The Creature Behind the Wall That Can't Be Seen​

He heard it every night, felt the tremor of its proximity—the creature’s rough, slithering body under his house, scraping against the foundation before settling into silence, stillness. The behemoth lay just below his bedroom, so near he could hear the tapping of its many claws, the irregular snap of its unseen maw: ‘clack’, ‘ka-lack.’ There, it taunted him with a one-note thrum, a  sound so low he had to focus to hear it. The noise made him ill. It hurt his head and made him dizzy, feel strange. Once it began, it droned on until he was certain he was no longer in the world of reality. Then, as always during its visit, a nightmarish scene began. He never could tell if he was awake or asleep during the dream, but he always remembered them. He felt a piece of him go missing each time it happened. His memory was made up more of visions than lived life. Forms of a shadowy creature with a pointed head and snake-like body plagued his walls; it moved like a living being, swimming in curving patterns, snapping the heads off of other figures that ran across the wallpapered  backdrop, disappearing behind corners and floorboards. Time paused, sped up, hesitated. The shadow took a more concrete form, turning towards him, pulling from the wall. Paint chips sprinkled his bedside like a sneeze. The creature's head loomed above, the size of an oven; it bent its neck low, its colorless eyes meeting his own. He watched, knowing he shouldn't. He listened, knowing it told lies. He knew he shouldn't, but he lay still as the beast strangled him. 

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The Fireco Monster is a complex creature, originating from Fireco (Raleigh County), West Virginia. Once a busy mining community in the remote Appalachian Mountains, today, it is a ghost town. Company houses, equipment, and old, country stores have been eaten by the surrounding wilds, and most residents have wandered elsewhere. During the 30's, though, there was life—and a slew of monster sightings. 

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Associated with livestock deaths, macabre pet slayings, and strange things seen at night, people were terrified of whatever lurked in the shadows and forests around them. Monster encounters and horrific nocturnal happenings were published in the papers. Some, however, did not take the small town's stories seriously, making light of the notion, the people, and their problems, unknown and tangible.

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Since its first appearance in 1934, the Fireco Monster has become an amalgamation of eye-witness accounts, Appalachian storytelling, sensationalization, and satire. Always difficult to pin down, Fireco's stories are still told throughout West Virginia, continuint to change slowly but remaining unsolved.

Spring 1934

Reports of a strange animal explodes locally. It is described with yellow-gray hair and as being 6 feet long and somewhere between 2 and 3 feet tall. The monster is not only incredibly fast, but immune to gunfire. It attacks cows, pigs, and pets.Tomas and Roark Lawrence see the creature near their home. They shoot at it with a pistol and shotgun, but the thing escaped into the underbrush, unharmed.Lillybrook's Company Store manager's cow is gruesomely injured and partially disembowled; it miraculously makes a recovery, a veterinarian mending its split belly.

​Willis Wooten comes across a dead dog; the animal was decapitated. Tracks the size of a man's hand were found around the dog.

Summer 1936Witnesses see a 10 foot long creature. One claims it was strong enough to tear the head off an adult hog.

​Berlin Shumate sees the creature in the mountains above Fireco.

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Witness claims creature had tiny feet tipped with claws; the monster could tear up 50 lbs of earth at a time.​

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2023

Driving through Fireco, two people got lost on the backroads while traveling to Beckley, WV. In the dark wilderness, they saw a creature cross the road; it wasn't like anything they'd ever saw before. The thing was long, 3 feet tall, had a large head, and twisted, frightening teeth.