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Mothman

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Not to be confused withOwlman.
For other uses, seeMothman (disambiguation).
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Mothman,inWest Virginianfolklore,is a humanoid creature reportedly seen in thePoint Pleasantarea from November 15, 1966, to December 15, 1967. The first newspaper report was published in thePoint Pleasant Register,dated November 16, 1966, titled "Couples See Man-Sized Bird... Creature... Something".[1]The national press soon picked up the reports and helped spread the story across the United States. The source of the legend is believed to have originated from sightings of out-of-migrationsandhill cranesorherons.[2][3]

An artistic impression of Mothman.

The creature was introduced to a wider audience byGray Barkerin 1970,[4][5]and was later popularized byJohn Keelin his 1975 bookThe Mothman Prophecies,[6]claiming that there were paranormal events related to the sightings, and a connection to the collapse of theSilver Bridge.The book was later adapted intoa 2002 filmstarringRichard Gere.[7]

An annual festival in Point Pleasant is devoted to the Mothman legend.[8]

History

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On November 15, 1966, two young couples from Point Pleasant—Roger and Linda Scarberry, and Steve and Mary Mallette—told police they had seen a large black creature whose eyes "glowed red", standing at the side of the road near "theTNT area",the site of a formerWorld War IImunitions plant.[9][10][11]Linda Scarberry described it as a 'slender, muscular man' about seven feet tall with white wings. However, she was unable to discern its face due to the hypnotic effect of its eyes.[12]Distressed, the witnesses sped away, reporting that the creature flew after their car, making a screeching sound. It pursued them as far as Point Pleasant city limits.[9]

Mothman statue located inPoint Pleasant,West Virginia

Over the next few days, more people reported similar sightings after local newspapers covered it. Two volunteer firemen who saw it said it was a "large bird with red eyes". Mason County Sheriff George Johnson believed the sightings were due to an unusually largeheronhe termed a "shitepoke". Contractor Newell Partridge told Johnson that when he aimed a flashlight at a creature in a nearby field, its eyes glowed "like bicycle reflectors". Additionally, he blamed buzzing noises from his television set and the disappearance of hisGerman Shepherddog on the creature.[2]Wildlife biologist Robert L. Smith atWest Virginia Universitytold reporters that descriptions and sightings fit thesandhill crane,a large American crane almost as tall as a man with a seven-foot wingspan and reddish coloring around its eyes. The bird may have wandered out of its migration route, and therefore was unrecognized at first because it was not native to this region.[2][3]

Batmanand his antagonistKiller Mothare varyingly cited as influences for the term "Mothman"

Due to the popularity of theBatmanTV seriesat the time, the fictionalsuperheroBatmanand hisrogues gallerywere prominently featured in the public eye. While the villainKiller Mothdid not appear in the show, thecomic bookinfluence of both him and Batman is believed by some to have influenced the coinage of the name "Mothman" in the local newspapers.[13][14]

Following the December 15, 1967 collapse of theSilver Bridgeand the death of 46 people,[15]the incident gave rise to the legend and connected the Mothman sightings to the bridge collapse.[2][16][17]

According toGeorgiannewspaperSvobodnaya Gruziya,RussianUFOlogistsclaim that Mothman sightings inMoscowforeshadowed the 1999Russian apartment bombings.[18]

The Mothman Prophecies(2002) is a major motion picture, loosely based on the 1975book of the same nameby John Keel.

In 2016,WCHS-TVpublished a photo purported to be of Mothman taken by an anonymous man while driving onRoute 2inMason County.[19]Science writerSharon A. Hillproposed that the photo showed "a bird, perhaps an owl, carrying a frog or snake away" and wrote that "there is zero reason to suspect it is the Mothman as described in legend. There are too many far more reasonable explanations."[3][20]

Analysis

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FolkloristJan Harold Brunvandnotes that Mothman has been widely covered in popular press, with some claiming sightings connected with UFOs, and others suggesting that a military storage site was Mothman's "home". Brunvand notes that the recountings of the 1966–67 Mothman reports usually state that at least 100 people saw Mothman with many more "afraid to report their sightings." However, he points out that these written sources for such stories consisted of children's books or sensationalized or undocumented accounts that fail to quote identifiable persons. Brunvand found elements in common among many Mothman reports and much older folk tales, suggesting that something real may have triggered the scares and became woven with existing folklore. He also records anecdotal tales of Mothman supposedly attacking the roofs of parked cars occupied by teenagers.[21]

Conversely,Joe Nickellsays that a number of hoaxes followed the publicity generated by the original reports, such as a group of construction workers who tied flashlights to helium balloons. Nickell attributes the Mothman stories to sightings ofbarred owls,suggesting that the Mothman's "glowing eyes" were actuallyred-eye effectcaused from the reflection of light from flashlights or other bright light sources.[20][10]Benjamin Radfordpoints out that the only report of glowing "red eyes," was secondhand, that of Shirley Hensley quoting her father.[22]One of the prevailing hypotheses associated with the Mothman at the time of the original sightings was that it was a misidentified sandhill crane, due primarily to the size of the bird as well as the "reddish flesh" around the crane's eyes.[23]Daniel A. Reed examined the migration patterns and historically reported sightings of Sand Hill Cranes in the area of Point Pleasant, West Virginia and proposed that, in cases where eyeshine was not noted, it was statistically more likely that witnesses were seeing and misidentifying a Great Blue Heron instead.[24]

According toUniversity of Chicagopsychologist David A. Gallo, "55 sightings of Mothman in Chicago during 2017" published on the website of self-describedForteanresearcher Lon Strickler are "a selective sample". Gallo explains that "he's not sampling random people and asking if they saw the Mothman – he's just counting the number of people that voluntarily came forward to report a sighting." According to Gallo, "people more likely to visit a paranormal-centric website like Strickler's might also be more inclined to believe in, and therefore witness the existence of, a 'Mothman'."[25]

Somepseudoscienceadherents (such asufologists,paranormalauthors, andcryptozoologists) suggest the Mothman could be analien,a supernatural manifestation, or a previously unknown species of animal. In his 1975 book, Keel claimed that Point Pleasant residents experiencedprecognitionsincluding premonitions of the collapse of the Silver Bridge,UFOsightings, visits from inhuman or threateningmen in black,and other phenomena.[26]

Festival and statues

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Point Pleasant held its first Annual Mothman Festival in 2002. The Mothman Festival began after brainstorming creative ways to attract visitors to Point Pleasant. The group organizing the event chose the Mothman to be the center of the festival due to its uniqueness, and as a way to celebrate its local legacy in the town.[27]

According to the event organizer Jeff Wamsley, the average attendance for the Mothman Festival is an estimated 10–12 thousand people per year.[27] A 12-foot-tall metallic statue of the creature, created by artist and sculptor Bob Roach, was unveiled in 2003. The Mothman Museum and Research Center opened in 2005.[28][29][30]The festival is held on the third weekend of every September, hosting guest speakers, vendor exhibits, pancake-eating contests, and hayride tours of locally notable areas.[16]

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Derived from Keel's story

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Other appearances

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  • Watchmen(1986) – Features a minor superhero known as Mothman.
  • Megami Tensei(1995) – Mothman regularly appears as a recruit-able demon in the Megami Tensei series of games, first appearing inShin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner.
  • Detour(1997) – An episode ofThe X-Filesin whichAgent Mulderhypothesises that the monster could be related to the Mothman of Point Pleasant.
  • The Perhapanauts(2005) – A Mothman named Karl appears as a supporting protagonist.
  • The Adventure Zone: Amnesty(2018) – The Mothman Indrid Cold is revealed to be one of several alien beings crossing into the West Virginia portion of theNational Radio Quiet Zonefrom another world.
  • Fallout 76(2018) – Multiple Mothmen appear as some of the many cryptids inhabiting a post-apocalyptic West Virginia.[31]
  • Inside Job(2021) – A humorous version of the creature known as "Elliot Mothman", appears. He works for a shadowy organisation known as Cognito, Inc., specifically as the head of HR.
  • An illustrated oracle deck called theSouthern Gothic Oraclehas an expansion pack calledThe Haunts,which features a Mothman card (2021).[32]
  • The Adventure Zone: Dustseason two (2022) – Indrid Cold returns as a player character, portrayed byGriffin McElroy.

See also

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References

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  1. ^"Couples See Man-Sized Bird...Creature...Something".Point Pleasant Register.Point Pleasant, WV: WestVA.Net, Mark Turner. November 16, 1966. Archived fromthe originalon 11 October 2007.Retrieved27 January2012.
  2. ^abcdAssociated Press (Dec 1, 1966)."Monster Bird With Red Eyes May Be Crane".Gettysburg Times.Retrieved21 August2011.
  3. ^abcPalma, Bethania (25 November 2016)."Mothman About Town".Snopes.Snopes.Retrieved18 January2017.
  4. ^Skeptical Inquirer,Volume 33 (Pennsylvania State University, Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal. 2009)
  5. ^Gray Barker,The Silver Bridge(Saucerian Books, 1970). Reprinted in 2008 entitledThe Silver Bridge: The Classic Mothman Tale(BookSurge Publishing).ISBN1-4392-0427-6
  6. ^Keel, John A.The Mothman Prophecies(2002).ISBN0-7653-4197-2(Originally published in 1975 by Saturday Review Press)
  7. ^Meehan, Paul (2009).Cinema of the Psychic Realm: A Critical Survey,p. 130. McFarland & Company, Inc.ISBN978-0-7864-3966-9
  8. ^"Mothman Festival".mothmanfestival.Retrieved2024-05-30.
  9. ^abColeman, Loren (1 December 2001).Mothman and Other Curious Encounters.Cosimo, Inc.ISBN978-1-931044-34-9.
  10. ^abNickell, Joe (2004).The Mystery Chronicles: More Real-Life X-Files.University Press of Kentucky. pp. 93–.ISBN978-0-8131-2318-9.Retrieved21 August2011.
  11. ^"Munitions Risk Closes Part of Wildlife Area Again".Archived fromthe originalon 2014-08-26.Retrieved2012-02-08.
  12. ^Sergent, Donnie; Wamsley, Jeff (2002).Mothman: The Facts Behind the Legend.Mothman Lives Pub.ISBN978-0-9667246-7-7.
  13. ^Cassandra Eason (2008).Fabulous Creatures, Mythical Monsters, and Animal Power Symbols: A Handbook.Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 15–.ISBN978-0-275-99425-9.
  14. ^Richard Moreno (6 August 2013).Myths and Mysteries of Illinois: True Stories of the Unsolved and Unexplained.Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 142–.ISBN978-1-4930-0231-3.
  15. ^LeRose, Chris."The Collapse of the Silver Bridge".West Virginia Historical Society Quarterly.West Virginia Division of Culture and History.Retrieved9 May2023.
  16. ^abAssociated Press (Jan 19, 2008)."Mothman' still a frighteningly big draw for tourists".Toronto Star.Archived fromthe originalon 2009-11-20.Retrieved21 August2011.
  17. ^"Eight People Say They Saw 'Creature'".Williamson Daily News.Williamson, WV.United Press International.Nov 18, 1966.Retrieved22 August2011.
  18. ^Lobkov, Denis (23 May 2002).Призраки катастроф.Zheltaya Gazeta via Svobodnaya Gruziya(in Russian). Archived fromthe originalon 2018-12-09.(English translationof the article.)
  19. ^Pierson, Fallon (November 21, 2016)."Man photographs creature that resembles legendaryMothman "of Point Pleasant".WCHS-TVnews.WCHS.Retrieved18 January2017.
  20. ^abElbein, Asher (26 October 2018)."Is the Mothman of West Virginia an Owl?".Audubon.org.Archived fromthe originalon 27 October 2018.Retrieved30 October2018.
  21. ^Brunvand, Jan Harold(1994).The Baby Train and Other Lusty Urban Legends.W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 98–.ISBN978-0-393-31208-9.
  22. ^Radford, Benjamin (May–June 2020)."Investigating Mothman's Red Eyeshine".Skeptical Inquirer.44:29–31.
  23. ^"Monster Bird with Red Eyes may Be Crane".The Gettysburg Times.December 1, 1966.
  24. ^Reed, Daniel (July–August 2022)."The Mothman and the Crane: A Contemporary Perspective".Skeptical Inquirer.46(4): 52–56.
  25. ^Terry, Josh (2018-01-17)."People Keep Seeing the Mothman in Chicago".Vice.
  26. ^Clark, Jerome(2000).Extraordinary Encounters: An Encyclopedia of Extraterrestrials and Otherworldly Beings.Santa Barbara, California: ABC-Clio,ISBN1-57607-249-5,pp. 178–179.
  27. ^ab"Mothman Festival returns Sept. 21–22".mydailyregister – The Point Pleasant Register.2019-09-06. Archived fromthe originalon 2021-12-05.Retrieved2020-10-07.
  28. ^"Mothman Statue, Point Pleasant, West Virginia".RoadsideAmerica.Archived fromthe originalon 2023-02-08.Retrieved2023-11-16.
  29. ^Moran, Mark; Sceurman, Mark; Lake, Matt (2008).Weird U.S. The ODDyssey Continues – Your Travel Guide to America's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets,p. 260. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.ISBN978-1-4027-4544-7
  30. ^""Legend of the Mothman" plaque on the base of the statue ".Archived fromthe originalon 2012-04-25.Retrieved2012-02-14.
  31. ^"How Fallout 76 became a haven for Mothman, Jersey Devil, and other creepy cryptids".gameshub.2024-03-27.Retrieved2024-04-02.
  32. ^"The Haunts".lapantherestudio.August 2021.RetrievedSeptember 27,2024.
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