Point Pleasant's Mothman Festival
Monday September 17, 2007 8:01 AM
Every year since the 2002 release of the movie The Mothman Prophecies, loosely based on John Keel's 1975 book, the town of Point Pleasant, West Virginia hosts The Mothman Festival, in honor of the area's creepy past.
Here's the story: Over a hundred sightings occurred from November of 1966 until December of 1967 in Point Pleasant and surrounding areas. These sightings often included encounters with a large winged creature and/or UFOs, while others claimed to have had encounters with men in black. Descriptions of the Mothman commonly included these details:
• 7 feet tall or more
• winged beast/bird/humanoid
• intense red eyes
• silent but quick flight pattern
• hypnotic abilities
The festival begins every year in front of local sculptor Robert Roach's stainless steel depiction of the Mothman at Gunn Park in downtown Point Pleasant. This year's festival was this past weekend, Sept. 15 and 16, and featured presentations by famed paranormal author (and Paranormal Insider blogger) Rosemary Ellen Guiley, Mothman comic writer Chad Lambert, Weird Ohio author James Willis and many others. Quite a few eyewitnesses to the area's strange and sometimes terrifying visitors were also on hand to discuss experiences. The festival included food, music, haunted hay rides and hiking in the TNT area [PDF], a location known for its many Mothman sightings. For the kiddies, this year marked the addition of a haunted house and Mothman's Lair, plus children had Mothman painted on their faces and participated in a costume contest.
For the Mothman lore and history enthusiasts, this festival is a great way to learn about the real-life events that took place in the area and get to know some of the people that actually experienced them. If you weren't able to make it to this year's event, the Mothman Museum is open seven days a week.
Comments (1)
Mothman:
When will the "Mothman" episode air for
Paranormal State?
Also, does anyone know about the new
documentary called Dark Wings: The Mothman Chronicle? It was supposed to come out last year, but there have been no recent updates since last fall.
Posted by David Thomas | January 27, 2008 6:32 AM
Posted on January 27, 2008 06:32