THE MOTHMAN

One of the oddest cryptozoological creatures reported in America would have to be the Mothman, but with the hollywood hype over the book and the movie, it might be a little bit hard to seperate fact from fiction, so I'll give it shot here.

Between November 12, 1966 and December 15, 1967 the Mothman was sighted in the Point Pleasant West Virginia area by more than 100 people. What they described was a 7 - 9 foot tall creature with wings that it could fold up. The beast also could walk with a slow shuffling gait Others advised the creature had red glowing eyes, and that they felt a malevolent feeling when it was near them.

The sightings began when the creature was spotted by a couple on a date, parked outside of an old munitions site left over from World War II. This couple claimed they were chased by the creature. They went straight to the police. This must have been terrifying enough, but being chased is one thing. Some people claim the creature spoke to them. One such witness was the author of the book The Mothman Prophecies, John A. Keel. Mr. Keel stated that in 1966 he had more than one encounter with the creature where it spoke to him about an upcoming disaster. Mr. Keel believes the Mothman was communicating to him about the bridge over the Ohio river that connected Point Pleasant to Ohio. That horrible disaster occurred on December 15, 1967 and resulted in the deaths of 46 people.

Most people believe that after the horrible bridge tragedy, that sigtings of the Mothman have stopped, but that is not entirely true. There have indeed been sightings that continue to be reported and speculation about the origin of the Mothman continue. One theory is that since the sightings in Point Pleasant began at a WWII dumping site that the creature might be some type of mutation from an experiment gone wrong. They speculate it had been living in the darkened, abandoned buildings in the area for a very long time and just had never been seen. If this is the case, then how would one explain about all of the old Indian (Iroquois and Tuscarora to name a few) legends that sepak of a large bird-like man that they called the "flying head"? Obviously the indian legends predate World War II.

So, there we have it, as best I could explain it. As always, any comments or thoughts are welcome. I look forward to hearing from you. This photo is of the Mothman statue in Point Pleasant West Virginia.

For additional information, please read John A. Keel's 1975 bood, The Mothman Prophecies, and/or the movie based on that book starring Richard Gere, released in 2002.