Mothman and Boston Rob
Posted by: Loren Coleman on October 21st, 2006
Looking ahead to next Wednesday’s "Mothman" episode of "Sci-Fi Investigates," here is today’s guest blog from John Frick, one of the cofounders of the Mothman Museum in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. It has little to do with cryptozoology, but much to do with how this television program approached the subject.
John Frick writes:
On October 25, at 10 PM Eastern is the debut of the Mothman episode of "Sci-Fi Investigates" on the Sci-Fi channel. One of the principal investigators on the show is Boston Rob from "Survivor" fame, and he represents the critic. My brother, Tim, and I, once again played the MIB – Men-In-Black – (we played MIB for the Travel Channel as well). We also flew our life sized Mothman for this show’s Mothman special effects.
It was a ton of fun working with the Sci-Fi crew, and meeting the four on-screen investigators, who are all really nice and enjoyable people. Their crime scene investigator, Debbie is very sweet, and one of the high points was when we met her and the others from the crew. They introduced themselves, and when she introduced herself she said "I’m not famous," and my brother said "you will be." Afterwards, Bill Doleman did some great Bigfoot cries, and I got to talk to Rich Dolan about UFOs.
Another highlight was meeting and watching Boston Rob in action. Being a "Survivor" watcher myself I expected Rob to probably be cocky and conceited. I was wrong. As it turns out he is a little cocky, but one heck of a nice guy, and very down to Earth. We sat in the lobby of the hotel and talked with him and some of the other crew for a good while and it was very cool. The absolute highlight of the trip though was being witness to Boston Rob having a near breakdown over the haunted Lowe Hotel freaking him out. Rob got into Point Pleasant very late the night before, and when he was on the 2nd floor looking down at the 2nd floor mezonine he saw a lady in a pink gown dancing around. He went and got one of the producers that was still up, but the lady was gone. He thought it was odd but didn’t think much of it ’til the next day when ghost hunter, Robin Bellamy, informed him that ghosts can look like physical people. This really started to freak Rob out. Some time during the day Rob found stuff was moved around in his hotel room (the door had been locked), and the owner of the hotel denied having anything to do with it.
The final straw came after the crew went around to different haunted rooms in the hotel and shot some scenes. When they were done shooting one of the lady producers saw something out of the corner of her eye and she freaked out, which sent Boston Rob over the edge. I heard him run past my hotel room shouting "no way," or something to that effect, over and over again. At the time I was thinking it must be part of the show but I later found that the beginning of the outburst wasn’t filmed. I am not sure how much of this they did catch on film or if they are going to use it on the final show but it was something to witness. Rob was a warrior on "Survivor" and here he was terrified.
I talked to Rob a few minutes later and he was excited and scared. He then tried to get the main producer to let him stay across the river at another hotel but he talked him out of leaving. It’s funny, at one point Rob said to me "don’t write about this," then he paused for a second and said, "yeah you can write about this." It’s really too good not to write about so I’m glad he rescinded that statement.
Later Rob told me that Mothman is crap but that he feels there is something in that hotel. This is coming from a skeptic (Rob, not me). Anyway, Boston Rob almost didn’t survive the Lowe Hotel.
At top: Artist John Frick of Cumberland, Maryland, stands under his creation, a Mothman replica that hangs from the ceiling of the Mothman Museum in Point Pleasant, West Virginia.
"Sci-Fi Investigates" will air their "Mothman" episode on Wednesday, October 25, 2006. Check your local listings.
Click on image for full-size version
Mike Keller/SCI FI Channel
L to R: Rob Mariano, Dr. Bill Doleman
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.
This show seems as if it is fast becoming all about Boston Rob.
Well Rob is a jerk in my humble opinion. The “investigation” into Bigfoot was a poor excuse for an investigation with the money that the SCI-Fi channel must have spent and all it proved was that any idiot can make a fake, so what was the point? I expected more from then than that.
Oh No, Please do not tell me that Mr. Macho has a tender side! If he can no longer perform his duties as Head STUD Skeptic, perhaps he should be replaced?
I’m already looking forward to viewing the up and coming “Rob moment”.
Wednesday is my nite to sort my sock drawer, but I’ll see your reviews here.
I admit that I had high hopes for this Sci-Fi channel version “Investigates” only to have that bubble burst with the first “investigation” into Voodoo. The Bigfoot episode being filmed over a weekend really tells a lot, that they were not really seriously investigating anything; the “team” seemed intent on goofing around more than anything else, and proved how phoney a faked film looks. So I have no high expectations for a Mothman “investigation” whatsoever, as much as it would be funny to see the cocky Boston Rob get spooked he has dismissed Mothman as “crap” so… this is a “skeptic”? Why waste time trying to convince that type of person?
For that matter, I would really hesitate to classify Mothman as a Cryptid, this seems a much stranger phenomenon than an unknown animal.
Indrid Cold! Where are you when we need you?
Lets see you coming home around 2 AM all alone on a rain slick highway then as you turn on to a gravel back road…THERE IT IS!
Red eyes staring at you.
Then tell me it’s all crap!
Will he try and make a fake video of this too? String him up from some wires in a moth costume, then let some kids in with sticks to whack the pinata.
That something can be faked is no proof that the original sighting was faked. But then again, that doesn’t mean the original was true. As in all cryptid cases, the solution requires a body for study. Sans a body, any discussion is on the college bull session level.
I have to second what John wrote–everyone was really quite nice and much more knowledgable than I expected. I can’t view the series here in Canada so I don’t know what the editors have done to it, but there were VERY good, intelligent, thoughtful conversations on mothman and on hauntings with all cast members. I can also tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt, nothing related to the haunted hotel was set up. The only thing the producer knew was which rooms to put them in. I told him nothing of the history of the hotel or its hauntings. What happened on and off camera was real. Whether it was ghosts…well that has yet to be proved.
If BR had a conversation w/ Carlos Mencia (comedian)BR would most likely come out w/ a shirt w/ an arrow pointing to his face, right above the words “I’m With DEE-DEE-DEE!”