OTHERPLANE

     The legend of the Mothman is long and varied. As John A. Keel describes in his book, "The Mothman Prophecies," the stories about who and what he might be range from alien visitations to the manifestation of a 200 year old curse placed on the region by Shawnee Chief Cornstalk. However, a little research turns up several different experiences that all seem to be connected to The Mothman.

     In the early 1900's, an area outside Point Pleasant was designated the McClintic Wildlife Preserve. It was, among other things, a bird sanctuary. As part of the World War II war effort, part of the preserve was ripped up and converted to a munitions dump where about 100 cement and steel "igloos" were built to house wartime explosives. These were later sold off to a variety of gunpowder, chemical and even bio-chemical companies. This area soon became known to the locals simply as the T.N.T., and later became a popular hangout where young people would "park" and have parties. This is the area where many of the Mothman sightings occurred.

     In the summer of 1966, sightings began to take place around the Ohio River. One woman reported seeing something looking like a giant butterfly, about six feet long. On another evening a group of gravediggers saw what they described as a "brown human being" fly out of the trees. Later that November a man in Salem, West Virginia saw two red objects hovering over a field. His German Shepard took off after the objects and was never seen again.

     The very next evening, two married couples were driving in the T.N.T. area. They spotted a figure which one of the men described as being shaped like a man only bigger, maybe six and a half feet tall, with huge wings folded against its back. His wife commented on its large red eyes, like automobile reflectors. The man who was driving the four of them took off in the car, reportedly going "better than a hundred miles an hour." At this point the creature spread its wings and flew after the car. The other woman in the car noticed that it had a wingspan of over ten feet and didn't seem to be flapping them at all. She also claimed that it made a squeaking noise, "like a big mouse."

     The two couples went straight to the Mason County Sheriffs' Office to report what they had seen. Deputy Millard Halstead accompanied them back to the T.N.T. area and said as he passed the spot where they had first seen the figure, his police radio made a garbled sound similar to a tape recorder playing at very fast speed. He found nothing, and returned to the office and filed his report. The next morning several more reports came in, each one claiming the same "bird," as they called it, was flying in the area.

     The following morning Sheriff George Johnson held a press conference and all of the witnesses were interviewed by reporters. On November 16, 1966, Mrs. Mary Hyre, editor of the Point Pleasant Register and someone who features prominently in John A. Keel's book, had the story put on the Associated Press wire. It was a copy editor there who dubbed the creature "moth-man".

     Fueled by the ever-increasing reports, the preserve soon had thousands of visitors streaming in every night. Television crews began setting up at the old generator plant in hopes of getting footage of the terrifying creature. Most people just wanted to see the strange being; some wanted to make contact with it and still others just wanted to hunt it. While many were convinced that it must be an alien from another world, some felt it might be some kind of angel trying to give us a message. Others theorized that this was nothing more than a freak of nature, a wayward bird displaced by the igloos, forced to live on chemicals and then mutated from the nourishment. In other words, the Mothman was the personification of our ecological transgressions.

     In the months to follow more and more sightings were reported in the Point Pleasant area. The Point Pleasant Register had no shortage of stories to tell. Some people would merely see the creature, others could hear it and still others could feel its presence in the form of an overwhelming fear. Many reported that premonitions of impending disasters accompanied a sighting. But all reported the same basic features, including the glowing, hypnotic eyes.

     The stories culminated on December 15, 1967 with the disaster on the Silver Bridge. After that the sightings all but stopped. Those that speculate on the connection between the events are divided. Did Mothman some how cause the catastrophe that took 47 lives that day, or had it appeared as a warning of the imminent disaster? Perhaps faced with real human tragedy and grief, the people of the Point Pleasant area just stopped looking for the bizarre visitor. Sightings have occurred since, but none to match the frequency of the period between November 1966 and December 1967. There are even reports that the creature was seen in the days preceding other tragic events around the globe including the Mexico City earthquake of 1985 and the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986.

     Mothman lore lives. There are T-shirts, web-sites, comic books, trading cards -- even a rock album was released about the creature. Meanwhile the sightings continue, with over 50 reports in the last five years alone. In late September of 2001; the following report was filed by researcher Stan Gordon:

     A 19-year-old witness claims to have seen a huge bird in South Greensburg, located in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. The actual observation occurred on Tuesday evening, September 25, 2001. I conducted an in-depth interview with the witness by phone. On Thursday, Dennis Smeltzer, an associate researcher with a serious interest in ornithology, went to the location of the sighting, and interviewed the witness.

     The sighting occurred at about 7:30 P.M. local time, when it was beginning to turn dark. The witness was outside at the time, and was close to Route 119, which is a major highway. The witness was observing the trucks and cars passing by when his attention was drawn upwards by a sound "like flags flapping in a thunderstorm." He observed a huge bird, which appeared to be black, or very dark grayish-brown. The witness was startled at the wingspan, which he estimated to be between 10 and 15 feet.

     The bird's head was estimated to be about 3 feet long, about as large as a small dog. When the bird was first observed, the witness stated, "I wouldn't say it was flapping its wings gracefully, but almost horrifically flapping it's wings very slowly, then gliding above the passing big rig trucks." The creature seemed to be following the truck traffic, passing overhead at about 50 to 60 feet.

     The bird flew about 150 feet down the road towards a wooded area. The bird spread its wings, as it swooped down on a dead tree near a billboard. The witness continued to watch as it dropped slowly, yet forcefully, and saw the bird ruffle its feathers, and saw its head move around. After several seconds the bird rose from the tree, and gave the man the impression that the tree would bow and break from the apparent weight. The bird then flew out of view towards another wooded area.

     The entire sighting lasted around a minute and a half. Immediately after the occurrence, this man ran to a local business to ask if anyone saw what he observed. He also approached a woman who was nearby, but she didn't see it either. The witness was upset that apparently no one else has reported this creature.

     Smeltzer looked around the area of the tree where the bird was reported to have landed, but no evidence could be found. It's Smeltzer's impression that the witness is not fabricating and is describing to the best of his ability what he observed. The witness appears familiar with the great blue heron, vulture, and eagle, and is certain that this is not what he saw.