In the 60s of the last century in the area of Point Pleasant (West Virginia, USA), a strange flying creature with a wingspan of 3.5 meters appeared. He was nicknamed the Moth Man.
In 2001, a film with this name was released, but we will leave aside Hollywood fictions.
The incident with the Scarbury and Mallett
On November 15, 1966, two married couples (Roger and Linda Scarberia, Steve and Mary Mallett) drove past an abandoned munitions factory late at night.
Someone noticed two burning red lights and asked to stop in order to find out what it is. The young people got out of the car and walked a little forward. It was a human-like creature 6-7 feet (about 2m) tall, without a neck - the head smoothly merged into the body. His eyes burned with red lights.
Behind the creature's back, wings opened and it moved towards. Young people rushed back to the car, started it, turned it around and drove it in the opposite direction. The girls turned around and screamed heart-rendingly: the creature, spreading its wings, hovering a meter from the ground, flew after the car, emitting a squeak. The speedometer needle showed 160 km / h, but the monster did not lag behind. Only when the city lights appeared did the creature stop chasing.
The young people immediately turned to the sheriff. Millard Halstead listened carefully to the young people and asked them to describe in detail everything that happened to them. The fact is that this message about a meeting with a moth-man (as journalists would later call the creature) was not the first.
Promotional video:
From police archives
In 1961, a humanoid creature with wings on its back was seen on a hunt by a certain William Lamb. Then a woman and a man driving along the road along the river. Ohio saw a figure with glowing red eyes standing on the road. The creature spread its huge wings and soared vertically upward. In 1965, a boy said that he saw a soaring "angel", a woman described a "giant moth".
On October 12, 1966, five gravediggers observed a strange creature sitting in a tree. At first, they thought it was a man. However, when the "man" opened his wings and flew over the frightened people, they realized that they were wrong.
On October 15, Newell Partridge, 90 miles from Point Pleasant, watched television in the evening.
The transmission was interrupted by interference, and a dog named Bandit howled. Newell took the flashlight and went outside. Shining towards the barn, he saw a figure with huge glowing eyes. The bandit rushed forward with a bark, and Partridge, on the contrary, into the house. All night he sat in an embrace with a gun. He never saw his dog again.
After November 15
On November 16, Mr. and Mrs. Wamsley and Mrs. Marcella Bennett came to visit their friends who live in the same abandoned factory area. After a pleasant evening they went to the car and saw the "man" lying at her, who slowly got up and stared at them with his burning gaze.
People rushed back to the house and hurried to close the door. The moth-man came up, stood in front of the window and looked at them through the glass for several minutes. People called the police, but when the police arrived, the moth man was gone.
Over the next three months, more than 100 people said they saw a moth-man in the vicinity of Point Pleasant. Then the number of meetings began to decline and in 1967 the moth-man finally left the vicinity of the city.
Many people associate the disappearance of the creature with the collapse of the bridge (this idea was followed by the Hollywood film). On December 15, 1967 at 5:00 pm, the Silver Bridge over the Ohio River and connecting Point Pleasant to Gallipolis collapsed.
The load from the increased traffic flow before Christmas caused the destruction of one of the suspension rods, followed by a chain failure of the bridge structure. According to eyewitnesses, the bridge collapsed completely within one minute. 46 people died.
Show yourself, "moth"
Based on numerous indications, it is possible to compose the appearance of a moth man. Height is about 2 meters, wider than a person, with a cylindrical torso. There is no head as such. Dark skin, covered with wool. On the shoulders are wings like a bat with a span of up to 3.5 m, flapping during flight. The legs are similar to human ones, there are no hands.
And absolutely everyone noted the huge red burning eyes, which have some kind of hypnotic effect.
“It literally" pulled "me into itself with its eyes. I just swam and did not see anything, did not distinguish. Instead of a "moth" I saw in front of me some kind of blur with blurred outlines. The energy seemed to be leaving me. It was just awful,”so many described the impact of the gaze of the moth man.
Versions
It is human nature to seek answers to the riddles and secrets of nature. What are the versions about the nature of the human moth?
1. Paranormal. In the area of Point Pleasant, there is an anomalous zone that opens the door from the other world to ours. A moth-man is a creature that has accidentally entered us from another world.
2. Biological. A moth-man is an eagle owl or an owl that has mutated to a huge size.
3. Ufological. These were representatives of an alien expedition that visited Earth.
4. Secret experiments. Meetings with a moth-man are hallucinations, the result of a new type of psychotropic weapon tested by the military on the inhabitants of the city.
So everyone can choose the most suitable one.
While scientists are looking for the truth, the inhabitants of Point Pleasant "took patronage" of the monster and made it a local landmark. The city has a museum and research center for the mysterious flyer, and every September there is a festival dedicated to the moth man.
On the central street there is a sculpture depicting the "honorary citizen of the city." It seems that the city not only remembers him, but also awaits his return. Maybe he will hear the call and come back? There will be joy for the inhabitants!
Klim Podkova