UFO sightings in West Virginia
West Virginia has two of the country's most famous creature cases: the 1952 Flatwoods Monster, a towering hooded figure on a hilltop, and the 1966 Point Pleasant Mothman, a winged red-eyed being that became a legend and a festival. Both are woven into the state's identity.
West Virginia case files in the archive
- 1952FlatwoodsFlatwoods, Braxton County, West Virginia, USAA group followed a bright object to a hilltop at night and fled from a ten-foot hooded figure with glowing eyes. A meteor, a barn owl and fear are the accepted explanation, and the town has made the monster its emblem.
- 1966Point PleasantPoint Pleasant, West Virginia, USAFor thirteen months, residents reported a tall winged figure with glowing red eyes near an old munitions works. The sightings ended with the Silver Bridge collapse, and John Keel's book made the creature an omen.
Saw something over West Virginia?
Most strange lights have an ordinary cause. Run the identifier: seven questions and the three most likely explanations, from a Starlink train to Venus to a drone, each with how to confirm it.
Note the exact time, the compass direction, the height above the horizon, how long it lasted and how it moved. Check a flight tracker and a satellite app before deciding it is unexplained.
File it. The National UFO Reporting Center and MUFON take reports from every US state, West Virginia included, and their databases are where the per-state counts actually live.
Other states with famous cases
The famous cases above follow the public record; XenoAtlas documents claims and their explanations and takes no position on whether any involved non-human contact. Per-state sighting counts are maintained by NUFORC and MUFON. For the big cases on a map, see the case files.