11-17-1966

Couples Say They Saw 6-Ft. 100-mph 'Bird'

Unknown source
November 17(?), 1966

Point Pleasant, W. Va. - (UPI) - Two Point Pleasant couples told police yesterday their car was followed about midnight by a "bird-like creature" six or seven foot tall with red eyes and a 10-foot wingspan.

Steve Mallette and Roger Scarberry told Mason County sheriff's deputies they were riding with their wives near the McClintic Wildlife Reserve when they first encountered "the thing."

Mallette said it was large, measuring as much as seven feet, was grey in color and its eyes were two inches in diameter. He said the eyes "glowed red" when the car headlights were put on them near the abandoned power plant.

Then, Mallette said, the "thing" took off, making a flapping noise, and traveled at high speeds, "at about 100 mph." Mallette added "It was a clumsy runner."

"I'm a hard guy to scare," Scarberry told newsmen, "but I was for getting out of there."

"If I'd seen it myself, I wouldn't have said anything about it, but there were four of us who saw it," Scarberry said.

After the first sighting, the men said, the "thing" glided along above the car until their car reached West Virginia Rt. 62. Then it disappeared.

The four drove to downtown Point Pleasant. "When we turned around there it was again. It seemed to be waiting on us," Mallette said.

They went to the city limits and saw the creature again. When the car headlights were put on it, it scurried into a field and disappered.