Sunday, April 1, 2012

Mythbusters: Mothman.

There should really be a sequel to this week. Too many cryptids exist for us to cover in one week. It was a tossup between black-eyed kids and Mothman for this final entry...and look at who pulled out on top!



Standing a little over the height of a man,  Mothman is known worldwide as a flying, red-eyed harbinger of doom. He - it, we're not sure about this thing's junk, thank you - has been sighted in West Virginia, the last place in which one would expect a legendary beast. Forget Clover - Mothman is the American monster. 

Reports of this weird creature began in the 1960's. Now, before you start making hippie jokes, there were several eyewitnesses to these accounts. The first event on November 12, 1966, happened when five men preparing a grave suddenly saw a giant flying creature take flight from the trees. They said it resembled a "man with wings." That was only the beginning.



The most famous sighting occurred shortly after that. On November 15th of that same year, two married couples were driving by an abandoned TNT plant near Point Pleasant, West Virginia. They saw a winged creature a little bigger than a man with glowing red eyes going into the plant as they were driving past. They shrugged it off, probably wondering what it was and not saying anymore, and drove right on by. The same creature was soon found on a hillside along the road...and it could keep right up with a 100 m.p.h car. Yes, this creature was flying right alongside the newlyweds, who had their pedal to the metal.


Sightings of Mothman remained steady for a year. At least 100 people witnessed Mothman in that time. Its home base was the TNT plant and the forested area around it. Many other stories can be found here. You'll get the gist: the Mothman comes, scares the living crap out of people, and may kill a dog or two. There may even be a chance that he can take human form, or that UFOs and men in black are involved. Creepy.



Just as Point Pleasant was over Mothman, another strange incident occurred. On December 17th, 1967, the Silver Bridge connecting Point Pleasant to Ohio collapsed. Dozens of people caught in rush-hour traffic fell to their doom. Witnesses near the TNT plant saw the red lights en masse that night. A few people had even dreamt of that bridge collapsing after seeing Mothman. I'm not going to dive too deeply into The Mothman Prophecies, but things like doomsday prophecies tend to inspire movies.

Since then, disasters have been associated with Mothman's appearance.  Natural and manmade events alike have been linked to seeing giant, flying creatures in the sky. Some have even seen flying beasts far too large to be any bird in shots of 9/11. Nobody is sure what Mothman is, but it is definitely not a hoax.

If I say any more, the men in black might come for me. Peace.

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