View source for Mothman

{{short description|Legendary creature}}
{{other uses|Mothman (disambiguation)}}
{{pp-move-vandalism|small=yes}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2020}}
{{Infobox mythical creature
| name = Mothman
| image = File: Mothman statue in West Virigina.jpg 
| caption = Statue of Mothman in [[Point Pleasant, West Virginia|Point Pleasant]], [[West Virginia]], U.S.A. 
| AKA = Winged Man
| Country = United States
| Region = [[Point Pleasant, West Virginia|Point Pleasant]], [[West Virginia]]
}}

In [[American folklore|West Virginia folklore]], the '''Mothman''' is a creature reportedly seen in the [[Point Pleasant, West Virginia|Point Pleasant]] area from November 12, 1966, to December 15, 1967. The first newspaper report was published in the ''Point Pleasant Register'' dated November 16, 1966, titled "Couples See Man-Sized Bird ... Creature ... Something".<ref name=WestVa.net>{{cite web|title=Couples See Man-Sized Bird...Creature...Something|url=http://www.westva.net/mothman/1966-11-16.htm|work=Point Pleasant Register Point Pleasant, WV Wednesday, November 16, 1966|publisher=WestVA.Net, Mark Turner|accessdate=27 January 2012|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011230219/http://www.westva.net/mothman/1966-11-16.htm|archivedate=11 October 2007}}</ref> The national press soon picked up the reports and helped spread the story across the United States.

The Mothman was introduced to a wider audience by [[Gray Barker]] in 1970<ref>''[[Skeptical Inquirer]]'', Volume 33 (Pennsylvania State University, Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal., 2009).</ref><ref>Gray Barker, ''The Silver Bridge'' (Saucerian Books, 1970). Reprinted in 2008 entitled ''The Silver Bridge: The Classic Mothman Tale'' (BookSurge Publishing). {{ISBN|1-4392-0427-6}}</ref> and later popularized by [[John Keel]] in his 1975 book ''[[The Mothman Prophecies]]'', claiming that there were [[supernatural]] events related to the sightings, and a connection to the collapse of the [[Silver Bridge]].

The Mothman appears in popular culture. The 2002 film ''[[The Mothman Prophecies (film)|The Mothman Prophecies]]'', starring [[Richard Gere]], was based on Keel's book.<ref>Paul Meehan, ''Cinema of the Psychic Realm: A Critical Survey'', page 130 (McFarland & Company, Inc., 2009). {{ISBN|978-0-7864-3966-9}}</ref> An annual festival in Point Pleasant is devoted to the Mothman legend.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mothmanfestival.com|title=Mothman Festival}}</ref>

==History==
On November 12, 1966, five men who were digging a grave at a cemetery near [[Clendenin, West Virginia]], claimed to have seen a man-like figure fly low from the trees over their heads.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wvcommerce.org/news/story/First-sighting-of-the-Mothman/1215/default.aspx |title=First sighting of the Mothman |publisher=Wvcommerce.org |date=1966-11-12 |accessdate=2016-09-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160630073639/http://www.wvcommerce.org/news/story/First-sighting-of-the-Mothman/1215/default.aspx |archive-date=June 30, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> This is often identified as the first known sighting of what became known as the Mothman.

Shortly thereafter, on November 15, 1966, two young couples from Point Pleasant, Roger and Linda Scarberry and Steve and Mary Mallette, told police they saw a large grey creature whose eyes "glowed red" when the car's headlights picked it up. They described it as a "large flying man with ten-foot wings", following their car while they were driving in an area outside of town known as "the [[McClintic Wildlife Management Area|TNT area]]", the site of a former [[World War II]] munitions plant.<ref name="Nickell2004" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wsaz.com/news/headlines/93914124.html|title=UPDATE: Munitions Risk Closes Part of Wildlife Area Again|accessdate=2012-02-08}}</ref>
 
During the next few days, other people reported similar sightings. 
Two volunteer firemen who saw it said it was a "large bird with red eyes". Mason County Sheriff George Johnson commented that he believed the sightings were due to an unusually large [[heron]] he 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", and blamed buzzing noises from his television set and the disappearance of his German Shepherd dog on the creature.<ref name="Gettysburg Times" /> Wildlife biologist Dr. Robert L. Smith at [[West Virginia University]] told reporters that descriptions and sightings all fit the [[sandhill crane]], a large American crane almost as high as a man with a seven-foot wingspan featuring circles of reddish coloring around the eyes, and that the bird may have wandered out of its migration route. This particular crane was unrecognized at first because it was not native to this region.<ref name="Gettysburg Times" /><ref name="Snopes" />

After the December 15, 1967 collapse of the [[Silver Bridge]] and the death of 46 people,<ref name=WVHS>{{cite web|last1=LeRose|first1=Chris|title=The Collapse of the Silver Bridge|url=http://www.wvculture.org/history/wvhs/wvhs1504.html|website=West Virginia Historical Society Quarterly|publisher=West Virginia Division of Culture and History|accessdate=24 September 2014}}</ref> the incident gave rise to the legend and connected the Mothman sightings to the bridge collapse.<ref name="Gettysburg Times">{{cite news|last=Associated Press|title=Monster Bird With Red Eyes May Be Crane|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=LG0mAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Rf8FAAAAIBAJ&pg=620,2790721&dq=point+pleasant+roger+scarberry&hl=en|accessdate=21 August 2011|newspaper=Gettysburg Times|date=Dec 1, 1966}}</ref><ref name=AP>{{cite news|last=Associated Press|title=Mothman' still a frighteningly big draw for tourists|url=https://www.thestar.com/Travel/article/294673|accessdate=21 August 2011|newspaper=Toronto Star|date=Jan 19, 2008}}</ref><ref name=UPI>{{cite news |agency=[[United Press International]]|title=Eight People Say They Saw 'Creature'|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=XyNEAAAAIBAJ&sjid=_7AMAAAAIBAJ&pg=959,3488207 |accessdate=22 August 2011|newspaper=[[Williamson Daily News]] |location=Williamson, WV |date=Nov 18, 1966}}</ref>

''[[The Mothman Prophecies (film)|''The Mothman Prophecies'']]'' (2002) is a major motion picture, loosely based on the 1975 [[The Mothman Prophecies|book of the same name]] by [[John Keel]].

According to [[Georgia (country)|Georgian]] newspaper ''Svobodnaya Gruziya'', Russian [[ufology|UFOlogists]] claim that Mothman sightings in [[Moscow]] foreshadowed the 1999 [[Russian apartment bombings]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Lobkov |first1=Denis |script-title=ru:Призраки катастроф |url=https://dlib.eastview.com/browse/doc/4104201 |website=Zheltaya Gazeta via Svobodnaya Gruziya |date=23 May 2002|language=ru}} ([https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.x-libri.ru%2Felib%2Fsmi__653%2F00000001.htm English translation] of the article.)</ref>

In 2016, [[WCHS-TV]] published a photo purported to be of Mothman taken by an anonymous man while driving on [[West Virginia Route 2|Route 2]].<ref name="WCHS">{{cite web|last1=Pierson|first1=Fallon|title=Man photographs creature that resembles legendary ''Mothman" of Point Pleasant|url=http://wchstv.com/news/local/man-photographs-creature-that-resembles-legendary-mothman-of-point-pleasant|website=[[WCHS-TV]] news|publisher=WCHS|accessdate=18 January 2017}}</ref> Science writer [[Sharon A. Hill]] proposed 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."<ref name="Hill">{{cite web|last1=Hill|first1=Sharon|title=Mothman "reappears" coincidentally close to the 50th anniversary date|url=http://doubtfulnews.com/2016/11/mothman-appears-in-photos-alleged-to-be-from-west-virginia/|website=Doubtful News|publisher=Lithosphere LLC|accessdate=18 January 2017}}</ref><ref name="Snopes">{{cite web|last1=Palma|first1=Bethania|title=Mothman About Town|url=http://www.snopes.com/mothman-returns-to-point-pleasant-west-virginia/|website=Snopes.com|publisher=Snopes|accessdate=18 January 2017}}</ref><ref name="AudubonOwlNickell" />

==Analysis==
[[File:Mothman Artist's Impression.png|thumb|upright=1.2|Artist impression of the Mothman]]

[[Folklore|Folklorist]] [[Jan Harold Brunvand]] notes that Mothman has been widely covered in the popular press, some claiming sightings connected with UFOs, and others claiming that a military storage site was Mothman's "home". Brunvand notes that recountings of the 1966–67 Mothman reports usually state that at least 100 people saw Mothman with many more "afraid to report their sightings" but observed that 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.<ref name="Brunvand1994">{{cite book|author-first=Jan Harold|author-last=Brunvand|authorlink=Jan Harold Brunvand|title=The Baby Train and Other Lusty Urban Legends|date=1 October 1994|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=978-0-393-31208-9|pages=98–}}</ref>

Conversely, [[Joe Nickell]] says 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 reports to pranks, misidentified planes, and sightings of a [[barred owl]], an [[Plumage#Albinism|albino owl]], suggesting that the Mothman's "glowing eyes" were actually [[red-eye effect]] caused from the reflection of light from flashlights or other bright light sources.<ref name="AudubonOwlNickell">{{cite web |last1=Elbein |first1=Asher |title=Is the Mothman of West Virginia an Owl? |url=https://www.audubon.org/news/is-mothman-west-virginia-owl |website=Audubon.org |accessdate=30 October 2018 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20181027003431/https://www.audubon.org/news/is-mothman-west-virginia-owl |archivedate=27 October 2018 |date=26 October 2018}}</ref> The area lies outside the snowy owl's usual range.<ref name="Nickell2004">{{cite book|author=Joe Nickell|title=The Mystery Chronicles: More Real-Life X-Files|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sComGoDFJZ4C&pg=PA93|accessdate=21 August 2011|date=April 2004|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|isbn=978-0-8131-2318-9|pages=93–}}</ref> [[Benjamin Radford]] points out that the only report of glowing "red eyes,"  was secondhand, that of Shirley Hensley quoting her father.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Radford|first=Benjamin|date=May–June 2020|title=Investigating Mothman's Red Eyeshine|url=https://skepticalinquirer.org/2020/05/investigating-mothmans-red-eyeshine/|journal=Skeptical Inquirer|volume=44|pages=29-31|via=}}</ref> 

According to [[University of Chicago]] psychologist David A. Gallo, 55 sightings of Mothman in Chicago during 2017 published on the website of self-described Fortean researcher 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'."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/paqv9z/mothman-sightings-in-chicago|title=People Keep Seeing the Mothman in Chicago|website=Vice|date=2018-01-17|first=Josh|last=Terry}}</ref>

Some [[pseudoscience]] adherents (such as [[UFOlogy|ufologists]], [[paranormal]] authors, and [[cryptozoology|cryptozoologists]]) claim that Mothman was an [[alien (extraterrestrial)|alien]], a supernatural manifestation, or a previously unknown species of animal. In his 1975 book ''The Mothman Prophecies'', author John Keel claimed that the Point Pleasant residents experienced [[precognition]]s including premonitions of the collapse of the Silver Bridge, [[unidentified flying object]] sightings, visits from inhuman or threatening [[men in black]], and other phenomena.<ref name="Clark2000">[[Jerome Clark|Clark, Jerome]] (2000). Extraordinary Encounters: An Encyclopedia of Extraterrestrials and Otherworldly Beings Santa Barbara, California: ABC-Clio, {{ISBN|1-57607-249-5}}, pp. 178-179.</ref>

==Festival and statue==
Point Pleasant held its first Annual Mothman Festival in 2002. The Mothman festival began after brainstorming creative ways for people to visit Point Pleasant. The group organizing the event chose the Mothman to be center of the festival due to its uniqueness, and as a way to celebrate its local legacy in the town. <ref>Johnson, E. (2109, September 6). Mothman Festival returns Sept. 21-22. Point Pleasant Register. Retrieved from https://www.mydailyregister.com/news/44780/mothman-festival-returns-sept-21-22</ref>

According to the event organizer, Jeff Wamsley, the average attendance for the Mothman is an estimated 10-12 thousand people per year. <ref>Johnson, E. (2109, September 6). Mothman Festival returns Sept. 21-22. Point Pleasant Register. Retrieved from https://www.mydailyregister.com/news/44780/mothman-festival-returns-sept-21-22</ref>

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.<ref>[http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/12036 Mothman Statue]</ref><ref>Mark Moran, Mark Sceurman, Matt Lake, ''Weird U. S. The ODDyssey Continues - Your Travel Guide to America's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets'', page 260 (New York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., 2008). {{ISBN|978-1-4027-4544-7}}</ref><ref>[http://cpsi-paranormal.org/files/Plaque2.jpg "Legend of the Mothman" plaque on base of statue]</ref> 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.<ref name=AP />

==See also==
* [[Apparitional experience]]
* [[Flatwoods monster]]
* ''[[Mothman (film)|Mothman]]''
* [[Mothra]]
* [[Owlman]]
* [[Popobawa]]
* [[Spring-Heeled Jack]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
* Barker, Gray ''The Silver Bridge'' (Saucerian Books, 1970). Reprinted in 2008 entitled ''The Silver Bridge: The Classic Mothman Tale'' (BookSurge Publishing). {{ISBN|1-4392-0427-6}}
* Coleman, L. ''Mothman and Other Curious Encounters''. (2002). {{ISBN|978-1-931044-34-9}} (or {{ISBN|1-931044-34-1}})
* Colvin, Andrew ''The Mothman's Photographer: The Work of an Artist Touched by the Prophecies of the Infamous Mothman'' (2007). {{ISBN|978-1-4196-5265-3}}
* Colvin, Andrew ''The Mothman's Photographer II: Meetings With Remarkable Witnesses Touched by Paranormal Phenomena, UFOs, and the Prophecies of West Virginia's Infamous Mothman'' (2007). {{ISBN|978-1-4196-5266-0}}
* Myres, Rau & Macklin ''The Little Giant Book of True Ghost Stories'' (2001) {{ISBN|0-439-33995-2}}
* Sergent, Jr., Donnie ''Mothman: The Facts Behind the Legend'' (2001) {{ISBN|978-0-9667246-7-7}}
* Fear, Brad ''A Macabre Myth of a Moth-Man'' (2008) {{ISBN|978-1-4389-0263-0}}
* Keel, John A. ''The Mothman Prophecies'' (2007). {{ISBN|0-7653-4197-2}} (Originally published in 1975 by Saturday Review Press)
* Keel, John A. ''The Eighth Tower'' (1977). {{ISBN|978-0-451-07460-7}}
* Myers, Bill. ''Angel of Wrath: A Novel'' (2009). {{ISBN|978-0-446-69800-9}}
* Ressel, Steve. ''Perverted Communion'' (2010). {{ISBN|978-0-9787483-5-7}}
* Bullard, Stephan, et al. ''The Silver Bridge Disaster of 1967'' (2012).  {{ISBN|978-07385-9278-7}}
* Wood, Jen A. ''Point Pleasant'' (2013) {{ISBN|978-1492121602}}
* Schmidt, W.L. ''Threads of Faithfulness'' (2013) {{ISBN|978-1-62510-894-4}}

==External links==
* {{Commons category inline|Mothman}}

{{American tall tales}}

[[Category:Mothman| ]]
[[Category:1966 in West Virginia]]
[[Category:1967 in West Virginia]]
[[Category:2016 in Virginia]]
[[Category:Alleged UFO-related entities]]
[[Category:American folklore]]
[[Category:Anthropomorphic animals]]
[[Category:Mason County, West Virginia]]
[[Category:Monsters]]
[[Category:Supernatural legends]]