Culture
American Folklore
Location
West Virginia, United States
Key Figures
The Mothman
Images via Wikimedia Commons
The Myth
The story as told by the culture
Between November 1966 and December 1967, residents of Point Pleasant, West Virginia reported sightings of a large, winged creature with glowing red eyes — the Mothman. Witnesses described it as 6-7 feet tall with a wingspan of 10-15 feet. Sightings were concentrated around the old TNT area, a World War II munitions storage site north of town.
On December 15, 1967, the Silver Bridge — connecting Point Pleasant to Gallipolis, Ohio — collapsed during rush hour, killing 46 people. The Mothman sightings ceased after the collapse, and the creature became permanently associated with the disaster in local folklore. Whether the Mothman was a harbinger, a coincidence, or something else entirely depends on who you ask.
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Myth types
The Place
The physical location today
Point Pleasant sits at the confluence of the Ohio and Kanawha Rivers in Mason County, West Virginia. The town of roughly 4,000 people has embraced its Mothman heritage — a 12-foot stainless steel Mothman statue stands in the center of town, and the Mothman Museum draws visitors year-round. The annual Mothman Festival in September brings 10,000-12,000 visitors.
The TNT area (McClintic Wildlife Management Area) where many sightings occurred is accessible but overgrown. The Silver Bridge site is marked by a memorial on the riverbank.
Visit information
Access
Free — public town and memorial
Nearest city
Charleston, WV (55 miles southeast)
Notes
The Mothman Museum is open year-round. Mothman Festival is held the third weekend of September.
The History
What archaeology and scholarship tell us
The Silver Bridge was an eyebar chain suspension bridge built in 1928. Investigation by the NTSB determined that a single eyebar in the suspension chain had developed a stress corrosion crack over decades, leading to catastrophic failure. The bridge's unique design meant that a single point of failure could bring down the entire structure.
John Keel's 1975 book The Mothman Prophecies brought the story to national attention. Explanations for the sightings range from a large barred owl or sandhill crane to mass hysteria in a stressed community. The story represents a distinctly American type of folklore — the modern legend that grows from a real community trauma.
1966-1967; ongoing in folklore
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