"Flatwoods Monster" Movie?

 

Caricature by Dennis Rano 

"Flatwoods Monster" Movie? 

62 Year Anniversary of the “Flatwoods Monster” Incident

by Alfred Lehmberg

Author Frank Feschino, Jr. has worked continuously for more than two decades on various aspects of his ongoing and seemingly bottomless “Flatwoods Monster” research project. For ten of those years he's traveled the length and breadth of the whole nation presenting lectures on and exhibits regarding that research.  In the past three years—and recovering splendidly from the publisher botched first edition in 2004—he's released two revised “Braxton County Monster” books, appeared on numerous radio shows/live pod-casts, completed countless newspaper interviews, was feted at many book signings or meets and greets, and then put together a compelling film documentary which can be viewed free of charge on YouTube.com titled The Braxton County Monster/Flatwoods Monster: book by Feschino... très bien, eh?

Hugely significant, Frank was flown to California just last fall to contribute an interview about his “Flatwoods Monster” investigation for James Fox's UFO docudrama 701-The Movie.  Such has been so.

There is something out there...

Since then he's made some more public appearances and been interviewed on more radio programs, sure, but lately things had been quiet on the Feschino front.  What's up?

Now, in the past when Feschino had dropped off the radar and disappeared from the public eye like this it's meant but one thing: he's busy working on something substantive providing for an expanding support involving his research projects.

Well, reader, true to form, it seems he was involved in just such a matter!

This year, it being the 62nd anniversary of the "Flatwoods Monster" incident and with September 12th fast approaching, I spoke to Frank on the phone to see what he has been up to—get spun up on the "what was what."   Indeed, he's updated me with some new information about his latest initiative: it's a toe-curler.

Cutting right to the chase, Feschino advises that he has been working on and putting the finishing touches to no less than a movie treatment of the “Flatwoods Monster” incident!  See, to date he has led the longest and most productive investigation into the “Flatwoods Monster” case, in history!  Thus, he proves himself an authority on this highly strange incident after 22 years of truly unparalleled research.

Feschino, remember, is an author, an illustrator, a photographer and a competent video camera operator.  A quick back-story on Frank: for four years he was trained in illustration at the prestigious Paier School of Art by world-class artists Rudolph Zallinger, John Massimino and Kenneth Davies. He's also studied photography for professional applications.

During Feschino’s investigation he used his extensive art training alluded to, for example, when he could sit down with original witnesses and draw “police-style” renderings as these witnesses described their “Flatwoods Monster” or the "Braxton County UFOs" to him.  Frank also painted or penciled the dozens of illustrations he used for his books and took all the photographs contained in his books as well.

At Phillips Jr. College, Frank was trained by Hollywood steady-cam operator, Richard Davis, where he excelled in the operation of same. Too, Feschino studied the myriad aspects of film or video production but received his Associates Degree in production and business.  Feschino is by no means unqualified.

Subsequently, Frank’s camera operation and directing skills had enabled him to record many of the witnesses involved in the Flatwoods case throughout the years. Most of these taped interviews are the only ones in existence, I'm told, thus making Feschino most singular on the blame line for untangling the truth about the Flatwoods case and preserving it for an unvarnished, and so braver, history.

Additionally and for the record, reader, during Frank’s investigation he also accumulated the largest collection of "Flatwoods Monster" documentation from around the world. He amassed a huge collection of military books and attendant documents gathering countless periodicals from that 1952 era as well.  All of this material is the mortar used in his investigation: flesh and sinew for organ on bone.  The movie treatment must breath the spark of life to this living thing.

With all of this data in hand, forgetting Feschino's art, essay, photography and production skills, he also constructed a highly detailed and painstakingly accurate storyboard presentation of the “Flatwoods Monster” incident for his treatment!  This alone would rightfully encourage appointing him subject matter expert on a project competent to have provided the foundation for his film.  There is no one close to Feschino in this regard as it pertains to the history of 1952, the Summer Of Saucers, Military Involvement, and September 12th 1952, The Flatwoods Affair.   The closest would be the Great Wendy Connors, but she, missing key evidence in Project Blue Book unavailable to her when she did her research, got it wrong.

The Great Wendy Connors 

Moreover, if you haven’t noticed reader, since Feschino’s original book was published ten years ago and with the release of additional information in his subsequent books, the popularity of the "Flatwoods Monster" incident has continued to escalate on a worldwide scale. In a nutshell, Feschino has single-handedly resurrected the “Flatwoods Monster” incident by uncovering the truth regarding one of the biggest UFO cover-ups in our Nation's history!  I digress, but soon it must be that a "knee" is reached and the curve of an aggregate interest in the history of 1952 goes asymptotic, straight up—Saturn Rocket-like at a big fraction of light speed!  Whoosh!

Now, during our recent conversation Feschino further explained that his “Flatwoods Monster” movie idea has been on his agenda ever since going to film school in the early 1990s.  Mr. Davis, Feschino’s mentor at film school, worked closely with Frank and strongly encouraged him to follow through with his project. A "pro" advises a story well chased! His focus on same has been undaunted!

Throughout the years since I first met Frank, he'd casually mention the movie idea to me over the phone or when we'd traveled out on a book signing engagement... but he never elaborated on it. Currently, behind the scenes, Frank explained to me what actually inspired and prompted him to begin writing a “Flatwoods Monster” movie treatment by himself.

Back in 2007 Feschino had received a phone call from a well-known screenplay writer in California. Frank had just published his book, "Shoot Them Down-The Flying Saucer Air Wars of 1952." You see, this writer, a writer who had a credential writing a blockbuster screenplay for Steven Spielberg incidentally, said he needed assistance concerning a scene he was writing for a UFO movie project.

Well, as Frank explains, the scene involved an aerial encounter between a USAF jet fighter and a flying saucer over the Washington, DC area.  This was, of course, based on the actual events occurring in July of 1952 during the infamous "Summer Of Saucers."

Since Frank had written extensively about the July 1952 Washington sightings in two chapters of his Shoot Them Down, he gladly agreed to help the writer with the scene. It was an honor for Frank. The "screenplay writer" talked with Frank at length, read Feschino’s chapters, and they corresponded over the next few weeks while the scene was being hammered out.

Finally, when the aerial encounter scene was finished, the writer called Frank back in Florida and read it to him over the phone. Frank said he was amazed as the screenplay writer read the script scene to him, bringing his writing to life...it was awesome, but something was wrong.

The writer had made a technical mistake, concerning the Air Force jet fighter involved Frank quickly picked up on the disconnect and cued the writer, providing connection. Subsequently, the writer had to go back, correct the problem, and rewrite the scene.

A couple of calls later, it was finished and polished, reread to Frank, receiving Feschino's stamp.  Feschino explained that he can't reveal any additional details about this particular UFO project because it is being kept "confidential"...Hollywood secrecy stuff, eh? The point is that by this point in time, Feschino told me that he knew he could write a movie treatment of his own about the “Flatwoods Monster” incident.  I'm not surprised.

In addition to his production training at film school, Frank had learned a lot by working with the aforementioned  screen writer in California and now, with several books to his credit, he began to write his own treatment.  ...And who better than the person obsessed with the existential reality of 22 years of painstaking research, eh?

              

Frank told me the amount of attention that he has recently received in 2014 from Television documentary producers across the globe is overwhelming. Since the spring of 2014, Feschino has been contacted and has spoken to TV producers from Great Britain, Canada, Japan and the United States. This is encouraging but the “Flatwoods Monster” incident has more than just documentary potential...it has the makings for a full-blown Feature Film!  Consider compelling evidence for an undeclared air war between the US and ET to see what I mean. 

It's an astonishing tale... almost too astonishing; what if it's true?

     

Feschino testifies that his “Flatwoods Monster” movie is based on the actual 1952 incident and has all the key ingredients to be a real blockbuster. He added that the storyline is better than any Sci-Fi or UFO genre action movie produced in recent years and with a great team of producers, Hollywood could do real justice to this compelling story based on fact as peculiar as those facts are.

We could only hope for the best as that crow flies, eh reader?  Feschino didn’t elaborate but told me his story contains flashbacks between 1952 and the present, involves aerial dogfights, missing pilots, a romance weaved in to the storyline and of course the 12-foot-tall “Monster.” Even though the story is based on actual events, Feschino said he added a small amount of fiction to the story to carry the storyline. He paused then and said, “Well, maybe it really isn't all fiction!”

Anyway, Feschino claims that his “Flatwoods Monster” story is action-packed and has such a shocking ending that people will be knocked out of their socks and talking about it for years.  I'm compelled to take him at his word.

Cake Icing, Feschino is quite the music aficionado.  He told me that he also met a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame guitarist in Orlando, Florida, recently, and discussed his “Flatwoods Monster” project with him. I hate to do this to you reader, but I can’t disclose who it is now—more of that secrecy stuff—but I will tell you that he played lead guitar on one of the biggest hit songs in rock history!

Feschino commented, "After seeing this legendary performer on stage throughout the years, including sold out concerts at Madison Square Garden, it seemed surreal to be sitting at a table with him and giving him a one on one lecture about the Flatwoods case."

As their meeting unfolded, Feschino explained the “Flatwoods Monster” incident to him and then took out a set of his three “Flatwoods Monster” art prints from his portfolio, laid them on the table and used them to assist in the telling of the story; Frank then presented them to the guitarist. The musician asked Frank if he would sign them for him and signed three music pieces for Frank as well. “He was really a down to earth guy and was very knowledgeable on the UFO subject,” Feschino added.  There are many rock and roll types who are serious students of the ufological.

After talking privately for almost an hour, Feschino offered that he was writing a movie treatment for the story. The famous guitarist then told Feschino that he would love to have "first crack at doing the soundtrack for it," and said he "always wanted to do a soundtrack for something like this." Feschino said he would surely contact him, then handed him two information packets about the "Flatwoods Monster." Their meeting closed when contact numbers were exchanged between Frank and the guitarist’s agent.

Yes reader, Feschino is very confident in his UFO project and newly written piece and is now open to discussion with serious producers interested in making a “Flatwoods Monster” movie based on his work. Remember, that you read about it here first, reader.

Now, on to Flatwoods itself for a brief historical overview regarding one of the top news stories of 1952 (in the Top Five this writer understands), the “Flatwoods Monster” incident, involving an alien encounter between a gigantic 12-foot-tall crash occupant shot down by US forces ordered to do so, and a group of small town Flatwoods, WV residents.

In honor of the 62nd anniversary of the “Flatwoods Monster” incident, the authority on this subject, Frank C. Feschino, Jr., has compiled the following quotes, which represent some of the best-recorded writings of the event in the media and various publications over the past 62-years.  This is just a sampling. Prepare to be stunned.

1952. “I will file this story in my archives as one of the top stories of the day. Daniel Seymour; Master of ceremonies for NBC television talk show, We The People.

1953. “On September 12, 1952, the nation’s wire services crackled with the news of a 10-foot red-faced monster, which sprayed a foul, sickening gas and sent seven Flatwoods, W. Va. residents into panic. Gray Barker; FATE Magazine, January 1953.

1954. “One has the impression that here, some entity was clad in a giant spacesuit and equipped to withstand differential pressures and the gravity and atmosphere, unlike the world it came from.” Harold T. Wilkins; Flying Saucers on the Attack.

1956. “What happened to the Monster? Braxton County Woman Feels Glowing Object was Jet Ship. Discovery in 1952 stirred up nationwide ‘Martian’ debate.” Donald Seagle; The Charleston Gazette newspaper.

1959. “Those who saw the thing were terrified. Those who investigated were it convinced it had been there. But what it was and where it came from constitute the mystery of the Flatwoods Monster.” Frank Edwards; Stranger Than Science. 

1963. “The final incident in the summers panic occurred on the evening of September 12 when a family group near the town of Sutton, West Virginia, saw a flaming object flash across the sky and apparently land on a nearby hill.” Donald Menzel and Lyle Boyd; The World of Flying Saucers.

1966. “The flash had spotlighted an immense, man-like figure with a blood-red face and greenish eyes that blinked out from a pointed hood. The party was in definite agreement about one characteristic of the alien and that was the sickening odor it seemed to emit.” Brad Steiger; Strangers from the Skies.

1967. “Probably the most frightening landing incident on record, considering the physical description of what was thought to be an occupant and its actions, is the Flatwoods, West Virginia incident.” Coral and Jim Lorenzen; Flying Saucer Occupants.

1968. “During the first years of the flying saucer craze, it was mostly strange lights, discs and windowed craft, which were reported. None had proved dangerous in any way, and none had landed. But in 1952, the first of two stories about menacing space creatures appeared in newspapers and magazines. On the night of September 12, 1952, near Sutton, WV…” Dale White; Is Something Up There-The Story of Flying Saucers.

1969. “About 4-meters tall, the figure had a blood-red face and ‘floated’ toward the witnesses who fled in terror. A lingering smell and skid marks were found.” Jacques Vallee; Passport to Magonia.

1973. “The United States has something still better to offer us with the Flatwoods Monster. In September 1952 in the little West Virginia village of Flatwoods, some children swore they saw a monster.” Jacques Bergier; Extraterrestrial Visitations from Prehistoric to Present.

1975. “Actually, relatively few of the sightings of UFO occupants have created much excitement outside of the relatively narrow world of UFO enthusiasts. But there are a couple of American monsters that have become classics in their field. On September 12, 1952…” Daniel Cohen; Monsters; Giants and Little Men from Mars.

1976. “They saw under trees, a creature, about 12-feet tall, which looked horrible to the witnesses: it had a sort of cowl or hood around the ‘head,’ and 2 big eyes, fixed round and luminous. The thing moved by floating and then the witnesses got scared and ran away.” Claude Mac Duff; UFOlogy-The Journal of UFO Research, Fall 1976.          

1977. “They didn't see a saucer, but did see a ‘monster’ ten-feet high, four-feet wide with bulging eyes a foot apart, blood-red face and glowing-green body.” Susy Smith; Strangers from Outer Space. 

1978. “Not all aliens are reported as undersized. The ‘Sutton Monster,’ nine feet tall with bulging red eyes and a bright green body, moved ominously towards onlookers in the West Virginia country side.” Van Geloven B.V. Riel; Strip-paperback Nr. 1 UFO. Germany.   

1979. “The Flatwoods Monster in Braxton County, a foul-smelling thing that oozed evil apparently landed in a bright, shiny object in a desolate area.” Robert Robinson, Associated Press writer. 

1980. “Flatwoods: What was perhaps the most frightening case on record of an encounter with a ‘UFO creature’ allegedly occurred on the evening of September 12, 1952, near the small community of Flatwoods.” Ronald Story; The Encyclopedia of UFOs.

1982. “One of the more frightening of the early landing reports came from Flatwoods, WV. in 1952.” Editors of Readers Digest; Mysteries of the Unexplained.

1989. “Two very bizarre reports involving entity sightings, from the many on record, were the Flatwoods, West Virginia (USA) case of 1952, and the Kelly/Hopkinsville (USA) case of 1955.” Janet and Colin Bord; Unexplained Mysteries of the 20^th Century.

1991. “During the night [eyewitness] Gene Lemon became seriously ill, suffering the same inflamed throat as the other boys but also went into fits and convulsions. John Spencer; The UFO Encyclopedia.

1993. “The things they saw that night in late summer have never been fully explained. To this day the mystery is still shrouded in mystery. It’s become part of the folklore of West Virginia. It’s the tale of the Braxton County Monster.” Benjamin Caldwell; The Charleston Gazette newspaper.

1994. “The widely discussed Flatwoods incident reportedly occurred on September 12, 1952. The Flatwoods, WV. incident allegedly involved a giant humanoid monster with glowing eyes.” David Ritchie; The Definitive Guide to UFOs and Related Phenomena.

1995. “The party reached the hill but fled in terror from a hooded monster ‘worse than Frankenstein.’” Peter Brookesmith; UFO-The Complete Sightings.

1996. “It was 10-15-feet tall and had a blood-red face with two greenish-orange eyes that glowed like a wild animal’s.” Patrick Hughe; The Field Guide to Extraterrestrials.

1997. “The first alien encounter in the classic science fiction mould occurred on September 12, 1952, in Flatwoods, West Virginia USA. It remains highly unusual and is not easy to dismiss as a hoax.” Jenny Randle; Alien Contact-The First 50 Years.

1998. “The case of the Flatwoods Monster has become one of the most famous incidents in UFOlogy.” W. Haden Blackman; The Field Guide to North American Monsters. 

1999. “To everyone’s considerable astonishment, the beam highlighted a grotesque-looking creature.” Jerome Clark; Unexplained.

2002. “What happened in West Virginia that night in September, with several seeming UFOs landing all over the rural countryside and unloading creatures is almost like a scene from War of the Worlds.” Loren Coleman; FATE Magazine, September 2002.

2004. “One of the objects crash-landed on a rural hilltop in Flatwoods, West Virginia. A group of schoolboys saw the object maneuver across the sky and seemingly fall to earth. The boys and two adults headed off to look for the object. Soon a twelve-foot tall being from the downed craft terrified these innocent people.” Frank C. Feschino, Jr. The Braxton County Monster-The Cover-Up of the Flatwoods Monster Revealed.”

2005. “On September 12, 1952, one of the strangest and most terrifying apparent extraterrestrial encounters took place near Flatwoods, a small town in West Virginia. The bizarre image of the alien creature was immediately seared into UFO folklore…Despite the media attention; the case was quickly dismissed and buried by authorities and debunkers. Rosemary Ellen Guiley; FATE Magazine, January 2005.

2007. “It was the twelfth day of September during the Indian summer of 1952. Brace yourself. It is not my intent to shock you, but perhaps as a result of an undeclared war with bona fide extraterrestrials involving the United States-let that sink in-there came to be a crash-landed alien craft with at least one occupant.” Alfred Lehmberg; UFO Magazine, November 2007.

2008. “Nothing in life had prepared them for what unfolded next - a 12-foot, metallic object, red in the chest region, topped with a medieval-like cowl, and green from the waist down, emitting a sulfuric odor.” Mannix Porterfield; West Virginia South Magazine, January 2008. 

2009. “The scare in Flatwoods, West Virginia on September 12, 1952 could be compared to that of a horror movie of the period...The group saw a pair of ‘lights’ shining beneath a large oak tree. After shining a light in the direction of the object, the group were astonished to see a bizarre creature staring back.” Meta-Religion.com. Sept. 2009   

2010. “An amazing, gripping encounter...the “Flatwoods Monster” case. It will stand in history as one of the premiere investigations.” Team IQXS Researchers - MD, July 2010.

2011. “The entity that Freddie May and others saw came out of a UFO that had crashed during the dogfight between U.S. Air Force jets and unidentified objects...in 1952.” William J. Birnes, UFO Magazine publisher; UFO Magazine, Volume 23, No. 13.   

2012. “Researcher Frank Feschino has done such a thorough job of digging into the Flatwoods case and its secrets, it’s doubtful that even government insiders would have to say more about it.” Whitley Strieber, radio talk show host of Dreamland. November 2012.

2013. “The ‘Flatwoods Monster’ is one of the most significant alien contact incidents in modern history and Feschino proves the case beyond any argument. The ‘Flatwoods Monster’ incident should have been the ultimate wakeup call for America.” Professor Frank Thayer, Dept. of Journalism and Mass Communications. New Mexico State University. January 2013. 

2014.”The Flatwoods Monster, a mysterious visitor to earth, is an extraterrestrial reported to have been sighted in the town of Flatwoods in Braxton County, West Virginia, United States on September 12, 1952. One man in particular has taken the investigation into the Green Monster as a life’s mission to discover the truth and uncover the cover-up of the incident...Frank Feschino.” West Virginia journalist John Clise. May 2014.

Sculpture by Frank Feschino Jr. 

See, Frank Feschino is by no means alone when he regards the reflexive Flatwoods denial by a faux-authoritative officialdom! He has his eyes justifiably askance and his arms presumptively akimbo, eh?  He's earned his justified skepticism of the "official party line."  As alluded to before, the Flatwoods story has its deniability built right in as the science fiction sighting of a cross-dressing alien by a group of hillbilly kids not knowing a spook-haint from a barn owl! 

Then the reader discovers, and undeniably so too, that the so called "Braxton County Monster" is an affair at the end of a three month super-flap of UFOs during the summer of 1952 (fact)!  This is where UFOs were over-flying super sensitive Washington DC locations on the ground with such blithe impunity that orders were issued to shoot those UFOs down (fact)!  An attendant UFO flap, the final one to the larger flap lasting the summer—occurring on September 12th, 1952 (fact!)—incurred an expected response from the military, it is presumed, and the "Flatwoods Affair" is but one of four UFOs damaged in the ensuing air-war of that night.   

On top of all of the preceding?  A heavy battalion of infantry outfitted from boats to bazookas was dispatched to Flatwoods and Frametown, WV to look for something (fact)!  They were not deployed to hunt wooden-nickel barn owls, Magaha-ian coal gas vents, or Shermer's one time hallucinogenic stink-weed. Laugh if you must, but follow the data.  Everyone who does is gob-smacked and decidedly bereft of easy laughter after that, eh? 

The final kicker?  Frank noticed that there could be no better quintessential example with regard to "forgotten" and "Missing in Action" Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen, than the lives testified to be lost by General Benjamin Chidlaw, Head of Air Defense Command when he alluded in 1953 that "We have stacks of reports about flying saucers. We take them seriously when you consider we have lost many men and planes trying to intercept them."

Two such persons and equipment lost?  How about USAF F-94 fighter pilot 2nd Lt. John A. Jones, Jr. and radar observer, 2nd Lt. John DelCurto.  These men mysteriously vanished without a trace on September 12th 1952, and were never seen or heard from again. Subsequently then, their memories and consummate bravery denied, they were discounted to have even existed by the authorities until Feschino brought them back to the light.

Close to the exit, reader, here is another fact to ponder.  Why is it that there are two official case reports adjacent to Jones and DelCurto's case missing from the Air Force's "AIRCRAFT ACCIDENTS OF 1952," files for that now infamous date, September 12, 1952?

All things considered... wouldn't all this make a cracker-jack film?  Read on...

For more information: www.FlatwoodsMonster.com

Frank C. Feschino Jr.