A Short History Of Mothman
As a teenager, one of my favourite things to watch YouTube videos on cryptids! From Bigfoot, to the New Jersey Devil; I love to hear the stories around these pseudo-folklore creatures.
Apart from Bigfoot, one of the first I learned about was Mothman. So I thought I share some of my knowledge about him with you today. If it's not everything about Mothman, apologises!
What is Mothman?
Mothman is a humanoid winged creature, covered in fur. Often depicted as pitch black with glowing red eyes.
November 15th 1966 in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, four teenagers driving late at night, near an abandoned armoury and power plant (known as the TNT area, locally) were the some of the first witnesses to Mothman.
In their headlights, they said it was over 6ft tall, with glowing red eyes, and white wings. While trying to get away from the strange being they had seen, it chased their car as it made a horrifying screeching sound. The group were so frightened by the creature they saw, they went to the police.
It was reported in the local paper, Point Pleasure Register, under the headline "Couples see man-sized bird...creature...something!" Quickly, it became national news, and earlier sightings came to light. A couple of days before Mothman terrorised two teenage couples, it's thought to have stolen a German Shepard in Salem, WV, called Bandit who chased two glowing red eyes into the woods. His owner Newell Partridge, he found paw prints going around and around in a circle, before it stops, according to John Keel's book, The Mothman Prophecies.
Mothman is said to be a harbinger of doom; angel of death. After an appearance of Mothman, disasters occur. Not long after he appeared before the couples, the Sliver Bridge connecting Point Pleasant and Gallipolis, Ohio, collapsed killing 46 people. The cause of this was a single faulty eyebar in the suspension. According to folklore Mothman had been sighted sitting on the bridge a day or so before the tragedy. The person who connected the collapse to the winged creature was the John Keel, a UFO and paranormal researcher.
Since the 1970s sightings have dried up, but in the last couple of years he's been seen a lot in Illinois. From a man in February 2019 in Woodstock, IL, seeing a "large winged being covered in dark fur" that crossed his headlights. Or a couple months later a woman, again in Woodstock, while driving saw a "extremely tall being...with fur and wings." There have also been a lot of sighting around O'Hare airport. I counted around 7 sighting around the airport from 2019- 2020 on A Singular Fortean's blog post gathering a load of sightings.
What do sceptics think? The main one is that was a sandhill crane or a large owl. Around the head of a sandhill crane is a large patch of red on top of the head and around the eyes (which are also red.) It also could've been a barred owl. In both cases the glowing effect is more than likely just the light of flashlights or headlight reflecting and making the eyes appear red.
My personal belief in Mothman? I'm more in the "it's a misidentified large bird" camp, but it's more fun to believe there's a giant humanoid, furry winged creature flying around Appalachia, Illinois and many other states in the US.