Vegetable Man

"Suddenly, there it was, a being with semi-human facial features, long ears, and yellow, slanted eyes. Its arms were no bigger around than a quarter. Its body resembled the stalk of a plant in shape and color, for ir was slender and green."

- Brad Steiger's description of the creature, Alien Meetings.

The Vegetable Man of West Virginia is a peculiar extraterrestrial being reportedly encountered by a hunter named Jennings Frederick in the forests around Fairmont, West Virginia, USA, in July, 1968. Although Frederick saw no UFO, he claims to have heard a strange sound after the creature left, which he believed to have been the ship taking off.

Biology
In spite of its plant-like nature, this skinny humanoid is a vampire-like beast, which feeds on the blood of its victims by absorbing it with its 7-inches-long fingers. Said fingers have been described as having both needles and suction cups.

The alien is also capable of communicating by telepathy and of exerting some hypnotic influence over its victims to put them in a trance-like state while feeding on their blood. While it does so, its normally yellow eyes flash red and the victim ceases to feel their blood being drained.

After it's done feeding, it leaves its victims behind and leaps away extremely fast, being able to cover up distances of over 25 feet in a single leap.

The Encounter
In 1968, in the woods around Fairmont WV, Jennings Frederick was out for a hunt. As he moved through the woods in search of game, Frederick heard an odd noise. It sounded like a record player running faster than it should, a sort of high-pitched jabbering. When he tracked down the source of the sound, he came face to face with the creature.

Jennings would go on to say that the being looked weakened, sickly. The jabbering increased. Suddenly, he could make out the words. (Hints at telepathic communication.)

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

With that, the creature lunged at him and wrapped Frederick up in its surprisingly strong arms. Frederick was unable to break away from the embrace as the creature pierced his skin with the thorns on its fingers. While it drained blood from him, Frederick found himself enthralled by the flashing colors of the creature's eyes. Then, almost as quickly as it had pounced, the Vegetable Man raced away up a hill.

Frederick then claimed to hear a deep humming from the other side of the hill. He surmised that it might have been the sound of the creature's ship taking off. (Implies that he felt the monster was of extraterrestrial origin.)

To date, the 1968 encounter is the only sighting of the Vegetable Man.