Monster Country

Posted on August 8, 2013 by fsdthreshold

On the way back from our honeymoon in the Smokies (a breathtakingly beautiful place), my wonderful wife graciously agreed to our taking the exit for Flatwoods, West Virginia. Just one mile out of our way, and we were there!

Flatwoods, West Virginia

Flatwoods, West Virginia

Since our route took us so close, how could we not stop there? Enthusiasts of Fortean literature will recognize Flatwoods as the site of a bizarre encounter with the unexplained on September 12, 1952.

Faded signboard at the edge of town still identifies Flatwoods as the place of a monster sighting.

Faded signboard at the edge of town still identifies Flatwoods as the place of a monster sighting.

I won’t attempt to recount the reports here. The curious can find ample fuel for the imagination by Googling “Flatwoods Monster.”

In Flatwoods, August 4, 2013

In Flatwoods, August 4, 2013

We drove through the tranquil little community from end to end. I was particularly delighted with the approach to the town: at one point, the road runs through a cutting in the limestone, with rocky embankments and a dark stand of trees shadowing the way — the perfect entrance to the site of high strangeness!

Julie's innovative shot

Julie’s innovative shot

My gracious and adventurous wife took the wheel for our visit to Flatwoods, allowing me to relish every view of the town and its woods, and to leap out and take photos at will.

Flatwoods, West Virginia

Flatwoods, West Virginia

Flatwoods: location of a handful of people’s encounter, in early fall 1952, with something in a tree; something that may have been from another world. And we were there, in late summer 2013!

Flatwoods, West Virginia

Flatwoods, West Virginia

 

 

 

 

27 Responses to Monster Country

  1. Rich S. says:

    When I was a DJ back in the late 80’s, I did the weekend midnight to 6am shift on the FM Monster Country station.

    Reply
    • fsdthreshold says:

      Was the emphasis on monsters or on country music? I hope the former; I suspect the latter. 🙂 It’s really cool that you were a DJ! I always thought you had all the right gifts for it . . .

      Reply
    • fsdthreshold says:

      It wasn’t that hard! (Obviously not, since even I could figure it out!) But one does need the keys to the castle. Heh!

      Reply
    • Shieldmaiden says:

      Glad yours is back, it just wouldn’t be Brown Snowflake without your brown snowflake! Do you think mine can be rescued as well?

      Reply
      • fsdthreshold says:

        Hi, Shieldmaiden! I’ve been trying and trying to get your old green-and-white avatar back. I’m doing exactly the same thing I was doing with Brown’s, and you’re showing up as having the right one in my list of users. I don’t know why this one won’t change back to the right one. Maybe you could try posting another comment? It’s supposed to be right now . . .

        Reply
        • Shieldmaiden says:

          I only have my green one if I sign in as Shieldmaiden, which I am now. But, I was trying to see if I could get the comment notifications by clicking the box that only shows up if I’m not signed in. I haven’t gotten any new comments notices in my email since we changed the blog, except for this direct reply to my comment. I don’t know why I don’t get the notices anymore, for either of the ways I sign in. I click the box and ask for it to be sent but nothing happens. Thanks for trying though.

          Reply
          • Shieldmaiden says:

            Now my green one is gone when I signed in. Weird. It was in the top corner just like always, but when I posted it changed to the one above and so did my icon in the corner by my name. Not sure what is up.

          • fsdthreshold says:

            Hi–Okay, I was able to change yours to a different random photo. So I can exert some control as it’s supposed to be. Now I’ll try changing it back to the green avatar. You are also registered for notifications at two different addresses, your regular one and the one beginning with “1.” It’s baffling why you don’t receive notices . . . 🙁

          • Shieldmaiden says:

            I know. I would have given up my green snowflake and stayed with the purple if I could have gotten the notices, but it doesn’t work on either. The only notice I ever get is to a direct reply on a comment I’ve made. I signed up for all comment notifications, but I don’t get them on either email account, but I always did on the other blog format though. Strange!

          • fsdthreshold says:

            Okay — Now I’ve switched over your notifications preference from plain text to HTML. Let’s see if this works any better for you. I’ll leave a comment on my latest post, directed to you. We’ll see if you receive it.

          • fsdthreshold says:

            By the way, the Webmaster says what you’ve described as happening lately is normal; usually, people subscribed to blogs only receive notices of replies to their comments, not notices of any comment anyone makes on the blog. He doesn’t know of a way to do that, so it’s intriguing that the old blog worked that way . . . So, as far as the Webmaster knows, you should definitely be receiving 1.) the notice when I write a new post, and 2.) notices of replies to your comments.

    • fsdthreshold says:

      Well, I would argue that, in this case, belief is not the point. “Belief” in these phenomena is about as illogical a position as “disbelief” in them. But the literature is fascinating . . . the evidence intriguing . . . the questions fun to think about. For me, I guess it boils down to story again. Monsters in the dark corners of our workaday world make for delightful stories!

      Reply
      • Hagiograph says:

        Totally agree! Part of the fun of all this stuff is the “what if…” aspect. Personally I don’t believe in Nessie, but it’s fun to think about being out in that area some night and seeing a hulking monster rise up from the Loch. So obviously when we were in Scotland we HAD to stop by Loch Ness. And if faced with chances to see the places of possible “nightmares” (real or imagined) it is always fun to see it and imagine again the creepy.

        Reply
  4. i am mr brown snowflake says:

    I admit that it does sound somewhat hypocritical of me, since I do consider myself a man of faith …

    I do not doubt that some, if not most, of those who have seen these things or had some kind of experience are genuine in what they honestly feel they observed, but I make a few observations:

    No bodies. Ever. No scat, no hair, no prey animals, no dead young ones and on and on and on. Also, the world is filled with video and photo devices and we have NOT ONE solid piece of evidence supporting any of this.

    I categorically refuse to accept sasquatch/yeti/lake monsters and while I believe the universe teems with intelligent life, I do not believe we have been visited.

    That said, it does make for interesting storytelling.

    Reply
    • fsdthreshold says:

      Actually, there have been cases of what are believed to be hair samples from sasquatches. When these are analyzed, the results are typically inconclusive. They are usually found to be from a somewhat apelike (though not exactly), somewhat humanlike (though not exactly) creature. Which is interesting, because that’s precisely the result one would expect to get from a test on strands of hair from an unknown hominid. There have been numerous sound recordings of alleged sasquatches vocalizing. Again, lab analyses are inconclusive. The experts ultimately have to say, “We don’t know what this is.”

      I’m inclined to agree with you that the existence of yet undiscovered, man-sized hairy hominids in North America is looking less and less likely as the years go by. All the arguments aside about how hard it is to find the physical remains of any animal in the woods because of scavengers, the fact is, we do have the bones of deer, bear, etc.

      However, the sheer numbers of footprints discovered — often by accident in really out-of-the-way places — are hard to ignore. Clearly, something is going on.

      I lean away from the theory of a physical population of unknown hominids inhabiting the Pacific Northwest — though it’s not impossible, and if the existence of a physical sasquatch is one day proved, I will be delighted and not greatly surprised.

      I find it intriguing that, in every age, paranormal sightings and events have conformed somewhat to the perceptions of the human race in the given prevailing culture. Once upon a time, people saw dragons, fairies, and a lot more ghosts. Ghosts have prevailed. For a time, there were reports of “wild men of the woods.” Later, the “men” perception gave way to the more apelike sasquatch. Before the airplane, people were seeing “phantom airships.” In the space age, these phenomena in the sky became “flying saucers” — possible visitors from other planets. I can’t help wondering if John Keel wasn’t onto something when he posited that these things all might be part of the same larger phenomenon . . . something that manifests itself differently at different times, perhaps dependent on the perceptions of the people who encounter it. That is to say, a hiker in the deep woods sees what he thinks of as Bigfoot — and the Bigfoot is there for the duration of the encounter, leaving tracks, leaving anomalous hair, leaving a blurry image on film or a strange shriek on an audio recording . . . but that Bigfoot may not be a physical creature that then goes off to a den to sleep. Part of the same phenomenon may be a Bloop, tracked by the Navy and baffling them. It may be an aerial object that maneuvers at impossible speeds past experienced pilots and then vanishes. Who knows?

      We live in a world of shadows and wonders. There is a lot we have not yet comprehended.

      Reply
      • Hagiograph says:

        Have you read Sagan’s “Demon Haunted World”? For me it was a revelation type book. It was a turning point in life for me. A kind of appreciation that many of our conceptions that came with fear and trembling for a supernatural aspect are often misconceptions. It’s a GREAT book. One of Sagan’s best.

        Reply
    • Hagiograph says:

      Isn’t it ironic! The man of faith will not take on faith the “monsters” and the man of no faith (me) loves to think about these things hiding in the corners! I don’t believe in much of the Fortean stuff, but it’s like brain-candy. I LOVE a good horror movie because of the “what if…” factor. In reality I’m right there with you, Brown, in desiring something that smacks of “verification”, at least evidence for the concept to really believe it.

      That being said there are aspects of science that my limited brain has to kind of take on “faith” as well. This is the true irony. There are aspects of quantum mechanics that simply cannot make any real sense in the macroworld we live in. The MATH is what makes it IMPERATIVE and the fact that the math describes the reality so effectively ties the whole thing up in a nice package.

      So even though the entire concept of something that has mass can be both a wave and a particle (as the electron is) seriously freaks me out but is the heart of what chemistry is. We rely on understanding how the electrons function between atoms. That is the nature of the chemical bond.

      And yet, in a real sense, it is so abstract as to make the Trinity start making sense.

      As a scientist the goal is not to answer all the questions…but rather to minimize one’s reliance on “faith” to understand.

      NONE of us are perfect. Almost all of us harbor irrational thoughts and superstitions of some form. We are all “fallen” and the only “grace” we have access to is a “realism”. And we can only be deserving of that grace if we have the humility to realize we are NOT cold computers without wholly human foibles.

      So I rejoice in my love a good “supposedly true” scary story! And then go back to my lab and draw conclusions as best I can on the EVIDENCE and reject that which lacks it.

      Reply
  5. i am mr brown snowflake says:

    Hagio: I look at planes (especially ultra-heavy jumbo jets) lumbering into the air and while I understand there is a mathematical and scientific reason to explain what is happening, it is really an inferred theory, isn’t it? I take it on faith the science works! lol

    I was unaware of “Demon Haunted World” but enjoyed “The Dragons of Eden”, “Pale Blue Dot” and “Contact”. The latter was a good movie but would have been a much better one had they followed the book more closely!

    Reply
  6. Morwenna says:

    I have received a postcard from Nessie. She writes, “I spotted a UFO last night, but the other lake monsters won’t believe me!”

    Reply
  9. Scott says:

    Everyone knows that the reason there isn’t any evidence is because of the MEN IN BLACK! They swoop in in their black helicopters and erase all evidence of sightings. They also erase and modify memories of witnesses with their flashy thingies.

    Also, I thought Bigfoot was a bionically enhanced creature controlled by aliens.

    Reply

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