The Mothman Tapes

In American folklore, Mothman is the name given to a humanoid creature that was reportedly seen around Point Pleasant, West Virginia, from November 15, 1966, to December 15, 1967. Despite its name, the original sightings of the creature described avian, not lepidopteran, features. The first newspaper report was published in the Point Pleasant Register, dated November 16, 1966, titled "Couples See Man-Sized Bird ... Creature ... Something". The national press soon picked up the reports and helped spread the story across the United States. The source of the legend is believed to have originated from sightings of out-of-migration sandhill cranes or herons, or possibly the misidentification of barred owls. The creature was later popularized by John Keel in his 1975 book The Mothman Prophecies, which claimed that there were paranormal events related to the sightings and a connection to the collapse of the Silver Bridge. This came five years after Gray Barker's The Silver Bridge, a narrative that had earlier explored similar ideas but in a "heavily fictionalized" way. The Mothman Prophecies was adapted decades later into a 2002 film starring Richard Gere. An annual festival in Point Pleasant is devoted to the Mothman legend.