West Virginia is home to many strange legends—most people know about the Mothman, the Flatwoods Monster, or even the Grafton Monster. But hidden deep in the hills, in the dark hollows where the trees grow too thick and the sky disappears, there’s another legend. A creature that doesn’t get talked about much. Maybe because folks are too scared to speak of it. Or maybe because the ones who do… don’t come back. They call them the Moon-Eyed Beasts.

The Forgotten Mine

Our story takes place in Boone County, West Virginia, in the fall of 1962.

Henry Dalton was a miner. Like his father before him. Like his grandfather before that. The Daltons had been digging coal from the mountains since before West Virginia was even a state. And Henry knew those hills better than anyone.

But that year, something changed.

The company had shut down a section of the old mines after a series of accidents. Cave-ins, missing workers, equipment failing for no reason. The kind of things that miners knew better than to question out loud.

But Henry? He was stubborn.

One night, he and his crew snuck into the abandoned shaft. They figured there was still coal to be had, and if they worked in secret, they could sell it on the side. A little extra cash never hurt.

They lit their lanterns and stepped inside.

For the first hundred yards, everything seemed normal. Just another dead mine.

Then they found the bones.

Scattered near an old, rusted minecart were the remains of something that had been torn apart. Not a deer. Not a dog. Something bigger. But the strangest thing? The bones had been gnawed on.

Not by animals.

By something else.

That’s when they heard it.

A clicking sound.

Like stones tapping together.

The men froze, raising their lanterns, but the deeper they looked into the tunnel, the more they realized… they were not alone.

Two glowing white eyes peered at them from the darkness.

Then another.

And another.

The clicking grew louder, echoing off the walls. Shadows shifted, but the lanterns barely lit the shapes slithering closer.

That’s when Henry saw its face.

Pale, like something that had never seen the sun. Skin stretched too thin, teeth too long, eyes bulging and glowing like a full moon. And it wasn’t alone.

There were dozens of them.

The miners turned and ran.

They barely made it out, collapsing outside the entrance just as the lanterns flickered out. Behind them, in the dark of the mine, the glowing eyes stared. Watching.

Waiting.

The company sealed the mine the next morning. No explanation. No official records. Just a few men missing and a hole in the ground that no one dared open again.

The Truth?

The Moon-Eyed Beasts were never seen in daylight. But the people of Boone County say that on certain nights, when the moon is full and the air is still, you can hear the clicking.

Some believe these creatures were once men—miners trapped underground for too long, who became something else. Something hungry.

Others say they’ve been here since before the settlers came, living in the caves, waiting for anyone foolish enough to wander in.

And some say they never left the mines at all.

They just learned how to crawl out.

So, if you’re ever in the hills of West Virginia, and you hear tapping sounds behind you?

Don’t turn around.

Because if you see their eyes… it’s already too late.

“Okay, glowing-eyed mole people? Yeah, no thanks! Just seal up the whole state, problem solved.”

But hey, what do you think?

Just an old miner’s tale? Or something deeper hidden in those mountains? Either way… if you ever go exploring old mines, you might want to bring extra light. You don’t want to be in the dark with them.