Day 12 – Flatwoods/Sutton to Moundsville, WV

It rained overnight but we had everything stowed in the van to keep it dry. Our last couple of sites have had concrete patios so we haven’t needed to put the mat out.

Flatwoods

Although first incorporated in 1902, maps show the existence of Flatwoods as a town in 1873, and a church was established by a pastor named John Clark at the community there as early as 1830. The West Virginia and Pittsburgh Railroad extended a branch through Flatwoods in the late 1800s. The community became nationally known for the Flatwoods monster UFO incident which occurred on September 12, 1952.

These small towns take their monsters seriously because they are now tourist attractions.

The Flatwoods Monster

The Flatwoods monster (also known as the Braxton County monster, Braxie, or the Phantom of Flatwoods), in West Virginiafolklore, is an entity reported to have been sighted in the town of Flatwoods in Braxton County, West Virginia, United States, on September 12, 1952, after a bright object crossed the night sky. Over 50 years later, investigators concluded that the light was a meteor and the creature was a barn owl perched in a tree, with shadows making it appear to be a large humanoid.

At 7:15 p.m., on September 12, 1952, two brothers, Edward and Fred May, and their friend Tommy Hyer, said that they saw a bright object cross the sky and land on the property of local farmer G. Bailey Fisher. The boys went to the home of Kathleen May, where they told their story. May, accompanied by the three boys, local children Neil Nunley and Ronnie Shaver, and West Virginia National Guardsman Eugene Lemon, went to the Fisher farm in an effort to locate whatever it was that the boys had said they had seen. The group reached the top of a hill, where Nunley said they saw a pulsing red light. Lemon said he aimed a flashlight in that direction and momentarily saw a tall “man-like figure with a round, red face surrounded by a pointed, hood-like shape.

Flatwoods in Fallout 76

Flatwoods appears in the video game Fallout 76. It is crucial to the game as it is the first main town the players encounter. Many quests are here to get the gamer fitted out and started on their way. The Flatwoods Monster sometimes appears but I haven’t seen it.

PRICKETTS FORT, Fairmont WV

The young lady demonstrating wool carding told me a bit about the ‘unwritten’ history of this fort. It was originally a double log cabin built by Jacob Prickett and his family in the 1700s. The blockade was built around the log cabin and its hand-dug well. The well is still there along with a brick house built in the 1800s by descendants of the original Pricketts but outside the current fort. The original fort had long been demolished. The reconstructed fort is on the same property and is approximately the original size. The US Army Corps of Engineers, hoping to turn this into a recreation area, dug up whatever remained of the out buildings etc.

Perched on a small rise overlooking the confluence of Prickett’s Creek and the Monongahela River, this rustic log fort is a re-creation of the original Prickett’s Fort of 1774, which served as a refuge from Native American war parties on the western frontier of Colonial Virginia.

When the threat of Native American uprisings occurred, up to 80 families from the surrounding countryside would hurry to the fort. They would stay as long as the threat existed, for days or even weeks. “Forting up” was simply tolerated by settlers, as life in the cramped quarters could be unpleasant. Such sacrifices were necessary for survival on the dangerous frontier of the late 1700s.

Pricketts Fort and Fallout 76

Prickets Fort is a daily quest location in FO76. The player must locate the skeleton of a civil war soldier in one of the log cabins and then bury it in the Phillipi Cemetary which in the game is just down the road but in real life is south of Grafton. This fort did not feature in the real life Civil War. Also, the fort in the game is much more elaborate than in real life and built around rocky outcroppings.

I have a log cabin C.A.M.P on a small pond on the rock ridge directly above Pricketts Fort and North of the Palace of the Winding Way (visiting tomorrow). I look directly down into the fort.

Moundsville, WV

After leaving Pricketts Fort we had a two hour drive northwest to Moundsville. We have come full circle from where we started. There are several things we want to see here and not all of them are referred to in the game FO76.

Moundsville is a city in Marshall County, West Virginia, United States, along the Ohio River. The city was named for the nearby ancient Grave Creek Mound, constructed 250 to 100 BC by indigenous people of the Adena culture.

Moundsville was an important port until 1861, when the Civil War shut down the river system and caused major damage to the railroad. The retired West Virginia State Penitentiary operated in Moundsville from 1867 to 1995. On August 4, 1927, Charles Lindbergh landed The Spirit of St. Louis at Langin Field in Moundsville.

Grave Creek Mound

The Mound is actually right in Moundsville itself across the street from the West Virginia Penitentiary.. two birds with one stone because now we know where the Penitentiary is when we visit it tomorrow.

The Grave Creek Mound in the Ohio River Valley in West Virginia is one of the largest conical-type burial mounds in the United States, now standing 62 feet (19 m) high and 240 feet (73 m) in diameter. The builders of the site, members of the Adena culture, moved more than 60,000 tons of dirt to create it about 250–150 BC.

Grave Creek mound was created during the Woodland time period (late Adena Period around 1000 BC to about 1 AD). The people who lived in West Virginia during this time are among those groups classified as Mound Builders. This particular tumulus or burial mound was built in successive stages over a period of a hundred years.

Archaeological investigation led to the discovery that the appearance of the earth of the mound is quite different underneath the surface compared to the land around it. Although it was built of the same dirt, the remains of dead bodies that were burned changed the color of some dirt to blue..

Our campsite tonight is Grand View Park above Moundsville. We have a beautiful view. The campground is almost brand new. The park itself has many activities including a pool, golf course, zip line course etc.

Enjoying a relaxing late afternoon cold drink in our campsite.