The Mothman is the name of a creature that has been reported in several areas of the United States, though most notably in Charleston and Point Pleasant, West Virginia. The original sightings of the creature date back to November 12, 1966 and it was reported by several independent witnesses that gave the same description of the creature. Though this creature has not been seen by large numbers of people, there are thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, that believe in the creature.
A 12 foot tall, stainless steel sculpture of the Mothman by artist Robert RoachPhysical Description
The Mothman was described by several eye witnesses as a human sized man with large red eyes that were reflective in nature and moved about with the use of moth like wings. Many said that the Mothman didn’t appear to have a head and it looked like the large eyes may be set into the upper chest region. Reports from eye witnesses said that the Mothman was able to fly next to their car when they were driving in excess of 100 miles per hour!
The first known sighting of the Mothman occurred on November 12, 1966, when two couples were driving late at night in one of the couple’s cars. As they were driving past the West Virginia Ordnance Works they all saw two red lights that appeared in the shadows. The couples were curious, so they stopped their car and realized that the lights were moving and upon closer inspection realized that they were two glowing eyes belonging to some sort of creature. The couples were terrified and drove at 100 miles per hour and the creature was able to keep up with them.
The second sighting of the Mothman occurred a week later when four eye witnesses saw the Mothman flying over the same area. The next day, another eye witness was driving past the same field and saw the creature flying over a field and it followed him as he drove as fast as he could toward the police station. These were not the only sightings, in fact there were many more reports of sightings that same year and many even blame the collapse of the Silver Bridge on the Mothman. When the bridge collapsed 46 town residents died and many simply needed someone to blame so the Mothman seemed the perfect subject.
An eyewitness’s sketch of the Mothman
There are many theories as to exactly what the Mothman was. To those that saw the creature, they believe that the Mothman is a mystical creature that may be out there either trying to do bad things and inflict pain on humans or perhaps warn people of impending doom. There are many people that said that they saw the Mothman in the days before September 11, 2001 flying around the World Trade Center, though there is not any documented evidence.
Others believe that the Mothman is some sort of spy program. The field that the creature was seen flying over or around was a weapons storage facility of sorts in the past and many believe that there is reason to believe that spies of some sort would be interested in this area, though it is no longer in use for this purpose.
Still there are other that believe that the Mothman is little more than a misidentified Sandhill Crane. No one knows for sure who or what the Mothman is, but this is a creature that is very much a part of the past and the present with books and movies being made about it and whole towns full of people that believe that if they go out to this area on a cool night that they just may come in contact with the Mothman.