Mothman
An Introduction
 Is he an exterminator? Someone who jumps out of
planes? An entomologist?
A Mothman is a
supernatural creature, of unknown existence, unknown
capability, and unknown motive.
The
Mothman is the name given to a creature reported
in the Charleston and Point Pleasant areas of
West Virginia between November 12, 1966, and
December 1967. Most observers describe the
Mothman as a winged man-sized creature with
large reflective red eyes and large moth-like
wings. The creature was sometimes reported as
having no head, with its eyes set into its
chest. A number of hypotheses have been
presented to explain eyewitness accounts,
ranging from misidentification and coincidence,
to paranormal phenomena and conspiracy theories.
The Mothman phenomenon is sometimes associated
with a mystery man named "Indrid Cold," although
the relationship between the two varies from
story to story, as well as in the big-budget
movie "The Mothman Prophecies".
The character of the
scholar in the movie, Alexander Leek, tells
John Klein:
"Mothman. That's what the Ukranians
called him. Rough translation, of course. There
were sightings in Chernobyl the year the nuclear
plant went down. Galveston, just before the
hurricane."
Source:
The Mothman Prophecies movie script
The writer John Keel
describes the Mothman (based upon more than 100 eyewitness accounts)
as:
- Height: Between five
and seven feet tall. Usually described as "taller
than a good-sized man."
- Breadth: Broad at the top with a slight taper
downwards. Always described as "very broad, much
broader than a man."
- Covering: Witnesses have been unable to
determine if it is clothed or covered in skin.
Generally described as being grey, though some
thought it was brown, One witness thought it was
covered with grey fur. Daylight sightings by others
do not substantiate this.
- Head: Seen from the back it appears to have
no head. Few witnesses reported seeing any face at
all.
- Eyes: Self-luminous, bright red,
approximately two to three inches in diameter, set
wide apart. Witnesses say the eyes are set in near
the top of the shoulders.
- Legs: Man-like. No witness has ever been
able to describe the feet.
- Arms: None. No witness has ever reported
seeing arms.
- Wings: Folded against the back when not in
use. Wingspread, everyone agrees, is about ten
feet. Bat-like. Do not flap in flight.
- Carriage: Animal walks erect like a man.
Does not stoop like a bear or ape. Moves its legs
in shuffling manner. Some said it "waddled."
- Sound: Loud squeaks, like a mouse. One
witness said it sounded "like a squeaky fan belt."
Two witnesses testified they heard a mechanical
humming sound as the creature flew overhead.
- Speed: It is said to have kept pace with
automobiles moving seventy to one hundred mph. Few
birds can achieve this in level flight. Pilot
witnesses estimated it was traveling at least
seventy mph in level flight without flapping its
wings.
The story of the Mothman
is as old as humanity.
Since the 1966 through
1967 incidents in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, the
Mothmen have been seen associated with other
tragedies and disasters. Such as:
-
Chernobyl.
-
China after Tbilisi.
-
After a tsunami in India.
-
Sightings in Iraq and Afghanistan.
-
On September 11th, 2001 in New York at the
World Trade Center.
-
And newer sightings in Point Pleasant.
-
Almost countless
other sightings around the world.
In the first reported
case in 1877 a man observed what looked like a human
male with bat-like wings, soaring over buildings in
Brooklyn. NY, about 3 years later there were
multiple reports of the same creature flying over
Coney Island, Brooklyn, the being was noted as
having a very stern or evil look to his face.
Though, the
English Springheeled-Jack of 1837 may
have been a Mothman too.
Brooklyn
Batman. Over 100 years ago, a man named W.
H. Smith told the New York Sun that he saw a
"winged human form" flying over Brooklyn,
New York on September 18, 1877. Just about
three years later, there were multiple
reports from Coney Island, Brooklyn, of a
man with bat-like wings flying overhead at
approximately 1,000 feet. The man was flying
toward the New Jersey coast, witnesses told
the New York Times, and that he bore a
"cruel and determined expression" on his
face.
Russian Legend. There had been legends of a
flying man in the Soviet Union, but not
quite like the one described above. Hunters
around the Sikhote Mountains near
Vladivostok claimed to have come across
prints of a barefoot human that ended
abruptly, as if he had taken off into the
air. Such a creature was actually seen by
writer V.K. Arsenyev in July, 1908. "I saw
the mark on the path that was very similar
to a man's footprint... then something
rushed about nearby trampling among the
bushes. Then I stooped, picked up a stone
and threw it towards the unknown animal.
Then something happened that was quite
unexpected: I heard the beating of wings.
Something large and dark emerged from the
fog and flew over the river."
In the early
1950s, a couple was taking an evening stroll
near their home by the sea at Pelotas,
Brazil. When two fast-moving shadows crossed
their path, they looked up to see what they
at first thought were two enormous birds
flying about 30 feet above the ground. It
was soon evident to the couple that these
were not birds at all when the two flying
creatures descended vertically and landed
not far away. It was then clear that they
looked like men, standing about six feet
tall. Discovering they were being watched by
the couple, the two "birdmen" squatted close
to the ground, as if trying to hide. The
female half of the couple convinced her
husband to leave - and quickly.
In 1952,
Sinclair Taylor, a young soldier on guard
duty at Camp Okubu near Kyoto, Japan,
likewise saw a flying thing he first thought
was a bird. As it came closer and hovered
above him, the guard could distinguish that
it had a man's body that, if he were
standing, would be seven feet tall. Its
wingspan was also estimated at seven feet.
Feeling threatened, he fired at the being
with his rifle, but whatever it was had
vanished. Strangely, when the guard reported
the incident, his sergeant revealed that
another guard had a similar experience the
previous year.
In 1953 in Houston, Texas three people saw a winged
creature land in a nearby tree. As they went to
investigate they saw it was a man dressed in black
clothes. One of the witnesses said he was surrounded
by an aura of light.
In 1956, in Falls City, Nebraska, a witness saw a
winged man flying only about 15 feet above the
ground. The wings were the color of aluminum and had
different colored lights along their undersides,
they had a span of roughly 15 feet. The man had skin
that appeared to be very old or wrinkled, and
abnormally large blue eyes. The man, or creature had
a face that was very scary, almost devil or demonic
looking. As the creature flew over the witness, the
witness reported he became paralyzed and could not
move, until the creature was out of sight.
On Jan 17, 2004 in Guadalupe, Mexico at 3:15 am a
police officer was patrolling on Alamo Street when
he saw what at first was a black mass, like a thick
dark cloud descending slowly, it rolled and turned as
it descended, when the mass touched the ground it
transformed into a woman. The woman wore a black
dress, and had black hair. The police officer then,
put the patrol car in reverse, as he did the woman
started walking towards him, it then tumbled and
flew at a fast speed, impacting against the cars
windshield. The woman stared at the police officer,
and he noticed she had no eye lids, and the whole
eye, including the normally white parts, were black.
At this time, the police officer raised his arms
over his face and fainted, when he came to, the
creature was gone.
Sources: Unexplained! by Jerome Clark;
Visible Ink, 1999.
Unexplained Mysteries of the 20th Century
by Janet and Colin Bord;
Contemporary Books, 1989.
Continue
with: Point Pleasant Incident »
Absolutely.
In this site we deal with four other -
possibly related - creatures.
The
Flatwoods Monster,
also known as the Braxton County Monster and the
Phantom of Flatwoods, is an unidentified creature,
reported to be alien in origin, which was sighted in
the town of Flatwoods in Braxton County, West
Virginia during the early 1950s.
Is it possible that the Braxton Creature is
a Mothman too! Also the Bashful Billy,
of West Virginia too. The PopoBawa,
and finally Springheeled Jack of Victorian
England.
Continue to: Other Creatures / Mothman's
Cousins »
What appear to be black winged men/creatures cave
paintings are found at the The Chauvet
Cave. Located near the Vallon-Pont-d'Arc in
the Ardèche region of southern France. The Cave
Paintings of Chauvet date to 30,000 to 32,000 years
ago. In the Chauvet Cave hundreds of animal
paintings have been found making Chauvet Cave one of
the world's most important rock art sites.
In addition, numerous
other strange entities are found in cave
paintings and petroglyphs from around the
world.
Continue to:
Background Information & History »
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