Monsterquest: Lizardman

For a ghost hunter, it's probably sad to say, but I'm so over "Ghost Hunters," and so when a really exciting Monsterquest episode came on, it won out over watching GH. I'm sure I didn't miss much.

This "Lizardman" was one of my favorite episodes of Monsterquest, along with the Bigfoot in the Canadian cabin episode and the flying humanoid one. This episode dealt with the Flatwoods, West Virginia monster first reported in 1952 and still being reported today. This creature is described as lizard human like on the top half and the bottom half housed in a floating vessel and puts out a gas that makes people sick.

Here is the description History Channel released: “In the fall of 1952, witnesses in Flatwoods, West Virginia, reportedly encountered a nightmarish beast that was human-like in appearance but with reptilian skin. The monster hovered over its victims in strange craft, emitted a hissing sound and attacked by releasing noxious gases. Some claimed the beast was the result of mistaken identity and cold war hysteria; but now as sightings continue, MonsterQuest deploys the latest high-tech search gear to uncover this mysterious beast that has terrorized this town for almost sixty years.”

Here’s what Wikipedia reports about its origins “7:15 PM on the evening of September 12, 1952, two brothers, Edward and Fred May, and their friend Tommy Hyer (ages 13, 12, and 10 respectively) witnessed a bright object cross the sky. The object appeared to come to rest on land belonging to local farmer G. Bailey Fisher. Upon witnessing the object, the boys went to the home of the May brothers' mother, Kathleen May, where they reported seeing a UFO crash land in the hills. From there, Mrs. May accompanied by the three boys, local children Neil Nunley (14) and Ronnie Shaver (10), and 17 year old West Virginia National Guardsman Eugene 'Gene' Lemon, traveled to the Fisher farm in an effort to locate whatever it was that the boys had seen. Lemon's dog ran ahead out of sight and suddenly began barking, and moments later ran back to the group with its tail between its legs. After traveling about ¼ of a mile (400 m) the group reached the top of a hill, where they reportedly saw a large pulsating "ball of fire" about 50 feet (15 m) to their right. They also detected a pungent mist that made their eyes and nose burn. Lemon then noticed two small lights over to the left of the object, underneath a nearby oak tree and directed his flashlight towards them, revealing the creature. The creature was reported to have emitted a shrill hissing noise before gliding towards them, changing direction and then heading off towards the red light. At this point the group fled in panic.”

Reportedly, many of the group became ill from the gases and since then, a majority of them had cancers.

What intrigues me about this is the consistent and very odd descriptions. These aren’t your usual dog-man or Bigfoot. They also studied the “Star Child” skull that was found in Mexico to see if hybrid humans were created as long ago as 1000 years. Experts came to the conclusion it was a child. DNA shows a human mother but no clues to the nuclear DNA. One expert believes that a still soft skull of a baby was misshappen on purpose for cultural desires, but these modifications were so extensive they had never been seen before. They also found from stress testing showed that it was made of a substance more strong than a human skull. The skull showed shallow eye sockets that had the optic nerve go through near the nose rather than the back of the eye. They took a casting of the skull and had a forensics artist recreate the face. The results were quite amazingly classically alien looking but also a bit of human.

In doing my own research on this "monster," I heard something I've heard all the time and this story is no exception, once again the owl is taking the blame. Owls have been blamed on; Mothman, Jersey Devil, Flatwoods Monster, Thunderbirds and Flying Humanoids. I’m not sure what to think of the overuse of the owl explanation, but I feel sorry for my favorite bird of prey. He’s blamed for a lot of things that he doesn’t even slightly resemble.

If you get a chance to see this “Lizardman” episode of Monsterquest, you really must see it. I found it frightening and enthralling. I am an avid skeptic, but it was an episode that gave me a strange twinge of worry. Something about it struck me as perhaps not all legend, but some truth, as well.