Many, of course, watched the films "Batman" and "Moth Man", whose central characters are either people with wings, or winged creatures that look like people. Meanwhile, such stories allegedly happened in reality.
Nightmares at Point Pleasant
Since November 1966, in Point Pleasant (West Virginia, USA), a strange creature two meters in height with a face resembling a human and large red eyes sparkling like hot coals has been observed more than once. He was given the nickname "Motman" - "Moth Man".
Until the end of 1967, there were about 100 reports of encounters with the alleged Moth Man. And on December 15, 1967, a tragedy occurred at Point Pleasant: the Silver Bridge over the Ohio River collapsed. During the crash, 46 people died. We also saw "Motman" nearby. Curiously, after this, reports of his sightings at Point Pleasant were no longer reported.
Researcher John Keel, in his book The Mothman Prophecy (1975), suggests that the Mothman is of otherworldly origin and was sent to the people of Point Pleasant to warn of the disaster.
After the release of The Moth Man in 2002, a statue of this monster was even installed in Point Pleasant to attract tourists. Festivals in honor of the Moth Man are held regularly in the city.
Promotional video:
Death at the lighthouse
However, such creatures were seen not only by the inhabitants of Point Pleasant. In May 1992, the American tabloid Weekly World News published a report about a giant moth that burned down early that year in a lighthouse fire near the Norwegian town of Bodø.
The lighthouse keeper Karl Friedensen initially mistook a huge insect that emerged from the darkness of the night for an airplane: its wingspan reached about ten meters. The creature slammed hard into the top of the lighthouse. When Friedensen, who was at that time below, went upstairs, he found that the night guest, having broken through the powerful glass of the Fresnel lens, landed directly on the red-hot electrodes. The burnt remains resembled shots from a horror movie … In addition, an unbearable stench emanated from them.
The article said that what remained of the creature was transferred to the laboratory, where a group of entomologists came to the conclusion that the remains belonged to an unknown representative of the order of Lepidoptera. Researchers have suggested that this is a giant butterfly native to the jungle of South America, where there are many areas with unexplored fauna. And according to the authors of the article, the monster could have come from a parallel dimension … True, most of the readers considered this information to be just a fake, one that is constantly published by the yellow press.
Events in Chicago
Lately, Mothman seems to be showing up in Chicago! This was told by the Chicago paranormal researcher Manuel Navarett.
On September 12, 2017, at about ten o'clock in the evening, a witness who wished to remain anonymous was returning from work. She walked down Millard Avenue towards Little Village, where she lived. Suddenly, the girl noticed in front, as it seemed to her, a very tall man. A little later, she saw that the stranger had huge black wings and brightly glowing orange eyes!
The girl thought that it might be a large owl, but the closer she got, the clearer it became that it was a humanoid creature. According to her, the growth of the creature was just over 2 m.
“He just stood and looked at me for about 10 minutes. and made a strange chirping sound, - says the witness. - And at this time I was slowly walking right at him and thought that it was the Devil himself. I began to pray to myself. I kept walking because I understood that if I stopped, I would literally be paralyzed with fear. When there was less than 20 feet between us, he suddenly yelped very loudly, as if he was trying to warn me, and the next moment he jumped up and flew towards West 25th Street.
When the girl got home and told her family about what had happened to her, her grandmother said that it was either the devil himself or Lechusa, an owl-like creature from Latin American folklore.
By the way, similar creatures in Chicago and its environs have been observed before. So, in the spring of 2017, reports began to appear in the press about meetings with a monster, according to the description, very reminiscent of the creature from Point Pleasant. The same witness told Navarett that in the Little Village where she lives, there are legends about a certain "Un Diablo Negro" - "Black Devil".
Reality or myth?
Where do such creatures come from? As always, there are many versions. For example, according to ufologists, "moth people" are representatives of an alien civilization. Cryptozoologists are convinced that these are flying lizards that miraculously survived on Earth. The hypothesis was put forward that the "Moth Man" is the result of some secret military development.
According to folklore specialist Jan Harold Brunwald, eyewitness accounts have too many coincidences with legends and stories about such monsters, which can be read, say, in children's books. The researcher believes that the hype around the "Moth Man" could be based on a real single episode that provoked fears and even mass hallucinations in people. So the creepy thing is just a product of the human imagination …
Irina Shlionskaya