This article was published in the daily newspaper Washington Daily News, USA, on September 15, 1952.
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By United Press
SUTTON, W.Va., Sept. 15. -- A short time after a meteorite - or something - blazed across this town last Friday and seemed to land nearby, an evil-smelling, green bodied monster 12 feet tall with bulging eyes and clawy hands sent seven young citizens running for their lives.
A. Lee Stewart, who with his father publishes the Braxton County Democrat, saw mysterious traces of whatever it was, and here's his story:
"It was about 7:15 p.m. when this meteorite, or something, was supposed to have been seen that I wandered down the street and the people told me about having seen it. Then, a little while later, this call comes in from Flatwood, a town about five miles away.
"Mrs Kathleen May and six boys had gone up the hill to where this thing was supposed to have landed, and they could see flashes of light - flash, flash, flash, three or four times - coming from the top of the hill.
"As they kind of eased around a little bend on the road, there in the shadows, they saw a pair of eyes. There was a peculiar odor - a very sickening, hot, stuffy smelling odor.
"The oldest boy - he's 17 - threw a flashlight on it. All the rest of them saw it too. The boy fell over backwards and all the people took for their heels and came running back to town.
"They said it was about 11 or 12 feet high, and had a shiny, metallic kind of face and protruding eyes. Its body was green. It had outstretched hands - sort of clawy looking hands.
"When they all got back to town, they gave the boy a dose or two of smelling salts, and called police.
"Of course", said Mr. Stewart, "the state police weren't in, but next morning the sheriff and some other people went up, and naturally I went along to investigate. I took my camera with me."
Atop the rugged, tangled hill, there was no trace of a meteorite, but there was an area "all trampled down", Mr. Stewart said. He said that he could still smell traces of the peculiar odor.
There were two tracks. They looked like skid marks, about a foot wide, a car length apart, and about ten yards long, Mr. Stewart said. He said you couldn't get an auto up that hill.
Mr. Stewart and the deputies took Gene Lemon, the 17-year-old, along with them.
"We had to coax him to go back," Mr. Stewart said. "I had to keep my hand on his shoulder. He just shook and shook like he was scared to death.
"I know all these people," Mr. Stewart said. "And I tried every way to tear this story down. But they all told the same story and they all stuck to it.
"I've never seen people in more fright.
"I don't know what they saw, but they sure saw something on that hill.
"Of course, at twilight, you can see lots of things. They could have been seen an owl sitting up there in a tree, and put a body under it."
Monster, alien, owl?
