Terrifying True Story Behind the Mothman

on a rainy evening in a dark dense forest you hear the crunch of branches your heart starts beating faster you're afraid to look in the direction of the sound but you're still slowly turning your head a feeling of horror freezes you you can't escape and you're sure that some animal is looking at you now by this point it stopped raining an ominous Silence has fallen over the forest the clouds disperse and the dim light from the full moon illuminates the trees among which you notice a human silhouette he's tall and is hiding in the shadows he isn't moving waiting for your next actions two glowing red eyes light up his dark face terrified you point the flashlight Beam at the monster the scary creature opens its Wide Wings and flies away Into the Night you've just seen the Mothman one of America's most famous monsters this is an urban legend but the monster really exists and doesn't exist at the same time it all started in West Virginia in the small town of Point Pleasant in the early 20th century it was an industrial place with factories producing harmful toxic substances closer to the 50s all these plants were closed but people didn't dispose of waste from the factories properly therefore harmful substances began to penetrate the surrounding nature and pollute forests and water these events became a prologue to the appearance of the Mothman [Music] for the first time City residents heard about the monster in the 60s four young people were driving past the Dark Forest and stopped by a local power plant there they saw a big man with red eyes and wide wings like those of a moth the teenagers were terrified and immediately drove away from that place they came to the local sheriff and told him everything that had happened the police quickly examined the forest and the area near the station searching for the monster but found nothing meanwhile a local newspaper wrote an article about it soon other people also began to report that they had seen a mysterious creature some thought the Mothman was a human or an animal that mutated after getting poisoned by toxic substances these rumors were nothing but fairy tales from Sci-Fi movies so people started ignoring these stories after a while then after the monster's first appearance a catastrophe happened in the city the Silver Bridge the main road to Point Pleasant couldn't withstand the traffic before the winter holidays the bridge collapsed under the heavyweight and many cars fell down the tragedy brought a lot of grief to the town and people were trying to figure out how could this happen some suggested that the crash could be related to the Mothman no he didn't destroy the bridge but people said they had seen this creature many times before the tragedy it looked like the Mothman was a harbinger of trouble further investigation revealed that the road collapsed because of poor Bridge maintenance but this version faded amid the rumors about the Mothman after the crash reports about The Mothman stopped people no longer saw the monster and forgot about it but then in the 70s author John Keel wrote a book about the mysterious monster from Point Pleasant he liked discussing stories about extraterrestrial civilizations and other urban legends so he couldn't miss the case of the Mothman he wrote about how the unknown Beast could be an unconscious premonition of Point Pleasant's inhabitants of the tragedy on the bridge the book became popular all over the U.S John Keel made the Mothman a superstar Hollywood created a movie based on the book and the small town became the center of Attraction for thousands of tourists the Mothman has become as popular as the Loch Ness monster and Bigfoot people organize an annual Festival in honor of this character if earlier the Beast was a harbinger of disaster now it's become the cause of the economic growth of Point Pleasant tourists come to get in touch with the legend and spend a lot of money locals open cafes and hotels organize tours and make souvenirs one sculptor even installed a Sinister monster statue the Mothman has evolved from local myth to a brand in this case it turns out that even though he doesn't exist it's not entirely true many messages about the Mothman appear all over the world it said that people see him shortly before major disasters but of course it's yet to be proven one guy did research and found out that all the books and materials about the Mothman were written by fans of myths and urban legends and that there was not a single scientific proof or observation that the monster really existed now remember the events associated with the Mothman the collapse of the bridge the release of toxic substances and other tragedies the flying creature with red eyes has become the embodiment of mass Hysteria when many people are under stress or grief they may experience the same unconscious reaction in such a depressed state people really begin to believe and see things that don't exist a similar feeling appears during a strike or other Mass events you may disagree with the majority opinion but when you find yourself in a crowd that demands something you seem to be infected by their mood this is quite a typical thing for our mentality when you're experiencing grief along with hundreds and thousands of people around your brain becomes sensitive to any information you may see a large Heron or an owl in this state and mistake it for the Mothman and other people will unknowingly support you and believe in the monster there have been many cases of mass hysteria in the world one of the most striking ones happened in France in the 16th century when the inhabitants of Strasbourg began to dance for several weeks this event is called the dancing plague at first one woman started dancing in the city's Central Square a week later other locals joined her infected with her bout of sinister fun according to one version the mass dancing hysteria began against the backdrop of hunger and diseases that Europe was experiencing at that time people were under constant stress and their minds decided to relieve stress in an unusual way another version says that people were poisoned by some fungus that grew on wheat grains the fungus somehow affected people's psyche and made them dance but let's get back to our monster in addition to the stress associated with the collapse of the bridge and the release of toxic waste in the forest people could have been oppressed by herons and owls people called The Mothman bird-like in the first reports because of his red eyes and wings therefore some researchers claimed that the residents of Point Pleasant had seen a big Heron or a sandhill crane with wide wings and red markings around the eyes the sandhill crane doesn't live in West Virginia but it can fly over this territory and even make a stop there to have a snack also people could have seen a giant owl sitting in a tree the eyes of these animals can glow red at night people reported seeing about 28 cranes from 2017 to 2019. imagine living in a city where shops streets and monuments remind you of the Mothman people have been talking about him for years believing in him and then you see a giant Heron in the forest surely the first thing you'll think about is the Mothman so people may be telling the truth when they say they've seen him or at least they might believe they're telling the truth in any case the Mothman is neither a product of an extraterrestrial civilization nor a radioactive mutant animal people created this creature with their minds and Faith such things always attract people because they give us the feeling that we know something that most people don't something mysterious Additionally the Mothman brings a lot of money to the residents of Point Pleasant and it's much more profitable for them to support the rumors about the monster than to prove that it doesn't exist.