Since 1979, Tire Rack.com has been helping people find the right tires for how, what and where they drive. They sell only the best, like the full line of bridge stone tires. Test results, ratings and reviews are there to assist, or try the Tire Decision Guide to get a personalized tire recommendation. Tires ship fast and free to you or one of over 10,000 recommended installers. In many areas, they offer mobile tire installation that comes to your home or office. Shop bridge stone tires at Tire Rack.com The strange but true story featured on this podcast contains details some people may find unsettling. Listener discretion is advised. And tires Samuel and things are about to get weird. Welcome back to episode 61 of Things are About to Get Weird. This is the podcast where I cover strange but true stories of all kinds. And in some ways we're venturing into new territory today as I'm going to be covering a cryptid story. Possibly one of the most famous cryptid stories, so no pressure. But it's one that's been requested more times than I can count. I think the first person to ask for this one was a listener of ours called Donna. And since then, lots more of you have mentioned it to me. So today is finally the day that I talk all about the Mothman. Or just Mothman if you prefer. I see it written both ways. I can't work out whether it's a title like Superman where you wouldn't add a V prefix. So I'll probably switch between the two as we go. To begin this tale, we're going to head all the way back to the 1960s to the place at the heart of the Mothman folklore, the US state of West Virginia. Of all the locations that a sighting of a mysterious, terrifying figure could take place, a graveyard would have to top the list as the most creepy right? I personally find graveyards to be fascinating and mostly peaceful. But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't always on my guard to some degree, anticipating that a spooky sensation might come across the place at any second. And it's in this very setting that our story begins. On the 12th of November 1966 at a cemetery in the town of Clendenin, West Virginia, a group of grave diggers, including a man named Kenneth Duncan, were hard at work when something wholly unexpected appeared against the backdrop of the night sky. Above their heads, something they described as a massive, brown, man-like creature appeared to be in flight, moving from tree to tree at a rapid speed until it ultimately soared away into the darkness. Speaking several days later, Kenneth told the local press, it was gliding through the trees and was in sight for about a minute. This frightening encounter is what many now believe to be the first in a long line of reported sightings of the Mothman, a human-esque seven to nine-foot tall cryptid, with a large moth-like wings and eyes that glowed red that was spotted numerous times between November of 1966 and December of 1967 in West Virginia, mostly in and around the city of Point Pleasant. Just a few days after the initial sighting by the grave diggers, on the 15th of November two couples, Roger and Linda Scarberry and Steve and Mary Mallet, were driving together along State Route 62 when they spotted an incredibly tall figure standing near to an abandoned National Guard Armory building and power plant. Roger was at the wheel of the car, and as he moved the vehicle closer towards what they suspected was a person, they all soon realized they were not looking at a human at all. Upon spotting the glowing, scarlet glare of the creature, Roger panicked and sped away as quickly as he could, but this didn't spell the end of their ordeal. Moreover way, they saw the figure rise up in the same way that a helicopter would, and then it proceeded to glide with ease alongside the car, keeping up with their speed even as they reach close to a hundred miles per hour. And the reason we know so much about the Scarberry's and Mallet's experience with the Mothman is because the very next day, Roger and Steve gave an interview to the local newspaper, the Point Pleasant Register, about the events of the previous evening. The men described the creature as having a wing span of around ten feet, and that its piercing red eyes were around six inches apart from one another. They noted that it seemed to dislike the bright headlights of their car, and that although it was able to glide through the air at a very high speed, when it tried to run on the ground it was very clumsy and much slower. Now of course, the men expected that their recollection would be met with some degree of skepticism, which was definitely reflected in the newspaper's headline about the incident, which read, "Couple see man-sized bird creature something complete with an exclamation mark." But Roger was keen to get out ahead of the skeptics, and he actually made a point of saying to the interviewer, quote, "If I had seen it while by myself, I wouldn't have said anything." But there were four of us who saw it, and insisted that it had absolutely not been a figment of their imaginations. This corroboration aspect would likely have caught the attention of some locals, but I'm sure no one anticipated quite how extensive this story was destined to become. Because within days, a plethora of additional sightings of the winged figure were reported throughout Point Pleasant and beyond, and each new encounter felt just as strange if not stranger than the last. According to the Gettysburg Times, on the 18th of November, two volunteer firefighters, Captain Paul Yoda and Benjamin Enox, described seeing a quote, "very large bird with a large red eyes," given their positions within the community. I would imagine that Paul and Benjamin's testimony made some residents sit up and look at the situation a little more closely. On the same day that the firefighters had their encounter, another article was printed in the local press entitled, "Eight people say they saw the creature." And one of those people was Newell Partridge. On the same night that the two couples had witnessed the Mothman around 50 minutes before their encounter, Newell says that he spotted the figure in a meadow near his home. He had been sitting watching television when he said that his TV set started acting like a generator, and that his German shepherd dog Bandit appeared to be agitated too. Here's what the newspaper report said happened next. Partridge said he shined a flashlight into the field and saw something with eyes like red reflectors. The dog's hair stood straight up, and he said the animal went into the field. "The dog never returned," Partridge said, "and there was no trace of it in the morning." Oh, how horrifying is that? Now, the term Mothman was actually coined by the wider media, as the story continued to gain traction and spread beyond West Virginia, and many, including the author Richard Moreno, think that this was likely due to the fact that the Batman TV series was huge at the time. In the show, there was a villain called Killer Moth, and this, combined with the appearance of the creature, led to it being named Mothman. According to the LA Times, additional reports made about the cryptid at this time involved tales of it chasing people to the ground, or even leaving them with bleeding eyes after they had looked directly at it, in a terrible mirroring of its own fiery gaze. Some who had encountered the beast said they now had trouble sleeping, and it sounds like for most of those who crossed paths with it, the whole experience was nothing short of traumatizing, but as awful as all of this already sounds, the Mothman saga was about to take a devastating and deadly turn, which would help to cement its position as an infamous folklore figure forever. As you can imagine, the theories relating to the Mothman are very much split into two camps, skeptic and believer, and we'll be talking much more about those shortly. But one of the leading theories on the believer side is that the Mothman could be connected to something that's been noted throughout history by certain Native American tribes. Thunderbirds, which are huge man-slash-bird-like beings, are believed to have some of the same characteristics as the West Virginia Mothman, including the glowing red eyes, abnormal height, and huge wings. But most significant of all is what they can sometimes represent within Native American history, their thought to be Harbinger's of woe, and it's the events of the very next year in Point Pleasant, on the 15th of December 1967 to be exact, that convinced many of a link with the emergence of the Mothman, and it's clear to see why the Harbinger of woe theory became so prominent after this terrible day in the city's history. The Silver Bridge was an eyebar suspension bridge that linked the city of Point Pleasant to Knorga, Ohio. If you think about the structure of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, you'll have a good idea of what the Silver Bridge looked like. It had been built in 1928 and was actually the first bridge of its type in the United States, which made it a truly important landmark, and it gained its name from the aluminium-colored paint it was coated in. During the daily rush hour, the bridge was normally packed full of commuter traffic, but unbeknownst to the motorists passing over it, the bridge was starting to be pushed to its weight limits. When it had first been constructed, the average car was much lighter, and there were far fewer of them on the road. The Silver Bridge simply hadn't been designed with the Point Pleasant of the 1960s in mind, but this isn't where the criticism of the bridge's build quality ended. As it had been constructed in such a way that if one part of the structure was to fail, there was really nothing else stopping a domino effect, which would be catastrophic for most other parts of the bridge too. And on the 15th of December, these weaknesses would result in disaster. As rush hour was at its peak that day, and without any warning whatsoever, a single eye bar located close to the top of the bridge cracked. This caused the chain to snap, and with the entire balance of the bridge thrown into chaos, it simply collapsed. 31 vehicles plunged into the icy water below, killing 46 people in total and leaving nine seriously injured. According to a memorial sign that was erected near the site, a failed eye bar joint and weld were identified as the cause, and the tragedy resulted in Congress bringing in new national bridge inspection standards in 1968, which undoubtedly would have helped to prevent further events like this from happening elsewhere. But for the affected areas of Ohio and West Virginia impacted by the Silver Bridge collapse, the incident would spell a dark chapter in their own history books. This was now the second reason that Point Pleasant had been featured in national news headlines in two years, and because of this, it wasn't long before some began wondering whether the Silver Bridge disaster could be linked to the area's other big news story, the Mothman sightings. Now after 1967, the reported Mothman encounters dwindled seemingly to nothing, but that didn't mean that the legacy of the cryptid went away with it, nor did it mean that other strange incidents linked to it ceased to happen in Point Pleasant. For example, something I read about, which really piqued my interest, was the life and death of the key investigative reporter who covered the Mothman sightings. Mary Haya was a reporter in the city of Athens, Ohio, located close to the border with West Virginia, and she was actually one of the very first people to write about the Mothman story, with her first article about the scarberry and mallet sighting being published on the 16th of November 1966, appearing in the Athens Messenger. After Mary began to focus on the Mothman, she reported several bizarre experiences of her own, which began with a visit she received from a man described as having odd eyes and exhibiting unusual behaviour. He turned up at her office late one night in January of 1967, asking for directions before stealing a pen from her, leaving mid-conversation and laughing in a maniacal fashion as he departed. Mary was certain that she then saw the same man at a later date, jumping into a black van that seemed to appear out of nowhere on a street in Athens, and she started to wonder whether he could be connected to a prominent rumour circulating in the area at the time, that a group of real-life men in black were trying to keep people from looking into the Mothman sightings too deeply. After the Silver Bridge collapse, Mary reported that she was visited again, this time by a man who was inquiring about her knowledge of an alleged UFO that had been spotted shortly before the disaster took place. Once more, this man seemed very unusual, almost as if he wasn't from this world. He had gaps in his general knowledge that felt out of place, and Mary felt it was weird enough to keep a record of. But sadly, her work looking into all things Mothman was doomed to be cut short. In 1970, she passed away suddenly, after succumbing to a mysterious illness. She was only in her mid-50s, and her death has often been cited as yet another strange detail in this wider case. However, before she passed, she was able to connect with a writer named John Keel, and if you're at all familiar with the Mothman story, his name might just ring a bell. As thanks in part to the information he was able to gather from Mary higher over the years, he was able to pen the now legendary book The Mothman Prophecies, which was published in 1975 and featured a dedication to Mary. If you're thinking, gosh, that title sounds familiar. It could well be that you're remembering the 2002 film of the same name, starring Richard Geer and Laura Linney, and you'd be right to make the link, as the movie was loosely based on John Keel's book. And this leads us neatly on to the theory section of this episode, because in many ways, the publication of The Mothman Prophecies, and of course, the film, became the ultimate catalyst for propelling the tale to the well-known status it still holds to this day. So, let's begin with our feet firmly in the believer camp, and look at the theories that have strong ties to the otherworldly and supernatural, before we move on to the more skeptical side of things. Now, The Mothman Prophecies book is really more about John Keel's personal journey and mission to try and uncover the truth about the creature, more so than presenting a well-formed, comprehensive theory about what it is or was. But if you were to try and boil it down to something resembling a theory, it seems that Keel believed this, that not only The Mothman, but things like UFOs, too, are interdimensional apparitions created by so-called ultra-terrestrials, using unseen psychic forces. That was quite the mouthful to say, and if I'm being completely honest, I feel that if I were to try and dive into this any further today, we'd be here for many hours. All of the writings around this are quite messy and contradictory depending on the author, or even between a single author's different writings. But, in essence, what I interpret the point to be, is that The Mothman could be a projection sent by beings beyond our comprehension, possibly as a warning or an omen about what was then the upcoming Silver Bridge tragedy, which of course then links back to the idea I mentioned earlier, could be a connection between the Mothman visions and the Thunderbird, that key figure within Native American mythology. Although different indigenous tribes across North America view this supernatural being in different ways, some common characteristics are that the Thunderbird would shoot lightning from its eyes, and of course have these huge powerful wings, which you could say are similar attributes possessed by the Mothman. Although none of the eyewitnesses reported flashes of light coming from the Mothman's eyes, that red glow could be considered close enough. And then, naturally, there's the theory that the Mothman is a true cryptid, in the sense that it's an animal that lives in the wild that is yet to be understood by science, but that is also not yet proven beyond all doubt to exist at all. Think Bigfoot, the Loch Ness monster, Yeti's, and with all of these theories, the end result is that we're left feeling a little cold and unsatisfied, because, as it stands, there's no concrete proof for any of them, but in a way, the same goes for the more skeptical explanations, because, as rational as some of them sound, there's also no way to definitively point to any of these as being the answer either. Let's have a look at some of the most notable of these ideas that have been put forward over the decades. One of the first actually emerged in early December of 1966, shortly after the first sightings, and it was put forward by Dr. Robert L. Smith, who was an associate professor of wildlife biology at West Virginia University. Speaking to reporters, he theorized that the Mothman could have actually been an exceptionally large sandhill crane, a bird which stands on average between three and four feet tall. They're known to have very wide wingspans, and although they wouldn't usually be seen in the area, Dr. Smith suggested that one may have flown off course during its migration route, but it's not just the bird-like description of the creature that led him to this conclusion. If you look at photos of sandhill cranes, they have a prominent red marking around their eyes in the top of their head, which shows up as a very bright in contrast to the brownish grey shade of the rest of their bodies. Some have even added to this idea over time, suggesting that the bird could have appeared much larger and more imposing due to certain mutations, because one of the most famous sightings was near to the disused munitions factarium power plant. By the scarberries and mallets, the idea was that toxic chemicals left behind at the works could have caused deformities in wildlife species, and that a sandhill crane could have been one such example. But even if you were to take away the mutation aspect, given that these birds likely wouldn't be familiar to those born and raised in West Virginia, this could explain why they were so perplexed by it. However, there were also two major theories that didn't entirely rest on a physical explanation for the mothman. The first is that most of this whole situation was simply a hoax, and was summed up by local resident and former head of the Point Pleasant Chamber of Commerce, Hilda Austin. Back in 2002, she told the LA Times, quote, "I believe that some people saw something. It was probably a bird. Some of it was just a hoax. It could have been something spawned by the toxic ground from the TNT area. Some of the eyewitnesses were on drugs. I thought it was a hoot when this happened. Everyone just sort of laughed at this. They just thought it was preposterous." Reading between the lines, it seems what Hilda was suggesting was that after one initial sighting, perhaps of a crane or a heron, others just jumped on the bandwagon and started claiming that they had also been an eyewitness. Purely for the fun of it, which I suppose wouldn't be unheard of. The second of these theories, which in some ways is similar to the first, is that it could have been an instance of mass hysteria. This is something we've discussed before here on the podcast. For example, during episode three, which was all about the "Hollandwell" incident. Could it be that, again, one person thought they saw something out of the ordinary, and once they started to talk about it, a kind of mass panic set in amongst locals, who all started to believe that they were encountering the same thing? Most reports of mass hysteria tend to involve situations where there are a lot of people within one end. Like at an outdoor event as we saw in the "Hollandwell" case. Or when it's a belief that spreads similar to what happened with the Salem witch trials. Whereas here, the circumstances are quite different, so I'm not too sure about this one. I'm going to get more into my own thoughts at the end. And for now, what we're going to move along to the legacy of the Mothman and how it has shaped Point Pleasant since the 1960s. First up, though since the 60s there have been far fewer reported Mothman sightings, that doesn't mean they stopped altogether. One recent example is from the 20th of November 2016, just over 50 years to the day since the initial alleged encounters. A man who wished to remain anonymous claimed to have spotted the humanoid bird-like figure flying through the sky, while striving on State Route 2 through Point Pleasant. He was able to snap some photos of what he observed. And when you see the images, they are pretty chilling, despite being incredibly grainy and blurred. A local news station decided to air the photos, and he told reporters that he had recently moved to the area and had been totally unaware of the Mothman story, until he saw the strange figure with his own eyes. But many sources, including the fact-checking website Snopes, have implied that the timing might have been a little suspicious, and that the emergence of the photos could have been a way to drum up publicity and focus attention back on to Point Pleasant to mark the 50th anniversary. Which leads us to the second thing I wanted to mention, and that is how deeply the city has embraced the Mothman legend as part of its identity, and made it a real draw for tourists. Not only is there a huge metallic statue of the cryptid residing in the city, standing 12 feet tall with shiny red eyes and massive ornate wings, there's also an entire permanent museum dedicated to the creature. And an annual festival that's been held every 3rd week in September since 2002, aptly named the Mothman Festival. According to their website, the festival aims to quote, commemorate the 1966 Point Pleasant West Virginia Mothman sightings, which gave birth to the infamous red-eyed winged legend. People from all over the world gather around our charming main street to celebrate their favourite cryptid during this one-of-a-kind event. I won't lie, the festival looks so much fun. The more episodes of this podcast I put together, the longer my list of places and events I want to visit grows. I think it's fair to say that Point Pleasant has very much made the most of one of the stories that put it on the map, and I think it will continue to do so into the future. So, what do I make of the Mothman tale? Weirdly, the entire time I was researching this story, I was sure that I'd get to the end and feel super skeptical, mostly because of the lack of any kind of proof, but I'm finding it harder than I thought to say that I absolutely don't believe in it, because whilst there definitely could be a logical explanation, which revolves around the creature being a known animal that perhaps was very out of place in West Virginia, I'm struggling to believe that every person who allegedly saw it got it so wrong. It seems that they were all terrified, and I think as humans we instinctively know when something's not quite right. So I found some of the large bird theories to be a little bit condescending towards the eyewitnesses. Because I personally have had otherworldly, or at least paranormal experiences of my own, I feel like it's not really my place, or maybe it's a bit hypocritical to say that I flat out don't believe that eyewitnesses in this case. I think this could be one of the ultimate instances of "you can only fully buy into it if you've seen it with your own eyes." And I could probably apply this same conclusion to lots of other cryptid stories, too. I reckon I'd feel the same after a deep dive into, say, the Loch Ness Monster. I'm not at all convinced about the mass hysteria theory, but could some of the later accounts be exaggerated by people who wanted to feel part of a newsworthy event? It's possible for sure. As for the more recent sightings, well, I'm personally very wary of those, but who's to know for certain? The part of this one that continues to stick in my mind is the timing of the sightings followed by the bridge collapse. As someone who's quite into seeing signs and finding patterns, I really do wonder whether the Mothman could have been a warning of some description. What is for sure is that the next time I spot a glimmer or a flash in the night sky that looks a little strange to me, I'll be sure to gaze a little longer to try and make out what it is. You truly never know what you might see. You all already know what I'm going to say. I am so ready to hear all of your theories and thoughts on this one. Where do you land on the Mothman tale? Are you a believer in cryptids in general? Do any of the suggested explanations seem completely plausible to you? Or do you have another idea entirely about what the creature could have been? And why it was there? I truly cannot wait to hear what you think. Please do feel free to leave me a note in the comments section if you're listening on Spotify today or get in touch on social media if you prefer. We're on pretty much every platform at this point, and I'll be telling you all about how to find us on your social media channel of choice in a moment. But first, it's time for the part of the show where I let you know all about a piece of weird media that I can't get enough of. Let's head on over to our outro feature. This episode is brought to you by Carmax. Boldly searching for your next used vehicle? With Carmax, you don't have to settle on anything when it comes to your ride. Instead, steer clear of the ordinary and buy the car that's right for you. Because Carmax makes it easy to stop settling and find the car you'll love today. Start shopping now at Carmax.com. Carmax. The way car buying should be. Okay, I know that I recommended a TV show in our last weird media instalment. But I have another one I wanted to chat to you about today, and I simply couldn't resist. So I promised to shake things up a bit next time, but this is too good not to share today. Especially if you were a fan of the original series of Dexter. I was a massive Dexter fan. I watched it from about 2008 until it ended. So even though I technically wasn't a day one fan as it started in 2006, I felt like it was with me for a chunk of my early adult life. When it ended, I was obviously gutted. But for some reason, when the reboot Dexter New Blood was released in 2021, I just couldn't get behind the idea. If you've seen the original series, you probably understand why I say that. But I won't go into detail just in case it's a spoiler. However, a few weeks ago, I was persuaded to give Dexter New Blood a whirl, and I am so glad I did. By the end of the first episode, I was fully back in. I think I even said words to that effect out loud. It just felt like I was back watching the show that I'd loved for so many years. Even though it's different, it still got the same vibe, but we were all so used to. Now this is an example of a weird media recommendation where I really can't go into too much detail about it without completely ruining it. Whether you've watched the original yet or not. So all I will say is this. If you have never seen Dexter, I would fully recommend watching the initial 8 series and then getting into New Blood. I think that would actually be quite a fascinating way to do it. I kind of wish I'd re-watched at least the last series before jumping into New Blood. But it's still great. And if you were an original Dexter fan and have been unsure about this new take on it, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised if you give it a try. I was concerned that I'd have to suspend my disbelief a little too much, but it's surprisingly seamless and really because the show as a whole was always a little far-fetched in certain aspects. It's quite easy to take it for what it is and roll with it. This all probably sounds very cryptic to someone who isn't familiar with the Dexter world, but if you're looking to get stuck into something that's full of drama, crime, mystery and more than just a little blood and gore, this might be the weird media recommendation for you. Next, it's time for all of our Saw Shout-outs for this episode, and there were quite a few, so I'll speed through them. We had the LA Times piece I mentioned a few times that was by Lorenzo Munoz from January 2002, an absolutely brilliant article on all that's interesting.com from August of 2024 by Jacqueline Angles in Maggie Donahue, the newspaper clipping from the Gettysburg Times from December of 1966, an article from the Smithsonian's Folklife publication that was by Gwen Malow from June 2021. We had a piece from the Southwest Ohio magazine that one was from April of 2016. The Mothman fandom wiki page was super helpful. There were lots of archived newspaper clippings on there amongst other resources. Of course, John Keel's book The Mothman Prophecies was very interesting. The Snopes website is always very valuable when it comes to stories like this one, and the Mothman article on there was written by Bethany Apama. And finally, the Legends of America website had a very helpful piece about the history of Thunderbirds in Native American culture. Okie dokie, all of that said, here are all of the ways that you can get in touch and share your own ideas. On Instagram and threads, you can find us @thingsgetweirdpodcast. On TikTok, we are @thingsareabout to get weird, and on Facebook, you can find us by searching for the podcast name. That's where you'll find both our main page and our private discussion group. Our email address is Things Get Weird Podcast at gmail.com and if you've enjoyed this episode, a quick rating or review wherever you're listening would be beyond amazing. It's a great free way to support the show. A big thank you for tuning in to the podcast today, I really appreciate it. I hope you're all getting as excited for spooky season as I am, and I'll be back to chat to you all again next week in Weird Fix. So, until next time, take care of yourself and others and keep it weird for the good kind of weird. [MUSIC]
