Whitley Strieber will interview Loren Coleman, author of ?Mothman and Other Curious Encounters,? on Dreamland this Saturday. He will also talk to Dan Drasin, an independent investigator of anomalies who investigated the Mothman with John Keel. Keel, author of ?The Mothman Prophecies? and the original investigator of the Mothman phenomenon, will be interviewed on Dreamland March 9.
Buck Wolf reports in abcnews.com that tourists are flocking to Point Pleasant, West Virginia, the home of the Mothman, since the opening of ?The Mothman Prophecies? movie, starring Richard Gere. ?He?s our monster, so we want to make money off him,? says Hilda Austin, executive director of the Point Pleasant Chamber of Commerce. ?We don?t want anyone stealing our thunder.?
The same thing happened to Burkittsville, Maryland (population 200) a few years ago, after ?The Blair Witch Project? movie was released. For awhile, the Burkittsville mayor?s voice mail said, ?This is the town office, Burkittsville, Maryland. ? If this is in regards to The Blair Witch Project, it is fiction.?
Point Pleasant is a town of 6,000 near the Ohio border. Between 1966 and 1967, dozens of people came forward to claim they?d seen a giant man-bird with red, hypnotic eyes. The first reports were from two young couples, then others came forward. Authorities found it harder to ignore each new monster sighting. The Batman TV show inspired a local newspaper editor to name the creature ?Mothman.?
John Keel speculated that the sightings might point to an alien visitation. His book describes UFO reports, alleged poltergeist activities, Men-in-Black harassments, unexplained animal mutilations, and other strange activities. ?There were so many unusual occurrences in a short, 13-month burst,? says Loren Coleman. ?What?s amazing is, if you speak to the people today, their lives have changed. Some changed jobs. Some moved. Some got divorced. Whatever happened to these people, they were terrified.?
The last time people in Point Pleasant saw the Mothman was when the Silver Bridge collapsed on Dec. 15, 1967, killing 46 people. Some even say the strange creature gave a rodent-like squeal to warn of the disaster.
Austin says, ?We?re the home of Mothman, and we?re proud.?
To see a drawing of Mothman by one of the witnesses and read a description of the Dreamland show, click here.
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