Mothman

Template:Infobox Paranormalcreatures Mothman was the name given to a strange creature reported in the Charleston and Point Pleasant areas of West Virginia between November 1966 and December 1967. The creature was sporadically reported to be seen before and after those dates, with some sightings as recent as 2005.

Most observers describe the Mothman as a winged man-sized creature with large reflective red eyes. It often appeared to have no head, with its eyes set into its chest. A number of hypotheses have been presented to explain eyewitness accounts, ranging from misidentification and coincidence to paranormal phenomena and conspiracy theories.

History

The Mothman was reportedly first sighted on November 12, 1966. A group of five men were preparing a grave in a cemetery near Clendenin, West Virginia when they reportedly saw a "brown human shape with wings" soaring from behind trees and flying over their heads. The sighting was not made public until later, and the first sighting reported in the media occurred three days later.

On November 15, two young married couples from Point Pleasant, Roger and Linda Scarberry and Steve and Mary Mallette, were on a late night drive in the Scarberrys' car. They were passing the West Virginia Ordnance Works, an abandoned World War II TNT factory, about seven miles north of Point Pleasant, in the 2500 acre (10 km²) McClintic Wildlife Station, when they noticed two red lights in the shadows by an old generator plant near the factory gate. They stopped the car, and were startled to discover that the lights were actually the glowing red eyes of a large animal, "shaped like a man, but bigger, maybe six and a half or seven feet tall, with big wings folded against its back," according to Roger Scarberry. Terrified, they drove toward Route 62.

File:Mothman plaque.jpg

A plaque on the Roach statue gives a version of the original legend: "On a chilly fall night in November 1966, two young couples drove into the TNT area north of Point Pleasant, West Virginia, when they realized they were not alone."

Going down the exit road, they saw the creature standing on a nearby ridge. It spread its wings and flew alongside their car to the city limits. They drove to the Mason County courthouse to alert Deputy Millard Halstead, who later said "I've known these kids all their lives. They'd never been in any trouble and they were really scared that night. I took them seriously." He followed Roger Scarberry's car back to the TNT factory, but found no sign of the strange creature. According to the book Alien Animals, by Janet and Colin Bord, a poltergeist attack on the Scarberry home occurred later that night, during which the creature was seen several times. The following night, on November 16, several armed townspeople combed the area around the TNT plant for signs of Mothman. Mr and Mrs Raymond Wamsley and Mrs Marcella Bennett with baby daughter Teena in tow were in a car enroute to visit friends, Mr and Mrs Ralph Thomas, who lived in a bungalow among the "igloos" (concrete dome-shaped dynamite storage structures erected during WWII) near the TNT plant. The igloos were now empty, some owned by the county, some by companies intending to use them for storage. They were headed back to their car when a figure appeared behind their parked car. Mrs Bennett said it seemed like it had been lying down, slowly rising up from the ground, large and gray, with glowing red eyes. While Wamsley phoned the police, the creature walked onto the porch and peered in at them through the window.

An eyewitness's sketch of the Mothman.

On November 24, four people saw the creature flying over the TNT area. On the morning of November 25, Thomas Ury, who was driving along Route 62, just north of the TNT, claimed to have seen the creature standing in a field, and then spread its wings and flew alongside his car as he sped toward the Point Pleasant sheriff's office.

On November 26, Mrs Ruth Foster of Charleston, West Virginia reportedly saw Mothman standing on her front lawn, which was gone by the time her brother-in-law went out to look. On the morning of November 27, it apparently pursued a young woman near Mason, West Virginia, and was reported again in St. Albans the same night, by two children.

A Mothman sighting was again reported on January 11, 1967, and several other times that same year. Fewer sightings of the Mothman were reported after the collapse of the Silver Bridge, when 46 people died. The Silver Bridge, so named for its aluminum paint, was an eyebar chain suspension bridge that connected the cities of Point Pleasant, West Virginia and Gallipolis, Ohio over the Ohio River. It was built in 1928 and collapsed on December 15, 1967; investigation of the wreckage pointed to the failure of a single eye-bar in a suspension chain due to a small manufacturing flaw.

In the wake of Mothman and Other Curious Encounters (ISBN 1-931044-34-1), author Loren Coleman was contacted by those linked to the events issuing from Point Pleasant, and he began a study of the so-called "Mothman Curse," adding more to the list in April 2007.

Reports of Mothman sightings persist to this day. Instances of "strange flying creatures" and "winged men" have been reported in many American states as well as throughout Europe, Asia and the Middle East. There were supposed sightings in Chernobyl, Ukraine in 1986, shortly before the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, although researchers John Keel and Loren Coleman acknowledged this was merely a fictional event created within the context of the movie.

Analysis

File:Mothman Prophecies.jpg

1976 British edition of The Mothman Prophecies.

There are several theories concerning the Mothman phenomenon.

A large collection of first-hand material about Mothman is found in John Keel's 1975 book The Mothman Prophecies, in which Keel lays out the chronology of Mothman and what he claims to be related parapsychological events in the area, including UFO activity, Men in Black encounters, poltergeist activity, Bigfoot and black panther sightings, animal and human mutilations, precognitions by witnesses, and the December 15, 1967 collapse of the Silver Bridge spanning the Ohio River.

Keel's first book was the basis of a 2002 film, The Mothman Prophecies, starring Richard Gere, Laura Linney, Debra Messing, and directed by Mark Pellington. A companion book called The Eighth Tower, also released in 1975, was derived from material edited from The Mothman Prophecies by the publishers.

In conjunction with the Sony/Screen Gems, cryptozoologist Loren Coleman served as the movie's nonfiction publicity spokesperson, discussing the actual Mothman events. The studio also encouraged Coleman to finish his 2002 book in time for the release of the motion picture. Therefore, "Mothman and Other Curious Encounters" (NY: Paraview, 2002) was published in January 2002, and gives the only zoological-cryptozoological analysis for the Mothman cases.

Author Jeff Wamsley has compiled two books on the Mothman phenomenon. In his 2002 book Mothman: The Facts Behind the Legend (with Donnie Sergent Jr), Wamsley presents old press clippings, local history and eyewitness interviews. In his second book, Mothman: Behind the Red Eyes (2005), Wamsley interviews nearly a dozen eyewitnesses about their Mothman encounters. Wamsley is also the owner of the Mothman Museum and a key organizing figure in the annual Mothman Festival held in Point Pleasant, West Virginia.

Andy Colvin, a photographer and documentary filmmaker who claims to have seen Mothman, produced a book and reality series on Mothman called The Mothman's Photographer, featuring almost 50 witnesses. Colvin's sister took a snapshot of him in 1973 that allegedly shows a Garuda in the background. After researching various forms of Buddhism and certain Native tribes, Colvin's series proposes that both the Garuda of the Far East and the Thunderbird of the Native Americans are synonymous with Mothman. According to this theory, Mothman is fulfilling a pre-ordained, archetypal role that involves stopping criminal activity at pivotal moments by sending visions, dreams, and messages to ordinary humans. The Mothman's Photographer presents evidence that Mound, WV, witnesses separately saw Mothman, the Dover Demon, the Virgin Mary, plasma figures, "intelligent" globes of light, and the Flatwoods monster in the same spot, lending credence to the "Mothman as shape-shifter" theory.

Popular culture

Movies

• Jeepers Creepers (2001) and Jeepers Creepers II (2003) (loosely based on the Mothman) (2001)
• The Mothman Prophecies (2002)
• The Mothman's Photographer" DVD series (2002-2006)

TV

• In an episode of The X-Files called "Detour", Agent Mulder refers to sightings of red-eyed creatures called "Mothmen" in Point Pleasant.
• There is an Unsolved Mysteries segment that tells the true story behind the events.
• On Invader Zim, the character Dib uses the name "Agent Mothman" within the Swollen Eyeball Network.
• In the show Animal X, the Mothman mystery was shown on the "Thunderbirds" episode.
• In 2006, the Travel Channel aired a documentary about the Lochness Monster, New Jersey Devil, Big Foot and Mothman. The Mothman portion featured local highschoolers Michaela Williamson and Marianne Casey and UFO hunters Tim and John Frick in the re-enactments of the strange events.
• In the cartoon Martin Mystery, there is one episode that involves Martin fighting a creature like the Mothman.
• In Bus of the Undead, episode #103 of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, a character named Mothmonsterman parodies him. Count Dracula is also mentioned.

Games

• The Mothman sightings were a basis for an interdimensional alien race in the conspiracy roleplaying game Dark•Matter, a campaign setting for TSR's Alternity SciFi RPG. The Mothman subsequently played a major role in the plot of the adventure supplement titled The Killing Jar, and appeared as a monster in the d20 Menace Manual, known as the "Mothfolk".

• A less menacing version of the Mothman appears in Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne for Sony Playstation 2.

• In Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow for the Nintendo DS, Mothman is one of three hidden cryptozoology-based monsters, appearing as a furry black heart-shaped creature with wings and large eyes (generally resembling the eyewitness sketch). Mothman appears only when the player activates a powerful spotlight using a lightning bolt, which is a reference to moths' attraction to light. The same monster appears as a regular enemy in Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin.

• The White Wolf storytelling game Vampire: The Masquerade included the Mothman in its sourcebook, Clanbook: Gangrel, where the Mothman was identified as a severely deformed member of Clan Gangrel, which predicted a number of future events, including the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy.

Figurines/Toys/Collectibles

• The Mothmen Vinyl line has been created by renowned artist David Horvath, co-creator of Uglydolls. He has created a line of Japanese Vinyl figurines that currently numbers at seven. The figurines include Eye Witness, TNT Area, Silver Bridge, Point Pleasant, Indrid Cold, Prophecy and Chernobyl types. The figurines were produced in editions of fifty or one-hundred, depending on the version. The complete set has earned a permanent place at the Mothman Museum in Point Pleasant.

• In March of 2007, Toy Vault, Inc (Corbin, KY) officially announced a Mothman plush as the first product in a line of Urban Legend/Horror plush.

See also

• Owlman
• Spring Heeled Jack

References and sources

• Unsolved Mysteries - Mothman (Unexplained) Aired July 22, 2002.
• Mothman and Other Curious Encounters (ISBN 1-931044-34-1)

External links

• Mothmanlives.com
• Mothman's Photographer director/researcher Andy Colvin
• Mothman pages at Dmoz
• Mothman Overview at WestVA.net
• Mothman Central
• "The Mothman" by Frank Frazetta.
• Gray Barker
• Cryptoozology - Mothman - Skeptic World
• For Arabic users
• Unsolved Mysteries
• Mothman Solved
• Invasion of the Doll People by Colin Bennett, in Fortean Times 156 (2002)
• Return to Point Pleasant by Rick Moran, in Fortean Times 156 (2002)

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