Mothman

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Mothman
General
Other Name(s)	Big Bird
Type
Sub-Type	Flying Creature
Geography
Continent	North America
Region(s)	Point Pleasant, West Virginia
First Sighted	November 1966

Overview and Evidence

The Mothman is one of the most prominent North American folkloric figures of the past several decades. Often considered one of the Cryptozoological Big 5 (along with sasquatch, yeti, the Loch Ness monster, and chupacabra), the mothman is certainly the most well known folkloric figure to come out of West Virginia. For the span of a year from 1966 to 1967, over one hundred people reported seeing a flying, headless, red-eye entity that many of them connected to various other similar manias, such as the Men in Black, the grinning man, and even UFOs. Although the creature hasn't been seen steadily since 1967, it has still left an undeniable impact on popular culture, almost growing to the status of a celebrity or cult figure among cryptozoology enthusiasts, paranormal enthusiasts, and even regular residents of the small town of Point Pleasant.

Although physical descriptions vary somewhat in certain details, many physical features are constant. The mothman is always described as a tall humanoid or semi-humanoid figure with no head, no facial features, and no visible arms. Embedded in the middle of its chest is a pair of bioluminescent red eyes with no pupils, often likened to car headlights or bicycle reflectors. Emerging from the creature's upper back is a large pair of wings with a span of at least ten feet. Skin texture varies from smooth human-like skin to fur and sometimes even feathers, and the entity's color is either gray or brown. Some reports, particularly the earlier accounts, depict it as defying the laws of physics, often soaring for miles at high speeds with its wings held stiffly at its sides and ascending vertically with little to no effort, as though being pulled upwards by strings.

The year-long string of sightings ended in late 1967 when the Silver Bridge, a suspension bridge spanning the Ohio River and connecting Point Pleasant to Gallipolis, Ohio, collapsed on December 15, plunging rush hour traffic into the waters below and killing 46 people. While the town mourned the tragedy, some began to speculate that the mothman may have been an omen or premonition of disaster, having appeared for the past year either to cause the collapse or to warn the townspeople before it was too late. This interpretation as an 'omen' has spread to other similar entities, such as the Black Bird of Chernobyl and the Man Dragon of China. In the decades since, the mothman has become Point Pleasant's claim to fame. The town honors the creature yearly with a festival, and the town contains a mothman museum, a gift shop selling mothman merchandise, and even a statue of the creature.

Due to the many oddities present in the mothman legends as well as the lack of supporting evidence, skeptics and the scientific community have largely dismissed the sightings as mass hysteria. Many have suggested that alleged sightings were actually cases of mistaken identity with the most common suspects being the barn owl (due to its large reflective eyes and 'neckless' appearance) and the sandhill crane (due to its red forehead, large size, and expansive wingspan).

Alleged Sightings

Third-Person Accounts

• Scarberry and Malette
• Marcella Bennett

Shortly before midnight on November 15, 1966, two young married couples, Roger and Linda Scarberry and Steve and Mary Malette, were on a late night drive approximately five miles from Point Pleasant. While driving past a former World War II munitions dump, now known as the McClintic Wildlife Management Area and colloquially known as "the TNT area", the couples noticed a pair of glowing red lights in the shadows cast by a nearby building near the gate. With a gait the four described as 'shuffling', the creature emerged into the moonlight, revealing itself to be a winged humanoid with glowing red eyes embedded in its chest. The couple sped off in fear, looking back only to see the creature watch them before it ascended into the air without flapping its wings.

The creature followed the couples as they fled, keeping up with them even as they approached 100 miles per hour. Throughout the duration of the chase, it allegedly emitted shrill shrieks and squeaks they likened to those of a mouse. When they reached the outskirts of the city, the creature veered off course and flew away.

The second most well known sighting after that of the Scarberrys and Malettes is that of Marcella Bennett, although there are some discrepancies on the details depending on the source. On the night of November 16, 1966, the night after the former sighting, one Mrs. Marcella Bennett had just parked in the driveway of her friends, the Thomases, who lived in a bungalow near the TNT area (although some sources say the visit was finished and she was in the process of leaving). Upon exiting/approaching her car, she noticed a large man-like creature stirring nearby. The creature had seemingly been lying down in the front lawn and when it finally stood up, Mrs. Bennett could see that it was a humanoid entity with glowing red eyes and enormous wings protruding from its upper back. Startled by the sight of the entity, Mrs. Bennett dropped her infant daughter, but she managed to scoop up the child and flee to the safety of the house. Bennett and the Thomases hid inside the house for protection and the creature allegedly shuffled onto the front porch and peered into the windows. The Thomases called the police, but the creature had vanished by the time they arrived. Mrs. Bennett was traumatized by the incident and required months of therapy.

Popular Culture

Film

• In 2010, Syfy Channel produced a made-for-television horror film named for the creature. This incarnation of the character possesses an elongated drooping mouth, skin textured like dense spider silk or mold, and the ability to travel through reflective surfaces.
• The 2002 science fiction/drama film The Mothman Prophecies, starring Richard Gere, was loosely based on the 1975 John Keel book of the same name and revolves around the events leading up to the Silver Bridge collapse.

Video Games

• The mothman appears as a wild creature in the 2018 open-world game Fallout 76, one of several creatures in the game based on Appalachian folklore (others including the Flatwoods monster, snallygaster, and the Grafton monster). This version of the mothman is depicted as a species of human-sized lepidopteran with eyes that glow different colors depending on their mood.

Gallery

Image Gallery

An artist's interpretation