Project Blue Book recap: The haunting story of the Phantom of Flatwoods

On the second episode of Project Blue Book, a woman and her children spot something unexplainable in the woods. Hynek and Quinn are called in to put an end to the small-town hysteria before it spirals out of control.

The case Project Blue Book draws from this week has many names: the Flatwoods Monster, the Braxton County Monster, the Phantom of Flatwoods, but the story always begins the same.

In 1952, two brothers, Fred and Edward May, and their friend, Tommy Hyer were out after dark and they boys reported seeing strange phenomena in the woods of Braxton County, West Virginia. They claimed to have observed a brilliant object crossing the night sky and when they approached the landing site it was accompanied by a strange pulsing red light.

“Seven Braxton County residents on Saturday reported seeing a 10-foot Frankenstein-like monster in the hills above Flatwoods.”

The boys mother, Kathleen May, accompanied them to the hill where the light was coming from and she reported seeing a creature emerge from the orb. The descriptions of this creature vary from the witness reports and from additional reporters who followed the story afterwards.

Those who have witnessed the otherworldly creature emerging from the shadows of night have claimed it has sharp claws, that it sports a red engorged face and glides across the ground like a specter. In the initial story, the May boys even said they heard it hissing.

From History channel’s own retelling of the legend:

"“Seven Braxton County residents on Saturday reported seeing a 10-foot Frankenstein-like monster in the hills above Flatwoods,” a local newspaper reported afterward. “A National Guard member, [17-year-old] Gene Lemon, was leading the group when he saw what appeared to be a pair of bright eyes in a tree.”"

Investigators claim the monster in question was actually a barn owl flying towards them but there has never been a concrete explanation for this story. The legend has continued to be a source of pride for Braxton County who host a Flatwoods Days festival every year in celebration of the fabled tale (scroll down to the bottom for info).

Witch Hunt

The unfamiliar is unwelcome in Flatwoods and no one learns this faster than Sarah (Brooke Smith) and her children after they hear a crash in the woods that spreads into a far-reaching fire. Her son watches as a monstrous creature emerges from the ash and draws a photo of it that is quickly spread around town and to the press by Sarah herself.

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By the time Hynek and Quinn are called in to investigate, paranoia has settled over Flatwoods like a heavy fog, seeping into every corner, trickling down from the law enforcement to infect every citizen. They’re ready to grab their pitchforks and run Sarah out of town if she doesn’t stop spreading lies and terrifying their children.

Scorched earth and loose soil proves Sarah and her children were not wrong in what they witnessed, signs of an object plummeting through the atmosphere are visible as are the skin rashes. Hynek and Quinn find a fragment of the meteor rock that caused the commotion and Hynek informs Sarah of their discovery. The rashes are a result of exposure to radiation levels and will clear up in their own time.

Their investigation remains incomplete though, as long as a ten foot monster remains unaccounted for. Allen conducts an experiment based on a hypothesis about the true nature of this supposed beast, and when this theory proves true he and Quinn present it to the townsfolk. Not a moment too soon, either, as a witch hunt was about to begin.

The “monster” was in fact a shadow cast from the wings of a great horned owl sluicing through the night sky in tandem with the gnarled branches of a tree in the woods. Couple with that a smokescreen and the paracosm of child-like wonder and you’ve got yourself the Flatwoods Monster.

The truth is like the sun: the closer you look the more it blinds

Susie Miller continues her quest to get access to the Hynek household. In the end of the premiere we watched her take photos of Mimi and Allen and this week we see she has an accomplice. Susie lures Mimi out of the house under the guise of taking her for a day on the town, and perhaps to nourish a budding crush.

The lingering moments Susie spent pouring over Mimi’s photographs did not go unnoticed, nor were the photos of the brunette in a partial state of undress wholly necessary. Yes, it does seem Susie Miller is either growing fond of Mimi or seduction of her target’s wife is part of her bigger plan.

Mimi is certainly shaken up by the vivacious blonde who takes her up on the idea of going to swanky, smoky, underground club where they “smoke reefer and serve cocktails out of soup cans”. The place is running amuck with hormones and unabashed sexual freedom. Susie leaves Mimi alone for a second and that’s all it takes to make her remember her conservative values. She runs out leaving a curious, and maybe disappointed, Susie behind.

Victory is still Susie’s though, when her accomplice completes his task – planting a bug in the Ryek household, likely more than one. And there is the truth — Susie Miller is a Russian spy and now she’s got ears to Allen Rynek and in turn the entire Project Blue Book operation.

Odds & Ends

• Evelyn’s (Mary Black) death shocked me. It wasn’t that I thought she would be a main character or anything but I was really not expecting her to get murdered. I guess she knew too much.
• Quinn’s face when Rynek starts making all those hooting sounds in the woods is absolutely priceless.
• Who is the man in the hat? What plans do General Harding and Valentine have with the Project Blue Book operation exactly? Wouldn’t they want someone like Rynek in there with them? His intellect could be valuable.
• I wonder if production couldn’t rent a Barn owl for the scene where Quinn shows the owl to the crowd. No idea why I thought of this but in the real case it was a barn owl and it’s such a small detail to change it to a Great Horned one unless they truly couldn’t find one!
  Fun fact, the reason I thought of this is because of a commentary I listened to for Game of Thrones where they had a lot of drama trying to track down a white pigeon for one scene in the show, it was only seen for a few seconds but it goes to show how much time and energy goes into every aspect of film and television.
• We’ve got several parties competing against each other now, Rynek and Quinn, General Harding and Valentine, the Russians, and this mysterious man in a hat. A stage is being set for some epic confrontations.
• Ksenia Solo never misses a chance to play Russian and I’m not mad about it one bit.

A new episode of Project Blue Book titled “The Lubbock Lights” premieres January 22 on the History channel.