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In American folklore, Mothman is the name given to a humanoid creature that was reportedly seen around Point Pleasant, West Virginia, from November 15, 1966, to December 15, 1967.

Despite its name, the original sightings of the creature described avian features. The first newspaper report was published in the Point Pleasant Register, dated November 16, 1966, titled "Couples See Man-Sized Bird ... The national press soon picked up the reports and helped spread the story across the United States. The source of the legend is believed to have originated from sightings of out-of-migration sandhill cranes or herons. The creature was introduced to a wider audience by Gray Barker in 1970, and was later popularized by John Keel in his 1975 book The Mothman Prophecies, claiming that there were paranormal events related to the sightings, and a connection to the collapse of the Silver Bridge. An annual festival in Point Pleasant is devoted to the Mothman legend.

On November 15, 1966, two young couples from Point Pleasant—Roger and Linda Scarberry, Steve and Mary Mallette—told police they had seen a large black creature whose eyes "glowed red", standing at the side of the road near "the TNT area", the site of a former World War II munitions plant. Smith at West Virginia University told reporters that descriptions and sightings fit the sandhill crane, a large American crane almost as tall as a man with a seven-foot wingspan and reddish coloring around its eyes. While the villain Killer Moth did not appear in the show, the comic book influence of both him and Batman is believed to have influenced the coinage of the name "Mothman" in the local newspapers. Following the December 15, 1967, collapse of the Silver Bridge and the death of 46 people, the incident gave rise to the legend and connected the Mothman sightings to the bridge collapse. According to Georgian newspaper Svobodnaya Gruziya, Russian UFOlogists claim that Mothman sightings in Moscow foreshadowed the 1999 Russian apartment bombings. In 2016, WCHS-TV published a photo purported to be of Mothman taken by an anonymous man while driving on Route 2 in Mason County. Science writer Sharon Hill proposed that the photo showed "a bird, perhaps an owl, carrying a frog or snake away" and wrote that "there is zero reason to suspect it is the Mothman as described in legend.

Brunvand notes that the recountings of the 1966–67 Mothman reports usually state that at least 100 people saw Mothman with many more "afraid to report their sightings." However, he points out that these written sources for such stories consisted of children's books or sensationalized or undocumented accounts that fail to quote identifiable persons. However, John Keel relays the story of witness Connie Carpenter, who allegedly saw Mothman in broad daylight on November 27, 1966 and described it as having glowing red eyes. Gallo, "55 sightings of Mothman in Chicago during 2017" published on the website of self-described Fortean researcher Lon Strickler are "a selective sample". Gallo explains that "he's not sampling random people and asking if they saw the Mothman – he's just counting the number of people that voluntarily came forward to report a sighting." According to Gallo, "people more likely to visit a paranormal-centric website like Strickler's might also be more inclined to believe in, and therefore witness the existence of, a 'Mothman'."

Point Pleasant held its first Annual Mothman Festival in 2002. The group organizing the event chose the Mothman to be the center of the festival due to its uniqueness, and as a way to celebrate its local legacy in the town.

While the 1975 book and 2002 film The Mothman Prophecies may be the best known media regarding the legend, several low-budget and independently-made narrative films and documentary projects have since been released. Small Town Monsters has released two documentaries about Mothman, The Mothman of Point Pleasant in 2017 and The Mothman Legacy in 2020.

Quick Facts

• Small Town Monsters has released two documentaries about Mothman, The Mothman of Point Pleasant in 2017 and The Mothman Legacy in 2020.
• The first newspaper report was published in the Point Pleasant Register, dated November 16, 1966, titled "Couples See Man-Sized Bird ...
• An annual festival in Point Pleasant is devoted to the Mothman legend.
• Despite its name, the original sightings of the creature described avian features.
• Following the December 15, 1967, collapse of the Silver Bridge and the death of 46 people, the incident gave rise to the legend and connected the Mothman sightings to the bridge collapse.

Source material: Wikipedia - "Mothman". Adapted and summarized for DiscoverScroll. Original contributors are credited through the linked Wikipedia article. Read original on Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes were made from the original.