Green Lanterns And Aliens

I sat on the edge, eating my lunch, my feet dangling over three stories and a huge whale.

With our COVID precautions tightening again, I'd begun seeking out private spots in the library to take a lunch break in. I'd been bringing in lunch that I either bought, or let Paul pack for me, and then retreating to some little unknown corner. Finding all the little hiding spots in the library had been one of my sources of fun for the past ten years, so it all worked out.

I'd already had a few lunches in the Sloan Room, a corner of a storage room, the attic, and the small stairwell. Now I'd found a spot on the third floor, just outside the boiler room, in a back staircase. If I sat at the edge, by the railing, I could see clear down to the bottom, making it a sort of small balcony. Just below me was the door to Children's, where some stuff got stashed, and there was an eight-foot whale that had been there ever since I could remember.

I polished off the sandwich, shoved all the wrappers into the grocery bag, and walked back into the hallway. The staircase led down to only an exterior door---There was no point in going all the way down. I walked down the hall to the elevators and headed back to my desk.

I had some research to do. I opened the big volume on Renovo and began paging through---You never know what you might find. I found a UFO sighting in September of 1952, which was interesting. Several witnesses in the Renovo area had seen a big, shiny-looking thing heading southwest. It passed over the Green Lantern bar, then over Westport and out of the county.

I brought it up on the microfilm---Front page of the Record, and it only took a moment to locate. I realized that the article down below it was connected to another creature---The Flatwoods Monster. Cryptid, or alien? Only your paranormal investigator knows for sure.

I was printing it up when Chris walked in.

"Hey, Lou," he said. "Working on anything good?"

"Funny you should ask," I said. "Check it out." I handed him the article.

"UFO in Renovo again," he said. "That makes, what, two this year?"

"Yeah, I know," I said. "Aliens keep trying to invade Renovo. It flew over the Green Lantern bar, so I'm designating this one GL-52. But look at the other article, just below it."

He skimmed that one, too. "West Virginia?"

"Same night. They're talking about the Flatwoods Monster."

"You're going to have to fill me in on the Flatwoods Monster."

"The Flatwoods Monster," I said,"Is probably the most famous West Virginia cryptid aside from Mothman. It was seen in September of 1952, when some locals saw something crash into a hillside. A few minutes later, they saw this tall green thing with red eyes and a sort of spade-shaped head approaching them. Turns out, it might have flown over Clinton County before it crashed in West Virginia."

"You think this was the same thing?" Chris asked.

"It sort of stands to reason," I said. "I checked the map. It flew over us, heading in that direction, at exactly the right time to land in Flatwoods when it did. We have Bigfoot, we've been visited by the Jersey Devil, and now we have a connection to the Flatwoods Monster, too. This one involves a UFO, a cryptid, and a Green Lantern."

"Brushed your teeth?"

"Yes."

"Got your clothes all ready?"

"Mom and me did."
I sat down in the chair by Paul's bed, as he and Rosie curled up under the quilts. "Good. First day back at school tomorrow."
"I know! I'm excited."
"Well, you get some rest tonight, little man. Big day tomorrow."

"Daddy? What's going to happen in second grade?"

I smiled. "Well, pretty much the same thing that happened in kindergarten, buddy. You'll have classes, and see your friends. Have lunch. Probably have art or gym at the end of the day."

"I hope it's art!"

"If it's not tomorrow, it will be soon. And then you'll come home, and Rosie will be waiting for you."

"Okay."

I kissed my son on the forehead. "See you tomorrow, little man. Get some sleep."

It was cold in the morning, snowy and eleven degrees. I stood on the corner, watching as Paul talked with his little friends from the neighborhood. For almost two years, I'd been at home with him most of the day. Now....The whole family was vaccinated. I'd given up hope that there would be any kind of end to COVID anytime soon. It was time to send him back.

The bus pulled up, and Paul got on happily. I watched as it pulled off down the street, and then turned away.

"Barb," I said at the desk,"I need a favor."

Barb is our assistant manager. She's short and terrifying. "What do you need?" she asked.

"I need a bit of schedule rearranging. I've been asked to join the board of a local charity. It'll require me to be out early on one night a month for meetings. I'd like to keep this between us; I don't want to make a big deal of it."

"I can do that," said Barb. "Let me know what nights you need."

I wandered around in the stacks for a while, adding to my display. I went into the back staircase and had lunch sitting on the steps. I missed the little guy. I wasn't even at home; I was at work and he was having a great time in school. But I missed him.

So I did what I always do, and lost myself in the research.

I sat down at my desk and checked the website for Braxton County, West Virginia. It gave me a few details on the Flatwoods Monster sighting. It also gave me the number of the local tourism place, which doubled as the Flatwoods Monster Museum. 

On company time, I went upstairs to make a call about the Flatwoods Monster. You can get away with quite a lot if you've discouraged everyone from paying too much attention to you.

I went up to the third floor. I was wearing my "Yeti For Action" sweatshirt; it was heavy and we'd had a pretty intense snowstorm the night before. I could see the snow from the big windows. I sat down at a table and dialed the number.

"Hello, Braxton County and Flatwoods Monster Museum," a cheerful-sounding guy said.

"Hi. My name is Lou, and I'm a writer from Clinton County, Pennsylvania. I'd like to ask a few questions about the Flatwoods Monster."

There'd once been a time I'd felt stupid saying things like that, but I'd long since gotten used to it.

"Right now?"

"If someone's available."

"Sure, I can answer some questions. What would you like to know?"

"Whatever they saw in the sky that night. What direction did it come from?"

"They were at the elementary school when they saw it....That would make it roughly north."
"Hmm. Did they ever identify it? Or find any remnants?"
"No, but the military had a unit out here searching afterward. So, if there was anything...."

"It may have been confiscated immediately, sure."

"May I ask what your interest is?"

"I'm working on an article. Here, locally, we had a UFO sighting the same night. It seems to have been headed in your direction. The Flatwoods Monster may have flown over us before getting to you."

"Really? What time did yours happen?"

"About six PM."

He said,"Wow."

"I know, right?" I said. "The timing works out well."
"Where did you say this happened?"

"Renovo, Pennsylvania. You'd never have heard of it---"

"I have it up on Google Maps. I'm doing directions to Flatwoods, and....Yeah, that's about where it came from, allright."

"I think we got a visit here before he chose you guys."

"There was an author who wrote a book on the sighting---He compiled a list of other UFO sightings that same night. You might benefit from that."

"You may be hearing from me again," I said. "I'll send you a copy of the article when it's done."

"That'd be great," he said. "Thanks."

I went back downstairs. Fishing around in the desk drawer, I pulled out an ILL form. I took it back to my desk and filled it out, then took it to Mel's office.

"Oh, good," she said. "Something to do."

"Well, don't get too excited," I said. "It's only for me."

I walked up and rang the doorbell on the old building. After a moment, a voice came through the speaker. "Can I help you?"

"Hi, it's Lou. I'm new to the board. I'm here to sign some paperwork."

They buzzed me in. There was a woman sitting at a table in the first room.

"Hi, Lou," she said. "I'm Laci. Welcome to the board. I love your columns."

"Oh, thank you. Appreciate that."

"Especially the ghost ones."

I smiled behind my mask. "I get that a lot. I've heard rumors about this place."

"Yeah, me too," she said. "I'd love to know more about it."

"I can come down, sometime, bring my equipment," I said. "We'll pick a slow day, do some investigating."

She smiled. "That'd be really cool."

Once, long ago, the back upstairs room of our house had been the bedroom of Ida Yost, the ghost who haunts the place. Now, she was willing to share with me, and it was my office. I sat at the desk with my laptop, working on an article about the Ingleby Monster. Paul had a couple of little friends over, and I'd ducked into my office to avoid the inevitable chaos.

The curtain pushed aside, and a little blonde kid stepped into the room. Paul has this little friend who follows me around the house. He's a cute little guy, but he won't leave me alone---I'm constantly fielding requests to play with him.

"Hi, Dennis."

"Wow," he said, looking around the room. "I didn't know anything was in here."

I have the house secured to defend against Sasquatches and gray aliens, but Dennis manages to walk right in.

"Yeah, this is my office. I come up here to do some work without being disturbed." I typed off an e-mail request to a local geology professor I knew, asking how fast meteors can go. Specifically, if they could pass through Clinton County and then end up in, say, West Virginia within the next hour.

"Can I play up here?"
I sighed and picked up the laptop. "I was just heading downstairs, actually." I plucked the mouse out of his hand, where he'd picked it up, and closed the door as he followed me out into the hall.

We went downstairs, where Paul and Dennis's sister were coloring at the table. I set my laptop down, retrieved my mouse from Dennis again, and sat down to write.

"Want to color with us. Dad?" asked Paul.

"Sure," I said. It was pretty clear that I wasn't going to get much done unless I went and hid in the basement behind the dryer, and maybe not even then. I picked up a few crayons and began sketching.

"What're you drawing, Dad?" asked Paul.

"It's the Flatwoods Monster."

"That's the Flatwoods Monster?" Paul asked. "When are we gonna catch him?"

"I'm working on it. He lives out in West Virginia. You remember who else is from West Virginia?"

"Mothman." Paul said immediately.

"How do you know that?" Dennis asked him.

"My dad teaches me," said Paul.

I heard my cell phone ringing in my backpack. I fished it out and answered it.

"Hello."

"Hi, Lou. It's the president of the board; you'd asked about helping out?"

"Yes! Just a second." I went back upstairs and locked myself in my office, kicking a doorstop into place as a preventative against Dennis. "My son is back in school, and I'm discovering I have a ridiculous amount of free time on my hands."

"Going through some empty nest, huh?"

"You got it. I was wondering if there's anything I can do to help out."

"You know, it's funny you should ask. I could use someone to go down and take a look at the building, see if there's anywhere that needs some paint or repair."

"I can do that," I said. "The staff may think I'm looking for ghosts."
"Let me know if you find any of those, too."

"So I just got an ILL book to research an alien monster," I said to Tracey. "A lot of people from my past are kind of disappointed in me these days."

Tracey laughed. "You've made an interesting career out of this, though. Find anything?"
"Well, the book is pretty conspiracy-heavy, but it did contain some valuable information," I said. "The Flatwoods Monster was seen in Braxton County, West Virginia, in September of 1952. It seemed to have come from a meteor that landed there. Turns out, probably the same meteor flew over Clinton County, up in Renovo near the Green Lantern. The book says that one was sighted in Independence Township, Beaver County, at about the right time, which is right on the route. Flatwoods Monster came to Clinton County."

"I'm not familiar with that one," said Tracey.

"No, the Flatwoods Monster is pretty obscure. I had to special order the shirt."

Tracey laughed.

"I just got an e-mail back from the geologist I'd asked about this," I said. "I e-mailed her while I was hiding out from my son's friend." Tracey gave me a funny look. "It's a whole thing," I said. "Nevermind....The geologist says that a meteor could very easily make West Virginia from here in that hour allotted.  Looks like the Flatwoods Monster passed over us before it landed in West Virginia."

"That's really neat," said Tracey.

"That I constantly deal with strange unknown monsters?"

"How you figure these things out. That's pretty neat."

"Anyway," I said,"Gotta run out for a couple of minutes."

"Take your time."

It's a lot easier to keep your destination a secret when nobody cares.

I walked out to my bike and climbed on, riding down the street. Again, I went to the building and buzzed in. It was a little quicker this time, with the staff getting used to me. One of the staffers, Juli, asked me,"Are you here to see anything specific?"

"No, just a general checkup. Look for a few ghosts, maybe."

She laughed. "Help yourself."

"The building was built about 1885 as a parsonage for the local church, so you never know."

I got out my flashlight and camera, and slipped a laser thermometer and EMF detector into my pocket. Then I started walking down the hall, taking a few readings.

Neat old building. I walked around with the equipment, checking it out. This could get to be fun.

"Yeah," I said in the empty hallway. "I could get to like this."