CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (WBOY) — The Vegetable Man of West Virginia is a little-known hoax that is said to have occurred in Marion County near Grant Town, just north of Fairmont. It was first described in an issue of Gray Barker’s Newsletter from March 1976 as thin and plant-like, with yellow eyes, pointed ears and suction cup fingers with needle tips.

A drawing by Jennings Frederick of the West Virginia Vegetable Man (Gray Barker Collection, Clarksburg-Harrison Public Library)
A drawing by Jennings Frederick of the West Virginia Vegetable Man (Gray Barker Collection, Clarksburg-Harrison Public Library)

Gray Barker, a Braxton County native and Clarksburg resident, was a known hoaxter from the 50s through the 80s who specialized in UFOs and paranormal events, and a collection of his research and correspondences is kept in the Clarksburg-Harrison Public Library. Among Gray Barker’s extensive collection is a firsthand account from Jennings H. Frederick that details the “Vegetable Man.”

Barker described Frederick as an “amateur rocket expert lately turned UFO investigator,” who claimed that he and his mother had had multiple encounters and sightings of the Vegetable Man. Frederick’s mother Ivah said she witnessed the creature shoveling grass and dirt into a bag it carried, and that she first mistook it for a child until it boarded a flying saucer and flew off.

Artists rendition of Ivah Frederick's encounter with the Vegetable Man of West Virginia (Gray Barker Collection, Clarksburg-Harrison Public Library)
Artist’s rendition of Ivah Frederick’s encounter with the Vegetable Man of West Virginia (Gray Barker Collection, Clarksburg-Harrison Public Library)

Frederick described his own, far more intense encounter: On a beautiful mid-July day in 1968, Jennings Frederick was walking through the woods during an unsuccessful hunt for woodchuck when he heard a jabbering voice that he said sounded like a sped-up recording. According to Barker’s newsletter, this is what it said:

YOU NEED NOT FEAR ME. I WISH TO COMMUNICATE. I COME AS FRIENDS. WE KNOW OF YOU ALL. I COME IN PEACE. I WISH MEDICAL ASSISTANCE. I NEED YOUR HELP!

Artists rendition of Jennings Frederick's encounter with the Vegetable Man of West Virginia (Gray Barker Collection, Clarksburg-Harrison Public Library)
Artist’s rendition of Jennings Frederick’s encounter with the Vegetable Man of West Virginia (Gray Barker Collection, Clarksburg-Harrison Public Library)

Surprised, Frederick felt his arm catch on a patch of brambles. When he looked down, he realized that what he thought were brambles was actually a three-fingered hand that was “green like a plant.” Frederick said the fingers were seven inches long, with “needle-like tips and suction cups,” which had attached themselves to his arm. “He heard a suction sound and knew blood was being drawn,” said the newsletter.

The creature reminded Frederick of “the stalk of some huge ungainly plant,” but the creature was surprisingly strong. Its eyes turned from yellow to red as they began to spin, hypnotizing Frederick and distracting him from the pain in his arm. Frederick believed the “transfusion” lasted about a minute until it released him and ran up the hill “covering 25 ft. or more in each leap, like a modern ‘Spring healed Jack.'”

Despite being a mostly unknown story, the creature influenced author Michael Strayer to write a children’s book all about the Veggie Man, “Curious Creatures: The Vegetable Man,” who walks around West Virginia in search of help in order for him to return home. Strayer, also known as “Mothboy Mike,” has his own podcast called Mothboys that focuses on cryptids, conspiracies and unknown events.