Tales of Tetrapods

Reptilian encounter, Ontario, Canada, 1978
Location. St. Catherines, Ontario, Canada Date: summer 1978 Time: late evening Lee Nigro was driving along a dark road near an area that is fairly well wooded. He was accompanied by his friend Churcho in the passenger seat when they spotted what Lee at first took to be a tall man standing in the middle of the road several yards ahead, apparently indifferent to the fact that a vehicle was moving towards “him”. Lee supposedly blared the horn frantically, since he believed he had the right of way, but still this “man” showed no interest in budging from “his” precarious spot in the middle of the road. As a result, Lee—who was known as being very tough and no-nonsense when the situation called for it—had to swerve his car aside in the road so that he didn’t hit this “man,” and could very well have had a serious accident as a result. Incensed at this individual for the near disaster, Lee Nigro got out of the car to angrily confront the man, only to realize to his horror—and that of his passenger, who could now fully see the figure illuminated in the headlights of the stopped car—that he was not confronting a human being at all. When asked what it looked like he answered, “Like an alligator” but he insisted that it stood on two feet like a man. Lee Nigro very explicitly claimed that the encountered humanoid had reptilian features and not the far more ‘familiar’ hairy hominid or ape-like type of creature. He never used the word Bigfoot to describe it, instead he insisted the creature he saw looked like something akin to a humanoid alligator with scaly, hairless reptilian skin. Unfortunately it was not confirmed if the creature’s hairless skin was green or some other hue. Then came the final part of the confrontation. While Lee Nigro’s passenger panicked and claimed that he tried to hide under the dashboard of the car, Nigro quickly grabbed a baseball bat he kept handy in the car if needed and struck the creature with it—only to find it had no effect whatsoever. After Lee Nigro struck the creature with the
bat, it knocked the weapon out of his hand, and he wisely rushed into the car, shut the door, hastily started the vehicle up again, and hit the accelerator. Just as he took off, the reptilian cryptid apparently leaped on the hood of the car, then just as quickly leaped off again as the vehicle started moving forward. It then ran into the nearby trees on the side of the road, disappearing from sight even as Lee Nigro hightailed it out of the area.

The Flatwoods monster (also referred to as the “Braxton County Monster” or “Lizard Monster”) was sighted in the town of Flatwoods in Braxton County, West Virginia, United States on September 12.  It is described as being man-shaped and clad in a dark (possibly green) pleated skirt; and some accounts record that the creature had no visible arms.  Others describe it as having short, stubby arms; ending in long, claw-like fingers.  Closely associated with a UFO flap in the area, the Flatwoods Monsters is generally thought to be alien, but should be studied as a cryptid as well given the  the shape, movement, and sounds reported by witnesses were consistent with the silhouette, flight pattern, and call of a startled barn owl perched on a tree limb.  In fact, debunker Joe Nickel and others believe that an owl, in conjunction with a known meteor appearance on that date, is responsible for the story.  Nevertheless, the local sherrif investigated but found no solid evidence anything unusual had happened, despite the many reports from solid citizens. Many US Government resources were also used in initial investigations. I have had the great pleasure to meet and talk with researcher Frank Feschino, Jr who has written extensively on this subject, albeit from a UFO perspective.  I highly recommend the new version of his book.