The First Sightings
The Mothman legend, which has become one of the most enduring and mysterious folklore tales in American history, began to take shape on November 12, 1966, in the rural hills of West Virginia. That evening, a group of gravediggers working near Clendenin, a small town situated about 20 miles from Point Pleasant, reported a chilling encounter with a creature they could barely describe.
The men claimed to have seen a large, winged figure with glowing red eyes that hovered eerily above them before disappearing into the night. The description of the creature was unlike anything the men had ever encountered, sparking both curiosity and fear among locals.
Just three days later, on November 15, the legend took another significant turn when two young couples from the Point Pleasant area had a terrifying experience that would make headlines across the country. The couples were driving along a remote road near the abandoned West Virginia Ordnance Works (TNT plant) when they encountered a humanoid creature unlike any they had ever seen.
The creature, which they described as being at least seven feet tall, had a massive wingspan of over ten feet, and piercing red eyes that glowed ominously in the darkness. The most unsettling part of the encounter, they later reported, was the creature’s ability to fly at high speeds, quickly gaining on their vehicle as they fled in a panic. The experience left the young couples shaken, but it would be only the beginning of a series of increasingly strange and terrifying sightings.
The media quickly picked up on these early reports, and the story of the Mothman began to spread beyond the local area. As the weeks passed, more and more individuals came forward with their own accounts of eerie encounters with a winged creature near the TNT plant and other isolated areas around Point Pleasant.
Witnesses described the Mothman as a dark, humanoid figure with large, bat-like wings and glowing red eyes, sometimes taking flight or simply standing motionless in the night. Some people reported feeling an overwhelming sense of dread or unease during their encounters, as though the creature was somehow connected to an impending disaster.
The frequency of the sightings only increased as the months went by. It was not uncommon for people to claim to have seen the Mothman perched atop buildings, flying across fields, or even chasing vehicles down desolate roads.
Many of these encounters were concentrated around the West Virginia Ordnance Works, a site already laden with dark associations due to its history of chemical contamination and abandonment. The connection between the Mothman and the TNT plant quickly became a popular theory, with some locals speculating that the creature used the crumbling industrial complex as a lair or hideout.
In the months leading up to December 15, 1967, the sightings reached a fever pitch. Yet, just as the Mothman legend seemed to be at its height, a tragic event would unfold that would forever link the creature to the town of Point Pleasant.
On that fateful day, during rush hour traffic, the Silver Bridge—a vital suspension bridge that connected Point Pleasant to Gallipolis, Ohio—suddenly collapsed into the Ohio River, sending cars and pedestrians plunging into the water below. Forty-six people lost their lives in the disaster, and the community was left in shock.
The collapse of the Silver Bridge was one of the deadliest bridge disasters in U.S. history and garnered national media attention. In the aftermath of the tragedy, some locals began to speculate that the Mothman had been a harbinger of doom, a supernatural warning of the impending disaster.
The idea gained traction, particularly in the wake of reports from eyewitnesses who claimed to have seen the Mothman near the bridge in the days leading up to the collapse.
As the months passed, sightings of the Mothman abruptly ceased. The creature, once a frequent subject of reports and speculation, seemed to disappear as mysteriously as it had appeared. The media frenzy surrounding the creature slowly faded, but the connection between the Mothman and the Silver Bridge collapse endured in local lore.
Some believed that the Mothman had fulfilled its purpose, warning the town of an impending disaster, while others viewed it as a malevolent force tied to the bridge’s tragic fate.
The Mothman sightings did not resurface in the area, and by the early 1970s, the legend began to shift from an ongoing phenomenon to a historical mystery. However, the events of 1966 to 1967 left an indelible mark on Point Pleasant, and the town’s association with the Mothman became a defining feature of its identity.
In the years that followed, books, documentaries, and even a major motion picture would explore the eerie connection between the creature and the Silver Bridge collapse, further cementing the Mothman’s place in popular culture.
Today, Point Pleasant continues to embrace its strange history, with Mothman-themed festivals, statues, and museums dedicated to the creature. The Mothman remains a subject of fascination for paranormal enthusiasts, cryptozoologists, and curious tourists alike. Despite the passage of time, the legend endures, as people continue to search for answers about the mysterious creature that once haunted the skies above this small West Virginia town.
Discover how the legend of the Mothman began in Part One, and how the Mothman shaped Point Pleasant in Part Two.
