BY EMERSON LAYNE

Two young couples go out for a night drive. On the side of the road, they spot a large humanoid shape by the side of the road. The creature had glowing and hypnotic red eyes. The group drove away, but the creature flew after the car, having a 10 foot wingspan. The creature emanates a loud buzzing noise as it chases after the couples, but stops at the city limits of Point Pleasant, West Virginia. This creature, nicknamed by local Point Pleasant newspapers, is the Mothman. Decades later, this flying legend is celebrated by the inhabitants of Point Pleasant in an annual festival. 

On November 15th, 1966, two young couples, Roger and Linda Scarberry and Steve and Mary Mallette, went on a night drive on the outskirts of Point Pleasant. On the side of the road, near the “TNT area”, a former WWII military factory, the couples spot a 7’0” humanoid creature with hypnotic red eyes. The group drives off, reporting that the creature flew after the car, screeching and emanating a buzzing noise. After a short while, the group returned to the area where they spotted the creature. The group reports seeing a dark figure shambling in a field making the same buzzing noise they heard, heading in the direction of the TNT area. The group returned to town and reported what they saw to the local police. The next day on November 16th, a newspaper was published, titled “Couples See Man-Sized Bird… Creature… Something”, spurring off national interest. 

Over the next year, Point Pleasant residents reported sightings of the Mothman. Some people reported electronics emanating static at random, some people reported sightings of a flying creature with red eyes, some others reported pets going missing. A couple of stories, while not confirmed, claimed that Mothman attempted to steal a baby from a mother and another baby from their crib. There were also sightings in other locations across the United States, some reports of Mothman had come from Russia as well.

Many officials and local biologists believe that the Mothman sightings were actually sandhill cranes. Sandhill cranes are large birds that can grow to the height of an average man or larger. Sandhill cranes also have a large red spot on their head and face, which could possibly be mistaken for eyes. It is believed that a large sandhill crane, that was way off its migration path, was spotted over Point Pleasant and was misidentified as Mothman. 

On December 15th 1967, most if not all of the Mothman sightings ceased. On that day is the terrible tragedy of the Silver Bridge, officially known as the Point Pleasant Bridge, collapsing. During heavy traffic on the bridge, a single eyebar had failed, causing the entire bridge to collapse. 46 of the deceased were recovered, 2 of whom were never found. Afterward, some people reported seeing Mothman on the bridge a few days before the bridge had collapsed, leading to a belief that Mothman was a sign of a bad omen. 

Decades later, in 2003, a Mothman statue was built, after the resurgence of the Mothman legend from the 2002 film The Mothman Prophecies. The official Mothman festival began that year as well to attract visitors to Point Pleasant. 

In the present day, Mothman is a well known cryptid in fictional media. Point Pleasant continues to celebrate the Mothman festival in September. There is also a Mothman museum that people can visit, along with many tourist attractions and local bakeries selling Mothman related desserts and memorabilia. 

It was never known what the two couples saw that night, whether they saw something at all. But, Mothman lives on in the hearts of the residents of Point Pleasant, and nationally as well.