00:25:38,680 --> 00:25:41,160 It was a road that he knew really well. He 464 00:25:41,240 --> 00:25:43,839 often took it home after work, and that's exactly what 465 00:25:43,880 --> 00:25:46,039 he was doing that night. So as a reporter sometimes 466 00:25:46,119 --> 00:25:48,119 you work odd hours, so it was like eleven PM 467 00:25:48,359 --> 00:25:50,599 when he's driving down this road he sees this creature. 468 00:25:50,960 --> 00:25:53,799 He reported that he rounded a slight curve around the 469 00:25:53,880 --> 00:25:57,200 road when quote, as I glanced up, my highbeaws picked 470 00:25:57,279 --> 00:26:00,319 up a huge white obstruction on the right side of 471 00:26:00,359 --> 00:26:02,920 the road, standing between the road and the river bank 472 00:26:03,359 --> 00:26:08,319 on a cleared off section of grass. It was very large, 473 00:26:08,400 --> 00:26:12,079 standing seven to nine feet tall and about four feet wide, 474 00:26:12,440 --> 00:26:15,839 and it was white with seal like skin skin that 475 00:26:16,000 --> 00:26:18,720 had this like sheen to it, and it didn't have 476 00:26:18,759 --> 00:26:22,279 a discernible head. Instead, its features were planted in the 477 00:26:22,359 --> 00:26:26,680 middle of its chest, much like Mothman. Terrified, he rushed 478 00:26:26,720 --> 00:26:29,759 home and immediately wanted to lock himself in. He wanted 479 00:26:29,799 --> 00:26:32,079 to lock his doors and just like be done, but 480 00:26:32,839 --> 00:26:35,559 he reports on things like this, so instead he called 481 00:26:35,599 --> 00:26:38,240 his friends to come help him investigate this creature further 482 00:26:38,599 --> 00:26:42,680 and where the creature was found. But when the group 483 00:26:42,759 --> 00:26:45,640 got back to the scene, the monster was gone and 484 00:26:45,720 --> 00:26:47,920 the only evidence to prove the monster was there and 485 00:26:48,039 --> 00:26:50,400 wasn't just made up was the fact that there was 486 00:26:50,480 --> 00:26:52,880 some grass and bushes flattened around in the place that 487 00:26:53,000 --> 00:26:56,200 Robert said it was standing, but there were no tracks 488 00:26:56,440 --> 00:26:59,359 of this monster. As they looked around more because they 489 00:26:59,400 --> 00:27:01,119 were there for over an hour trying to do an 490 00:27:01,160 --> 00:27:04,440 investigation into this creature, a low whistling sound seemed to 491 00:27:04,519 --> 00:27:06,559 follow them, and they felt like the sound was actually 492 00:27:06,559 --> 00:27:10,000 coming from the river. The next day at work, Robert 493 00:27:10,039 --> 00:27:11,920 was quiet, like he didn't really want to say anything 494 00:27:11,960 --> 00:27:14,000 because he was worried what people might think, like maybe 495 00:27:14,039 --> 00:27:16,039 he's crazy, or maybe it was a hoax. Maybe he's 496 00:27:16,039 --> 00:27:20,519 like trying to make it up for a good story. However, 497 00:27:20,839 --> 00:27:23,279 Robert said, quote, it was news and it was my 498 00:27:23,440 --> 00:27:26,160 duty to report on it. So he wrote an article 499 00:27:26,200 --> 00:27:28,480 and gave it to his editor, who printed the story. 500 00:27:28,799 --> 00:27:32,160 But the print piece was cynical of the monster at best. 501 00:27:32,759 --> 00:27:36,359 Authorities were notified to the monster and did a routine investigation, which, 502 00:27:36,400 --> 00:27:39,160 of course, like turned up nothing. But after reading of 503 00:27:39,200 --> 00:27:42,160 the monster, over one hundred teens from the area took 504 00:27:42,240 --> 00:27:44,599 up the search for the beast, and over twenty of 505 00:27:44,640 --> 00:27:49,559 them reportedly caught glimpses of it. Naturally skeptical of teenagers, 506 00:27:49,799 --> 00:27:53,799 he questioned several of them quote and found their reports 507 00:27:53,960 --> 00:27:57,599 tallying to the finest detail end quote. There were other 508 00:27:57,680 --> 00:28:01,200 reports of sightings from adults and more teens, and while 509 00:28:01,359 --> 00:28:05,519 some he believed to be actual sightings, others didn't seem 510 00:28:05,559 --> 00:28:09,720 to match, like they were just looking for attention. Interestingly, 511 00:28:10,119 --> 00:28:12,599 a week prior to Robert seeing the monster in Gaft 512 00:28:12,640 --> 00:28:15,599 in West Virginia, a nine foot tall monster was reported 513 00:28:15,599 --> 00:28:19,799 in Michigan. This monster had been reported in the Sister 514 00:28:19,880 --> 00:28:23,319 Lakes area of Michigan on and off for the two 515 00:28:23,440 --> 00:28:26,279 years leading up to this article. In nineteen sixty four, 516 00:28:26,640 --> 00:28:28,680 a local lady claimed to have been chased by this 517 00:28:28,799 --> 00:28:31,559 nine foot tall, five hundred pound monster into her house 518 00:28:31,880 --> 00:28:34,640 until her dog barked at it and scared it away. 519 00:28:35,279 --> 00:28:37,759 This monster was described by others as being covered in 520 00:28:37,880 --> 00:28:40,440 black hair up to its neck and having eyes that 521 00:28:40,480 --> 00:28:43,640 glowed like an animal that had light shined in its eyes. 522 00:28:44,200 --> 00:28:47,599 This Michigan monster made noises like a crying baby or 523 00:28:47,640 --> 00:28:51,200 like a tamed goose. Deputies in the area were determined 524 00:28:51,200 --> 00:28:53,519 to find the monster and solve the case. However, the 525 00:28:53,559 --> 00:28:56,880 idea of the monster was so tantalizing that people had 526 00:28:56,880 --> 00:28:59,960 come from all around to see it, and the traffic 527 00:29:00,200 --> 00:29:04,599 was so outrageous the deputies could barely get through to 528 00:29:04,720 --> 00:29:06,599 the sighting of the monster because so many people wanted 529 00:29:06,599 --> 00:29:09,200 to see this monster. At the time of the article, 530 00:29:09,440 --> 00:29:12,559 there had been ten credible witnesses of the Michigan Monster. 531 00:29:13,240 --> 00:29:16,640 Because that article had been published by the Grafton Sentinel, 532 00:29:17,039 --> 00:29:20,279 it may have led to more excitement. When Robert published 533 00:29:20,279 --> 00:29:24,079 his article about the monster he had seen. Like others, 534 00:29:24,200 --> 00:29:27,319 this creature was dismissed. They chalked it up to a 535 00:29:27,400 --> 00:29:32,880 quote combination of spring fever, lack of recreational facilities, and 536 00:29:33,079 --> 00:29:36,799 the recent publicity of the monster in Michigan. Although some 537 00:29:36,839 --> 00:29:40,000 researchers believe the Grafton Monster is part of the same 538 00:29:40,039 --> 00:29:44,200 phenomenon as the flat Woods Monster because it appears humanoid, mechanical, 539 00:29:44,240 --> 00:29:48,119 and silent or silent when it's seen at least, even 540 00:29:48,160 --> 00:29:50,720 though there seems to be noises when you can't see it, 541 00:29:51,960 --> 00:29:54,359 I think we can all agree that something weird is 542 00:29:54,440 --> 00:29:57,119 going on in the area, especially because it seems to 543 00:29:57,119 --> 00:30:00,519 be running through the entire state of West Virginia. Between Offman, 544 00:30:01,000 --> 00:30:05,799 the Grafton Monster, and the Flatwood's Monster, this next cryptid 545 00:30:06,079 --> 00:30:09,400 kind of runs throughout all of Appalachia. He's the Bigfoot 546 00:30:09,440 --> 00:30:14,160 of Appalachia. Now, long before the term bigfoot existed, Appalachian 547 00:30:14,160 --> 00:30:18,279 settlers told stories of the wood Booger, a towering, foul 548 00:30:18,359 --> 00:30:22,480 smelling creature that screamed from the ridgelines. This bigfoot like 549 00:30:22,519 --> 00:30:25,480 creature is said to roam the forest of southwest Virginia 550 00:30:25,519 --> 00:30:29,440 and carries off small children. Like the Boogeyman, the wood 551 00:30:29,599 --> 00:30:33,519 Booger originally meant ghost or haunt, but by the late 552 00:30:33,599 --> 00:30:37,000 nineteen sixties it also meant monster or animal. In the 553 00:30:37,039 --> 00:30:40,880 southern US, this creature is also called a Yahoo sometimes 554 00:30:40,920 --> 00:30:44,599 which is generally associated with wild men. In Australia. It 555 00:30:44,720 --> 00:30:48,440 is the Australian word for devil or evil spirit. The 556 00:30:48,519 --> 00:30:52,240 indigenous tribes actually spoke of the Yahoo a wild man 557 00:30:52,319 --> 00:30:57,200 that stole food, followed hunters, and punished those who disrespected 558 00:30:57,200 --> 00:31:01,079 the forest. Unlike the Pacific Northwest big Foot, the Appalachian 559 00:31:01,200 --> 00:31:05,000 variants are described as being more aggressive, more vocal, and 560 00:31:05,200 --> 00:31:10,000 more territorial. This creature has been seen in West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, 561 00:31:10,079 --> 00:31:15,240 and Kentucky, as well as parts of Georgia. Is described 562 00:31:15,279 --> 00:31:20,200 as a large, hairy, bipedal humanoid and it's somewhere between 563 00:31:20,400 --> 00:31:23,160 eight and twelve feet tall, with dark or black fur 564 00:31:23,240 --> 00:31:27,359 and glowing eyes that are either red or green. Witnesses 565 00:31:27,400 --> 00:31:31,359 claim that it is half ape, half man. The signing 566 00:31:31,359 --> 00:31:34,279 of this creature is normally in dense forests and remote terrain, 567 00:31:34,480 --> 00:31:37,440 which provides ideal cover for the creature. Now, I'm not 568 00:31:37,440 --> 00:31:40,640 gonna go super far into this because I've already done 569 00:31:40,680 --> 00:31:43,039 an entire episode on Bigfoot. I'll link that in the 570 00:31:43,079 --> 00:31:47,279 show notes. This creature is just Bigfoot of Appalachia. Lastly, 571 00:31:47,400 --> 00:31:50,319 we're going to talk about the moon eyed people. Or 572 00:31:50,440 --> 00:31:53,720 like the White Beings. They are a group of bearded, 573 00:31:53,880 --> 00:31:57,000 white skinned people who are said to have lived in Appalachia, 574 00:31:57,359 --> 00:32:00,759 that is, until the Cherokee expelled them. The stories of 575 00:32:00,799 --> 00:32:04,039 these creatures have largely been passed down orally through the 576 00:32:04,119 --> 00:32:07,440 Cherokee people. These moon eyed people were said to have 577 00:32:07,480 --> 00:32:10,119 been unable to see during certain phases of the moon. 578 00:32:10,319 --> 00:32:12,559 They also couldn't see during the daytime. They could only 579 00:32:12,599 --> 00:32:15,880 come out at night when the moon was not full. 580 00:32:16,680 --> 00:32:20,119 They built fortifications in the mountain, but during the phase 581 00:32:20,160 --> 00:32:22,279 of the moon where they were unable to see, the 582 00:32:22,359 --> 00:32:26,039 Creek people annihilated the race. It's been long assumed that 583 00:32:26,079 --> 00:32:30,240 these people were an albino race because another description described 584 00:32:30,240 --> 00:32:33,519 them as very small people who were perfectly white, and 585 00:32:33,680 --> 00:32:38,319 every description has them having really big blue eyes. Most 586 00:32:38,319 --> 00:32:41,559 of the sightings happened in Georgia and before the removal 587 00:32:41,599 --> 00:32:45,400 of the Cherokee people. What's interesting about this Cherokee lore 588 00:32:45,559 --> 00:32:48,319 is that they described these creatures as being a separate 589 00:32:48,480 --> 00:32:52,359 race of people, rather than the supernatural beings that are 590 00:32:52,519 --> 00:32:56,920 fairly common in Cherokee mythology. After the attack of these 591 00:32:56,960 --> 00:33:00,960 creatures by the Creek people, whoever was left actually fled 592 00:33:01,039 --> 00:33:05,799 to the smoky mountains and we're never seen again. All 593 00:33:05,839 --> 00:33:09,400 this to say that we have these monsters, But what 594 00:33:09,480 --> 00:33:11,599 if these monsters are real? What if they're not just 595 00:33:11,680 --> 00:33:15,240 made up? It's easy to dismiss something that we've never seen, 596 00:33:15,559 --> 00:33:19,079 but there have been so many witnesses to these creatures 597 00:33:19,160 --> 00:33:21,839 that it's hard to believe that this many people would 598 00:33:21,920 --> 00:33:26,759 have made them up. Could they be aliens or vampires 599 00:33:27,279 --> 00:33:29,920 or just different creatures that are hiding in the forests 600 00:33:29,960 --> 00:33:34,160 of the mountains. Often the question or comment arises about 601 00:33:34,160 --> 00:33:37,160 people coming forward after an initial sighting. A lot of 602 00:33:37,200 --> 00:33:40,119 people believe that this is just like copycast sightings, that 603 00:33:40,160 --> 00:33:43,920 they're coming forward they want attention. But I think there's 604 00:33:43,920 --> 00:33:47,359 a logical explanation for this. People are scared they won't 605 00:33:47,400 --> 00:33:51,720 be believed. We see this in UFO sidings, CRYPTID sidings, 606 00:33:51,720 --> 00:33:54,720 and so many more. They don't speak up because who 607 00:33:54,759 --> 00:33:59,079 would believe them. Plus they are probably second guessing themselves, 608 00:33:59,160 --> 00:34:02,119 so they're wondering if they actually saw what they saw. 609 00:34:02,319 --> 00:34:04,279 Then somebody else says something about it, they're like, no, 610 00:34:04,400 --> 00:34:06,720 I did see that same thing too, So they're almost 611 00:34:06,759 --> 00:34:10,480 like looking for validation of what they had seen. We 612 00:34:10,599 --> 00:34:13,519 have other questions as to why all this is happening 613 00:34:13,599 --> 00:34:17,280 in this region, Why in the Appalachian Mountains. It's believed 614 00:34:17,360 --> 00:34:20,880 that the veil is thin in this region, The supernatural 615 00:34:20,960 --> 00:34:23,599 veil that usually keeps them in their place and us 616 00:34:23,639 --> 00:34:26,960 in our place slips sometimes, and Appalachia just seems to 617 00:34:26,960 --> 00:34:29,199 be like the perfect place to do that, just because 618 00:34:29,639 --> 00:34:32,639 it feels, like I said at the beginning, a scar 619 00:34:32,760 --> 00:34:36,480 across the continent. Maybe that's where the veil isn't as thick. 620 00:34:37,079 --> 00:34:39,719 And this also happens with timelines and dimensions as well. 621 00:34:40,400 --> 00:34:45,159 Locals talk of places where the earth breathes, where compasses spin, 622 00:34:45,639 --> 00:34:49,159 and where radios crackle with voices that aren't really there. 623 00:34:49,480 --> 00:34:53,960 So is this just like a very supernatural place? But 624 00:34:54,039 --> 00:34:58,320 what if it's not supernatural at all? What if they 625 00:34:58,320 --> 00:35:01,800 have always been there? I mean, the entire region is 626 00:35:01,960 --> 00:35:06,199 riddled with natural cave systems, salt mines, coal seams, abandoned 627 00:35:06,239 --> 00:35:09,719 rail tunnels, and sealed military corridors that don't appear on 628 00:35:09,760 --> 00:35:21,000 public maps. Since the seventeen hundreds, entire mountains have been 629 00:35:21,000 --> 00:35:24,039 hallowed out, sometimes to the point of collapsing, while others 630 00:35:24,480 --> 00:35:27,960 are sealed or just simply abandoned during the Cold War, 631 00:35:28,119 --> 00:35:32,760 these tunnels became valuable because they offered natural shielding from radiation. 632 00:35:33,079 --> 00:35:35,519 They were remote with low population cover, and no one 633 00:35:35,599 --> 00:35:37,960 really tracked like what was going on with these tunnels anymore. 634 00:35:37,960 --> 00:35:40,119 Everyone just kind of like abandoned them and left. So 635 00:35:40,199 --> 00:35:42,280 it was a perfect place to go if there was 636 00:35:42,360 --> 00:35:47,000 going to be a nuclear attack. Declassified documents confirm underground 637 00:35:47,039 --> 00:35:52,000 weapons storage, radar installations, and communication hubs throughout the Appalachian region. 638 00:35:52,360 --> 00:35:55,159 The problem is we don't know exactly what was being 639 00:35:55,199 --> 00:35:58,480 tested in this region, and that could be the thing. 640 00:35:59,239 --> 00:36:02,480 What if they were and chemicals of some sort to 641 00:36:02,679 --> 00:36:06,679 create these creatures like Mothman. It really could be straight 642 00:36:06,719 --> 00:36:08,960 out of comic book. Why else would they write such 643 00:36:09,000 --> 00:36:11,840 strange things in comic books if they weren't leading us 644 00:36:11,920 --> 00:36:17,480 to something. Here's the thing. We seem to have clusters 645 00:36:17,480 --> 00:36:20,800 of sightings, So for Mothman, the sidings cluster around that 646 00:36:20,880 --> 00:36:24,239 TNT area which was the former weapons manufacturing plant, the 647 00:36:24,280 --> 00:36:28,719 power plant, and the river crossing The Flatwood's Monster sightings 648 00:36:28,719 --> 00:36:33,039 occurred during a period of intense military radar testing. There 649 00:36:33,039 --> 00:36:36,400 are commonalities about all the sightings of the cryptids, even 650 00:36:36,400 --> 00:36:38,800 though they weren't exactly close to one another, so they're 651 00:36:38,840 --> 00:36:43,000 typically seen near a fault line, quartz rich rocks, and 652 00:36:43,159 --> 00:36:46,840 some sort of water source, be that a river or 653 00:36:46,920 --> 00:36:50,840 like an underground water movement of some sort kind of 654 00:36:50,840 --> 00:36:52,760 makes you wonder, like, what's in the water. Why are 655 00:36:52,760 --> 00:36:55,960 all these cryptids near water? And maybe they just need 656 00:36:56,000 --> 00:36:59,599 water to survive like we do, but it seems interesting 657 00:37:00,519 --> 00:37:07,480 these conditions generate electromagnetic anomalies like people missing time, equipment failures, hallucinations, 658 00:37:07,519 --> 00:37:10,719 and severe dread. But something we really need to talk 659 00:37:10,760 --> 00:37:14,800 about or add in is the RQZ. So the RQZ 660 00:37:15,039 --> 00:37:18,239 is the National No Radio Quiet Zone. It's about thirteen 661 00:37:18,280 --> 00:37:22,679 thousand square miles in parts of eastern West Virginia, Western Virginia, 662 00:37:22,719 --> 00:37:26,280 and a bit of Maryland where radio transmissions are restricted 663 00:37:26,400 --> 00:37:31,440 to protect scientific and intelligence facilities, especially the Green Bank 664 00:37:31,480 --> 00:37:35,440 Observatory and the Sugar Grove Site. In fact, Green Bank 665 00:37:35,559 --> 00:37:38,280 is so shut down that you can't even use a 666 00:37:38,280 --> 00:37:41,280 cell phone, Wi Fi or a microwave near it, Like 667 00:37:41,320 --> 00:37:45,480 that's how secure it is in that area. Although some 668 00:37:45,519 --> 00:37:48,320 of the cryptids we talked about are located outside of 669 00:37:48,360 --> 00:37:52,960 the zone, there have been some sightings inside this quiet zone. 670 00:37:53,440 --> 00:37:55,840 And that's not to say that these creatures don't live 671 00:37:55,920 --> 00:37:57,960 inside the zone and then like kind of use the 672 00:37:57,960 --> 00:38:02,199 tunnel system to maneuver and make trips I guess outside 673 00:38:02,199 --> 00:38:06,400 of the zone. Just makes you wonder, like, what's going 674 00:38:06,440 --> 00:38:09,960 on with this no radio quiet zone. What we know 675 00:38:10,039 --> 00:38:11,960 for sure is that these cryptids try to keep to 676 00:38:12,000 --> 00:38:16,400 low civilization zones, including dense forests, old mining regions, and 677 00:38:16,519 --> 00:38:21,639 areas of strong geomagnetic variations. They don't want to be 678 00:38:21,760 --> 00:38:26,039 seen or found. They want to be left alone. But 679 00:38:26,639 --> 00:38:30,000 what do you think are these creatures of this world? 680 00:38:30,679 --> 00:38:33,880 Are they supernatural? Are they real at all? Is it 681 00:38:33,920 --> 00:38:39,360 all just made up for attention? I think that's too far. 682 00:38:39,440 --> 00:38:42,159 I think that's going too far with all the witnesses. 683 00:38:42,880 --> 00:38:46,199 But I'd love to know your opinions, your comments. Leave 684 00:38:46,239 --> 00:38:48,920 them below, and until next week, stay skeptical, my friends, 685 00:38:48,920 --> 00:38:51,760 and I'll see you all then. Hey, friends. The rabbit 686 00:38:51,800 --> 00:38:54,679 Hole is an independent podcast written, hosted, and produced by 687 00:38:54,679 --> 00:38:57,719 me Danny Mercy. Special thanks to Lindsay for research and writing. 688 00:38:57,880 --> 00:38:59,719 If you love the podcast, please leave us a five 689 00:38:59,760 --> 00:39:02,360 star rating and review wherever you're listening. Follow us on 690 00:39:02,400 --> 00:39:05,400 social media at rabbit dot Hole podcast and visit our 691 00:39:05,440 --> 00:39:08,360 website at stay skeptical dot com for everything else.