 Welcome to Microterrorz, scary stories for kids, where it's always the spooky season, full of chills, thrills, and spine-tingling spooks. Microterrorz are family-friendly frights for those ages eight and up, and while our stories are for younger years, we are still talking about things that go bump in the night, and some children may not be able to handle what others can. Parental consent is recommended. Now for tonight's Microterrorz. The Flatwoods Monster It's based on events that took place in the town of Flatwoods West Virginia in the early 1950s. Some names and details have been altered for this story. 7.15 p.m. September 15, 1952, Flatwoods, Braxton County, West Virginia The sky sounded like it had torn apart. Like the most ferocious crack of thunder one could imagine, it lit up with a blinding light that then soared across the sky. Is that a comet? Eddie May said to his brother as they stood in their schoolyard after hours. They'd been playing hide and seek with their friend Neil when they heard the horrible sound from above. It stopped the game dead in its tracks and brought all three boys to a single location near the school's jungle gym. Fred May watched the comet, as his brother assumed it to be, start to dim in its brightness and then disappear behind the tree line. What felt like an earth-rattling quake spread across the schoolyard as the crash site veiled by a sea of trees briefly ignited the darkness once again. It's close, Neil excitedly said. Let's go check it out. What? Eddie said. We don't know what it is, and you want to go check it out? It's a comet, Neil said. Just like you said, what else could it be? Neil led the way, and Eddie and Fred reluctantly followed him through the woods, using the glowing light from the crash site as their beacon in the dark. Fred was a little younger than his brother and understandably a little more nervous. Hey, Eddie? He whispered to his sibling, what if it's not a comet? Eddie saw how anxious his brother was and tried to ease his mind. Neil's right. What else could it be? If it were an asteroid, it would have wiped us all out by now. Fred didn't want to be the one to say it out loud, but his brother's refusal to acknowledge the elephant in the room was too much. There had been a recent string of flying saucer sightings in the area and all over West Virginia. He heard a new report that described their area as a hotbed for UFO activity, and that didn't sit well with Fred. What if it's a flying saucer? Fred whispered. It can't be. Eddie quietly responded. Those are from movies and radio programs. They're not real. There was something about the way his brother said those words that didn't seem very convincing, and Fred was now of the mind that maybe Eddie had the same thoughts. Guys, you have to see this! Neil shouted from up ahead. Eddie and Freddy hurried a little faster and joined their friend's side. They found themselves standing at the edge of a clearing in the woods, but it wasn't a natural one. The ground was burned and formed a large depression that was a few feet deep. Some of the vegetation that surrounded the clearing was still on fire from whatever crash landed. Eddie looked around curiously, but aside from the large depression, the charred earth and small fires that surrounded the scene, he couldn't see what had caused it. There was no sign of a comet or meteorite, and even going as far as Fred's worries, there was no sign of a flying saucer either. This is wild, Neil said, glee and excitement emanating from his voice. Suddenly the three boys heard something in the woods behind them. It was a droning hiss like that of a gas leak. The three of them spun around and scanned the woods. What was that? Fred stuttered. Neither his brother nor Neil responded. Then Eddie pointed straight ahead through the trees. A green smoke or vapor began to snake around the ground and in their direction. All three boys started to back up, careful not to fall back into the burned depression in the earth. The hissing sound grew louder and more alarming, and the green mist began to thicken and engulf the entire area in front of them. That's when two red eyes ignited within the mist. The hiss came to an abrupt stop, and the boys found themselves staring into the blood red eyes of something otherworldly. A shape, a silhouetted shadow of something began to take form around its eyes, giving the three kids an additional jolt of fear. Whatever it was was large, more than twice the size of an adult. The head around the eyes came to a sharp point at the top, sharing a similar appearance with a cottonwood leaf or a spade. Its thick midsection produced two long tendril-like arms with bony fingers and its bottom half appeared to fan out like a woman's dress. Whatever it was hovered just above the ground. The green mist suddenly blew towards the boys like a heavy wind was carrying it. The phantom-like creature in the mist began to hiss loudly again, its eyes glowing madly, and then it glided toward them at cutthroat speed. Eddie, Fred, and Neil were in a daze, standing around in the woods with a pungent odor surrounding them. The green mist was still there, although faintly, but the horrible creature they had seen was nowhere to be found. What happened? Fred asked on the verge of a complete panic attack. Neither of the other boys responded verbally, but tried to silently make sense of what they just went through. Neil looked at his watch and it said 9.10 p.m. We lost almost two hours, he said. What was that thing? Eddie couldn't answer. He dropped to his knees and vomited all over the ground. The odor from the green mist made Fred's stomach turn and he vomited as well. Neil began to feel light-headed and nauseous. He gulped and tried taking a deep breath to keep himself from getting sick. We need to tell somebody about this, Neil said. We need help. The boys made it back into town where they immediately went to the sheriff's department. The Flatwoods sheriff and his deputy scouted the wooded area that night, claiming to have found nothing. Neither of them smelled a sickening odor, saw green mist or any sign of the creature the three boys described. A more thorough search of the area the following day did produce an unexplained black, oily substance on the forest floor in the vicinity of where the alleged crash site was. Flatwoods, West Virginia and Braxton County is now known for its monster. It's embraced by a yearly festival, a museum, and giant shares constructed to look like the creature. But if you ever find yourself in the woods of Braxton County, West Virginia, and you hear something hissing behind you in the shadows, maybe it's best you just leave. Saturday for another scary story. For more fun, visit our website at Microterrors.com where we will also have spooky games you can print out and play, like wicked word searches, mysterious mazes, and more. Microterrors.com is also where you can find us on your favorite social media and even send in your own scary story for us to tell. Plus, you'll learn more about our author, Scott Donnelly, who has other horrors for both young and old. I hope you'll join me again soon from Microterrors. Scary stories for kids. Who loves all things strange and macabre? If you want to listen to the podcast, you can find it at WeirdDarkness.com.