September 11, 2025 • 24 mins
Lurking in the shadows of Appalachia's misty mountains is a tale that defies rational explanation. When a group of gravediggers in Clendenin, West Virginia reported seeing a massive winged figure soaring overhead in November 1966, no one could have predicted how this sighting would become entwined with one of America's greatest tragedies.
The creature they glimpsed—soon to be known as the Mothman—stood seven to eight feet tall with a wingspan of ten feet and hypnotic red eyes that paralyzed those who gazed into them. Within days, two young couples in Point Pleasant had their own terrifying encounter, reporting the creature chased their car at speeds reaching 100 miles per hour. As dozens more sightings flooded in, a pattern emerged: this wasn't just any monster tale. The Mothman appeared primarily around an abandoned WWII munitions facility locals called the "TNT area," a contaminated landscape dotted with underground bunkers where deadly secrets lay buried.
Strange phenomena accompanied the Mothman's appearances—electrical disturbances, screeching phones, cars dying on empty roads, and visits from oddly-behaving men in ill-fitting black suits who spoke in sing-song voices. All these events culminated on December 15, 1967, when witnesses spotted the creature circling the Silver Bridge moments before its catastrophic collapse killed 46 people. Was the Mothman trying to warn the townspeople, or did it somehow cause the disaster? Or perhaps the tragedy connects to something even older—the curse a dying Shawnee chief placed on the land nearly two centuries earlier when he was murdered by white soldiers: "May the curse of the Great Spirit rest upon this land."
Whether you view the Mothman as a harbinger of doom, an environmental aberration, or the manifestation of an ancient Native American curse, its story continues to haunt our collective imagination. Join me on this journey through folklore, tragedy, and mystery as we examine what happened when something otherworldly cast its shadow over Point Pleasant. Listen carefully—and maybe think twice before looking too deeply into glowing red eyes in the darkness.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Carole Townsend (00:02):
Folk Tales.
They're every bit as much apart of the fabric of our
history as are the facts weretaught in school.
They tell the tales of thepeople that came before us.
They reveal to us who we areand who we came from and how we
got here.
Some are discounted as sillymeanderings, as tall tales, and
(00:25):
often that's what they are, butit seems that there's always at
least a kernel of truth in eachone, and sometimes there's more.
Is there anything better than areally good story?
I mean a story told by a friendamong friends.
(00:47):
An engaging tale, told in theright place at the right time,
captures us.
It captures our imagination.
It takes us away from the hereand now and carries us to the
world of what, if?
I think a really good storytaps into our childhood, that
magical time when anything waspossible if we could just close
(01:10):
our eyes and imagine it.
As adults, we don't hide underthe covers anymore as we listen
to the whispered tales of braveknights or beautiful princesses
or scary monsters.
We don't walk through the woodstalking as we go, telling tales
of forest creatures that liveamong the trees and the animals.
(01:30):
We do, however, still spin ourtails, and a comfortable front
porch is often where we do that.
We sit in swings or rockingchairs or rickety woven lawn
chairs, and we still gather withfriends At the end of the day,
when the soft light of duskopens its arms to embrace
(01:51):
nightfall, we're taken back to atime when the story is real,
it's possible.
So join me tonight here on myfront porch, won't you, as we
step into another tale that'srooted in both truth and in myth
.
And as night swallows the softdusk, I'll turn on the light.
(02:12):
You might want that.
The following podcast containsmaterial that may be disturbing.
Listener discretion is advised.
The 1960s in the United Stateswas a decade of turbulence and
(02:35):
change.
The cocoon of the 1950s wassafe, innocent.
The youth of America wereinnocent as well, falling in
line with what was expected ofthem.
The 1960s, however, broughtquestions, a yearning for young
people to break free of whattheir parents expected and to go
(02:55):
the way of their music andtheir beliefs.
An unwanted war clawed at thevery fabric of this country that
had so recently been riding thewave of peace and assurance
that had come with the end ofWorld War II.
The 1960s youth of Americarebelled against the Vietnam War
.
They discovered and indulged inpsychedelic drugs that provided
(03:18):
a colorful backdrop to themusic of the day, the storybook
days of 1950s America came to anabrupt end in the 1960s.
A young culture awakenedlargely by music and fringe
philosophy now defined the times.
There were, however, a fewprotected pockets of innocence
(03:40):
dotted throughout the country,and those pockets were typically
small rural towns.
Point Pleasant, west Virginia,was one of those towns.
In November 1966, point Pleasantand the surrounding area would
be forever changed, and PointPleasant's history would take an
astonishing turn toward theextraordinary.
(04:02):
This change had nothing to dowith war or music or drugs.
You see, a winged creaturelurks in the shadows of the
mountains of West Virginia, inAppalachia, and it occasionally
makes itself known.
The last time it chose to do sowas around 1967.
(04:23):
But why then?
The first reported sighting ofthe winged beast, many believe,
was when a group of gravediggersat work in Clendenin, west
Virginia, saw a giant creature,a brown human being they
described soaring above thetrees overhead.
(04:44):
It was the size of a large man,maybe seven to eight feet tall,
with very large wings.
The gravediggers reported whatthey saw to friends and family
and to local news outlets, butnever to the authorities, at
least not then, because whowould believe them?
Just days later, in the town ofPoint Pleasant, two young
(05:09):
couples, roger and LindaScarberry and Steve and Mary
Mallett, claimed to witness asimilar sight, getting a better
look at the creature that wouldsoon be branded the Mothman.
They reported a 10-footwingspan not on the body of a
large bird, but on the bare bodyof a man, and if that wasn't
strange enough, they also madeparticular note of the
(05:32):
creature's large red eyes.
The couples, with eachindividual being interviewed
separately by police.
They also made particular noteof the creature's large red eyes
.
The couples, with eachindividual being interviewed
separately by police, statedthat the creature watched them
for a while, always stayingwithin sight of the moving car,
but as the young driverincreased his speed in an
attempt to outrun the creature,it chased their car to the
(05:53):
outskirts of town, easily flyingbehind them at a rate of, at
times, 100 miles per hour.
While the wingspan of thiscreature has been estimated at
about 10 feet and many havedescribed the wings as being
beautiful, the creature does notseem to need those wings to fly
.
Rather, it glides, whetherslowly or at high speed, with
(06:18):
little to no effort.
Dozens of Point Pleasantresidents reported seeing the
Mothman at around the same timeas the Scarberries and Mallets
did.
They described similar featuresthe glowing red eyes, the
magnificent, beautifully shapedwings and the ability to fly,
with or without the use of thosewings, often at incredibly high
(06:40):
rates of speed.
And those who were unfortunateenough to come face to face with
Mothman all report the samephenomenon when their eyes met
the creature's, they werepowerless to look away,
powerless to move or scream orrun, and very often the
(07:01):
creature's powerful gaze broughtthose witnesses to their knees,
often passing out cold simplyby having looked into its eyes.
At the time that locals werereporting seeing this giant
winged mothman around PointPleasant, ufo sightings also
skyrocketed.
In fact, the local newspaperhad to establish a hotline for
(07:24):
callers to report UFO sightingsall in the general area of Point
Pleasant and Charleston Collarsdescribed the same thing being
(07:44):
stopped on a rural road andapproached by something that
came to be known as the Grinningman, believed to be an
extraterrestrial being thatcommunicated telepathically.
The area of these sightings isknown by locals as the TNT area
t area.
It's called that because duringworld war ii that region more
than 8 000 acres, was devoted toan ammunition manufacturing
facility called the westvirginia ordinance works.
For safety reasons, theexplosives were stored in
(08:06):
bunkers.
They look like igloos now, ormenacing black caves,
strategically scattered acrossthe territory and disguised by a
thick layer of earth, moss andbrush.
After the war, the area was,for all practical purposes,
abandoned, being converted inpart to a wildlife management
(08:27):
area and partly a landfill.
By no surprise, it wasdiscovered in the 1980s that the
land was severely contaminatedby explosives byproducts.
It was then added to a federallist of hazardous waste sites.
What was left behind when thewar ended and in the 80 years
(08:47):
that have followed is a stark,foreboding landscape dotted with
the ominous, partially buriedbunkers.
Foreboding landscape dottedwith the ominous, partially
buried bunkers.
In May of 2010, one of thebunkers that contained 20,000
pounds of unstable materialssuddenly exploded.
(09:10):
Clearly, these 8,000 acres holddangers and secrets that we
quite possibly don't understand.
The creature, the Mothman, hasbeen sighted on top of an
abandoned building called theNorth Tower in the TNT area.
Is there a connection to theMothman's sightings and the
contaminated, abandoned forest,since he is seen primarily in
this very area?
Many have asked that question.
(09:32):
Is the Mothman a hoax, afantasy creature dreamed up by
one person about 65 years ago?
Maybe, but allow yourself tolet go of all you know as a
rational adult.
Allow yourself to imagine whatif?
What if a Shawnee chief cursedthis land with his dying breath
(09:56):
back in 1777?
What if the Native AmericanThunderbird really does cruise
and patrol the area where theOhio River and the Kanoa Rivers
meet?
And what if the US military'sproduction of explosives that
poisoned the land somehow addedto this perfect storm brewing in
(10:17):
the vast deserted forest?
In the days after the initialMothman sighting back in 1966,
there would be many additionalreports of locals seeing the
creature flying overhead,weaving in and out of treetops
and lighting on church steeplesand other towering structures in
(10:38):
the area.
Other strange phenomena began tooccur at about the same time.
People described odd repeatedinterference with electrical
objects.
High-pitched screeching noiseswould come from telephones and
radios in the area.
Televisions would lose theirsignal or they would display
colors they'd never shown before.
High-pitched screeching noiseswould come from telephones and
radios in the area.
Televisions would lose theirsignal or they would display
(11:02):
colors they'd never shown before.
Remember, most televisions backthen were black and white, so
they shouldn't have shown anycolor, point.
Pleasant residents reportedtheir cars suddenly losing all
power and dying in the middle ofthe road for no apparent reason
, leaving drivers and theirpassengers stranded and
bewildered.
Perhaps most disturbing was thesudden appearance of
(11:24):
odd-looking men, all dressed inill-fitting black suits.
These men would knock onresidents' doors at all hours,
pretending to be any type ofofficial in order to get inside
the house.
They acted very strangely.
Some said they were obviouslynot human.
(11:45):
These strange men scared peopleso badly, in fact, that they
started contacting the policeanytime they spotted one, and
they began bolting their doorsday and night a very unusual
practice in that community.
Townspeople who had seen thesemysterious men generally
described them as having cold,dark eyes, and they spoke in a
weird sing-song voice.
Witnesses also relayed thatthese men seemed amazed by
(12:10):
common everyday items, as ifthey'd never seen them before.
People in the Point Pleasantarea reported these electrical
anomalies, the automobileproblems and visits from odd men
at strange hours for weeks,with more than 100 such reports
on file in the local policedepartment around that time.
(12:34):
Without a doubt, the mostinfamous of these incidents is
that of the Silver Bridge, andit happened just over a year
after the gravedigger's firstsighting of the Mothman.
On December 15, 1967, pointPleasant locals claimed to see
the Mothman flying over theSilver Bridge, a suspension
(12:56):
bridge that connected the townsof Point Pleasant, west Virginia
, and Galapagos, ohio.
During one of these flights,the creature circled the bridge
and eventually landed atop thestructure.
There it sat.
On that very same day, not longafter the Mothman had flown
away, the Silver Bridge wouldcollapse.
(13:18):
It was the late afternoon, rushhour, and dozens of cars were
packed bumper to bumper, goingboth directions the entire
length of the bridge.
At 5 pm, eyewitnesses recallthere was a loud noise like a
gunshot and in fewer than 20seconds the bridge folded like a
deck of cards Without warning.
(13:39):
The entire suspended portion ofSilver Bridge, 1,460 feet of it
, collapsed into the Ohio River.
31 vehicles plunged into thefrigid water below.
There were 46 deaths and only21 survivors in this incident,
(13:59):
and two bodies have never beenfound.
The collapse of Silver Bridgewould go down as the deadliest
bridge disaster in modernhistory.
Families throughout the areawere left shocked and shattered,
and this tragic nightmare ismarked and mourned to this day.
It will forever be connected tothe strange creature that sat
(14:20):
atop the Silver Bridge that day,the one with watchful, glowing
red eyes.
Many locals who were in thevicinity at the time claimed to
have seen the mysteriouscreature atop the bridge.
They all described a very largeman, brown in color but with
magnificent wings and the eyes.
(14:42):
Despite his astonishingphysical characteristics, the's
eyes were unforgettable.
They were large and glowed abloody red.
Everyone remembered the eyes.
No one could forget them.
Had Mothman come to warn themof the impending tragedy, or had
(15:03):
the creature somehow caused thestructurally sound bridge to
collapse?
That question and otherssurrounding the Mothman are
still hotly debated today.
I had the good fortune to talkwith an Appalachian woman who
was very familiar with both theSilver Bridge disaster and the
(15:23):
mysterious Mothman.
Having been raised in the WestVirginia mountains and being of
Native American descent.
She gave me invaluable insightsinto the strange phenomenon
that I had never heard before.
The Mothman, she told me, whilevery possibly a real creature,
had nothing at all to do withcausing the collapse of the
(15:44):
bridge.
That disaster, she said, wasthe direct result of a
200-year-old curse placed on thearea by Cornstalk, chief of the
Shawnee tribe of Point Pleasant.
At the peak of his power helived west of the Ohio River.
For my own reasons, I tend tobelieve the Native American
(16:06):
version of most such stories, soI'll share with you what she
told me most such stories, soI'll share with you what she
told me.
As american frontiersmen beganto move west in the 1770s, seven
native american nations formeda powerful alliance to keep the
white men from infringing ontheir territory.
The shawnee were the mostpowerful of the seven tribes and
(16:28):
cornstalk was their chief.
The allied Allied nations sentabout 1,200 warriors to form a
line from a point along the OhioRiver across to the Conowa
River.
They planned to attack thewhite soldiers as they entered
the area that is now known asPoint Pleasant, west Virginia.
The warriors defended theirterritory bravely, but their
(16:52):
arrows were no match for themuskets that the colonial
soldiers brought with them.
The white men did, in fact,begin to occupy their territory.
Time passed and in 1777, chiefCornstalk befriended the white
soldiers, bringing them news ofBritish plans of attack when
(17:12):
they tried to get him to agreeto join the fight against the
new settlers.
A peaceful coexistence betweenthe Native Americans and the
soldiers was reached Temporarily.
Hostilities and further advancescontinued as Native Americans
and upstart colonists fought forthe rich land along both rivers
(17:34):
.
Cornstalk went to CaptainArbuckle, the garrison commander
of the troops, and said that heopposed war with the colonists,
but he wasn't sure how long hecould hold out against the other
six nations.
With that understanding, hesigned the Treaty of Camp
Charlotte with the soldiers.
This treaty stipulated that theIndians give up rights to the
(17:57):
land south of the Ohio River andit allowed boats to travel on
the river undisturbed.
It also established the OhioRiver as Virginia's boundary
line, aiding in the settlementof the state of Kentucky, his
boundary line, aiding in thesettlement of the state of
Kentucky.
Cornstalk signed this treaty,but he admitted that he would
(18:20):
allow his men to fight the whitesoldiers if necessary, hearing
that the soldiers took Cornstalk, his son and the other tribal
leaders hostage.
Now, cornstalk's people lovedand honored their leader and the
other tribes feared his skill.
He was gifted with militarygenius.
In fact, it was said that whenhis fighting tactics were
adopted by the Americans, theywere able to defeat the British
(18:47):
in a number of battles wherethey had been both outnumbered
and outgunned.
Cornstalk may have been chiefof the Shawnee Nation, but he
was respected by all.
Now, when they were capturedand held hostage, cornstalk and
the other leaders were treatedwell and given comfortable
quarters.
But when two soldiers venturedout one day to hunt deer, they
were spotted carrying firearmsby warriors who were stationed
(19:10):
near the Americans' fort.
All they saw were the enemy andtheir guns.
They began shooting at the twohunters and, tragically, one was
killed.
That mistake led to thecold-blooded murder of all of
the hostages in the fort.
Chief cornstalk was shot eighttimes before he fell to the
(19:32):
floor as the chief lay dying inthe smoke-filled room.
He was set to have uttered thesewords I came as your friend and
you murdered me and my youngson for this.
May the curse of the GreatSpirit rest upon this land.
May it be blighted by natureand blighted in the hopes of the
people who live here.
May the curse of the GreatSpirit rest upon this land.
May it be blighted by natureand blighted in the hopes of the
(19:53):
people who live here.
May the strength of its peoplebe paralyzed by the stain of our
blood.
And with those words hebreathed his last.
The chief's body and then hisbones were buried and then moved
several times for variousreasons, but today what's left
(20:13):
of his bones rests in an obelisklocated in a state park in the
town of Point Pleasant.
The chief's last words are knownas the Cornstalk Curse.
Are his ominous words and thedisrespectful treatment of his
remains responsible for theSilver Bridge tragedy.
Some say not to dismiss thenotion.
(20:35):
You see, there are drawingsalong the rock walls in Shawnee,
another Native Americandwellings of a tall winged man
with piercing red eyes.
Their name for this creature inEnglish is Thunderbird and in
their beliefs the Thunderbirdwas a servant of the Great
Spirit.
It lived in the hills andmountains surrounding the Ohio
(20:57):
River Valley, in the area knowntoday as Point Pleasant.
It was huge and, according tolegend, could cause wind and
rumbling thunder with its mightywings.
It could spark lightning simplyby blinking its huge eyes.
Native american lore tells thatthe thunderbird could change
(21:17):
its appearance to that of a manby pulling back its beak and
removing its feathers.
It was a very dangerous andwrathful spirit and its power
could be summoned through thegreat spirit to avenge the
native americans against A curseand a wrathful spirit summoned
(21:40):
perhaps by a powerful Shawneechief, land that had been used
by the US military tomanufacture and hide explosives
during World War II.
Toxic chemicals left to seepinto thousands of acres of
fertile soil.
Caves that have gone unexploredfor 80 years.
(22:02):
Alien creatures and UFOs, andthe reports of hundreds of
people who say they've seen thevery same thing A giant, winged,
man-like creature with glowingred eyes, hundreds of people who
experienced strange electricalanomalies, piercing, screeching
(22:22):
sounds coming from theirtelephones and cars stopping for
no apparent reason on busyroads and on deserted back roads
, and the reports of hundreds ofpeople who say they've seen the
very same thing a giant, winged, man-like creature with glowing
red eyes, hundreds of peoplewho experience strange
(22:45):
electrical anomalies, piercing,screeching sounds coming from
their telephones and carsstopping for no apparent reason
on busy roads and on desertedback roads.
The silver bridge incidentmarks the last reported sighting
of the Mothman.
Today, mothman is responsiblefor most of the tourism that
(23:08):
blesses Point Pleasant, westVirginia.
There's a Mothman Museum and,of course, a Mothman retail shop
to accompany it.
There's a Mothman statue in thetown center and I must tell you
it's quite flattering regardinghis physique.
Tourists can buy mothmant-shirts, cookies, beer, mugs
and costumes, but stay in thearea until after dark, drive
(23:33):
away from the lights and thefanfare of town center and
venture down a rural road, dimyour headlights and just wait.
I ask you who is to say what'spossible in Point Pleasant, west
Virginia.
I'm Carole Townsend, veterannewspaper journalist and
(24:08):
six-time award-winning author.
You can find me on social mediaand check out my website at
caroltownsendcom.
As always, thanks for listeningand if you're enjoying these
tales of Southern history andlore, I hope you'll tell your
friends.
Subscribe to this podcast onSpotify, apple Play, iheart and
(24:29):
anywhere you listen.
My team and I use the followingresources to look into the
creature that's called theMothman NorthAmericanCryptidscom
.
What does Mothman mean topeople?
(24:49):
The Ohio State University.
The recollections of VirginiaMae Duffy, appalachian Woman of
Appalachian Descent.
And the Mothman of PointPleasant, west Virginia
Smithsonian Center for Folklifeand Cultural Heritage.
Folk Tales.
They're every bit as much apart of the fabric of our
history as are the facts weretaught in school.
They tell the tales of thepeople that came before us.
They reveal to us who we areand who we came from and how we
got here.
Some are discounted as sillymeanderings, as tall tales, and
(00:25):
often that's what they are, butit seems that there's always at
least a kernel of truth in eachone, and sometimes there's more.
Is there anything better than areally good story?
I mean a story told by a friendamong friends.
(00:47):
An engaging tale, told in theright place at the right time,
captures us.
It captures our imagination.
It takes us away from the hereand now and carries us to the
world of what, if?
I think a really good storytaps into our childhood, that
magical time when anything waspossible if we could just close
(01:10):
our eyes and imagine it.
As adults, we don't hide underthe covers anymore as we listen
to the whispered tales of braveknights or beautiful princesses
or scary monsters.
We don't walk through the woodstalking as we go, telling tales
of forest creatures that liveamong the trees and the animals.
(01:30):
We do, however, still spin ourtails, and a comfortable front
porch is often where we do that.
We sit in swings or rockingchairs or rickety woven lawn
chairs, and we still gather withfriends At the end of the day,
when the soft light of duskopens its arms to embrace
(01:51):
nightfall, we're taken back to atime when the story is real,
it's possible.
So join me tonight here on myfront porch, won't you, as we
step into another tale that'srooted in both truth and in myth
.
And as night swallows the softdusk, I'll turn on the light.
(02:12):
You might want that.
The following podcast containsmaterial that may be disturbing.
Listener discretion is advised.
The 1960s in the United Stateswas a decade of turbulence and
(02:35):
change.
The cocoon of the 1950s wassafe, innocent.
The youth of America wereinnocent as well, falling in
line with what was expected ofthem.
The 1960s, however, broughtquestions, a yearning for young
people to break free of whattheir parents expected and to go
(02:55):
the way of their music andtheir beliefs.
An unwanted war clawed at thevery fabric of this country that
had so recently been riding thewave of peace and assurance
that had come with the end ofWorld War II.
The 1960s youth of Americarebelled against the Vietnam War
.
They discovered and indulged inpsychedelic drugs that provided
(03:18):
a colorful backdrop to themusic of the day, the storybook
days of 1950s America came to anabrupt end in the 1960s.
A young culture awakenedlargely by music and fringe
philosophy now defined the times.
There were, however, a fewprotected pockets of innocence
(03:40):
dotted throughout the country,and those pockets were typically
small rural towns.
Point Pleasant, west Virginia,was one of those towns.
In November 1966, point Pleasantand the surrounding area would
be forever changed, and PointPleasant's history would take an
astonishing turn toward theextraordinary.
(04:02):
This change had nothing to dowith war or music or drugs.
You see, a winged creaturelurks in the shadows of the
mountains of West Virginia, inAppalachia, and it occasionally
makes itself known.
The last time it chose to do sowas around 1967.
(04:23):
But why then?
The first reported sighting ofthe winged beast, many believe,
was when a group of gravediggersat work in Clendenin, west
Virginia, saw a giant creature,a brown human being they
described soaring above thetrees overhead.
(04:44):
It was the size of a large man,maybe seven to eight feet tall,
with very large wings.
The gravediggers reported whatthey saw to friends and family
and to local news outlets, butnever to the authorities, at
least not then, because whowould believe them?
Just days later, in the town ofPoint Pleasant, two young
(05:09):
couples, roger and LindaScarberry and Steve and Mary
Mallett, claimed to witness asimilar sight, getting a better
look at the creature that wouldsoon be branded the Mothman.
They reported a 10-footwingspan not on the body of a
large bird, but on the bare bodyof a man, and if that wasn't
strange enough, they also madeparticular note of the
(05:32):
creature's large red eyes.
The couples, with eachindividual being interviewed
separately by police.
They also made particular noteof the creature's large red eyes
.
The couples, with eachindividual being interviewed
separately by police, statedthat the creature watched them
for a while, always stayingwithin sight of the moving car,
but as the young driverincreased his speed in an
attempt to outrun the creature,it chased their car to the
(05:53):
outskirts of town, easily flyingbehind them at a rate of, at
times, 100 miles per hour.
While the wingspan of thiscreature has been estimated at
about 10 feet and many havedescribed the wings as being
beautiful, the creature does notseem to need those wings to fly
.
Rather, it glides, whetherslowly or at high speed, with
(06:18):
little to no effort.
Dozens of Point Pleasantresidents reported seeing the
Mothman at around the same timeas the Scarberries and Mallets
did.
They described similar featuresthe glowing red eyes, the
magnificent, beautifully shapedwings and the ability to fly,
with or without the use of thosewings, often at incredibly high
(06:40):
rates of speed.
And those who were unfortunateenough to come face to face with
Mothman all report the samephenomenon when their eyes met
the creature's, they werepowerless to look away,
powerless to move or scream orrun, and very often the
(07:01):
creature's powerful gaze broughtthose witnesses to their knees,
often passing out cold simplyby having looked into its eyes.
At the time that locals werereporting seeing this giant
winged mothman around PointPleasant, ufo sightings also
skyrocketed.
In fact, the local newspaperhad to establish a hotline for
(07:24):
callers to report UFO sightingsall in the general area of Point
Pleasant and Charleston Collarsdescribed the same thing being
(07:44):
stopped on a rural road andapproached by something that
came to be known as the Grinningman, believed to be an
extraterrestrial being thatcommunicated telepathically.
The area of these sightings isknown by locals as the TNT area
t area.
It's called that because duringworld war ii that region more
than 8 000 acres, was devoted toan ammunition manufacturing
facility called the westvirginia ordinance works.
For safety reasons, theexplosives were stored in
(08:06):
bunkers.
They look like igloos now, ormenacing black caves,
strategically scattered acrossthe territory and disguised by a
thick layer of earth, moss andbrush.
After the war, the area was,for all practical purposes,
abandoned, being converted inpart to a wildlife management
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area and partly a landfill.
By no surprise, it wasdiscovered in the 1980s that the
land was severely contaminatedby explosives byproducts.
It was then added to a federallist of hazardous waste sites.
What was left behind when thewar ended and in the 80 years
(08:47):
that have followed is a stark,foreboding landscape dotted with
the ominous, partially buriedbunkers.
Foreboding landscape dottedwith the ominous, partially
buried bunkers.
In May of 2010, one of thebunkers that contained 20,000
pounds of unstable materialssuddenly exploded.
(09:10):
Clearly, these 8,000 acres holddangers and secrets that we
quite possibly don't understand.
The creature, the Mothman, hasbeen sighted on top of an
abandoned building called theNorth Tower in the TNT area.
Is there a connection to theMothman's sightings and the
contaminated, abandoned forest,since he is seen primarily in
this very area?
Many have asked that question.
(09:32):
Is the Mothman a hoax, afantasy creature dreamed up by
one person about 65 years ago?
Maybe, but allow yourself tolet go of all you know as a
rational adult.
Allow yourself to imagine whatif?
What if a Shawnee chief cursedthis land with his dying breath
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back in 1777?
What if the Native AmericanThunderbird really does cruise
and patrol the area where theOhio River and the Kanoa Rivers
meet?
And what if the US military'sproduction of explosives that
poisoned the land somehow addedto this perfect storm brewing in
(10:17):
the vast deserted forest?
In the days after the initialMothman sighting back in 1966,
there would be many additionalreports of locals seeing the
creature flying overhead,weaving in and out of treetops
and lighting on church steeplesand other towering structures in
(10:38):
the area.
Other strange phenomena began tooccur at about the same time.
People described odd repeatedinterference with electrical
objects.
High-pitched screeching noiseswould come from telephones and
radios in the area.
Televisions would lose theirsignal or they would display
colors they'd never shown before.
High-pitched screeching noiseswould come from telephones and
radios in the area.
Televisions would lose theirsignal or they would display
(11:02):
colors they'd never shown before.
Remember, most televisions backthen were black and white, so
they shouldn't have shown anycolor, point.
Pleasant residents reportedtheir cars suddenly losing all
power and dying in the middle ofthe road for no apparent reason
, leaving drivers and theirpassengers stranded and
bewildered.
Perhaps most disturbing was thesudden appearance of
(11:24):
odd-looking men, all dressed inill-fitting black suits.
These men would knock onresidents' doors at all hours,
pretending to be any type ofofficial in order to get inside
the house.
They acted very strangely.
Some said they were obviouslynot human.
(11:45):
These strange men scared peopleso badly, in fact, that they
started contacting the policeanytime they spotted one, and
they began bolting their doorsday and night a very unusual
practice in that community.
Townspeople who had seen thesemysterious men generally
described them as having cold,dark eyes, and they spoke in a
weird sing-song voice.
Witnesses also relayed thatthese men seemed amazed by
(12:10):
common everyday items, as ifthey'd never seen them before.
People in the Point Pleasantarea reported these electrical
anomalies, the automobileproblems and visits from odd men
at strange hours for weeks,with more than 100 such reports
on file in the local policedepartment around that time.
(12:34):
Without a doubt, the mostinfamous of these incidents is
that of the Silver Bridge, andit happened just over a year
after the gravedigger's firstsighting of the Mothman.
On December 15, 1967, pointPleasant locals claimed to see
the Mothman flying over theSilver Bridge, a suspension
(12:56):
bridge that connected the townsof Point Pleasant, west Virginia
, and Galapagos, ohio.
During one of these flights,the creature circled the bridge
and eventually landed atop thestructure.
There it sat.
On that very same day, not longafter the Mothman had flown
away, the Silver Bridge wouldcollapse.
(13:18):
It was the late afternoon, rushhour, and dozens of cars were
packed bumper to bumper, goingboth directions the entire
length of the bridge.
At 5 pm, eyewitnesses recallthere was a loud noise like a
gunshot and in fewer than 20seconds the bridge folded like a
deck of cards Without warning.
(13:39):
The entire suspended portion ofSilver Bridge, 1,460 feet of it
, collapsed into the Ohio River.
31 vehicles plunged into thefrigid water below.
There were 46 deaths and only21 survivors in this incident,
(13:59):
and two bodies have never beenfound.
The collapse of Silver Bridgewould go down as the deadliest
bridge disaster in modernhistory.
Families throughout the areawere left shocked and shattered,
and this tragic nightmare ismarked and mourned to this day.
It will forever be connected tothe strange creature that sat
(14:20):
atop the Silver Bridge that day,the one with watchful, glowing
red eyes.
Many locals who were in thevicinity at the time claimed to
have seen the mysteriouscreature atop the bridge.
They all described a very largeman, brown in color but with
magnificent wings and the eyes.
(14:42):
Despite his astonishingphysical characteristics, the's
eyes were unforgettable.
They were large and glowed abloody red.
Everyone remembered the eyes.
No one could forget them.
Had Mothman come to warn themof the impending tragedy, or had
(15:03):
the creature somehow caused thestructurally sound bridge to
collapse?
That question and otherssurrounding the Mothman are
still hotly debated today.
I had the good fortune to talkwith an Appalachian woman who
was very familiar with both theSilver Bridge disaster and the
(15:23):
mysterious Mothman.
Having been raised in the WestVirginia mountains and being of
Native American descent.
She gave me invaluable insightsinto the strange phenomenon
that I had never heard before.
The Mothman, she told me, whilevery possibly a real creature,
had nothing at all to do withcausing the collapse of the
(15:44):
bridge.
That disaster, she said, wasthe direct result of a
200-year-old curse placed on thearea by Cornstalk, chief of the
Shawnee tribe of Point Pleasant.
At the peak of his power helived west of the Ohio River.
For my own reasons, I tend tobelieve the Native American
(16:06):
version of most such stories, soI'll share with you what she
told me most such stories, soI'll share with you what she
told me.
As american frontiersmen beganto move west in the 1770s, seven
native american nations formeda powerful alliance to keep the
white men from infringing ontheir territory.
The shawnee were the mostpowerful of the seven tribes and
(16:28):
cornstalk was their chief.
The allied Allied nations sentabout 1,200 warriors to form a
line from a point along the OhioRiver across to the Conowa
River.
They planned to attack thewhite soldiers as they entered
the area that is now known asPoint Pleasant, west Virginia.
The warriors defended theirterritory bravely, but their
(16:52):
arrows were no match for themuskets that the colonial
soldiers brought with them.
The white men did, in fact,begin to occupy their territory.
Time passed and in 1777, chiefCornstalk befriended the white
soldiers, bringing them news ofBritish plans of attack when
(17:12):
they tried to get him to agreeto join the fight against the
new settlers.
A peaceful coexistence betweenthe Native Americans and the
soldiers was reached Temporarily.
Hostilities and further advancescontinued as Native Americans
and upstart colonists fought forthe rich land along both rivers
(17:34):
.
Cornstalk went to CaptainArbuckle, the garrison commander
of the troops, and said that heopposed war with the colonists,
but he wasn't sure how long hecould hold out against the other
six nations.
With that understanding, hesigned the Treaty of Camp
Charlotte with the soldiers.
This treaty stipulated that theIndians give up rights to the
(17:57):
land south of the Ohio River andit allowed boats to travel on
the river undisturbed.
It also established the OhioRiver as Virginia's boundary
line, aiding in the settlementof the state of Kentucky, his
boundary line, aiding in thesettlement of the state of
Kentucky.
Cornstalk signed this treaty,but he admitted that he would
(18:20):
allow his men to fight the whitesoldiers if necessary, hearing
that the soldiers took Cornstalk, his son and the other tribal
leaders hostage.
Now, cornstalk's people lovedand honored their leader and the
other tribes feared his skill.
He was gifted with militarygenius.
In fact, it was said that whenhis fighting tactics were
adopted by the Americans, theywere able to defeat the British
(18:47):
in a number of battles wherethey had been both outnumbered
and outgunned.
Cornstalk may have been chiefof the Shawnee Nation, but he
was respected by all.
Now, when they were capturedand held hostage, cornstalk and
the other leaders were treatedwell and given comfortable
quarters.
But when two soldiers venturedout one day to hunt deer, they
were spotted carrying firearmsby warriors who were stationed
(19:10):
near the Americans' fort.
All they saw were the enemy andtheir guns.
They began shooting at the twohunters and, tragically, one was
killed.
That mistake led to thecold-blooded murder of all of
the hostages in the fort.
Chief cornstalk was shot eighttimes before he fell to the
(19:32):
floor as the chief lay dying inthe smoke-filled room.
He was set to have uttered thesewords I came as your friend and
you murdered me and my youngson for this.
May the curse of the GreatSpirit rest upon this land.
May it be blighted by natureand blighted in the hopes of the
people who live here.
May the curse of the GreatSpirit rest upon this land.
May it be blighted by natureand blighted in the hopes of the
(19:53):
people who live here.
May the strength of its peoplebe paralyzed by the stain of our
blood.
And with those words hebreathed his last.
The chief's body and then hisbones were buried and then moved
several times for variousreasons, but today what's left
(20:13):
of his bones rests in an obelisklocated in a state park in the
town of Point Pleasant.
The chief's last words are knownas the Cornstalk Curse.
Are his ominous words and thedisrespectful treatment of his
remains responsible for theSilver Bridge tragedy.
Some say not to dismiss thenotion.
(20:35):
You see, there are drawingsalong the rock walls in Shawnee,
another Native Americandwellings of a tall winged man
with piercing red eyes.
Their name for this creature inEnglish is Thunderbird and in
their beliefs the Thunderbirdwas a servant of the Great
Spirit.
It lived in the hills andmountains surrounding the Ohio
(20:57):
River Valley, in the area knowntoday as Point Pleasant.
It was huge and, according tolegend, could cause wind and
rumbling thunder with its mightywings.
It could spark lightning simplyby blinking its huge eyes.
Native american lore tells thatthe thunderbird could change
(21:17):
its appearance to that of a manby pulling back its beak and
removing its feathers.
It was a very dangerous andwrathful spirit and its power
could be summoned through thegreat spirit to avenge the
native americans against A curseand a wrathful spirit summoned
(21:40):
perhaps by a powerful Shawneechief, land that had been used
by the US military tomanufacture and hide explosives
during World War II.
Toxic chemicals left to seepinto thousands of acres of
fertile soil.
Caves that have gone unexploredfor 80 years.
(22:02):
Alien creatures and UFOs, andthe reports of hundreds of
people who say they've seen thevery same thing A giant, winged,
man-like creature with glowingred eyes, hundreds of people who
experienced strange electricalanomalies, piercing, screeching
(22:22):
sounds coming from theirtelephones and cars stopping for
no apparent reason on busyroads and on deserted back roads
, and the reports of hundreds ofpeople who say they've seen the
very same thing a giant, winged, man-like creature with glowing
red eyes, hundreds of peoplewho experience strange
(22:45):
electrical anomalies, piercing,screeching sounds coming from
their telephones and carsstopping for no apparent reason
on busy roads and on desertedback roads.
The silver bridge incidentmarks the last reported sighting
of the Mothman.
Today, mothman is responsiblefor most of the tourism that
(23:08):
blesses Point Pleasant, westVirginia.
There's a Mothman Museum and,of course, a Mothman retail shop
to accompany it.
There's a Mothman statue in thetown center and I must tell you
it's quite flattering regardinghis physique.
Tourists can buy mothmant-shirts, cookies, beer, mugs
and costumes, but stay in thearea until after dark, drive
(23:33):
away from the lights and thefanfare of town center and
venture down a rural road, dimyour headlights and just wait.
I ask you who is to say what'spossible in Point Pleasant, west
Virginia.
I'm Carole Townsend, veterannewspaper journalist and
(24:08):
six-time award-winning author.
You can find me on social mediaand check out my website at
caroltownsendcom.
As always, thanks for listeningand if you're enjoying these
tales of Southern history andlore, I hope you'll tell your
friends.
Subscribe to this podcast onSpotify, apple Play, iheart and
(24:29):
anywhere you listen.
My team and I use the followingresources to look into the
creature that's called theMothman NorthAmericanCryptidscom
.
What does Mothman mean topeople?
(24:49):
The Ohio State University.
The recollections of VirginiaMae Duffy, appalachian Woman of
Appalachian Descent.
And the Mothman of PointPleasant, west Virginia
Smithsonian Center for Folklifeand Cultural Heritage.
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