Mothman

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Mothman (artist's impression)

The Mothman (German "Mottenmann") is a modern mythical creature whose appearance is supposed to herald misfortune. He is described by eyewitnesses as a winged half-human, similar to an angel , but of dark skin color, with bright red, round eyes. There is no evidence of the existence of the creature.

term

For the first perceived apparition in 1966, eyewitnesses and the press used the term “moth-man” from the beginning, in variations and alongside a multitude of other terms. Most assumed a bird-like figure, for example “man-sized bird”, “birdman”, “bird-like creature” or “bird-monster”. Mothman prevailed as the sole name in later publications. To explain this, reference is often made to the role model effect of the comic hero Batman and his criminal opponent Killer Moth .

The event

The first observation on the legend of the Mothman is based, triggering further sightings occurred in the US town of Point Pleasant ( West Virginia ) on the night of 15 November 1966 on the site of the decommissioned West Virginia Ordnance Works , a Munitions factory from the Second World War, called " TNT area" by the locals . The remote and confusing area was a meeting place for young people from the hot rod scene in the mid-1960s .

Two couples, Roger and Linda Scarberry and Steve and Mary Mallette, of Point Pleasant were driving the Scarberrys' car on a road through the compound at about 11:30 p.m. It was a cold, clear night. According to Linda Scarberry's account, they suddenly saw in front of the old power station building opposite a terrifying, human-like figure about seven feet (2.13 m) tall, with large angel wings of ten feet (3.04 m) wingspan. The tips of the wings were visible protruding over the shoulders. The creature had large, round, glowing red, hypnotizing eyes about two inches (5 cm) in diameter. The body seemed strong, but had neither arms nor head. When it was first sighted, the apparition was crouched on a hill and tried to free itself from a wire in which a wing had become entangled. Then the figure rose flapping its wings and, when the two couples fled the area, flew several times over the car that was driving away at high speed. The creature flew very quickly and one heard loud flapping of its wings. The witnesses reported the incident to the local sheriff that night , who searched the premises around two o'clock, but without noticing anything unusual. During the hearing of the witnesses, the married couples were questioned separately from each other, and all gave the same details about the mysterious being on record.

On November 16, 1966, an article appeared in the local Point Pleasant Register newspaper under the speculative title: "Couples See Man-Sized Bird ... Creature ... Something." In the days that followed, other newspapers took up the topic and in the period that followed triggered a real wave of more sightings in the area. Linda Scarberry, the main witness, also claims to have seen the creature several times in the following days, once even sitting on the roof of her apartment building. In addition, the terrifying apparition was spotted in Point Pleasant, standing on a street or fluttering over a former US Army building .

Soon more terrifying attributes were added to the "Mothman," as the figure was now commonly called. He is said to have sharp claws instead of human feet, to be four meters tall, to be deep black and to have the ability to suddenly materialize and then disappear again. In Point Pleasant, hunting groups formed, armed and equipped with powerful headlights, searched for the mothman with sniffer dogs.

When exactly 13 months after the first encounter with the Mothman, on Friday, December 15, 1967, at 5:04 p.m., the 681-meter-long Silver Bridge between Point Pleasant and Kanauga collapsed, the hysteria surrounding the Mothman reached its peak. In the dense pre-Christmas shopping traffic, 31 vehicles fell into the Ohio River , 46 people drowned. Going back to a legend of the Iroquois , the Tuscarora and the Wyandot , who saw the appearance of a similarly described being as a harbinger of misfortune and hardship, it has now been claimed that the Mothman had announced the collapse of the bridge. As a four-year investigation was able to determine, material fatigue, micro-cracks and subsequent rust on a load-bearing component were the causes of the accident.

In the press, more people spoke up who wanted to have seen the Mothman as a harbinger of actual or alleged accidents and catastrophes years before. It has been speculated that the Mothman's appearance was due to a curse that Chief Cornstalk is said to have imposed on the city. Cornstalk was a famous Shawnee leader at the time of the American independence movement , who was murdered on November 10, 1777 at Fort Randolph near Point Pleasant.

Another theory says that during World War II explosives and thus toxic waste were produced on the "TNT area", and so the Mothman would have mutated into an ominous animal twenty years later. In later years, the eerie mothman was spotted in Chernobyl and China .

As a resident of Point Pleasant with a gun to the alleged Mothman shot while taking a rare horned owls killed, the sightings subsided. The death of reporter Mary Hyre, who continued to report on the Mothman, also contributed to this. A sober explanation for the apparition is that the eyewitnesses saw a great owl or sandhill crane . The supporters of conspiracy theories , however, assume that the Mothman is an alien , a ghost or the physical manifestation of a demon from the afterlife. Allegedly there should be links with UFO sightings and visits to the mysterious Men in Black . Others argue that the Mothman is a cryptid .

reception

The legend is kept alive up to the present day through book publications, internet articles and newspaper articles. The best-known is the book by the American ufologist John A. Keel , published in 1975 and reprinted several times, entitled The Mothman Prophecies , which also formed the basis for the 2002 Hollywood film of the same name with Richard Gere in the lead role (German Title: The Mothman Prophecies ). The film resulted in numerous Mothman sightings in all parts of the United States.

Point Pleasant hosts the three-day Mothman Festival in September each year, which draws thousands to the small town and provides a temporary boost to the economy. There is also a commercial Mothman museum in town with an attached devotional shop . The grateful residents have also dedicated a memorial to the Mothman, which is located in Gunn Park in the center of the village.

Remarks

  1. ↑ Today the site is mostly a densely vegetated nature reserve, the McClintic Wildlife Management Area , about 9 km northeast of Point Pleasant near Mason County Airport.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Books and Articles About the Mothman Legend. West Virginia Archives and History Library, accessed April 25, 2014 .
  2. ^ The Encyclopedia of Vampires, Werewolves, and Other Monsters, 207
  3. ↑ Fabulous Creatures, Mythical Monsters, and Animal Power Symbols: A Handbook, p. Xv
  4. ↑ a b c Donnie Sergent Jr. & Jeff Wamsley: Mothman: The Facts Behind the Legend. Mark S. Phillips Publishing 2001, ISBN 978-0-9667-2467-7 .
  5. ↑ Marc Roberts: The new lexicon of esotericism . Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf Verlag Berlin 2005, p. 612.
  6. ↑ Süddeutsche Zeitung: The black angel. Retrieved February 5, 2020 .
  7. ^ Mary Hyre: Couples See Man-Sized Bird ... Creature ... Something. Point Pleasant Register, Point Pleasant, WV, November 16, 1966, front page.
  8. ^ A b c Mark Moran, Mark Sceurman, Matt Lake: Weird US - Travel Guide to Americas Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets. Sterling Publishing Co., New York 2008, ISBN 978-1-4027-4544-7 , p. 260.
  9. ↑ Lorenza Munoz, "Based on a True-Life Story, but Was That Story for Real?" Article in the Los Angeles Times January 23, 2002.
  10. ^ Loren Coleman: Mothman and Other Curious Encounters. Paraview Press, 2002, ISBN 1931044-34-1 .
  11. ↑ Chris LeRose: "The Collapse of the Silver Bridge" . In: West Virginia Historical Society Quarterly , vol. XV, No. 4 (October 2001).