The Mothman Prophecies

The Mothman Prophecies, miniature book by LDelaney, Etsy

 During this Halloween week, I thought it’d be fitting to introduce you to my favorite creepy/scary book: the Mothman Prophecies by John A. Keel. 

Mothman patch by MaidenVoyageClothin

 John Keel was an American author and journalist who investigated strange events around the world. He was a real mix of Tintin and Indiana Jones, going as far at Tibet to look for the Abominable Snowman, India and Egypt where he almost died at the hands of fake mummy makers.

In November 1966, when he heard of the strange sightings occurring in a small town in West Virginia, he couldn’t not go. 

Cryptozoologynews.com

 Point Pleasant is located on the River Ohio and on the border of the state by the same name. There were nothing special in that place, other than a huge bridge crossing the river and a deserted zone called the “TNT area” where explosives were stored in dome shaped bunkers during WWII. The place had become popular with teenagers.

Mid November, strange reports started pouring in from that small quiet place. People had strange frightening encounters with a dark tall creature that had huge moth like wings and glowing red eyes. Encounters that usually left the witnesses scared out of their wits and with strange sunburn marks.
During the course of the following months other strange occurrences were reported, lights in the sky, poltergeists, pet disappearances, mysterious phone calls and numerous visits by the Men in Black.

Now Men in Black are part of our folklore, thanks to Will Smith, but back in the 50’s and 60’s, Men in Black were strange beings , often showing  non-human characteristics, who enjoyed harassing UFO (and other supernatural phenomena ) witnesses.  It is little known that John Keel was almost single handedly at the origin of all that MIB folklore, being the only journalist willing to investigate.

cryptomundo.com

 The whole situation climaxed on December 15^th of the following year, when the huge bridge collapsed into the Ohio River leaving 46 people dead. 2 bodies were never found.

Cryptomundo.com

 No explanation was ever found either. So was it a case of mass paranoia or was the Mothman an omen of things to come?  In any case the legend lives on…and makes a quite entertaining read if you enjoy staying awake at night ;)

T-shirt, MaidenVoyageClothing

Patch MaidenVoyageClothing

The book: The Mothman Prophecies by John A.Keel. A French translation is now available under the title: La Prophétie des Ombres. I mention it as the translation is quite good and the edition has a bibliography which is usually missing from the English versions.

The film starring Richard Gere (not exactly a masterpiece, loosely based on the book)
The museum.
Point Pleasant now has an annual festival celebrating the Mothman.
There’s no shortage of videos on the topic on Youtube. I recommend this one.