The Athens Messenger
Hocking Valley | Athens, Ohio Friday, November 18, 1966 | Ohio River Valley | Ten Cents
Monster No Joke For Those Who Saw It
By Roger Bennett, Assistant News Editor
FRIGHTENED OBSERVERS - Four young Point Pleasant residents return to the spot where an unusual creature was spotted earlier this week. The married couples, Mr. and Mrs. Steve Mallette, left and Mr. and Mrs. Roger Scarberry contend they found a "hoof-like" print in soft sand the next day, Staff Photo by George Lovell.
"They think It's a big joke. They think we can go out there and It'll come out for us."
"It" is the red-eyed, winged-back, six - foot manlike thing which has turned a remote section of Mason County, W. Va, into a dusty, car - jacked thrill show.
"They" are the hundreds of curious sightseers, who have jammed a 10,00 acre east of Point Pleasant each night since the creature was sighted by two young married couples last Tuesday.
The sightseers know there isn't such a thing but they aren't about to miss a chance seeing it.
The people who've seen it so far especially Mr. and Mrs. Roger Scarberry and Mr. and Mrs. Steve Mallette, are afraid they'll see it again but they keep looking.
"I hope others do see it. I hope it scares them as much as it did us. Maybe then they'll believe things exist and we're not dreaming." Mrs. Mallette said.
The two couples first spotted the creature Tuesday in the sprawling marshy area which contain the McClintic Wildlife Sanctuary and a huge abandoned TNT plant. Most of the property is government owned.
Thursday night the area was ablaze from the lights of cars and flashlights as the curious traveled up and down the maze of dirt roads. Police officials estimate more than 1,000 persons were searching the area prior to midnight.
Every intersection was jammed with parked cars and small camps of laughing, jostling young adults, huge abandoned power plant buildings rang with the shrieks of youngsters, scaring themselves more in the pitch - black plants than the people standing in the narrow roadways.
Volunteer police officers and firemen - creeping through the crowds - have one major fear. They estimated that each car in the area had at least one gun. One officer heard an automatic rifle bark several times Thursday night behind one of the many buildings.
Early sightings - besides that of the two couples - have several things in common. The description includes two red eyes about six inches apart, wings with 10-foot span and always manlike with stocky legs. These sightings came from Cheshire, Rutland, several persons at an isolated home near the TNT plant and one in Doddridge county, W. Va, east of Parkersburg.
The Scarberry and Mallettes said they believe the thing "didn't mean to harm us" even though Mrs. Scarberry had to be treated for shock, only to chase them away. At one time the creature came within 100 feet of their car.
In all they spotted it five times the first night. They've seen it twice since. The first night it chased their car at speeds up to 100, gliding above and behind the vehicle. It emitted a sound similar to a "record played at a high speed or a squeak of a mouse."
What is it? They don't know
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