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For a thirteen month period from November 1966 until December 1967, the town of Point Pleasant, West Virginia, USA was the centre of attention of the Mothman, a strange flying beast with glowing red eyes, that flew without flapping its wings. The visitation was connected to numerous strange events, the area becoming overrun by UFOs, poltergeists, Men in Black and cattle cadavers. The events were documented in a book which has become a classic of Fortanea, The Mothman Prophecies, by John Keel. Keel arrived from New York to investigate the Mothman reports, and eventually became inextricably linked to all the strange events.  Read about the book here

There were hundreds of alleged witnesses to these events. Most of them appearences of the Mothman were in the vicinity of the disused North Power Plant, which was part of the dormant West Virginia Ordnance Works complex. Years later it was revealed low level radioactive waste was stored at the complex. The area was frequented by locals as a shooting range and a 'lovers lane'.

So what was the Mothman?

Conventional Explanations

The most believable of the conventional explanations is that it is a misidentification of a giant owls, which is also known as Bighoot. Great name. Giant owls have been been sighted for over 100 years in West Virginia-Ohio area, and elsewhere in North America. Loren Coleman believes this is the source of the Mothman, with the rest XXXXXXXXX

Indeed, John Keel has played a significant role in creating the myth of the Mothman with his book and later the movie. As a fortean he would be aware of this,  Could it all be Keels imagination/hallucination?

Unconventional Explanations

Keel calls them, ultra-terrestrial creatures. Much like the greek gods; tricky, troublesome and very powerful.

some members of the population claimed 'contact' with various extraterrestrial -- or, as . It seemed that anyone even peripherally involved was  and

Before long, he was experienced disconcerting sychronicities, such as many of his 'contactee' friends knowing of his future actions *before* he had himself decided on them. His phone line became almost unusable with untraceable interference, tapping, line cutting, crossed lines, harassments, hoax phone calls and dark photographers trailing him round Manhattan. . . "Between the IRS, the phone company. . . and flying saucers I was fast becoming a candidate for the funny farm".

Keel received constant precise predictions throughout the 13 months, presumably 'channelled' by various contactees. These 'Mothman prophesies' had a nasty habit of being *almost* right - but not right enough. The predicted assassination attempt on the pope -- followed by "days of darkness" didn't happen, instead the pontiff escaped eradication in the Philippines three years later.

Things finally came to a head during rush hour on Point Pleasant's Silver Bridge, which spanned the Ohio River. Keel's contactees warned of a nation-wide power outage for December 15th. Instead, the Silver Bridge crumpled into the river, taking 31 vehicles and 67 people with it. There were 46 deaths.

The difference between *Mothman Prophecies* and other 'casebooks' of this ilk is illustrated by Keels good humour (how he kept it I don't know), his modesty, and his apparent realisation that he was not in a position to assume an objective role in documenting the goings-

on in Point Pleasant. He knew that he was *too close*.