The Mothman is Still The Weirdest Cryptid Story Ever

There is no shortage of weird cryptid stories here in North America. Stories of mythical creatures like Bigfoot go back hundreds of years when only the Native Americans inhabited this continent. However, none of the American "monster" stories can quite top the weirdness of the Mothman legend. Back in 1966, the sleepy town of Point Pleasant, West Virginia was turned upside down and made a household name overnight when young couples started reporting a seven-foot tall, black flying creature with a huge wingspan and red glowing eyes chasing them through the remote areas outside of town.

Almost as quickly as the Mothman sightings started, they ended with the tragic real-life collapse of the Silver Bridge over the Ohio River that killed 46 people. It all makes for a bizarre true story that leaves one wondering if it was all just a hoax. Or is it really possible there was some weird flying humanoid creature or other kind of paranormal activity going on with the Mothman legend. Let's look at the Mothman story with an open mind and see if we can't come up with some plausible explanations of what really happened in this small town nearly 60 years ago.

The First Sightings of Mothman

There's lots of legends of a "birdman" flying around the remote portions of West Virginia. Earlier sightings of the creature are rare. There are two sightings that are usually regarded as the start of the modern Mothman legend. The first took place in Clendenin, approximately 80 miles from Point Pleasant. According to WV Explorers, it was November 12, 1966, when five men were digging a grave in Koontz Cemetery in Clendenin when one of the men, Kenneth Duncan, spotted a man-like creature flying out of the woods. Allegedly, whatever it was flew over their heads and disappeared as quickly as it had arrived. Strangely, Duncan was the only one to see the thing. In any case, the men didn't think much of the incident until three days later when all Hell broke loose an hour away in Mason County.

On November 15, 1966, Roger and Linda Scarberry were driving in their car with another couple, Steve and Mary Mallette outside of Point Pleasant known as the Clifton F. McClintic Wildlife Management Area today. Locals know it as the TNT area. It got that name because it hosted a munitions plant during World War II. The old plant was still standing, albeit abandoned, in 1966.

In any case, old, tattered clippings from the local newspaper, The Point Pleasant Register, reported the couples were in the area between 11:30 p.m. and midnight when they first saw the creature. They described it as being six to seven feet tall with glowing red eyes, and a 10-foot wingspan. It was light grey in coloration and scurried away when they shined the car's headlights on it.

"It was like a man with wings," Steve Mallette told the paper. "It wasn't like anything you'd see on or in a monster movie."

The couples described whatever the creature was as "clumsy runner," but said it showcased incredible speed in flight. The couples sped back to town in their car, hitting speeds of 100 miles per hour. The Mothman kept pace with the car. The couples went back to town and reported their sighting, bringing sheriff's deputies out to investigate the sighting early in the morning. When the Point Pleasant Register ran the story, they famously headlined it: "Couples See Man-Sized Bird...Creature...Something!" That was that. The legend of the Mothman of Point Pleasant was born.

The Mothman Gains National Attention

It's safe to say the small town was utterly unprepared for what happened next. The story of the Mallettes and the Scarberrys was picked up by national news outlets and people quickly started pouring into the area hoping for a glimpse of the creature themselves. Cars full of people flooded the TNT area after dark, many of them armed. And more eyewitnesses started to come forward. Many described the same thing, a man-like creature with glowing red eyes. Law enforcement was quickly overwhelmed and at one point resorted to sending two volunteer firefighters out into the TNT area just to help with traffic control. The two firefighters then reported they saw the flying creature too!

Several people reported seeing the creature near or on the roof of the abandoned power plant in the TNT area. Although a few other reports trickled in from neighboring counties, and across the river in Ohio too. On November 20, another couple reported having been chased by the creature. In another sighting, a man spotted the creature sitting on the roof of his neighbor's home before it took off flying "straight up like a helicopter."

For the next 13 months, the sightings of the creature continued. Most took place at night, although there were a handful of encounters during the day. The sightings continued through December and into 1967. Many people also reported seeing UFOs in the area at this time. All the hype around the creature eventually attracted the attention of UFOlogists like John Keel, who came to visit the TNT area. Keel reported many strange encounters of his own in the area and later wrote the famous book "The Mothman Prophecies," which was later adapted into a movie starring Richard Gere.

The strange sightings of Mothman came to a screeching halt on December 15, 1967, when the 2,200-foot Silver Bridge over the Ohio River that connected Point Pleasant to Gallipolis, Ohio collapsed into the river. An investigation later found a failed weld and eye-bar joint failed under the weight of the bumper-to-bumper rush hour traffic on the bridge. In total 46 people lost their lives. In the aftermath of the event, many people claimed the Mothman as a harbinger of destruction and doom sent to warn the people of Point Pleasant of the coming disaster at the bridge.

Possible Explanations for the Mothman

As with any story of this kind, there are a healthy number of skeptics who are willing to debate the legitimacy of the 100+ sightings of the Mothman. One of the earliest skeptics was George Johnson, the Mason County Sheriff at the time. He felt the natural explanation for the sightings was some type of large bird, likely a heron. He wasn't alone in that theory. Biologists at West Virginia University suggested the sightings might be of a sandhill crane, which were rare at that time. Still other skeptics believed the sightings could easily be attributed to a large owl. This idea has a little more credibility when you consider the front-facing nature of an owl's eyes. Could it have been an owl's eyes people were reporting in all those sightings?

Still others have labeled the whole incident as nothing more than a hoax. If you visit Point Pleasant today, the area hasn't changed much since the 1960s. It's not exactly the most exciting area of West Virginia, and it's easy to imagine residents getting bored and looking for something exciting to stir things up. A wild story about a winged man-like monster would certainly fit the bill. In many ways, it does feel like a schoolyard story that took on a life of its own after being told to the first few people. Especially when you start factoring in the reports of UFOs and the "men in black" that were also reported in the area.

However, without definitive proof the whole thing was a hoax, it's hard to say just what was or is going on in Mason County West Virginia. Indeed, sightings of the winged creature do still pour in from time to time. One thing is for sure, the people of Point Pleasant have taken advantage of their fame, no matter how strange it might be. Today there is a dedicated Mothman Museum and metal sculpted Mothman statue on main street. The town even has an annual Mothman festival that draws upwards of 10,000 people yearly. While the mysterious Mothman may never have been proven real, the story has an enduring legacy upon that part of West Virginia, one we think is probably there to last.

For more outdoor content from Travis Smola, be sure to follow him on Twitter and Instagram For original videos, check out his Geocaching and Outdoors with Travis YouTube channels. 

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