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Sporty Monster Chair.

Sporty Monster Chair

Field review by the editors.

Sutton, West Virginia

This is the fifth of five Monster Chairs that appeared in and around Flatwoods in 2015-2016. All five were built by Allan Johnson, a local woodworker, then painted on-site by Andrew Smith, director of the Braxton County Visitors Bureau. Smith, with a fine arts degree from Fairmont State University, threw convention out the window for this final chair. Since it stands next to a park baseball diamond, he painted it wearing the jersey of the local sports teams, the Eagles (Sadly, not the Monsters).

Each monster chair is ten feet tall, the same height as the Monster itself, which briefly visited Flatwoods and terrified the locals in the late summer of 1952. Three steps at the front of the chair lead to a platform seat between the Monster's outstretched arms, big enough to hold several panic-stricken-posing people at once.

All five chairs have the same wooden design, but Andrew painted each slightly differently, with the first chairs being truer to the Monster's reported appearance, and the last being examples of Andrew more-or-less winging it. "We figured if they were all the same, why would anyone visit more than one?" he told us.

Also see: The Monster That Wouldn't Die

Sporty Monster Chair

Holly Gray Park

Address:
401 Co Rte 15/9, Sutton, WV
Directions:
Holly Gray Park. I-79 exit 67. Drive east, then turn right at the stoplight onto WV-4. Drive one mile. Turn left at the gas station onto WV-15. Drive two miles. Turn left into Holly Gray Park. Drive a half-mile to the chair, on the right.
Save to My Sights

Nearby Offbeat Places

Scary Monster ChairScary Monster Chair, Sutton, WV - < 1 mi.
Flatwoods Monster SignFlatwoods Monster Sign, Flatwoods, WV - 2 mi.
Replica Space Monsters for SaleReplica Space Monsters for Sale, Flatwoods, WV - 1 mi.
In the region:
Mummies of the Insane, Philippi, WV - 46 mi.

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