Monstrous or Misunderstood: The Enthralling Legend of Mothman

As is the nature of crytpids, there are a few conflicting reports in descriptions of Mothman. However, a few facts remain largely consistent.

Mothman is said to be a bipedal humanoid that stands between six and seven feet tall. He is equipped with wings—most accounts saying he also has a pair of arms, though a few report none—with a width of 10 to 15 feet.

Most witness accounts describe him as having red, glowing eyes. While some describe a head on shoulders, a few accounts say he has no head, and his eyes simply sit inside his chest.

Despite his name, given to him by the newspapers, his description typically falls in line with more avian features, rather than bug-like. Of all birds, he most resembles an owl.

His physique has been described as slender and muscular. As for his coloration, it varies between black, gray, and brown, however it always stays within the darker shades.

When he takes to flight, it's said that he goes straight up into the sky like a helicopter, reaching speeds of more than 100mph. As for walking, he firsts folds his wings up and then engages in an odd shuffle, likened to that of a penguin.

It is most commonly believed that Mothman is either an alien, a supernatural entity, or an as yet undiscovered animal. It seems that, unlike some other cryptids, Mothman is the only of his kind.

Some people believe that Mothman appears to warn people of impending disasters, trying to reduce massive death tolls.

Others think this creature may be a demon resulting from a blood curse put on Point pleasant by an Indigenous chief, Cornstalk, who was murdered in the area.

Mothman was first reported to be seen in the area of Point Pleasant, West Virginia. His sightings in this region were prolonged, lasting from November 15th, 1966 to December 15th, 1967.

On that first November night, two young local couples—Roger and Linda Scarberry and Steve and Mary Mallette—described an extraordinary encounter to the police. They detailed a hulking black creature with eyes that “glowed red,” with a face that was indescribable, due to the hypnotic effect of its gaze.

The group was driving together down Route 62 at the time, and spotted the creature standing at the roadside in what they called the TNT area, a site of farmlands and wetlands that once served as a munitions plant during World War II.

Terrified, they sped away in their car. Mothman reportedly chased after them, emitting an eerie screeching sound, and following them as far as the city limits.

The local newspaper, the Point Pleasant Registry, reported this chilling experience the very next day, making waves with the headline, “Couples See Man-Sized Bird…Creature…Something.”

Over the next several days, more and more people reported similar experiences.

A pair of volunteer firefighters claim to have encountered the creature, calling it a “large bird with red eyes.”

A local contractor told the sheriff that when he pointed a flashlight at a creature in a field, its eyes lit up “like bicycle reflectors.” He also said that his television was making odd buzzing noises, which he attributed to the creature—as well as the disappearance of his beloved German Shepherd, Bandit.

Allegedly, Bandit darted off into the woods after two glowing circles. When his owner chased after him, he found nothing but circling paw prints that led nowhere.

Over the next 13 months, there were more than 100 reports of Mothman sightings, though a number of confirmed accounts were never established.

The sightings seemed to end on December 15th, 1967, the same day the Silver Bridge collapsed, resulting in the death of 46 people. Multiple individuals claimed to have seen the creature around the bridge before and during the collapse.

This incident caused some people to look for a correlation between Mothman and tragedy.

On September 10th, 1978, a creature with a similar description to Mothman was spotted in Freiburg, Germany.

Reportedly, a group of miners were getting ready to start their shift when their entrance into the mine was blocked by a gigantic black creature with wings. As they approached it, it let out an animalistic roar, which was described as sounding like a train coming to a sudden halt or dozens of people screaming at once.

The miners waited for an hour for the creature to leave. When it stayed put, they left themselves, hoping it would encourage the beast to move on.

Later on, however, they discovered that in their absence the mine experienced an underground explosion. Had they been working, they all would have perished in the chaotic blaze.

Locals dubbed this creature the Freiburg Shrieker, but many believe it to have been Mothman himself.

Similarly, a creature called the Black Bird of Chernobyl was said to have been seen in the days leading up to the devastating nuclear meltdown in Chernobyl in 1986. Local residents and workers reported seeing a dark, winged creature with glowing red eyes, giving them a feeling of impending doom.

In 1999, Russian UFOlogists claimed in a Georgian newspaper, Svobodnaya Gruziya, that a series of Mothman sightings in Moscow prophesied the devastating Russian apartment bombings that took place in September of that year. The terrible event killed more than 300 people and injured over 1,000.

Before the World Trade Center attacks that unfolded in New York City on September 11th, 2001, two pictures were taken of a creature resembling Mothman. Several reports also claimed to have seen the harbinger during the catastrophe itself.

On August 1st, 2007, the bridge on Interstate 35 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, crumbled during rush hour. As a result, 13 people die,d and another 145 were seriously injured.

In the wake of the disaster, people came forward to claim that they had spotted a Mothman-like creature near the bridge roughly a month before it collapsed.

While there was thankfully no tragedy that followed, Mothman was allegedly spotted in West Virginia again in 2016. This tim,e he was seen lingering around Route 2 in Mason County.

Chicago experienced a rush of sightings, first in 2017 and again in 2019.

For as much as Mothman garnered global attention once newspapers outside of the local realm picked up the story, there are plenty of people who doubt the existence of this mysterious creature. But if he's not real, does that mean the whole sensation was a hoax?

As expected, there were a few Mothman hoaxes after the initial surge in publicity following the original reports. In one incident, a group of construction workers mimicked Mothman's red glowing eyes by tying flashlights to a cluster of helium balloons.

However, non-believers often attribute Mothman sightings to misunderstandings rather than intentional fabrications. Most commonly, zoological experts assume that those who spotted the cryptid have actually had an encounter with some manner of large bird.

Some believe that, at the time of the initial sightings, witnesses were really seeing a sandhill crane. These birds tower up to four feet tall, and have a red flesh around their eyes that may have seemed to glow in the night.

Accounts that didn't mention glowing eyes are sometimes believed to be spottings of a great blue heron.

In 1966, a Point Pleasant hunter shot and killed a large, out of place snowy owl. With a wingspan of five feet, it was described in the papers as a “giant” owl.

Some believe it was this precise owl that caused local panic.

Others attribute Mothman sightings to a different owl—the barred owl.

The red-eye effect that occurs when bright light sources hit this owl's eyes would account for the legendary glowing eyes. Furthermore, this owl's silhouette is similar to descriptions of Mothman where he's said not to have a head.

As both a lover of the strange and unusual and someone who spent a portion of her teenage years living in West Virginia, Mothman has left a mark on my heart like it's a cashmere sweater. My Mothman fan club credentials: a three-foot Mothman plushie staring at me from the corner of my bedroom and the bragging rights that I once helped pen a Mothman musical. 

But whether or not you believe there is a human-sized, disaster-portending moth monster flying around the globe, no one can deny that this peculiar legend has taken on a life of its own.

The craze all began with one 1975 book by John Keel, The Mothman Prophecies. This nonfiction investigation dug deep into original sightings, finding links to the paranormal and extraterrestrial.

The book further helped popularize Mothman when it was adapted into a movie in 2002, starring Richard Gere.

But something else very special happened in 2002: Point Pleasant held its first annual Mothman Festival.

A creative way to generate tourism to the region, this celebration uplifts Mothman as a sort of heroic figure. So much so that, in 2003, the town erected a 12-foot tall stainless steel statue in honor of our favorite cryptid.

Each year, roughly 10 to 12 thousand people from all over the world attend this quirky festival, which is held on the third weekend of every September. The celebration features guest speakers, live music, exciting exhibits, unique vendors, pancake-eating contests, and even hayride tours.

To keep the Mothman magic going year-round, The Mothman Museum and Research Center was opened in 2006. Founder Jeff Wamsley was six-years-old when Mothman first visited Point Pleasant, and grew up on the enchanting stories of this complicated creature.

Having written two books on Mothman—Mothman: Facts behind the Legend and Mothman: Behind the Red Eyes—Wamsley wanted the opportunity to showcase all of the fascinating archival material he had gathered on the subject. The collection includes police reports, as well as witness accounts from numerous sightings.

As the cryptid craze that grips Point Pleasant seems to have, at least in this region, breathed new life into traditional oral storytelling, the Mothman legend has served to expand West Virginia's identity.

No state in America is free of stereotypes, and West Virginia is often reduced to ideas of ignorant countryfolk and gruff miners. But Mothman not only creates a sense of empathy and understanding for West Virginia locals, but also creates opportunities for connection and education between the Mountain State natives and tourists.

As Mothman has inextricable ties to some very dark times in recent history, he also serves as a way to face and make sense of the difficult times around us.

And when we need a distraction from it all, Mothman is pretty good for that too. He has been incorporated into endless media, from video games like Fallout 76 and Fortnite, to various movies, television shows, documentaries, and cartoons, as well as an array of fiction novels like Below and I'm in Love with Mothman.

You can find him on plenty of t-shirts, hats, and other swagger across a myriad of internet sites, too.

Ultimately, whether Mothman is a comfort or a curiosity, he has shaped not only the way we look at the world around us, but the way we look at each other.