The First Sighting
The first known sighting of the Mothman was in Clendenin, West Virginia, November 12th, 1966. Five men digging a grave at the local cemetery reported seeing a man-like figure flying low over their heads, quickly moving from tree to tree. One man described it as a “brown human being”. Witnesses that night said the strange creature had 10-foot long wings and was 7 feet tall with large glowing eyes. This is just the beginning of the popular West Virginia folklore.
The Second Sighting
The second and more known sighting on the Mothman was in Point Pleasant, West Virginia where two young couples (Roger and Linda Scarberry and Steve and Mary Mallette) who were driving around an area known as “The TNT Area”, which is an abandoned World War II munitions plant when they noticed a man-like flying creature following their car. Just like the gravediggers, they claimed it had a 10 ft. wide wingspan, about 6-7 feet tall, and had glowing red eyes. They claimed it made a humming noise and was very fast and graceful when flying, but awkward when walking on the ground. It followed their car up to almost 100mph. Sometimes it would even fly over the top of their car and apparently left scratch marks. Mary Mallette said, “It squeaked like a big mouse.” They were finally able to get away from the Mothman when they entered the edge of Point Pleasant, where it veered off into a field. They pulled over and tried to make sense of everything and deciding what to do next. Linda suggested going to the police, but they all decided that they would sound crazy. They were too afraid to go back to the TNT fields to check it out so they decided to see if it was still in the field. As they drove back, the Mothman flew out of the field, over their car and into a neighboring field. They then decided to go to the police. They told their story to deputy Millard Halstead, who didn’t believe them at first until he saw how genuinely terrified they were and went to check it out. Besides the unusual and unexplainable static coming from his radio, there was no sign of the creature, but the couples swore they saw him circling in the clouds. Afterward, the couples stayed together, they kept the lights on and stayed up all night, too afraid to fall sleep.
Over the next 13 months there was estimated to be over 100 sightings but only a few of them were reported to officials. Some people even claim that Men in Black had even showed up to witnesses houses to warn them about sharing their sightings. Some of the reported sightings include 2 volunteer firefighters who said they saw a “large bird with red eyes.” A contractor, named Newell Partridge, said that he heard an unusual buzzing noise and his TV was showing strange symbols. When he went outside to investigate and aimed his flashlight at the creature it’s eyes shined like reflectors. Partridge also claimed that the Mothman carried off his German Shepard. George Johnson, Mason County Sheriff, said that he believed all of these sightings were an unusually large heron and not a Mothman.
The Silver Bridge
On December 15, 1967 the Silver Bridge collapsed during rush hour traffic, sending 31 cars into the 44 degree water. Of the 64 people in those cars, 46 of them died. The Silver Bridge was and eye-bar suspension bridge that was built in 1928. That crossed the Ohio river, connecting Point Pleasant, West Virginia to Gallipolis, Ohio. When the bridge was originally built it wasn’t meant to hold the weight of newer cars and as many cars. Forensic analysis found a small crack inside one of the eye-bar loop that was 3 mm deep, had caused the collapse. Unfortunately there was no way for engineers to find the crack, this has been claimed to be one of history’s greatest design flaw. The bridge was replaced by the Silver Memorial Bridge.
Theories
The connection between the Mothman and the Silver Bridge is that some people think he caused the accident. But a more popular theory is that the mothman is a harbinger of death and was trying to warn people about the upcoming disaster. Another theory is that the Mothman is actually a Thunderbird. A Thunderbird is a Native American myth of giant eagles that can be found anywhere from Canada and Alaska to central America. Cryptid Wiki writes “that these birds were so large and powerful that when they flapped their wings, thunder was created. Lightning flashed out of their eyes, and water fell off their backs, creating rain.” The final and less popular theory is that the Mathman is actually another Owlman. First seen in 1976 in the village of Mawan in England, descriptions of the Owlman are very similar to the Mothman.
The Mothman Legacy
Even though the Mothman had such a short period of sightings in Point Pleasant it really left its mark on the little town. They have a Mothman museum and research center that opened in 2005, and a 12 ft. tall metallic statue of the Mothman by Bob Roach. Also every year they have a Mothman festival which started in 2002. The festival includes vendors, tours, live entertainment and guest speakers. There’s also been numerous books and movie based around the Mothman legend.
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