Morbid - Episode 332: Cryptids: The Flatwoods Monster & The Melonheads

Episode Date: June 29, 2022

You like creepy shit? You wanna hear about some cryptids? Cool, this is the episode for you then. Alaina brings us the real life experiences of those who have encountered the Flatwoods Monste...r, which resides in West Virginia. Was it extraterrestrial, was it the government, did it happen? Yes to all. Ash then dives into the legend of the Melonheads, a heartbreaking and terrifying tale all at the same time! Thank you to listeners Haley and Kristen for their stories about their experiences with these cryptids. If you want to send us a suggestion for a Cryptid to cover, or your experience with a cryptid in general send them in to Morbidpodcast@gmail.com with “Cryptid” somewhere in the subject line :)Mysterious Universe Melonheads encountersThe Flatwoods Monster documentary by Small Town MonstersVisit the Flatwoods Monster museum!Thank you to our sponsors!!Our listeners get 10% off their first month at BetterHelp.com/morbidSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Starting point is 00:01:31 Hey weirdos, I'm Melina. I'm Ash and this is Morbid. Woo! It's a cryptid's morbid episode. It is, and I'm so excited for this one. I feel like we've been talking. I think we've mentioned that we're gonna do this episode and we've been working on them for some time. I like, I took some out of the running.
Starting point is 00:02:17 I put some back in the running. And then I ended up just focusing on one particular cryptid. That's exactly what happened to me because- Oh, did it really? That's exactly what happened to me because- Oh, did it really? That's literally what happened to me because when you first look them up, it always feels like, all right, there's really not a lot on this.
Starting point is 00:02:31 I'll just cover a few and we'll get through it. And then I started like really digging into this and I was like, wait a second. You were like, oh, there's a lot more on this. Oh, shit. So I think we're gonna be, we're just going willy-nilly, like where these cryptids are from, but we are going to be covering, at least I'm gonna be covering one from
Starting point is 00:02:51 Braxton County, West Virginia. Ooh! Yeah, so you know it's gonna be good. I was trying to think about the map in my mind. I'm really bad at geography, so that was what that long pause of signing up was like what's happening right now? It's everything okay It's so fun fact I was trying to think about if Ohio and Michigan are close to West Virginia. Okay. That's it I yeah, I mean you're not far off. That's it. That's the thought all right. Well, I'm glad you had that thought
Starting point is 00:03:18 Yeah, my ear popped at the same time so congrats to me too because I was like should I pause recording or you You know, are you good? No, I was thinking about the map and then I was like, should I pause recording or you'll go tap a thaw? No, I was thinking about the map and then I had like, my ears are all fucked right now and I had a big burst to my ear and I was like, ooh, I'm alive again. I was like, oh, I can hear, okay. Fun.
Starting point is 00:03:33 Well, that's fun. And you know, this was brought to my attention because we're gonna be talking about the Flatwoods monster. Ooh, yes. So the, or, yeah, the Flatwoods. Sorry, I saw it. I didn't know if it was Flatwood or flatwoods. It's flatwoods. Oh, yeah, you said it. You said it just right. I was good. You said what you said. I said what I said and that's all that
Starting point is 00:03:52 I'll say it's not I'm gonna say more. Oh, she said and that's all that he said. That's what I always say it wrong You always wish I said something different than what I actually said. Am I am I micro am I micro managing you? You're micro managing me. This is this hostile. I quit. I'm sorry. I quit. On air. That's it. Just throw your eye pat on my face.
Starting point is 00:04:10 This is it. This is it. I'm done. I'm interested to hear this. All right, so this was sent in by listener Haley. Hi, Haley. Haley, after reading this email that you sent, I love you. And I want to be friends.
Starting point is 00:04:24 You just seem rad. Like you're hilarious. I want to be friends, you just seem rad, like you're hilarious. I want to be friends with Haley, and I don't even know what Haley's talking about. Haley's hilarious, and her child is really adorable. So, this was named West Virginia, has the best cryptids changed my mind, you can't. Amazing.
Starting point is 00:04:39 And I won't even try to. See, I love that energy of like, I believe in this, it doesn't matter if you do, but that's it. Yeah. So this says, hello to my most favorite weirdos. Hi. Insert obligatory and necessary you guys
Starting point is 00:04:52 that thing rock in your show is my favorite and I have a creepy obsession, but don't call the popo. I'm mostly harmless, ha ha. Me too. My name is Hailey. And I live in North Central, West Virginia. I'm always bummed when you have listener tails and I think to myself,
Starting point is 00:05:06 why doesn't anything spooky or true crime happen to me that I can write it about? Okay, maybe not true crime, but I dig a ghostly visit or an alien encounter or something. However, on a recent show, you mentioned that you wanted to talk about cryptids and I was like, yes, queen.
Starting point is 00:05:20 Legit, West Virginia has a butt load of cryptids. She is not wrong. Yeah, I actually saw some from West Virginia has a butt load of cryptids. She is not wrong. Yeah, I actually saw some for West Virginia when I was looking. Of course you did. I grew up hearing stories about Mothman, which we are planning to cover Mothman, but he needs his own episode.
Starting point is 00:05:36 I wanna do that one, and I wanna do it like, right for it. Just go ham on it. You know, creepy-ass giant flying black thing with red glowing eyes that chills in point pleasant West Virginia. It is probably the most well-known of the West Virginia cryptid so I won't go into that one. Can I say, sorry, you paused, but like very briefly and I just went for it. I do feel like Mothman, this is a
Starting point is 00:05:57 weird thing to say. I don't know if it's like my state of mind right now. I feel like Mothman has zaddy energy. Okay, all right. It was a weird thing to say. I won't argue with it. Do you know what I mean? I will like sign for you, but I will. No, you don't have to sign off. But like, do you get the sentiment?
Starting point is 00:06:15 I get the sentiment. Like he's just like, she's making a very, I guess, Zaddy energy type move. Just like he's got it. He's big to care of it. She's big, he'll take care of it. She's just wafting her arms back and forth, which I don't know. I kind of like Mothbam.
Starting point is 00:06:31 I get it. I get it. Sorry. I just needed to take that super quick moment. You had to get something off your chest. You had to confess something deep and dark to everybody. Yeah. And you did that.
Starting point is 00:06:42 I would have to interrupt. Well, Haley said you can do your badass research thing. If you would like to cover it, sending vibes, please cover it. Well, there you go. Okay. It was Haley's vibes that made us do that. It was.
Starting point is 00:06:54 However, Mossman isn't the only thing that brings all the cryptos who all just to the figurative West Virginia yard, though our monsters are better than yours. And they're like, it's better than yours. And they're salient. I am 33 and me and my daughter compete in pageant all over the state. Don't judge. Mama loves a fancy dress, a shiny hat, and unreasonably high heels. I'm also a lawyer and you know what they say. Never underestimate a woman with a shiny hat and subpoena power. Okay, maybe I only say that, but they should. They should say
Starting point is 00:07:22 that. I'm obsessed with you also at this point. I'm like, I want to be your friend. Let's be friends. Anyway, there was a point to that sidebar as my page, my page adventures often lead me to the beautiful town of Sutton in Braxton County, West Virginia. In this charming little town, there are not one,
Starting point is 00:07:38 but two separate museums, each dedicated to a different West Virginia monster. Oh, hell yeah. First, there is the Flatwoods Monster Museum. And don't worry, she's gonna describe it a little bit, but I'll get into the details of my thing. Okay. The Flatwoods Monster affectionately called Bracksey by fans.
Starting point is 00:07:53 Cute. Was a creature encountered by some kids and a mother in the 1950s. Think alien encounter, like literally, he was said to be super tall, have red skin and green clothes and float. They also reported a strange, weird smell. After running for help, others went to the scene to see only some marks on the ground,
Starting point is 00:08:10 and then the same weird smell. It became local and national news, and lives on in West Virginia as one of our lesser-known, yet beloved cryptids. There are various monster-themed things all over the county, including several braxi chairs that you're supposed to find and take pictures with. I've only found three so far. Three's a pretty great find, I would say. Three is my lucky number, so I think it's great.
Starting point is 00:08:33 There you go. I'm attaching a few photos I took at the museum, including one of a sign with a very stern directive that there are to be absolutely no sciences. Oh, shit. I need to know why. The last time I went, I asked the employee why the stern warning.
Starting point is 00:08:47 And though she did not know, she suspected, as I do, that there is some great story behind that warning. There has to be. She said she would find out. And I thanked her. Well, simultaneously threatening to come back next time with my own Ouija board if I didn't know why I couldn't. I'm really curious. I'm really curious.
Starting point is 00:09:07 I love you. I'm really curious if the rule would be enforced, as it would definitely be the most metal thing to get banned from a business for. It definitely would be, I think. I love that. The second museum is the Bigfoot Museum. West Virginia is pretty much just a giant, beautiful forest,
Starting point is 00:09:22 so it's no surprise that there are many, many big foot sightings across the state. Big foot feet, big feet. The museum features big foot-based art, accounts of sightings, casts of big foot footprints found all over the state, and many more big foot-themed things. I'm attaching a couple of pictures from that museum as well. In fact, next week is the big foot festival in Sutton.
Starting point is 00:09:43 Let's go. Which I am told will pay homage to all of West Virginia's cryptids. Wow. That sounds awesome. That sounds like it would be so much fun to go to. There, these are just a couple of, the West Virginia cryptids, but there are many more,
Starting point is 00:09:55 including that boy. Yeah, like the musical. Ha ha. There are also many ghostly and haunted places. Look into the green briar ghost, who's, oh, I love that one, Who's hauntings made it into a court transcript and helped prove the ghost had been murdered. It's a great story. That may be what I cover next, actually, because you just inspired me so hard. And you, because now I
Starting point is 00:10:16 need to know, I don't think I've heard of that. We got to. The- or the Mountsville Prison and the Trans Alleghenius Island, which we covered in one of our live shows. Oh, yeah. Both are haunted AF. And of course, there's the site where the West Virginia University Coids bodies were found, Sans Heads. Hella close to my house, by the way. Oh, sure.
Starting point is 00:10:35 Y'all should just come to West Virginia and do a whole damn spooky at Weird Ash Show. I'll even treat you to a pepperoni roll and some local Blackberry wine. Yes, please. Blackberry wine, say no more. Yes. Anyways, thanks for reading. If you did, and I hope that you enjoyed my photos, keep it weird. I very much enjoyed your photos.
Starting point is 00:10:52 Shut up. They're the cutest. Shut up. It literally has a sign at the museum that says absolutely no sayances. Thank you for your cooperation. Oh my god, I love it. I love it.
Starting point is 00:11:03 I love it. It's got big foot. Oh my god, your love it. I love it. I love it. It's got big foot. Oh my god, your child is the cutest. She's so cute. This is just awesome. She was that big tiara. How yeah, she did. She brought home the bacon.
Starting point is 00:11:14 Yeah, she did. Good for you, man. Go, baby, go. So now that we have a little bit of a, you know, a local's perspective on the whole face. Let's go into the Flatwoods monster, A.C.A.K.A. the Green Monster, A.K.A. Braxie, or Braxie County Monster,
Starting point is 00:11:30 or the Phantom of Flatwoods. I do just need to point out that there is only one Green Monster. Thank you because I was thinking that the entire time I will never refer to it as the Green Monster because there is only one home of the Green Monster and that is Fenway, Motherfuckin Park.
Starting point is 00:11:44 Motherfuckers. That's where I am. I was Monster, and that is Fenway, Motherfuckin Park. Motherfuckers. That's where I am. I was waiting for you to say Fenway Park because then I was gonna say Motherfuckers. Say it is. We did it twice. We did it twice because Boston. So, we are in Flatwoods, West Virginia,
Starting point is 00:11:57 in Braxton County. So, Twas Dusk on September 12th, 1952, when Ed and Fred May, a doorbell. Ed and Fred shot on others. 13 and 12th, 1952, when Ed and Fred may, Ed and Fred shut off. Brothers. 13 and 12 respectively were outside on the front lawn of Flatwood's elementary school. They were playing with their pals, Neil Nunley,
Starting point is 00:12:14 and Teddy Neal, and Tommy Heiler. Adorable. They were all between the ages of like 10 and I think like 16, all of them altogether. Suddenly, they saw something in the sky that appeared to be either on fire or just pulsating red, but they all say they believe it was on fire.
Starting point is 00:12:30 Oh wow. Like a fireball. And they all described it as a fireball that was at least the size of a house. Jesus. Like a small house. Oh my goodness. So they're all like, what the fuck? So they watch it and it looks like
Starting point is 00:12:41 this flaming space object lands on a hillside on or near G Bailey Fisher's farm So it stopped it like it kind of just like went it wasn't going like crazy fast like an asteroid So they said it went and then it stopped its forward motion Hovered for a split second on a hillside and then went down like it was landing Weird so it like stopped its forward trajectory very quickly and like it knew like it was landing. So it stopped its forward trajectory very quickly. And it knew where it was going. It was exactly, it was intentional.
Starting point is 00:13:10 So they said the red light was still visible behind the hills where it landed. So they could just see this red pulsating light coming from the hillside. Now the maze later said, again, that this was not an asteroid, not a shooting star, not some kind of space thing. Not a UFL. That they believe space thing. Not a UFL. That you could, they believe it might have been a UFL,
Starting point is 00:13:27 but they believe it wasn't something that could be explained away like, oh, I saw a meteor. Yes. Because they said it wasn't super fast. It just floated down and intentionally landed. So they immediately run towards it, but they stop on the way to grab the mom of the maize brothers, Kathleen May.
Starting point is 00:13:43 And they wanted her to come with them, which was really responsible for 1952, I think, because I feel like back then, kids would just like, run off into the wild blue yonder. And they never tell anyone, so good for these boys. Good job. Yeah, you've seen stand by me. Respectable.
Starting point is 00:13:58 So Kathleen was like, wow, that sounds very safe. And like something I want to take you to boys. Like, thank you for grabbing me for this. I love it. But Kathleen was described as super playful, like very kind, but a very feisty woman. That's what everyone said. Fiery. She sounds great.
Starting point is 00:14:14 She was also fiercely independent after she had divorced from the boy's father in recent years. And she was motivated only by caring for her family. And she did it on her own. And she did it really well according to everybody. I love that. But so when her boys came running and were like, I saw a spacecraft crash into that hillside,
Starting point is 00:14:31 she was like, let's fucking go. Let's go, let's go girls. Which one of us? But boys. And she, that's a mom right there. That's a cool mom to be like, all right, let's go into the woods and find this fucking spacecraft. Also, is this a movie?
Starting point is 00:14:44 Right, it sounds like it, but it's real. There's no night, but has a movie been made? There is movies that have been made about this, but she got seven, so she was like, all right, let's go. But on the way, she got 17 year old family friend in distant cousin of theirs, and who was like visiting the family. And he happened to also be a member of the National Guard.
Starting point is 00:15:04 His name was Eugene Lemon, known as Gene. They also got what they described as the community dog. Like it was a dog that was like everybody's dog, Richie, to come with them too. He just kind of like wandered with them and they were like, cool Richie, come on. So this squad hikes on over there. And immediately when they arrive in the vicinity, they start to smell rotten eggs. Like they start to smell sulfur. And it gets worse and worse and worse. Their eyes began burning, they said. And it felt like the air was heavy. Is it, when you smell sulfur, that's supposed to be like, um, like, signify like a demon, isn't it? Yeah, that's definitely, um, it definitely is like associated with demonic activity,
Starting point is 00:15:43 activity, which has been brought up in this scenario. But mostly they it definitely is like associated with demonic activity, which has been brought up in this scenario, but mostly they believe this is like some kind of alien encounter. I think. What if you were trafficked into a cult over shot nine times or fell in love with a vampire or went into a minor surgery and woke up one week later, paralyzed. What would you do? I'm Whit Missaldine, the creator of this is actually happening, a podcast from Wondry
Starting point is 00:16:12 that brings you extraordinary true stories of life-changing events, told by the people who lived them. From a young man that dooms his entire future with one choice, to a woman who survived a notorious serial killer. You'll hear their first-person account of how they overcame remarkable circumstances. Each episode is an exploration of the human spirit and personal discovery. These haunting accounts sound like Hollywood movies, but I assure you this is actually happening.
Starting point is 00:16:41 Follow this is actually happening wherever you get your podcasts, you can listen to ad free on the Amazon Music or Londoner app. Now a word from our sponsor. I feel like we've been talking so much about burnout lately, but guys, it's like life can be so overwhelming and a lot of us are burned out and we don't even realize it. If you're feeling like not motivated at all, if you're feeling super irritable all the sudden, or you're just super tired, maybe check in with yourself because you're probably experiencing burnout. Everybody experiences it, and a lot of people think that it only has to do with like your work, like you only get burned out from work,
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Starting point is 00:18:31 They said it was almost like this gas was surrounding them. Ooh, yeah. And it was still red and pulsating, and it was definitely as they got closer to it, the size of a small house. There was a ground mist that leaked from the area of the landing site, and it was surrounding them as well. Strangerthings.com. Truly stranger things. Guys, stranger things are so good. I can't get over anything.
Starting point is 00:18:53 It's too close. It's so close to coming back. I'm ready for it. OK. I got to start. You got to start. I know. I'm busy.
Starting point is 00:18:59 So I'm busy. I'm booked and busy. It's worth it. So Richie, now this is really sad. Oh no, just warning. Great. Richie the dog ran towards the mist and toward the egg-shaped craft that was pulsating in the center of the site. When he got close to it, he suddenly stopped and started to howl and then ran back down into town away from the site, like just pieced out of there. Okay. He was found later by people in the village and he was vomiting uncontrollably.
Starting point is 00:19:26 Oh no! He was taken to a vet and he died unexplainably. Do you think it was like radiation? Well, that's what, as we'll see, this something was leaking out of here, for sure. Oh shit. So suddenly, when Eugene Lemmon shown his flashlight towards a sound
Starting point is 00:19:41 that was emitting from behind them, because they're all staring at this craft being like, what the fuck is this? They hear some weird sound behind them. So he flicks his flashlight over there and there was an old wooden gate. And when they turned, they saw it. It was floating above some of the tree branches
Starting point is 00:19:57 and seemed to be searching the horizon for something or just surveying it. It was a 10 foot tall creature with a red colored head that was the shape of a spade. What? And it was pointed at the top like a spade. It had glowing eyes, like glowing green eyes. And gnarled arms and hands, or at least things
Starting point is 00:20:18 that they were like protrusions, that looked like arms or hands, but they were all gnarled up and they looked kind of like stringy claws. That's kind of thing. Even stranger, it was wearing what was described as green, metal, armor, like a dress, almost. What? It almost looked like it was wearing like a metal dress.
Starting point is 00:20:37 It was floating above the ground and it was shrieking. Oh, my goodness. Yeah. For a second there, it was giving me like my life as a teenage robot vibes, but that thing's changed. It changed very quick. You're like, I don't know what that is. And now it's just shrieking above the trees. Well later in an interview about this incident, Kathleen May the mom said when Jean's flashlight
Starting point is 00:20:56 beam hit the creature, it lit up like a Christmas tree. What? Now it saw them. Like when they flashed the light over and it started hissing. No. Now it saw them, like when they flash the light over and it started hissing. No. And Kathleen described the hiss as frying, like frying bacon in a pan.
Starting point is 00:21:10 Yeah. And he tried to hover over to them. No, so it was coming towards them. They all ran the fuck out of there. It's 10 feet tall, how do you run away from that? They just got the hell out of there. In fact, one of the maze brothers said there was a six foot tall fence down the hill where they were running and it had a gate, but he was laughing during an interview later
Starting point is 00:21:28 talking about this one like now. Like when he was a whirlser. He was doing an interview with small town monsters, which is like a documentary crew that I'm going to talk about there, documentary in this too. It's really interesting and I tell I'm going to recommend you check it out because it's very interesting. They really talk to a lot of people involved in this and I loved I'm gonna recommend you check it out because it's very interesting. They really talk to a lot of people involved in this and I loved it.
Starting point is 00:21:48 And it's called the Flatwoods Monster documentary. Why? I don't know that why they chose that, but I guess maybe find out in the documentary. Cool. But they're great. And in this, so in this, one of the maize brothers said, he read in the paper that his mom jumped
Starting point is 00:22:05 that six-foot tall fence. And in the duck, he's like, she was an athletic type, but I don't know if she was that athletic. It was like so funny how like amazing these stories were. Oh yeah, they turned so crazy. Now, they swore that this poisonous gas was leaking out of this thing. They were like, something was leaking out of it. Something happened to that, Puppo. Yeah, and a newspaper actually described it as oozing evil.
Starting point is 00:22:31 Oh. Now, Gene Lemmon dropped his flashlight screaming and ran the fuck back, which made them all lose it and run back to. Like, this thing was coming at them, they were gone. Kathleen later said in an interview, quote, it was a hideous sight, and I wished I had not seen it. Oh, now the maze boys believe it was a mechanical thing. They don't believe it was a living organic thing that they saw. And they said it came off very mechanical and even described it as having almost like port holes that had lights behind
Starting point is 00:23:01 them. So they believe they were like like it seemed like it was something that was sent out of this craft to like survey the area and maybe had something organic inside of it, but that it was like an armored kind of outside. It was invaders in. That's what it was, I bet. You remember that? Yeah, I do remember that. It was that. But they said to this day, they believed this was a mechanical thing that maybe had something organic inside of it because it was pretty like sentient and detected them when they were there. So they felt like there was something inside of it controlling it maybe.
Starting point is 00:23:36 And that... Well, the government gets involved. So the government always gets involved. Of course they do. So once they had got back home, they summoned Sheriff Robert Carr, and one of the co-owners of the Braxton Democrat, which was a local newspaper. His name was A. Lee Stewart. So Stewart said at the site, because they went back to the site, to go check this out.
Starting point is 00:23:58 So Stewart said that at the site, there was a quote, sickening burnt metallic odor still prevailing. So they still smelled this thing. You get your mask on. Yeah. The sheriff and some deputies said there was also a sickening smell, but that's it. They didn't see anything. They just smelled it. Now, according to Braxton, West Virginia website, for days, a few of them were sick with
Starting point is 00:24:20 nausea and vomiting and sore throats. What? Well, Gene Lemon had vomiting and convulsions the entire evening after returning home and he had throat irritation for weeks and this family confirmed this. This is definitely something extra terrestrial because it's giving me, um, remember when we did the black-eyed children?
Starting point is 00:24:37 Yeah. All the after effects of that, and the woman and her husband developed all these crazy symptoms. Yeah, and this tends to be a thing with like extra terrestrial things. They developed all these crazy symptoms. Yeah, and this tends to be a thing with like extra terrestrial things. These can be like lingering symptoms. And in fact, a doctor who treated a lot of them
Starting point is 00:24:50 said that their symptoms actually resembled people who experienced or were exposed to mustard gas. Oh, shit. Yeah. Now, Stuart also published in the newspaper, quote, those people were the most scared people I've ever seen. People don't make up that kind of story that quickly.
Starting point is 00:25:07 No. Because they called them immediately over. And they were like, all of them had the same story, and they were all freaking the fuck out. Yeah, and it's like, well, look at this giant thing. Yeah, like we didn't just create this. Exactly. Mustard gas around it to ooze.
Starting point is 00:25:20 Exactly. So there was another report of this that came out later the same night. Oh. So Edith and George Snatowski, they were a couple and they were driving through the same night of the incident. They were driving through the area and they were reporting something wild. So they were from New York and they were driving through the scenic route on their way through West Virginia on a trip. I think they were like going to Ohio or something. They drove through a road that went between the towns of Frametown and Gasway, which are two incorporated towns in Braxton County. They reported their cars suddenly stalled,
Starting point is 00:25:55 even though it had just had the battery replaced in preparation for this trip. Then their baby, who was with them in the car, started to gag. Oh, no. And a smell that was putrid like sulfur, was overpowering all around them. Oh, shit. So George gets out and he opens the hood because he's wearing like the eat if it's taking care of the baby. And he's worried there's something in the car that's like burning or something. He's like something's going on. But he said then he saw a huge flash of light from the woods to the side of him.
Starting point is 00:26:24 And he looked towards it, and he said he suddenly started becoming lightheaded and he started vomiting from the smell. And so he stumbled back to the car, and as he's coming towards the car, he hears his wife screaming. Oh my God. And he's like, what is going on?
Starting point is 00:26:39 And she's saying, turn around this something behind you. Oh, I just got chills out of my back. He turned behind him inside giant creature, eight to nine feet tall. He said it was floating with no legs that he could see. What? It had a bloated body and oversized head with spindly arm-like protrusions.
Starting point is 00:26:57 But he said he didn't get, like, details were hard to make out. And it was gliding rapidly towards him. Oh, my God, what the fuck? So he jumped in the car and he put Edith and their child on the floor of the car and they just hid and coward together. He just like put himself over them and it floated past their car and into the woods.
Starting point is 00:27:17 Do you imagine if it floated by and just knocked on them? No, I do. Like nanananana boobies. Hey bitches. And then just went up into the, that would be kind of iconic. I'd be like, I love this thing. Serving extra terrestrial realness.
Starting point is 00:27:30 I love it. But it went by and when it floated past the car, he said it seemed to run. It's like spindly arm thing against the hood. The next morning, because they were like not getting out of that car. Never. The next morning they got out,
Starting point is 00:27:44 there was a brown burnt spot on the hood where he had touched it. When you know what that sounded like, too. Yeah, it's gross. Now, another report of this was there was another farmer in the county who gave a story from the same night, said he saw a big craft, like aircraft, and he watched it pulse red and orange
Starting point is 00:28:02 for 10 to 15 minutes in the hillside. Yeah. He said it looked like it was getting weaker and weaker and after 20 minutes, it was only a pinpoint of light and then eventually when he looked again, it was gone. Yeah, because it went back to outer space. It left. Now another guy said he saw it come land in that hillside and he said he watched it leave. So a lot of other residents said they had also seen it go across the sky at the same time that all the maze kids had seen it. The sheriff, Robert Carr conducted interviews in the area, which is how they got some of these reports.
Starting point is 00:28:34 And Jean Lemmon's mother said when the whole thing occurred, their house shook violently and the radio cut out for 45 minutes. Oh, I love how spooky it is. Isn't this super spooky? I was like, damn, this is like intense. And the director of the local board of education filed a report saying he saw a strange aircraft take off from the area at 6.30 a.m.
Starting point is 00:28:56 the next morning. And this was after the whole incident had occurred. Weird. So the next day, September 13th, the West Virginia National Guard from Gasway was activated and sent out to the site by the United States Air Force. Shut up. The Special Forces Operation was led by Captain Levitt.
Starting point is 00:29:15 Apparently they did find evidence that something was there, and they were ordered to send it to the Pentagon. Oh, shit. There was a 20-foot impression in the ground like a crop circle almost where everything was flattened. There was greasy stuff on the grass in this impression and it smelled like burnt sulfur. And did they ever determine what it actually was? Well, he was promoted to Colonel Levit years later. So you know this is like a guy who's like doing shit. And he still maintained that all this was true. He said I was was there, I smelled it, I touched it,
Starting point is 00:29:46 and he said the government never released the result of the testing that they were doing on that substance. That is not fair. Secrets, secrets are no fun. Secrets, secrets hurt someone. And in this case, they hurt everybody, okay? Now later that year, Kathleen May and Gene Lemmon spoke with a TV show, We The People.
Starting point is 00:30:04 Then all this episode, they revealed a sketch of the monster done from their descriptions. And you can see it in Google, if you Google this. And it's like a very weird-looking monster. Now, according to a really fun and creepy documentary that I mentioned earlier called The Flatwoods Monster by Smaltown Monsters, some people think that if The Flatwoods Monster ever returns,
Starting point is 00:30:24 then it would spell disaster. They believe it would if the flat woods monster ever returns, then it would spell disaster. They believe it would be like a really bad omen, and that this would, that would mean like the end of everything. This thing is so creepy. Isn't it weird looking? And if it means the end of everything, then I'm scared. Yeah. Now, Ed and Fred May are featured in the documentary, I mentioned, which I'm going to link the doc so you guys can get it if you want to. And they both say they are totally fine with people being skeptical about what they saw
Starting point is 00:30:50 in experience, they're like, we don't care. We know what we saw. But they said, and from what I've seen, a lot of people believed them. Like, this is not something that was just brushed off as like, oh, these people are crazy. Well, because it would be one thing, if like, they were the only people that had this experience.
Starting point is 00:31:06 It's a big group of people. Yeah, it seems like people across the town saw something at least. And had very similar descriptions, that's the thing. Not even, they were all pretty much the same. Well, then Kathleen May later claimed she received a letter from the Pentagon. Fuck yeah.
Starting point is 00:31:21 Assuring her that the evening everyone had experienced the whole thing was they had experienced seeing experimental rockets that were government sanctioned and there was nothing else to speak about and that she should stop telling the story that she's And she was like, bitch, make me. And then she was like, I'm saying it. Because she was like, those were not experimental rockets. How do you describe, she was like, are these experimental rockets? Do they have aliens on them? And are they also equipped with like a mustard gas type
Starting point is 00:31:57 substance that you're poisoning people with? Like what? Do you want to explain any of that? The damage control you tried to do here, like good effort. Now, what's cool about Brexton County, West Virginia, is they really embrace this cryptid. Yeah. I love it.
Starting point is 00:32:10 The sign for the town says, welcome to Flatwood's home of the Green Monster, which like, lie. Let's change it to the Flatwood's Monster. Well, he doesn't live there. Because Wally does not live there. Our Boston heads know. Thank you. But you don't love it. Love that they're embracing it. Love that Our Boston heads know. Thank you. But, you know, love it, love that they're embracing it.
Starting point is 00:32:26 Love that for you. Yeah, thank you for the blood there, Tis. Would you? Apparently. Oh, we got an influx of messages that that is not always. It's not always a mean. It's not always snarky. Oh, okay.
Starting point is 00:32:37 Hey, we learned something new every day. As you just say it however the fuck you want. Yeah, say whatever the fuck you want. I was gonna say much like everything else, just do it however you want to. I was gonna do it however you want to. it however I'm gonna do whatever you want to now They used to also have a three-day music festival that was like about the the flatwoods monster Why did it stop they don't have it anymore? I'm not really sure why I blame
Starting point is 00:32:55 But they do a lot of things they have a really intense museum about it created in 2017 that's still there Well, that's what the museum that our listener Haley told us about and sent us pictures from. I wanna go, sounds great. I wanna go too. I'm really into it. And I guess it's like dedicated to all the lore, the history, the tales, it's ton of paraphernalia from it.
Starting point is 00:33:15 Love. It's really cool. In 1973, the Braxton County Junior Chamber of Commerce had lantern covers made by a local artisan that looked like Bracksey and they would put them over like the lanterns like so they're really going for it and it was part of a fundraiser which is cool. Sick. They seem to be using this as like a way to like do some good I think which is cool. And to celebrate this unique cryptid,
Starting point is 00:33:40 the Brackston County Convention and Visitors Bureau has created what our our friend Haley let us know about the Braxton County Monster Chair Projects. They set up landmarks that are actually 10-foot tall chairs that look like Braxi. You're supposed to find them and it's like a fun game. They're all painted differently so you can make sure you see them all. You're not seeing the same one. And apparently according to a website, it stumbled upon called terrordaves.com,
Starting point is 00:34:07 where this guy Dave goes to these cool places. What up Dave? Hey Dave. Dave went to these locations. We're safe one there. And he's, yeah, Dave's always going there. He said there's also QR codes at each location where you can scan it,
Starting point is 00:34:20 and it'll give you some history and information about Braxie and the whole thing. I think pretty cool. Our codes are like fun. Coolest thing that's happened lately. Yeah, I think they're like relatively new. Okay, I thought so too. I love a good QR code.
Starting point is 00:34:35 I mean, they have to be like somewhat new because we haven't had that technology for a while, but that's really cool. I'd say yeah, and you can like find out more about it. So it's like a fun little hunt you can do with like your kids or like something cool. Now, what I can find out more about it. So it's like a fun little hunt you can do with your kids or something cool. Now, what I also found very interesting about this is I guess he was featured in the Flatwoods monster
Starting point is 00:34:52 has been at least the likeness has been featured in a couple of games, like video games. Yeah, and one that's very interesting, it's in the Fallout 76 video game, which I know I've heard of Fallout before. If you want to know where you can find it, if you happen to play or if you want to, in the Fallout 76 video game, which I know I've heard a Fallout before. If you want to know where you can find it if you happen to play or if you want to, because now I kind of want to play it, because I know I have some gamers listening right now,
Starting point is 00:35:13 and like, I want you to know where you can find the Flatwoods monster in it. You can find... Game, baby. Well, if you're in the Fallout 76 game, you can usually find one of the flatwoods monsters at Abby's bunker and the wire, also near the Southampton estate. Interestingly, I saw there was also a sighting in the game, Southeast of Spruce knob channels on a cliff. Why I found that interesting was because during researching real life sightings of Braxi,
Starting point is 00:35:43 there was a possible sighting of one landing in the James knob area of Braxton County as well. And I wonder if that's coincidental or if the game did that on purpose, like I did in a knob. You know, a knob to the knob. Exactly, a knob to the knob. Also, they have been spotted in the game in the Savage Divide region
Starting point is 00:36:01 and somewhere in the Sunnietop ski lanes in that game. Huh. And finally, you can find one usually spawning near the converted munitions factory in the game, obviously. Thank you for that. I found this information at GameWatcher.com, so check out there if you want to find more information about it because they let you know about it. Fun. Apparently, there's a hostile and a docile version of the Flatwoods monster in the game, so like, good luck. If you find it, yeah, some of them just chill, like, float away, I guess,
Starting point is 00:36:28 and the other ones will attack you, and I guess it's part of a mission. But they're purple in the game, like purple and misty and kind of pretty. All of them, all good. I think the ones I saw pictures of at least, but go check it out if you're a gamer and let us know how it went.
Starting point is 00:36:43 I want to know if you were able to defeat the flatwoods monster and That is the entire story that I could find about the flatwoods monster. That's great. I've definitely seen the picture of it before But I haven't heard the story. Yeah, that's it. Wow. I like that. I love it. I want some more of it There you go. I want to go to West Virginia and see this museum Well first we have to go to Ohio, Michigan and Connecticut. Let's go. Because the melon heads are there. The melon heads. So the melon heads are like kind of encrypted, kind of human, kind of ghosts, but all legend, baby. I love that. So they are native, like I just said specifically to Ohio, Connecticut and Michigan.
Starting point is 00:37:24 I'm from Michigan every time. Every time to Ohio Connecticut and Michigan. I'm from Michigan every time. Every time. I'm from Michigan. I'm from Michigan. So what you need to know about melanchads, as they're like really cruelly called, is that they now occupy the wooded area specifically around the old felt mansion and the abandoned asylum that used to be known as junction in St. Asylum in Holland, Michigan. Okay.
Starting point is 00:37:46 In Ohio, they are said to occupy an area of woods near, it's either Wiesner or Wiesner. I'm gonna say Wiesner. Yeah, it feels right. Yeah, near Wiesner Road in Kirtland. Okay. And in Connecticut, they obviously occupy a road that has become known as Dracula Drive. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:38:06 Yep. It's real name is Velvet Street, and I happen to be obsessed with that. Both of those are, they go hand in hand, so that makes sense. I think of Velvet and Dracula. It should just be like Velvet Dracula Drive. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:38:19 Name change requested. Dracula is Velvet Drive. Thank you. There you go. We got it. Ooh, ooh. Yeah, like that better. Yeah, look at that. Two heads, better than one. There we go.
Starting point is 00:38:27 Now, supposedly they're a bit mischievous and some stories. They just want to have a little fun. They won't even hurt you. Yeah, and other stories, they're going to rock your world. They're going to scare the shit out of you. Okay. I don't know. I don't know.
Starting point is 00:38:41 Get you a melon head that can do it all. Not both, just at all. Yeah, just everything. Now, so why are they called melon head? Why? Because I'm picturing something very terrifying. You're correct in that. OK, cool. But there's a couple different theories
Starting point is 00:38:54 to go over, so buckle up. I'm buckled. To get into the first one, we have to talk about this docta, doctacrow. I don't actually think there's any evidence that this man truly existed. But I do think like the creation or idea of him was actually inspired by another doctor who did exist and has connections to this tale that we will talk about. Okay. So the story goes that Dr. Crow, he worked out some kind of deal with this nearby medical hospital, excuse me, the're all medical, mental hospital. And a turn, he ended up acquiring care of some of these patients who were being treated there.
Starting point is 00:39:28 Now, the problem with that was that he didn't actually wanna take care of these patients himself, he wanted to perform different experiments on them. Oh, as a good doctor should. Yeah, specifically on their brains. So he got to work straight away in some kind of like, Dr. Satan underground layer.
Starting point is 00:39:47 Dr. Satan, good call back. You're welcome, I did that specifically for you. For the Zombe. Yeah. But none of his experiments were working out like he was hoping and all of the patients that he worked on, they ended up suffering from the same condition because of all this failed work.
Starting point is 00:40:03 Since he was fucking around with their brain so much, over time, they developed hydracephalus, which is simply a buildup of seabro spinal fluid in the brain. I was wondering if hydracephally was a part of this? It certainly is. It's the biggest part of this. It is, it is.
Starting point is 00:40:19 It is. Now, so this led to their heads becoming swollen and misshapen, and also led to brain damage, which made these people completely unaware of what was really happening to them. Oh my God, that's horrible. But in turn, it made it easier for Dr. Crow to control them. Yeah, of course. But from time to time, when he was working on one person, another one would wander out of the
Starting point is 00:40:41 layer, and eventually people in the area started to become aware of the melon heads presence. They didn't realize what was actually happening like to these people, and they just thought that it was some kind of monster. Yeah. And that's when they started becoming known and around the area as melon heads. Oh, okay.
Starting point is 00:40:58 Now, in another variation of the story with Dr. Crow, he's actually like a good dude. Oh. And he's living in the woods with his wife. Okay, so I love that he gets like two very distinct like stories about him. He gets three wraps. One of them is totally like whatever and then the other two are like horrific. Cool. Okay. This one is totally whatever. All right. So he's loving in the woods with his wife. The town comes to them with these children that have hydrocephalus and they're not really sure like what to do and they're like doctor you must know and like with his wife, the town comes to them with these children that have hydricephalus and
Starting point is 00:41:25 they're not really sure like what to do and they're like doctor you must know and like, you know, Mrs. Crow, you're a fine woman, can you help us? So they're like, all right, we'll take them in like what else are we going to do? We want to treat their brain trauma that they're having. Yeah, of course. You know, but it doesn't seem to work. Like they can't really do anything to change it. So they're like, you know what, Well, let's just like take care of these kids as they are. Usually, hydrocephalus will lead to death.
Starting point is 00:41:52 Yeah, but not in this case. Okay. So over that over time, the wife Mrs. Crowe becomes like really close with all the children. But as she's starting to look at them as though they're her own children, they're getting bullied by all kinds of people in town Calling the melon hunts. Oh, that's sad. It's so sad. I mean, what does a good mama do?
Starting point is 00:42:13 Protect her young hell yeah, and Mrs. Crowe was no damn exception She would read any mother fucker to filth if they must with her babies or if they made fun of them Yeah, and because of that the children really started looking to her like, like she was their mother. And this like beautiful bond over the years happened. I love this. And they became incredibly close and lived happily ever after. My goodness.
Starting point is 00:42:35 Not true. Oh. They didn't leave live happily ever after because Mrs. Crow already was an older woman when the town approached him and like, hey, can you help us? So they didn't have a lot of time with her before she passed away. And when she did pass, they didn't really know what to do with themselves. Like, yeah. And they have fluid in their brain so they're not acting as if like you and I would.
Starting point is 00:42:57 Yeah. They just become fully panicked and kind of just start running around the small cabin. Yeah. Panicked and just not knew what to do. Oh my God. And the doctors trying to like wrangle them all up and calm them down, but it turns into this full-blown frenzy. And in the frenzy, somebody or somehow a carousine lantern got knocked over. And the entire cabin caught fire and everyone inside died.
Starting point is 00:43:22 Oh, no. The belief is that if you got to the woods where all this happened, you could run into the ghost children that are all stuck there for eternity. That's horrifying and I hate it. Yeah, I don't want to run into them. I don't either.
Starting point is 00:43:37 Especially not if they like burned in a fire. Yeah. Like, I'm no good. No. Because already they were having a lot going on. Yeah, this is just not going to be a great thing to come across. It's not.
Starting point is 00:43:48 No. So we got one more variation. This one is horrific. Oh, as if the other two weren't. Yeah, I mean, the first one that was like, started off, or the second one, excuse me, started off like Toby. Yeah, totally did.
Starting point is 00:43:58 Bonds and shit. Yeah. This one, there's no bonding. Oh good. There's still Dr. Crow. I don't know where his wife is in this one. She ceases to exist anymore. Yeah. This one, there's no bonding. Oh good. There's still Dr. Crow. I don't know where his wife is in this one. She ceases to exist anymore. Yeah, but he still lives in that weird little cabin
Starting point is 00:44:11 in the woods. And this one is deep dark and hella disturbing. Oh good. So in this one, he was performing these like super janky operations mainly on pregnant women. Oh, because it was such a janky operation, a lot of the women and also their babies didn't survive. And the babies that did survive,
Starting point is 00:44:30 he was like doing all kinds of weird shit to them. So they got hydricephalus. Yeah, it just became horrible. And over time, they would pass away and he would bury their bodies in the woods next to his home. Now these days, people will see ghosts of those babies that he worked on that didn't make it,
Starting point is 00:44:47 and that they became like deformed during the process. And people will also hear cries coming from the area. And according to Weird US, which is like a really fun source, like they have a ton of information, yeah, different cryptids and creepy shit. But now, according to them, there's a bridge where the cabin used to be, and it has officially been inducted into cry baby bridge for gate.
Starting point is 00:45:09 Always a cry baby bridge. Always. I created that club. Like, the cry baby bridge for gate, not like the babies crying. Oh, okay. I was like, you're gonna have to explain that to me because, I don't understand why you're making a lot of babies cry. No, I would never. I love babies. Who doesn't love babies? I don't know. People're making a lot of babies cry. No, I would never. I love babies. Who doesn't love babies?
Starting point is 00:45:27 I don't know. People that throw them off bridges, I guess. So I think the reason why so many of the stories about the Melon heads include the mention of like some craze doctor is because the mansion that I mentioned in the beginning of the story, Felt Mansion, actually was owned by a doctor originally. Okay.
Starting point is 00:45:44 Dr. Door felt. That's the name. Now, since there are sightings in the area around Felt felt mansion actually was owned by a doctor originally. Okay. Dr. Doer felt. Yeah. And it's the name. Now, since there are sightings in the area around felt mansion and there's also an abandoned asylum right near the mansion, it kind of works for the story. Oh, yeah, for sure. You know, so felt mansion actually has quite a history.
Starting point is 00:46:00 When the felt family was done residing there, it became the St. Augustine Seminary for Boys. And this was around the year 1949. Now, one boy that went to school there told the Grand Haven Tribune that this was when the whole Melanhead saga kind of began, but it had nothing to do with the ghosts of children who burned in a cabin because of some crates doctor
Starting point is 00:46:21 and actually had more of an academic meaning. Oh, okay. Yes, he told them. He told them, quote, rumors start because of the unknown. The melanchads were actually seminarians at St. Augustine Seminary in the Felt Mansion. The local kids called us that because it was a private school and we were brainy.
Starting point is 00:46:39 Oh. But what is the truth? What's the truth? I don't want wanna believe that. It's just because you're like smart. Yeah, like you guys are just melancholy. They call them melancholy. Cause you got big brain.
Starting point is 00:46:50 Oh, you got your big brain in your cranium? I feel like yeah, I'm a melanched head. What? Yeah, bitch. I don't know. I like to believe that there's like actual melanchads. I don't really like to believe that like they came about in the way that they did, but I just wanna believe
Starting point is 00:47:02 that there's some totally like just different creature with just a big bloated head that just walk around, scaring the shit out. It has nothing to do with Dr. Crowe. No kids. No. No, like, I just senselessly, like nothing, I don't want any of that. I want weird ass cryptids that have nothing to do
Starting point is 00:47:22 with real life and just wanderin' around scared in the shit out of me with their bloated heads. I also want to. Did you look at pictures, by the way? I did. The pictures don't give me like child vibes. They give me like like the wrong turn vibes. Yeah, exactly.
Starting point is 00:47:37 That's what they gave me. I was like, okay. If you just give me that with no back story to why they are the way they are, I don't have that. I don't have that. Yeah. Well, so are the way they are, I don't have that. Yeah. Well, so after the seminary school ceased to exist anymore, Michigan actually bought
Starting point is 00:47:50 the property. I think it was around the late 70s that this happened, and at that point they actually converted the mansion into a prison. Oh, now for some reason the prison only stuck around a little less than 20 years and was sold to Lake Township around the late 90s, allegedly for a dollar, and the promise that they would preserve it. I love that, a dollar and a promise.
Starting point is 00:48:11 We love it. You get a whole last mansion for say, it's a dollar value. Yeah, there you go. So now it is actually on the National Register of Historic Places. Oh, look at that. But throughout the years and all the changing of hands,
Starting point is 00:48:22 the sightings of the melon heads, whether they were ghosts of seminary Brainiacs or ghosts of mistreated orphan children, they've never stopped. I want them to be ghosts of seminary briniacs now. And side note, one of our listeners actually wrote in about the felt mansion and told us that now it's used as a wedding venue and it's like also a museum, but they catered at wedding there, this listener, and they said, quote, the wedding was going on and we were inside setting up.
Starting point is 00:48:51 I was carrying silverware and saw a reflection of something white in the hardwood floors coming around the corner. I stopped and waited for whoever it was to pass, but as I got closer, no one was there. I got a crazy cold rush and had goosebumps everywhere. I looked everywhere and there was nobody in that part of the house. What?
Starting point is 00:49:10 They also said that a woman who lived in the mansion before it ended up being like a wedding venue museum. One day this woman opened her door and this is gross and horrifying. She found a deer leg on her doorstep, like, all chewed up. What the fuck? Like somebody had, like, chewed on it, and then just left it for, and then just left it. Like, damn. I can't imagine that's a good sign of things to come.
Starting point is 00:49:32 I feel like a bad omen, I don't know. I feel like it's probably part of the reason why she no longer lives there. Probably. Yeah. But people who have visited the mansion like these days, they will see curtains moving, even though no one's inside. They hear like footsteps as if they're being followed
Starting point is 00:49:47 and like heavy breathing, or they'll see shadows while they're in the woods around the mansion. Now, one of the ones I saw reported most actually, like experiences comes from a book that I think we've referenced before. It's Weirdo England. Oh yeah, Joseph Citroe. Hell yeah.
Starting point is 00:50:05 Citroe. So in this story, six girls from Connecticut, Sue Kim, Deb, Karen, Megan, and Jen. Yes. Are driving down what road? The Dracula Velvet Road? Dracula Drive. Hell yeah.
Starting point is 00:50:20 Now they're driving around. They're telling tales of the melonheads and all kinds of other legends that have come out of Dracula Drive over the years. It's the 80s, they definitely have Cindy Lopper bumping, you know? Girls just want to have a good time. Oh yeah, they're playing Run and Up That Hill by Kate Bush. They're on it. Run and Up That Hill.
Starting point is 00:50:40 Yes. But anyway, they're driving around and all of a sudden one of them has this really great idea They're like, oh my god guys. We should just like pull aside. We should park the car and just get out and explore It'll be so much fun. And you know what we all say shut up Jen. Yeah shut the fuck up No one asked you Megan sit down Jennifer So nobody said that they were like great idea mech. They all park they get out They're at a silly goofy mood So nobody said that, they were like, great idea, Meg. They all park, they get out, they're at a silly goofy mood, exploring,
Starting point is 00:51:08 probably just trying to scare the shit out of each other. Yeah, it sounds fun. And they're making their way down the path, a little ways away from their car. But as they're, you know, vibing, as they're vibing, a serious vibe check occurs, and the vibe is no longer a persuasion of vibe that you would actually want to vibe with any longer.
Starting point is 00:51:24 It is no longer immaculate. It is the vibe has not remained immaculate. Has been tainted. Yeah, and it was tainted by they hear a car door slam. More specifically, their car door. Oh, no. So they look around, but all of them are accounted for. No.
Starting point is 00:51:42 So the fuck just did that? Well, no time to figure that out, because as they're trying to, the car starts driving at them and seems to have no problem running them down if they don't jump out of the way. Luckily, they do. And as the car wases by them,
Starting point is 00:51:56 they catch a glimpse of the people inside and they would later describe these people as, quote, child-sized humanoids dressed in ragged clothing and with humongous heads and wide eyes that glowed with an orange light. What? That's funny to you. You're a car.
Starting point is 00:52:17 You just got cajacked. I'm being hilarious. So many kids with huge heads. Big heads and Elena's eyes. Like, that's in my eye. Like, that's it. I'd be like, what the fuck? Like, why did these children just take our car?
Starting point is 00:52:34 Well, I've had a creepy, and if it is, sure is, it's not creepy enough for you. All the passengers inside, they're all those little demon kids, but the heads. They were giggling menacingly and almost immunically. It's a joy red. You know, they're all having a blast. That's actually exactly what they're trying to ask.
Starting point is 00:52:54 Now, they never found their car, but luckily they were able to haul ass out of those woods and they lived to tell the tale. And their melanchads just stole their car. Straight up jacked their car. They never found their car. Okay, wow. Their moms must have been so mad. and their melon heads just stole their car. Straight up jacked their car. They never found their car. Wow, their moms must have been so mad.
Starting point is 00:53:07 And when you tell, if my kid came to me, it was like a bunch of melon heads took my car, I'd be like, get in here right now. Yeah, are you kidding me? What'd you do? I may believe my kids, because I'd be like, well, I'm sure you want your car. And I'd be like, that's a weird lie to tell.
Starting point is 00:53:21 Yeah, that's the thing if you went with that. I know, but it could be like the listener tales that's gonna come out either next week or like next year, I don't remember. Next year. But yeah, I lost my eyes going with that. COVID brain is still a thing. What the fuck?
Starting point is 00:53:36 I don't know where you're going to go with that. I mean, it wouldn't happen. It makes me feel like I'm like losing my brain. Yeah, I don't know where you were going with it. Yeah, me either. So we'll catch you next week. But anyways, I found a bunch of experiences that people have had with Melanheads on this website
Starting point is 00:53:49 called Mysterious Universe. I'll link that article so that you guys can read some more of them. That one that I just told was also featured on there. But with that, I want to get into one of our very own weirdos experience with Melanheads. Yes. And this was sent in by a listener named Kristen.
Starting point is 00:54:07 All right, Kristen, bring it. Not saying their last name because they didn't say whether I could or not. So they said, hi, Ash and Alina, I have begun listening to your podcast during quarantine working from home and it has quickly become a dicting. I love your relationship and it makes me wish
Starting point is 00:54:20 I had an older sister, only child here. Anyway, I had to tell you this story for my teenage years. It took place in Holland, Michigan, outside, in the dark, at a place called the Bowl. In 2010, my best friend Ashley and I knew of a place in Holland, Michigan on the beach, called the Bowl. Lots of teens post high school would go there to hang out because it was secluded and on the shore of Lake Michigan. It was not marked by any, it was not a marked place by any means. You had to drive around a
Starting point is 00:54:49 too-lane twisty road to find a small pond and that's where you parked on the side of the road. No streetlights were present. We'd grab our backpacks full of shitty beer and blankets and set off into the woods. You walked a barely visible trail winding all around until you'd reach a huge sand till. Side note, the shores of Lake Michigan have huge sand dunes everywhere and they're beautiful. This hill was no joke. I swear it was almost a 90 degree angle and it was high as hell. It took 30-ish minutes to climb and if and that's if you were non-adum smoker like lots of us were. Once at the top you would see over the tops of the trees for miles. You could see the downtown buildings of Grand Rap over the tops of the trees for miles.
Starting point is 00:55:25 You could see the downtown buildings of Grand Rapids, Michigan, which was 32 miles away. It was so cool. Then the other side was a long gradual sandtail. You could almost run down to a pit of sorts. And then the lake was on the other side. It made for a super secret of place to camp or have a fire or even skinny to pop.
Starting point is 00:55:43 Oh, so I know, so sauce. So Ashley and I went to the bowl just her and I. It was Friday night about 11 PM by the time we got there. I remember how dark it was and something inside of me was telling me it was not a good idea to start on the trail when it was already dark. She was ticked. We drove all the way there 30 minutes
Starting point is 00:56:02 and I was refusing to get out. We drove home and found some other dumb shit to do. But the next day, we decided to go back again. We left about 5.30 pm. We got there, walked the trail, climbed the hill, and wala. It was awesome. We climbed around, eyeed-drink, she smoked, we took pictures of each other with our digital cameras, because what else do you do when you're 19?
Starting point is 00:56:20 It was about 9.30 pm when we decided to go home. We packed our stuff, including snacks and blankets including snacks and blankets and whatever else we brought. When you have to descend that steep ass sandu I mentioned, it was almost too hard to walk down if that makes sense. It was so steep, it was like your steps were jumps and when you reached the bottom, it was so much darker because you were under the trees at this point. It was a lot darker than I thought it was. It's just scared.
Starting point is 00:56:45 We were walking down the trail to the car and Ashley and I started to get quiet. We could tell that something was following along with our footsteps to the right of us in the woods. That's somehow that's almost scary. Yeah, behind you. Yeah, I hate that. It was very audible because there were leaves
Starting point is 00:57:02 and branches being stepped on, though we could not see anything in the dark. But if we stopped, the other footsteps stopped. This was our worst nightmare. We were in the middle of nowhere and no one would have heard us or helped if we needed it. The footsteps continued and the sound was to my right only about six feet away. I was both paralyzed with fear and fighting the urge to run. Actually somehow kept your fucking cool as we were being followed and probably stared up by whatever the urge to run. Actually somehow kept your fucking cool
Starting point is 00:57:25 as we were being followed and probably stared up by whatever the fuck this was. For some reason, maybe for the snacks, I had a butter knife in my bag and I swung it around slowly while we walked and I pulled it out. Better than nothing I guess. It is.
Starting point is 00:57:39 We laugh about that to this day, a butter knife. It was obvious to the both of us that this thing was not an animal. It was walking with steps similar to ours. It felt like we walked for over an hour, like, like this until we got to the road. Ashley sat off her car alarm on her key fob, and we ran to the car. I don't know how long we sat there freaking out with the doors locked before we drove home, but she and I have a pact. If something paranormal or other wordly happens to one of us, the other will believe them.
Starting point is 00:58:06 So we jumped online and started looking for anything in Holland, Michigan to explain what could have happened and yikes. The felt mission, excuse me, the felt mansion is an old abandoned house very near to where we were at the bowl and it's rumored to be haunted, like I told ya. It's fucking spooky, it's been used as a home,
Starting point is 00:58:23 a Catholic prep school purchased by the police department. Well, la, la, la. There's also a building near it called Junction Insane Asylum. This place is also terrifying. And then they went in to explain what the melanids are, but I already told ya. And they said they wrote, that's from Wikipedia, of course. And had we known that, we would not have fucked around at night there. I was just typing this because we were so close to where this asylum was. Here's some photos from inside the asylum right now that are spooky as fuck. We'll try to see if we can post those. There you go. And then they said, with all the folklore of stories and people seeing, people seeing
Starting point is 00:58:58 slash almost seeing these feral ass creatures, I feel like this could almost be a whole episode. I don't know, but I don't know, but this email is the tip of the iceberg, and I will find a picture of the bowl to send you so that you can better understand it." And then they said, forgot to include an important detail. When Ashley and I were at the bottom of the hill on the bowl part of the dune, we left our bags and stuff at the top because we were the only ones there. As we were walking up, Ashley swears she saw the top of several heads peaking over the side of the hill. No, she could only see the tops of them as we were so far below at the bottom of the hill.
Starting point is 00:59:32 We joked then that it was other people as they were leaving us as, excuse me, we joked then that it was other people as they were leaving and they noticed people were already there and didn't want to share the same space. But it was probably the melanheads checking us out. Yep. Lots of people claim that they hide out in the woods and are good at being undetected
Starting point is 00:59:49 because they know the land inside and out. Oh, it gives me such wrong turn. It does. That's all I can think of as wrong turn. And I just can't imagine like obviously like not knowing anything about this whole legend and like seeing like some people and like talking about it being like oh yeah They probably don't want to share space with us and then being like that looking back later and being like were those fucking melanchels Yeah, like just been and go what the fuck cuz you only saw the top of their head no the top of their melanin
Starting point is 01:00:15 And Emma and she said it was like a few people like imagine like just like looking back and being like seven melanchads We're just like no like sizing my shit up. I hate it. It's so creepy. I hate it so much. It's so creepy. Oh, yeah. Kristen. Kristen. Holy shit.
Starting point is 01:00:32 Healing heads. Flatwoods monsters. Glor. Remind me to both never go in these woods where these things are and also to go in because I want to see you. Yeah, I want to vibe a vibe. Is the vibe theest of vibes.
Starting point is 01:00:45 There you go. Vibes. Well, guys, that was the Flotwoods monster. Yep. And this was the melon heads of Ohio, Michigan, and Connecticut. And if you guys have any other experiences that you want to write in about this, let us know. Like, maybe we can share another one next time we do more cryptids.
Starting point is 01:01:02 I was going to say, because we can start the next cryptids episode with any further ones that you guys have for these ones. Yeah, and if you have any cryptids recommendations, just write like cryptids recommendation to more of a podcast at gmail.com. Or if you have like experiences, like we just have, send those to. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:01:20 Because we've gotten a lot of a flesh pedestrian experiences, so we will definitely be touching upon those at some point But we'll let you know maybe when we talk about like a certain ranch. Yeah, a ranch A ranch You would definitely get to go like a ranch But yeah, this was fun. This was I definitely want to do some more cryptids at some point because it's just it's just all fun It's just all funny game. It is we're and game. It is. We're all mad. Until somebody gets abducted by an alien
Starting point is 01:01:47 that's wearing a metal dress. Yeah, that's the expression. Yeah. So we hope you keep listening. And we hope you keep it weird. But that's where you get abducted by an alien wearing a metal dress because that would really suck for you. Not somewhere that you go hiking in the woods
Starting point is 01:02:01 and you see the melon heads and you're not sure if they're the melon heads but then you go home and you find out that those might have been the melon heads. It would not sure if they're the melon heads but then you go home and you find out that uh those might have been the melon heads. It would they were. Don't keep it that weird. Hey, Prime Members! You can listen to morbid, early, and ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen ad-free with Wondery Plus and Apple podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at Wondery.com slash
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Starting point is 01:03:23 FBI agent, and a criminal profiler. On Killer Psychie Daily, I'll give you my expert perspective on cases like the mysterious New York City drugings, Breaking Down Lori Vallow, aka Mommy Doomstays Motives, and what drove Caitlin Armstrong to murder. I'll also bring on expert guests who add even more insight into these criminal minds. I promise you won't regret adding these 10 minutes to your morning routine. Hey, Prime members, listen to the Amazon Music exclusive podcast Killer Psychie Daily in the Amazon Music app.
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