The Grafton Monster or Beast of Grafton was a cryptid from Taylor County, West Virginia sighted in 1964. Their car came to a sudden stop and refused to start again. It was last autumn on August 27, 2017 when my experiences first began; it was a Saturday evening between 6:30-7:30 PM, I think it was. In the Wii U game The Wonderful 101, the character Gimme has a striking resemblance to the Flatwoods monster. This Tumblers & Water Glasses item is sold by Strangeology. A state of the east-central United States. And why do we want them so badly anyway?). I wasnt dreaming of this incident nor was I hallucinating it; it wasnt even a simple misidentification. Finally, I gained this overwhelming sense of dread after seeing it walk to my side of the car on two legs, slowly bent down to level its eyes with mine, and I froze in pure, unadulterated horror when it used its hand to jiggle the door handle to try and open my car door. In the fall of 2015, a Bedford County woman called 911 with claims she saw one carrying offspring . Others are experiments gone awry, or once normal animals mutated by radiation, and given the names of infamous cryptids to match their new forms. When I received this report, I contacted one of my friends Denver Michaels (author of Wild & Wonderful (and Paranormal) West Virginia). 2. r/Cryptozoology. This creature, thought to be the same creature sighted in Flatwoods, is known as the Frametown Monster. My parents were concerned about the state I was in and asked me what happened I basically told them everything that transpired just before I pulled in. The "fandom" wiki for the Fallout 76 game, which contains information on the game itself, and the cryptids found within it. These are just a few of the many cryptids that are said to roam the state of West Virginia. Check out some of the interesting artwork. This is my list for the Top 5 Cryptids of West Virginia!For millennia, people have claimed seeing unusual creatures that don't fit our paradigm of understand. Cookie Notice At 7:15pm on September 12, 1952, three little boys witnessed a bright object cross the sky. pp. The cryptid comeback not only brings exciting mysteries into the lives of outsiders but promotes pride of place to the residents of towns like Point Pleasant. The Mothman Festival is an annual commemoration of the visit of the cryptid known as the Mothman. It sounded like a record player running faster than it should, a sort of high-pitched jabbering. The Oxford English Dictionary defines the word cryptid as "An animal whose existence or survival is disputed or unsubstantiated, such as the yeti.". It's been seen by many people over the years, and it even has its own monument dedicated to it. In 1994, a twenty-eight-year-old man said that he was seven years old at the time. But the eyes the eyes were the one thing, the only thing about my encounter that night, that Ill never forget and even writing about it to you all right now sends a bone-chilling fear down my spine. While biologists regularly identify new species following established scientific methodology, cryptozoologists focus on entities mentioned in the folklore record and rumor. 124125. The Sheepsquatch's initial sightings state it ran from people, but it seems to have become more aggressive over time. This series is made to give you information on those stories, and leave the decision if they. This superfund site was allegedly home to the Mothman, and has been linked to other local cryptids as well. Take the Morgantown Public Library's quick and fun quiz to see what famous WV cryptid you are! It was an honor to speak at this event which locals are estimating topped over 20,000 attendees on the first day alone. He currently resides in Idamay with his wife Jennifer and is a proud dad of f. Required fields are marked *. From the waist up, however, it was a reptilian humanoid. It also appeared to be partially plant based, and possessed large ears with striking eyes that oscillated in colors. . One of the locals' dog ran ahead out of sight and started barking, and moments later ran back to the group with its tail between its legs. It was later revealed that the tracks were likely to have been those of a Chevroletpickup truckdriven by a local, who had gone to the site to look for the creature some hours prior to Stewert's discovery. See the additional links section for a small sampling. [1][2], Following these sightings, groups of teenagers went in search of the Grafton Monster dubbing it "monster hunting". The Grafton Monster is described as being seven to nine feet tall, four feet wide and having white seal-like skin. Institution. Whatever theory Ive had to support any rational explanation for this unusual sighting were immediately shot away when this creature did something that Ill never forget for the rest of my life, something that still haunts my soul to this very day. Fortunately, all the doors to my car were locked and every window werent open, but this still horrified me to a point where I couldnt even breathe. Bigfoot reports are also tied to these areas as well. I COME IN PEACE. Who is the Flatwoods Monster? It's described as being a reptilian creature with spikes down its back. Sticker. The witnesses felt as if she had to keep track of the eyes and she felt a sense of evil and foreboding. White Things, White Devils or Devil Dogs, most notably the Sheepsquatch, which appears on the show Mountain Monsters, are amongst the most historically infamous cryptids in West Virginia. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. Bigfoot, Sasquatch, Mothman, Dogman, Sea Monster, Champ, Champy, Loch Ness Monster, Alien, UFO, extraterrestrial, Funny, Warning, Caution, Sign, camp, camping, camper, hunt, hunter, hunting, fish, fishing, fisherman, outdoor, recreation, forest, woods, wilderness, spirit, ghost, Paranormal, Supernatural, Werewolf, Wolfman. Box 6069 Morgantown, WV 26506-6069 Phone: 1-304-293-4040 Fax: 1-304-293-6638 West Virginia University. Field guide of whales and dolphins. Also features the first year they were each spotted and where they're from/most seen in state. It's been seen by many people over the years, and there have even been some sightings of it outside of West Virginia. wvwild.org's list of some of the more common dangerous animals that you can find in WV. Check out our cryptids of west virginia selection for the very best in unique or custom, handmade pieces from our shops. The Ogua is a cryptid said to live in the Greenbrier River. ), "YOU NEED NOT FEAR ME. The witness said the creature stood at eight feet in height. Now, I may have made up different stories and stuff before, but that was only when I was so little and whatever Ive experienced wasnt a joke; I told them the whole truth with honesty, but terror in my voice. To be honest with you, the fangs had a very eerie resemblance to those of a Smilodon or saber-toothed cat, but the rest of it just looked like a werewolf. West Virginia - isn't Mothman more worthy of this honor? Sheepsquatch, also known as the "White Thing", is a woolly-haired cryptid reported across numerous counties in West Virginia, predominantly within the southwestern region of the state. The rolling hills and deep forests of Appalachia are home a wide array of natural flora and fauna, and perhaps unsurprisingly, are also a hotbed of monster or cryptid sightings. Notable examples include: Painting based on the witness' descriptions, The Flatwoods Monster from The Legend Of Zelda: Majora's Mask, The Flatwoods Monster Forms (1952) - The Flatwoods Monster Forms (2002), Flatwoods Monster from Ninja Baseball Batman, The Flatwoods Monster as potrayed in the Popular and arguably awful game Fallout 76. Cryptidscreatures whose existence is unsubstantiated, like Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monsterare found in folklore throughout the United States and the world. ". The Grafton Monster is described as being seven to nine feet tall, four feet wide and having white seal-like skin. Bigfoot is arguably the most well known cryptid, at least in North America, however legends of similar creatures can be found around the world. Even with this, though. It's been seen by many people over the years, and there have even been some sightings of it outside of West Virginia. They bear a striking resemblance to the Flatwoods monster. Cryptozoology is a pseudoscience, which primarily looks at anecdotal stories, and other claims rejected by the scientific community. Whatever this thing was, it was intelligent enough to know what a doorknob or, in this case, a door handle is for. On June 16, 1964, Robert Cockrell got off work at local newspaper publication Grafton . According to many in Webster County, the animal was responsible for the deaths of a growing number of livestock over the period it stalked the land. The McClintic Wildlife Management Area, better known to locals as the "TNT Area". Others have also suggested it could have been an "interdimensional traveller."[1]. ", "In Cherokee lore, the sudden appearance of a white wolf heralds a magic, premature death. The entity was initially reported as being about 10 feet tall and 4 feet wide. For more information, please see our Not to be outdone by Flatwoods, the town of Grafton in Taylor County, WV, has its own local monster. Almost all White Things are described to have dog like features, but in different accounts, some are humanoid creatures like Bigfoot, demons or even prehistoric cats. Canines do not walk on their hind legs unless forced to do so, and this is discussed in the NCS article , Normal canines do not have hands or paws that offer much dexterity at all. By the time it crossed the road, it paused for a couple of seconds before it slowly turned around to look at me one last time. [1][3], One teenager interviewed suggested the Grafton Monster may have been an escaped polar bear. As crazy as these explanations sound, it is the only thing that makes sense. The object came to rest on land belonging to a local farmer. What cryptid are you? Cryptozoology is a pseudoscience, which primarily looks at anecdotal stories, and other claims rejected by the scientific community. While it's fun to talk about cryptids, keep in mind there are "real monsters" in the woods of West Virginia. Ingrid Cold is real. From there, the boys and a group of locals went to thefarm to try to find whatever it was that the boys had seen. Charleston is the capital and the largest city. Once they saw the thing land, crash land in the hills. Not far from this encounter, at an amusement park in Huntington, lies the third-largest burial mound in West Virginia. While the page says monsters, the proper term for the creatures on display here would be "cryptids". No list of Appalachian cryptids would be complete without the most famous of them, Point Pleasant's own Mothman! He was riding in a car with members of his familyThe witness described the thing as 'mostly white, no wings, with real thick, shaggy hair.' Was the state government secretly using conservation efforts to repopulate wolves here in the state? One of the few pages with information about this creature. He's a Cryptid in West Virginia folklore associated with mothman and is really neat. The dog is invisible to others. [2], The next day at work, Cockrell said nothing to his co-workers about the monster. His cult of worshippers, who have taken over Point Pleasant, are not so benevolent however. They also gathered a statement from the mother of the local farmer, in which she said that, at the approximate time of the crash, her house had been violently shaken and her radio had cut out for 45 minutes, and a report from the director of the local Board of Education in which he claimed to have seen a flying saucer taking off at 6:30 in the morning of September 13th (the morning after the creature was sighted). The existence of arms is a similar matter. It claimed the monster may have resulted from an "individual pushing a handcart loaded high with boxes, walking along Riverside drive on Tuesday night". This red-eyed chrome beast pays homage to the popular modern myth of West Virginia's insectoid monster. The monster also posses no discernible head and is said to emit a whistling sound. Tales like Kozuls wove themselves into the folklore of the area, convincing many of their veracity despite some local residents later admitting to banging on neighbors houses and screeching to spread stories of the monster as teenagers. Charleston Gazette-Mail article about the Mothman festival, and the source of the image above. The Mothman Museum in downtown Point Pleasant, WV. Though Cockrells editors at the Sentinel immediately dismissed reports of a monster in Grafton, the towns residents quickly began a massive search of the area over the following weeks and the legend of a local beast soon spread across the state. Bringing cryptozoological awareness to the public. On November 12th, 1966, a group of grave diggers in Clendenin claimed they saw a man like figure flying low through the trees near a cemetery. Anyway, it was getting dark and I eventually found my way home in the form of a road called Eighth Street near Lavalette that led me to Mount Union Road. ), bobcats, cougars / mountain lions, coyotes, various snakes and even wolves could all once be found in the region, and might still be in some forgotten hills. I honestly thought I was going to die that night, that my family and friends would never see me again, that they would never know that I was about to be killed or eaten alive by something no one even believes existed, and that there was nothing I could do about it. For the upcoming film, see. Not far from this encounter, at an amusement park in Huntington, lies the third-largest burial mound in West Virginia. The wikipedia article about cryptids and cryptozoology. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. Any copyrighted material used on this site is done so under Section 107 Fair Use. The most common, or popular, cryptids that most people would know about areBigfoot / Sasquatch, and the Loch Ness Monster. The hind legs resemble more like those of a dog or wolf; this I can easily tell because they bent backwards and had these massive paws for feet, and from the looks of which, it was standing on his toes more than on his feet. The other thing to consider is if perhaps the creature that the witness described is perhaps related to the skinwalkers of Navajo lore. It's not the photographer's fault. The Sheepsquatch is a cryptid that's said to resemble a cross between a sheep and an ape. West Virginia University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action The Four-Eyed Beast of Beckley West Virginia: National Cryptid Society Podcast . It also had these dexterous hands that looked almost like raccoon hands, but with more elongated fingers and long, jet-black claws at each fingertip; they looked like they can be used to easily manipulate any kind of prey in its clutches and they looked like they could easily rip me to shreds, or maybe they can do more than just that. Not your typical kind-hearted denizens of the forest, these and other mysterious creatures are the targets of a group of hunters known as the Appalachian Investigators of Mysterious Sightings, or A.I.M.S. tid sighting story you would like to tell us, please visit our . West Virginia Cryptids: A Visual Travel Guide for Traversing the Mountain State Paperback - May 13, 2021 by Mr. Mark A Randall (Author), Mr. Les O'Dell (Author) 9 ratings See all formats and editions Paperback $10.00 1 New from $10.00 The area now known as West Virginia has always been steeped in mystery. Cockrell's initial sighting, and others not long after, describe the monster as a large, white or greyish bipedal creature with no visible head. Witnesses commonly report this, and in fact, there have been a rash of dogman reports in Pennsylvania of upright canineswolf-like in appearancethat stand between 810 feet and have glowing yellow eyes. The most famous of these supposed creatures by far is the Mothman, first sighted in the town of Point Pleasant in 1966. Click to take the quiz. What cryptid are you? ARandomShoppe. Bigfoot is a large, ape-like creature, primarily found in the deep woods or mountains, which describes our region perfectly! The reptilian version of the Flatwoods Monster. White Things, White Devils or Devil Dogs, most notably the Sheepsquatch, which appears on the show Mountain Monsters, are amongst the most historically infamous cryptids in West Virginia. The evidence of a UFO landing was consistent with a truck, leaking oil, also having investigated the meteor. Ships from Norcross, GA. ", "The Zanzibar Leopard Between Science and Cryptozoology | PDF | Panthera | Organisms", "People Keep Seeing the Mothman in Chicago", "The mythic child-stealing Thunderbirds of Illinois", The Sasquatch and Other Unknown Hominoids, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_cryptids&oldid=1142174140, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia indefinitely semi-protected pages, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Giglioli's Whale, Rhinoceros dolphin, High-finned sperm whale, Alula whale, Unidentified beaked whales, Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, Dinosaur (lake, river and/or swamp monster), Jonesville Monster, Southern Sasquatch, Boggy Creek Monster, Chemosit, Kerit, Koddoelo, Ngoelo, Ngoloko, Duba, Large and hairy human-like entity, various other descriptions, Winged Man, Bird Man, UFO-Bird, Mason Bird Monster, This page was last edited on 28 February 2023, at 22:49. "In the first place, the guys have jobs, so we usually try to do it in three days, over a weekend and we have limited time. Various sightings across the region in the mid 1990s describe the Sheepsquatch as a large, furry or woolly white creature, usually a quadruped, although sometimes bipedal. She graduated from West Virginia University in 2010 with a BFA in graphic design. I WISH TO COMMUNICATE. Article around West Virginia artist Liz Pavlovic and her designs inspired by WV cryptids. That same night, a meteor was sighted across West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Maryland, accounting for the trail of light. It appeared to be some sort of robotic suit or . Yes, there are famous creatures here but you know I won't be talking about them. Perhaps the key (or a key) to this case (and maybe to the phenomenon in general) lies in the concentration of ancient burial mounds in the area. It is believed to be of extraterrestrial nature. When he tracked down the source of the sound, he came face to face with the creature. Run, he's fuzzy, get out of here." But then, I noticed that it was actually more like a wolf because it had a long bushy tail, pointed ears, a canine-like snout, and the same body shape as a wolf with jet-black hair and glowing amber-colored eyes. Bigfoot is blurry, and that's extra scary to me. At 7:15pm on September 12, 1952, three little boys witnessed a bright object cross the sky. Local experts and authorities attribute the sightings to a large heron or crane, owls, or even pranks and hoaxes after the initial report made the news. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask features creatures referred to as "Them" invading Romani Ranch in a UFO. This and several other Dogman reports describe dexterous hands.. During an encounter in Point Pleasant, the witness felt as if the dogmans eyes drew here in. She said when it stared at her, she became lost in its eyes. It is believed to be of extraterrestrial nature. Those who have reported these sightings describe a beast of varying sizes with white shaggy fur and long fangs that emits a chilling scream and alternates between moving on two legs and four. If you all think encountering one werewolf-like creature was terrifying enough, imagine how I felt when I saw there was more than one creature there with this one. A large, humanoid bipedal creature with no visible head and covered in slick white seal-like skin. West Virginia was part of Virginia until the area refused to endorse the ordinance of secession in 1861. As he moved through the woods in search of game, Frederick heard an odd noise. Its arms were thin and gave the impression of reeds by a river bank. The sculpture is adjacent to the Mothman Museum which opened in 2005 and offers exhibits related to the first "Mothman sightings" of the 1960s and Mothman's transition from rumor and superstition to a regional cultural icon. Could these werewolves be a manifestation of John Keels. West Virginia Dogman Encounter August 2017. "Cryptids" redirects here. Though a number of individuals have claimed they saw this monster over the years the most well-documented case is that of coal miner Frank Kozul in 1929, who reported seeing the beast while walking to his home in Fairmont one night in July through the woods on Morgans Ridge somewhere in this vicinity. It was admitted as the 35th state in 1863. and our In the Fallout 76 game set in Appalachia, there is a cryptid enemy known as the, Two Flatwoods Monsters appear on the cover of the album. If you have a personal cryptid sighting story you would like to tell us, please visit our Make A Report page on this site. No discussion about cryptids would be complete without Bigfoot, or the Sasquatch. In the 3DS game Tomodachi Life, the Flatwoods Monster makes an appearance along with other cryptids in the Mystery Interior.