Grafton Monster

 The Grafton Monster

By Cole Herrold

West Virginia has always been like a second home to me. As a boy, my father had taken me hiking and camping in the hallowed hollows of the state. Growing up, this love of the state grew even more as I had read about Mothman and the Flatwoods Monster, which even to this day, are some of my favorite mysteries. I have visited the state periodically, and truly it lives up to the possibly overhyped quote of almost heaven. With that said, aside from Pennsylvania, I would say my second specialty is with the cryptid encounters in West Virginia. West Virginia is truly a bizarre area for Cryptohistorians and Cryptozoologists, from the white monstrosities that are the Sheepsquatch and White Thing to the flying fiend, which has become the poster child of the state, Mothman; the state has an incredible cryptid biodiversity that is truly amazing to study.

In all the years of my research, however, there are a big three when discussing the odd phenomenon of the state. Mothman being number one, the Flatwoods Monster, which is number two, and an extremely obscure creature known only to a few made its way to the number three slot. This particular creature has been hidden amongst the other big hitters of the state yet is just as bizarre and equally worth the hype that the others have reached. This particular creature is a bipedal beast, which is not out of the norm seeing as bigfoot sightings are common in the state, but the feature that makes this creature even more interesting than bigfoot, in this case, is the creature's supposed lack of a head. This creature, of course, is the infamous Grafton Monster.

The Grafton Monster is a pseudo classic that only recently has been gaining the notoriety which it deserves. This case first came to my attention in my early days of research while reading Loren Coleman’s Mothman and Other Curious Encounters. While a short account, it was extremely interesting, and I would have to wait at least another decade till I could get more information on this headless hoodlum. Yet, I was not alone. This case itself was buried after the original encounters in the files of Gray Barker, a well-known paranormal investigator who was an important figure in a ton of strange accounts of West Virginia, including but not limited to The Flatwoods Monster, the Vegetable Man, Men in Black, and the infamous Mothman. It would not be until 1995 when famous Cryptozoologist Mark A. Hall would come across the case and begin to bring the headless horror to the public sight.

Grafton is a quaint town that is located in Taylor County. This town was a boomtown at one point in its history and named after John Grafton, who was a civil engineer that laid the route of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad in 1852. Grafton, because of this, was a hub for all of those utilizing the newly formed railroad tracks. it was because of this form of transportation that much of Grafton's history occurred.  On top of this, Grafton was a major coal-mining town, but as with the railroad, the lack of use has caused the prosperity of them to diminished. Another famous aspect of the history of Grafton is that it can be placed as the origin point for Mother's Day when one Anna M. Jarvis began the tradition as a celebration for her mother at her church on May 12, 1907, which in the following year was extended to all Mothers.

Grafton is located near a major waterway called the Tygart River. This river is connected to both the Monongahela River and the Ohio River in a bunch of alternative waterways, which, interestingly enough, are hotbeds for other strange phenomena. It was in the woods near this riverway that a strange beast was seen.

The Grafton Monster, also known as the Headless Horror of Grafton, the Beast of Grafton, and the Beast of Riverside Drive, was a strange anomaly whose mystery began one bright cool night on June 16^th, 1964. It was on this night that Grafton Sentinel writer Robert Cockrell was leaving the Sentinel, which was located on Latrobe Street. The author getting in his car, proceeded to get out of his parking spot and proceeding to leave the comforting warmth of the streetlight to the dark treelined section of what is Riverside Drive. While the drive was certainly tiring, Cockrell was happy and enjoying his time as he was driving home. He knew the roads well and was driving around 50mph since he knew the curves and bends and could adjust his speed as needed. As he was rounding a bend, he began to slow down. It was around 11 pm when his headlights were illuminating the darkness in front of him. It was at that moment he noticed something to the side of the road. Thinking it was a boulder, he looked over since no boulder had been in that location before. Yet there, as his eyes adjusted to the form, he realized what was there was certainly nothing of geological origins.

To his awe and horror, he saw a colossal creature standing on the side of the road. It stood motionless, yet he could tell that this creature was alive. Whether this from slight movements or the impression of breathing is unknown. He looked up at this behemoth, noting that it towered over his car to a height of around 7-9ft tall and approximately four feet wide. Its white skin was a hairless slick oily color that seemed to shine brightly in the light. Yet, as his eyes scanned up, he noticed the most disconcerting element of this creature simply that it bore no head or noticeable facial features. It was at that moment curiosity turned to panic as fear overtook him. As he continued to look out of his window, he still stepped on the gas even further with only one thought on his mind to get the hell out of there. Speeding down the road like a bat out of hell, he finally managed to get home and continued to run to his front door slamming the door behind him and bolting it as though he expected to still be pursued by the beast.

He waited in the silence of his house for thirty minutes to an hour, determining what to do. His mind raced for what to do. The academic and journalistic integrity side of his mind eventually took over, however, and he decided that this was too good of a story to pass up. Yet being wise, he decided it would only be a fool's errand to go alone, so he proceeded to get ahold of his friends Jerry Mourse and Jim Mouser. The trio, in turn, returned to the site where Cockrell had encountered the strange anomaly. Returning to the spot, the beast was gone, but in its place was tramped down grass where some large, heavy figuring had either laid down or stood. The group, however, went and traversed down to the Riverbend looking for any evidence of the mysterious beast. As the group traveled, they saw no footprints or trails made by anything similar to what Cockrell had seen, yet as they search, there was a sudden break in silence. A loud low whistle was heard throughout the area. The group had a sudden feeling of being watched as though this anonymous admirer was not too far away, yet they could see nothing as the night progressed. A feeling of unease crept in, and the group decided to return home.

The next day Cockrell had arrived at work and was questioning whether or not he should pursue this matter further. It was in this mental anguish that his journalistic zeal once more took the wheel, and he entered his editor’s office describing the encounter and his desire to write an article on this unknown slick seal skinned beast. Cockrell had previously tried to regale the police with his encounter, but the skeptical force did not take his encounter seriously and did not investigate further at that time. This was a portion of the reason he felt an article needed to be written. The editor was hesitant to do so but eventually gave him the go-ahead to do so. Yet before his article could be published, full out monster-mania had hit the quiet town of Grafton. Jerry and Jim had managed to leak the events of the previous night to several fellow citizens, and the story of the creature spread like wildfire.

That night anywhere between 30-100 teenagers and adults alike armed with flashlights and grabbed weapons that included but were not limited to: pitchforks, mallets, tire irons, hammers, garden hoes, crowbars, hatchets, pistols, knives, baseball bats, hunting rifles, at least one 12gauge shotgun, and very likely even more heavy-duty artillery. It was a true sight to behold some were people aiming to protect the town and their families, others simply wanted a stuffed monster for the rec room, some simply wanted to, and young bucks brought their significant others to seem macho all headed into the woods and quarries near where Cockrell had seen the creature. Cockrell headed down, hearing about the commotion and the ruckus, and proceeded to take notes of all of the events of the evening.

While down taking note of all that occurred, Cockrell would encounter some 20 people who claimed that while out had seen the white whistler at one point in the evening. The beast was seen by the river and stone quarry as it lumbered around. Cockrell would interview each of the witnesses independently and would verify that all the witnesses' accounts matched his in almost every way. Unfortunately, any further details on these accounts are unavailable. After the events of the night ended, Cockrell typed away to meet the deadline taking in all of his notes to make what is his magnum opus on the events surrounding this strange entity. Yet this would not come to fruition in its stead was a heavily edited version which painted the events of the past couple nights as a cynical degrading sham.

The article was dubbed “Teen-Age Monster Hunting Parties Lates Activity On Grafton Scene” which was released in the Grafton Sentinel on June 18th, 1964. Here is the article in its entirety.

“Want to go “monster” hunting?

If so just join the roving bands of teenagers who are apparently convinced that a “monster” exists and is roving in the section of Riverside drive near the city stone quarry.

Wednesday night several bands of teenagers armed with flashlights, mallets, crowbars and the like, were reported searching the Riverside drive area.

The description of the alleged Grafton “monster” sounds suspiciously like that of the recent reports of a “monster” in Michigan, except that Grafton’s seems to be a bit bigger in every respect.

One teenager said that the youths on Wednesday night were searching for a creature “nine feet tall and about four feet wide.” He said it is agreed that the creature is white, has no discernible head and emits a weird whistling sound.

So far as could be ascertained today, area law enforcement authorities have taken no official notice of the reports of the Riverside drive “monster.”

Several teenagers, none of them identified by name, have reportedly “seen the monster” and given fairly tallying reports of its appearance.

The tale is even embellished with the theory that the creature was first sighted in the Morgantown area and arrived in the Riverside area via the Monongahela and Tygart rivers.

One youth suggested that it might be an escaped Polar bear, but offered no suggestions as to where such an animal could have escaped.”

Much to Cockrell's anger, the article had been edited to be such a joking event as opposed to the serious nature in which the creature he felt should be studied. Yet this article did not stop the countless folks who had caught wind of the beast, and on the night the article was released, almost double the amount of people showed up, weapons in hand, to search the Tygart river for the beast. After the initial night, the "monster hunt" caught the attention not only of the local Grafton Police Department but also of the Taylor County Sherriff's Department and the West Virginia State Police. The departments had begun to make a search of the area to see if there was anything to the reports made of the mysterious beast, but before a true official search could be done, monster hunters and monster enthusiasts proceeded to park alongside the drive and cause traffic all along Riverside Drive. This traumatic traffic stopped the dutiful officers from doing their assigned to task of verifying the existence of the beast to being mere traffic enforcers, leaving only those searching for the beast to make any real headway.

Much like the first night, several more reports of the mysterious beast were noted by Cockrell, who had become the Mary Hyre and John Keel of the Grafton Monster case taking each count down in his notebook, which is probably one of the most important cryptozoological resources that need to be found. After the fact, he returned to his desk and typed out another article on the events of the days. Yet much like the previous article, he had written his editor butchered it, and the result was a terribly cynical and, to some extent, downright malicious article that paints the events as a downright ridiculous joke. This article came to culmination in the following one "Monster” Result Of Spring Fever, Wild Imagination” which was released in The Grafton Sentinel on June 19th, 1964. Here it is in its entirety.

“Grafton’s alleged “monster,” reportedly the personification of the active imaginations of a number of teenagers, couldn’t have shown up in the Riverside drive area if it wanted to on Thursday night, too many teenagers and adults were roaming that section of the city.

At approximately 10 pm, it was reported that cars were almost bumper-to-bumper along the river drive and a large number of cars were pulled off the road to permit joining in the area's most popular in recent years "monster" hunting.

Some 20 reports from persons allegedly seeing the “monster” have been quoted since Tuesday night when the “all white, creature without a discernible head,” was reported seen near the city rock quarry. Wednesday night about 30 teenagers engaged in a “monster hunt,” but by Thursday night the number of teenagers had doubled and a number of adults joined in the action.”

A combination of spring fever, lack of area recreation facilities, and recent publicity give a Michigan town which claims to have a “monster” which followed people are believed to have laid the basis for the wildly imaginative story about a Grafton “monster.”

A routine check by The Sentinel showed that the “monster” may have resulted from the fact that an individual pushing a handcart loaded high with boxes, walked along Riverside drive on Tuesday night. In the half-light of late evening, this person and the loaded handcart apparently took on a weird shape for persons having just read the story of the Michigan “monster.”

“It’s fairly certain that “monsters” don’t go around pushing handcarts loaded with boxes.”

This article clearly was aimed against Cockrell when describing the answer to the mystery, which is truly an absurd answer to what was seen. The monster mentioned in the article was a creature called the Dewey Lake Monster, a semiaquatic bear-like or bigfoot like beast seen in Michigan and reported a few weeks before Cockrell’s sighting. With that said, though, the hysteria seemed to die down as though the people in the town as well were insulted by this assumption of the beast, yet instead of continuing the search for the beast, they seemed to pack it up and return to their "normal" lives. Yet for Cockrell, he continued his research compiling countless cases of creatures that seemed to be similar to what he believed he saw. Yet as far as sightings in the area, nothing on the books has been recorded since that infamous monster hunt.

It was shortly after these events that Cockrell proceeded to get ahold of Fortean researcher Gray Barker. Gray Barker was a West Virginia oriented paranormal investigator who lived at this particular time in Clarksburg and upon conversing with Cockrell for some time decided to meet him face to face. Barker was interested in the story and had planned to write an article on the creature for a UFO magazine. As the two conversed, Cockrell asked Barker what he thought the creature was. Barker, who was an expert in the extraterrestrial phenomenon, had the following notes on the phenomenon which was written in a letter to Cockrell and in the unpublished draft of his intended article:

“The most interesting facet of your report, to me, was the whistling sound heard from the direction of the river. I have a theory, which although it isn’t generally accepted, is still interesting to me. When rocket ships from the U.S. reach an inhabited planet, or one which has some sort of reasonably breathable atmosphere, we will at first deposit experimental animals (probably monkeys) on the surface of the planet before getting out ourselves. These specimens will then be carefully retrieved and thoroughly examined to note effects of the alien environment on them. If space people are visiting us now, they might be doing the very same thing. Thus the whistling sound, if one fits in with this theory, could well be the sound of the “flying saucer” retrieving its specimen-in this case the weird looking monster.”

“We will want to know how the effects of an alien atmosphere will have upon them, whether there are any harmful radiations our instruments have not picked up; what the reactions of the alien residents will be if they have by chance sight [sic] the animal-and probably, more important, the effect of the local planetary viruses and bacteria to which earth fauna has not had an opportunity to adapt.”

“We would by [t]hat time have a very efficient system of retrieving the experimental animals, and if we wanted our observance to be made in secret, would excertise [sic] all caution to make sure the animal was not captured. Are saucerians dropping experimental animals or “monsters” among us[?] To this reporter this is just as likely as is the present suspected visitations by otherplanetarians.”

 While Barker's research into this phenomenon fell away and was buried for many years, Cockrell had continued collecting data on creatures that he felt could be the same or related to the one that he saw. He found a sighting from Morgantown that occurred before his own and discovered that a good majority of several other accounts were around waterways. This leads Cockrell to believe that this strange beast or beasts use the waterways to travel around.

Cockrell would get into contact with several people who supposedly had seen the same creature as he did. One such witness had not just one but two sightings when he was a young adult. He and his father had the first encounter with the creature while out chopping wood for their home. They had just finished and were placing their treasured lumber into the back of their trucks when all of a sudden, their dogs began to bark and act distressed. The two stood dead silent and listened. There in the stillness of the woods was a heavy pounding on the ground of something coming towards them. His father, being prepared for anything, told his son to grab his double-barreled 10 gauge, which was located in the back of the truck. As the boy reached into the cab, they noticed that the as of yet unseen form had quickened its pace. The two waited for their strange assailant to come into view, thinking all the while that this creature did not find them intimidating in the slightest. It was at that moment they saw the creature as it broke through the trees. It stood 50-55 yards away from the startled father and son and remained quiet. His father preparing for the worse, had already pulled both hammers back on the weapon and had told his son to be ready. Yet the creature, either realizing the danger it was in or simply did not realize that there was anyone there, stepped forward a bit and proceeded to look at both the militarized father and son. It stepped forward another three steps and then turned and walked back through the tree line away from what certainly would have been a violent confrontation for it.

His second encounter would occur in a much less dramatic fashion as while fishing one morning along the Missouri River. He spotted the unknown creature on the opposite bank from where he was fishing. The strange creature noticing him as well, proceeded to stand absolutely dead still as it watched him from the shoreline. The man, either suffering a flashback from his previous encounter with the beast or simply out of the logical unease of such a creature, proceeded to drop everything and run out of there as fast as he could. He ran to his parked truck and looked behind me to see if this strange creature had attempted to pursue him. As he looked, he saw the strange creature running towards the woods, and just as the beast entered the dense foliage, he heard a loud whooshing sound and saw a large bright light rising above the trees and flying away into the wild blue yonder. The man reeling in from this cavalcade of insanity was terrified of the events that occurred and, in doing so, did not return to the location to pick up his gear for another two days.

This case is interesting because of the fact that this creature looked at the eyewitnesses. This would, in fact, indicate that the Grafton Monster does, in fact, have a face and head. This first encounter to me seems to indicate more of a sasquatch encounter than what was seen by Cockrell, but the lack of a physical description in the first and ostensibly more esoteric second encounter makes even determining if it is a bigfoot type creature difficult. It is worthy of note that the second sighting is often lumped in with Momo, the Missouri monster seeing as during that time there was a joint conversion between sasquatch-like creatures and UFOs. To me, though, these accounts seem totally unrelated to the creature seen by Cockrell.

One case that is often included in connection to the Grafton Monster but really seems to be of something else entirely was reported in 1952. This case, interestingly enough, however, was also connected to the Flatwoods Monster as the sighting took place only a few weeks after the luminous monstrosity was seen. The account was written by journalist Thomas I. Stafford for the September 21^st issue of Register from Beckley. The article discussed a Mrs. Earl Hutchinson from Skelton in Raleigh County encountering what she described as a large white shining or shiny washtub type figure hovering in the sky. Leaving her house, she noticed the peculiar figure and originally believed it to be a man with a parachute but then it proceeded to move erratically swinging back and forth and jumping up and down as it hovered in the air. Mrs. Hutchinson interpreted this strange form to be none other than the Flatwoods Monster which had gained world fame after the sighting broke in Braxton County on September 12^th of that same year.

While this case is interesting in its relation to the Flatwoods Monster and Grafton Monster, this case really seems to have nothing to do with either. The Flatwoods Monster was described as a bright Red, silver, and Green colored creature with glowing portal eyes, an ace of spade-shaped head, and a cyborg-esque appearance. The creature hovered above the ground and released a mist and oily substance that had a chemical reaction to the witnesses. There were other sightings of a similar creature around the time of the sighting, but the creature seemed to of removed much of its metallic covering. In these other sightings, the creature still hovered above the ground, but this hovering was not at the same height as the object seen weeks later.

Cockrell included this case as part of his connection to the beast he had seen, but why specifically is anyone's guess. Most researchers who have written about the Grafton Monster point that the reason this case is included with the Grafton Monster though is because of the color and sheen of the object seen by Mrs. Hutchinson. The description of a washtub is similar enough to the boulder or fridge type build of the beast, so in this way, it is not unreasonable to sort of connect the two. Yet, for me personally, this case seems to be indicative of either a UFO report or a flying humanoid case since the witness did seem to think that at one point, it was a humanoid type form. The reason I don't believe this case to be related to the Grafton Monster is that with Cockrell's report and the impressions we can get from those that reported the creature during the monster hunt that this creature is either semiaquatic or terrestrial in nature and bears no real implication to something that can fly.

This case is one where it is really a one-time sighting type creature while there are other accounts of things that have been included in its lore. They seem to, in truth, bear no real resemblance to the white monstrosity seen by Cockrell. Yet as with most cryptid encounters, this leaves us with more questions than answers, and with this case in particular, what the beast even could be for no known animal aside of something like a worm exists without a noticeable head.

The skeptical answers that the Grafton Sentinel proposed are downright insulting. The idea of someone pushing a stack of boxes on a cart or pushing a refrigerator down Riverside Drive at the late hour that the creature was seen is just stupid. There's no real way to rationalize how this would be a plausible answer. Unless Cockrell was drunk, tired, or suggestive to an overactive imagination, there's no way he could have misinterpreted a fridge or boxes as a hulking living beast. It is important to be skeptical and to try to rule out all the mundane answers before one can even entertain the esoteric, but such an explanation, in reality, makes no sense. If this were a woman with a refrigerator on a dolly, it would take her assumedly a lot longer to get to her destination, and Cockrell and his friends would have reseen her when returning to the location to look for evidence. Also, there should if this was some cart or dolly be some tracks from the wheels of it since the sighting was not on the paved road but in the mud and grass along the side of the road. The only evidence they found was a heavily trodden area where he had seen the creature.

While the cart/fridge woman hypothesis is clearly ridiculous, some alternative ideas proposed by a town member may be slightly more plausible. An escaped polar bear or even a native albino bear could very much be a good possibility of what was seen in Grafton. Polar bears can reach heights up to seven feet tall, which is around the same height as the Grafton Monster. Black bears are about the same height when standing upright. Could it be that an albino black bear or escaped polar bear be the culprit of the Grafton Monster? While it's possible, this idea is unlikely. For one thing, bears have a neck and head, which is topped with big ears. This is in total contrast to the features or lack thereof of the Grafton Monster. Now, if Cockrell had seen one from the back, then maybe it could be perceived as a headless, faceless giant, but even then, you would think there would be some impression as he slowed and looked at the creature that it was facing the opposite direction. Not to mention if this was the escaped polar bear route, how and why did this creature make its way to the small town of Grafton. It just seems unfeasible.

In an earlier article, I had discussed a series of sightings of what appeared to be albino giant ground sloths seen in Sherman, New York. These creatures would lumber out of swampy areas and gallivant around households in the area. These creatures could be what is seen here if seen from behind or if the head is tucked in or facing the opposite direction while the body is facing frontwards. Obviously, the main problem with this hypothesis is that ground sloths supposedly went extinct around 10,000 years ago. Another problem with this case is that the ground sloths seen in Sherman were anywhere between 12-18 ft tall and long, which dwarfs the Grafton Monster. However, if the creature seen in Grafton is a juvenile or young adult, there is also the possibility that it could simply be this kind of creature. While this is a possibility, it is unlikely for the reasons also listed for the fact that ground sloths do not have the slick seal-like skin reported in the Grafton case but big furry bodies, something that clearly is different than what was reported unless, of course, it's a ground sloth with mange.

Another possibility is actually that the Grafton Monster is, in fact, a misidentified cryptid. West Virginia is, in fact, home to several white unknown creatures that are supposed to haunt the woods, hills, and hollows of the state. These creatures are the Sheepsquatch and White Things. These particular beasts are about the size of the Grafton Monster. If not a little shorter, they are adorned with horns, claws, fangs, possum like tails and can walk bipedally or quadrupedally. These creatures, while probably different species, are reported countless times in West Virginia's history but most frequently in the 90s. These creatures could pass as a headless beast if seen from behind, but again as with other hypotheses, I stated it would seem unlikely that Cockrell would not have noted that the figure's features were contorted in that way. Also, none of the extreme features like horns or a possum-like tail were described on the Grafton Monster, and again these other white enigmas are covered in shaggy hair, which is much different from the slick skin seen on the Grafton Monster.

There are many who thoroughly believe that the Grafton Monster is a kind of bigfoot. Bigfoot is often described as having no neck, and this could attribute to Cockrell describing a headless form seeing as the head actually seems more connected to the body and less extended. There, of course, is also the idea that a sasquatch seen from behind could give the appearance of a faceless fiend. Another element that could lend credence to this claim is color. There are several reports of white or albino bigfoots, the most famous being the Murphysboro Mud Monster, which had white fur which was caked with mud. Another aspect is the reported whistling, which is something bigfoot has been reported to do reports of juvenile bigfoot in general and creatures known as the Albatwitch have been constantly reported to release whistling sounds some indirect observance.  A white bigfoot may very well be what was seen, yet once more, it is unlikely, seeing as with the skin and the fact that reversed limbs would clearly have been something more noted than what Cockrell had described.

The undiscovered species angle seems to me to be the most plausible answer to this mystery. Just what kind of creature it would be is a mystery. I get the impression that the Grafton Monster is a mammal or amphibian. The skin that it is reported to have, as well as the fact that many of the reports claimed the creature was seen near the Tygart River, seem to indicate that this creature is semiaquatic. The Grafton Monster, though, is a true mystery. There is nothing truly like it that has ever been recorded. The creature's reported headlessness is something that in simple organisms like worms seems to be plausible, but in something as complex in structure as what the creature is supposed to be, it seems unlikely. With that said, there are some reasons why it may appear not to have a head or facial features. It could be that the creature was facing the other way, which is something I've addressed in other hypotheses. It could be that the head was tucked in or the neck stretched around the shoulders in a way that it seemed to be a headless beast. Another possibility is that the creature could have facial features, but they could be extremely small, which may seem implausible but not impossible. There is an interesting similarity between this beast and small entities known as the Nightcrawlers. These creatures are seen in wooded areas, swamps, and watery locals and are described as having extremely long legs and a small torso or head on top. They are also a whitish color, and most of the time, facial features are indiscernible. Could it be that the Grafton Monster and these creatures are either examples of sexual dimorphism or age cycles? I mentioned that the Grafton Monster if it is indeed semiaquatic, would have to be either a mammal or an amphibian. If this creature is, in fact, an amphibian, it could stand to reason that like most frogs, newts, and salamanders. These creatures could, in fact, have a metamorphosis, which could show the nightcrawlers as the tadpole or larval stage and the Grafton Monster as a full-grown adult. While certainly, this is conjecture based on trying to fit these creatures into the natural world, we do know that other animals do go through cycles like that, so why would it be so out of the ordinary for a macro-organism to do something similar?

While earth biology is my go-to for attempting to explain the variety of cryptid beasts that have been reported to dwell in the untrekked locations of the world, some like Gray Barker have suggested that our planet is in fact either a test site or a dumping site where extraterrestrial beings have proceeded to either leave behind species from their homeworld or drop off temporarily species to test the environment to see if it would be suitable for their purposes. While comparing their ideologies to ours as humans, it would make sense, but at the same point, one would have to assume that if extraterrestrials are, in fact, smarter than us that they would have a much more structured way to test our planet than just haphazardly to release a variety of strange and unusual beasts. This theory, however, is extremely interesting and could explain why many of these cases are one and dones as one sighting of something strange occurs, and then the creature is never seen again.

The final possibility is that this beast could either be an interdimensional being or Ultraterrestrial. While these options seem unfathomable, there are some who have argued that this creature zipped in and out of dimensions either intentionally or unintentionally. Some of their evidence for this is the fact that there were no footprints or other signs of movement from the creature aside from the area that was tramped down. As though this creature materialized in that spot and later dematerialized. Another thing they point out is the whistling sound. Much like Barker, who believed such sounds were connected to UFOs, there are those who believe that these creatures, when shifting dimensions, made a similar sound. While in physics, the idea of parallel universes and earths is argued strongly, especially when looking at string theory, it is still something that we do not know much about. So, to assume that this creature, which would have to be intelligent enough to materialize and dematerialize is, in fact, from another dimension, is a far stretch.

Whatever the origin or reason for the creature, it is an enduring mystery, and it is starting to leave its mark. The town of Grafton today remains much unchanged since the time of the sighting. It still remains a quiet sleepy town that focuses on its own business and attempts to simply survive the struggle that most small towns go through. In an effort to increase tourism, the town has begun to embrace its monster. The Grafton Monster recently has made an appearance in the Bethesda game Fallout 76, which takes place in a post-apocalyptic West Virginia. The creature, alongside other Cryptozoological, Ufological, and folkloric creatures, are set free to attack players in the hills and hollows that were originally theirs.

The creature also appeared in an extremely cringey series known as Mountain Monsters. The show is extremely inaccurate in much of its depictions of monsters like the Mothman and features a set of backwoods type investigators who search the hills and hollows of the Appalachian mountains for cryptid creatures. The show, while showing some interesting material, is often shown to be more drama than a documentary, and many suspect scenes seem to indicate hoaxing. The show's episode on the Grafton Monster made the creature out to be a kind of carnivorous bigfoot like creature whose head was tucked into its chest. I would not recommend it for a research tool except for the purposes of discussing the pop culture associated with the creature.

 In response to the popularity of the creature, the town of Grafton created a sign that was placed right at the spot where the beast was seen on Riverside Drive. The beautiful monument to a mysterious beast, of course, was short lived as a student at West Virginia University proceeded to take the sign and hang it on his dorm room wall. Eventually, the perpetrator was caught, and the sign was returned, yet it was slightly damaged by being folded assumedly to fit in the car. It was thanks to online funding that a new sign was soon made and replaced in the spot where the old one hung.

Grafton, other than the sign, has one other major spot where monster enthusiasts and cryptozoologists can travel to pick up info on the beast and enjoy a nice warm beverage. The local shop Espresso Yourself Coffee House has since become the unofficial headquarters for the beast. The shop has become a go-to shop for anyone out looking for info and merch on the creature and is frequented by many locals who are interested in the legend.

The Grafton Sentinel, the paper that was so ingrained in the story of the Grafton Monster, is no longer located on Latrobe Street. In fact, the paper is now known as the Mountain Statesman and seems to be as well changing its past against the monster as it covers many of the upcoming developments to the towns growing love of its monster. I’m sure Cockrell would be proud to see it come around.

Grafton, though while slowly beginning to garner attention with its most placid resident, has not reached the same kind of obsession as Flatwoods or Point Pleasant. Possibly in the future, the town will reach the same kind of Monster-mania that the others did, and in some ways, I'd love to see that take root there. It is important for towns to embrace their legends. Legends make life more interesting and increase attention to their corner of the world. Yet we must not forget that with every legend, there is a grain of truth, and real people were involved in this case. Yet while the monster had been growing in sightings in pop culture, the creature was seen by Cockrell, though and the countless other unnamed witnesses those two nights has never officially been seen again, or at least nothing exactly matching its description has. And so, ends and begins the story of the headless horror the Grafton Monster.

Quick Facts:

Species/Potential Species: Mammal

Location: Grafton, West Virginia

Sighted: June 16, 1964

Works Cited

Coleman, Loren, Mothman and Other Curious Encounters. Paraview Press. 2002

Dudding, George. The Grafton Monster. GSD Publishing. 2019.

Fauster, Ted. “Meet the top five monsters from the West Virginia hills”. West Virginia Explorer. April 3, 2014. https://wvexplorer.com/2014/04/03/five-west-virginia-monsters-0005/5/. Accessed December 17, 2020

Flohr, Michaela. “Grafton’s newest attraction will hopefully draw tourists to town”. Mountain Statesman. November 13, 2018. https://mountainstatesman.com/article/graftons-newest-attraction-will-hopefully-draw-tourists-to-town. Accessed December 17, 2020.

Guiley, Rosemary Ellen. Monsters of West Virginia: Mysterious Creatures in the Mountain State. Stackpole Books. 2012.

McCoy, Kurt. “The Grafton Monster”. West Virginia Ghosts. August 11, 2017. https://www.wvghosts.com/blog/the-grafton-monster/. Accessed December 17, 2020.

Nguyen, Andrew. “Finding Folklore in West Virginia - The Grafton Monster”. Adventure Motorcycle. October 23, 2018. https://adventuremotorcycle.com/rides/advmoto-folklore-west-virginia/the-grafton-monster. Accessed December 17, 2020.

Swancer, Brent. “The Bizarre Case of the Grafton Monster” December 3, 2020.  https://mysteriousuniverse.org/2020/12/the-bizarre-case-of-the-grafton-monster/. Accessed December 17, 2020.

“Grafton Monster Sighting”. https://www.theclio.com/entry/85659. Accessed December 18, 2020.