The Flatwoods Monster was a supposed extraterrestrial creature, which was seen in September 12, 1952, in Flatwoods, West Virginia, USA. In that particular night, three boys, Fred May, his brother Edward and friend Tommy Hyer, were playing along together, when unexpectedly, they saw what appeared to be a strange object crossing the night sky. Frightened, but somewhat curious, the brothers, accompanied by their friend, decided to go back home, and told their mother, Kathleen, what they all saw. Believing what the boys told her, she decided that this deserved further investigation, and, regrouping with another kid, Ronnie Shaver, the teenager Neil Nunley, and the young National Guard Eugene Lemon, the seven individuals returned in that same night to the exact spot on which the strange object supposedly landed.

Searching for the mysterious creature in the land of a farmer named Bailey Fisher, on which the object, by the boys’ expectations, should be located, the group soon reached a hill. They were all subjected also by a strange and hard haze, that made their eyes and noses burn. Suddenly, at their right, there was a great object, that, according to the group’s testimony, was like a giant ball of fire. Directing his flashlight to what appeared to be two smaller lights near the object – which proved to be the eyes of a bizarre creature –, National Guard Eugene, to their horror and dread, suddenly illuminated a giant, dark and frightening figure, apparently involved in a giant armor, with a head similar to a candle flame. Rapidly, as you can imagine, they all fled in panic. 

As soon as they arrived safely at their home, Kathleen proceeded to call the local sheriff, as well as a journalist of the local newspaper, and official investigations started the next day. Other than the hard smell, that the group itself experienced the night before, no hard evidence emerged, that could possibly prove that an encounter with an extraterrestrial creature really took place.  

Subsequent investigations made by the Civilian Saucer Investigation at the time, and by the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal decades later (known today as Committee for Skeptical Inquiry) failed to provide any hard evidence, and the event remains beings as mysterious today as it was, the day it happened. 

What do you think?

A meteor had been seen in that same night, crossing the sky of three American states: Pennsylvania, Maryland and West Virginia, and this could be what the three boys saw in the first place, mistakenly thinking that the object was an UFO. What the seven people saw afterwards remains an enigma.     

I really don’t believe in aliens, mysterious encounters, Bigfoot, Yeti, Krampus, Spring-heeled Jack, and all that stuff, that is, mostly, frightening creatures especially created to discipline misbehaved children.     

Well, while certainly I will never say I personally believe in it, who am I to pronounce categorically that it doesn’t exist? It is correct to say that our brain has the ability to fool us, especially in potentially tense situations, and mostly in occurrences during the night – that’s why it is correct to say that intelligent and wise people are always questioning and doubting themselves – but on the other hand, we cannot say we know it all, especially when what we know is only a drop of water, in the vast ocean of the infinite possibilities that do exist (ok, I know how cliché this sounds, but wise people do know that there is veracity in it).     

Coincidentally, several years later, in the late 60’s, the legend of another mythical creature, the Mothman, would develop in West Virginia as well, this time in the city of Point Pleasant. This makes me wonder, about one of two possibilities: that there is something very dreadful and serious, attracting strange and bizarre creatures to that specific area of the world, or definitely there is something very, very wrong and bizarre with those people (overwhelmingly impressionable and easily influenced?)! Maybe they were all too heavily predisposed to believe, in an era led by then burgeoning sci-fi movies, and TV shows, like the Twilight Zone, and the Night Gallery, that were possibly taking considerable influence in the population, getting used to see monsters, vampires, ghosts, werewolves and aliens every day, in the little and the big screen.
 
Well, which one is the most probable? I leave it to you, to figure it out!  


​Wagner

The Rise of the Krays is a 2015 independent British Drama Biographical film, depicting the criminal careers of twin brothers Ronnie and Reggie Kray, sadistic and violent outlaws that created an empire of organized crime, usually known as The Firm, considered the worst to exist in 50’s and 60’s Great Britain. 

In the London of early 50’s, twin brothers Ronnie and Reggie Kray begin a series of illicit activities, that exponentially grew to perpetrate more and more horrible crimes. Surrounding themselves with questionable and dangerous individuals, they soon organize an atrocious and violent group of offenders, that in a few years will rule almost the entire dark underground of London’s criminal activities. 

The Firm, the name by which the Kray organized group came to be known, was specialized in terrorizing rival criminal organizations, beginning a new chapter in the history of violence in Great Britain, in a time where organized crime was way more civilized than today, so to speak, as criminals had a preference to solve things in easy and straightforward conversations, rarely using guns or firearms to win disputes. All of this behavior changed, when the Kray brothers entered in the underworld criminal scene. 

Initially united as brothers, and acting as a single leadership, The Firm begins to collapse as the criminal organization grew and expanded its power, mainly because the differences in character and personality of the twins became more and more apparent, conflicting with each other drastically. Ronnie Kray, a man extremely predisposed to violence, soon started to confront his brother Reggie, a more prudent and considerate individual, always willing to solve problems in a civilized manner. As Ronnie Kray begins to suffer from difficult psychiatric conditions, he became even more unstable, violent, unpredictable and impossible to control. Soon, Reggie grows tired of the erratic behavior of his brother, as the irreconcilable differences between them grew severely each day. Inevitably, the brothers became irreversibly divided, and their organization starts to fall apart.

The Rise of the Krays is certainly one of the best British movies ever made! Being very complex characters, Ronnie and Reggie Kray are superbly played by Simon Cotton and Kevin Leslie, respectively. Personally, in my opinion Simon Cotton gives one of the most amazing and undertaking performances ever to be seen in the history of cinema. Astonishingly magnificent as the violent and mentally unstable Ronnie Kray, Simon Cotton brings a furious and astounding eccentricity to the screen, and a cold intensity brilliantly installed at the core of the character’s dramatic behavior! Wild, egocentric, wrathful, fearless, potentially harmful and incisively dangerous, Simon Cotton as Ronnie Kray manages to be one of the most marvelous and convincing criminals in movie history. After seeing his performance, you will not forget this movie, and you will certainly not forget the vicious, brutal and insanely exhilarating Ronnie Kray. Kevin Leslie’s performance as Reggie Kray deserves all compliments as well, as the more soft, easy minded and content twin brother, that knows how to love a woman, and at the same time, deals very calmly with the dangerous, dark and illicit underworld which he partially controls. The twin brothers, as well as completing each other in one perspective, are the paradox of one another at the same time, as they are identical in appearance (in real life, not in the movie), but have very different personalities and methods of interaction.         

The Rise of the Krays is a magnificent movie!! Showing parts of the atmosphere of London, and as an extension, England’s criminal history, being at the same time a wonderful biopic, a great picture of 50’s and 60’s underworld culture in the UK, and a marvelous piece of artistic work, The Rise of the Krays have it all: astounding and unforgettable performances, great and inconspicuous violent scenes, the conflicts between established authorities and the rebellious nature of human behavior, and the powerful, but very brief existence of criminal organizations. The Rise of the Krays is an amazing and fantastic movie, to be seen at least ten times, if not many more! I give to it five stars, but if I could, I would give five thousand! It seems an exaggeration, but certainly deserves.       


​Wagner