Mothman?

[cyblazegk]

In my Junior year of high school, my best friend and I floated from table to table, searching for a group that we wouldn’t end up hating.
One such group consisted of a couple of girls who were companions only because they didn’t actively seek companionship. We were at first thinking that we might move away from them, and eventually we did. Many awkward hours of silence were spent among the four of us, introverts all around.
The seniors among us were reading Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein for English class around this time. At the same time, the Innistrad Magic: the Gathering set was coming out, so I was interested in reading the book that inspired the amazing Skaab cards. My besty lent me her copy of Frankenstein to read for my enjoyment, as she was confident in her ability to write a C+ essay using only sparknotes and the half of it that she had already read.
I was sorely disappointed in my reading. The novel didn’t seem very horrifying at all; it was just a bunch of Romanticist BS. I was more curious about Shelley’s original nightmare that inspired the version of the tale she told to her friends and lover as a horror story. Why had she not let it become the famous book that highschool seniors everywhere are forced to analyze in great detail?
I was inspired to get my lunch group to join me in the creation of such tales, as the group of four that Shelley mentions had. My besty, in my support, instantly agreed. One of the other girls at our table agreed on the condition that her story could be something that actually happened. I implored that she share her experience, though being a skeptic I doubted her claim’s validity.
She spoke of how her cousin had told her he was driving across the Walt Whitman Bridge, as those in my area often are. Traffic was backed up, and he was bored, so he gazed up at the sky, hoping to see the beauty of the moon shining upon him. Instead, what caught his eye was a large, flying creature with a hideous visage. This creature was so terrifying that he accidentally pressed down on the gas and accelerated into the car in front of him. I instantly recognized this creature as the Mothman from a book I had read in my youth.
I recently remembered this tale, as now I have begun reading Frankenstein for school (maybe I’ll actually read the whole thing this time). I decided to search Wikipedia for info on Mothman, but their database was woefully inadequate. What do you know about this creature, Giant?

[LaZodiac]

...is this for real? I don't disbelieve you, I just want to know.

[Triscuitable]

Well, going back to my years as a 12-year old child, I was obsessed with all sorts of things supernatural. Granted, I knew it was all fantasy, but I do remember several things about the mothman:

For one, it's incredibly tall, at about 10 meters. Its eyes glow bright red on a fairly "tall" (think Sarah Jessica Parker) face. It had a wingspan (also think SJP) of about 12 meters. The whole idea of it was that the creature itself was incredibly disturbing large, and essentially a cross between some overly-aggressive monster from a video game, a human being, and a moth-flying-bug-fur-thing.

So, y'know, Sarah Jessica Parker.

[Tragic_Comedian]

He's from Point Pleasant, WV.

[Tebryn]

Well, going back to my years as a 12-year old child, I was obsessed with all sorts of things supernatural. Granted, I knew it was all fantasy, but I do remember several things about the mothman:

For one, it's incredibly tall, at about 10 meters. Its eyes glow bright red on a fairly "tall" (think Sarah Jessica Parker) face. It had a wingspan (also think SJP) of about 12 meters. The whole idea of it was that the creature itself was incredibly disturbing large, and essentially a cross between some overly-aggressive monster from a video game, a human being, and a moth-flying-bug-fur-thing.

So, y'know, Sarah Jessica Parker.

10 meters tall with a 12 meter long wing span? The original Pleasant Point sighting, which was in the 1960's claimed it only had a wingspan of about 10 feet.

[Inglenook]

Mothman, yesssss. Scared the bejeezus out of me as a kid.

I fully plan on naming my firstborn Indrid Cold.

[Triscuitable]

10 meters tall with a 12 meter long wing span? The original Pleasant Point sighting, which was in the 1960's claimed it only had a wingspan of about 10 feet.

Dude, 12-year old me was four years ago.

[Tebryn]

Dude, 12-year old me was four years ago.

Ok? So what? You're saying that you're recalling it though...from what you're not clear. I was more saying...In all my years of reading up on cryptids and things I've never seen a report of the Moth Man being thirty two feet tall with a wingspan of thirty nine feet long. Ten feet tall with...large man bits, flaming red eyes and massive mothlike wings? Yep. All there. A towering monstrosity...nope.

[Rawhide]

You mean this mothman stuff isn't just a terrible movie starring Richard Gere?

[LaZodiac]

You mean this mothman stuff isn't just a terrible movie starring Richard Gere?

Nope! It's based on real legends and stuff.

[Lyndworm]

I believe three things relevant to this topic:

I believe that the sightings are 100% real, myself (at least, most of them are; some people just like to be noticed).

I believe that the mothman sightings (and most other cryptid sightings) are a combination of seeing what you want to see and grossly overestimating the size of half-glimpsed, unexpected wildlife.

I believe that the sandhill crane is ~3.5ft tall, has a wingspan of ~6ft, has eyes that reflect bright red, flies with its legs extended, is common all over the U.S, and is extremely common in the Point Pleasant, WV area.



It should be noted that I have absolutely nothing against cryptozoology, and that I think Loren Coleman is a pretty cool guy. I actually have something of a passion for mythology and especially its real-world roots as well as zoology, so cryptozoology is basically my dream field (too bad it's not considered a field :). I don't whole-heartedly believe in any cryptid, but it's important not to get overexcited; the vast majority of all cryptid sightings are (probably) due to misidentification. I feel that there's a lot out there we don't yet know we know, but there's a lot we know, too.

[Lycan 01]

Careful man. This is how stuff like Marble Hornets gets started.


Mothman, Mothman... Off the top of my head, he's a scary looking humanoid-insectoid hybrid thing. Kinda like the Jersey Devil, his sightings are mostly just quick glimpses and weird encounters around a certain geological locations. The main thing I know about him is that he's supposed to be something of an omen. His sightings spiked shortly before and/or after a massive bridge collapse in the town where he was frequently spotted near. In fact, some folks blamed him for the collapse, which claimed quite a few lives. There's a movie about it - "Mothman Prophecies."


Animal Planet has a show called Lost Tapes, which is a "found footage" documentary series on Cryptids and legends. They did an episode on the Mothman, which will be your best bet for information and eyewitness accounts. Maybe you can find it online?

[Rawhide]

Nope! It's based on real legends and stuff.

Careful, I wouldn't go so far as to say "real", but it does seem that it is based on actual myths/legends.

[Lyndworm]

Animal Planet has a show called Lost Tapes, which is a "found footage" documentary series on Cryptids and legends. They did an episode on the Mothman, which will be your best bet for information and eyewitness accounts. Maybe you can find it online?

You know that show is staged, right? How well acted/produced/written it is is a matter of opinion (terrible), but that it's staged is fact.

[Triscuitable]

Ok? So what? You're saying that you're recalling it though...from what you're not clear. I was more saying...In all my years of reading up on cryptids and things I've never seen a report of the Moth Man being thirty two feet tall with a wingspan of thirty nine feet long. Ten feet tall with...large man bits, flaming red eyes and massive mothlike wings? Yep. All there. A towering monstrosity...nope.

Look, first off, terrible with conversions of feet to meters. Just read what I wrote in feet, and you're good. I don't know why I even bothered with meters in the first place.

[Lycan 01]

You know that show is staged, right? How well acted/produced/written it is is a matter of opinion (terrible), but that it's staged is fact.

Yes. Yes, I am well aware that it's a fictional show. I never said it was real, and I put quotation marks around "found footage" for a reason, since that's how you describe shows and movies like Cloverfield and The Blair Witch Project.

From what I recall of it though (I've only seen one or two episodes), they do a lot of background and cryptozoological analysis at certain points during the show. I was suggesting he try to watch the show because of the information given between the segments of "found footage," not for the footage itself. Though the footage is meant to represent what a potential encounter with that episode's critter might be like, so he may find that interesting as well.

[Mordokai]

You mean this mothman stuff isn't just a terrible movie starring Richard Gere?

That was a perfectly decent movie, I'll have you know.

[Lyndworm]

Yes. Yes, I am well aware that it's a fictional show. I never said it was real, and I put quotation marks around "found footage" for a reason, since that's how you describe shows and movies like Cloverfield and The Blair Witch Project.

I'm sorry; in retrospect, my intended message wasn't very clear and my post was somewhat antagonistic. Neither of those things was my intent.

I meant to draw attention to it being staged for the benefit of those who had not seen the show; I assumed that you had seen it, and so were aware of that aspect. Further, I was taking specific issue with your line "They did an episode on the Mothman, which will be your best bet for information and eyewitness accounts." I could be wrong, but I think I've seen very few witness interviews on that show, and all of them were staged. At that point, it's not really a witness.

I'm sorry for the confusion, and I'm extra sorry for my harsh tone.

[LaZodiac]

Careful, I wouldn't go so far as to say "real", but it does seem that it is based on actual myths/legends.

Wheter or not the subject matter is real, the legends are real in that "they are legends that actually exist".

It's like how unicorns probably don't exist, but there are a lot of legends that do exist that are about them.

[Rawhide]

That was a perfectly decent movie, I'll have you know.

Nah-uh. I had the unfortunate displeasure of watching it.

Wheter or not the subject matter is real, the legends are real in that "they are legends that actually exist".

It's like how unicorns probably don't exist, but there are a lot of legends that do exist that are about them.

Just because the stories actually exist, it doesn'y make them real.

[Maxios]

Since I've been obsessed with cryptids and urban legends in general since I was eight I was about to write a gigantic post about the Mothman, his sightings, and what believe he could be. Then I discovered I was beaten to it in a not-as-wall-of-texty way .

[The Dark Fiddler]

Just because the stories actually exist, it doesn'y make them real.

Disagree; the stories existing absolutely makes them real. The question is whether or not the events that happen IN the story are real.

If you're going to be pedantic, do it right

Anyway, Mothman shows up in some Shin Megami Tensei games. Not a lot of info in those games, or anything, but maybe that could help somehow?

[Rawhide]

Disagree; the stories existing absolutely makes them real. The question is whether or not the events that happen IN the story are real.

If you're going to be pedantic, do it right

Anyway, Mothman shows up in some Shin Megami Tensei games. Not a lot of info in those games, or anything, but maybe that could help somehow?

I'm not being pedantic, I'm being facetious. Huge difference.

[Lycan 01]

I'm sorry; in retrospect, my intended message wasn't very clear and my post was somewhat antagonistic. Neither of those things was my intent.

I meant to draw attention to it being staged for the benefit of those who had not seen the show; I assumed that you had seen it, and so were aware of that aspect. Further, I was taking specific issue with your line "They did an episode on the Mothman, which will be your best bet for information and eyewitness accounts." I could be wrong, but I think I've seen very few witness interviews on that show, and all of them were staged. At that point, it's not really a witness.

I'm sorry for the confusion, and I'm extra sorry for my harsh tone.

It's cool. Apology accepted.

[Tragic_Comedian]

The Mothman movie didn't have much to do with the actual Mothman stories. It was a good movie, though. Very well done.

There's a Mothman museum in Point Pleasant.