Police Chief Jeff Greenhaw of Falkville, AL would have his life changed forever by an encounter with a metal-clad alien.
October 17, 1973, and the country was in the midst of the 1973 UFO Flap. Chief Greenhaw likely wasn’t aware of this when he took a call from an anonymous woman about a UFO with blinking lights landing in a field on the outskirts of town in a field owned by Bobby Summerford.
Despite the fact that it was his day off and the strangeness of the call, Chief Greenhaw suited up, called in to let the duty officer know where he was going, and went out to investigate. When he arrived, he spent 15-20 minutes patrolling the pasture without finding anything. He finally gave up his search, assuming that he was the victim of a prank, and was exiting the field onto a small dirt road when caught sight of a figure standing in the road.
The Silver Clad Alien
His initial thought was that it was Bobby Summerford walking out to see who was driving around his property. That changed though as he pulled around the figure was fully illuminated by his headlights. There, standing in the middle of the road about seventy-five feet away, was a silver-clad humanoid figure.
In an interview with Red Water Filmworks a few years ago, Greenhaw said that he initially thought he was just dealing with an “an idiot.” That opinion would quickly change however.
The being stood a bit more than 6 feet tall, and was in a full spacesuit like outfit, made completely of silver metal, and with a skinny antenna on the top of its head. “It looked like his head and neck were kind of made together. He was real bright, something like rubbing mercury on nickel, but just as smooth as glass. Different angles give different lighting,” he told interviewers.
The suit seemed to be a single piece of material with no seam where the neck met the head. The whole suit reflected his headlights brilliantly though.
Unsure of what he was looking at Chief Greenhaw open his door and stepped out to investigate further and addressed the person in the suit. “I said something to the effect of ‘howdy stranger’ and there was no response at all. ” At this point, he reached in and grabbed the Polaroid camera that he usually used for photographing crime scenes and started snapping pictures. The being remained still.
“At that point, I reached in and turned the blue lights on the patrol car and seen how reflective the material really was. Then, when I looked back, it was moving away from me, so I decided to chase it down and, if I have to, run over it. That didn’t happen either.”
At this point, a chase began, with Greenhaw following at a speed that exceeded what a human could do. He said, “It wasn’t moving like you or I would move. It’s like it had springs on its feet or something.” He chased the creature at speeds up to 35mph and he watched it run, leap, and bound. He did describe it as uncoordinated and moving awkwardly, despite the fact that he could barely keep up.
Trying to keep it in his car’s headlights, he finally lost control of his vehicle and got stuck. He was left stranded, helpless to watch the silver clad creature loping off into the darkness of the night.
The Beginning Of Greenhaw’s Problems
Accounts vary about his sharing of the photos and his experience with the press and other officers, but we do know that by October 19 Jeff Greenhaw became an unwilling celebrity. The story of his encounter, along with copies of his photos had gone out on the newswire, and he name was in papers across the country. This would start a month of tragedy for Greenhaw.
Ridiculed by the townspeople and fellow officers alike, most people thought that he was pulling a hoax for some reason, or at best was the unwitting victim of one. Many people thought that it was just someone dressed up in a Halloween costume that he had photographed.
Then he began receiving threatening phone calls at home, and rude remarks while on duty. Then the engine in his car blew up, likely the result of sabotage. To add insult to injury, claiming the stress of the harassment, his wife filed for divorce. So much for “for better or worse”.
As if things couldn’t get worse, on November 9th, his trailer home had burned down, with arson suspected. Then a week later, the city officials had called him into a meeting and pressured him to step down after less than a year on the job.
The Aftermath Of The Falksville Metal Man Sighting
After all of this Greehaw did his best to withdraw from the public eye, and moved on, to work in other municipalities, but the stigma of the Metal Man sighting haunted him endlessly.
In an interview, he said, “I pretty well withdrew myself from the public for years.” Betrayed by friends and family alike, he lamented “People who were supposed to be my friends, the only thing I found out is that I really couldn’t trust anyone. I withdrew, I ran and I went places to try to get away from it.”
10 Years Later, Another Mystery
Fast forward to 1983, and I would guess that Jeff Greenhaw thought that the fallout from his alien encounter was behind him, but there was more yet to come. On almost the exact anniversary of his encounter, someone broke into his home and stole only three items. They took his shotgun, his service revolver, and the photographs he had hidden away.
When interviewed about the break-in he said “I thought, ‘That’s really weird,’ the only three things I had with me that night, the shotgun in the car, the service revolver and the pictures; all three of them came up missing.”
Falkville Alabama Metal Man Video
Was The Falkville Metal Man A Hoax?
The majority of the residents of Falkville, Alabama seemed to think that there was a terrestrial explanation for Jeff Greenhaw’s encounter. The most popular one was that what he photographed was a local teen in a shiny costume.
If this was the case, how was he able to outrun a police car doing 35mph on a dirt road? The only answer would be that if Greenhaw had made the whole thing up. While no one can rule out that as a possibility, it seems unlikely. Jeff never tried to profit from his sighting, and it nearly ruined his life.
While there were pictures to support his story, I do admit that it would have been nice for someone to have gone and done some investigating the following morning. There could have been some prints in the road, and at the very least, the tire tracks from his chase would have been evident. Those would have supported his story.
A Comment Adds To The Mystery
While researching this post, I found an interesting comment from someone claiming to have known the prankster that was in the suit.
I’m actually from the area and made my own video on it. The town pretty much thinks it was a hoax played on him by a guy named Ricky Jo Smith. He was a prankster that showed up to a Halloween party in the exact costume as the Metal Man 2 weeks later. However Greenhaw was a victim of this and is the exact reason why people don’t come forward with their encounters. – @mysteryjunkie9808
Again, this is a possible explanation, but if Greenhaw was the victim of a prank, how did the perpetrator manage to outrun his cruiser? Playing a hoax to this degree with a rural police office seems incredibly risky.
The Pascagoula Connection
Jeff Greenhaw’s encounter took place just days after the Pascagoula Abduction Incident. In that event, two men were abducted by two shiny metallic aliens. These both took place during the 1973 UFO Flap, and with credible UFO and alien encounters but is seems like a logical conclusion that both Greenhaw and the men in the Pascagoula event encountered the same creatures.
Final Thoughts On The Falkville Metal Man
While many people will assume that the whole Alabama Metal Man event was a hoax either perpetrated by or played on Jeff Greenhaw. I find this conclusion to be unsatisfactory as Greenhaw never profited from his encounter and has more or less avoided it in the intervening years.
As for what that means the Falkville Metal Man was, I can only guess that it was an alien in a suit, or robot of some type that had wandered away from their ship and got spotted by the police chief before he could find his way back.
One Response