Mothman Museum

The historic Mothman Museum, referred to as the Wise One's Museum by the Enlightened,Observer Errol: ""(Observer Errol's dialogue) is an unmarked location in the Appalachian town of Point Pleasant .
==Background==
===Pre-War===
The Mothman Museum was dedicated to the Mothman, Appalachia's most famous cryptid.Fallout 76 Vault Dweller's Survival Guide p. 294: "ZONE B: NORTHWEST FOREST AND POINT PLEASANT""This sliver of the Forest follows the winding Ohio River, the western boundary of Appalachia, and is mainly comprised of wooded and mountainous terrain. It is more remote and has fewer large settlements, with the exception of Point Pleasant, where a strange band of cultists have started to worship a possibly apocryphal shadow creation known as the Mothman."(Fallout 76 Vault Dweller's Survival Guide Atlas of Appalachia)Fallout 76 Vault Dweller's Survival Guide pp. 300–301: "27. POINT PLEASANT""Point Pleasant is home to the Mothman Museum and the adjacent statue. Its recent past has seen it change hands from a Raider to a Responder camp, though the current inhabitants are Scorchers and some mutated and unpleasant wildlife. Expect a number of inaccessible dwellings, upper rooftops with ramps, and bridges connecting them to narrow interiors, allowing for you to dodge violence as well as explore. Clear the rooftops of Scorchers first, before venturing into structures and finally securing the town. Don't forget to search for "The Mothman Cometh" holotapes (parts 1 and 2), and observe the worrying sacrificial display by the river. Check the church for the remains of a Responders triage center. Attempt to enter the Mothman Museum via either the locked front door (1) or the rear upper back door (0); then unlock the toilet door (2), which leads to a secret staircase into the basement, where true cultist horrors await!"(Fallout 76 Vault Dweller's Survival Guide Atlas of Appalachia) Mothman appearances were believed to be an indicator of imminent danger. A cult dedicated to the Mothman gathered in a root cellar beneath the museum, which was converted into a church.
Jeff Lane worked here. He had a key to the bathroom which leads to the hidden church.The note Wilson's Bros. garage indicates that the church key found at the garage belonged to Jeff.
On October 21, 2077, an unknown preacher called mass, announcing his intention to perform a ritual to summon their benefactor, hoping to be warned of a coming danger.Sermon: Summoning the Mothman A member named Brother Charles believed he saw the Mothman, which warned him of a flood, and commanded the cult to seek high ground or die. The following day, the preacher communicated this omen to the congregation, and declared that the faithful must stand on the rooftops of Point Pleasant.Sermon: Impending doom However, many of the cultists ultimately fled to the inactive Lucky Hole Mine, located on a cliff across the state. Jeff Lane remained in Point Pleasant.Interloper
===Post-War===
Before the Wastelanders update, there was little evidence of cultist activity on the surface of Point Pleasant, save for a single grotesquely rearranged skeleton laid out on a table by the water. Mothman eggs could be found nearby, as well as near the Mothman statue. In the chapel beneath the museum, ritual bindings and totems could be found, as well as totems fashioned from human remains and gas masks. 
The Responders lived in Point Pleasant for some time during the pre-Plague period, and left no obvious evidence of activity within the museum. They were ultimately driven south during the Scorched Plague. When the dwellers of Vault 76 found the museum in 2102, it was infested with scorched creatures. Additionally, the door between the bathroom and the chapel had apparently been broken down.
Point Pleasant was reclaimed by the Followers of the Winged One in 2103. They constructed cultist totems throughout the town, and cultivated rampant vines throughout, re-shaping its layout. Cultists can be found in the Mothman Museum, as well as the locked chapel beneath it. The pre-War sermons remain on the pulpit. 
In 2104, the Enlightened constructed a throne on top of the museum, which serves as the center of their seasonal Equinox festival.
==Layout==
The Museum stands to the left of a small pavilion, dominated by a large statue of the Mothman. The building can be entered via either of two locked doors (Picklock 1 at the front, Picklock 0 at the rear). It can also be unlocked with the Mothman Museum key, located in Jeff Lane's apartment nearby. The first floor consists of the main museum area with Mothman posters on the walls, display cabinets with various junk items, and a serving desk. There is also a miniature statue of the Mothman in one of the front window display cabinets.
At the back of the room is a locked (Picklock 2) restroom door. This can be unlocked with Jeff Lane's bathroom key, which can be found in Rich Wilson's home, located up the hill from Wilson Brother's Auto Repair on the other side of the Forest. The bathroom conceals a stairway, behind a room divider. There was once a door between the bathroom and the stairway, but it has been knocked out of its frame and left on the floor. There is a clothed male mannequin within the staircase. 
The basement was apparently once a small unfinished storeroom, but a hole has been knocked through a partition wall, leading to a hidden cellar-church. Cult statues are dotted around the drape-covered walls, and church pews line a carpeted central aisle. There are candlelit altars at either end of the room, and a wooden lectern with two readable sermons on it at the main end. Another hole in the wall leads to a small room with an armchair, I.V. drip, wheelchair, and a locked safe (Picklock 3) next to a set of ritual bindings and matching mask.
The upper floor can be accessed from the ground level via a set of stairs. The upper floor is comprised of a small partitioned office, store cupboard, a tinker's workbench, general storage space, and the back door at the rear which leads outside.
==Notable loot==
* The Mothman Cometh - Part 1 - Holotape, on the front counter in the museum.
* Sermon: Impending doom - Note, on the lectern in the basement.
* Sermon: Summoning the Mothman - Note, on the lectern in the basement.
* Note from Miller - Note, on the ground beneath the Mothman statue's right wing.
* Fernando's mysterious map fragment - On the front desk next to the cash registers.
* Mothman Museum key - Key to the museum. Located outside the museum, within Point Pleasant's southern apartment, opposite the bus stop.
* Ritual bindings and ritual mask - In the secret ritual area in the basement.
* Potential recipe - Behind the front counter of the store.
==Notes==
* Very rarely, a skittish mothman can be seen standing at the door, peering inside.
* There are triangles scratched into all of the totems in the basement. The central figure has a small triangle assembled from twigs on its chest. There is also a metal triangle on the wall in the stairwell, which bears an arrow pointing to the church.
* A mounted stingwing and botanical plants poster can be seen mounted on the wall behind the cash register. Both are post-War goods, and both were added in Wild Appalachia, the first content update for Fallout 76.
* The totems and plant growth in the Museum's chapel were present when the Vault 76 dwellers found it in 2102. It is unclear if these elements were present pre-War. When the Followers reclaimed Point Pleasant in 2103, they spread these elements throughout the town, and the chapel environment was not adjusted.
** The grisly shrine found by the waterfront in 2102 indicates cultist activity in Point Pleasant prior to Reclamation Day.
** The advanced growth at the altar of the aboveground church did not appear until 2104, when the totems of warding and the Wise throne were constructed.
* The pre-War sermons remain on the pulpit of the hidden chapel. Given that the Followers of the Winged One are a contiguous group who still worship the red-eyed Mothman,Exodus and that they seem to discuss pre-War media at the chapel within the Lucky Hole Mine,Randomized science magazine or pulp novel on the pulpit in the First Priestess' burial chamber. it would track for them to discuss these historic sermons.
==Appearances==
Mothman Museum appears only .
==Behind the scenes==
* This location is based on the real-life Mothman Museum and its famous statue in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. 
** The Museum was opened in 2005 by Jeff Wamsley.
*** The museum grew organically out of his earlier projects, after selling Mothman merchandise at his record stores throughout the '90s and curating a small exhibit of historical materials within the historic Lowe Hotel.
*** Additionally, Wamsley has always been involved in organizing the annual Mothman Festival, which has existed in various forms since the '90s. He also created MothmanLives.com in late 2000, which facilitated discussion and creativity between enthusiasts, researchers, locals, and even survivors of the 1967 bridge disaster.
*** The character Jeff Lane may be named for Wamsley, who was contacted by Bethesda to promote the game in 2018. The store has sold Fallout merchandise ever since.
*** Upon seeing the area in-game, Wamsley took note of a skeleton with a cigarette near the museum, which struck him as unmistakably resembling an employee, Jeremy, who would frequently chain-smoke outside the establishment at the time.
** The museum contains an exhibit dedicated to the works of John Keel, author of The Mothman Prophecies.
*** It also features an exhibit for local figure Mary Hyre, a local woman who featured prominently in the book, and an exhibit for the 2002 film adaptation.
*** Keel attended the museum before his death in 2009.
** The statue resembles the real-life statue very closely, except that the real statue has arms, while the in-game statue appears to have wings for arms. The in-game version comports more closely with first-hand descriptions of the Mothman.
* The Note from Miller found in the adjacent pavilion is a tribute to Evan Miller, a Fallout fan who passed away on June 8, 2018. A friend of his, Zack Berry, created a petition asking Bethesda Softworks to honor him.Put a tribute to Evan Miller in Fallout 76 - Change.org It caught the attention of Bethesda Vice President Pete Hines, who corresponded with Zack and other friends of Evan's about how to best honor his memory in the game. The shotgun ammo mentioned in the note is a nod to the last gift Zack received from Evan: two boxes of 12 gauge buckshot ammunition. Evan's online handle was "Limbless Cadaver," hence the name Evan "Limbless" Miller.
** Evan was once photographed at the statue, smiling in a Vault Boy shirt, at the right hand of the Mothman. The Note from Miller is found where he stood.
==Gallery==
FO76 Mothman Museum Front.png|Front
FO76 Mothman Museum logo.png|Side of building
F76 Mothman Museum Int .png|Interior
F76 Mothman Museum Bas 1.png|Chapel
F76 Mothman Museum Bas 2.png|Chapel decorations
76 first person torch.jpg
76 NOTM Museum block.png
FO76 Mothman Museum (The Mothman Cometh Part 1).png|The Mothman Cometh - Part 1
FO76 Sermons.jpg|Sermon: Impending doom and Sermon: Summoning the Mothman
Mothman Museum key.jpg|Mothman Museum key (pillow removed)
F76 Mothman Museum Poster.png|Advertisement poster
FO76 City Mothman poster.png|Mothman Museum poster
FO76 Mothman Museum entryway sign 18.png|Sign
FO76 Silver Bridge map.png|On the map
Ben Carnow (Moth statue).jpg|Concept art by Ben Carnow
Mothman Museum lithograph.jpg|Harry Osborn lithograph
76 Moth church tryptich.png
76 WL Pantheon.png
==References==
Non-game
Category:Fallout 76 unmarked locations
Category:The Forest locations
Category:Museums
pt:Mothman Museum
ru:Музей Молерота