Mothman

On the evening of November 15, 1966, two young married couples were driving near an abandoned munitions plant outside Point Pleasant, West Virginia. Roger and Linda Scarberry, along with Steve and Mary Mallette, reported seeing a large gray creature with glowing red eyes standing near the building. When they drove away, the creature reportedly spread enormous wings and followed their car at speeds exceeding 100 miles per hour. The Scarberrys and Mallettes were so shaken that they drove directly to the Mason County courthouse and reported the encounter to Deputy Millard Halstead, who later said the witnesses were clearly terrified.

Over the next 13 months, more than 100 people in the Point Pleasant area reported seeing a similar being. Witnesses consistently described a creature standing 6 to 7 feet tall, with a 10 to 15-foot wingspan and large, luminous red eyes set in what appeared to be the chest or shoulders rather than a distinct head. The skin was described as dark gray. The creature became known as the Mothman after a local newspaper editor coined the name.

The sightings occurred during a period of other strange phenomena in the area. Residents reported UFO activity, visits from mysterious "Men in Black," and poltergeist-like disturbances. On December 15, 1967, the Silver Bridge connecting Point Pleasant to Gallipolis, Ohio collapsed during rush-hour traffic, killing 46 people. Author John Keel, who had been investigating the Mothman sightings, connected the creature to the bridge collapse in his 1975 book "The Mothman Prophecies." He suggested the Mothman was a harbinger of disaster.

Skeptical researchers have proposed that witnesses may have seen a large barred owl or a sandhill crane, both of which have wingspans of several feet and eyes that can appear to glow red when caught in headlights due to a reflective layer behind the retina. The abandoned TNT plant area where the first sighting occurred was known to harbor large colonies of barn owls.

The Mothman has become central to Point Pleasant's identity. The town erected a 12-foot stainless steel Mothman statue in 2003 and hosts an annual Mothman Festival each September. The Mothman Museum draws visitors from around the world. Whether the Mothman was a misidentified bird, a collective hallucination, or something else entirely, it remains one of the most compelling and well-documented cryptid flaps in American history.