April's designs featured two of WV's most famous monsters

As one might expect from a state that is so mountainous and geographically isolated, West Virginia is the home of the some very strange monsters. We have a variant of the Bigfoot called the Yahoo and a Headless Horror [aka the Grafton County Monster]. There's also a Snarly Yow and a Sheepsquatch. I could go on.

Perhaps the two most famous monsters in the Mountain State are the Flatwoods Monster and the Mothman.

The Flatwoods Monster, also called the Braxton County Monster and the Green Monster, was an alleged extraterrestrial who lighted upon the West Virginia Hills of Flatwoods, WV back in September 1952. It was a rather fitting end to the "Summer of the Saucers." The event was investigated by cryptid investigator Ivan T. Sanderson and Gray Barker, a WV native who'd grown up in the area. Barker was writing an article for Fate magazine and this was his first foray into Ufology, a field he would become infamous in. Gray was a notorious hoaxer, although it should be said that there's no indication that he was anything less than sincere during this early investigation.

The Flatwoods monster is a bit different from other alien encounters. It's one of the very first accounts of an alleged close encounter of the third kind. The creature was described as at least 7 feet tall, with a shiny, metallic face, protruding eyes and a green body. Some accounts state that it had “clawy looking” hands extending from the front of its body, while others say that it moved too fast to see whether it had arms at all. The entity's head was elongated, shaped like a sideways diamond and had a spade-shaped cowl behind it. Its body was clad in a dark pleated exoskeleton or, in later tellings, a shadow. Some folks think that it was an alien sitting in a crashed spaceship!

Our Flatwoods Monster shirt features a classic rendition of this "alien visitor" in epic glitter vinyl to give it more of a retro feel. 

The Mothman plagued Point Pleasant, WV. It was first sighted in November 1966. The creature was described as "a large flying man with 10-foot wings" and red glowing eyes. A rash of sightings ensued, culminating in the collapse of the Silver Bridge in December 1967. Two books were written on the Mothman: The silver Bridge by Gray Barker and The Mothman Prophecies by John Keel. The latter was the inspiration for the Mothman Prophecies movie starring Richard Gere.

You can find out more about Mothman at this link.

We currently have two Mothman designs available [and more on the way!]. The classic Mothman is our biggest seller. He comes with or without the "Mothman" caption:

In April, we also introduced a more fantastical Mothman. This one is based on what I think the Mothman might look like if you met him on a cold autumn night! The T-shirts utilize flocked vinyl, so the Mothman is actually fuzzy [like a moth]. The red glitter eyes with stare into your very soul...

Or not. Still, they are extremely cool.

Get all these great designs as GremlinGraphix.com.

Thanks for your business,

Tony & Angie