Kathleen May

Kathleen May (1921–2009) was a woman from West Virginia who, on 12 September 1952, served as the primary adult witness in a group of adults and children that climbed a hillside in Flatwoods, Braxton County, after the children had reported a bright landed object. There they encountered a tall entity with a glowing face, dark body and a head shaped like an ace of spades — enveloped in a pungent mist. The Flatwoods Monster case became one of the most famous close-encounter reports of the 1952 UFO wave.

• Born 1921 in West Virginia, died 2009
• Primary adult witness in the Flatwoods Monster case
• On 12 September 1952 led a group of children up a hillside in Flatwoods, Braxton County
• Group responded to children's report of a bright landed object
• Encounter with a tall entity with a glowing face, dark body and ace-of-spades head
• Entity enveloped the group in a pungent mist
• Case became iconic in the 1952 UFO wave and in close-encounter reporting

For the UAP timeline, May is the only adult witness of the Flatwoods case whose presence gives the event the credibility needed to turn a children's anecdote into an entry in national UFO folklore. Her account is one of the central origin files of the American close-encounter typology.