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(mysterious music)
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- [Narrator] This might seem
like just another folktale.
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It begins like so many rural legends.
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A car full of kids on a country road
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as they encounter something
frightening and unexplainable.
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But unlike stories told to
children to keep them inside
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after dark, this particular
encounter was real.
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For 13 months, the
citizens of West Virginia
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were haunted by a bizarre entity
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that descended like a shadow from the sky.
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And with it came a symphony of strange
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and unsettling events that
would eventually crescendo
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into the ultimate nightmare.
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To add to this heightened state,
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the mysterious entity was not alone.
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It was accompanied by other
seemingly supernatural beings,
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both from above and below.
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At the eye of the storm was the
tiny town of Point Pleasant,
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West Virginia, a bustling little 'burb
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on the banks of the Ohio River.
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A town whose people would confront
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this carnival of horrors head on.
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Now, thanks to years of
pop culture references
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and a major Hollywood movie,
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those that live in Point Pleasant may seem
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like fictional characters
to the outside world,
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but the people are real,
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and this is their story.
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(mysterious music)
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(mysterious music)
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- My family's been here since about 1774,
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so my mother's family.
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I've lived here, for other than
going to college, 58 years.
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Obviously, Point Pleasant
is a rural community.
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It's a town of less than 5,000 people.
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And most of the people's families
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have been here for a very long time.
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Everyone knows everybody.
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It's a very close-knit community.
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In a big city, this would
just be a small suburb.
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And literally, it's neighborhoods.
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From end to end, the town's
only about three miles long.
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- [Narrator] The Ohio River
flows from Pittsburgh,
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Pennsylvania, to Cairo, Illinois.
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Access to two major waterways
is just one of the reasons
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Point Pleasant has
survived as long as it has.
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It also boasts a National Guard armory
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and has been home to various
manufacturing facilities
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for the U.S. Navy, as well
as a Naval Reserve Center.
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Across the river from Point Pleasant
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lies its sister city of Gallipolis, Ohio.
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With a population of less than 4,000,
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most locals think Gallipolis is merely
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an extension of Point Pleasant.
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The people of Point Pleasant represent
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the best of blue-collar America,
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a people who are both
hardy and resourceful.
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- It's different.
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Most of West Virginia's mountains.
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You're in the high valley.
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You're where the two main rivers,
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the Ohio and Kanawha come together,
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so you have a lot of farmland here.
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You have rich, fertile river valleys.
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- [Narrator] Point Pleasant's history
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is a bloodied, messy
affair, even to this day.
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Native American bodies are still buried
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throughout the area, with a mass grave
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located somewhere in the vicinity of what
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is known as the McClintic
Wildlife Management Area.
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Native tribes in the region
traditionally avoided
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the area of modern-day Point Pleasant
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due to bad omens associated
with lands where waters mingled.
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However, they would be
forced to stand ground
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in this very area.
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In 1774, the Shawnee and
Mingo tribes banded together
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to defend their homes located
south of the Ohio River
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from what they perceived as
an invading Virginia militia
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led by Colonel Andrew Lewis.
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The natives waged a furious
battle in an attempt to halt
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continuous advances into their territory
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in the now-infamous
Battle of Point Pleasant.
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After a vicious fight
between the two parties,
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the natives were forced to retreat
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and were overtaken by the militia.
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The Shawnee chieftain
by the name of Cornstalk
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negotiated a treaty with the white men.
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Three years later,
Chief Cornstalk returned
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to the area for a diplomatic visit
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at the nearby Fort Randolph.
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However, upon arriving at the fort,
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Cornstalk and his sons were taken captive
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and murdered by the soldiers.
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- He was the principal
chief of the Shawnee Nation.
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He was instrumental in this war.
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He did not want this battle,
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but he really didn't have a choice.
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He had to fight for his
land, he had to fight
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for his people, he had to do,
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he had to do what he felt would be
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right for his future generations.
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We didn't own the land.
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We just cared for the land.
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- Chief Cornstalk was a Shawnee chief
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who was reportedly murdered by
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some settlers over a land dispute,
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him and his son both.
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The legend is told that
upon his dying breath
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that he cursed the town of
Point Pleasant for 200 years.
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But I think that all towns have their
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share of problems and
tragedies and things like that.
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- The first time it was
heard of was in a play
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in the early 1900s.
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- We found when they tore
down a local grade school here
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about six years ago,
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we found a closet that
they didn't know about.
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We found a play from 1923
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that the entire town
put on on their history.
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And in that play, one of the big scenes,
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is Cornstalk getting shot
and cursing Point Pleasant.
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- They just ran with it.
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They
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told it to their daughter,
and their daughter
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told it to her son and it just,
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and by the time it
escalated and escalated,
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he was responsible for everything
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that went wrong in the whole state.
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- [Narrator] For over a
century, Point Pleasant
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has been plagued with a string
of unfortunate incidents
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that many would call bad luck.
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On four occasions between 1913 and 1937,
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the Ohio River overflowed its banks,
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proving catastrophic for the town.
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The flooding cost citizens
thousands of dollars in damage,
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and worse, untold grief in
the number of lives lost.
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During the early part of the 20th century,
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with frequent disasters
befalling Point Pleasant,
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rumors about a bizarre
birdman began to circulate.
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The most startling fact
about these birdman stories
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is that they occurred over 50 years prior
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to the Mothman encounters of the 1960s.
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Professor James Gay Jones
of Glenville State College
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documented multiple sightings
of the birdman in his book,
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Haunted Valley and More
Folktales of Appalachia.
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The sightings began around 1914,
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with the creature being
described as a large bird
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with the head of a man and a wingspread
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of at least a dozen feet.
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It was said to be of monstrous size,
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and was covered in dark reddish feathers
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that glistened in the sunlight.
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According to Jones,
sightings of the birdman
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persisted well into the
1940s, where it was reported
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by motorists who drove
along the Ohio River
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just outside of Point Pleasant.
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These encounters were
also said to be a prelude
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or epilogue to a tragic occurrence.
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As the 1960s dawned, so too did a new wave
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of birdman sightings.
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America was now in the
throes of a space race,
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launching multiple manned missions
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in an effort to put the
first man on the moon.
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In Vietnam, American soldiers were in
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their third year of ground combat
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in a war that seemed to have no end.
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On November First, 1966,
a National Guardsman
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at the armory near the McCintic Wildlife
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Management Area claimed
to see a brown half-bird,
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half-man figure perched in a tree.
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Less than two weeks later,
the birdman appeared again,
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nearly 80 miles east of Point Pleasant.
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- On November 11th, 1966,
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in Clendenin, West Virginia,
which is a little bit
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over an hour from here in Point Pleasant,
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there were four men digging a grave.
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It was later in the evening, almost dusk,
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and they claimed to see a flying man
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who flew over top of where
they were digging this grave.
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That was reported to the newspapers
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and the media at that time.
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That was one of the
first Mothman sightings
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or big bird sightings that took place,
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even before here in Point Pleasant.
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- [Narrator] The birdman
is only one such figure
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known to West Virginia folklore.
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Aside from centuries of
ghost tales and stories
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of mysterious spook lights, there's also
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the notorious Flatwoods Monster.
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The Flatwoods Case,
which took place in 1952,
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revolves around a small
town where eyewitnesses
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came upon a bizarre creature
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after seeing a glowing
object streak across the sky
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and come to rest on a farm.
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Like the Flatwoods Monster,
the birdman was often
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accompanied by unusual aerial phenomena,
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like that witnessed by Merle Partridge
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near his home located less than 90 miles
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from Point Pleasant.
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- [Merle] And all at once,
the TV started winding up
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like a high-pitched
generator, like winding up
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to a fever pitch.
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At the same time, my dog, Bandit,
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on the front porch, that
dog is carrying on and
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00:11:25,317 --> 00:11:26,317
all at once,
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00:11:29,152 --> 00:11:31,473
as it was winding up and I
thought, what in the hell,
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more than anything else.
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And I got up to go over and turn it down
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because it was hurting our ears,
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the way the thing was a-screaming.
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And the whole picture tube and everything
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just blew out in the middle of the floor.
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And man I run out the front door to the,
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00:11:45,731 --> 00:11:47,478
like the front door here
and the porch there,
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and I run out on the front porch,
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the dog, as I run out, he took off
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down through the field.
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00:11:54,354 --> 00:11:55,722
Well the only thing that was in that field
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was a little pump house.
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And I looked down at where he was going,
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I hollered for him to come
back and he wouldn't come back.
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00:12:02,306 --> 00:12:03,334
He wouldn't mind me at all.
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00:12:03,334 --> 00:12:06,175
But when I looked down there,
all I seen was red lights
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00:12:06,175 --> 00:12:08,929
going around, like intermittent.
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00:12:08,929 --> 00:12:11,549
They weren't eyes or anything like that
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00:12:11,549 --> 00:12:12,549
because, so,
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00:12:13,843 --> 00:12:15,521
the dog would not come back.
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00:12:15,521 --> 00:12:17,421
I stood out there and
called him for a half,
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00:12:17,421 --> 00:12:18,467
well, this thing,
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00:12:18,467 --> 00:12:21,406
in fact, this thing disappeared
after just a few minutes.
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00:12:21,406 --> 00:12:22,704
The first thing that entered my mind
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00:12:22,704 --> 00:12:25,121
was that it was a helicopter.
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00:12:26,314 --> 00:12:28,080
But there was no noise.
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00:12:28,080 --> 00:12:30,102
(laughs)
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00:12:30,102 --> 00:12:34,987
And, so I guess I called the
dog there for a little bit
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00:12:34,987 --> 00:12:37,229
and I just went back in the house,
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00:12:37,229 --> 00:12:38,893
more or less kinda
putting it outta my mind,
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00:12:38,893 --> 00:12:40,633
something weird.
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00:12:40,633 --> 00:12:42,430
My wife was cleaning up
the glass and everything
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00:12:42,430 --> 00:12:44,199
from the television, sweeping it up.
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00:12:44,199 --> 00:12:46,673
Well as far as I can
remember, we just went to bed.
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00:12:46,673 --> 00:12:49,096
- This was all reported
to the local authorities,
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00:12:49,096 --> 00:12:51,991
the state police, and the media outlets
245
00:12:51,991 --> 00:12:56,104
and things like that, but
that dog was never located.
246
00:12:56,104 --> 00:12:59,021
(mysterious music)
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00:13:00,504 --> 00:13:02,765
- [Narrator] Though locals
refer to it as the TNT,
248
00:13:02,765 --> 00:13:07,109
or TNT Area, the McClintic
Wildlife Management Area
249
00:13:07,109 --> 00:13:10,528
was at one time home to
a $45 million munitions
250
00:13:10,528 --> 00:13:13,220
manufacturing facility that encompassed
251
00:13:13,220 --> 00:13:15,970
an area of more than 8,000 acres.
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00:13:17,322 --> 00:13:19,871
Known as the West Virginia Ordnance Works,
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00:13:19,871 --> 00:13:23,621
the plant was in operation
from 1942 to 1945,
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00:13:24,566 --> 00:13:28,237
when it was abandoned after World War Two.
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00:13:28,237 --> 00:13:30,753
Shortly thereafter, it
became a dumping ground
256
00:13:30,753 --> 00:13:33,864
for chemicals and toxic
waste before being given
257
00:13:33,864 --> 00:13:37,258
to the state for use
as a wildlife reserve.
258
00:13:37,258 --> 00:13:40,002
During the 1960s, it was
frequented by teenagers
259
00:13:40,002 --> 00:13:42,161
who took advantage of its seclusion
260
00:13:42,161 --> 00:13:44,185
for the purpose of drag racing,
261
00:13:44,185 --> 00:13:48,773
or better yet, as a
secretive lovers' hangout.
262
00:13:48,773 --> 00:13:50,745
- We had a pretty good
size farm out there,
263
00:13:50,745 --> 00:13:54,604
and if you would walk clear
to the back of the farm,
264
00:13:54,604 --> 00:13:57,109
it was about a mile and a half
265
00:13:57,109 --> 00:13:59,526
into the TNT Area from there.
266
00:14:01,345 --> 00:14:05,025
Steve Mallette, I'd heard
his name quite a bit,
267
00:14:05,025 --> 00:14:07,850
and Roger Scarberry, I'd heard
of their names quite a bit.
268
00:14:07,850 --> 00:14:10,280
They were well known around school.
269
00:14:10,280 --> 00:14:11,925
The way I heard it back then was,
270
00:14:11,925 --> 00:14:15,845
that Steve Mallette and his wife, Mary,
271
00:14:15,845 --> 00:14:18,755
and Roger Scarberry and his wife, Linda.
272
00:14:18,755 --> 00:14:20,046
- About 11 o'clock that night,
273
00:14:20,046 --> 00:14:22,769
they had been up riding
around, showing off their car,
274
00:14:22,769 --> 00:14:25,602
that Roger had a '57 Chevy Belair.
275
00:14:26,489 --> 00:14:29,709
As they went past that north power plant,
276
00:14:29,709 --> 00:14:32,885
they saw what they thought was
a man standing in the road.
277
00:14:32,885 --> 00:14:34,539
It stood about seven foot tall.
278
00:14:34,539 --> 00:14:36,810
It was light gray in color.
279
00:14:36,810 --> 00:14:41,012
And Linda said that it had
wings folded against its back.
280
00:14:41,012 --> 00:14:43,879
As they got closer in the
car, she said the wings
281
00:14:43,879 --> 00:14:47,062
spread out and it ran towards
the north power plant.
282
00:14:47,062 --> 00:14:49,836
She said it ran in a very awkward manner.
283
00:14:49,836 --> 00:14:51,844
It hobbled through the grass,
284
00:14:51,844 --> 00:14:53,380
went into the north power plant.
285
00:14:53,380 --> 00:14:55,501
- They backed out onto the main drag,
286
00:14:55,501 --> 00:14:57,177
rushed back down the fairground road
287
00:14:57,177 --> 00:14:59,597
and took off towards Point Pleasant.
288
00:14:59,597 --> 00:15:02,511
- They decided to go to
the sheriff's department.
289
00:15:02,511 --> 00:15:04,591
They were hesitant about telling anybody
290
00:15:04,591 --> 00:15:05,841
because they thought people would just
291
00:15:05,841 --> 00:15:07,965
think they were making the story up.
292
00:15:07,965 --> 00:15:10,350
- When they got over on Route 62,
293
00:15:10,350 --> 00:15:12,479
they turned south towards Point Pleasant.
294
00:15:12,479 --> 00:15:15,502
They discovered that this
creature was chasing them.
295
00:15:15,502 --> 00:15:18,596
- Linda said, as they
turned left onto Route 62,
296
00:15:18,596 --> 00:15:21,553
they saw it again,
standing by a billboard.
297
00:15:21,553 --> 00:15:25,300
She said the wings came out,
it went straight up in the air.
298
00:15:25,300 --> 00:15:28,370
And as they hit the straight
stretch there on Route 62,
299
00:15:28,370 --> 00:15:31,703
that's when it came over top of the car.
300
00:15:34,885 --> 00:15:37,964
They were doing 90, 95 miles an hour
301
00:15:37,964 --> 00:15:39,034
down the straight stretch.
302
00:15:39,034 --> 00:15:40,963
It never got in front of the car,
303
00:15:40,963 --> 00:15:42,419
but it stayed above the car.
304
00:15:42,419 --> 00:15:44,971
It would disappear for a few
minutes and then come back.
305
00:15:44,971 --> 00:15:47,502
At this point, they
were a little concerned
306
00:15:47,502 --> 00:15:49,450
because they thought they could possibly
307
00:15:49,450 --> 00:15:51,783
have a wreck or an accident.
308
00:15:53,705 --> 00:15:56,205
- He chased them all the
way to the city limits.
309
00:15:56,205 --> 00:15:58,048
And they said that they reached
310
00:15:58,048 --> 00:16:00,730
100 mile an hour in their car.
311
00:16:00,730 --> 00:16:03,307
- That's when they went on
to the sheriff's department
312
00:16:03,307 --> 00:16:05,517
and set down and explained
313
00:16:05,517 --> 00:16:07,684
what they had experienced.
314
00:16:08,592 --> 00:16:11,509
(mysterious music)
315
00:16:13,856 --> 00:16:16,101
- I had seen something on TV.
316
00:16:16,101 --> 00:16:18,892
It was just real short, and
it was during those days
317
00:16:18,892 --> 00:16:21,952
when that happened, during that week.
318
00:16:21,952 --> 00:16:24,435
- As soon as the media caught wind
319
00:16:24,435 --> 00:16:28,435
of Linda Scarberry and
the Mallettes' sightings,
320
00:16:29,957 --> 00:16:32,487
curiosity piqued here in Point Pleasant.
321
00:16:32,487 --> 00:16:34,079
- It was like Jaws.
322
00:16:34,079 --> 00:16:35,876
They said there's a monster in the TNT,
323
00:16:35,876 --> 00:16:37,462
everybody grabbed their gun.
324
00:16:37,462 --> 00:16:40,573
- People armed with rifles and guns,
325
00:16:40,573 --> 00:16:44,298
miles and miles of cars
up in the TNT Area.
326
00:16:44,298 --> 00:16:46,435
It got to the point
where the National Guard
327
00:16:46,435 --> 00:16:49,491
had to step in and control the amount
328
00:16:49,491 --> 00:16:51,785
of people that were
coming into the TNT Area.
329
00:16:51,785 --> 00:16:53,619
- There was only two
questions they wanted to know.
330
00:16:53,619 --> 00:16:56,869
Number one, are we allowed to shoot it?
331
00:16:58,298 --> 00:17:01,781
Number two, if there's more
than one, can we shoot two?
332
00:17:01,781 --> 00:17:03,514
- [Narrator] The Mothman
incidents weren't the only
333
00:17:03,514 --> 00:17:07,681
unusual events taking place
in West Virginia during 1966.
334
00:17:08,957 --> 00:17:11,952
On November Second, a man
named Woodrow Derenberger
335
00:17:11,952 --> 00:17:15,539
is accosted on Highway
77 while driving home
336
00:17:15,539 --> 00:17:18,701
from Parkersburg, West Virginia.
337
00:17:18,701 --> 00:17:20,375
His antagonist is the occupant
338
00:17:20,375 --> 00:17:22,842
of an unidentified flying object,
339
00:17:22,842 --> 00:17:26,160
which lands on the road in front of him.
340
00:17:26,160 --> 00:17:29,120
The being speaks to
Derenberger telepathically,
341
00:17:29,120 --> 00:17:32,120
referring to himself as Indrid Cold.
342
00:17:34,158 --> 00:17:37,786
Much like the Mothman stories
would just two weeks later,
343
00:17:37,786 --> 00:17:40,423
Indrid Cold draws national media attention
344
00:17:40,423 --> 00:17:42,968
as Derenberger calmly and matter of factly
345
00:17:42,968 --> 00:17:47,004
relays the details of his
encounter to reporters.
346
00:17:47,004 --> 00:17:49,313
Today it stands as one
of the most fascinating
347
00:17:49,313 --> 00:17:51,146
UFO stories on record.
348
00:17:52,444 --> 00:17:55,819
Also on November Second,
in nearby Gallipolis, Ohio,
349
00:17:55,819 --> 00:17:57,546
a woman is outside when she sees
350
00:17:57,546 --> 00:18:00,570
a bright flash in the sky above her.
351
00:18:00,570 --> 00:18:03,279
She looks up in time to see
a massive cylinder-shaped
352
00:18:03,279 --> 00:18:06,637
object appear in a downward trajectory.
353
00:18:06,637 --> 00:18:08,361
The object lands in a parking lot,
354
00:18:08,361 --> 00:18:11,476
and two plain-dressed men exit the craft
355
00:18:11,476 --> 00:18:14,018
and proceed to ask her
a series of questions
356
00:18:14,018 --> 00:18:16,590
in a bizarre dialect.
357
00:18:16,590 --> 00:18:20,090
At the same time, two men
traveling on Highway 77
358
00:18:20,090 --> 00:18:22,521
near Parkersburg, in the same vicinity
359
00:18:22,521 --> 00:18:25,269
as Woodrow Derenberger,
have their own brush
360
00:18:25,269 --> 00:18:29,489
with a man who sounds
suspiciously like Indrid Cold.
361
00:18:29,489 --> 00:18:33,764
Or as they refer to him, the Grinning Man.
362
00:18:33,764 --> 00:18:36,231
Meanwhile, up and down the Ohio Valley,
363
00:18:36,231 --> 00:18:40,231
scores of UFOs are appearing
on a nightly basis.
364
00:18:41,883 --> 00:18:44,800
(mysterious music)
365
00:18:46,055 --> 00:18:47,460
- Well I discovered everything.
366
00:18:47,460 --> 00:18:49,829
At that time, I was a
general assignment reporter.
367
00:18:49,829 --> 00:18:51,585
Whatever happened, whether it was in town
368
00:18:51,585 --> 00:18:54,488
or within our coverage area,
369
00:18:54,488 --> 00:18:58,311
I was Johnny on the Spot
ready to go cover it.
370
00:18:58,311 --> 00:18:59,978
Young and ambitious.
371
00:19:02,119 --> 00:19:06,089
There was an outbreak of UFO sightings
372
00:19:06,089 --> 00:19:08,748
in that whole area from Point Pleasant
373
00:19:08,748 --> 00:19:12,163
up Route 35 almost all
the way to Charleston.
374
00:19:12,163 --> 00:19:13,466
And they would all start out by saying,
375
00:19:13,466 --> 00:19:16,300
I know you think I'm crazy, but.
376
00:19:16,300 --> 00:19:17,750
And they would tell me these stories
377
00:19:17,750 --> 00:19:22,111
about sightings that
they had on their land.
378
00:19:22,111 --> 00:19:25,713
Usually, it involved some
sort of machine, like a UFO.
379
00:19:25,713 --> 00:19:27,937
It got so bad that we basically had
380
00:19:27,937 --> 00:19:30,609
a special assignment desk
for when people called in
381
00:19:30,609 --> 00:19:32,192
to report the UFOs.
382
00:19:33,056 --> 00:19:35,026
They would send them over to me,
383
00:19:35,026 --> 00:19:37,468
and I would talk to these people about it.
384
00:19:37,468 --> 00:19:39,751
- It seems like, to me,
385
00:19:39,751 --> 00:19:42,460
that there were some UFO sightings
386
00:19:42,460 --> 00:19:45,008
exactly at the Mothman time.
387
00:19:45,008 --> 00:19:48,362
People went to the TNT
Area on Friday night,
388
00:19:48,362 --> 00:19:50,233
and while they were there,
389
00:19:50,233 --> 00:19:53,609
several claimed to have
seen UFOs in the sky
390
00:19:53,609 --> 00:19:55,109
over the TNT Area.
391
00:19:55,959 --> 00:19:59,751
And I believe, the night
after the Mothman was seen,
392
00:19:59,751 --> 00:20:03,177
Marcella Bennett and her
brother, Raymond Wamsley,
393
00:20:03,177 --> 00:20:05,811
and his wife, I think Cathy Wamsley,
394
00:20:05,811 --> 00:20:09,314
those three went to the
TNT Area, and on the way,
395
00:20:09,314 --> 00:20:11,481
they saw a UFO in the sky.
396
00:20:12,802 --> 00:20:15,719
(mysterious music)
397
00:20:24,109 --> 00:20:26,043
- My brother and sister-in-law had decided
398
00:20:26,043 --> 00:20:28,825
one night to take a ride to the TNT Area,
399
00:20:28,825 --> 00:20:30,307
to my sister's house.
400
00:20:30,307 --> 00:20:33,187
And then we visited
for, approximately maybe
401
00:20:33,187 --> 00:20:35,393
an hour and a half, and we decided that
402
00:20:35,393 --> 00:20:37,895
we were just gonna journey back home.
403
00:20:37,895 --> 00:20:40,478
So my brother, Raymond Wamsley,
404
00:20:42,387 --> 00:20:45,544
and myself and his
wife, Catherine Wamsley,
405
00:20:45,544 --> 00:20:49,200
went out and my brother
Raymond kept saying to me,
406
00:20:49,200 --> 00:20:51,049
Marcella, look to your right,
407
00:20:51,049 --> 00:20:53,497
at this light in the sky.
408
00:20:53,497 --> 00:20:55,908
And I said, oh, hopeless, you know.
409
00:20:55,908 --> 00:20:59,193
And I kept walking, and he
said, no, you've gotta see this,
410
00:20:59,193 --> 00:21:00,569
it's not a plane.
411
00:21:00,569 --> 00:21:01,794
I kept walking.
412
00:21:01,794 --> 00:21:05,546
And when I got to the car,
I had my daughter, Tina,
413
00:21:05,546 --> 00:21:07,976
which was about three
years old at that time.
414
00:21:07,976 --> 00:21:11,169
And I reached for the
door handle on the car.
415
00:21:11,169 --> 00:21:13,079
And when I reached for
the door handle of the car
416
00:21:13,079 --> 00:21:15,496
with Tina, I saw this figure,
417
00:21:16,501 --> 00:21:20,908
and somehow, I was holding
on to the door handle
418
00:21:20,908 --> 00:21:24,182
And I started at the feet, and I came up
419
00:21:24,182 --> 00:21:26,316
with my eyes, looking up.
420
00:21:26,316 --> 00:21:28,617
And I could see, I saw no feet.
421
00:21:28,617 --> 00:21:31,648
But I saw gray, a grayish cast.
422
00:21:31,648 --> 00:21:35,241
And I kept going up,
looking up at this creature.
423
00:21:35,241 --> 00:21:37,488
And it had wings, like a bird,
424
00:21:37,488 --> 00:21:39,370
with its neck stuck down and stood
425
00:21:39,370 --> 00:21:41,881
in a position about like this.
426
00:21:41,881 --> 00:21:45,050
At that point, I turned and tried to run
427
00:21:45,050 --> 00:21:46,740
back towards the house.
428
00:21:46,740 --> 00:21:49,688
And when I did, I couldn't
429
00:21:49,688 --> 00:21:53,324
I got within maybe a
foot from the creature.
430
00:21:53,324 --> 00:21:55,261
And I fell facedown,
431
00:21:55,261 --> 00:21:56,870
and I laid there on top of my daughter,
432
00:21:56,870 --> 00:21:58,982
which I could hear her crying.
433
00:21:58,982 --> 00:22:01,333
So by that time, I could hear my brother
434
00:22:01,333 --> 00:22:04,265
in the background,
hollering, Come on, Marcella,
435
00:22:04,265 --> 00:22:07,161
get up, get up, come on, hurry.
436
00:22:07,161 --> 00:22:10,483
So I went back with him, and
then we went in the house.
437
00:22:10,483 --> 00:22:13,516
And then after we got in the house, he,
438
00:22:13,516 --> 00:22:15,117
it hit the door.
439
00:22:15,117 --> 00:22:16,926
It came to the door and
tried to get in the door,
440
00:22:16,926 --> 00:22:18,609
which they had locked.
441
00:22:18,609 --> 00:22:20,941
And I was just in and out.
442
00:22:20,941 --> 00:22:23,874
They took me to a sofa and
laid me down on the sofa.
443
00:22:23,874 --> 00:22:26,447
But I just, I just couldn't,
444
00:22:26,447 --> 00:22:29,380
I couldn't grasp what I saw.
445
00:22:29,380 --> 00:22:31,832
I knew it was nothing from this Earth.
446
00:22:31,832 --> 00:22:34,778
I knew that the creature, whatever it was,
447
00:22:34,778 --> 00:22:36,469
didn't live here.
448
00:22:36,469 --> 00:22:39,386
(mysterious music)
449
00:22:43,561 --> 00:22:45,898
- [Narrator] As sightings
continue in neighboring
450
00:22:45,898 --> 00:22:48,126
communities, the Mothman continues to make
451
00:22:48,126 --> 00:22:50,781
frequent appearances in Point Pleasant.
452
00:22:50,781 --> 00:22:52,549
Most often, the creature is encountered
453
00:22:52,549 --> 00:22:54,578
in the abandoned north power plant,
454
00:22:54,578 --> 00:22:58,935
inside the TNT Area, as it
was one night by Bob Bosworth
455
00:22:58,935 --> 00:23:01,685
and a friend in November of 1966.
456
00:23:02,788 --> 00:23:04,600
- [Bob] He and I decided
to drive that evening,
457
00:23:04,600 --> 00:23:06,006
just riding around.
458
00:23:06,006 --> 00:23:08,756
There was a very bright moon out.
459
00:23:10,468 --> 00:23:12,790
And we were just riding around.
460
00:23:12,790 --> 00:23:15,003
And Al said, Wanna drive through TNT Area?
461
00:23:15,003 --> 00:23:16,598
And I said, yeah, we might as well.
462
00:23:16,598 --> 00:23:19,612
So we're riding out through
there, and I remember,
463
00:23:19,612 --> 00:23:21,435
you know how guys will mess around,
464
00:23:21,435 --> 00:23:23,974
well, the moon was so bright
465
00:23:23,974 --> 00:23:25,936
that just, I guess
outta boredom, Al turned
466
00:23:25,936 --> 00:23:27,362
the headlights off on the motorcycle
467
00:23:27,362 --> 00:23:30,429
and dodged the chuckholes
by the bright moonlight.
468
00:23:30,429 --> 00:23:33,388
So we're riding out through there.
469
00:23:33,388 --> 00:23:35,499
And Al said, Look at that.
470
00:23:35,499 --> 00:23:38,435
And we stopped, and up on top, on the roof
471
00:23:38,435 --> 00:23:40,368
of that old power plant building,
472
00:23:40,368 --> 00:23:43,605
it was, I believe, a three-story building,
473
00:23:43,605 --> 00:23:46,230
and up on top we seen two big,
474
00:23:46,230 --> 00:23:49,931
what looked like red eyes, looking at us.
475
00:23:49,931 --> 00:23:51,681
We sit there and looked at it, and I said,
476
00:23:51,681 --> 00:23:52,691
Let's go out and see who it is.
477
00:23:52,691 --> 00:23:53,750
He said, Yeah.
478
00:23:53,750 --> 00:23:55,333
So we went out there.
479
00:23:55,333 --> 00:23:57,196
Well we stopped at the,
480
00:23:57,196 --> 00:23:59,150
you know, right there
underneath the building.
481
00:23:59,150 --> 00:24:00,493
- [Jeff] Like an entranceway.
482
00:24:00,493 --> 00:24:03,665
- [Bob] Yeah, we stopped
right there, and we looked up.
483
00:24:03,665 --> 00:24:06,294
Well, it looked like these eyes
484
00:24:06,294 --> 00:24:08,246
were looking down at us then.
485
00:24:08,246 --> 00:24:09,812
So we decided to go up.
486
00:24:09,812 --> 00:24:12,441
Well, the moon was so bright,
487
00:24:12,441 --> 00:24:14,691
that it was shining through
488
00:24:15,885 --> 00:24:17,502
these openings.
489
00:24:17,502 --> 00:24:19,419
Well, we could make out
490
00:24:21,161 --> 00:24:24,677
an outline of something in that dark.
491
00:24:24,677 --> 00:24:27,673
Well all of a sudden, this,
492
00:24:27,673 --> 00:24:31,824
I really don't know what, whatever I saw,
493
00:24:31,824 --> 00:24:34,411
Al was right beside of me,
494
00:24:34,411 --> 00:24:38,791
it very slowly and
precisely walked towards us.
495
00:24:38,791 --> 00:24:40,088
We heard it walk.
496
00:24:40,088 --> 00:24:43,400
It walked right up and just stayed
497
00:24:43,400 --> 00:24:45,786
on the dark side of that distinct line.
498
00:24:45,786 --> 00:24:46,809
- [Jeff] Did you notice any red eyes
499
00:24:46,809 --> 00:24:47,885
or anything at the time?
500
00:24:47,885 --> 00:24:50,372
- [Bob] No, and I've thought about that,
501
00:24:50,372 --> 00:24:53,593
and I think what it is, is
because there was no light
502
00:24:53,593 --> 00:24:56,816
where it was at in the dark to reflect.
503
00:24:56,816 --> 00:24:58,662
And it had a taper to it like,
504
00:24:58,662 --> 00:25:01,329
well, I compare it with a robin.
505
00:25:02,464 --> 00:25:03,881
You know, a bird.
506
00:25:05,219 --> 00:25:07,703
When their wings are folded,
how they're bulged at the top
507
00:25:07,703 --> 00:25:09,422
and then when you come
down to it, tapered.
508
00:25:09,422 --> 00:25:12,394
And it had no long neck like a bird,
509
00:25:12,394 --> 00:25:15,296
you know like some of these
birds they tried to say it was.
510
00:25:15,296 --> 00:25:17,216
It just, as though it had a head,
511
00:25:17,216 --> 00:25:19,482
a large head, sitting on its shoulders.
512
00:25:19,482 --> 00:25:22,899
Then, it very slowly and precisely turned
513
00:25:25,394 --> 00:25:27,144
towards the catwalks.
514
00:25:28,059 --> 00:25:31,524
Could here it's footsteps in
the glass right in front of us.
515
00:25:31,524 --> 00:25:34,896
And then when it started
walking on the catwalk,
516
00:25:34,896 --> 00:25:37,896
never a hesitation, kept on walking.
517
00:25:38,940 --> 00:25:40,523
Then, we heard that
518
00:25:42,473 --> 00:25:43,890
sound like wings.
519
00:25:45,525 --> 00:25:47,326
- [Narrator] On November
18th, one of the first
520
00:25:47,326 --> 00:25:50,192
major newspaper articles
about the Scarberry-Mallette
521
00:25:50,192 --> 00:25:53,272
Mothman encounter is published.
522
00:25:53,272 --> 00:25:55,701
Within days, more
articles run in newspapers
523
00:25:55,701 --> 00:25:58,697
across Ohio and West Virginia.
524
00:25:58,697 --> 00:26:01,922
The Athens Messenger, the
newspaper from the nearby town
525
00:26:01,922 --> 00:26:04,882
of Athens, begins covering
the Mothman stories
526
00:26:04,882 --> 00:26:09,117
extensively thanks to a
local report named Mary Hyre,
527
00:26:09,117 --> 00:26:12,229
who happens to reside in Point Pleasant.
528
00:26:12,229 --> 00:26:14,903
Only three days since the
sighting had occurred,
529
00:26:14,903 --> 00:26:17,736
Mothman hysteria is in full swing.
530
00:26:19,303 --> 00:26:20,939
Paul Yoder and Benjamin Enochs,
531
00:26:20,939 --> 00:26:24,267
two volunteer firemen
stationed at the TNT Area
532
00:26:24,267 --> 00:26:26,900
to help control traffic,
have their own brush
533
00:26:26,900 --> 00:26:30,483
with a large bird at
1:30 a.m. on the 18th.
534
00:26:31,548 --> 00:26:33,671
The two men see a large white shadow
535
00:26:33,671 --> 00:26:35,939
that flies across their
car as they're driving
536
00:26:35,939 --> 00:26:37,939
near Camp Connolly Road.
537
00:26:39,045 --> 00:26:41,057
Though they immediately
stop the car and search
538
00:26:41,057 --> 00:26:44,310
for the bird, they find no trace of it.
539
00:26:44,310 --> 00:26:45,939
Both men insist that what
they see is nothing more
540
00:26:45,939 --> 00:26:49,106
than a large bird, most likely an owl.
541
00:26:50,730 --> 00:26:52,704
As more sightings occur,
the mystique surrounding
542
00:26:52,704 --> 00:26:56,582
the TNT area grows, and so does the number
543
00:26:56,582 --> 00:27:00,780
of curious explorers
looking for the creature.
544
00:27:00,780 --> 00:27:02,242
- We went up there several times,
545
00:27:02,242 --> 00:27:05,979
my brother and my twin
brother and my sister,
546
00:27:05,979 --> 00:27:07,562
and a baby brother.
547
00:27:08,949 --> 00:27:12,186
And once we turned off the main road,
548
00:27:12,186 --> 00:27:14,129
and all the time my
brothers just kept giving me
549
00:27:14,129 --> 00:27:16,278
a funny look, I said, well what is it?
550
00:27:16,278 --> 00:27:18,752
They said, Well, don't look,
551
00:27:18,752 --> 00:27:21,133
but there's something right
beside the window there.
552
00:27:21,133 --> 00:27:22,762
So I turned and looked,
553
00:27:22,762 --> 00:27:25,659
and that thing was right beside my window.
554
00:27:25,659 --> 00:27:28,175
It was so dark, I don't know,
555
00:27:28,175 --> 00:27:31,258
if it was running or if it was flying.
556
00:27:31,258 --> 00:27:33,432
I didn't see any wings.
557
00:27:33,432 --> 00:27:36,073
But it was keeping up with the car.
558
00:27:36,073 --> 00:27:37,861
I kept hitting my brother on the leg,
559
00:27:37,861 --> 00:27:40,517
telling him, hurry up,
go faster, go faster.
560
00:27:40,517 --> 00:27:43,312
He saw that he wasn't
losing it by going faster,
561
00:27:43,312 --> 00:27:46,941
and so he saw the turn that goes up into
562
00:27:46,941 --> 00:27:49,024
the TNT factory building.
563
00:27:50,128 --> 00:27:52,989
And I guess it come in his
head at the split second,
564
00:27:52,989 --> 00:27:56,182
if he turned up in there, it
would keep going straight.
565
00:27:56,182 --> 00:27:59,081
And we would turn up in there and lose it.
566
00:27:59,081 --> 00:28:00,466
But it didn't.
567
00:28:00,466 --> 00:28:03,932
He made that sharp turn, a left turn,
568
00:28:03,932 --> 00:28:07,153
and it was still right
there beside my window.
569
00:28:07,153 --> 00:28:10,994
And we went straight up in
there and come to another turn
570
00:28:10,994 --> 00:28:15,466
that you had to make because
you went into the loading dock.
571
00:28:15,466 --> 00:28:18,432
And so he whipped around that turn,
572
00:28:18,432 --> 00:28:21,224
and just like that, he stopped.
573
00:28:21,224 --> 00:28:24,105
And we was trying to collect ourselves.
574
00:28:24,105 --> 00:28:26,677
That thing just jumped
on the hood of our car,
575
00:28:26,677 --> 00:28:29,473
and just kinda squatted like,
576
00:28:29,473 --> 00:28:32,175
and just watched him, and then me,
577
00:28:32,175 --> 00:28:33,500
and then him, and me.
578
00:28:33,500 --> 00:28:35,775
We was just setting there,
we didn't know what to do.
579
00:28:35,775 --> 00:28:38,270
We was afraid to move.
580
00:28:38,270 --> 00:28:40,625
My sister, my two brothers,
581
00:28:40,625 --> 00:28:42,570
crying, carrying on the back.
582
00:28:42,570 --> 00:28:45,358
He told them, Get down
on the floor and shut up.
583
00:28:45,358 --> 00:28:47,554
It's just like we were frozen
584
00:28:47,554 --> 00:28:50,751
for a split second, I'm sure
it wasn't no more than that.
585
00:28:50,751 --> 00:28:53,952
And it just jumped down off the car.
586
00:28:53,952 --> 00:28:56,960
It ran a little bit to that great big,
587
00:28:56,960 --> 00:28:58,831
I'd say it was five stories high
588
00:28:58,831 --> 00:29:02,788
because the fourth floor,
that I didn't even know of
589
00:29:02,788 --> 00:29:05,685
til way years later,
had like a little porch
590
00:29:05,685 --> 00:29:09,152
top to it, with a tin slanted roof.
591
00:29:09,152 --> 00:29:11,141
And that's where it jumped up to.
592
00:29:11,141 --> 00:29:15,244
I still say jumped, because
I still recall no wings.
593
00:29:15,244 --> 00:29:18,429
If it did, it's blanked outta my mind.
594
00:29:18,429 --> 00:29:21,160
And so he just opened
up the door and stood
595
00:29:21,160 --> 00:29:24,728
right behind the door, and
he's picking up chunks of coal.
596
00:29:24,728 --> 00:29:26,923
He was picking that up
and just throwing it,
597
00:29:26,923 --> 00:29:28,866
and going, Shoo, shoo.
598
00:29:28,866 --> 00:29:31,251
And he threw a little bit bigger one,
599
00:29:31,251 --> 00:29:33,727
and it landed just probably
600
00:29:33,727 --> 00:29:36,073
four inches from his foot.
601
00:29:36,073 --> 00:29:37,844
And when it did, it's
like that thing said,
602
00:29:37,844 --> 00:29:40,564
Okay, enough's enough, and it stood up.
603
00:29:40,564 --> 00:29:42,141
And I thought, Oh, he's coming to get us,
604
00:29:42,141 --> 00:29:44,279
now see what you done?
605
00:29:44,279 --> 00:29:46,993
And he jumped back in the
car and slammed the door
606
00:29:46,993 --> 00:29:49,005
and locked it and hollered
at me, Lock the doors.
607
00:29:49,005 --> 00:29:51,393
Well, I never did unlock
mine in the first place.
608
00:29:51,393 --> 00:29:54,642
He jumps up, and just as
he gets ready to go over,
609
00:29:54,642 --> 00:29:58,260
instead, he just opens up
the prettiest set of wings
610
00:29:58,260 --> 00:29:59,699
you ever seen on anything.
611
00:29:59,699 --> 00:30:02,082
I mean big wings, big enough to carry
612
00:30:02,082 --> 00:30:05,749
you or me or anybody
else at least six feet.
613
00:30:06,817 --> 00:30:07,734
And he just
614
00:30:08,781 --> 00:30:11,857
easily, he didn't flap them
like I bird would real fast
615
00:30:11,857 --> 00:30:14,474
to hurry up and get flying,
he just spread them out
616
00:30:14,474 --> 00:30:16,273
and just glided over them there
617
00:30:16,273 --> 00:30:20,273
and just went on up in
there and just flew away.
618
00:30:25,333 --> 00:30:26,565
- [Narrator] In the five days since
619
00:30:26,565 --> 00:30:28,301
the Scarberry-Mallette sighting,
620
00:30:28,301 --> 00:30:30,139
reports of encounters with Mothman
621
00:30:30,139 --> 00:30:32,891
spring up around Point Pleasant.
622
00:30:32,891 --> 00:30:36,292
Reports during that time
have one unifying theme.
623
00:30:36,292 --> 00:30:39,625
The creature seems to be a massive bird.
624
00:30:40,547 --> 00:30:43,284
On November 20th, a
man named Howard Miller
625
00:30:43,284 --> 00:30:45,732
of Nicholas County sees a large bird
626
00:30:45,732 --> 00:30:48,808
about four feet tall
with red, half-moon eyes
627
00:30:48,808 --> 00:30:50,641
land on a bus shelter.
628
00:30:51,924 --> 00:30:54,118
Later that same day, a couple
driving near Ferry Branch,
629
00:30:54,118 --> 00:30:57,461
55 minutes south of Point Pleasant,
630
00:30:57,461 --> 00:31:01,173
also see a large bird-like creature.
631
00:31:01,173 --> 00:31:04,017
They later report the incident
to the Charleston Police,
632
00:31:04,017 --> 00:31:05,732
adding that the creature landed
633
00:31:05,732 --> 00:31:09,143
in a nearby tree after it flew by.
634
00:31:09,143 --> 00:31:12,382
Also on the 20th, Brenda
Jones of Point Lick,
635
00:31:12,382 --> 00:31:15,839
a suburb of Charleston, only
an hour from Point Pleasant,
636
00:31:15,839 --> 00:31:19,114
sees a large bird dart
off on foot into the woods
637
00:31:19,114 --> 00:31:20,281
near her home.
638
00:31:22,256 --> 00:31:24,527
The next day, a man in
Charleston calls police
639
00:31:24,527 --> 00:31:28,519
at 10:15 p.m. to report
a bizarre sighting.
640
00:31:28,519 --> 00:31:31,901
Richard West describes
a batman, six feet tall,
641
00:31:31,901 --> 00:31:33,898
with a wingspread of up to eight feet,
642
00:31:33,898 --> 00:31:36,760
sitting on the roof of
his neighbor's home.
643
00:31:36,760 --> 00:31:39,276
He noted its great big red eyes.
644
00:31:39,276 --> 00:31:42,320
And when asked if the
creature flew, he said,
645
00:31:42,320 --> 00:31:44,903
Straight up, like a helicopter.
646
00:31:46,245 --> 00:31:48,126
The helicopter description appears again
647
00:31:48,126 --> 00:31:51,376
when Thomas Ury, a Point
Pleasant businessman,
648
00:31:51,376 --> 00:31:53,299
sees a giant bird circling his car
649
00:31:53,299 --> 00:31:57,844
while driving beside the
Ohio River outside of town.
650
00:31:57,844 --> 00:32:00,363
Mr. Ury, though aware of the bird reports,
651
00:32:00,363 --> 00:32:04,530
was not out hunting for monsters
when it crossed his path.
652
00:32:05,743 --> 00:32:08,054
- [Thomas] Well, when I first saw it,
653
00:32:08,054 --> 00:32:09,479
I thought it was a helicopter.
654
00:32:09,479 --> 00:32:12,519
Couldn't hear any noise
at all, but that far away.
655
00:32:12,519 --> 00:32:13,769
But then, as it
656
00:32:14,753 --> 00:32:17,200
rose over the trees,
657
00:32:17,200 --> 00:32:19,721
and proceeded to make the big circles,
658
00:32:19,721 --> 00:32:21,721
you know, how birds fly.
659
00:32:23,151 --> 00:32:26,836
It started out, I would
say, 500 feet in the air.
660
00:32:26,836 --> 00:32:28,706
But every time it'd make a circle,
661
00:32:28,706 --> 00:32:31,089
I could see it when it
came in front of my car.
662
00:32:31,089 --> 00:32:32,601
It would come lower and lower.
663
00:32:32,601 --> 00:32:35,704
Now the last pass it made was
664
00:32:35,704 --> 00:32:37,707
probably 75 feet over my car.
665
00:32:37,707 --> 00:32:39,561
I had a pretty good shot at it.
666
00:32:39,561 --> 00:32:41,431
And I would guess,
667
00:32:41,431 --> 00:32:43,717
and it's purely a guess,
668
00:32:43,717 --> 00:32:45,717
it was at least 10 feet.
669
00:32:46,703 --> 00:32:47,536
Wingspan.
670
00:32:48,466 --> 00:32:51,314
Yeah, I guess I was scared
to a certain extent.
671
00:32:51,314 --> 00:32:53,896
But then when I saw it wasn't gonna
672
00:32:53,896 --> 00:32:56,075
attack me or anything,
when it first started,
673
00:32:56,075 --> 00:33:00,092
kept getting lower, I think
it was more curious of me.
674
00:33:00,092 --> 00:33:02,871
You know, a mutual curiosity.
675
00:33:02,871 --> 00:33:05,989
After that, it wasn't scared.
676
00:33:05,989 --> 00:33:06,822
It was
677
00:33:08,576 --> 00:33:10,026
apprehensive.
678
00:33:10,026 --> 00:33:11,933
I told George Johnson, the sheriff,
679
00:33:11,933 --> 00:33:13,859
I asked him, I said, you're not gonna
680
00:33:13,859 --> 00:33:15,804
give me a ticket, are you, for speeding?
681
00:33:15,804 --> 00:33:17,530
But I was probably going 75.
682
00:33:17,530 --> 00:33:20,399
When I hit that straight
stretch, I was probably doing 90.
683
00:33:20,399 --> 00:33:21,685
Of course, then I started slowing down
684
00:33:21,685 --> 00:33:23,755
after it went back to the river.
685
00:33:23,755 --> 00:33:25,002
- ]Jeff] It went back towards the river.
686
00:33:25,002 --> 00:33:26,671
- Yeah, right, it came from the river,
687
00:33:26,671 --> 00:33:28,480
went back towards the river.
688
00:33:28,480 --> 00:33:32,143
So I don't know if it was
nesting over there or what.
689
00:33:32,143 --> 00:33:34,311
- [Narrator] The sightings
of the Mothman increase.
690
00:33:34,311 --> 00:33:36,976
So do the number of descriptions.
691
00:33:36,976 --> 00:33:39,883
What first seemed to be
an abnormally large bird
692
00:33:39,883 --> 00:33:42,238
begins to take on another form altogether
693
00:33:42,238 --> 00:33:45,246
in the eyes of some witnesses.
694
00:33:45,246 --> 00:33:48,107
Some feel the creature
is trying to communicate,
695
00:33:48,107 --> 00:33:51,546
but perhaps is unaware of how to do so.
696
00:33:51,546 --> 00:33:54,292
Mothman witness Linda
Scarberry would later claim
697
00:33:54,292 --> 00:33:56,367
to see the creature over 18 times
698
00:33:56,367 --> 00:33:59,481
following her initial
sighting, including an incident
699
00:33:59,481 --> 00:34:01,527
wherein she saw the being lurking
700
00:34:01,527 --> 00:34:04,074
outside her home one night.
701
00:34:04,074 --> 00:34:06,175
As she stared at it through a window,
702
00:34:06,175 --> 00:34:09,109
she sensed a sadness and a vague curiosity
703
00:34:09,109 --> 00:34:11,276
emanating from the creature.
704
00:34:11,276 --> 00:34:14,094
The odd nature of some
reports led to speculation
705
00:34:14,094 --> 00:34:18,513
that the creature may not
have been of this Earth.
706
00:34:18,513 --> 00:34:21,369
- There were various reports of
707
00:34:21,369 --> 00:34:25,026
the Mothman sightings of being
of a supernatural nature.
708
00:34:25,026 --> 00:34:27,276
Almost a mental type vision
709
00:34:28,137 --> 00:34:30,143
of whatever this thing was.
710
00:34:30,143 --> 00:34:32,219
- I lived up on Jefferson Avenue.
711
00:34:32,219 --> 00:34:33,617
Of course, my wife and I,
712
00:34:33,617 --> 00:34:37,784
and we were about 19 years
old I think at the time.
713
00:34:39,595 --> 00:34:41,675
We went to bed that night.
714
00:34:41,675 --> 00:34:45,345
The bed, the way the bed was,
there was a window on my left,
715
00:34:45,345 --> 00:34:47,485
and sometime in the night,
716
00:34:47,485 --> 00:34:50,511
and it seems to me like it
was about three o'clock.
717
00:34:50,511 --> 00:34:55,352
And I was facing that window,
and I looked out the window
718
00:34:55,352 --> 00:34:57,017
and looked out at the street light,
719
00:34:57,017 --> 00:34:58,041
and there was a crossing.
720
00:34:58,041 --> 00:35:00,373
I remember distinctly there was a car
721
00:35:00,373 --> 00:35:02,534
come across the crossing.
722
00:35:02,534 --> 00:35:04,201
And I turned my head
723
00:35:05,572 --> 00:35:06,997
to the right.
724
00:35:06,997 --> 00:35:09,227
I mean, I can still feel that really.
725
00:35:09,227 --> 00:35:11,089
Turned my head to the right,
726
00:35:11,089 --> 00:35:12,339
and there this,
727
00:35:13,730 --> 00:35:15,408
to me it was the devil,
728
00:35:15,408 --> 00:35:18,241
Mothman, standing there by my bed.
729
00:35:19,130 --> 00:35:21,122
And I just sorta froze up.
730
00:35:21,122 --> 00:35:22,789
And I tried to talk.
731
00:35:24,478 --> 00:35:27,664
And I couldn't, it was this
awful horrible feeling.
732
00:35:27,664 --> 00:35:29,671
And I thought, Lord, what can I do?
733
00:35:29,671 --> 00:35:33,719
This thing is here, this evil presence.
734
00:35:33,719 --> 00:35:36,301
And it was standing
there and it had a body,
735
00:35:36,301 --> 00:35:40,964
about six feet tall, sort
of a dirty lunar color.
736
00:35:40,964 --> 00:35:43,187
I didn't see any buttons or
zippers or anything like that,
737
00:35:43,187 --> 00:35:45,104
but it was a gray form,
738
00:35:46,490 --> 00:35:50,619
like a solid robe, without
seams, down the arm,
739
00:35:50,619 --> 00:35:52,495
then the hands were down,
or whatever those were
740
00:35:52,495 --> 00:35:55,056
on the other end, they kinda
disappeared by the bedside.
741
00:35:55,056 --> 00:35:56,595
I didn't see that.
742
00:35:56,595 --> 00:35:57,678
And red eyes.
743
00:35:59,445 --> 00:36:01,362
And kinda back end like.
744
00:36:01,362 --> 00:36:02,612
But it was this
745
00:36:03,754 --> 00:36:04,587
presence.
746
00:36:07,986 --> 00:36:09,319
I can feel that.
747
00:36:10,766 --> 00:36:12,186
It was just evil.
748
00:36:12,186 --> 00:36:13,436
100% evil.
749
00:36:16,401 --> 00:36:18,982
So my being a churchgoer and a Christian,
750
00:36:18,982 --> 00:36:22,130
knowing what the Bible says
about the blood of Christ,
751
00:36:22,130 --> 00:36:24,705
I began to plead to the blood in my mind,
752
00:36:24,705 --> 00:36:26,124
and little by little, that thing just
753
00:36:26,124 --> 00:36:29,582
disappeared, like putting
I guess salt on a slug.
754
00:36:29,582 --> 00:36:31,057
I mean, it just
755
00:36:31,057 --> 00:36:33,144
kinda evaporated.
756
00:36:33,144 --> 00:36:35,915
And I've never never never forgotten it.
757
00:36:35,915 --> 00:36:37,003
And I never will.
758
00:36:37,003 --> 00:36:40,670
I'm 74 years old, and
that was 50 years ago.
759
00:36:42,651 --> 00:36:47,308
But it's just as plain in my
head today as it was then.
760
00:36:47,308 --> 00:36:49,407
- You had the professor from
West Virginia University
761
00:36:49,407 --> 00:36:51,907
came to town and tried to calm
762
00:36:53,588 --> 00:36:56,162
the masses, you know,
he said that what people
763
00:36:56,162 --> 00:36:58,081
were actually seeing was nothing more
764
00:36:58,081 --> 00:37:00,563
than just a large bird
or a sand hill crane.
765
00:37:00,563 --> 00:37:04,052
- There was a biologist from WVU.
766
00:37:04,052 --> 00:37:06,663
They contacted him by phone and asked him
767
00:37:06,663 --> 00:37:08,851
what his opinions were.
768
00:37:08,851 --> 00:37:12,342
And he felt, well, it's a big bird, so
769
00:37:12,342 --> 00:37:15,751
the sand hill crane
migrates through this area.
770
00:37:15,751 --> 00:37:18,027
He thought it landed in the TNT Area.
771
00:37:18,027 --> 00:37:20,244
A lotta people suspected
the birds migrating
772
00:37:20,244 --> 00:37:22,688
through that area had,
773
00:37:22,688 --> 00:37:24,659
drank water or something
774
00:37:24,659 --> 00:37:27,234
and picked up some kind of chemicals
775
00:37:27,234 --> 00:37:29,771
left over from the TNT
Area, and it caused them
776
00:37:29,771 --> 00:37:32,452
to do a genetic mutation
and you've got some
777
00:37:32,452 --> 00:37:35,306
weird creature that
developed because of it.
778
00:37:35,306 --> 00:37:37,214
There was that talk.
779
00:37:37,214 --> 00:37:39,381
- This was not a mutation.
780
00:37:40,567 --> 00:37:43,487
This was something that
was perfectly formed,
781
00:37:43,487 --> 00:37:45,217
the way it was supposed to be,
782
00:37:45,217 --> 00:37:47,634
just like any other thing is.
783
00:37:49,040 --> 00:37:51,567
- [Narrator] On November 26th,
sightings of the creature
784
00:37:51,567 --> 00:37:54,414
continue to come in as several
people in Hocking, Ohio,
785
00:37:54,414 --> 00:37:57,364
50 miles north of Point Pleasant,
786
00:37:57,364 --> 00:37:59,566
report seeing four large birds
787
00:37:59,566 --> 00:38:02,456
sitting in bare trees for two hours.
788
00:38:02,456 --> 00:38:05,454
The birds are described
as four to five feet tall
789
00:38:05,454 --> 00:38:08,224
with a 10-foot wingspan.
790
00:38:08,224 --> 00:38:10,357
In St. Albans, West Virginia,
791
00:38:10,357 --> 00:38:12,957
Miss Ruth Foster is
startled to find the Mothman
792
00:38:12,957 --> 00:38:15,972
standing in her front yard that evening.
793
00:38:15,972 --> 00:38:17,718
She tells a reporter that the creature
794
00:38:17,718 --> 00:38:21,452
is over six feet tall with big red eyes.
795
00:38:21,452 --> 00:38:23,422
The next day, Sheila Kane and her sister
796
00:38:23,422 --> 00:38:26,065
see a seven-foot-tall
gray and white figure
797
00:38:26,065 --> 00:38:30,161
with big red eyes near Miss
Foster's home in St. Albans.
798
00:38:30,161 --> 00:38:32,718
In nearby Charleston, a
woman describes seeing
799
00:38:32,718 --> 00:38:37,512
the same red eyes peering
at her through a window.
800
00:38:37,512 --> 00:38:39,761
For the most part, many
of the early sightings
801
00:38:39,761 --> 00:38:41,956
are nocturnal in nature.
802
00:38:41,956 --> 00:38:44,584
But Connie Carpenter, like Thomas Ury,
803
00:38:44,584 --> 00:38:47,096
encounters the creature in broad daylight
804
00:38:47,096 --> 00:38:49,179
on Sunday, November 27th.
805
00:38:50,186 --> 00:38:53,511
At 10:30 a.m., Connie,
a New Haven resident,
806
00:38:53,511 --> 00:38:55,635
is driving home from church when she sees
807
00:38:55,635 --> 00:38:58,043
what she first takes to
be a man standing near
808
00:38:58,043 --> 00:39:00,638
a deserted golf course.
809
00:39:00,638 --> 00:39:02,660
As she draws closer to the figure,
810
00:39:02,660 --> 00:39:06,061
her car slows until
suddenly, large wings unfold
811
00:39:06,061 --> 00:39:08,034
from the back of the creature.
812
00:39:08,034 --> 00:39:12,166
Connie estimates the wingspan
was at least 10 feet wide.
813
00:39:12,166 --> 00:39:14,684
The thing then flies
straight up into the air,
814
00:39:14,684 --> 00:39:18,154
and swoops toward her car as if to attack.
815
00:39:18,154 --> 00:39:21,058
Connie is transfixed and
horrified by the being's
816
00:39:21,058 --> 00:39:25,176
large red eyes, saying,
Once they were fixed on me,
817
00:39:25,176 --> 00:39:28,107
I couldn't take my own eyes off them.
818
00:39:28,107 --> 00:39:30,479
To further add to the bizarre situation,
819
00:39:30,479 --> 00:39:33,257
Connie contracts klieg conjunctivitis,
820
00:39:33,257 --> 00:39:35,546
a condition that causes severe redness,
821
00:39:35,546 --> 00:39:38,476
itching and watering of the eyes.
822
00:39:38,476 --> 00:39:41,891
Connie never speaks publicly
about her experience,
823
00:39:41,891 --> 00:39:46,131
instead prefers to
forget it ever happened.
824
00:39:46,131 --> 00:39:48,584
Perhaps it's Connie's own
encounter with the Mothman
825
00:39:48,584 --> 00:39:51,463
which helps to motivate
her aunt, a local reporter
826
00:39:51,463 --> 00:39:54,240
named Mary Hyre, to search for answers
827
00:39:54,240 --> 00:39:57,119
in the ongoing series of events.
828
00:39:57,119 --> 00:39:59,936
Mary does as much to
catalog the high strangeness
829
00:39:59,936 --> 00:40:02,372
unfolding in and around Point Pleasant
830
00:40:02,372 --> 00:40:04,622
during that time as anyone.
831
00:40:05,558 --> 00:40:08,406
She even went so far as to
look for mysterious creatures
832
00:40:08,406 --> 00:40:12,379
and strange lights in the sky for herself.
833
00:40:12,379 --> 00:40:14,494
- And Mary Hyre was a reporter
834
00:40:14,494 --> 00:40:17,760
for the Athens Messenger, Athens, Ohio.
835
00:40:17,760 --> 00:40:19,594
She had an office here on Main Street
836
00:40:19,594 --> 00:40:20,760
here in Point Pleasant.
837
00:40:20,760 --> 00:40:24,556
- She was the typical small
town newspaper person.
838
00:40:24,556 --> 00:40:26,436
She wasn't gonna let
this get away from her.
839
00:40:26,436 --> 00:40:29,819
And I admire her for what she did.
840
00:40:29,819 --> 00:40:32,650
- Mary Hyre is the first
person who really wrote
841
00:40:32,650 --> 00:40:35,490
an article about the sightings
in the local newspaper,
842
00:40:35,490 --> 00:40:37,500
the Point Pleasant Register.
843
00:40:37,500 --> 00:40:40,917
- We really didn't send anybody up there.
844
00:40:42,045 --> 00:40:45,465
It's interesting because the
people who saw the Mothman
845
00:40:45,465 --> 00:40:47,776
didn't call the Herald
Dispatch in Huntington.
846
00:40:47,776 --> 00:40:50,712
I think it's because
Mary was so tied into it.
847
00:40:50,712 --> 00:40:53,465
They would talk to Mary, but
they weren't talking to us.
848
00:40:53,465 --> 00:40:56,364
I wish we had sent somebody
up there prior to this.
849
00:40:56,364 --> 00:40:57,877
But we had some editors who thought,
850
00:40:57,877 --> 00:41:00,674
well, this is just a bunch of malarkey.
851
00:41:00,674 --> 00:41:04,117
- John Keel was a author
from New York City,
852
00:41:04,117 --> 00:41:07,768
who caught wind of the Mothman
activity and the sightings
853
00:41:07,768 --> 00:41:10,621
and things, and he came to Point Pleasant
854
00:41:10,621 --> 00:41:13,412
right after those first initial sightings.
855
00:41:13,412 --> 00:41:16,324
He joined forces with a
local newspaper reporter
856
00:41:16,324 --> 00:41:17,771
named Mary Hyre.
857
00:41:17,771 --> 00:41:21,901
She and John Keel would work
together back and forth.
858
00:41:21,901 --> 00:41:23,549
- There was a certain
part of the community
859
00:41:23,549 --> 00:41:26,309
that he visited all the time.
860
00:41:26,309 --> 00:41:28,705
He visited some of the Mothman witnesses
861
00:41:28,705 --> 00:41:30,548
and some people like that.
862
00:41:30,548 --> 00:41:32,429
He was in here a lot.
863
00:41:32,429 --> 00:41:34,768
- [John] Point Pleasant, West Virginia,
864
00:41:34,768 --> 00:41:39,339
it's about 50 miles from
where Woodrow Derenberger
865
00:41:39,339 --> 00:41:41,051
had his contact.
866
00:41:41,051 --> 00:41:42,740
They said it's 2,500 acres.
867
00:41:42,740 --> 00:41:45,829
There are hundreds of these igloos there.
868
00:41:45,829 --> 00:41:49,417
There are four families
living within this area,
869
00:41:49,417 --> 00:41:51,713
so it's very thinly populated.
870
00:41:51,713 --> 00:41:53,758
If the Mothman wanted to live there,
871
00:41:53,758 --> 00:41:56,412
not very many people would bother him.
872
00:41:56,412 --> 00:41:58,497
And I have some more leads now.
873
00:41:58,497 --> 00:42:03,111
As I thought it would, a
pattern is building up now.
874
00:42:03,111 --> 00:42:05,182
And we may be able to get to the bottom
875
00:42:05,182 --> 00:42:07,682
of this one particular case.
876
00:42:07,682 --> 00:42:11,672
And find out whether
Mothman is mechanical,
877
00:42:11,672 --> 00:42:13,832
or an angel or what he is.
878
00:42:13,832 --> 00:42:15,981
- It got so bad that a friend of mine,
879
00:42:15,981 --> 00:42:18,228
who is a photographer
at the newspaper, and I
880
00:42:18,228 --> 00:42:21,471
decided a couple of nights,
because we were so sure
881
00:42:21,471 --> 00:42:24,404
that what they were seeing was real,
882
00:42:24,404 --> 00:42:26,309
we decided to go up there
and see for ourselves.
883
00:42:26,309 --> 00:42:29,083
Unfortunately, the UFOs and the creatures
884
00:42:29,083 --> 00:42:30,394
didn't appear for us.
885
00:42:30,394 --> 00:42:31,477
But we tried.
886
00:42:32,517 --> 00:42:34,313
- [Narrator] With December
dawning, area residents
887
00:42:34,313 --> 00:42:38,564
fully expected the Mothman
and UFO sightings to die down.
888
00:42:38,564 --> 00:42:42,241
But instead, there is a marked increase.
889
00:42:42,241 --> 00:42:44,343
As the number of occurrences escalate,
890
00:42:44,343 --> 00:42:47,842
so too does their bizarre nature.
891
00:42:47,842 --> 00:42:50,912
On December Fourth, five pilots
at the Gallipolis airport
892
00:42:50,912 --> 00:42:53,016
are killing time between
flights when they see
893
00:42:53,016 --> 00:42:55,679
a small plane swerving
erratically through the sky
894
00:42:55,679 --> 00:42:58,325
over the landing strip.
895
00:42:58,325 --> 00:43:01,205
As it passes directly overhead,
they realize that what
896
00:43:01,205 --> 00:43:03,885
they are looking at isn't a plane at all.
897
00:43:03,885 --> 00:43:06,639
But rather a massive bird.
898
00:43:06,639 --> 00:43:08,520
They describe the
creature as being enormous
899
00:43:08,520 --> 00:43:11,582
and having a sizable neck and build.
900
00:43:11,582 --> 00:43:14,256
As the sightings continue,
so does John Keel's
901
00:43:14,256 --> 00:43:17,594
investigation into the phenomenon.
902
00:43:17,594 --> 00:43:20,145
On December Seventh, Keel
and Mary Hyre journey
903
00:43:20,145 --> 00:43:24,084
to the TNT Area with a group
of five original witnesses,
904
00:43:24,084 --> 00:43:26,743
including Linda and Roger Scarberry,
905
00:43:26,743 --> 00:43:30,493
Mary and Steve Mallette
and Connie Carpenter.
906
00:43:31,332 --> 00:43:33,741
Keel, Carpenter and her boyfriend, Keith,
907
00:43:33,741 --> 00:43:36,424
wander into the abandoned
power plant and proceed
908
00:43:36,424 --> 00:43:39,307
to walk its length for some time.
909
00:43:39,307 --> 00:43:41,587
Suddenly, Connie lets out a scream,
910
00:43:41,587 --> 00:43:43,345
proclaiming that she's seen the monster
911
00:43:43,345 --> 00:43:46,433
as she dissolves into hysterics.
912
00:43:46,433 --> 00:43:48,826
For Keel, this would be
the beginning of a series
913
00:43:48,826 --> 00:43:52,575
of unusual encounters and
experiences in Point Pleasant,
914
00:43:52,575 --> 00:43:54,204
which would later be documented
915
00:43:54,204 --> 00:43:58,059
in his bestselling book,
The Mothman Prophecies.
916
00:43:58,059 --> 00:44:00,001
However, Keel isn't the only person
917
00:44:00,001 --> 00:44:03,399
seriously investigating the case.
918
00:44:03,399 --> 00:44:05,827
A science fiction writer
by the name of Gray Barker
919
00:44:05,827 --> 00:44:08,649
documents a number of events
from this time period,
920
00:44:08,649 --> 00:44:10,899
and later released them
in a semi-fictional
921
00:44:10,899 --> 00:44:13,482
novel titled The Silver Bridge.
922
00:44:14,553 --> 00:44:16,729
Of course, Point Pleasant's own Mary Hyre
923
00:44:16,729 --> 00:44:19,872
continues her own dealings with the story.
924
00:44:19,872 --> 00:44:22,261
Her news column, Where the Waters Mingle,
925
00:44:22,261 --> 00:44:24,785
becomes the most consistent place to find
926
00:44:24,785 --> 00:44:28,893
updated information about
the high strangeness.
927
00:44:28,893 --> 00:44:31,635
Throughout much of December 1966,
928
00:44:31,635 --> 00:44:34,453
activity is rampant around Point Pleasant,
929
00:44:34,453 --> 00:44:37,026
much of it going unreported.
930
00:44:37,026 --> 00:44:39,655
In the streets and in
diners and barbershops,
931
00:44:39,655 --> 00:44:42,407
residents all have a story of their own.
932
00:44:42,407 --> 00:44:44,703
Usually whispered in hushed tones,
933
00:44:44,703 --> 00:44:46,725
they tell of voices in the sky,
934
00:44:46,725 --> 00:44:50,001
strange lights in the
forest, flying creatures,
935
00:44:50,001 --> 00:44:54,526
and mysterious dark-suited
individuals asking questions.
936
00:44:54,526 --> 00:44:57,193
John Keel himself begins
to feel that he is
937
00:44:57,193 --> 00:45:00,263
at the center of something
even he can't make sense of.
938
00:45:00,263 --> 00:45:04,275
- John Keel had a lot of
weird things happen to him
939
00:45:04,275 --> 00:45:06,822
after he came to Point Pleasant
940
00:45:06,822 --> 00:45:08,899
to investigate the Mothman sightings.
941
00:45:08,899 --> 00:45:11,469
His phone calls were monitored.
942
00:45:11,469 --> 00:45:13,622
He always felt that
somebody was following him.
943
00:45:13,622 --> 00:45:15,484
It coulda been some of the men in black.
944
00:45:15,484 --> 00:45:20,074
His mail would be intercepted
from time to time.
945
00:45:20,074 --> 00:45:22,376
- [Narrator] 48 miles
south of Point Pleasant,
946
00:45:22,376 --> 00:45:24,700
an appliance story owner named Tad Jones
947
00:45:24,700 --> 00:45:27,152
is head to work when he sees a UFO land
948
00:45:27,152 --> 00:45:30,152
on Interstate 64 at around nine a.m.
949
00:45:31,205 --> 00:45:33,444
The next morning, he finds
a note under his door,
950
00:45:33,444 --> 00:45:36,303
reading, We know what you have seen,
951
00:45:36,303 --> 00:45:38,484
and we know that you have talked.
952
00:45:38,484 --> 00:45:41,145
You'd better keep your mouth shut.
953
00:45:41,145 --> 00:45:43,882
Around town, more and more
people encounter strange men
954
00:45:43,882 --> 00:45:46,203
who claim to work for undisclosed branches
955
00:45:46,203 --> 00:45:48,307
of the government.
956
00:45:48,307 --> 00:45:51,218
The majority of these men
are dressed in black suits
957
00:45:51,218 --> 00:45:55,567
and fedora hats and are
driving in black sedans.
958
00:45:55,567 --> 00:45:58,217
Their behavior is extremely unusual
959
00:45:58,217 --> 00:46:01,217
and at times described as unearthly.
960
00:46:02,300 --> 00:46:05,052
Mary Hyre herself receives a
visit from the men in black
961
00:46:05,052 --> 00:46:08,520
one night in January 1967, while working
962
00:46:08,520 --> 00:46:10,821
at her Point Pleasant office.
963
00:46:10,821 --> 00:46:13,935
- As soon as those
witnesses started reporting
964
00:46:13,935 --> 00:46:18,327
their stories to the newspaper
reporters, the TV stations,
965
00:46:18,327 --> 00:46:22,077
then these men in black,
as some called them,
966
00:46:23,088 --> 00:46:24,904
started showing up on people's doorsteps,
967
00:46:24,904 --> 00:46:28,262
places of business,
asking these witnesses,
968
00:46:28,262 --> 00:46:30,149
why they were talking about this,
969
00:46:30,149 --> 00:46:33,426
that they really had no
reason to be causing panic.
970
00:46:33,426 --> 00:46:36,146
Some of those witnesses
were pretty spooked
971
00:46:36,146 --> 00:46:39,761
by the sudden appearance
of these strange people.
972
00:46:39,761 --> 00:46:41,628
They didn't know who they were.
973
00:46:41,628 --> 00:46:43,441
They didn't know if they were military.
974
00:46:43,441 --> 00:46:46,378
They didn't know if they were
government agents or whatever.
975
00:46:46,378 --> 00:46:48,628
- [Witness] This guy,
he was in plainclothes,
976
00:46:48,628 --> 00:46:51,349
and he said, I want you to stand out here
977
00:46:51,349 --> 00:46:54,777
and point down there
where this thing was at.
978
00:46:54,777 --> 00:46:56,665
My wife told him, Go to Hell.
979
00:46:56,665 --> 00:46:58,453
I'm not gonna stand here
some like dumb hillbilly
980
00:46:58,453 --> 00:47:00,080
and point to an empty field.
981
00:47:00,080 --> 00:47:01,295
Just get outta here.
982
00:47:01,295 --> 00:47:02,137
We run them off.
983
00:47:02,137 --> 00:47:04,087
But it was a spooky thing.
984
00:47:04,087 --> 00:47:06,579
- You had several
witnesses who claimed that
985
00:47:06,579 --> 00:47:09,898
these men in black were
actually coming to their house.
986
00:47:09,898 --> 00:47:13,114
One lady in particular went
out to get the mail one day,
987
00:47:13,114 --> 00:47:14,856
and a black sedan pulled up.
988
00:47:14,856 --> 00:47:17,294
A man got out and tried
to pull her into the car,
989
00:47:17,294 --> 00:47:21,456
actually ripped her
sleeve off of her blouse.
990
00:47:21,456 --> 00:47:23,839
- [Narrator] On March
Fifth, Miss Alice Bradshaw
991
00:47:23,839 --> 00:47:26,737
reports seeing a shiny, saucer-shaped UFO
992
00:47:26,737 --> 00:47:29,275
while traveling on Beyond Street.
993
00:47:29,275 --> 00:47:32,224
Across town, Dolly Grady
confirms her own sighting
994
00:47:32,224 --> 00:47:35,895
of the same craft to
Mary Hyre the next day.
995
00:47:35,895 --> 00:47:39,475
On March 20th, near Marietta
Manufacturing Plant,
996
00:47:39,475 --> 00:47:43,794
more UFOs are seen, and
throughout much of 1967,
997
00:47:43,794 --> 00:47:48,153
flying saucers became
all the rage in the area.
998
00:47:48,153 --> 00:47:50,291
Sightings are in the
hundreds as people flock
999
00:47:50,291 --> 00:47:52,681
to the TNT Area on clear evenings
1000
00:47:52,681 --> 00:47:56,577
to watch for strange lights in the sky.
1001
00:47:56,577 --> 00:48:00,329
On May 19th, two women
driving along Route 62
1002
00:48:00,329 --> 00:48:03,641
near the TNT Area, observe
a dark form with two,
1003
00:48:03,641 --> 00:48:07,635
brilliant red lights hovering
in the sky above them.
1004
00:48:07,635 --> 00:48:12,269
Though it's airborne, it
appears to be some sort of man.
1005
00:48:12,269 --> 00:48:15,194
Suddenly, a larger red
light appears and floats
1006
00:48:15,194 --> 00:48:19,189
toward the red-eyed man
until the two seem to merge.
1007
00:48:19,189 --> 00:48:22,463
The two women rush into town
and report the incident.
1008
00:48:22,463 --> 00:48:25,270
A few hours later, many
others in Point Pleasant
1009
00:48:25,270 --> 00:48:28,240
report seeing a flaming
UFO land in a field
1010
00:48:28,240 --> 00:48:31,183
near the junior high school.
1011
00:48:31,183 --> 00:48:35,197
During this time, the Mothman
sightings begin to taper off.
1012
00:48:35,197 --> 00:48:39,508
From April through November
1967, few reports are noted,
1013
00:48:39,508 --> 00:48:41,508
and even fewer recorded.
1014
00:48:42,432 --> 00:48:44,946
On November Second, Miss Ralph Thomas sees
1015
00:48:44,946 --> 00:48:47,784
the familiar red eyes of
the Mothma behind her home
1016
00:48:47,784 --> 00:48:49,284
near the TNT Area.
1017
00:48:50,318 --> 00:48:53,686
Then, on November 16th,
one year and one day
1018
00:48:53,686 --> 00:48:56,227
after the Scarberry-Mallette sighting,
1019
00:48:56,227 --> 00:48:58,428
the creature appears
again when two hunters
1020
00:48:58,428 --> 00:49:00,544
encounter it moving on foot through
1021
00:49:00,544 --> 00:49:03,630
the McClintic Wildlife Area.
1022
00:49:03,630 --> 00:49:07,427
In the November 16th, 1967,
edition of her column,
1023
00:49:07,427 --> 00:49:10,003
Mary Hyre reports
sightings of the creature
1024
00:49:10,003 --> 00:49:12,244
are at the forefront again.
1025
00:49:12,244 --> 00:49:16,411
Most commonly, it's seen
buzzing cars on county roads.
1026
00:49:17,722 --> 00:49:21,132
In late November 1967,
an elderly businessman
1027
00:49:21,132 --> 00:49:24,103
in downtown Point Pleasant
sees what he describes
1028
00:49:24,103 --> 00:49:28,270
as a flaming-eyed gargoyle
standing on his front lawn.
1029
00:49:29,176 --> 00:49:31,772
The two stare at each
other for a brief second
1030
00:49:31,772 --> 00:49:33,951
before the creature flies into the sky
1031
00:49:33,951 --> 00:49:37,118
without so much as one flap of a wing.
1032
00:49:38,950 --> 00:49:40,950
It is now December 1967.
1033
00:49:42,502 --> 00:49:44,489
The pattern has formed.
1034
00:49:44,489 --> 00:49:45,906
The stage is set.
1035
00:49:47,935 --> 00:49:51,176
- It did build in a crescendo.
1036
00:49:51,176 --> 00:49:53,291
There were more and more
people looking for it.
1037
00:49:53,291 --> 00:49:54,953
- In hindsight, I think
there was a pattern
1038
00:49:54,953 --> 00:49:59,139
of escalation, and I have
thought about this many times.
1039
00:49:59,139 --> 00:50:02,703
I wish we had covered the Mothman
1040
00:50:02,703 --> 00:50:04,442
prior to the collapse of the bridge.
1041
00:50:04,442 --> 00:50:05,609
But we didn't.
1042
00:50:06,878 --> 00:50:09,795
(mysterious music)
1043
00:50:26,268 --> 00:50:28,771
- December 15th, 1967,
1044
00:50:28,771 --> 00:50:30,644
is a day that everybody who lives here
1045
00:50:30,644 --> 00:50:33,263
in Point Pleasant will
remember if they were alive
1046
00:50:33,263 --> 00:50:34,944
at that time.
1047
00:50:34,944 --> 00:50:37,787
That is the day that the 40-year-old
1048
00:50:37,787 --> 00:50:40,485
Silver Bridge, which
spanned from Point Pleasant
1049
00:50:40,485 --> 00:50:43,682
over to Kanauga, Ohio, and Gallopolis,
1050
00:50:43,682 --> 00:50:47,741
collapsed at about five
o'clock in the evening.
1051
00:50:47,741 --> 00:50:49,278
- The light was out in town
1052
00:50:49,278 --> 00:50:52,524
that monitored the traffic on the bridge.
1053
00:50:52,524 --> 00:50:53,943
It was very busy.
1054
00:50:53,943 --> 00:50:55,834
A lotta semis.
1055
00:50:55,834 --> 00:50:57,794
Semis don't come to our town at all now.
1056
00:50:57,794 --> 00:51:00,061
We just built the bridge around it.
1057
00:51:00,061 --> 00:51:04,173
But there were a lotta
semis on the bridge.
1058
00:51:04,173 --> 00:51:05,365
Bumper-to-bumper traffic.
1059
00:51:05,365 --> 00:51:08,926
Traffic stopped on the
bridge, and it collapsed.
1060
00:51:08,926 --> 00:51:10,342
- This was on a Friday.
1061
00:51:10,342 --> 00:51:11,518
It was payday.
1062
00:51:11,518 --> 00:51:15,009
It was 10 days before Christmas Day.
1063
00:51:15,009 --> 00:51:17,981
Lotta people out and
about Christmas shopping,
1064
00:51:17,981 --> 00:51:20,140
Christmas parties and things like that.
1065
00:51:20,140 --> 00:51:22,938
- That cable broke, and the bridge swung.
1066
00:51:22,938 --> 00:51:26,309
It dumped half the cars into the river.
1067
00:51:26,309 --> 00:51:27,759
It swung back the other way, broke,
1068
00:51:27,759 --> 00:51:31,136
dumped the other half in the river.
1069
00:51:31,136 --> 00:51:33,889
And then it fell on them.
1070
00:51:33,889 --> 00:51:38,071
And the river, it was
right before Christmas.
1071
00:51:38,071 --> 00:51:42,168
So hypothermia immediately,
but the people in the cars,
1072
00:51:42,168 --> 00:51:44,399
I'm sure in the middle of a conversation,
1073
00:51:44,399 --> 00:51:46,737
they're in the river and
boom, the bridge just falls.
1074
00:51:46,737 --> 00:51:48,095
It's over.
1075
00:51:48,095 --> 00:51:50,164
And in seconds.
1076
00:51:50,164 --> 00:51:52,316
- A woman picked me up
in front of the house
1077
00:51:52,316 --> 00:51:56,157
and took me to Oak Grove
Church for this play practice.
1078
00:51:56,157 --> 00:51:57,841
And we got there at the church,
1079
00:51:57,841 --> 00:52:00,656
about a little after five.
1080
00:52:00,656 --> 00:52:03,823
And a car pulled in, and someone said,
1081
00:52:05,454 --> 00:52:07,656
they'd just heard on the car radio
1082
00:52:07,656 --> 00:52:10,665
that the Silver Bridge had
collapsed in Point Pleasant.
1083
00:52:10,665 --> 00:52:11,608
- [Denny] Kinda give you an idea,
1084
00:52:11,608 --> 00:52:14,011
I was in the third grade at the time.
1085
00:52:14,011 --> 00:52:16,703
Everyone here remembers what was going on,
1086
00:52:16,703 --> 00:52:18,402
you could hear the boom.
1087
00:52:18,402 --> 00:52:21,313
My mother was on Main
Street when the bridge fell.
1088
00:52:21,313 --> 00:52:23,567
She says there were
cars and Christmas gifts
1089
00:52:23,567 --> 00:52:24,637
floating in the river.
1090
00:52:24,637 --> 00:52:27,869
It happened quickly, very very quickly.
1091
00:52:27,869 --> 00:52:29,640
- I arrived back at my house
1092
00:52:29,640 --> 00:52:31,613
at about 5:30.
1093
00:52:31,613 --> 00:52:33,636
My dad had just arrived.
1094
00:52:33,636 --> 00:52:37,135
We drove down here and
parked behind G.C. Murphy's,
1095
00:52:37,135 --> 00:52:39,908
on that parking lot,
because they were closed.
1096
00:52:39,908 --> 00:52:44,185
And we got out and walked
through the Fourth Street Bridge
1097
00:52:44,185 --> 00:52:47,649
and up there to where the
bridge crossed the flood wall.
1098
00:52:47,649 --> 00:52:50,103
The bridge was clear
gone, except for the ramp.
1099
00:52:50,103 --> 00:52:51,337
It was down the river,
1100
00:52:51,337 --> 00:52:54,514
and there were search boats out searching.
1101
00:52:54,514 --> 00:52:56,097
Looking for bodies.
1102
00:52:58,249 --> 00:53:01,487
So we stayed there til late at night.
1103
00:53:01,487 --> 00:53:03,671
- One lady in particular,
who was on the ramp
1104
00:53:03,671 --> 00:53:06,156
here on the Point Pleasant side,
1105
00:53:06,156 --> 00:53:08,424
she was actually pregnant with twins.
1106
00:53:08,424 --> 00:53:10,988
As she approached that ramp,
1107
00:53:10,988 --> 00:53:15,481
the bridge just basically
fell right in front of her.
1108
00:53:15,481 --> 00:53:18,746
Her car almost teetered right on the edge
1109
00:53:18,746 --> 00:53:21,146
of that, that ramp.
1110
00:53:21,146 --> 00:53:25,019
And I guess a policeman
pulled her out of the car.
1111
00:53:25,019 --> 00:53:27,302
She went into shock.
1112
00:53:27,302 --> 00:53:31,469
- I got up there and saw very
few people on the Ohio side.
1113
00:53:32,406 --> 00:53:35,438
Most of the people who were in shock
1114
00:53:35,438 --> 00:53:38,377
were hanging around the West
Virginia side that night.
1115
00:53:38,377 --> 00:53:41,829
But I got up that night
and from the Ohio side
1116
00:53:41,829 --> 00:53:44,048
what I saw were boats coming in.
1117
00:53:44,048 --> 00:53:46,981
It was interesting because they were
1118
00:53:46,981 --> 00:53:50,293
towboats coming in to see
if they could do anything,
1119
00:53:50,293 --> 00:53:51,793
pick up any debris
1120
00:53:53,027 --> 00:53:55,594
or bodies or whatever.
1121
00:53:55,594 --> 00:53:58,112
So I reported that night
from the Ohio side,
1122
00:53:58,112 --> 00:54:00,417
and it was very quiet, almost spooky,
1123
00:54:00,417 --> 00:54:04,000
because there was
nothing on the Ohio side.
1124
00:54:06,268 --> 00:54:08,435
- Lost a girl in my class.
1125
00:54:10,855 --> 00:54:14,444
Went down with her, her
body was never recovered.
1126
00:54:14,444 --> 00:54:17,861
Our mayor, his parents, lost his parents.
1127
00:54:19,294 --> 00:54:21,607
A lotta prominent people
went down on that bridge
1128
00:54:21,607 --> 00:54:23,535
from both towns, and then a lotta people
1129
00:54:23,535 --> 00:54:27,699
who were in the ultimate
wrong place at the wrong time.
1130
00:54:27,699 --> 00:54:30,449
(downbeat music)
1131
00:55:04,811 --> 00:55:06,253
It was numbing.
1132
00:55:06,253 --> 00:55:07,925
Plus, you were watching them
1133
00:55:07,925 --> 00:55:10,888
drag the bridge out of the river.
1134
00:55:10,888 --> 00:55:14,572
And they were piling it up
right here on the other side.
1135
00:55:14,572 --> 00:55:18,746
And every day they were
dragging the river for bodies.
1136
00:55:18,746 --> 00:55:21,162
Some of the bodies they could
get, some they couldn't.
1137
00:55:21,162 --> 00:55:22,463
People were still trying to figure out,
1138
00:55:22,463 --> 00:55:25,296
who was on the bridge, who wasn't.
1139
00:55:26,504 --> 00:55:29,808
- Yeah that ramp when you
would drive through town,
1140
00:55:29,808 --> 00:55:33,083
you would just see the
ramp just a dead break,
1141
00:55:33,083 --> 00:55:34,882
right off the edge there.
1142
00:55:34,882 --> 00:55:38,823
And that was a real somber
reminder for people here,
1143
00:55:38,823 --> 00:55:41,731
as they drove for years after that,
1144
00:55:41,731 --> 00:55:45,898
that ramp was there, so that
was a bad reminder for people.
1145
00:55:49,152 --> 00:55:51,950
- Other than that, but
that's people my age.
1146
00:55:51,950 --> 00:55:53,627
The kids now don't
think anything about it.
1147
00:55:53,627 --> 00:55:55,057
They don't know anything about it.
1148
00:55:55,057 --> 00:55:58,835
In fact, the Silver Bridge is
part of the Mothman legend,
1149
00:55:58,835 --> 00:56:02,994
to them, not a disaster
that we went through.
1150
00:56:02,994 --> 00:56:05,404
- People are definitely
still affected by it.
1151
00:56:05,404 --> 00:56:08,219
Definitely, I don't think
it'll ever be forgotten.
1152
00:56:08,219 --> 00:56:10,567
I hope that it's not ever forgotten.
1153
00:56:10,567 --> 00:56:13,567
I mean, the stories are passed down.
1154
00:56:14,581 --> 00:56:15,914
It's a part of this community.
1155
00:56:15,914 --> 00:56:18,630
It's a part of who everyone is.
1156
00:56:18,630 --> 00:56:19,934
I hope that it's never forgotten.
1157
00:56:19,934 --> 00:56:23,459
That would be very sad
if it was forgotten.
1158
00:56:23,459 --> 00:56:26,042
(somber music)
1159
00:56:54,821 --> 00:56:56,952
- I don't remember anybody,
when I went up there that night
1160
00:56:56,952 --> 00:56:58,785
saying, as I have seen
1161
00:57:02,838 --> 00:57:04,270
in subsequent years,
1162
00:57:04,270 --> 00:57:06,583
well, we saw the Mothman
perched on the bridge that night
1163
00:57:06,583 --> 00:57:09,184
before it collapsed, I never heard that.
1164
00:57:09,184 --> 00:57:11,552
- It was really never
connected to the bridge
1165
00:57:11,552 --> 00:57:13,664
in terms of we've heard people say
1166
00:57:13,664 --> 00:57:14,995
it was around the bridge or whatever.
1167
00:57:14,995 --> 00:57:16,489
I'll tell you what happened at the time,
1168
00:57:16,489 --> 00:57:19,637
no one wanted to hear
about the Mothman anymore.
1169
00:57:19,637 --> 00:57:21,589
And it died completely.
1170
00:57:21,589 --> 00:57:22,939
Completely.
1171
00:57:22,939 --> 00:57:24,189
- It put a real
1172
00:57:25,528 --> 00:57:28,367
calming effect on the
Mothman and the men in black
1173
00:57:28,367 --> 00:57:30,117
and the UFO stuff.
1174
00:57:30,117 --> 00:57:33,529
Because everybody's
attention went from that
1175
00:57:33,529 --> 00:57:35,446
to the bridge disaster.
1176
00:57:37,135 --> 00:57:39,342
- [Narrator] In the days
following the bridge collapse,
1177
00:57:39,342 --> 00:57:41,935
residents along the Ohio
River continued to note
1178
00:57:41,935 --> 00:57:44,984
the appearance of strange
lights in the sky.
1179
00:57:44,984 --> 00:57:47,984
However, the Mothman itself is gone.
1180
00:57:49,564 --> 00:57:52,274
John Keel and Mary Hyre
eventually part ways
1181
00:57:52,274 --> 00:57:54,349
for what would be the last time,
1182
00:57:54,349 --> 00:57:57,832
leaving Mary as the only
continuing source of information
1183
00:57:57,832 --> 00:58:01,308
regarding unusual events in the region.
1184
00:58:01,308 --> 00:58:04,257
Back in New York, Keel
begins work on his book,
1185
00:58:04,257 --> 00:58:06,787
The Mothman Prophecies.
1186
00:58:06,787 --> 00:58:10,989
On February 15th, 1970,
Mary Hyre passes away
1187
00:58:10,989 --> 00:58:12,869
from an illness that left her bedridden
1188
00:58:12,869 --> 00:58:16,137
in a hospital for nearly a month.
1189
00:58:16,137 --> 00:58:18,258
Keel receives word of Hyre's passing
1190
00:58:18,258 --> 00:58:20,841
in a telegram from Gray Barker.
1191
00:58:22,436 --> 00:58:25,158
Hyre's column, Where the Waters Mingle,
1192
00:58:25,158 --> 00:58:28,599
was a beloved part of the
community for over two decades,
1193
00:58:28,599 --> 00:58:32,864
and her passing is felt far
and wide throughout the area.
1194
00:58:32,864 --> 00:58:35,771
Her death also signals the
end of consistent reporting
1195
00:58:35,771 --> 00:58:39,127
on the strange and unusual in the area.
1196
00:58:39,127 --> 00:58:40,951
Five years after Mary's death,
1197
00:58:40,951 --> 00:58:44,055
Keel releases The Mothman Prophecies.
1198
00:58:44,055 --> 00:58:46,473
The book becomes a bestseller,
and is widely acclaimed
1199
00:58:46,473 --> 00:58:49,357
for its unavoidably unnerving recounting
1200
00:58:49,357 --> 00:58:51,700
of not just the creature sightings,
1201
00:58:51,700 --> 00:58:53,885
but the multiple bizarre phenomena
1202
00:58:53,885 --> 00:58:58,304
occurring in and around the
country during that time.
1203
00:58:58,304 --> 00:59:00,885
The book will later be adapted
as major motion picture
1204
00:59:00,885 --> 00:59:03,802
by the same name, released in 2002.
1205
00:59:05,293 --> 00:59:07,291
Keel himself felt he was never able
1206
00:59:07,291 --> 00:59:09,468
to escape the lore of the story.
1207
00:59:09,468 --> 00:59:12,135
He continued his involvement
in paranormal research
1208
00:59:12,135 --> 00:59:13,958
until the time of his death
1209
00:59:13,958 --> 00:59:15,625
on July Third, 2009.
1210
00:59:17,049 --> 00:59:19,346
- I admired him a great deal too.
1211
00:59:19,346 --> 00:59:23,513
I think he did an excellent
job of making the connections.
1212
00:59:24,352 --> 00:59:25,685
I'm glad he did.
1213
00:59:26,542 --> 00:59:28,789
- And of course, you
know, he's really the one
1214
00:59:28,789 --> 00:59:32,956
responsible for like turning
us into a worldwide legend.
1215
00:59:35,762 --> 00:59:38,209
- Even though he'd be in New
York, they would call him
1216
00:59:38,209 --> 00:59:40,081
and say, Hey, we've seen it again,
1217
00:59:40,081 --> 00:59:41,783
you need to come back.
1218
00:59:41,783 --> 00:59:46,103
And sadly, he never had a
chance to really see it.
1219
00:59:46,103 --> 00:59:47,724
- [Narrator] Occasional
sightings of the Mothman
1220
00:59:47,724 --> 00:59:50,359
continue even to this day.
1221
00:59:50,359 --> 00:59:52,303
From the back roads around Point Pleasant
1222
00:59:52,303 --> 00:59:54,082
to the creature's old stomping grounds
1223
00:59:54,082 --> 00:59:57,063
within the McClintic
Wildlife Management Area,
1224
00:59:57,063 --> 01:00:00,175
tales of encounters are still told.
1225
01:00:00,175 --> 01:00:02,763
In other parts of the
country and even the world,
1226
01:00:02,763 --> 01:00:06,434
the Mothman has been frequently
associated with disasters,
1227
01:00:06,434 --> 01:00:09,189
acting as much as a harbinger of doom
1228
01:00:09,189 --> 01:00:12,101
as an unexplainable mystery.
1229
01:00:12,101 --> 01:00:14,629
Point Pleasant itself has
embraced the mysterious creature
1230
01:00:14,629 --> 01:00:16,187
as its own.
1231
01:00:16,187 --> 01:00:19,832
In 2002, local residents Jeff
Wamsley and Carolin Harris
1232
01:00:19,832 --> 01:00:22,960
created the first-ever Mothman Festival,
1233
01:00:22,960 --> 01:00:24,624
celebrating this particular chapter
1234
01:00:24,624 --> 01:00:27,541
in the Mountain State's history.
1235
01:00:27,541 --> 01:00:31,708
In 2005, Wamsley opened the
world's only Mothman Museum.
1236
01:00:32,894 --> 01:00:35,622
The town is now more
associated with the creature
1237
01:00:35,622 --> 01:00:39,789
than any other piece of its
long and storied history.
1238
01:00:41,172 --> 01:00:43,903
Many of the original
witnesses have passed away,
1239
01:00:43,903 --> 01:00:46,114
and in recent years, other key players
1240
01:00:46,114 --> 01:00:49,342
in the Mothman story,
such as Carolin Harris,
1241
01:00:49,342 --> 01:00:50,842
passed on as well.
1242
01:00:51,692 --> 01:00:54,860
Still, Point Pleasant
remains a sleepy little town
1243
01:00:54,860 --> 01:00:56,766
on the banks of a mighty river
1244
01:00:56,766 --> 01:00:59,881
in the heart of the Ohio Valley.
1245
01:00:59,881 --> 01:01:03,219
- The town hasn't changed
that much, quite frankly.
1246
01:01:03,219 --> 01:01:06,892
Doesn't take much to turn
Point Pleasant back to 1966.
1247
01:01:06,892 --> 01:01:09,590
Take off the new cars,
bring in the old cars.
1248
01:01:09,590 --> 01:01:11,590
It's virtually the same.
1249
01:01:12,595 --> 01:01:14,702
- For several years, they've
talked about the Mothman
1250
01:01:14,702 --> 01:01:17,869
nonstop, and it didn't die out because
1251
01:01:18,750 --> 01:01:21,417
journalists and book authors and
1252
01:01:23,386 --> 01:01:27,623
magazine writers and people
like that came to town,
1253
01:01:27,623 --> 01:01:29,972
and they kept it pretty well stirred up.
1254
01:01:29,972 --> 01:01:32,807
But I actually thought
that it was dying off some,
1255
01:01:32,807 --> 01:01:35,218
a little bit, then all
of a sudden, this movie,
1256
01:01:35,218 --> 01:01:37,682
The Mothman Prophecies, came out.
1257
01:01:37,682 --> 01:01:39,790
- I was six years old, five, six years old
1258
01:01:39,790 --> 01:01:43,378
when the Mothman sightings
started taking place,
1259
01:01:43,378 --> 01:01:46,052
and the Silver Bridge disaster.
1260
01:01:46,052 --> 01:01:48,966
As I got older, I thought
it was really cool
1261
01:01:48,966 --> 01:01:51,270
that it was part of the
history of the town.
1262
01:01:51,270 --> 01:01:52,773
I started collecting stuff.
1263
01:01:52,773 --> 01:01:56,672
My dad had shot home movies
of the bridge disaster.
1264
01:01:56,672 --> 01:01:59,339
And I seen what kind of interest
1265
01:02:00,486 --> 01:02:03,898
basically the world has
shown over the whole
1266
01:02:03,898 --> 01:02:05,315
Mothman story, so
1267
01:02:06,964 --> 01:02:10,142
I just kept looking and finding stuff
1268
01:02:10,142 --> 01:02:13,059
and archiving and things like that.
1269
01:02:14,074 --> 01:02:16,548
- [Narrator] The Mothman
Museum acts as a sort of window
1270
01:02:16,548 --> 01:02:18,861
into another time.
1271
01:02:18,861 --> 01:02:21,636
Through decades of research,
Jeff Wamsley has amassed
1272
01:02:21,636 --> 01:02:24,259
an impressive collection
of newspaper articles,
1273
01:02:24,259 --> 01:02:26,526
memorabilia and historical items
1274
01:02:26,526 --> 01:02:28,776
related to the 1966-67 case
1275
01:02:30,242 --> 01:02:32,159
and the Mothman itself.
1276
01:02:33,232 --> 01:02:35,718
While the rest of the world
continues to view the Mothman
1277
01:02:35,718 --> 01:02:38,793
as a kitschy folk figure
and the events surrounding
1278
01:02:38,793 --> 01:02:41,755
its original appearance as a rural legend,
1279
01:02:41,755 --> 01:02:46,666
the museum helps to solidify
the reality behind the case.
1280
01:02:46,666 --> 01:02:49,509
In recent years, the
Mothman Festival has become
1281
01:02:49,509 --> 01:02:52,859
the largest annual event in
the state of West Virginia,
1282
01:02:52,859 --> 01:02:57,701
with an annual attendance
of more than 12,000 people.
1283
01:02:57,701 --> 01:02:59,534
The Mothman, it seems,
1284
01:03:00,894 --> 01:03:02,394
is truly immortal.
1285
01:03:04,396 --> 01:03:08,313
- The Mothman Festival
came about back in 2003,
1286
01:03:09,631 --> 01:03:12,577
as a way to capitalize a little bit
1287
01:03:12,577 --> 01:03:15,347
on the movie, The Mothman Prophecies.
1288
01:03:15,347 --> 01:03:17,596
And get some people to come downtown,
1289
01:03:17,596 --> 01:03:21,114
help out the merchants
and the downtown stores
1290
01:03:21,114 --> 01:03:22,620
and things like that.
1291
01:03:22,620 --> 01:03:25,109
And 15 years later, it's
grown to be one of the biggest
1292
01:03:25,109 --> 01:03:27,614
festivals in the state of West Virginia.
1293
01:03:27,614 --> 01:03:31,781
We draw crowds of 10,000-plus
now every September.
1294
01:03:36,286 --> 01:03:38,479
- There are a lotta people
that like the festival.
1295
01:03:38,479 --> 01:03:41,229
And they like the Mothman Museum.
1296
01:03:44,301 --> 01:03:46,363
Now there's a few, in the community
1297
01:03:46,363 --> 01:03:48,446
there are a few skeptics.
1298
01:03:49,799 --> 01:03:50,915
- I hope he doesn't come back.
1299
01:03:50,915 --> 01:03:51,995
I don't wanna see him.
1300
01:03:51,995 --> 01:03:56,162
If he wants royalties,
we're in trouble (laughs).
1301
01:04:25,169 --> 01:04:27,919
- [Jeff] The fact that
there are so many unanswered
1302
01:04:27,919 --> 01:04:31,396
questions when it comes to the Mothman,
1303
01:04:31,396 --> 01:04:35,419
if it would have been two or
three people that reported
1304
01:04:35,419 --> 01:04:37,767
the sightings and stuff, I woulda been
1305
01:04:37,767 --> 01:04:40,010
more than skeptical myself.
1306
01:04:40,010 --> 01:04:43,014
But the fact that there was
over 100 reported sightings
1307
01:04:43,014 --> 01:04:46,516
within that first year tells me that there
1308
01:04:46,516 --> 01:04:48,158
was definitely something going on.
1309
01:04:48,158 --> 01:04:50,115
And it's always intrigued me as
1310
01:04:50,115 --> 01:04:52,084
as to what these people were seeing.
1311
01:04:52,084 --> 01:04:54,388
Where they encountered it,
1312
01:04:54,388 --> 01:04:57,043
how it affected their lives.
1313
01:04:57,043 --> 01:04:59,460
(soft music)
1314
01:05:45,523 --> 01:05:48,023
(piano music)
98187
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