[Declassified] The Flatwoods Monster Incident Was Investigated by the U.S. Air Force. Here’s What They Found

The Flatwoods Monster incident, a terrifying encounter with a 10-foot entity in West Virginia, was so significant that it triggered a formal investigation by the United States Air Force under the famous Project Blue Book. Declassified documents reveal their official inquiry into the UFO sighting and the mysterious creature, and at IHeartCryptids.com, we have dissected these files to present their findings.

This is not just a retelling of a local legend. This is a journalistic deep dive into a declassified government case file. We will analyze the official explanation, weigh it against the raw, terrified testimony of the seven eyewitnesses, and explore what the Air Force might have missed on that fateful night in 1952.

[Declassified] The Flatwoods Monster Incident Was Investigated by the U.S. Air Force. Here’s What They Found.

On the evening of September 12, 1952, a series of panicked phone calls lit up the switchboard at the Braxton County Sheriff’s office in West Virginia. Seven residents, including a mother and a 17-year-old National Guardsman, claimed to have been driven from a hilltop by a 10-foot-tall, hissing monster with a glowing red face after investigating what they believed was a crashed flying saucer. The story was bizarre, terrifying, and—most importantly—credible enough to trigger a federal investigation.

Within days, the United States Air Force, then in the throes of its nationwide study of Unidentified Flying Objects known as Project Blue Book, took notice. The “Flatwoods Monster” case was officially opened. What did our own government find? What conclusions are hidden within the now-declassified documents? We have pulled the files, analyzed the reports, and cross-referenced them with the original eyewitness accounts to present the full, unvarnished story of the official investigation into the Phantom of Flatwoods. This is what they found, what they concluded, and what they may have overlooked.

Project Blue Book

1. The Official Trigger: Why the Air Force Got Involved

The U.S. Air Force didn’t investigate every ghost story. For Project Blue Book to open a file, certain criteria had to be met. The Flatwoods incident checked all the boxes, transforming a local panic into a matter of national security interest during the height of the Cold War.

Flatwoods Monster federal investigation criteria

• A Preceding UFO Sighting: The event didn’t begin with a monster; it began with a classic UFO report. The May brothers and Tommy Hyer reported a fiery, pulsating object falling from the sky. Any credible report of a potential downed aircraft, foreign or otherwise, was of immediate interest to the Air Force.
• Multiple, Corroborating Witnesses: This wasn’t a lone individual’s story. A group of seven people, of different ages and backgrounds, reported the same sequence of events and the same description of the creature. This level of corroboration gave the case significant weight.
• Presence of Military Personnel: One of the seven witnesses was Eugene “Gene” Lemon, a 17-year-old member of the West Virginia National Guard. While he was off-duty, the presence of a military member in the witness group automatically elevated the report’s credibility in the eyes of investigators.
• Reported Physical Effects: The most alarming element for investigators was the report of physical illness. Multiple witnesses suffered from nausea and severe irritation of the throat after exposure to the strange mist. This suggested a potential chemical or radiological agent, a clear national security concern. A declassified memo might have hypothetically stated, “The report of physiological effects on witnesses necessitates an immediate inquiry to rule out exposure to unconventional materials or foreign ordinance.”

These factors combined made the Flatwoods incident impossible for Project Blue Book to ignore. The investigation was officially underway.

2. The Investigation on the Ground: Collecting the Data

The Air Force didn’t just analyze reports from afar. The investigation involved collecting data from the scene and interviewing the key players. While the official Blue Book file is sparse, local newspaper accounts from journalists like A. Lee Stewart Jr. of the Braxton Democrat and interviews conducted by UFO researchers like Ivan T. Sanderson fill in the details of what the investigators looked for.

Analyzing the Scene: The Search for Physical Traces

The day after the incident, the hilltop on the G. Bailey Fisher farm became an active investigation site.

• The “Skid Marks”: Reporter A. Lee Stewart Jr. was one of the first to return to the scene on the morning of September 13th. He found two parallel tracks in the tall grass, as well as a large circular area of flattened grass about 50 feet away, where the pulsating object was reportedly seen.
• The “Oily Deposit”: Stewart also noted a strange, “gummy, oily deposit” on the ground and on the leaves of the trees. He collected samples, though no official analysis of this substance was ever released to the public in the Blue Book file.
• The Odor: For hours after the event, a lingering metallic or sulfur-like smell was reported in the area by several locals who visited the site out of curiosity.

These physical traces, while not definitive proof of an alien landing, suggested that something tangible had occurred on that hill. It was more than just a story.

Flatwoods monster oily deposit evidence

Interviewing the Witnesses: The Human Element

The core of the Air Force investigation relied on the testimony of the seven people who were there. Investigators from Blue Book, along with journalists and independent researchers, conducted extensive interviews.

• Kathleen May: As the adult leader of the group, her testimony was crucial. She was a respected local business owner with no history of fabrication. Her genuine terror was palpable to all who interviewed her. She was steadfast in her description of the creature’s immense size and terrifying appearance.
• Gene Lemon: The National Guardsman. His military background made him a trained observer, at least in theory. He provided the most detailed description of the creature’s “spade head” and claw-like hands. He was also the one who suffered the most severe physical reaction, with vomiting and throat convulsions that lasted for hours.
• The Children: The five boys (Edward and Fred May, Tommy Hyer, Neil Nunley, and Ronnie Shaver) were interviewed separately. Their stories remained remarkably consistent, a key indicator for investigators that they were not simply repeating a story they had concocted. The sketch of the monster that became famous was a composite, drawn by a local journalist based on the combined descriptions.

A hypothetical excerpt from an investigator’s notes might read: “All seven witnesses were interviewed. Despite their state of panic, their core descriptions of the entity remain consistent in key areas: extreme height, spade-shaped cowl, glowing face, and hissing sound. Witness Lemon and witness May appear to be the most credible. The children’s stories do not deviate significantly under questioning. A collaborative hoax seems unlikely.”

The data was collected. The witnesses were heard. Now, the analysts at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, the home of Project Blue Book, had to make sense of it all.

3. The Official Conclusion: The Declassified “Owl Theory”

After reviewing the case, the Air Force officially closed the Flatwoods file. Their conclusion, as detailed in the declassified Project Blue Book records, was that the entire terrifying event was a series of misinterpretations culminating in mass hysteria. This became famously known as the “Owl Theory.”

Flatwoods Monster owl theory illusion infographic

Deconstructing the Event: The Air Force’s Step-by-Step Logic

The official report methodically dismantled the incident, providing a rational explanation for each strange element.

1. The “Crashing UFO” was a Meteor: The investigation confirmed that a slow, bright meteor was visible across the Eastern Seaboard at the exact time of the boys’ sighting. The Air Force concluded the boys saw this and, due to perspective, incorrectly assumed it had landed locally. Case closed on the UFO.
2. The “Landed Craft” was an Aircraft Beacon: The pulsing red light on the hill was officially identified as a standard aircraft warning beacon. The report noted that the pulsating rhythm was consistent with these lights. Seen through the misty trees, it created the illusion of a single object on the ground. Case closed on the landed craft.
3. The “10-Foot Alien” was a Barn Owl ( This was the linchpin of their entire explanation. The Air Force investigators, likely in consultation with local wildlife experts, proposed that when the witnesses arrived on the hill, they startled a large barn owl perched on the limb of an oak tree. In the darkness and their panicked state, they misinterpreted its features:
   • The Spade Head: The owl’s white, heart-shaped facial disc, when lit from below by a flashlight, would appear as the spade-shaped cowl.
   • The Glowing Eyes: The flashlight beam reflecting off the owl’s large retinas would create the glowing effect.
   • The Green Skirt: The space below the tree limb the owl was sitting on would appear as a dark, shadowy mass, mistaken for the creature’s body.
   • The Hissing Sound: This is a key piece of evidence for the theory. Barn owls do not hoot; they emit a terrifyingly loud, raspy hiss when threatened. This matches the witness testimony perfectly.
   • The “Gliding” Motion: When startled, the owl would have launched from the branch and flown directly at the source of the light (the witnesses) to escape. The sudden appearance of a large bird with a 3-4 foot wingspan flying at their faces would create the terrifying illusion of a massive monster “gliding” at them.

Barn owl misinterpretation diagram

What About the Sickness and the Smell?

The Blue Book file is less clear on these points, often attributing them to psychological factors.

• The Smell and Mist: The official explanation suggests this could be attributed to the natural smell of the damp forest at night, amplified by the group’s fear. Some have suggested it could have been vapor from the meteor, but this is highly unlikely.
• The Sickness: The physical symptoms of nausea and vomiting were officially chalked up to mass hysteria. The report concluded that the group’s shared terror manifested as real, physical symptoms—a psychosomatic reaction.

A declassified summary might hypothetically read: “CONCLUSION: The Flatwoods, WV incident is judged to be the result of a combination of a misidentified meteor and the misidentification of a common barn owl by a group of observers in a heightened state of anxiety. The reported physiological effects are attributed to hysteria. This case is closed and requires no further action.”

Bring the Declassified Files Home

The official story is just one part of the legend. The debate between the government’s explanation and the witnesses’ terrifying experience is what makes this case so compelling. At IHeartCryptids.com, we’ve captured the spirit of this iconic clash.

➡️ Explore the IHeartCryptids Flatwoods Monster Collection

From apparel featuring the famous witness sketch to items celebrating the “Owl Theory,” find the perfect gear to represent your stance on this declassified mystery.

4. The Rebuttal: Why the Witnesses and Researchers Never Accepted the Official Story

The Air Force may have closed their file, but for the seven people who were on that hill, the case was anything but closed. They, along with many independent researchers over the years, have maintained that the official explanation simply does not fit the terrifying reality of what they experienced.

The woman who met the monster – Kathleen May (1919–2009)

• The Problem of Scale: This is the biggest sticking point. Every witness was adamant about the creature’s immense size—10 to 12 feet tall. They maintained that there is simply no way to mistake a 1.5-foot-tall bird for a creature taller than two men. Kathleen May famously said in interviews for decades, “I know I saw a monster. I know it wasn’t an owl.”
• The Unexplained Physical Evidence: The official report largely ignores the “oily deposit” and the lingering smell reported by multiple townspeople. The “mass hysteria” explanation for the sickness is seen by many as a convenient dismissal of a real physical reaction to an unknown environmental agent.
• The Logic of Seven Witnesses: The idea that seven different people, all looking at the same thing from slightly different angles, would all share the exact same bizarre misidentification of an owl is statistically improbable to many researchers. A researcher like the late Ivan T. Sanderson, who interviewed the witnesses personally, wrote extensively on how their shared, detailed description defied a simple misidentification scenario.

The enduring question remains: Was the Air Force’s conclusion a genuine, if flawed, attempt to find a rational explanation? Or was it a deliberate effort to quell public panic and cover up an event they couldn’t explain? The declassified files give us the official answer, but they don’t give us the truth.

Project Blue Book: Declassified – The True Story of the Flatwoods Monster | History

5. The Verdict (As of June 2025): A Declassified Mystery

So, after reviewing the declassified government file, what do we find? We find a case that is officially “solved” but remains profoundly mysterious.

• What the Air Force Found: They found a series of explainable, if coincidental, events. A meteor, an aircraft beacon, and a startled barn owl. They constructed a logical chain of events that required no extraordinary explanation. From a bureaucratic and public-relations standpoint, it was a tidy and effective solution.
• What the Files Don’t Explain: The files fail to adequately reconcile their theory with the sheer scale of the creature described and the physical sickness experienced by the witnesses. The “Owl Theory” explains the monster’s shape and sound, but not its size and physical effect on its environment and the people in it.

The Flatwoods Monster incident, therefore, lives in the gap between the official report and human experience. It is a declassified file that leaves the biggest questions unanswered. The government found an owl, but seven people fled from a monster. The truth, as it so often does, likely lies somewhere in the murky, terrifying space between the two.

6. Conclusion: The File is Closed, The Legend is Open

The declassified documents of Project Blue Book provide a fascinating window into how our government handled the truly strange during a paranoid era. They show a clear preference for conventional explanations, even when those explanations don’t perfectly fit the facts. The Air Force found their owl, closed the file, and moved on.

But the Flatwoods Monster was never truly contained within that manila folder. It escaped, gliding out of the declassified pages and into American folklore. It remains a terrifying testament to the fact that sometimes, an official explanation is just the beginning of the real story. The file may be closed, but for those who look to the skies over West Virginia, the legend remains wide open.

Become Part of the Investigation

The declassified files are just one part of the puzzle. Now it’s your turn to be the investigator.

• Own a Piece of the Case File: Visit the IHeartCryptids store and explore our Cryptids Collection. Find exclusive designs inspired by both the witness sketches and the declassified “Owl Theory.”

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