If you are from the south and curious about The Braxton County Monster of West Virginia fame, here is a copy of the original article that ran in the newspaper concerning the story. If this article is correct, the Braxton County Monster has nothing whatever to do with the sasquatch. Photo of the original article follows...Bobbie Short

Page 3 The Charleston Gazette Tuesday September 23, 1952

"Monster" Held Illusion Created by Meteor's Gas

The Braxton County Monster has been described by a local insurance man and amateur astronomer as an illusion created by the remains of a gaseous meteor. He is Earl Stephens of nearby Belle, whose theory is one of the best offered here on the origin of "the thing" that scared the daylights out of a Braxton County family.

His theory was advanced after Mrs. Kathleen May and Gene Lemon of Flatwoods returned from New York where they described their experience before a nation-wide television audience. It is Stephens' opinion that the meteor, commonly called a fire ball, originated from an electrical discharge in the outer atosphere, forming the shape of a gaseous ball.

Odor of Sulphur
"The odor of sulphur was the tip-off," declared Stephens. "It burns with a green flame accounting for the green apparition the people saw." Stephens said one of the party apparently flashed the light on the gas ball just the instant before it disintegrated into thin air. The reflection of the light on the gases gave it the shape the people described," he said.

The "Monster" story came to light a week ago after reports that Mrs. May, Lemon and four youths ran smack into the thing while searching for a strange object they saw floating into the woods near their home. They described the monster as about 8 feet tall, with red eyes and a green body, topped by a strange pointed mantle. However, during a thorough search of the area by county officials the next day, only the sulphurous odor remained.

Facts support Theory
Stephens said his theory backed up by the fact that the earth entered a meteoric stream on August 14. He believes the gaseous body may have been ripped from the Bielas Comet which has been splitting up during recent years, showering the earth with fragments.

During the same period several local residents observed a strange luminous body that was believed to have fallen within a 50-mile radius of Charleston. His gaseous theory is further bolstered by stories of two residents of rural St. Albans, who declared they saw a lighted object float lazily to the ground and disappear. A search of that area by two Gazette reporters failed to turn up anything.