Mothman Cryptotourism
Posted by: Loren Coleman on January 9th, 2008
Doesn’t the above look like a Mothman clone? Read more about it over a Posthuman Blues.
Meanwhile, the Mainichi Japan shares the latest on the booming cryptotourism in the hometown of Mothman.
A quick stroll up Main Street, Point Pleasant, West Virginia, is enough to learn who this river town’s most famous resident is: His name is on signs, in shop windows and restaurants, and there’s even a museum devoted to him.
And the sculpture in the middle of town prominently depicts his enormous wings and glowing red eyes.
More than 40 years after the first reported sighting of the mysterious creature later dubbed “Mothman,” residents here have embraced his legend, helping to turn the town into a destination for people in search of an offbeat tourism experience.
But while there’s no local consensus on the veracity of the stories, most agree that Mothman is good for business.
“It’s helped the town, it’s actually helped with business recruitment,” said Ruth Finley, who owns the 106-year-old Lowe Hotel on Main Street along with her husband. “People come because of Mothman and they stay at the hotel, they go to the restaurants.”
Every September, Point Pleasant hosts the weekend-long Mothman Festival, which draws about 2,000 people a year to this town of roughly 4,500 at the confluence of the Kanawha and Ohio rivers.
Walking along Main Street, conventioneers can have their picture taken near the statue, drink a “Mothman Frappachino” (advertised in a local cafe window) and drop into the Mothman Museum, which convincingly bills itself as the world’s only such institution.
A Mothman doll hangs from the ceiling at the Mothman Museum in Point Pleasant, W.Va. More than 40 years after the first reported sighting of the mysterious creature later dubbed “Mothman,” residents here have embraced his legend, helping to turn the town into a destination for people in search of an offbeat tourism experience. (AP Photo/Jeff Gentner)
Inside, they can look over everything from handwritten eyewitness accounts of Mothman sightings to voluminous newspaper clippings to props from the 2002 Richard Gere film The Mothman Prophecies, which helped boost interest in the creature and Point Pleasant.
Jeremy Pitchford, an employee at the 2-year-old museum, said it’s a valuable repository for a side of Point Pleasant that few were willing to even discuss until recently.
“This has been something that’s been kind of suppressed, in a way,” he said. “A lot of people never knew that Point Pleasant had anything like its own folklore.”
The first sighting was reported on Nov. 15, 1966, by a group of people in an area of town known as TNT, the site of a former World War II munitions plant. Others later came forward to say they had seen a gray creature about 7 feet (2.1 meters) tall with bright red eyes and wings like a bird.
The sightings ended abruptly on Dec. 15, 1967, the day of the collapse of the Silver Bridge, which linked Point Pleasant to Ohio. Forty-six people were killed, and ever since people have speculated on whether the sightings were connected to the tragedy.
During the Mothman convention, tourists drive out to TNT hoping to catch a glimpse of the creature, but usually have to settle for a more prosaic version: the Mothman pizza made at Village Pizza.
A genuinely unique creation, the $10 pie depicts the fearsome creature with eyes made of red and green peppers dotted by an olive pupil, mushroom wings and a pepperoni body. It’s such a classic that Bill Ward knew he had to leave it on the menu when he bought the restaurant four years ago.
“We sell a lot of them when the convention’s in town,” he said.
Even when it’s not convention time, the town has its share of Mothman visitors, including film crews. Recently, a crew shooting an episode for the new A&E series “Paranormal State” was in town, and the Lowe Hotel has hosted crews from as far away as Japan and Australia.
But some chafe at the notion that Point Pleasant is best-known for reputed visits from a winged creature with glowing eyes. In fact, the town is rich in real American history, from the Revolutionary War to the era when steamboat traffic crowded the Ohio and Kanawha rivers.
“With all the history we have here, what do people come here for? That darn Mothman,” said Jack Fowler, executive director of the Point Pleasant River Museum.
Located a few blocks down Main Street from the Mothman statue, the river museum includes historical exhibits and archives on everything from the steamboat trade to the 1967 Silver Bridge disaster. With plans to expand and add an aquarium in partnership with Marshall University, Mothman is distinctly out of place here.
Out of place, but not entirely absent: the river museum sells copies of a book about Mothman.
“I always said there would never be anything about Mothman in this museum,” sighed Fowler. “But when the convention’s happening, so many people come in here and ask about it.”
Although he’s not keen on Mothman, Fowler has made his peace with the creature’s local backers. The river museum and the Mothman Museum have a reciprocal relationship, directing curious visitors to each other’s exhibits. It’s a way to let tourists see all sides of Point Pleasant, Fowler and Pitchford say.
“The great thing is, it brings in people from all over,” Finley said. “They may come here for Mothman, but once they’re here it’s our responsibility to show them why they should come back.”
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If You Go …
GETTING THERE: Point Pleasant, West Virginia, sits along the Ohio River, about two hours south of Columbus, Ohio, and roughly 50 miles (80 kilometers) from both Charleston and Huntington.
MOTHMAN M– USEUM: 411 Main St. Open daily noon-6 p.m. Adults, $3; children 9 and under, $1. Private group tours can be arranged two weeks in advance for other times.
POINT PLEASANT RIVER M– USEUM: 28 Main St.; 304-674-0144. Open Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.; Saturdays, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.; and Sundays, 1-5 p.m. Closed Mondays. Adults, $4; children, $1.
THE LOWE HOTEL: 401 Main St.; 304-675-2260. Rooms start at $68 per night.
Source: Mainichi Japan ~ January 9, 2008
For another view of Mothman, called “Bighoot” by cryptozoologist Mark A. Hall, see his book, Thunderbirds: America’s Living Legends of Giant Birds (NY: Paraview, 2004).
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
I can’t wait to go to Point Pleasant in 2009!
I want to go SO FREAKIN BAD!!! But, unfortunately, I’m not old enough to drive, and my parents would NEVER take me anytime soon. X((
It’s funny how Loren makes it sound as if the whole ‘Mothman’ thing was ‘made up’ or was just a ‘misidentification’ of a large bird. LOL! People here know what birds are, Loren, and are familiar with the ones that pass through during migration as well. Keep in mind that we’re outdoorsmen. Obviously, you want to feed the stereo-type about West Virginians, Maybe it’s an inferiority complex or something, I don’t know, but always know that most people here will always be 2 steps ahead of people like you.
Another thing that you like to imply in every essay that you write about Mothman is that it was invented for tourism & you seem to like to report sarcastically about the museum & other places of buisness that pay tribute to Mothman like it’s just one big shameful cash grab or something. It’s actually a little more noble than SELLING RC TOYS made to resemble the descriptions of Mothman, Books, or running a money making website. Roswell has festivals & many other places. It’s no different here. It’s the American way.
Rest assured, Loren, that something landed here & it WAS NOT a ‘bird’ and to this day W.Va is a UFO hotspot. The Mothman festival is to tell the world that something happened here & it was witnessed by smart, credible people that know the difference between birds & aliens & robots. What happened here is one of the most important events in human history but the government would like to see it discredited & swept under the rug.
Needless to say, what is said in an article by someone else, but posted here, does not necessarily represent my views. I would never say what happened regarding Mothman was “made up.”
I am clearly on the record in supporting what people in Point Pleasant have said they said they saw, and not what the debunkers have claimed about cranes and things.
However, I consider the cryptozoological answer in the realm of large unknown birds ~ which are not misidentifications but the reality.
Looks like the only person here with an inferiority complex is pulpfiction.
You seem to go out of your way to look for statements concerning West Virginians being inferior that simply aren’t there.
Also the mothman legend is about a moth like man/creature flying down to earth. I hate to break it to you but ANY TIME you have a story like that there will always be skeptics. I don’t care if it happened in West Virginia, Nevada, California, or New York. It has nothing to do with where it happened and everything to do with the fact people are claiming they saw a MOTHMAN! Its human nature. Most people want proof before they will put all their faith in such claims. Get over yourself.
It should also be noted that a good number of Point Pleasant residents disbelieve or doubt the mothman legend. So I find it hard to accept your theory that the rest of the world is ganging up on you guys when so many residents doubt it as well. You’re simply trying to represent yourself as a victim in the hopes you can turn it around on others to force what you believe on them.
If you have such a need to prove the mothman was real then go out and find proof. Prove that it was real! Otherwise quit whining about how you and your fellow West Virginians are some kind of victims. Thats such a cop out. I honestly don’t see how you can be so irate with people for not believing or doubting a story with no proof. People have the right to believe or disbelieve such fantastic claims. It is only narrow minded people that think everyone should believe the same as they do.
Being in the Ohio Valley and having property near the area I have got a chance to hear from the original old timers.
It is interesting to note another bridge mishap that just happened in 2007 almost near the date of the silver bridge anniversary to the day.
EPA now has the area in a superfund for cleanup. Its interesting theres a waterfowl area very near the location of the 2 plants.. with underground catacombs and chemicals, a mix with animals sure would create a heck of a stir.
I also find it interesting of the storys of the Men in Black having conversation with diner employees in town.
The mid 60’s is ridiculed with UFO’s, aliens and bigfoots along with Indrid Cold.
I am curious as to why it all has stopped.
I hope the answer of Mothman will be revealed someday.