The MothmanBy Mike Mitch ‘09

What is he?

A “man-sized bird”

“Gigantic, Fuzzy Bird”

9-foot-tall, black, winged creature with glowing red eyes

Enter Mothman

First sighted by two couples in an abandoned WWII TNT factory in Point Pleasant, West Virginia on November 16, 1966. They stopped their car when they saw two red glowing lights only to see that the lights were the eyes of a gigantic winged creature. Terrified, they drove away and claimed that the creature chased them at speeds in excess of 100 mph.

That Same Night…

Newell Partridge, a building contractor who lived in Salem, about 90 miles from Point Pleasant

T.V. went dark and a weird shape appeared on the screen

Loud whining noise that sounded like a generator accompanied the weird shape

Heard his dog Bandit howling, went outside to investigate

Saw two glowing red eyes the size of “bicycle reflectors”

Bandit chased after the creature

Bandit disappears never to be seen again

Other Sightings

November 16, 1966 - Family driving past factory spots a dark, red eyed creature watching them

Nov. 24 – 4 people see Mothman flying above city

Nov. 25 – Man sees Mothman in a field, and said the creature flew alongside his car for awhile

Nov. 26/27 – Woman spots Mothman standing on her lawn only to watch the creature fly away. The next morning the creature chased a woman in her car and was later spotted flying by two children.

1967 – There were many sightings throughout this year, but on December 15, the Silver Bridge in Point Pleasant collapsed, killing 46 people. The sightings ended after this incident.

Curse

Almost an Egyptian like curse that came with the Mothman

Many involved with reporting and documenting the case died shortly after the bridge collapse

Victims of Curse

Mary Hyre – she wrote the initial story on the first Mothman sighting in the local news; died a year after the bridge collapse of a mysterious illness.

Gray Barker – he was beginning work on a Mothman book when he found a note on his door saying, “Abandon your research or you will regret. You have been warned.” He also died of a mysterious illness although it was close to 10 years after the incident.

Other victims are reported, but the connections are much too far-fetched to truly believe.

Theories

Supernatural – John Keel, the main Mothman documenter, claimed that it was related to parapsychological events that had happened in the area. Misidentified Birds – Could have been a Sandhill Crane, which has up to a 7 foot wingspan, and reaches 40 inches in length. It has red marks around its eyes, which may be the “red eye” sightings. Could have also been an owl, and the red eyes come from the reflection of a flashlight or light. Hoax – Story could have been created by the two couples, and mass hysteria followed with false sightings.

Mass Hysteria

Point Pleasant was a small town and not too much happened thereAfter the first sighting many sightings randomly popped upSightings happened at same times, voiding the truth of the sightingsCould have been real, could have been all false hysteria