NICK REDFERN: Weirdness of the Mothman Kind

There can be very few researchers of the world of the unexplained who have not experienced, now and again, a sense that the phenomena they investigate sometimes manipulates them. For some people, it can be an exciting and illuminating experience. For others, it can be downright terrifying, and something which has led people to quit – forever – the world of the paranormal. I have experienced this sense of manipulation more than a few times, but last Saturday night things became downright crazy.

Right now, I’m working on a new book that includes a small overview of the Mothman mystery, which dominated the town of Point Pleasant, West Virginia in the 1960s. So, over the course of the last week, and even though I’m very clued-in on the subject, I have been doing a bit of additional research into the winged beast made most famous in John Keel’s classic study of the case, The Mothman Prophecies.

Well, as coincidence (or synchronicity) would have it, on the very same day that I began my research last week, I received in the mail a package of new books from Andy Colvin, the author of no less than five books (s0 far!) on Point Pleasant’s most famous monster. They are: The Mothman’s Photographer, The Mothman’s Photographer II, The Mothman’s Photographer III, The Mothman Speaks and The Mothman Shrieks.

Read on...

SAD NEWS FROM LOREN

Mothman's Linda Scarberry Has Died

http://www.cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-news/scarberry-obit/

NEW FROM NICK

http://www.mania.com/lair-beasts-monsters-space-center_article_126910.html


The connections between NASA and mothman. I do not know how the boy Redfern does it. You are a machine, sir, a machine...

OLL LEWIS: Yesterday's News Today

http://cryptozoologynews.blogspot.com/

On this day in 1967 the Silver Bridge in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, USA collapsed, resulting in the deaths of 47 people. John Keel linked the bridge's collapse to sightings of ‘Mothman’ in the Point Pleasant area, in his book The Mothman Prophecies.
And now, the news:

Man castrates neighbour's dog
Has the Hills' big cat been found?
Pekinite allegedly chucks dead squirrel into drive...
Lair of the Beasts: Monsters at the Space Center
Scientists investigate potential new lemur species...
Tesco sorry for baby mice in crisps
Electric eels light up Christmas

And here's a link to a video of that eel; all rather interesting... I wonder how many of them you would need to house to get the power to reliably heat an aquarium:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9wktSQdyaE

OUR CASSIE MUSES ON MOTHMAN AGAIN!

Hey Jon---did you notice there’s a part 2 to my Mothman piece on my Wordpress blog? http://shadowcass.wordpress.com/2010/10/17/more-mothman-less-gothman/



I’m also featuring a series of Old Time Radio programmes for Halloween if anyone is interested in grabbing those shows before I take them down in November.

NEIL ARNOLD: The Horror Of Haldon Hill

EDITOR'S NOTE: Guess where most of my best forgotten 1999/2000 Owlman movie was filmed, including all the nudie bum bum bits and the pointlessly violent bits.
Yup. You've guessed it. Haldon Hill

During early September I appeared on Coast To Coast AM with George Noory for the second time. Coast To Coast AM is one of the United States biggest radio broadcasts,

and in the past monster hunters such as Jon Downes and Nick Redfern have been invited on. The great thing with the show is that millions of listeners tune in and the show can be heard in any of the states. The biggest buzz of doing the show is the feedback during and after the show. I received calls from as far as Canada and China. However, despite the reports of Bigfoot, serpents and even a troll (!), the most unusual call I had concerned a chap from merry ol’ England. This is his story:

‘OK, before I report this I want you to no I’m in no way over the top, crazy, or mad…but one night while driving home from Exeter to Torquay on the A38 a couple of years ago I saw a large winged creature. I had just got to the top of Haldon Hill and as I came to the top of the hill something swooped down and flew up and over my car so close to my windscreen you could have fit a Rizla paper between it! The only way I can explain how these wings looked was the same as how bats wings are but much bigger! The wingspan was wider than my Honda Civic 1.5, I’d say each wing was about 2 .5 metres across.

'I’m seriously not the sort of person to come forward about this type of stuff, I kind of dismissed it until I heard you on Coast To Coast saying that many people had seen things like this. I hadn’t heard of anyone else who had reported this until now so felt I should share with you what I saw. The area I saw this has a lot of thick dense woods….and I mean miles of woods.’

I was immediately intrigued by this report. Was Owlman doing the rounds ? Had Mothman taken a trip to UK shores ? Or had a Batman entered the fray ?

I briefly interviewed the witness, who did not want to be named, and he stated categorically this was no bird or bat. According to him the encounter had taken place two Novembers ago. The witness commented, ‘On that drive I was stressing out about how I was going to raise money for presents. When I saw it I reacted with fear and put my foot down and got to the nearest town, which is Newton Abbot. I was the only car on the A38.’

I asked him for a better description of the creature to which he replied, ‘I know this sounds dumb but the only way I can describe what I saw is like the monster from the movie Jeepers Creatures (in the film a humanoid creature with a huge set of leather wings picks off motorists).’

I mentioned to the witness the reports of Owlman but he stated, ‘The wings were more like a bat, too wide for an owl. I didn’t see the head as it was too fast but the wings reminded me of a pterodactyl. It literally swooped over my car and the car shook, similar to when a lorry goes by on the motorway. I was doing about 65 mph and I wish I’d stopped but at the time my heart was pumping. This thing was more reptile-like in its skin texture and the colour was a beige-brown.’

Although the witness continues to use that stretch of road he has had no further encounters.

So, is the dreaded Owlman around, or some sinister relative from the ethereal?

MOTHMAN PERSPECTIVES

The following article by John C. Sherwood was originally published in Volume 26.3, May / June 2002 of the Skeptical Inquirer and was posted on the `Frontiers of Zoology` newsgroup by Dale Drinnon. I found it so interesting that I want to include it here.

Those who seek the elusive truth behind the “Men in Black” and “Mothman” myths should know that material touched by Gray Barker’s enterprising hand is tainted by self-serving deceit. He launched hoaxes, joined others’ deceptions, and manipulated people’s beliefs. “And I,” says our author, “was one of those who helped.”

In the film of The Mothman Prophecies, a phone rings and Richard Gere cringes. So does the informed moviegoer. Pseudohistory from the 1960s is twisted into fiction for the new millennium, and a questionable account of bizarre events is reshaped into fantasy. I say so because I have a good idea who’s making that phone call. I accuse Gray Barker....

Read on

JOHN KEEL STUFF ONLINE

Thanks to Kelly in Canada for this one (which I have to admit that she posted to the Forteana list and not to me, but being a member of said list I felt duty-bound to steal it for the bloggo). She points out that she has just found a superb online repository of articles by the late John Keel. By the way, at Christmas I persuaded Max to spend some of his Christmas dosh on a copy of The Mothman Prophecies and I am waiting agog with anticipation to see how he gets on with it. But I digress. Of course I digress: it's my blog and I will digress if I want to. John Keel taught me that!

The afore-mentioned repository is HERE

LINDSAY SELBY: Return of the Mothman

The following reported sighting appeared on my blog under a post I had put up about mothman. I thought other people on CFZ might be interested to see it and maybe someone would have some insight into what was seen.

Anonymous said...
Many years before I saw the movie The Mothman Prophecies, I, along with 4 other people travelling in a car saw a very tall figure standing with it's back towards us. It was standing almost in the road, but just to the side, I was afraid we might hit it. It was nightime at the time of the incident. As we drove past it, it didn't seem to move at all, it's arms were spread eagle with it's head completely lowered so it appeared there was no head. I was so shocked at what I saw, all of us in the car saw it and wondered aloud what in the world it was. It was freaky at the time, we all told ourselves someone put a scarecrow up on the road or something like that. Several years later I saw the Mothman movie and drawings and I swear it struck me that is what I saw. I sometimes search around to see if other people have seen this as well.
5 January 2010 18:34

Tabitca said...
I know you have submitted this anonymously and I understand why but could you possibly tell us what area of the country this took place in or even which road/ highway?Thank you.
6 January 2010 01:49

Anonymous said...
I'm sorry, I should have posted that. It was in Stafford Virginia on Courthouse Road. Stafford is about 50 miles south of Washington DC. Courthouse Road is a windy two lane road. It was in October because we were going to celebrate my friends birthday so I remember the month but not the year, it was about 12 years ago. I still drive down that road a lot, I have never seen it again. Like I said we thought that maybe someone was playing a joke by putting a scarecrow or something right on the white line. (dangerous if that's what it was) Whatever it was it appeared to be very tall, it didn't move at all as we approached it and then passed it. All of the people who were in the car including myself were very freaked out by it. I don't know what it was but the fact that it looked like it didn't have a head was really what freaked me out the most. I do know that I will never forget how creepy that thing was, whatever it really was. Anyway thanks for reading. Take care.
6 January 2010 17:04

Tabitca said...
Thankyou .If anyone else saw something similar perhaps they would be kind enough to post a comment.

DAVEY "Geordie Dave" CURTIS: Mothman in Seaham on Sea? Hmmmmm

Dear Jon,

I have written up this story because I think the people concerned are telling the truth, but you never know.

An interesting story has came to my attention about a possible Mothman/Owlman-type sighting that warranted closer inspection. I don't know what to make of it, but this is what I have learnt so far.

I have had to change the names of the people concerned for reasons I will explain later.

On the outskirts of Seaham on the northeast coast of England there is a pub called the Pemberton Arms, known to everybody as the `White House` because for as long as anyone can remember, it has been... wait for it... painted white.

A married couple in their early 40s (Phil and Kate, I'll call them) had gone there on Saturday evening (10th of October) to watch a live band.

Now, I don't if the band they had wanted to see had not turned up or what, but they had decided to leave early (Just after 10pm, they tell me) and because it was unusually warm for that time of year, walk back into town for a few jars to finish off the night.

They left the pub, turned right and walked down the lane that would lead them to the well-lit main road into town.

As they got to the end of the lane something caught their eye in the field next to the fence. At first they thought it was a Shire horse because of its size but it was definitely not a Shire horse. Phil and Kate both told me that it was man-shaped, at least 7 feet tall, jet black with piercing red eyes, and it just stood there, motionless.

Phil and Kate looked at it in disbelief for about 15 seconds, then it let out a scream like a fox before “disappearing straight down like it had fell down a well or trap door!”

That did it! Phil and Kate then ran like Hell onto the main road until they stopped near the recently built water treatment plant, exhausted and out of breath. Phil tried to phone a taxi but found his mobile phone was dead, although it was working fine back at the pub. So half running, half walking, constantly looking about them, they got back home, terrified out of their wits, unable to understand what they had just witnessed.

Three weeks later, when they felt able to, they wanted to talk to me.

I have known this couple for about 20 years and I don't think it is a hoax. They are very upset that this has happened to them and did not want to talk about it to anyone for fear of ridicule. They are angry and confused, “Why us?” They said. They want to put it all behind them. They only came to me because they remember me talking a few years back about my visit to Loch Morar in Scotland to look into sightings of a creature there and so thought I may be able to help them. But apart from recommending they read Alien Animals and me assuring them they are not alone in witnessing strange beings, I could offer little help. What can you say to somebody who has witnessed the unexplainable?

Now things get weirder!

The name of the place where this thing was seen is Cold Hesledon.

As soon as I made the Cold connection to Indrid Cold, Mothman and Point Pleasant, a lot of other things that John Keel had written about in The Moth Man Prophecies started falling into place.

I re-read his book and discovered that according to John Keel, phenomena like this is attracted to certain things.

• He mentioned power lines - there is a sub station approx 50 feet from the sighting
• He mentioned military bases - there is a old R.A.F radar and underground bunker approx 200 feet away
• He mentioned ley lines and the name Cold cropping up in ancient settlements - (this is the icing on the cake for me) it just so happens that the original Cold Hesledon was an medieval village, long deserted!

So there you have it: food for thought!

If our Tall Dark Friend turns up again I'll let you know.

Regards

Davy C

OLL LEWIS: Yesterday’s News Today

http://cryptozoologynews.blogspot.com/

On this day in 1967 the Silver Bridge in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, USA collapsed, resulting in the deaths of 47 people. John Keel linked the bridge's collapse to sightings of ‘Mothman’ in the Point Pleasant area, in his book The Mothman Prophecies.

And now for the latest news from the CFZ’s daily news blog, and a bad pun:

Plans for special sites to save the red squirrel
Part-time fisherman captures 'monster lobster' off Devon coast
Pigs 'potty-trained to stop pollution'
Full moon brings out inner werewolf, scientists say
Wild boars chase Germans into waste container
Kitten's 120 mile wheel well adventure
Wrestlers take to court for sheep prize

Q: What is a pig’s favourite Bruce Willis film? A: Hudson ‘Pork’.

DALE DRINNON: Mothman Musings

I think this is a matter where far more writing has been spent on it than the material warrants.

The reports of the so-called Mothman in the late 1960s, mostly from West Virginia, are generally presented as a consistent picture of a shadowy man-like figure, seven feet tall, with glowing red eyes and a ten-foot wingspan. As a matter of fact, most sightings are not so definitive nor yet are they that consistent. For one thing the reported size of the featureless shadowy figure varies a great deal from a short-human size to the larger-than-human size, and actually the reports in the shorter-than-average category are more numerous by direct count. More importantly, Mothman reports consistently say that witnesses could not distinguish either a head or feet. So basically nobody knows where the thing starts or where it ends really.

Mark A Hall has suggested that Mothman is a giant owl or what he calls "Bighoot". This is especially because the reported red eyeglow matches owls and in owls it may be difficult to distinguish between the head and the torso. In this case there is no reason to erect a whole new species, the sightings could refer to the same individual creature and one of exceptional size among its own kind.

The typical satance when Mothman is seen seems to correspond to a typical bluffing stance among the owls wherein the wings are held up above the head in order to make the owl look larger than it really is, and thus more intimidating. Therefore the 'height' estimates do not need to refer to the actual height but would instead refer to the height of the wings being held above the head.

I am willing to say from the reports that Mothman might be as much as three-and-a-half to four-and-a-half feet high with a wingspan of six or seven feet, maybe a little more. And it is not necessary to say they need to be that large if the typically teenaged witnesses were exaggerating out of fear or in order to match the previously published accounts.

Therefore I propose that sightings of Mothman refer only to an outsized great grey owl down from Canada. Great grey owls can have a body a yard long and a wingspan of five feet, going by Wikipedia. A gigantic one at half again those dimensions would be right in the range of those size estimates above.

Along with this is the possibility that the Cornish Owlman was another of these birds given that the descriptions are similar to Mothman (as reported by teenaged girls again)

There are a lot of other features about Mothman sightings that are probably inaccurate observations, assumptions going on facts not in evidence, and clearly mistaken associations with unrelated events. One case where Mothman was assumed to be flying overhead of a car going a hundred miles an hour could be nothing more extraordinary thar a squeaky motor noise. And there is certainly no reason to connect sightings of any big bird to any collapsing bridge.

As a footnote to the last matter, I have gone down to the pub at the corner of my block and heard a fellow that was in West Virginia at the time tell about the collapse of that bridge around Christmas time. He is completely scornful when the name of Mothman was even mentioned.

TAKE IT TO THE BRIDGE THE LATEST EPISODE OF 'CRYPTID HUNT' IS OUT...

Once again our favourite 15 year old film director has surpassed himself. The latest episode is all about Mothman..