The Vegetable People
- Classification (Hynek): CE3.
- Witnesses: Jennings Frederick / Kathy Reeves.
- Time & Place: July 1968; Rivesville, West Virginia / April 1966; Newport, Oregon.
- Entity Type (Lawson): Exotic.
- Craft: None seen / Dome-shaped.
- Summary: Two encounters with plant-like entities.
Alien Diversity
The shapeshifting nature of the UFO phenomenon has long been a cause of embarrassment to proponents of the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis. If UFO occupants are merely alien invaders bent on world domination, why do they assume such a bewildering variety of forms? Why do they sometimes appear as little grey humanoids, sometimes as silver goblins and sometimes as tiny manikins?
The following two cases only add to the confusion, since both involve entities that seem to straddle the divide between the vegetable and animal kingdoms.
The Bloodthirsty Plant-Man
One July afternoon in 1968, Jennings Frederick was hunting deer in woodland near Rivesville, West Virginia when a high-pitched voice addressed him.
"You need not fear me. I come in peace," jabbered the voice. "We know of you all. I wish medical assistance. I need your help".
Jennings felt something thin and prickly grab his arm. He turned to find himself confronted by a bizarre green-skinned being with "semi-human facial features".
The entity had yellow slanted eyes and long pointed ears. It had a slender body like the stalk of a plant and a pair of tendril-like arms. On each hand were three fingers with suction cups and needle-like tips.
The entity tightened its grip and punctured Frederick's skin. Then it began extracting his blood. As it did so, its eyes turned red and started spinning, putting Frederick into a hypnotic trance.
The bizarre transfusion lasted for about a minute. Then the rejuvenated being released its grip and bounded away into the woods, taking 25-ft-long strides.
The Walking Tree Stumps
An equally bizarre encounter occurred in Newport, Oregon on the evening of April 5, 1966. 16-yr-old Kathy Reeves and a friend were walking home when they saw an indistinct dome-shaped object surrounded by smoke and lights.
The girls hurried on their way, only to encounter an even stranger sight. Three entities shaped like "little tree stumps" were waddling across a meadow in the direction of mysterious object. Their legs resembled tree roots, and they had no heads or arms. They were dressed in bright, multicoloured outfits of orange, blue, pink and yellow.
The incident occurred at the height of a nation-wide UFO wave. Other witnesses in the area reported seeing globes of blue light, while an elderly couple claimed to have encountered a group of Cycloptian beings. However, the walking tree stumps were never seen again.
Sources
Jerome Clark: Extraordinary Encounters, p256-7.
Jerome Clark: Extraordinary Encounters, p245.
Albert Rosales' Humanoid Database.