February 25, 2014

Feschino Releases Unheard Testimony of “Flatwoods Monster” Witness

Well, fellow Feschino freaks! Just when you thought you had heard everything about the “Flatwoods Monster” incident, the authority on the case, one Frank Feschino, Jr. releases some never before heard, first-hand testimony of primary witness (the late) Kathleen May. Here’s some stuff to put a decided wave in your short and curlies!


Not what May or any other witnessdescribed to the TV station artist…

Some back-story: during his investigation into the Flatwoods incident beginning in 1991, Feschino, after a long hard slog to win their trust, worked very closely with the May family. He interviewed matriarch Mrs. May numerous times about her close encounter with the giant being come to be known as the “Flatwoods Monster.” Feschino transcribed much of her interviews into his books… but not everything!

Now, for the first time, Frank is releasing some startling testimony from Mrs. May discussed during two particular taped interviews in West Virginia. Remember this stuff’s on tape folks.

Intrepid researcher Feschino reveals startlingly visceral information about the aftermath of the terrifying 1952 “Flatwoods Monster” incident involving her two boys, Freddie and Eddie, among others, and the illnesses they endured… …suffering their whole lives as it turns out. To get the elephant out of the room I asked why he waited until now to release this information.

Feschino stated, “Alfred, it was all about respect for sensitive issues. I was just waiting for the right time for this story to reach further out into the public, you know? The story needed to be taken more seriously—become better known—become better known…before more insightful, but by the same token, more personal evidences get trotted out.” He continued, “Thanks to my books, radio, TV—your awesome blogs—my research has reached out widely across the world, is very well-known, and being taken very seriously. This is a good thing!”

“Basically? I was awaiting the right moment for this information to be seen, and not get lost in some short-attention-span-old-news-shuffle…,” Frank took a long breath, “…After my trip to Hollywood, and the interview for the documentary 701-The Movie, I knew my research and books had indeed been far-reaching! I realized it was time.” Frank continued, “Look at it this way, I want to release this information now so people can have a real appreciation for what happens to folks when it’s their blood and sacrifice that is the ink writing the primary historical page. Heroes should be celebrated, and these people had their cross to bear for this history, and have borne that cross better than 60 years. …It’s time”

What follows now is a fast recap of the particular portion of this incident, bringing the reader up to speed regarding the aforementioned unheard testimony of Mrs. May. During the encounter on the Fisher Farm that night September 12, 1952 which included Kathleen May, her two sons, and six other boys, she was the closest witness to the strange metallic structure nearly 12-feet tall come to be known as the “Flatwoods Monster.”


Decidedly Mechanical

The reader will remember, and as previously stated in Feschino’s research and the testimony of witnesses: the monster was more mechanical than of a flesh… …was some sort of a “hovering craft” or “encounter suit,” and appeared to be a lifting device or system emitting a noxious exhaust gas through long pipes!

That exhaust, a disgustingly odored miasma smelling of burnt sulfur, had billowed up throughout the area, remember, creating a cloying and distressing mist along the path where unsuspecting witnesses, walking smartly up the incline and so nearing the famous old oak tree where the “Monster” was located, encountered same. The tense music is at its denouement. Though, stop. That’s not where this story goes. See, what about that odiferous gas?

This sulfur stink is referred to also as a strong metallic smell by the first person witnesses. Previous to their encounter near the tree, Mrs. May reports to Frank, “[when] we got up there, we could smell a kind of… metallic odor …and it looked like it was getting foggy.” As Mrs. May and the boys walked up the path, they all walked through this gaseous mistiness of faux-fog, now everywhere along the path. It immediately effected them severely. One of the boys called it a “horrible odor” stating, “It smelled like sulfur and really sort of made you sick!”

Now, at the exact moment of their encounter near the tree, Mrs. May was standing next to Gene Lemon, while her son Eddie was walking just behind her. May’s other son, Freddie, was at the wooden gate behind them all, readying to climb over it. Mrs. May told Frank that she had an “irritated throat” and that her lungs began to suffer from inhaling the gas, “in the chest area.” She stated, “It was very penetrating. It effected me a good bit.”

The other boys, suffered as well. Neil Nunley, who was near Lemon, is heard to say, “We just ran into this mist. It wasn’t any regular mist, it was a funny looking mist. Burnt you up, it did. It burnt your eyes and throat.”

Freddie May told Frank, “It was very hazy in the area along the path. It was correspondingly misty along the tree area.” Fred explained to Frank, “… And that nasty smell… the smell was similar to the old TV tubes burning out in the old sets from years ago. A tube would burn out, remember, and you have what we’d call that ‘metallic smell.’ ”

Mrs. May told Feschino the following about Gene Lemon, “He did have some irritation in his throat and nose as well as I can remember.” She also told Frank that later on “Gene vomited during the night.”

Also In 1952, about two weeks after the incident, two members of the Los Angeles, California based research group, “Civilian Saucer Investigation,” visited Flatwoods and interviewed witnesses.

In one of their reports they documented, “Gene was so severely ill during the night that he was in convulsions and had attacks of vomiting.” They added, “After two weeks, Gene Lemon still was not able to swallow carbonated drinks.” They also documented, “Soon the throats of the boys were so swollen that they could not even drink water. Examination by a local doctor showed symptoms of Mustard gas.”

The information that Frank now reveals was obtained first-hand from Mrs. May during two interviews. It connects to the aftermath of the incident and involves her two boys who became quite sick themselves. At the time Freddie was 11-years old and Eddie was 13. These boys got sicker than most realized and their sickness was not brought on by fright.

Frank tells me that in January of 1953, USAF public liaison Albert Chop told researcher Donald Keyhoe the following information, “The boys’ illness was brought on by their fright.” he reports. Glib and reasonable sounding.

That is a gloss, not even a reasonable supposition. And while we’re on the subject of skeptibunky argle-bargle, the sighting was not attributed to a “barn owl” as noted by skeptic Joe Nickell.

In reference to the bad smell, Nickell states, “As to the nauseating odor, that has been variously described as a ‘sulfurous smell,’ ‘metallic stench,’ gas-like mist, or simply a ‘sickening, irritating’ odor…The effect on three of the youths, particularly Lemon, was to cause nausea and complaints of irritated throats.” In conclusion, Nickell observes, “This element of the story may be overstated.”

Flag down! That really is a meaningless statement… all denial and based entirely on supposition—bereft of all sense and sans all sensibility. Nickell propounds many canted propositions about this case and others, as illogical as they are reductionist and as unscientific as they are unreasoning.

Go here to read the verbatim transcription between Feschino and Mrs. Kathleen May during an early taped interview

About Craig Woolheater
Co-founder of Cryptomundo in 2005. I have appeared in or contributed to the following TV programs, documentaries and films: OLN's Mysterious Encounters: "Caddo Critter", Southern Fried Bigfoot, Travel Channel's Weird Travels: "Bigfoot", History Channel's MonsterQuest: "Swamp Stalker", The Wild Man of the Navidad, Destination America's Monsters and Mysteries in America: Texas Terror - Lake Worth Monster, Animal Planet's Finding Bigfoot: Return to Boggy Creek and Beast of the Bayou.

Filed under Bigfoot Report, Cryptozoologists, Cryptozoology, Evidence, Eyewitness Accounts, Flying Humanoids, Pop Culture