The Flatwoods Monster (1952)
On September 12, 1952, children in Flatwoods, West Virginia, watched a light streak across the sky and land on a nearby hill. Accompanied by their mother, a National Guardsman, and their dog, they found atop the hill a ten-foot creature with a glowing green spade-shaped face and clawed hands, wearing what looked like a dark metallic robe. The group fled in terror.
Witnesses
5 children, 1 mother, 1 national guardsman
Why it endures
One of the earliest and most famous close encounters of the third kind in the United States, and an enduring icon of UFO pop culture.
Official version (contested)
Project Blue Book concluded it was a meteor seen that night, with the creature explained by some skeptics as a barn owl perched on a branch, misperceived in the dark and panic.