FLATWOODS, WEST VIRGINIA

Several strange objects and lights were reported by many residents from Ohio to Washington, DC, on the night of September 12. About 7 p.m. that same night Eddie and Fred May, thirteen and twelve respectively, ran into their home at Flatwoods, West Virginia, and told their mother, Mrs. Kathleen May, that they had seen a "flying saucer." The boys had been at a playground with several other youngsters, including Gene Lemon, seventeen, Nell Nunley, fourteen, Ronnie Shaver, ten, and Tommy Hyer, ten. The thing they described to Mrs. May was something that resembled a silver dollar plummeting across the sky trailed by red balls of fire. The "saucer" was on a southwest course, appeared to stop and hover above a hill, then descended out of view on the other side.

The May home was located at the base of the hill, and when Mrs. May insisted that the boys were merely imagining things, they told her to look at the hill, which she did, and she saw the reddish glow on the other side. Mrs. May then accompanied the group of children up the hill, led by Lemon who was carrying a flashlight. The little group proceeded up the hill until Lemon spotted an eerie form ahead of them, screamed, and turned and ran. The rest saw something too, and sketches made later generally tallied.

According to the stories told by the witnesses, they had crested the hill and spotted a big ball of fire, pulsating rhythmically, about fifty feet away from them beyond the top of the hill. It was "as big as a house," they said.

Their attention riveted on the huge, apparition before them, the group did not at first notice something off to their right. Then Lemon saw what looked like two green eyes glowing in the darkness, turned his flashlight beam toward it, then turned and fled.

The second "thing" appeared to be at least ten feet tall, was generally man-shaped, and had a red, round "head" with something which resembled a peaked hood above it. The "body" was not seen clearly because of the darkness. They all became aware of the sickening odor which was irritating to their nostrils. They said they heard a throbbing or thumping noise as well as a hissing sound. The spectral figure moved toward the terrified group in a gliding motion, and they turned and fled back down the hill.

Later reports of this specific incident tried to explain away the two objects as nothing more than hallucination after seeing a meteor plough through the skies. The "silver dollar" would be the meteor; the "thing" on the hill was the hallucination. But Mrs. May and Gene Lemon and the others did not go along with this explanation. They all suffered irritated throats the next day, and when searchers explored the hilltop they found strange marks which indicated that something fairly heavy had glided or skidded over the terrain. In the early morning hours the strange smell still hung about the ground where the witnesses claimed they had seen the horrible-looking "creature."

The May-Lemon sighting (or the Flatwoods Incident as it was later dubbed) was the last spectacular UFO event of 1952.