There are hundreds of reported cases every year that involved people claiming to have seen strange animals and creatures these claims are often ignored and filed away somewhere that they’ll likely never see the light of a day because what they describe as seen as undocumented creatures whose existence has yet to be scientifically proven these are what we call cryptids and they usually originate from some kind of folklore local to the region where these sightings have been reported or so that’s what people claim whether or not these people are crazy is a discussion for another day I’m not going to sit here and tell you that I’ve had any experiences of cryptids or even though I believe in half of these stories but there’s no doubt that if you enjoy tales a folklore encrypted or something that you may also find interesting over the years the state of West Virginia has definitely had its fair share of odd sightings and occurrences include a nindroid cold otherwise known as the grinning man and the flatwoods monster but none are estranged as the Point Pleasant Mothman so before we begin exploring the stories and sightings surrounding the Mothman I’m sure many of you are wondering what exactly is it what does it even look like whenever the Mothman is described ironically enough it seems to be scribed as more of a bird than a month a bipedal winged avian humanoid in its simplest form a man with wings his coloration changes and varies from white or brown to black and gray which I suppose are colors that moths are often associated with it’s often reported a seven foot tall with a wingspan of 15 feet making the Mothman quite a large cryptid its eyes are rather large and have quite a distinct red glow to them sometimes a Mothman is even described as being headless and in this situation the eyes are instead located around, the chest most of these descriptions remain quite vague especially those detailed in the creatures face as most never really get close enough for a long period of time.
The Mothman – Creature of Virginia folklore
One witness who claims to have seen its face says it was evil and monstrous causing her to have nightmares and eventually suffer from a nervous breakdown this has led to the belief that those who gaze upon the Mothman is crimson eyes or suffer immense distress and psychological issues that can range anywhere from a week to a lifetime one of the most interesting things to note about the Mothman is the way that it flies unlike a bird or a moth it’s rarely ever seen flapping its wings instead its movement is described as one vertical leap into the air straight up like a helicopter once it’s in the air it can reach speeds at no regular animal be capable of making encounters all the more confusing so now I’ve given you a brief description we’ll go over how the legendre began it is November 12th and a year is 1966 the people of Point Pleasant lay in their beds blissfully unaware that on this autumn evening their sleepy town will be paid a visit by a creature so strange that its existence would still be debated some 60 years later the first reported sighting we have comes from five men in a cemetery who were preparing a grave for a barrier that would take place the next day all of a sudden they saw something leap into the air from a nearby trees it would then spread its wings and fly over the startled men when questioned as to whether what they saw was a bird the men were adamant that what they saw was a brown winged creature humanoid in form the sightings continued over the years and they would even spread to the surrounding states but the majority would occur around West Virginia in an area known to locals as the TNT area because it housed the series of igloo like bunkers that stored munitions the area had long since been abandoned and resembled a labyrinth of tunnels that either collapsed or had been sealed off making it just creepy enough for the locals to believe that it could have been the creatures lair this coupled with the fact that years later fishermen reported that chemicals had seeped into surrounding lakes and ponds pollute in the entire area.
Now made the idea of some mutated creature emerging from this area seem a lot less ridiculous and it first did three days off of original sighting in the cemetery the creature was spotted again this time in a TNT area by two couples Roger and Linda Scarberry and Steve and Mary mallette these couples are driving along in their car when Linda claimed that next to the old North Point power plant she saw two red eyes in the darkness as more of the creature became apparent it was described as a 7-foot tall humanoid with wings folded against its back roger Scarberry who was driving stored the car when he heard Linda screamin allowing him to further inspect the creature until their horror they saw that it was no bird and it certainly wasn’t friendly as they began to drive away the creature spread its wings and began its pursuit down highway 62 keeping up with the car that was reportedly traveling over a hundred miles an hour one they eventually arrives at Point Pleasant City Roger parked the car at the edge of the town and the four began to discuss their encounter they eventually convinced each other that the creature must have been a bird and they drove back towards a TNT area but it wasn’t long before the creature appeared again waitin on route 62 Roger now realizing the creature was definitely no bird directed his headlights to get a better look but the creature was too fast leaping into the air and flying above the tree line the couples reported the incident at the Mason County Courthouse where sheriff George Johnson and deputy Miller house stood along with the local police began to investigate the area the searches were largely unsuccessful because no evidence could be found the very next day there would be a press conference held and the local newspapers printed the couple story thus calls several others to come forward and report their previous sightings and many more followed off the events of that evening over the next 13 months there were more than a hundred reported sightings of the Mothman in Point Pleasant alone most of these remain unidentified so many suspect the real number to be much lower those who did step forward given their accounts of the Mothman will harassed by men in black and I’m not talking about the movie.
I’m talking about the actual people the movies were loosely based on the people who would dress up in black suits and show up on the doorsteps of those who have claimed to have seen UFOs harassing and threatening them into silence the more modern claims of Mothman sightings quite often happen right before a terrible disaster the most famous examples include the creature being seen at Chernobyl before the most famous nuclear meltdown of all time at a mine in Freiburg Germany scaring miners before the eventual collapse of several tunnels there were also several reported sightings of the Mothman before the collapse of the Minnesota bridge and there are even two very questionable photos taken right before the events of 9/11 but for the most part at best these are just seen as coincidences with many of these photos being debunked and disproven several times so what are some of the alternative theories as to what people may have seen what assault of George Johnson the sheriff who was in charge when the sightings were first reported he believed the Mothman to simply be a heron essentially just a large bird several wildlife experts believe that it could have been a bird reminiscent of a crane whereas others believed that the glow or shine in the moth man’s eyes could have been an owl in 2002 the first annual Mothman festival was held and since then it’s become a yearly tradition held on the third weekend of every September in Point Pleasant West Virginia funnily enough 2002 also marked the release of the Mothman Prophecies a supernatural horror mystery film set in Point Pleasant Virginia that focused on the legend of the Mothman and the other strange occurrences so let me know in the comments below what you think about it had you previously heard of the Mothman do you think any of these stories could in fact be real is the Mothman a dangerous monster or does it appear before disasters to warn people I’d love to hear from anyone who actually lives in West Virginia as to whether it’s a legend that is still told today or whether it’s become nothing more than a tourist attraction.
