Every once in a while, a creature arrives on the scene that we know just can’t be real; and yet, it’s reported by people who seem reputable enough that we have to wonder what it is they really saw. The Mothman of West Virginia is one of these famous creatures and the story is bizarre and unbelievable, at best. However, no matter how strange a story might appear on the surface it still deserves to have its day, which is why we’ll attempt to reconstruct the events surrounding its appearance and to determine what these people might have actually witnessed.
Our journey begins with five people traveling late at night in their car by an old, abandoned TNT factory. There, they would see something that would frighten them all, a creature that just couldn’t be – and yet was! From this moment forward we will all need to remove our skeptic hats, as this thrill ride goes from 0 to 60 real fast, making the exotic seem quite normal.
A Late Night Rendezvous With Fear
November 15th, 1966, Roger and Linda Scarberry, and Steve and Mary Mallette, along with a younger cousin, Lonnie Button, were traveling late at night by the West Virginia Ordinance Works, which was an abandoned TNT factory used during World War II. It was nothing more than a normal drive back home to Point Pleasant, but the routine was about to broken by something that would strike morbid fear into their hearts.
As they passed the TNT plant, two red eyes caught their attention, prompting them to stop the car and look, but what they saw was nothing close to what they had expected. According to Roger Scarberry’s account, it was shaped like a man, but bigger, maybe six and a half or seven feet tall, with big wings folded against its back. As this doesn’t describe any creature currently known to man, they did what any young people would do, they hightailed it out of there! But the incident wouldn’t end with there.
The creature chased their car down the road at speeds exceeding 100 miles per hour, flying alongside the vehicle as it did so. It followed them all the way up to the city limits – and then vanished! Visibly shaken by the experience, these young people did what any responsible citizens would do, they went to the Deputy and reported what had happened.
Deputy Millard Halstead, who had known these people all of their lives, determined their story to be genuine and went out to the TNT factory to investigate, but he found nothing. But the events of that night wouldn’t end there. Later that night, at the Scarberry home, the creature was sighted several time, peering in their windows. The night seemed like it would never end, but when it finally did everyone involved was glad to know it was all over – at least for them.
More Sightings
The following night armed townspeople combed the former TNT factory, hoping to track down the beast, but it had already moved on to haunt someone else. Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Walmsley, and Mrs. Marcella Bennett, spotted the creature behind their parked car. It was lying on the ground and then it rose up, walked up to someone’s porch, and looked in a house window.
Their account of the beast matched the previous account, making everyone wonder if there really was a flying beast haunting the TNT works.
More sightings were made on November 24th and November 25th, both at the TNT factory. Both accounts mentioned a flying beast and the people who had witnessed were notably shaken, but then the beast would mysteriously disappear … until January 11th, 1967, over the town’s bridge.
The Silver Bridge, built in 1928, had collapsed on December 15th, 1967. It is believed by the local townsfolk that the Mothman was somehow trying to let them know of the impending disaster, but that warning obviously went unheeded, as 46 people died when the bridge collapsed. The Mothman is then seen several more times in 1967 until it disappears altogether, creating a legend that would endure unto this day.
In 2003, a 12 foot tall stainless steel statue of the Mothman was unveiled in Gunn Park, which was then renamed Mothman Park. Capitalizing on the town’s eerie past, it was hoped the odd tale would help promote tourism. A museum and souvenir shop were later opened in 2005 with the same intent.
Did it work? As the museum is still in operation today, we can assume it’s been receiving at least moderate success, but this leaves us with the mystery of what these people actually saw. Dis the Mothman really exist? If so, what happened to it? Why did it suddenly disappear, never to be seen again?
The Possible Culprits
The most probable cause would be that it was all a hoax, perpetrated on the townspeople. This would explain why the sightings would suddenly stop, but it’s difficult to fit this theory in with the first sighting. Even the best hoax in the world couldn’t have created an object flying next to a car at breakneck speeds. While it seems highly probable that some of the sightings were a hoax, at least one of them appears to have been real. How do we explain away the first account?
Many scientists offer that the original Mothman could have been a Sandhill Crane, which are very large birds that were known to have overrun the region at that time. At night it could easily take on an eerie appearance, making one wonder if they had seen some sort of a monster. It’s also highly capable of flight, though 100 MPH would be well beyond any speed it could travel.
Perhaps, in the fear of it all, the original couples who had sighted the beast had only thought they were going that fast. As scared as they were, they probably just stomped on the pedal and never had a chance to actually look at the speedometer. Regardless, their fear was very real, which tells us they honestly believe they had seen something they had never encountered before.
With a wingspan of over 5 ft, a Sandhill Crane at night would have made for a frightening sight over the TNT factory, so it does seem like it would be the most likely candidate for the sightings. From there, fear and mass hysteria evolved the bird into a legendary creature, leaving all the townsfolk in fear.
And then there is the final theory … that it actually was the Mothman, a legendary beast that foretells disasters. We’ll never really know, unless it someday decides to return.
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