Encounter Atlas

Creature index / Strange visitors

Grafton Monster

Also called Grafton monster, Headless monster of Grafton, White Thing of Grafton

A tall, pale, headless-looking figure seen by a Grafton newspaperman in 1964.

Late on 16 June 1964, Grafton Sentinel reporter Robert Cockrell said he saw a huge, smooth, pale figure, 7 to 9 feet tall and seal-like, standing by the road along the Tygart Valley River. It seemed to have no head. Others later added that it made a strange whistling sound.

Two days later the Sentinel reported groups of teenagers combing the riverbank with flashlights and makeshift weapons. The next day the paper put it down to spring fever. The story lived on in West Virginia folklore, and Grafton launched a Grafton Monster Festival in 2024 for the 60th anniversary. It also appears in the video game Fallout 76.

What witnesses report

  • A tall, pale or white shape with no visible head
  • Smooth, seal-like skin
  • A whistling sound

Famous cases

  1. 1964Cockrell sighting
    Grafton, West Virginia
  2. 2024First Grafton Monster Festival
    Grafton, West Virginia

Seen the Grafton Monster?

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Related

Flatwoods Monsteraka Braxton County Monster, Phantom of FlatwoodsA towering figure with a spade-shaped hood seen after a fiery object fell from the sky in 1952.Mothmanaka The Bird, Red-eyed winged manA winged figure with glowing red eyes seen around Point Pleasant in 1966 and 1967.Sheepsquatchaka Sheep Squatch, Boone County white beastA woolly white, horned beast reported in West Virginia hollows in the 1990s.