THE MOTHMAN Legend, Chapter 1

Jack the Ripper, Dracula, Dr. Frankenstein's monster, Bigfoot, Extraterrestrials... these creatures (among others) are the things that nightmares are made of. Let's add one more to the ever growing list of the things that scare us the most; The Mothman. The release of "The Mothman Prophecies" has renewed interest in this 40 year old mystery, which brings us to the question at hand. What is the Mothman anyway? It seems that each time the creature was seen, it was described somewhat differently. Could the unnerving thought of being ripped to shreds by this creature of the night cause one's judgment to be impaired? Obviously so. What could be worse than a cloaked madman like the Ripper lurking in the fog shrouded alleys of Whitehall ready to take another victim, or the sight of a half-man half-giant bird swooping down and clawing us to death, or eating us alive? How did the legend of the terror inspiring Mothman begin anyway?

There is some doubt as to whether or not the Mothman belongs in the field of UFOology, but there is some evidence that it does, and we will go into that in this article. The very first sighting of the Mothman was supposedly on the night of November 15, 1966, near the town of Point Pleasant, West Virginia. Two married couples, Roger and Linda Scarberry and Steve and Mary Mallette were driving past a closed down World War II ammunitions plant that was commonly called the "TNT AREA" by locals. They were only about six miles north of the city proper, in an area set aside by the city as a wildlife preserve for birds, called the McClintic Wildlife Preserve. The area had many underground tunnels and caves; an easy hiding or nesting place. The first thing that caught their attention was the glow of two large red eyes peering through the darkness. They could soon make out the shape of a creature six to seven foot tall, with the basic shape of a human with what appeared to be wings folded around his sides and back.

The glowing red eyes were also identified with another mysterious creature, oddly enough, in Flatwoods, West Virginia. The being is commonly referred to as the Flatwoods monster. The Flatwoods event occurred in September of 1952. A bright, burning UFO that was seen crashing to the ground heralded the subsequent sighting of two large red eyes about a foot apart which glowed in the night. The initial assumption was that an airplane had crashed.. that is until the reports began to come in of sightings of the monster. Eye witness testimony still exists, part of which I will quote from here:

Topping the hill, they (several school boys and a neighbor lady) could see a "glowing, hissing" object about 10 feet in diameter, about 100 yards away. Now completely dark, the night was shattered by two lights, about a foot apart. One of the boys had a flashlight, and when he turned it on the two distant lights a creature ten foot tall appeared.."… a bright red face, bright green clothing, a head which resembled the ace of spades, and clothing which, from the waist down, hung in great folds." Suddenly, the creature began to "float" toward them, sending the group running back down the hill to the May house, where they quickly called the Sheriff.
These two accounts, if put side by side will bring some remarkable similarities. One could make a good case that the Mothman and the Flatwoods monster were the same species.

The four adults in Point Pleasant also made the statement that the eyes had a "hypnotizing" effect on them. As they stared in wonderment at the creature, it suddenly moved..then made a mad dash toward an open door in the plant. Awe had turned into fear now, as the four sped away, racing toward Point Pleasant. Only a few moments passed before they again saw the creature..or another like it. Standing in a field just off the lonely road, it spread open it's massive wings. The witnesses said that the creature's wings were similar to those of a bat.
The creature rose into the air, seemingly without effort, lifting it's enormous body against the Earth's gravity easily. The four sped on, but now this hideous winged fiend was following them! The frantic four, now speeding at near 100 miles per hour, were astonished to see the creature pacing them. During this run for their lives, they could hear a sound even above the roar of the car engine. This was a sound like a "record played at high speeds." Obviously the high speed working of it's wings accounted for the strange sound. Finally the foursome reached the town of Point Pleasant, where the creature abandoned it's pursuit, opting for the loneliness of the outskirts rather than the sounds and lights of the city. The witnesses noticed a dead dog near the city limits as they finally put distance between themselves and the monster. Later, when returning with policemen to the scene, they noticed that the body of the dog was gone.
"It was shaped like a man, but bigger. Maybe six and a half or seven feet tall. And it had big wings folded against its back” Roger Scarberry told reporters.
“But it was those eyes that got us. It had two big eyes like automobile reflectors," added Linda Scarberry. “They were hypnotic. For a minute, we could only stare at it. I couldn’t take my eyes off it.”

The frightened four never stopped their car until they reached the Mason County Sheriff's Office. Deputy Millard Halstead was the first person the four frightened witnesses saw. They immediately began to tell their unusual story.