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thelawlorfaithful

Mothman

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The Rabbit Hole

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For 13 months between November 1966 and December 1967, Point Pleasant, West Virginia and its surrounding communities became the focal point for a wave of paranormal phenomena. Reports of UFOs, strange visitors, disappearing animals, and unexplained lights were ubiquitous. Tourists came from all over in hopes of glimpsing a flying saucer or perhaps even the Mothman itself, a man-sized winged creature spotted by over 100 witnesses. The wave ended during the Christmas season 1967, when a large catastrophe would take the lives of 46 people and scar the nearby communities forever. But the questions remain to this day. What, if anything, was going on in Point Pleasant for those 13 months?

We’re all sitting in the dugout. Thinking we should pitch. How you gonna throw a shutout when all you do is bitch.

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A Thin Place

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There are places where Celtic Christians believed the gap between heaven and earth has collapsed. In these places where the two planes come together it is possible to glimpse for a moment the infinitely unknowable. This is what I imagine it feels like to view the Sistine Chapel in person or to spend the night in a solitary confinement cell on Alcatraz, places where the residue of profound human emotion is palpable, even overwhelming. But there are also places where stories tell of a different kind of experience.

The Devil's Sea of Japan and the Bermuda Triangle have long been thought to be particularly menacing places to travel. Aviators experience equipment failure, navigators lose their way, people just disappear. The superstition surrounding these places seems misguided. Flying carries with it some element of danger by its very nature, the ocean is the most reasonable place in the world to lose ones way. These particular areas statistically don't experience disaster any more than other similar areas. Yet the bad feelings towards them remain.

In Massachusetts there is the Bridgewater triangle. An area of land where the reports of the paranormal are uncommonly common. UFO's are often seen, Bigfoot is said to roam the woods. The mischievous Pukwudgie, a two foot tall pot bellied creature of mischief, is said to lure unwary travelers to their death. People disappear. In Utah there is the Skinwalker Ranch, where again UFO's are said to be prevalent and cattle mutilation doesn't even warrant a raised eyebrow. The Skinwalkers themselves have been witnessed, wicked magical people from Native American lore who can transform into giant, invincible animals like wolves and gain control over the witnesses mind.

These thin places have long retained their reputation for the weird. In Point Pleasant it's slightly different. Sure, weird things are still reported, inevitably somebody always says they saw the mothman. But nothing can compare to the thirteen months leading up to the collapse of the Silver Bridge.

The Cynic, The Mystic, and the Local

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Newspaper reports of the mothman sightings were commonplace 1966-1967. What really made the story stick was the investigation of two men, old hats at the ufology craze of the 1960's, with the help of a local newspaper columnist. The two men wrote books in the years following the events, the woman died. Gray Barker and John Keel deserve to be taken with a couple of salt shakers each, and unfortunately most of what we know Mary Hyre did in the investigation is through their writing.

Mary Hyre wrote for the Athens Messenger for more than a quarter century before dying of illness a little more than a year after the collapse of the Silver Bridge. She was trusted in the community, and so became a valuable resource for John Keel during his investigation. According to Keel, she personally was visited by strange men multiple times who did not like her writing stories about the weirdness going on.

I think the odds are that in any group of three people at least one will be honest. By that logic, if we believe the things Keel said of Hyre, we must also believe some things of Keel himself. A story that is all lies is tougher to believe than one, even an outrageous one, that is peppered with truth. I don't think it's possible everybody in this Rabbit Hole was lying about what they saw. They may be mistaken, but they can't all be phonies. And if even just one witness is not mistaken, then that means a lot of other things need to be considered before writing off the events of Point Pleasant as mass hysteria over a bird.

We’re all sitting in the dugout. Thinking we should pitch. How you gonna throw a shutout when all you do is bitch.

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A Gray Winged Man With Red Eyes

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There were reported to be over 100 sightings of Mothman between November 1966 and December 1967. Reports have persisted ever since, but during this period of time the sightings drew worldwide attention appearing in newspapers across the globe. Though there were often differences in describing the creature, there are enough similar reports by eyewitnesses to make a solid composite description.

Mothman was a man sized creature, with a gray/brown body, up to a nine foot wingspan, with large red eyes set about six inches apart. The eyes were often described as resembling glowing reflector lights, possessing a transfixing quality often bordering on a hypnotic effect. The creature did not flap its wings ever, even when taking off straight up into the air. When seen flying it glided, never flapping, even when witnesses reported driving much faster than any winged creature could be expected to horizontally fly, wings flapping or not. Uniformly, witnesses reported experiencing a deep and profound fear while looking at the creature. The creature's behavior varied, but many witnesses reported a sense that despite their fear the creature gave off the feeling of being somber, even sad. 

I won't document every case. Almost all amount to seeing this strange thing vividly, sometimes it flew, sometimes it just stared before the witness fled or it just disappeared. It was viewed at night, or in the day, often around the TNT factory (which I will get into) but all along the Ohio River valley near Point Pleasant.

The First Sightings

The first sighting chronological sighting of what would become known as mothman happened on the night of November 1st, 1966. John Keel writes that after he had arrived in Point Pleasant after hearing about the Scarberry/Mallette encounter, he was told by an unnamed National Guardsmen that he has seen something strange predating wave of reported sightings that would occur in the coming weeks. The Guardsmen was working at the National Guard armory on the edge of Point Pleasant when he saw something beyond a high fence perched in tree. Initially thinking it a man in a brown suit, after staring at it he concluded it was the largest bird he'd ever seen. He left to get his friends to come see but when they returned it was gone.

On November 12th, five men digging a grave in Clenendin, West Virginia saw what looked like a brown human being fly from some trees and glide directly overhead. They described the creature as looking like a brown human being whose wings did not flap as it flew.

Mothman returned on the night of either the 13th, 14th, or 15th; reports on the specific day vary. At about 10:30 pm, Newelle Partiridge was watching television in his home when the set went out and began emitting a loud, high pitched whining sound. At that moment Partiridge's large German Sheppard began howling on the porch and acting skittish. Partridge retrieved his 8 mm pistol and stepped out onto the porch where he saw moving red lights across his property by the barn. His dog lit out after them. The next morning Partridge walked to the spot where the red lights, which he described as resembling glowing bicycle reflector lights, and saw his dog's paw prints in the mud frantically circling. But his dog never returned.

We’re all sitting in the dugout. Thinking we should pitch. How you gonna throw a shutout when all you do is bitch.

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I saw a TV show about Mothman. The so called flying monster turned out to be an Owl. It just goes to show you how hysterical some act over unsubstantiated rumors. :rolleyes:

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