The Flatwoods Monster, OBOLs, and The Long Strange Trip

This thread is going to meander a bit before it crosses paths, at least briefly, so please bear with me. Or get out while the getting out is still good.

I usually skip over movies like this, but I’m really glad I didn’t miss this sleeper of a gem for a few good reasons.

Whut happened wuz’ I found it searching Prime Documentaries (prolly can find it on Netflix) but here’s a trailer from youtube.


My own experience (in detail below) was with the most ubiquitous of all “UFO” sightings from time memorial—the Orange Ball of Light or OBOL—and has been the fuel that has driven my own search into this greatest of mysteries: Are We Alone?

There are many sightings and historical accounts of the OBOL from times ancient as evidenced in Jacques Vallee and Chris Aubeck's Wonders in the Sky: Unexplained Aerial Objects from Antiquity to Modern Times

Of course, when addressing the OBOL, we always have to be aware of Chinese Lanterns. Having said that, with so many sightings and even “encounters” with the OBOL throughout history, the beautiful ritual lanterns also make me ponder if the floating beauties were made as visual homage to the gods of lore and various Magonian “others.”

But back to this movie—where whatever they saw seemed to come in on a pulsating orb.

They had me at pulsating orb.

The Flatwoods Monster: A Legacy of Fear, despite the rather hokey name, turns out to be a fascinating and pretty strong case for ”weird” when all the myth and sensationalism is winnowed and laid aside neatly.

The facts, in this case, ultimately being established that the witnesses to this never said it was a “monster” contrary to sensationalized media reporting.

The witnesses always described it as a rocket or some kind of a machine that did appear, somewhat, as a huge humanoid-shape design.



This is a well-made and thoughtful documentary that leaves you educated and your questions answered. The Film also does a great job of establishing the beautiful rural setting and the interesting and solid folk from that neck of the woods.

The main living witnesses in the film—the Mays brothers—seem a sturdy and admirable type of folk inline with all of the above.

At 7:15 p.m. on September 12, 1952, two brothers, Edward and Fred May, and their friend Tommy Hyer said they saw a bright object cross the sky and land on the property of local farmer G. Bailey Fisher. The boys went to the home of Kathleen May, where they told their story. May, accompanied by the three boys, local children Neil Nunley and Ronnie Shaver, and West Virginia National Guardsman Eugene

Lemon, went to the Fisher farm in an effort to locate whatever it was that the boys said they had seen. The group reached the top of a hill, where Nunley said they saw a pulsing red light. Lemon said he aimed a flashlight in that direction and momentarily saw a tall "man-like figure with a round, red face surrounded by a pointed, hood-like shape".

…Kathleen May described the figure as having "small, claw-like hands", clothing-like folds, and "a head that resembled the ace of spades". According to the story, when the figure made a hissing sound and "glided toward the group", Lemon screamed and dropped his flashlight, causing the group to run away.

September 14, 1952 news clip from the Charleston Daily Mail.
The group said they had smelled a "pungent mist" and some later said they were nauseated.

The local sheriff and a deputy had been investigating reports of a crashed aircraft in the area.

en.wikipedia.org...

The “Flatwoods Monster” case probably falls into the same category as The Cash-Landrum Incidence if I had to make an armchair guess and, most likely, represents some kind of top-secret military project.

Cash and Landrum got out of the car to examine the object. Colby was terrified, however, and Landrum quickly returned to the car to comfort him. Cash remained outside, "mesmerized by the bizarre sight",

The object, intensely bright and a dull metallic silver, was shaped like a huge upright diamond, about the size of the Dayton water tower, with its top and bottom cut off so that they were flat rather than pointed. Small blue lights ringed the center, and periodically over the next few minutes flames shot out of the bottom, flaring outward, creating the effect of a large cone. Every time the fire dissipated, the UFO floated a few feet downwards toward the road. But when the flames blasted out again, the object rose about the same distance." (Clark, 175)

The witnesses said the heat was strong enough to make the car's metal body painful to the touch—Cash said she had to use her coat to protect her hand from being burned when she finally got back in the car.

When she touched the dashboard, Landrum's hand pressed into the softened vinyl, leaving an imprint that was evident weeks later.

Then again—on the other end of the spectrum—Flatwoods could be, instead, a high-strangeness case as has been part-n-parcel with many of the past “humanoid” cases.

High-Strangeness and UFO Humanoid Encounters—it’s a thing.

UFO Occupant Sightings NICAP

Also along those lines check out the new offering from The Mighty Gortex:

New Interview with Calvin Parker – The Pascagoula UFO Incident

So here’s my own fairly up-close and personal OBOL experience if you haven’t read it on the boards before and care to:

I was 14 and on a 5-day camp-out with about 20 other Boy Scouts in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains. 4 of the 5 days were spent in a relatively safe & easygoing pasture of a scout-friendly citizen. We had some badge classes and spent a lot of our leisure time in fierce competitions of mumblety-peg.

But one night we went to camp in the "mountains," better described as large foothills. After dinner we broke off in pairs and cliques and explored the various trails leading to the top which I estimate to be around 600 ft and situated among many foothills of similar size.

Two scouts had remained at the top longer than the rest of us and it was rather late in the evening when I and a friend were meandering a trail and talking near the top when the two scouts up top called down to us in very excited voices to come up that they had just seen a ufo. We scrambled up to the top and the two scouts indicated an adjacent and taller mount and said they saw a big glowing orange ufo land there.

I was skeptical, but was intrigued by how excited they were, cutting each other off in their zealousness to describe what they saw. We settled in and continued talking all the while steadily looking at the adjacent mount top.

Maybe 20 minutes passed when there appeared a brilliant double-flash that emanated from and illuminated the top of the tree-lined peak, a second of darkness, and then maybe 100 ft over the tree tops "it" pulsed into life. Perspective wise, I would say it was about high-moon size in appearance.

At full pulse it looked like liquid metal or 'plasma' swirling around inside. Then it would dim at about the same speed it lit. It would dim to nothing. We couldn't see anything and then a good bit higher in the sky it would pulse to full brightness again a few seconds later. It was very bright but never to bright to look at.

Not counting the double-flash of the apparent lift-off it lit and dimmed 6 times, each time higher in the sky and after the 6th nothing. We watched for a long time, but that amazing glimpse was over but for the heavy-duty questions it raised in me.

Something like the Sun in this Pic If It Were In a Perfect globe.

It was a clear night and a clear phenomena of some kind. I was an Air Force brat that never missed a Blue Angels show or an opportunity to witness various test-flights. I knew it wasn't flares and it doesn't fit with any description of ball lightning that I've come across in research. Conventional craft was out of the question because of characteristics and size.

Even at that age, I knew what we saw couldn't be easily explained. Since the internet came along, I've searched for folk who have seen the same thing and have now found quite a few to include the historical accounts referenced re Vallee/Aubeck above that fit the basics.

My own sighting was mesmerizing and definitely sparked my imagination and curiosity yet, like most of us, I have no definitive answer. Some rare earthlight phenomena? A high-tech secret project? A huge, magnificent, pulsating creature? E.T. in a Plasma Ship/Shield?

Here’s just an example of something fairly recent that popped up as I googled OBOL—it seems they’re always with us:

Last Sunday night, an Indian Trail man’s wife excitedly burst into their house to report two orange, glowing balls that seemed to hover a few hundred feet overhead.

The man, who reported the incident to the Mutual UFO Network, wrote that he and his grandson headed outside to see a single ball hovering silently above them. Less than a minute later, a group of three balls appeared.

“My first thought was Chinese lanterns but they would have been very, very large, small plane or helicopter size, and defying wind patterns,” wrote the man, who MUFON would not identify.

“The light source was much much brighter than a candle. With the binoculars it appeared spherical with a red beam coming out of the yellow-orange glow that the whole sphere was giving off.

“Any idea what we were watching?”

As glowing balls hover over the night sky near Charlotte…

Hey thanks for meandering along and Check Out that Flatwoods movie though, I found it a rare UFO-documentary treat.

Have not read it all yet but SNF And I will look for the movie.

Thanks again for the effort and non political thread.

a reply to: The GUT

Lovely thread Gut, always been fascinated with this case and think you're spot on speculating about the description (anything's got to be better than an owl) - the flared out lower torso could indeed be actual tubes for a propulsion system and Stanton goes into detail below about it's appearance and the actual UFO.



Just for the posterity, there were specific metal and liquid samples which were sent to the U.S. Government and never seen again and there's also a restricted government document below which states the Pentagon was also asking for a soil analysis (and instructing the Directorate of Special Investigations to give utmost priority to the lab analysis of the subject samples).

..but the Pentagon was very interested in it nevertheless. We know this because of the above released document [actually in the Project Blue Book OSI microfilm all along.] As you can see it is a Routing and Record Sheet which is classified "Restricted" and is asking for a soil analysis.

link

Cheers.

a reply to: karl 12

Wow, thank you very much, karl, for that further and compelling detail to the incident.

Glad I finally ended up looking into this rather fascinating case.

Something to this one. Old school gold.

Never actually heard of this episode but it certainly makes for interesting reading and makes a change from the usual bulbous headed greys! Thanks

a reply to: karl 12

From your link:

The USAF sent no obvious investigation team that anyone noticed anyway, but the Pentagon was very interested in it nevertheless. We know this because of the above released document [actually in the Project Blue Book OSI microfilm all along.] As you can see it is a Routing and Record Sheet which is classified "Restricted" and is asking for a soil analysis. Of What?? Of Flatwoods soil. There was a report that the entity floated down the hill towards the UFO and that "skid-marks" had been initially seen. Whether soil samples from there, the area under the tree, or the depressed-dried area were taken for analysis, this record doesn't say. But it sure DOES say that the USAF's Pentagon UFO desk officer, Dewey Fournet, was interested [see Dewey's designator "Maj.Fournet" in the upper right --- that's where you find who really wrote these documents that higher officers sign --- and Adams was Dewey's boss, and another UFO=ET believer, so this document makes sense].

One last thing: Dewey is pushing for some urgency on these tests. Why?? He tells you that there is a second case that he thinks might be the same sort of thing, and he wants to see if the soil tests are similar. Really??! What's the other case he's excited about? It's not in the document directly, but you could guess from the dates involved --- but we don't have to.

Someone scrawled the name in pencil on the form: "Desvergers". [sic: should be Desverges]. Sonny Desverges. The infamous "scoutmaster" case. BUT THE ONLY LANDING TRACE CASE THAT RUPPELT COULD NEVER CRACK. Ruppelt went to his grave knowing that this one wasn't explainable no matter how flaky the witness. Microwaved soil. He even used the case when he talked to groups of new intel officers about UFOs.

So there's possibly a connection with Flatwoods to another case. Here’s a pretty balanced and fair piece from History.Com on Scoutmaster Desverges and his encounter. A somewhat shakier premise but also some interesting evidentiary items:

As Ruppelt would later chronicle in his 1956 book The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects, on the evening of August 19, 1952, hardware-store clerk and Scoutmaster DesVergers, 30, was driving a group of Boy Scouts home when he saw a bright light flash over Military Trail near West Palm Beach, Florida. Thinking it may be a downed plane or car accident, DesVergers pulled onto the shoulder of the highway so he could take a closer look.

Armed with a machete and flashlights, he entered the palmetto grove near where he saw the lights, leaving the three boys in the vehicle with instructions to alert the residents of a nearby farmhouse if he did not return in 15 minutes.

According to the declassified documents, after about four minutes of hacking through the bush DesVergers entered a clearing in the grove. The first thing he described was an acute, nauseating smell and then the feeling of somebody or something watching him. He next experienced a sensation of oven-like heat coming from above. Looking up, DesVergers said, he could not see any stars as he was standing beneath a hovering object.

The object was circular, DesVergers recounted, dull black, with no seams, about 30 feet in diameter with a height of 10 feet, a convex dome atop it and the bottom edge lit with a phosphorescent glow.

Enveloped by a red mist
What happened next is what separates DesVergers’ encounter from thousands of other UFO sightings: As he slowly moved backward, he recalled, he heard a noise like metal against metal, “like a hatch opening,” after which a red, flare-like light came from the side of the object and slowly moved toward him. (DesVergers constantly referred to it as a “ship” when recounting the tale to the authorities) As he placed his hands over his face—fists closed, hand over each eye—the red ball of light grew into a red mist, engulfing him. It was then, he recounted, that he lost consciousness…

The mystery of the singed grass
Arriving in Florida soon after the encounter, Ruppelt and his team began their investigation, obtaining statements from all parties involved and taking grass and soil specimens from the clearing in which DesVergeres said the encounter took place. The latter evidence would prove to be the most inexplicable piece of the encounter puzzle.

“The fact that they documented and took samples at all is lucky, and one of the most interesting aspects of this case,” says Jeffrey Wilson, a private-industry analyst who examines noteworthy ground phenomenon. As co-founder of the Independent Crop Circle Researchers' Association (ICCRA),

As the grass specimens were being tested, DesVergers’ character would come under intense scrutiny, with authorities noting his other-than-honorable discharge from the U.S. Marines due to theft of a car, and what Florida locals would describe as his ability to tell tall tales. But when Ruppelt first interviewed DesVergers, he described the scoutmaster as likable, willing to cooperate and displaying the “immediate impression he was telling the truth.”

…With those associated with the case no longer able to comment or add context (DesVergers and Ruppelt have both since died), the case remains unexplained. But according to Wilson, “Something unusual happened to the guy, and the physical evidence backed him up. That’s why I put the effort into checking this out.”

“Why would you go to the trouble of faking something like this?” he continued. “Why, and how, would he stage that? It doesn’t make any sense.”

This Scoutmaster Had a Run-in with a UFO. The Kids Saw it Too.

Some of those stories sparked a memory I had. Back in 80-82ish I had my horses at a friend's barn in Tarzana in LA California. It was about 8 or 9 pm and I had been in the house talking with my friend. As I left to go say good night to my horses, I looked up and saw a ball of orange light about 2 to 4 times the size of a basketball. Totally quiet and like you said glowing like there was fire or plasma inside, in a smooth clear outer shell that looked kinda crytal-ish.

I called my friend and her hubby out and we watched it together. It was maybe 50 or 60 ft in the air and just floated back and forth over us for about 30 minutes or so. Then it stopped above the middle of the arena, sat there a minute, split into 3 smaller balls and they flamed off looking like meteors going up flaming tail and all, in 3 different directions and disappeared so fast it was crazy. Thanks for making me think of that. I don't know I kinda forgot about it heh.

a reply to: Lilroanie

I can so relate and your account is a classic. Thanks for sharing, I enjoyed reading it.

a reply to: The GUT

Thanks! Are smaller balls like that common in the sightings? That's kinda why I think I just 'forgot' about it. Too small to be a 'ship' and drones weren't really a thing then. So I just wrote it off as "Oh hey! Weird fiery ball!" and never really thought about it again lol.

a reply to: Lilroanie

Yes, the reported sizes run the gamut and splitting into or combining into threes come up in a lot of accounts.

Whatever they are, and we might be talking about more than one phenomena when talking pulsating orbs, they are a beautiful sight to behold!

I have a mountain getaway not far from Flatwoods. I know the place very well. I have seen one very strange thing that I am too embarrassed to admit as I have snickered at people who claim to have see one for decades.

But I do have a theory........
There may be a strange connection between this, and Point Pleasant, the Mothman bridge disaster, and the Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum .... a hyper sensitive paranormal hotspot.
The mining may have disturbed something.
And maybe, just maybe the sugar grove secret Government facility was up to more than just spying on Russia with it's giant telescope.
The closed facility is now for sale for 1million if anyone has spare change.

The Appalachia is wild and wonderful!

a reply to: zazzafrazz

I wouldn't snicker. I think that's cool. You're right, Zazz, these foothills and mountains are full of haints and surreal what-not.

a reply to: The GUT


Thank you for this post.

I have nothing but the greatest respect, for the people who have seen OBOl up close and personal (or other colors!) and who take the scorn and post about it anyway. There is probably new science or new 'meaning of life' type stuff to be understood, if we understood 'OBOL' better. I'm not so big on far away sightings of blurry stuff---I think that most of the 'BOL' type stuff people think that they see are in fact nothing of the sort...light sources look blurry and roundish at extreme distance.. but up close and in your face in all it's majesty That's something special.

Reading this thread has sparked a memory in me as well. It's an incident from when I was fairly young, I think around kindergarten age and next year I see the big five-oh, so this was some four decades plus back in the mists of time; somewhere around the mid 70s.

The street I grew up on was pretty rural at that time having about a half dozen houses other than mine and my grandmother's, which are situated on what's left of family farm and so at that time there was not a lot of human activity out this way; that has since changed and a housing development surrounds us now.

Anyway, one evening, I was walking over to my grandmother's house from my house with my mom and looked up in the sky at what I had at first thought was the moon but it was much too large in the sky and not quite the right color (it was very orangeish) to have been that particular object. Anyway, as soon as I saw the orb and recognized that it wasn't the moon, I saw a 'window' open and in it I saw one of the kids from my school and I pointed this out to my mother. I remember which kid it was particularly because he and I have the same first and middle names except that they are switched; my middle name is his first and vice versa.

I also remember my mom being afraid of the orb and telling me to hurry up and for us to get to my grandma's house as fast as we could. After that, I don't remember much of anything else from this particular incident.

Thank you very much good sir for this excellent thread. I'm off to do some reading and digging on Flatwoods and of some of the people mentioned in the thread.

a reply to: jadedANDcynical

Thanks for stopping by and sharing J&C. Hearing y'alls experiences as I'm revisiting my own has been. pretty. durn. cool.

It's easy as we know to get a little burnt out by modern ufology, so it's personally nice to make contact with my own wonder again.

a reply to: The GUT

Here's a thought I had. J&C said he'd 'forgotten' his experience too, but got his memory sparked. So here's how it felt to me. I didn't really 'forget' what happened, I just never felt a need to talk about till I made that post and never did except at the time with the 2 other people who saw it with me. It just never surfaced as a memory when others were there, even reading about similar stuff here. Also I'd never read your story GUT.

It was always in the back of my mind when I was alone and I've even had a dream or two of watching them, but never when I was with someone, hence the 'forgot'. It was just never 'important' enough to talk about, or kinda 'meh whatever' so it was only in quiet 'me' times I'd think and wonder about it and never ever brought it up to anyone in all these years. Never, until I made that post.

So my thought was, is this influence by the orbs, maybe inserted at the time to, or do they still communicate and that's why I've thought about it so much in quiet 'me' times, but never felt the desire or thought to talk about it when others were around or even on here? And why now did I suddenly feel the need? And it WAS a need to post that. So much weird lol this is kinda cathartic tho!



ETA I know I contradicted myself, but the thing is more like "OK I'm kinda worried about posting cause I hate getting into confrontations/getting ridicule online for weird stuff!" However I feel more comfortable since this is a civil convo lol.

a reply to: Lilroanie

The one thing that has stayed constant over the years of my orb experience is the answer to my “animal, mineral, vegetable” question. It seemed kind of alive. I certainly don’t rule it out.

And, yeah, these can be hard topics to discuss freely lol. The following was a let it all hang out moment for me.

In my defense. I’ve always been willing to believe it was some kind of dream state driven by subconscious material. And I was very young which obviously complicates it. Nonetheless it was powerful and raised some questions for me.

Time to Come Clean: I'm an Abductee

a reply to: The GUT

I recall in a thread of yours saying that they are the bane of ufology, and how right you are. Meteroites, sundogs, other natural phenomenon, to the modern day flares, drones, and the popular Chinese lanterns...why they so popular, no idea, this is the 21 an nearly quarter century.

I mean think of the fragile earth, it littering.

I do like to reckon that there is alot a folklore relating to seeing them, wether the myths of mistaken identities bear any actual facts or not is up for debate.

As for humanoids, me no comphrende.