4.
Mothman
Two young
married couples, Mr. and Mrs. Roger Scarberry and Mr. and Mrs.
Steve Mallette, drove through the T.N.T area on November 15th,
1966. They were looking for friends who often came to the area.
At about 11:30, they reached an old generator plant on the
preserve. The door to the plant appeared to have been ripped off
its hinges and the couples saw a bizarre creature. They later
reported that the creature looked like a man – though about 7
feet tall – and had wings folded against its back. However, the
most striking thing about it was its eyes. They were huge, like
bicycle reflectors and the young people described them as
hypnotic.
Roger
Scarberry reacted by slammingn the accelerator in the old Chevy,
fleeing from the terrifying sight. They saw the creature take
flight – straight into the air without flapping its wings.
Although the Chevy was soon roaring along close to a hundred
miles an hour, the creature was able to keep up with them until
the car reached the city limits of Point Pleasant, when it broke
off its pursuit and disappeared. The terrified couples rushed to
the Mason County Courthouse to report what they had seen.
Deputy
Millard Hallstead returned to T.N.T with the couples to check
out their confused report. He didn’t see anything but he clearly
believed that the young people had seen something. Their fear
was far too real. He attempted to call in while still at the
preserve but his police radio wouldn’t work. Instead a loud
screech came from the speaker. The deputy found the coincidence
of the malfunctioning radio and the young couples’ report
disturbing.
By the
next day, more reports of this strange huge “bird” came in. In
one report, it swooped down over another moving car, frightening
the passengers. A different report came from nearby Salem. A
farmer, Newell Partridge, had been watching television around
10:30 on the 14th, when the picture suddenly blacked out. The
television emitted a strange noise, “like a generator winding
up.” About the same time, his large German Shepherd, Bandit,
began howling from the porch.
Partridge
went outside and saw that Bandit was howling toward the barn.
Partridge shone a flashlight in that direction and saw what
looked like two bicycle reflectors shining brightly. Despite the
distance to the barn, about the length of a football field, the
“eyes” shone plainly. Bandit growled and ran toward the eyes.
Partridge said that fear swept over him like a “cold chill” and
he went back into the house – that night he slept with his
shotgun.
The next
day he found Bandit’s tracks clearly showing the dog had raced
around in a circle, as if chasing his tail. No other tracks were
found and Bandit was never seen again.
On the
morning of November 16th, Sheriff George Johnson held a press
conference about the incidents and all of the people who had
reported sightings were interviewed. The news story stirred such
a fervor that it was picked up by the Associate Press. The
creature was dubbed “Mothman” after the popular television
character, Batman.
Sightings
continued to pour in. Certain features remained consistent – the
creature’s size, build and hypnotic eyes. Also, malfunctioning
radios and televisions featured in many of the reports. Another
consistent feature was the fear – people were terrified of the
Mothman. Also, a sudden increase of dog disappearances and
animal mutilations were reported – and Mothman was held
responsible for those, as well. As one would expect with this
kind of media coverage, thousands of people poured into the
T.N.T. area, hoping for a sighting. Television crews set up at
the generator plant, hoping to catch Mothman on film.
Theories
of what the Mothman was abounded – the demonic result of a magic
ritual, a biochemically altered bird, or perhaps the embodiment
of a 200-year-old Shawnee curse on the land. Not surprisingly,
skeptics scoffed at these theories, stating instead that Mothman
was probably just some normal bird; probably a sandhill crane.
The sandhill crane has reddish patches on its head that could
possibly be mistaken for large red eyes. And sandhill cranes are
very large – some reaching roughly the size attributed to
Mothman. However other large birds have been found in the area
as well. In July 1967, several boys found a large vulture near
New Haven. And at Gallipolis Ferry, a farmer shot an Arctic snow
owl; it was two feet tall with a five-foot wingspan. Many local
people were not interested in logical explanations – they were
afraid and, by the one-year anniversary of the first report,
over one hundred incidents linked to Mothman had been reported.
On the
evening of December 15, 1967, the Silver Bridge, which crossed
the Ohio River at Point Pleasant, collapsed in rush-hour
traffic. Over forty-six cars fell into the river. It was the
biggest disaster ever to hit Point Pleasant and it seemed to
mark the end of the flurry of Mothman sightings. People began to
speculate that the Mothman was somehow responsible for the
bridge’s collapse. At any rate, the severity of the accident
seemed to turn public attention away from the Mothman and only
scattered reports of him have surfaced since then.
Still, the
mystique of Mothman is a strong one and many people believe he
existed. Today, UFOs and Men in Black have been added to the
Mothman legend. A movie based on John A. Keel's book The Mothman
Prophocies is in the works, proving that Mothman still has a
following today.
