Mothman

[[File:Mothman Artist's Impression.png|right|thumb|165px|Oooh, scary, scary!]]
{{Cryptid}}
The story of '''Mothman''' is even weirder than that of [[Spring Heeled Jack]]. The events described in [[John A. Keel]]'s ''The Mothman Prophecies'' run, briefly, as follows: in 1968
, a foursome of young lovers out for a [[sex|drive]] in [[West Virginia]] claimed to see an extremely strange flying 
creature
 animal<ref group=note>Pro Tip: just substitute the more accurate term "animal" for "creature" found in many over-dramatized reports and suddenly the silliness of the whole episode becomes apparent.</ref> that swooped over their car, frightening them. Over the following year, dozens of people in the area also claimed to have seen the creature; there were also reports of [[UFO]]s, [[men in black]], a [[contactee]] or two, and bizarre telephone messages from unknown persons. The events apparently ended with the collapse of the local bridge in 1967 which killed dozens of people. Despite all of this, many people within the cryptid community really want to [[Sex|fuck]] the Mothman.<ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mothman&type=revision&diff=1035473813&oldid=1035184994 An edit] on the Wikipedia article for {{wpl|Mothman||.}}</ref><ref>[https://cryptidz.fandom.com/wiki/Mothman?commentId=4400000000000050679 Comment] on the Mothman article of the Cryptidz fandom wiki.</ref><ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-P5OG1LQMxo The Top 10 Hottest Cryptids RANKED...]</ref><ref group=note>It gets weirder the further you go down [[Rule 34|this oddly specific rabbit hole]]; we suggest that you don't do so to maintain what little innocence you may still have.</ref>

Keel and another writer, Gray Barker, wrote this all up in a couple of exceedingly strange books. Keel's book was adapted into a 2002 [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0265349/ film] starring Richard Gere.<ref group=note>We would be remiss in failing to mention the 2011 'documentary' film [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0810856/ Eyes of the Mothman].</ref> Whether it is the book or the film that most resembles what actually happened is probably moot.

== Origin of the legend == 
The initial report came from two 18-year-old married<ref group=note>1966. Rural West Virginia. Nuff' said.</ref> couples in a 1957 Chevy who'd been cruising woodsy spots where bored local kids gathered to drink, make out, and raise Hell (think ''American Graffiti'' with wedding rings). The grounds of an abandoned warehouse that had been used to store munitions in the 1940s was one of the more popular hangouts. There, they told the local sheriff, "a bird as big as a man" chased their car, its eyes reflecting the glow of their headlights. The press picked up the sheriff's report prompting widespread hysteria and a number of pranks; one local man blasted an owl to bits with his shotgun after being frightened by its "glowing eyes," and a gang of construction workers tied flashlights to a balloon in hopes of inciting a UFO scare. 

A few nights later, members of the local fire department investigated the warehouse area and reported observing a large creature which they definitely identified as a bird. A wildlife biologist guessed that a sandhill crane — a bird with a seven foot wingspan and reddish coloring around the eyes — may have wandered out of its migration route. Others blamed the hysteria on sightings of various types of owls with large wingspans that were common to the area.<ref name="Gettysburg Times">{{cite news|last=Associated Press|title=Monster Bird With Red Eyes May Be Crane|url=http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=LG0mAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Rf8FAAAAIBAJ&pg=620,2790721&dq=point+pleasant+roger+scarberry&hl=en|accessdate=21 August 2011|newspaper=Gettysburg Times|date=Dec 1, 1966}}</ref><ref name="Nickell2004">{{cite book|author=Joe Nickell|title=The Mystery Chronicles: More Real-Life X-Files|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=sComGoDFJZ4C&pg=PA93|accessdate=21 August 2011|date=April 2004|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|pages=93–}}</ref> But rational explanations quickly took a back seat to sensational media coverage. A press conference was held in the county courthouse where the teens were encouraged to repeat their story for reporters. The creature was dubbed "Mothman" (a nod to Batman's enemy "Killer Moth" in the then-popular TV series ''Batman'')<ref name="Eason2008">Cassandra Eason. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=s4AP30k4IFwC&pg=PR15 Fabulous Creatures, Mythical Monsters, and Animal Power Symbols: A Handbook]''. Greenwood Publishing Group; 2008. p. 15–.</ref> by a local newscaster, and the national press spread the story across the country.<ref name="MoranSceurman2009">{{cite book|author1=Mark Moran|author2=Mark Sceurman|title=Weird U.S.: Your Travel Guide to America's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=dXtBIvwPN84C&pg=PA108|accessdate=20 February 2013|date=5 May 2009|publisher=Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.}}</ref>

=== Keel and Barker ===
Enter two UFOlogist writers who specialized in spinning [[woo]] into cash: John Keel and Gray Barker. Keel was demonstrably better at his craft, having sold articles to ''Science Digest'', ''Saga'', and ''Playboy'', while Barker labored mostly on the fringes, cranking out a mimeographed newsletter he called ''Saucer News''. Both recognized the Mothman reports coming out of West Virginia as the basis for a potentially profitable enterprise. Keel took up residence at a Point Pleasant motel to gather details and interview locals. The two men discussed the idea of jointly authoring a "nonfiction" (wink wink) book on the subject, and Keel agreed to share his notes. Barker drafted a few sample chapters that featured Keel as a "mysterious character" and fabricated a mythical connection between Mothman and the tragic but unrelated collapse of a local bridge. 

Keel later revamped and polished the story into a first-person narrative that cast him in the role of a "journalist", liberally salted with his own paranoid fantasies about UFOs, [[men in black]] conspiracies, and other paranormal weirdness. Barker's habit of "drunk dialing" Keel's motel room at odd hours to mumble incoherent messages was subsequently re-imagined by Keel as a series of "mysterious phone calls" from mysterious, extradimensional beings. Predictably, when their loose partnership fell apart, it was Keel's mass-market book ''The Mothman Prophecies'' and not Barker's self-published ''The Silver Bridge'' that would go on to generate the most impact (and dollars).<ref>Sherwood, John (May/June 2002). ''Gray Barker’s Book of Bunk Mothman, Saucers, and MIB''. retrieved Feb 20 2013, from Committee for Skeptical Inquiry Web Site: http://www.csicop.org/si/show/gray_barkers_book_of_bunk_mothman_saucers_and_mib/</ref>

==Curse of Mothman==
There are a couple of odd developments stemming from this weirdness. One is a meme running through the Mothman literature that the creature is a harbinger of disaster; it was said to have appeared before the 1985 Mexico City earthquake and the [[Chernobyl]] disaster.<ref>[http://otherplane.com/am/ammothman.htm Ancient Myths - The Mothman Prophecies]</ref> Therefore, anywhere that gets a visit from this thing is ''DOOOOMED!!!ZOMG!!!11!''… except for the places that had disasters without preceding Mothman reports or reports with no ensuing disaster.<ref group=note>We'd say "[[correlation does not imply causation]]", but there's hardly even a correlation to begin with — just [[selective reporting]] or, more likely, bizarre ''post hoc'' [[shoehorning]].</ref>

A more personalised service is the "Mothman death list", a supposed [[curse]] that befalls anyone who sees Mothman — you'll be dead in a year, apparently. Like, say, Linda Scarberry, who was one of the original quartet in the car, and, um, oh, [http://www.paraview.com/mothman_central.htm here she is alive and well in 2002]. Oops. Of course, many people ''have'' died over the years; after all, it was over 50 years ago, and natural causes take their toll.

==Tourism==

Despite no sighting reports for over fifty years, the Mothman is still a considerable tourist attraction. They may be weirdos, but they're still spending dollars; the town of Point Pleasant even has a Mothman Festival (3rd weekend in September, Mothfans). <ref>http://www.thestar.com/life/travel/2008/01/19/mothman_still_a_frighteningly_big_draw_for_tourists.html Star.com: 'Mothman' still a frighteningly big draw for tourists</ref>

== The movie ==

''The Mothman Prophecies'' was made into a feature film in 2002, albeit not one based strictly on Keel's book. The bearded, pipe-smoking freelance scribbler Keel was recast as a super-attractive ''[[Washington Post]]'' staff reporter named Klein (Richard Gere) who's happily married to a super-attractive wife (Debra Messing) who can't wait to have sex with him at every opportunity (did we mention this is science fiction?). Then, one day the Kleins crash their car and the wife dies, but not before she tells him it was Mothman's fault. 

A bunch of strange experiences follow; Klein inexplicably finds himself in West Virginia, is mistaken for a stalker, gets funny phone calls, and hooks up with sexy female cop Connie Mills (Laura Linney) whom he heroically rescues in the inevitable bridge collapse. Through it all, the shadowy figure of Mothman is seen flying around in a manner that suggests he/it is responsible for all this weirdness. 

For example, before the bridge collapsed, Connie Mills had super weird dreams. She was floating in water surrounded by presents as a voice called to her, "Come back No. 37".<ref group=note>The movie dialogue mentions that 36 people died in the collapse of the Silver Bridge, but in reality, it was 46, which is actually scarier.</ref> The movie strongly hints that Connie would surely have been bridge collapse drowning victim #37 if Keel/Gere wasn't there to save her and that Mothman (don't ask how) somehow enabled it all.

The pair promptly realize their recent experiences have been phantasmagorically significant, and it confirms for them that Mothman is real (and apparently dedicated to helping rescue people during bridge collapses in West Virginia). The two main characters stare in horror into the night as menacing music plays on the soundtrack. The film ends with the terrifying conclusion that the Mothman (who they already knew to be real) is real! And he's apparently a good guy! Duh-duh-DUUUHHHH!!!!<ref>http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20020125/REVIEWS/201250305/1023 ''The Mothman Prophecies'', RogerEbert.com / January 25, 2002</ref>

The end credits ominously state the "fact" that "the collapse of the Silver Bridge was never explained". However, this is not true. The incident was found to be caused by the failure of an eye bar in a suspension chain.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wvculture.org/history/wvhs1504.html |title=The Collapse of the Silver Bridge-by Chris LeRose |publisher=Wvculture.org |date= |accessdate=2013-02-20}}</ref><ref group=note>Yes, we know, it's absolutely astounding that [https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory a movie would make facts up and pass them off as true]. What's next, [[Fake news|actual news reporting that isn't true]]? ([[Fox News|Oh]], [[Post-truth|wait]]…)</ref>

As of writing, the Nostalgia Critic has yet to review this film.

==External links==
*[http://www.lorencoleman.com/mothman_death_list.html The Mothman death list]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note|2}}

==References==
{{reflist|2}}
[[Category:Cryptozoology]]
[[Category:Folklore]]
[[Category:Urban legends]]
[[Category:Ufology]]

Categories: Cryptozoology, Folklore, Urban legends, Ufology