The Mothman- Truth or Imagination!

Arpanmessi
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The Mothman is a creature spotted by many people in the Point Pleasant Area of West Virginia from 1966 to 1967. Point Pleasant Register, a newspaper company, first published an article about the Mothman in their first newspaper report “Couples See Man-Sized Bird.”

It spread throughout the United States through the national press of the United States. The national press took the reports sincerely and spread them all over.

1. The Mothman

The Mothman is a Man-Szed Bird with red eyes. It was already known in the United States, but the people didn’t know all details about it.

In 1975, The Mothman became famous through John Keel in his famous book ” The Mothman Prophecies “. In the book, he wrote all the details about the Mothmana and told that the collapse of the Silver Bridge disaster and supernatural events to the sightings of the Mothman were connected by the incidents.

During the incidents, Mary Hyre, a newspaper reporter was reporting on other strange occurrences. After a few days, John Keel and Mary Hyre teamed up to get details about the Mothman sightings and weird encounters.

2. Point Pleasant

Point pleasant is a town in West Virginia, United States at the joining of the Kanawha and Ohio Rivers. Ohio River is a famous river in the United States and a tourist place with a great location.

Point Pleasant is also known for its Mothman History on 15th November 1966.

3. The Mothman Sightings

3.1. First Sight

Firstly, two young couples, Steve and Mary Mallette and Roger and Linda Scarberry from Point Pleasant, West Virginia, saw The Mothman on 15th November 1966.

The two young couples told the police that they had seen a white creature with wings and glowing red eyes, standing beside the TNT area road.

3.2. The Mothman Details in First Visit

The Mothman
Photo by Esteban De Armas from Shutterstock

Linda Scarberry told police it was around seven feet tall with a muscular body and white wings. The witnesses also told them that they were unable to see its face due to the hypnotic effect of glowed red eyes. The creature also chased their car making a screeching sound. and flew in the sky.

3.3. Other Details

After this incident, other people from Point Pleasant saw similar Mothman sightings within the next few days. Two firemen, new witnesses, also saw the creature and reported that it looked like a “large bird with red eyes“.

After a few days, Contractor Newell Patridge told Mason County Sheriff George Johnson about the Mothman that its eyes were glowing like “bicycle reflectors ” when he aimed his torchlight at the creature.

3.4. Biologist Reports

Wildlife Biologist Robert L. Smith told reporters that all descriptions and sightings of the creature looked identical to the Sandhill Crane from America.

Sandhill Crane is a crane from America with wings and red color around the eyes and the same height as a man. One sandhill crane might be lost its route and land in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. People saw it at night and thought of it as a new terrifying creature.

3.5. Silver Bridge Collapse

Silver Bridge was situated over the Ohio River. It was a useful bridge for suppliers and connecting Gallipolis, Ohio, and Point Pleasent, West Virginia.

On 15th December 1967, The bridge collapsed suddenly, and 46 people died with its collapse. After the incident, many people blamed the Mothman legend as a cause of the incident and the death of 46 people.

3.5.1. New Name

After the incident, The Silver Bridge was replaced by a new bridge called the Silver Memorial Bridge. In 1969, The Silver Memorial Bridge was established with more attention and good work.

3.5.2. Real Cause of Collapse

Although many people blamed the Mothman for the collapse of the bridge, police investigated the all causes calmly and found other main reasons for the collapse of the bridge. Due to a minor defect in a suspension chain, it collapsed. There were heavily loaded cars crossing over the bridge. It was bearing much heavier loads than it could carry. Also, the bridge was not maintained properly.

An American Ufologist, Gray Barker, wrote a book on the incident of The Silver Bridge Collapse and connected it to the mysterious Mothman creature.

The Collapse of West Virginia

3.6. Another New Report

WCHS-TV published a new photo of the Mothman taken by an unknown man while driving in Mason Couty in 2016. Sharon A. Hill, a Science Writer told that the photo is not related to the Mothman. The photo seemed to be a bird carrying a frog or snake away, and the writer wrote that it was not like a Mothman picture described in the legend.

4. The Mothman Analysis

The Mothman Topic was widely spread throughout the United States and widely covered in the popular press. Some were claiming that the Mothman sightings were connected with the UFOs, and others claimed that the Mothman’s home was in a Military Storage.

4.1. Brunvand Reoprts

Jan Harold Brunvand, a Folklorist found that over 100 people saw the Mothman but there were fewer reports of the Mothman and also many more people were afraid to report their Mothman sightings. Brunvand also found that many reports described common elements of the Moth man.

4.2. Other Reports

Joe Nickell, an investigator of the paranormal suggested that the Mothman’s glowing eyes were a red-eye effect coming from the reflection of the light from torchlights or flashlights or other strange lights.

5. The Mothman Prophecies

THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES [2002] - Official Trailer

In 1975, John Keel, a famous parapsychologist, and Fortean author wrote a book based on the history and all incidents of Point Pleasant of the Mothman. The book was ” The Mothman Prophecies.”

5.1. Movie Details

After a few years, A new movie named “The Mothman Prophecies ” was released in 2002 based on the book of the same name by John Keel in 1975. The Mothman Prophecies movie was directed by an American Director, Mark Pellington, and the screenplay was written by an American Producer, Richard Hatem.

The story is created based on the Mothman incidents of Point Pleasant. John Klein, a reporter researches details of the Mothman. He is sent to take a piece of news in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, where many people saw sightings of a creature, unexplained phenomena, and paranormal activities.

5.2. Movie Cast

A famous actor, Richard Gere took the leading role in this film as John Klein, and a famous actress, Laura Linney took the role of the sheriff in this film as Connie Mills.

John Klein is searching for his wife and going deep into the work, while the local sheriff Connie Mills, becomes concerned about his story and obsessions.

5.3. Other Details of The Mothman Prophecies

The movie has followed the story of the keel. It claims based on actual incidents that happened between 1966 to 1967 in Point Pleasant, as explained by John Keel in his book.

6. The Mothman Museum

The mothman
Photo by Harry Steele from Shutterstock

The Mothman Museum along with a Research Center was established in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, United States in 2005. It is a good tourist and learning place for all.

7. The Festival & Statue

In 2002, The first annual festival of Mothman happened in the small town of Point Pleasant. The festival connects many people in one place and this festival is also a way to attract many people, After one year of the festival, a 12-foot-tall Mothman Statue is created by artist and sculptor Bob Roach in that place with metal in 2003.

The festival is happening every third weekend of September 2002 till now in that small town of point pleasant. Every Year, over 10 thousand people are going there to see and enjoy with the people of Point Pleasant.

8. Conclusion

The Mothman incident is already known throughout the world and covers a wider audience, but many reporters and writers gave their speeches about the Mothman and told that it was an illusion, seen by many people. On the other side, many writers or authors told that it was a true incident but nowadays there is no Mothman.

 

Last Updated on by Laveleena Sharma

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Arpan Paul is a passed out student of Ideal Institute Of Engineering, Kalyani, Nadia. He has a small Youtuber channel also where he post about his interests. He is fond of exploring new lifestyle tricks. He has a keen interest in history tales as well.