Multimedia Index - Films |
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Mothman
The Mothman, whose name was inspired by the Batman villain "Killer Moth", was reportedly first sighted on November 12, 1966. A group of five men were preparing a grave in a cemetery near Clendenin, West Virginia when they reportedly saw a "brown human shape with wings" soaring from behind trees and flying over their heads. The sighting was not made public until later, and the first sighting reported in the media occurred three days later.
On November 15, two young married couples from Point Pleasant, Roger and Linda Scarberry and Steve and Mary Mallette, were on a late night drive in the Scarberrys' car. They were passing a World War II TNT factory about seven miles outside of Point Pleasant, in the 2500 acre (10 kmē) McClintic Wildlife Station, when they noticed two red lights in the shadows by an old generator plant near the the factory gate. They stopped the car, and were startled to discover that the lights were actually the glowing red eyes of a large animal, "shaped like a man, but bigger, maybe six and a half or seven feet tall, with big wings folded against its back," according to Roger Scarberry. Terrified, they drove toward Route 62. Going down the exit road, they saw the creature standing on a nearby ridge. It spread its wings and flew alongside their car to the city limits. They drove to the Mason County courthouse to alert Deputy Millard Halstead, who later said "I've known these kids all their lives. They'd never been in any trouble and they were really scared that night. I took them seriously." He followed Roger Scarberry's car back to the TNT factory, but found no sign of the strange creature. According to the book Alien Animals, by Janet and Colin Bord, a poltergeist attack on the Scarberry home occurred later that night, during which the creature was seen several times.
The following night, on November 16, several armed townspeople combed the area around the TNT plant for signs of Mothman. Mr and Mrs Raymond Wamsley and Mrs Marcella Bennett with baby daughter Teena in tow were in a car enroute to visit friends, Mr and Mrs Ralph Thomas, who lived in a bungalow among the "igloos" (concrete dome-shaped dynamite storage structures erected during WWII) near the TNT plant. The igloos were now empty, some owned by the county, some by companies intending to use them for storage. They were headed back to their car when a figure appeared behind their parked car. Mrs Bennett said it seemed like it had been lying down, slowly rising up from the ground, large and gray, with glowing red eyes. While Wamsley phoned the police, the creature walked onto the porch and peered in at them through the window.
On November 24, four people saw the creature flying over the TNT area. On the morning of November 25, Thomas Ury, who was driving along Route 62, just north of the TNT, claimed to have seen the creature standing in a field, and then spread its wings and flew alongside his car as he sped toward the Point Pleasant sheriff's office.
On November 26, Mrs Ruth Foster of Charleston, West Virginia reportedly saw Mothman standing on her front lawn, which was gone by the time her brother-in-law went out to look. On the morning of November 27, it apparently pursued a young woman near Mason, West Virginia, and was reported again in St. Albans the same night, by two children.
A Mothman sighting was again reported on January 11, 1967, and several other times that same year. Fewer sightings of the Mothman were reported after the collapse of the Silver Bridge, when 46 people died. The Silver Bridge, so named for its aluminum paint, was an eyebar chain suspension bridge that connected the cities of Point Pleasant, West Virginia and Gallipolis, Ohio over the Ohio River. It was built in 1928 and collapsed on December 15, 1967; investigation of the wreckage pointed to the failure of a single eye-bar in a suspension chain due to a small manufacturing flaw.
Reports of Mothman sightings persist to this day. Instances of "strange flying creatures" and "winged men" have been reported in many American states as well as throughout Europe, Asia and the Middle East. There were supposed sightings in Chernobyl, Ukraine in 1986, shortly before the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
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Mothman in the Media
A large collection of first-hand material about Mothman is found in John Keel's 1975 book The Mothman Prophecies, in which Keel lays out the chronology of Mothman and what he claims to be related parapsychological events in the area, including UFO activity, Men in Black encounters, poltergeist activity, Bigfoot and black panther sightings, animal and human mutilations, precognitions by witnesses, and the December 15, 1967 collapse of the Silver Bridge spanning the Ohio River.
Keel's first book was the basis of a 2002 film, The Mothman Prophecies, starring Richard Gere, Laura Linney, Debra Messing, and directed by Mark Pellington. A companion book called The Eighth Tower, also released in 1975, was derived from material edited from The Mothman Prophecies by the publishers.
Author Jeff Wamsley has compiled two books on the Mothman phenomenon. In his 2002 book Mothman: The Facts Behind the Legend (with Donnie Sergent Jr), Wamsley presents old press clippings, local history and eyewitness interviews. In his second book, Mothman: Behind the Red Eyes (2005), Wamsley interviews nearly a dozen eyewitnesses about their Mothman encounters. Wamsley is also the owner of the Mothman Museum and a key organizing figure in the annual Mothman Festival held in Point Pleasant, West Virginia.
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Mothman in Hollywood
The Mothman Prophecies directed by Mark Pellington was released in 2002. A creepy thriller, based upon the real witness accounts of Mothman.
The Cast Includes:
- Richard Gere (John Klein)
- David Eigenberg (Ed Fleischman)
- Bob Tracey (Cyrus Bills)
- Debra Messing (Mary Klein)
- Tom Stoviak (Brian)
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