Is Mothman an Omen of Doom?

Commentary

Bad omens have a strange way of popping up after an event has happened. It’s only afterward that somebody or something emerges, claiming to have foreseen a major disaster that had just occurred.

Case in point: The Mothman

Supposedly, the winged-humanoid demon known as the Mothman is believed to be an entity with the power of foresight. As the stories surrounding this mysterious being goes, the mere presence of him is considered a harbinger of bad things to come.

Since the mid-1960s it has been spotted by frightened commuters in the forests and abandoned mines off of Route 62 near Point Pleasant, West Virginia. If its massive body and sinister red eyes were not enough to send chills down the back of the eye-witnesses, its reputation for showing up before a disaster occurred made many dread its presence.

However, a closer look reveals something other than a prophetic creature; its reputation as a bad omen was based on one unrelated event. On top of that, the supposed sightings and precognitive powers were merely the thing of legend and imagination.

The Sighting That Started it All

The Mothman’s emergence was first reported on November 15, 1966 when a group of young travelers from Point Pleasant spotted something lurking near the West Virginia Ordnance Works, an abandoned World War II explosives factory. Roger and Linda Scarberry, along with Steve and Mary Mallette and their cousin Lonnie Button noticed two red lights in the shadow by an old generator plant.

Curious, they pulled the car over to get a better look. What they saw terrified them. The red lights, as Roger Scarberry claimed, were the eyes of a large beast “shaped like a man, but bigger, maybe six and a half or seven feet tall with big wings folded against its back. The young travelers sped away toward Route 62 with the creature in hot pursuit of them (a version of this legend was written on a plaque on the Mothman statue).

The next day, the deputy investigated, but never found any evidence of the creature.

They managed to reach the Mason County courthouse where they alerted Deputy Millard Halstead. Instead of casting doubt on the story the deputy later stated:

• “I’ve known these kids all their lives. They’d never been in any trouble and they were really scared that night. I took them seriously.”

The next day, the deputy investigated, but never found any evidence of the creature. (Many skeptics point out the travelers may have misidentified an animal such as the Sandhill Crane which had been a problem in the region during the 1960s. These cranes were 39 inches with a wingspan up to 7 feet).

A Connection to a Disaster

This should have been the end of the story; however, news leaked of this incident. Soon, more accounts were being reported to the police. From November 16 through the 24, several people reported seeing the elusive creature near Route 62 and the abandoned ordinance factory. Each account was more dramatic than the next. Soon, the sightings dried up and nothing was reported for two months.

That all changed on January 11, 1967 when the sightings of the Mothman (and possibly the most important to the creation of its legend) began to intensify. This time, the creature was spotted hovering over Silver Bridge. This I-bar chain suspension bridge was a major thorough-fare in the region. It connected Point Pleasant and Gallipolis, Ohio over the Ohio River. The bridge had been a fixture in the region since 1928 and was heavily used by commuters between the two towns.

These sightings over the bridge would continue until the fateful day of December 15, 1967. On a cold, frosty day, the bridge collapsed taking 46 lives with it. An investigation would reveal that the cause of the accident was a flaw in its structure that had gone unnoticed until it was too late.

Despite the official findings, many in the area were convinced that the Mothman had something to do with it. Rumors persisted that the presence of the creature over the bridge in the months before the collapse was a sign that it knew something was going to happen and that it was trying to warn people.

Although the sightings of the Mothman stopped after the demolition and removal of the remains of the bridge, its legend began to grow. This fairly new local legend would become an international paranormal sensation. And much of its popularity and fascination – as well as the claim it was a prophet of doom – can be traced to one man.

John Keel and The Mothman Prophesies

The late John Keel was a journalist and UFOlogist. His interest in the story led him to write an international bestseller, The Mothman Prophesies. In the 1975 book, Keel theorized that Mothman was part of a “parapsychological” event in the Port Pleasant area. He included references to precognition by witnesses who “foresaw” the Silver Bridge collapse.

Furthermore, Keel claimed that some of the people who perished in the collapse had seen the Mothman a few days prior to the event. This was a disturbing allegation.

The sensationalism of the book led to more written accounts as well as more elements to this growing myth. In one book, Alien Animals by Janet and Colin Bord, a poltergeist reportedly attacked the Scarberry home on the same night they came into contact with Mothman.

Even the noted folklorist and urban legend expert Jan Harold Brunvald has pointed out that Mothman’s story has elements of other older folk tales mixed in with actual events to create a convincing, if not real, story

To add more to this perplexing myth, a movie based on Keel’s book was released in 2002. The movie, starring Richard Gere, added that the mysterious creature not only showed up before the bridge’s collapse, it revealed itself to people who were going to be involved in serious and deadly accidents.

Holes In the Mothman’s Prophesies

That same year, the magazine “Skeptical Inquirer” exposed Keel’s accounts as being far from accurate. It turned out that Keel’s original notes on the matter greatly differed from the finished product. This gave hints that Keel may have embellished much of the information he had originally gathered.

The embellishment also leads to another question: were the powers of prophecies false? It looks to be the case. It’s possible that several accounts of the Mothman sightings and the bridge collapse were conflated into one legend. It’s not unusual that the real events take on a mythical story. The difference is that a local legend was seemingly inserted in its retelling.

By now, much of the Mothman Prophesies – as well as Mothman – have been dismissed as pure urban myth. Even the noted folklorist and urban legend expert Jan Harold Brunvald has pointed out that Mothman’s story has elements of other older folk tales mixed in with actual events to create a convincing, if not real, story.

Another major problem exists: many of the claims about the Mothman being the harbinger of doom was based on accounts made after a tragedy. In addition, claims that it happened several times is suspect. The only recorded event came after the Silver Bridge collapse. The others were mentioned in the movie version of Keel’s book.

The Claim of Prediction Power

Mothman – if real – doesn’t appear to have the ability to predict the future. This particular account may have been added years after the bridge tragedy happened. Then again, nobody could have predicted the events of December 15, 1967. Its ability to predict the future – especially major disasters – is about as credible as the guy on the corner holding a sign reading “The End is Near.”