At dusk on September 12, 1952, a bright object crossed the sky over several states and appeared to land on a Flatwoods hilltop. Three boys, their mother, two other children, and a National Guardsman climbed to investigate. What they found stands as one of the best-witnessed entity encounters on record.
The figure was ten feet tall: a spade-shaped cowl framing a glowing red face, a dark metallic green body that fell like a pleated skirt to the ground, and small claw-like hands. It emitted a shrill hiss, glided — without steps — toward the witnesses, and all seven fled. Several were treated afterward for symptoms consistent with chemical irritant exposure: swollen throats, nausea, and vomiting that persisted for days.
Skeptical review attributes the event to a meteor and a startled barn owl atop a branch. The medical symptoms, the machined circular ground trace found the next morning, and the witnesses' lifelong consistency keep the file open.