No one wants to run into the Mothman.
This giant winged thing–described as looking like a half-man/half-bat, half-man/half-bird/or (yep, you guessed it) half-man/half-moth–seems to predict terrible doom. A natural disaster occurs soon after he shows up.
One of the most famous is the case of the Silver Bridge collapse in Point Pleasant, West Virginia.
On December 15, 1967, the bridge collapsed while it was full of rush-hour traffic, resulting in the deaths of 46 people. Two of the victims were never found. The cause of the collapse was the failure of a single eyebar in a suspension chain. The bridge was carrying much heavier loads than it had originally been designed for and had been poorly maintained.
After the disaster, sightings of the strange moth-like creature ended, causing residents to believe it had been trying to warn them. Beginning in mid-November, many witnesses had reported their sightings to the local police. Most had the telltale facial burns that seemed to always accompany a mothman encounter.
One of the scariest aspects of the Mothman Prophecies film (the film is far superior to the terrible book it was based on–sorry), was the accompanying website, which showed mothman sightings around the world and talked about the resulting disasters. Unfortunately, the website has since been taken down, but it was truly creepy.
There are many theories as to what the mothmen could be–everything from aliens to dark angels to owls. Owls?
What do you think? Do you believe there are still creatures that haven’t been explained or discovered by scientists? Do you think the reports from Point Pleasant were legitimate, or were they a case of mass hysteria?
As for the folks in Point Pleasant, they’ve embraced their strange visitor with a commemorative statue and an annual Mothman Festival. I’m sure that made him happy.
PS: If you like tales of spooky creatures, you might be interested in The Bear Who Wouldn’t Leave. Click here to watch the short trailer.
If you watch the trailer, I’d love to know what you think. Please feel free to tell me in the comments.
Oh my word. That first picture induced fits of nervous laughter from me, it’s so horrible. I used to be *terrified* of moths when I was little (I grew out of it, but that picture took me back a bit).
I’ve never heard of the mothman, so I’m rather surprised and delighted to find out he’s something of a phenomenon. Who knows what really happened in Point Pleasant, but I love that stories like this live on in the collective conscious.
And congratulations on your upcoming book release! Your book trailer is the first one I think I’ve ever watched, so I don’t have much to compare it to, but it seemed really well done (FYI, the link to the trailer didn’t work for me, but was able to watch it on the Samhain site). Best of luck to you with your release!
Welcome back, Sara! Sorry I scared you a little. 😉
The Mothman is certainly a creepy story. I’m not sure how much that website was embellished, but it was eerie to see how many natural disasters he’d been connected with.
Thanks for the kind words about my book, and thanks for letting me know about the link. It’s been fixed. WordPress always adds an extra bit at the beginning, and sometimes I forget to delete it.
The movie was great but it’s been years since I’ve seen it. Usually I’d go to the source material after that but if you say it’s not good, maybe I’ll just look for the movie again.
Oh, the book was so bad I could barely get through it, Elle. I’m honestly surprised it got published.
I’m guessing the public was hungry for more about the bridge collapse and the supernatural events surrounding it–it was big news at that time.
The book is more about an “Ingrid Cole” character who stalks the reporter and gives him weird information. Very little about the mothman, unless you believe the mothman is Ingrid Cole.
That mothman picture of the bridge almost looks like an angel to me. A dark angel…like the angel of death. That makes a bit more sense then a mothman.
Mothman Prophecies is a creepy movie. I still can’t watch it without getting freaked out. They did that movie so well and Richard Gere did a good job acting in it.
Yes, the movie is great, although they did mix a lot of fiction in with their fact. It always makes me laugh when Hollywood does this–they did the same with “Fire in the Sky” as well.
What, a supernatural winged humanoid creature who foretells a disaster isn’t enough? We need a fictional wife with a brain tumour too?
I can see strange creatures in remote locations, but not in populated areas.
Congratulations on your upcoming release!
Thanks so much, Alex. It’s scary and exciting at the same time. 🙂
Yes, there have been so many mothman sightings all over the world that it’s difficult to shrug off.
I have a friend who is a huge fan of the Mothman. With all the disasters that follow the sighting, I like to think it is actually a benevolent creature trying to warn people, but itself is too scary to do so… 🙂
@TarkabarkaHolgy from
Multicolored Diary – Epics from A to Z
MopDog – 26 Ways to Die in Medieval Hungary
Welcome back, Tarkabarka. There are two schools of thought on this. One is that the mothman is trying to warn people…the other is that he actually causes the disasters.
Which would be even scarier. If he comes my way, I’m leaving town for a while.
Congratulations on the upcoming book release!
Thanks so much, Madeline! If you get a chance to watch the trailer, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
It’s got such a horror movie feel! So creepy! 🙂
Thank you! That’s exactly what we were going for. <3
Thanks for taking the time to watch it and comment. You're one of a kind, Madeline.
Mothman is fascinating! I love these kind of weird legends.
2015 A to Z Challenge Co-Host
Matthew MacNish from The QQQE
Welcome to my blog, Matthew.
I agree. These could-be-true stories are thrilling to me. Life is stranger than fiction.
I’m going with the warning theory. A dark angel with a touch of love for humanity because he’s so like them. Do you see a plot here? Probably been done. 🙂
Loved the spookiness of your trailer. Nothing terrifies me more than a benign toy turning rogue. You’ve got my attention.
Thanks so much for the kind feedback! I really appreciate it, especially since your trailer is so awesome. I was thrilled with how mine turned out–thankfully I’m surrounded by talented people.
Even if your theory has been done, it can probably be done better.
The Mothman always pops up in the TV shows I watch about strange things on this planet.
~Patricia Lynne aka Patricia Josephine~
Member of C. Lee’s Muffin Commando Squad
Story Dam
Patricia Lynne, Indie Author
You do have an interesting roster of programs on your watch list, Patricia!
Yup! heard of him I have, and found him creepy back then now…I’m not so sure. Good trailer, straight out of a classic scary movie. I find the book premise interesting. Congrats on the upcoming release 🙂
Thanks so much for the kind words, Haneen. Much appreciated!
And trust me, even today, I don’t think you’d want him to show up at your house. 😉
Moth an is another creature that scares the crud out of me. I wouldn’t want to run into one or have it contact me.
Have to agree with you there!
I love the trailer! I’ve been a fan of that curly haired boy forever!