At about 11:30 p.m. on the evening of November 15, 1966, two young married couples, Roger and Linda Scarberry and Steve and Mary Mallette, were driving on Route 62 near Point Pleasant, West Virginia, where the road goes through a local "parking" spot known as the TNT area. The TNT area is part of the West Virginia Ordnance site, where TNT for weapons was manufactured during World War Two. The munitions plant was closed down after the war, and has been a wildlife preserve for many years. It is also a toxic waste site.
As they drove past the old power plant building, they suddenly saw what appeared two be two large glowing red eyes staring at them. Roger Scarberry slowed the vehicle to get a closer look, and in the dark they could make out something that seemed to be about the same size and shape as a man. It didn't seem to have a head, but had glowing red eyes that were where its chest would be. It had what appeared to be large wings folded behind its back.
The creature turned back toward the door of the power plant, walking with a "strange, shuffling gait," and Scarberry accelerated out of the area. However, when the four looked back, they found that the creature was following them. The witnesses said that the creature kept up with the car even at speeds of 100 mph and flew without flapping its wings. They also said that it emitted a screeching sound like "a big mouse." At the Point Pleasant city limits, the creature turned away and was not seen again. The four witnesses proceeded to Sheriff Mallard Halstead's office, where they reported the event. Officers went to the scene at the TNT area, but nothing unusual was found.
In what may have been a related incident about 90 miles away in Salem, West Virginia, Newell Partridge reported that, at about 10:30 p.m. that same evening, he had been watching television when suddenly his TV went blank and his dog Bandit began howling. Going outside with a flashlight, he saw two large red eyes staring at him. Bandit took off towards the eyes, which then vanished. Partridge reported that he heard Bandit yelp, but Bandit was never seen again.
The next evening, outside a home on the edge of the TNT area, Marcella Bennet, Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Wamsley, and three children saw a big dark shape with glowing eyes rise out of the bushes. Marcella Bennet was so startled that she dropped the baby she was carrying in her arms. Raymond Wamsley picked up the unhurt baby and they all ran inside the house and locked the door. Once inside, they called the police, but the creature was gone by the time officers arrived.
Over the next year, there were around one hundred sightings of the creature, dubbed Mothman by the press, along with UFO sightings, poltergeist activity, and other weird phenomena in the area. Some of the witnesses reported being harassed by men in black. UFOlogist and paranormal researcher John Keel went to the area to investigate and collected many reports of unusual phenomena, which can be found in his book, The Mothman Prophecies.
A little research found that the same, or a similar creature, had been seen on the edge of nearby Chief Cornstalk Hunting Grounds on Route 2 in 1961 by a woman and her father. The research also turned up a possible reason for the strange events. Shawnee Indian Chief Cornstalk, slain in a great battle with Virginia militiamen in 1774, was said to have placed a curse on the area for 200 years.
Strange events continued to occur in Point Pleasant. John Keel began receiving strange phone calls from people claiming to be in contact with aliens who made predictions of future events. Some of these are supposed to have been a warning of the Pope being stabbed, of Robert Kennedy being in danger, and of the destruction of the Silver Bridge, a suspension bridge between Ohio and West Virginia at Point Pleasant.
Then, on December 15, 1967, the Silver Bridge collapsed during rush hour. Forty-six cars plunged into the cold waters of the Ohio River, and fifty lives were lost. It's said that many of those who were killed were those who had seen the Mothman.
After this disaster, Mothman was not seen again in the Point Pleasant area, although it, or a similar creature, was reportedly seen in Texas in 1976.
This article was previously published in 2000. It has been revised slightly
by removing dead links and adding new ones as needed.