Everything you needed to know about mothman but were too afraid to ask!

Being somewhat knowledgeable on the subject, I have decided to compile a compendium on the mothman experience to help those who are unfamiliar with the story/and or concepts contained therein.

In many ways this thread was born out of my frustration spending many hours correcting people in every mothman thread that arises….not so because of ignorance or stupidity on behalf of the original poster…more so because I think in many ways the movie really took people down the wrong path.

The first place to start, would be to put mothman in context of the original research.

The book ‘The Mothman Prophecies’ is a UFO text, written by a renowned Ufologist; John Keel. In his previous work Operation Trojan Horse, he was attempting to use collected data throughout history to find a pattern that could be unite the paranormal in a unified theory; much like Einstein’s quest to find a unified theory to bridge the gap between Gravity and Quantum mechanics. Similarly he noted that in the field of the ‘paranormal’ several camps existed…

UFO enthusiasts focussed on anything that would lead them to an Extra-terrestrial answer, Ghost hunters were taught to believe that black shadows and psychics were sign-posters of a spirit world, and Cryptozoologists were busy trying to find links to seemingly ethereal creatures in terrestrial pursuits.

Patrick Harpur Wrote:



To summarise how Keel felt about the different camps I will use an analogy:

A blind man arrives into New York from Bulgaria with his young son, and having heard of the wonder of the New York cityscape he asks his son to describe it to him. “Well father”, the son says “the New York skyline is tall, has lots of windows, and has a large spire on top”.

Of course, the son is describing a single building; of course we know that the description of a single building does not fit over the entire cityscape of New York city.

Keel believed that Ufologists were so busy searching for evidence of Extra-terrestrial spacecraft that a lot of evidence that pointed them in another direction was completely overlooked, similarly with the other two camps. Keels analysis of NICAP was scathing, particularly the mindframe; individuals who thought themselves urban heroes of truth who tore into UFO investigations with very little to guide them apart from their own sense of self satisfaction.

“Aliens are real, and I am going to prove it any way I can”.

Of course if we examine a true to life experiment, a researcher or scientist must remain impartial to their findings and NOT have their mind made up already before they even begin. Evidence, for this very reason can sometimes be tailored to suit the researcher’s pre-conception and is not always an accurate description of the truth.

Back to Mothman.

Come 1966 West Virginia and the Ohio Valley is in the grip of a UFO flap that is drawing many researchers and Ufologists from right around the United States. It wasn’t until November 15 of that year that the first Mothman sighting was made by Mr. and Mrs. Roger Scarberry and Mr. and Mrs. Steve Mallette, who were driving through the local TNT area looking for friends.

From the book:



The original building can be found here:

http://www.mothmanmuseum.com/MothmanLives/...dedonation.html

Over the next 12 months there would be 100 sightings of the creature, but Keel was far more fascinated by the link between the witnesses and the strange events that soon followed.

Connie Carpenter, an important Mothman Witness was almost abducted by three men dressed in Black who tried to pull her into their car. She was so traumatised by the events she locked herself away for a considerable time. Soon letters written in childish scribble would be left at her front door telling her to ‘Keep Quiet’ or they will ‘Get you girl’.



Sometimes mothman appeared to the same individual twice:

Connie Carpenter and Shelia Cain would both see it twice.

Mr & Mrs Scarberry (the original Mothman sighting) were plagued for months afterwards by mysterious circumstances:



The same men who tried to abduct Connie Carpenter were also seen by Mr Scarberry:



Many witnesses were also plagued by Phantom Photographers; individuals who loiter around witnesses houses, snap a photograph, and quickly run off into the ether. The Scarberry’s fell victim to such people.

MOTHMAN AND UFOs

Mothman was just one strange aspect in a myriad of unexplained occurrences that plagued the east coast of the United States in 1966 – 1967. Hence, Mothman’s arrival in November ‘66 was far from a sign-post for the strangeness that was going on in Point Pleasant. Mary Hyre (Editor of the local Newspaper across the river in Ohio) was being swamped by UFO reports, some of them daily.



In fact, West Virginia in general had been for the past few decades beforehand quite active, the Flatwoods Monster and Braxton Monster followed a massive UFO flap in 1952.

Keel in the Mothman Prophecies book, delved into the strange world of the UFO witness.

Witnesses to the Mount Misery UFO flap were being harassed in their homes by mysterious Census takers probing them deeply about the number of children in the family, and particularly dietary concerns.

Edward Christiansen and his family of seven were driving along the Garden State parkway when they observed a Green, white and red object plummet from the sky directly in front of them. Thinking they had just witnessed a plane crash they pulled over to the side of the road and watched awe-struck as a sphere came up above the treeline and passed directly over their heads. For several months afterwards, their house was plagued with the same electronic beeping that troubled the Scarberry’s, mysterious photographers were taking their pictures, and a strange man visited their home to ask the family some questions about their personal lives.



Tiny would make another appearance at a Diner in New Jersey before completely disappearing into the ether.

Keel was quick to draw the distinction between these visitors, and those associated with the Mothman witnesses.

Back in the Ohio Valley, the Kelly family were being plagued nightly by a number of UFO’s that would pass through the Valley at the back of their property.



As you can see, Mothman was simply ONE of the strange occurrences taking place in Point Pleasant and the Ohio Valley during the 1966 – 1967 period.

Compared to the thousands of UFO sightings reported to the media and the authorities, Mothman’s 100 sightings paled in comparison.

INDRID COLD

The movie paints Indrid Cold to be a very different individual to the one that befriended Woodrow Derenberger in November 1966. Colds appearance came three weeks before the first mothman sighting, but was very late considering the number of UFO reports in the region over 12 months beforehand.

The movie seems to paint Cold as an ethereal entity that seemingly is the Mothman itself. However the real (supposedly of course) Indrid Cold first identified himself to Woodrow as an extra-terrestrial entity from the planet Lanulos. His opening line has become something of a legend in the Mothman community:



Cold’s contact with Woody would escalate over the coming months, until eventually Cold took Derenberger on a grand tour of the Planet Lanulos, that Woody described as a place similar to Earth where the inhabitants walked around naked.

Derenberger would go on to write a book called “Visitors from lanulos”….a book that I have been desperately been trying to get a copy of. I recently saw a first edition copy on sale for over $1600.

Eventually, like all high profile UFO contactees, Derenberger would eventually divorce his wife, move away to escape ridicule, and become completely obsessed with his encounters for the rest of his life.

Keels interpretation of Cold was surreal, and labelled the alien visitor as nothing more than a participant in a cosmic game being played by these ‘non people’. Derenberger fell for it, much the same way ‘Tiny’ confused the Christiansen family, and much like the phantom photographers and MIB agents plagued Connie Carpenter and the Scarberry family for no apparent reason.

These ‘non people’ would go on with their games right up until December 1967 when it all came to a dramatic conclusion:

THE PROPHECY

Many people get confused and label Mothmans appearance as an ‘omen of doom’, however even Keel himself insists that it may very well be coincidence. The ‘prophecy’ didn’t come from the appearance of a red-eyed Cryptid, but from a group of UFO contactees with whom Keel kept in constant contact.

These contactees would supposedly predict the assassination of Robert Kennedy, and on the 26th July 1967 messages from entities who called themselves Apol and Ashtar predicted the end of the world after the Popes assassination.

The prophecies continued right up until several of the contactees passed on to Keel information about a large Electro-magnetic discharge that would affect the Entire eastern United States:



Of course we would come to know that on December 15 1967 the Silver Bridge would collapse in Point Pleasant West Virginia.

Keel notes in the book:



Mothman sightings continued in Point Pleasant for a few months afterwards and all of the sightings of Mothman on the bridge at the time of the collapse were completely unsubstantiated.

I hope this thread has enlightened some individuals on the subject a lot more. I will post more information as more comes to hand.

Thoughts, Discussions anyone?

Amazing post dude personally I don,t really know id need to see alot more hard evidence to fuly believe

Some say Mothman was seen crashing into the Point Pleasent Bridge as it collapsed, presumably taking his own life to have one final kill.

(I hugely doubt it, the reason the bridge collapsed isn'y even a mystery)

'Some' say? who are these 'some'? I have heard some rubbish in the mothman community but that theory is the worst of them all...

The idea that Mothman is linked to the Silver Bridge collapse is born purely out of pop culture.

No witnesses came forward at the time of the collapse to say they had seen Mothman on the bridge. Quite famously, it was Pin # 13 in the bridges support structure that gave way and caused the bridge to collapse due to the stress of the old bridge. Also note that the bridge was packed at Rush Hour when it collapsed, a bridge full of cars causes amazing stress on the structure that was not designed to handle so much traffic.

Another rumour to dispell is that the Mothman witnesses perished in the fatal bridge collapse, in fact no major witnesses were killed at all.

By some I was refering to those who chose to believe the urban legend, as it is quite popular, and Karl P.N Shuker, Jon Herg and Robyn Jenken who state the theory in their books, The Unexplained, Mysteries of America, and Mysteries respectively.

I stated in my first post that I did not at all believe the idiotic idea.

Mothman did not cause the collapse, because he did not exist. Anyone who thinks so lacks basic common sense. The reports in the OP can easily be acounted for as exageration, hysteria, and outright lies based upon misidentifications amongst other things. No hard evidence has ever been produced to support Mothmans existence bar sensational stories.

Beautiful OP Syntax. Almost brought a tear to my eye.

Ever since that ridiculous movie came out Mothman has become my arch nemesis of sorts (a long story that I've posted several times on UM).

Well done.

That movie was SO bad. I spent months with my Physciatrist trying to erase it from my mind.

Kudos Syntax.

Great opening post. As a Mothman enthusiast, I too disliked the movie for its inaccurate portrayal of the events. I told my husband if they would have made a move based solely on the witness reports it would have been far more riveting and scary a movie.

If you would like, I'll add a link to this thread of the TNT mounds that I visited last year.
Ironically, I was talking about the Mothman the other day and thinking of getting the book out to reread. LOL!

Regards,
Mabon.

well that is very true, however much could be said for any paranormal experience, or even the existence of god for that matter.

Keels point was to outline not the mundane-ness of sightings (like many of the reports in this forum), but the strangeness of them all. Reading Loren Coleman's take on the Mothman affair in Mothman and other curious encounters, several more sghtings that Keel left out of the original begin to pop up....many of which were substantiated by the local sherrifs. You see, the Bond between all of the events lay in the witness and not the sighting.

Keel and Coleman oddly noted that many of the witnesses shared the same name, and UFO witnesses in New York shared similar bloodlines to those in Point Pleasant, and even the place names themselves seem more than coincidences.

Upon reading about bigfoot sightings in Mill Point W.VA, I noted the area is closeby Point Pleasant W.Va; my mind was blown even more when I soon discovered that strange lizardmen sightings had occured in a place no more than 30 miles away called Charles Mill Lake.

Keel notes:



Of course my point to all of this is to make people understand that the mystery was not in the sighting, that as you say "can easily be acounted for as exageration, hysteria, and outright lies based upon misidentifications amongst other things"; the details of the witnesses were glossed over.

I firmly believe that Mothman was not a tangible form of flesh and blood creature, but simply a bi-product of something greater that has been playing out in the Ohio Valley area for over 100 years. Loren Coleman has found reported cases of winged creature sightings that date back to pre WWI.

To paraphrase somebody else:

"To solve the mystery and find the answer we need to look beyond the tangible, and open our minds to a new form of scientific undertaking that is currently beyond our capability"

that would be awesome if you could.

If you like, I have a PDF version of the book that I can email to you...or anyone else reading this for that matter. PM me an email address if you like.

Sir, that has done nothing but totally convince me that Mothman is little but urban legend, substaniated only by less than educated hicks.

A bi product of an ancient force in Ohio? Peh-leaze.

Uneducated Hicks? this is 1967 Vietnam war era mainstreet urban America....

[sarcasm] but your absolutely right, people who don't live in big ol' fancy city's have little comprehension of the modern world and all have an IQ of 56 [/sarcasm]

All that has done is totally convince me that you have little understanding about anything outside of an inner city block, and consider anyone not living in 'the big smoke' to sit around all day playing banjoes and sucking on hay seeds...

wouldn't that suggest that you are the uneducated one?

and "ancient force"? that is your labelling not mine.

It's actually considered to be far more scientific, now being substantiated by the accepted unification theory of String theory.

String theory tells us that particles on a sub-atomic level can change their vibration variable and possibly cross realities....of course the force that bonds the nucleus of all cells together is a mixture of atoms and electro-magnetism.

Keel, Vallee and others noted that in 'window' areas (where paranormal phenomenon keeps occuring) it is possible that the geographical features can act as wells that pool magnetic interference. In these well areas, it is therefore possible that what we are seeing are not physical embodiments of ghouls, goblins and monsters, but perhaps a cross over point where realities are blended. Who knows what side effects that could have to human eyes...it could cause people to see things that are not really there, strange glowing orbs could suddenly appear in front of their eyes etc etc.

The point is, the sightings were real, they were made by intelligent everyday people who lived in urban America. However what it was that they saw might not be a tanglible object...

"Ancient force"...peh-leaze

No problem here is the link http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum...p;#entry1643688

I really do want to go back and take more photos.

Keel's book all of them are very interesting. The fact that he went there to debunk what was going on and then found himself drawn into a strange events that he couldn't explain away, speaks volumes to me.
His earlier work Jadoo, is also (IMHO) very good.




Undeadskeptic. An ancient force could be EMF. Natural and not outlandish. Perceived differently now as scientific understanding expands.

I am a native West Virginian. Even in the late 1960's there were colleges and universities here and modern conveniences, had been for some time. To get to the bottom of the events that took place is to look at the area. Most people that reported the Mothman sighting were honest people who received public ridicule for doing so. To my knowledge not one of them became rich or famous from relating the event they witnessed beyond the small (at the time) UFO community.

To head off at the pass that they did it for money.
Point Pleasant only recently and privately opened a museum about the incident. Point Pleasant does have a Mothman Festival, some forty years after the event. So if it was a get rich quick scheme then they were willing to wait a long time to reap sporadic results.

And the incidents of UFOs were not restricted to Point Pleasant. Nor did they completely subside with the collapse of the Silver Bridge.
So please, do not refer to West Virginians as hicks. We may be simple people but we are not simple minded.

Regards,
Mabon.

First off, I apologise for two things.

1. I misused the word ancient. You said that it had been present in the area for hundreds of years, which I interperated as ancient.

2. I am extremely prejudiced against Hicks/Rednecks/Yanks/Hillbillies, so my comment was also prejudiced and so I say sorry for that.

(By the way, I don't live in the big city)

In the States, that would qualify you as a hick.

What?! Nooooo!!!

*Gunshot sounds*

No it's all good, no real offense was taken.

I just figured somebody else might very well get upset.

Thanks mate.

I believe the Mothman is an Ultradimensional entity. I believe he is real because I talked first-hand with someone who, along with his sister, had seen the Mothman when they were children in Germany.

the Ultra-terrestrial theory is definitely picking up speed among ufologists and cryptozoologists, i'm currently compiling a list of Cryptid sightings that are truly bizzare...one theme flows through them all: The witnesses truly believe they say what they saw (in some cases witnesses were given polygraph tests and passed), however the entities themselves seemingly disappear into thin air. it may very well be the reason why Bigfoot is so elusive.

Another thing to note, is that in the case of the Braxton monster (seen several nights after the famous encounter in Flatwoods W.Va) the witness described it as being 6 -7 feet tall, muscular and covered from head to toe in thick hair. The witness sped up, hit the creature with his car, subsequently leaving a 'V' burned into the grill of his car (something that as you notice made it into the Mothman movie). The creature disappeared into thin air and apart from upturned stones found by authorities the next morning, left no evidence that it had existed at all.

The description certainly fits 'bigfoot', however it does not fit into the terrestrial 'cryptid' category that it is thought to fit into.

It makes me wonder how many Bigfoot cases have been mis-identified. Some of the sightings are truly bizzare.

In Portals of Sedona, a family chronicle ethereal sightings of 'bigfoots' that haunt their stud ranch in Sedona - Arizona. They would leave buckets of fruit out for the creature that often left tracks in the sand in front of the house. Patrick Harpur wrote something similar in Daimonic Reality; he chronicled the tale of a rural Virginian family that we plauged by a mysterious hairy shadow that would bang on the walls of the farmhouse in the early evenings. The banging would cease on nights that food was left outside, although if the food was moved to a different location the banging would commence once more.

Thank You! Undeadskeptic!
I truly appreciate that!


Regards,
Mabon.

Gravity is an ancient force...
They are out there-ancient forces that is.

The concept of the tulpa was touched on in the first few chapters of Mothman Prophecies and then not really brought up again that I remember (been a while).
Personally I think that the word and concept of tulpa is the best way to describe most cryptid/paranormal/ufo activity.

We see what we want or need to see.

id find it funny if mothman died in the bridge collapse. since he dissapeared after that one would think.


i still say ninja with goggles and a fancy cape. dressing to confuse prevents people from iding your human attributes. the witness will focus on eyes[goggles] and wings[cape]
why there hmm sleeper agent getting practice [test the costume]

Man. Paranormal State would tear this up! Oh Wait! They did! LOL.

You're welcome?

As previously stated, there were Mothman and UAP sightings in Point Pleasant after the bridge collapse. There is no correlation between Mothman and the collapse of the Silver Bridge. This was born out of the pop culture that followed in wake of the disaster. What many people don't realise is that Point Pleasant was front page news before and after the event; it was the public who merged the concepts of Mothman and bridge collapse together.



Paranormal State (like all of their investigations) go into the field with a pre-conceived hypothesis that they try to measure their investigation against. Of course they tore it to shreds, primarily because their pre-conceived notion of the Mothman was that it was:

1) A Flesh and blood creature that could be tracked down
2) Some sort of 'Omen of Doom' sent here to warn us of impending disaster

The investigation itself focussed around aspects of the case that came from the movie. As previously stated, the movie is based loosely on real events; The mothman prophecies belongs in the annals UFO lore. Of course a group of researchers who are previously attuned to spotting ghosts will miss the point entirely; they are simply doing what every other researcher was doing when they came to Point Pleasant in 1967 and overlooking the evidence as a whole, picking the best bits of pieces they want to investigate. They missed the point entirely, and got their basis of research from the pop culture that surrounds the case. From what I recall, no mention at all was made of the strange individuals who arrived in the town harassing witnesses, no mention was made of Indrid Cold, and certainly no mention was made on the massive amount of the national media coverage the town wsa getting at the time.

Thanks Syntax for the great OP.....

Actually, while researching the Mothman sightings online, I happened upon UM so 'he' has an extra soft spot in my heart.....

OK, ive got to force myself again.. I need a good laugh tonight--

Mothman deserves a place in every crypto-lovers heart. :wuv:

Syntax: May I please use your OP on my website for my 'Mothman' page? You will, of course by totally credited.

of course. That would be great, thank you.

Of course the original quotes will need to be referenced to. They all came from a first edition copy of 'The Mothman Prophecies' by John Keel.

If anyone else would like a PDF copy of the book, feel free to PM me an email address.

Thank you, thats very kind of you.

I took it as an apology, so I was saying thank you!

Regards,
Mabon.

I dragged this thread from out of the depths for the mothman enthusiasts...

I recently was able to get my hands on a copy of "Mothman: The facts behind the legend" and was pleasantly surprised to find it was full to the brim of primary evidence, including hand written affidavits of the original mothman witnesses, and hundreds of press clippings of previously unreported sightings.

Of course I was expecting a lengthy read, but it took me only a few hours to get through it all. I highly recommend it.

I'll need a new book to read on the train to work, ASAP!!

Syntax, I'm working on a short story based somewhat on the Mothman incidents set in Pleasentville. When I finsih would you like me to send it to you? If you're real eager (Which I doubt lol ) I could send you what I've done thus far.

I'de love to read it when you are finished.

That's very kind of you.

Okey Dokey than.

Thanks Kindness is a virtue!

did'nt/is'nt there a picture of mothman in the new york area during the 911 terror attacks????

disputed over, and was a forgery.

Quite clearly.

As mentioned before in one of the many posts on that photo, Mothman is not an omen of doom. The collapse of the Silver Bridge and Mothman's appearance may very well have been pure coincidence. Considering a UFO wave was active in Point Pleasant for over 20 months beforehand, and also considering that there were thousands of UFO sightings compared to Mothman's meager 100 sightings, we could deduce that there were different forces at play surrounding the collapse of the Silver Bridge. Also take into account that more Mothman sightings took place after the event.

but again, we can only hypothesise that. It was Pin #13 in one of the bridge's I-Bar support structures that eventually gave way due to the excessive Christmas traffic on the night in question. On further testing they revealed that the I-bar had been cast incorrectly, and was faulty from the day it was forged.

Mothman flying around the streets of New York was clearly someone making a story out of the events of the movie. Anyone who knows the books written by both John Keel (The Mothman Prophecies) and Gray Barker (The Silver Bridge) will know that the prophecy of the bridge collapse came from a group of UFO contactees that Keel kept in constant contact with.

Update:

It's amazing what 30 years will do to you. I recently got my hands on a very rare interview with Linda Scarberry(she has never given a full length official interview before - she only ever trusted John Keel apparently) which was conducted sometime around 2001. It appears there were a lot of details that Keel left out of her reports.

It seems she may have been witness to the Mothman phenomenon the night before her first reported encounter. She remembered a 'flapping of heavy wings' over her and her husband's home the evening before on November 14 (Coincidentally my Birthday) and went outside to see a large figure gliding off upwards against the moonlit sky.

Several weeks after her and Roger Scarberry's encounter we know that Poltergeist phenomenon took hold in the household, forcing them to flee to live with her mother and father (The McDaniel's - who would also become witnesses - Mrs McDaniels would see the creature over Tiny's Diner). What wasn't told was the strange ethereal presence that revolved around her baby daughter. All of the mother's who were witnesses kept in close contact with each other, and each reported that strange poltergeist phenomenon revolved around their children.

It all came to a climax when Mrs Scarberry was awoken one night to find a man smoking a cigarette and wearing a checkered shirt standing over her daughters crib. Within a few moments the mysterious intruder disappeared into the ether. Interestingly Connie Christiansen (no relation to Connie Carpenter) after her sighting of a UFO in New Jersey (outlined on page 1) also reported a man in a red checkered shirt who she once observed was standing over her bed.

On a similar note, I recently read of a Utah Policeman who was stopped by a 'monster wearing a red checked shirt' late one night on Highway Patrol sometime around 1974. Interestingly, the area in question runs close by the infamous 480 acre 'Skinwalker ranch' in the Utah Badlands.

To summarise, it appears Mrs Scarberry (not her current name - she doesn't want her new name on record) has become frazzled by the events, and seemed to take pity on the creature, that she believed was more 'curious' with our world than anything else.

The interview can be found in the resource material "Mothman: The facts behind the legend".

A very interesting spin on events, some 30 years after the fact.

Hello

I am entirly new to this site, and my entire life, it has been my fascination (albite a fear) to learn things of the unknown sort. Mothman has been my favorite. I find that creature, and whatever its intentions, fascinating. What is it? What does it want? Lonely lifeform attempting contact? Perhaps. Strange endangered predator that is attracted to humans like many other? Possibly. Alien? Unlikely, but not impossible. If anyone has actually pieced together an adequate theory of this creature...i would love to read it.

I totally agree with that way of thinking, Mothman seemingly is linked to a plethora of other paranormal phenomenon...

likewise for me, Mothman is Archimedes' Eureka moment that made me more aware of this type of reseach and the theories that Keel and Vallee have put forward.

As for a theory, I strongly suggest reading John Keel's 'Operation Trojan Horse'. A new edition is available on most websites and in good bookstores.

i can't imagine how a "moth's" wings could support the body of a human...

Do any of your 280 postings contain more than half a line?

whats wrong with questioning the biological attributes of a mothman. the human body isn't built in an aerodynamic way suited for flight. Perhaps it glides

the name didn't come from the physical description of the phenomenon...

one of the reporters who was writing about the case was a fan of the Batman TV series, and named the creature after a villian on the show.

i wish that movie would have never come out, they ruined the Mothman. amazing post

The Mothman movie is so bad that it is not amnongst the worst films ever.

It is amongst the worst things ever.

It cannot simply be confined to films, its badness is so phenomenal it must be place on the list of everything bad that has ever existed, only a few numbers down from Hitler.

I'm glad this topic has jumped up again, it's always fascinating to read over again and again. Kudos to you, Syntax =)

I really enjoyed the "Mothman Prophecies" movie as sheer entertainment, but that was about all I thought of it. (And Laura Linney is a hot mama, ain't she? )

It has been a good while since I've read it, but the "Mothman Prophecies" book was a horse of another color. Either author Keel was having a schizophrenic breakdown, or he, among others, was experiencing something outside of everyday mundane realities. It was hard for me to read the book without some skepticism because it forced me to ponder things outside my comfort zone of the conventional, the known, and the explicable. It was one of the most disturbing books that I have ever read.

Aw man, I had totally forgotten 'bout my Mothman short story. In it theres these old guys that bring their son back to life, seems to work well, happines blah blah blah, son becomes flesh hungry zombie insanity ensues.

I felt the same way when I read the first part of it. The only knowledge of Mothman I had was the interesting, but slightly pitiful movie.
Syntax sent me the on-line version and I had such a hard time reading it, because UFO's are not my thing and completely "outside my comfort zone". And I never could quite get a grasp of Keel.

But, then I read the story about the experience of the two men in Pascagoula Mississippi and it reminded me of something.
I grew up on the coast of Mississippi and in 1976 I was 9 years old. My mother and one of her husbands owned a little fish camp/bar on the back bay of Biloxi.
As kids we had free run of the place and all of the drunks loved us.

I remember this man coming in and after a drink or two and some prodding from the regulars, telling us about being abducted by aliens. Everyone listened to him and asked questions and such, and when he left they all laughed and said he was nuts. For me though, at 9 years old, his story was terrifying, but the looks of disbelief from the grown-ups and the derisive laughter after he was gone, made me think that he was just "off" in the head.
When I read the story mentioned in Keel's book it was the first time I'd thought about it in 30 years, so I looked it up and found this article. It was chilling to read. It's the exact same story that I heard, and after seeing the pictures of Hickson, I'm sure it was him.
Here's the article.
http://www.ufocasebook.com/parkerhickson.html

Now I know that doesn't make it true, but it did give me enough of a shock to go back and read the whole book again and look a little more closely at what some of the witnesses had to say.


Undeadskeptic,


I think Stephen King may have beaten you to it. But if you write it I'll read it, I love zombie insanity!