As a folklorist and educator, Hathaway notes the disconnect between the stereotypes and the cultural significance of stories like Mothman. I think the Mothman story is timeless, Wamsley says. No subscription required. The cryptid comeback not only brings exciting mysteries into the lives of outsiders but promotes pride of place to the residents of towns like Point Pleasant. Also likes boobs and booze. [22] The Washington Post's Stephen Hunter dismissed it as "all buzz: It's camerawork on the verge of a meltdown and weird music in search of a composer", and joked seeing it "is like getting mugged in an alley by an especially thuggish crew of Method actors". Others blame him for a deadly bridge collapse. He nearly burned up in flames the Fresnel lens furnace when removing it from the van below the noonday sun. The Mothman Legacy is the direct sequel to 2017's highly regarded, The Mothman of Point Pleasant. By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and The site's consensus simply labels it "A creepy thriller that poses more questions than it answers". A markedly denser crowd than usual Soon after, John receives a mysterious letter that instructs him to await a call from his deceased wife Mary back in Georgetown on Christmas Eve at noon. [2][3], The creature was introduced to a wider audience by Gray Barker in 1970,[4][5] and was later popularized by John Keel in his 1975 book The Mothman Prophecies,[6] claiming that there were supernatural events related to the sightings, and a connection to the collapse of the Silver Bridge. The documentary takes a chronological approach which really takes the viewer back to the beginning. See production, box office & company info, Self - Executive Director, Mason County Tourism, This really is a crypto creature masterpiece that explores the series of odd events. But, as he laughed at Marc, they changed to the eyes of the BEC. Celebrating some history and the fun side of spooky, the Mothman Festival returns to Point Pleasant this weekend. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Before this, he won first prize in the Puerto Rico National Science Fair with a project in solar energy. In West Virginia folklore, the Mothman is a humanoid creature reportedly seen in the Point Pleasant area from November15, 1966, to December15, 1967. And as those same kids grow into moody adolescents, and then to young adults, seasoned humans, and slope into elder storytellers themselves, legends like Mothman, told in the authentic Appalachian drawl, serve as sources of identity, memory, and place. But Bandits story would never have surfaced without the frightening tale of the Scarberrys close encounter. "The Mothman Prophecies" claims to be based on a true story, which sent me racing to the Web for a little research. [4] The film was initially scheduled to premiere at the Mothman Festival in Point Pleasant on September 18, 2020, but the event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Let us us turn, now, to a man named John Quincy St. Clair. [5] The film was made available for streaming on Vimeo, Amazon Prime Video, and iTunes on June 2, 2017. From 1966 to 1967 the small town of point pleasant, west Virginia was anything but pleasant. And since the Mothman presumably still exists, how does the happy ending after the bridge collapse really settle the story? The Mothman Museum is open seven days a week. The bridge comes apart, and as it collapses, Officer Mills' car falls into the water. "[21] The New York Times critic Elvis Mitchell judged it "hushed and smooth" but "little more than an adequate shard of winter-doldrums genre fare". Writer Paul Meehan judged the film's explanation of the Mothman to be a "confused mish-mosh of science fiction and demonology" and likened it to the television series The X-Files, though preserving Keel's "breathless hysteria. Marie carefully crept silently to the door and looked through the spy-hole, her breathing already slightly labored. Kim Stryker, who teaches folklore at George Mason University, reckons this supernatural interest springs up in society when a distraction is needed. [10] Road montages were filmed on Pennsylvania Route 28, and the Chicago scenes are completely shot in downtown Pittsburghs Mellon Square and Trinity Churchyard environs as well as the entrance to the Duquesne Club. On Christmas Eve, Officer Mills calls John to convince him to ignore the phone call from "Mary," return to Point Pleasant, and join her and her family for Christmas Eve dinner. A 12-foot-tall stainless steel sculpture of Mothman was unveiled. In November of 1966 a car full of kids encountered a creature unlike anything they'd ever seen before. It is grey in color with red "glowing" eyes. The MOTHMAN is the scariest creature to ever haunt the United States. Join MU Plus+ and get exclusive shows and extensions & much more! In the weeks and months to follow, the monster (now known as The Mothman) was sighted again and again on country roads and around the state of West Virginia. "[3][20], Folklorist Jan Harold Brunvand notes that Mothman has been widely covered in the popular press, some claiming sightings connected with UFOs, and others claiming that a military storage site was Mothman's "home". The motion picture's claim at the end credits of the collapse of the Silver Bridge never being explained is false; the incident was found to be caused by the failure of an eye-bar in a suspension chain in 1971, well before the publication of the book on which the film is based, let alone the film. [25] Point Pleasant, West Virginia is - beyond any shadow of doubt - noted most of all for its wave of sightings of the infamous Mothman, between 1966 and 1967. The Mothman On Nov. 15, 1966, in the small town of Point Pleasant, West Virginia, two married couples fled a World War II munitions dump site dubbed the "TNT area" claiming they'd seen a. About the time the Mothman sightings were being reported in such high volumes (beginning in 1966 in Point Pleasant, West Virginia), also being reported - and as sorted through and cataloged by paranormal researcher John Keel in his book the Mothman Prophecies - were mysterious energy fields, glowing orbs, weird animal behaviors/disappearances technology failures, loss of time, and the . [8], On November 15, 1966, two young couples from Point PleasantRoger and Linda Scarberry, and Steve and Mary Mallettetold police they had seen a large white creature whose eyes "glowed red", standing at the side of the road near "the TNT area", the site of a former World WarII munitions plant. Remove Ads Remove Ads Cryptozoology Extraordinary Place Festivals Haunted Mothman Point Pleasant Soon after the area befell flooding and other natural disasters making the locals believe that he did indeed place a curse on the land only to be disproven by a manuscript found belonging to a play about Cornstalk. Coming Soon. The documentary sheds light on several moments of the Mothman encounters that most may have not been familiar with. Many people, including several teachers in my elementary school, claimed that there was a werewolf that would hunt the camping grounds in Sandy Huff Hollow prompting the owners to close it every full moon. Had it not been for the pandemic in 2020, Wamsley estimates that Point Pleasant would have again welcomed crowds totaling over 15,000, a staggering influx for a town with fewer than 5,000 residents. Rather, they were the pale, gaunt, non-human types. The first Mothman sighting happened on November 12, 1966, when two cemetery workers digging a grave saw what they described as "a brown . Ive seen several documentaries and a few movies based around the Mothman and most have several things in common. [7], An annual festival in Point Pleasant is devoted to the Mothman legend. Based on the 1975 book of the same name by parapsychologist and Fortean author John Keel, the screenplay was written by Richard Hatem. Roger and Linda Scarberry and Steve and Mary Mallette were driving together on State Route 62 near the abandoned National Guard Armory building and power plant when they saw a menacing figure standing six to seven feet tall. Rotten Tomatoes, home of the Tomatometer, is the most trusted measurement of quality for Movies & TV. 0 by 4 people. We publish stories about music, food, craft, language, celebrations, activism, and the individuals and communities who sustain these traditions. On the other side of the coin, I would have loved to hear from some of the locals that are skeptical of the Mothman, men in black, and UFOs. But the legend really took off on November 15, 1966. In November of 1966 a car full of kids encountered a creature unlike anything they'd ever seen before. Yet, I cannot deny that I was a little apprehensive when I first heard about the new Netflix original movie, We Have a Ghost, in which a teenager and his family's lives are turned upside down . This nonfiction record of the odd occurrences, and the subsequent 2002 film which starred Richard Gere, would launch Mothman and the West Virginia town onto the national stage. Brunvand found elements in common among many Mothman reports and much older folk tales, suggesting that something real may have triggered the scares and became woven with existing folklore. The newspapers called it Mothman, and there were over 100 sightings of it during the next year. Release Date 2017 To answer those questions we have to go back to the dark night of November 12, 1966, when five grave-diggers working in a cemetery in the nearby town of Clendenin were shocked to see what they described as a brown human shape with wings rise out of the thick, surrounding trees and soar off into the distance. Genre: Documentary Original Language: English Director: Matthew J.. The most fascinating part of this story is that only hours later, Marc saw a huge Mothman-type creature flying above him, maybe around 200 feet high. Stars Dana Newkirk Greg Newkirk Karl Pfeiffer See production, box office & company info Watch on Prime Video S1-2 included with Prime More watch options West Virginia, 1966. ", "People Keep Seeing the Mothman in Chicago", "Legend of the Mothman" plaque on the base of the statue, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mothman&oldid=1141792366, This page was last edited on 26 February 2023, at 20:49. Mothman finds his way onto T-shirts, local caf cookies, and Etsy shops. Intriguing, to say the least. The film claims to be based on actual events that occurred between November 1966 and December 1967 in Point Pleasant, as described by Keel. The film ends with a claim that the cause of the bridge collapse was never fully determined, and that although Mothman has been sighted in other parts of the world, it was never seen again in Point Pleasant. Please click the link below to receive your verification email. Sep 17, 2022. Well never know if this was the true birth of Mothmans storytwo glowing circles may not a Mothman make. There can be few people reading this who have not at least heard of the legendary Mothman of Point Pleasant, West Virginia, who so terrorized the town and the surrounding area between November 1966 and December 1967, and whose diabolical exploits were chronicled in the 2002 hit Hollywood movie starring Richard Gere: The Mothman Prophecies, so named after the book of the same title written by Mothman authority John Keel. [6] The Mothman Legacy explores alleged sightings of the Mothman dating from the 1960s to 2019,[7] featuring interviews with purported witnesses from elsewhere in West Virginia beyond the Point Pleasant area, as well as Kentucky and the greater Appalachian region. The film is narrated by Lyle Blackburn and written, produced and directed by Seth Breedlove. The story of this strange season in Point Pleasant was chronicled by journalist John A. The day before Mothman stretched his leathery wings above the couples car, its possible he made a stop at Newell Partridges home in Salem, West Virginia. [20][10] Benjamin Radford points out that the only report of glowing "red eyes," was secondhand, that of Shirley Hensley quoting her father. cinema. [2] Wildlife biologist Robert L. Smith at West Virginia University told reporters that descriptions and sightings all fit the sandhill crane, a large American crane almost as tall as a man with a seven-foot wingspan featuring circles of reddish coloring around the eyes. What is the English language plot outline for The Mothman of Point Pleasant (2017)? and the Rotten Tomatoes reported that 53% of 137 sampled critics gave the film a positive . While the villain Killer Moth did not appear in the show, the comic book influence of both him and Batman is believed by some to have influenced the coinage of the name Mothman in the local newspapers. [13][14], Following the December 15, 1967 collapse of the Silver Bridge and the death of 46 people,[15] the incident gave rise to the legend and connected the Mothman sightings to the bridge collapse. Coming Soon. Still shaken by the death of his wife two years earlier from Glioblastoma, Klein is sent to cover a news piece and ends up inexplicably finding himself in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, where there have been sightings of an unusual creature and other unexplained phenomena. she asks, and before she dies, she draws a picture of a mothlike creature she saw flattened against the windshield. Also likes boobs and booze. [3], In contrast to Meehan, author Jason Horsley declared The Mothman Prophecies "probably the most effective depiction of demonic forces at work" in U.S. But, what aboutthe other monsters of Point Pleasant? And true or not, one can unearth rich meanings in cryptids that tempt us to tell their tales. Shortly after the cemetery incident, residents of Point Pleasant, West Virginia-a few miles west of Clendenin-claim they saw the monster while driving at night. John A. This was no normal boy, however: it was one of the dreaded Black-Eyed Children pale-skinned, black-hoody-wearing kids who are noted for their completely black eyes. - [currently $167 (2%) of $7,000 goal] Hearing the bolts and supports of the bridge strain, John realizes that the prophesied tragedy on the Ohio River was about the bridge, not the power plant. While John keeps Cold on the line, Officer Mills checks on Gordon. Support the Folklife Festival, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, Cultural Vitality Program, educational outreach, and more. The owner, Gordon Smallwood, reacts violently to John's appearance and holds him at gunpoint. [17], Among mainstream critics in the U.S., the film received mixed reviews. So, what we have here is a creature that is described as variously having a grey color, a brown color, and bright, colored feathers. with updates on movies, TV shows, Rotten Tomatoes podcast and more. point pleasant: a most unusual place West Virginia is a place of contest and struggle in the geographical imaginations of many people. Getty Images In the months that followed, as legend has it, the Mothman continued to terrorize residents. Two things immediately struck Marie and filled her with fear: their skin was as white as a sheet of paper. And while a down-to-earth explanation most certainly circulated namely, that a fatal flaw in a single eye-bar in a suspension chain was the chief culprit many saw, and still continue to see to this very day, the cause as being directly linked with the ominous and brooding presence of the accursed Mothman. So lower the lights, turn up the audio and get lost in this mystery. That wasnt a good sign: Marie put the chain on the door and then opened it the couple of inches that the chain would allow. Subscribe Today! As all this shows, Mothman wasn't the only thing that was on the rampage from the 1960s onward. Furthermore: Gere is 53. According to Marc, who reached me by Facebook in April 2015, the boy in black appeared out of nowhere, laughed in an odd, hair-raising fashion, and then suddenly vanished into nothingness. That makes Connie the "number 37" from her dream. In 2016, WCHS-TV published a photo purported to be of Mothman taken by an anonymous man while driving on Route2 in Mason County. He also runs The Mothman Museum and founded the Mothman Festival. [9][10][11] Linda Scarberry described it as a "slender, muscular man" about seven feet tall with white wings, and said that she was unable to discern its face due to the hypnotic effect of its eyes. But, John was absolutely sure that all of the various, mysterious things coming into our world were demonic. Partridge says he looked for Bandit, but found nothing but paw prints going in circles and then vanishing. The date was May 23, 2015. Something". Notably, the Child in Black turned up just a few hours after Marc encountered a small, glowing, ball of light over his tent, at a height of around eighty or ninety feet. The sightings came to an abrupt and suspicious end after the bridge that connected Point Pleasant to Ohio collapsed, killing forty-six people. Roger, the cars driver, sped away toward town. The Mothman of Point Pleasant was followed by a sequel, The Mothman Legacy, in 2020. Though he was just six years old when Mothman bewildered the people of Point Pleasant the first time, Wamsley released two books on the subject through Mothman Press: Mothman: Facts behind the Legend in 2001 and Mothman: Behind the Red Eyes in 2005. [4], The Mothman of Point Pleasant screened at the Lowe Hotel in Point Pleasant on May 27, 2017. Its never been fully solved or proven as to what these people were seeing. As he becomes increasingly drawn into mysterious forces at work, he hopes they can reconnect him to his wife, while the local sheriff (Linney) becomes concerned about his obsessions. With Jewel Staite, Connor Fox, Susie Abromeit, Michael Aills. [5], Carl Franklin was originally attached to direct Richard Hatem's spec script before Mark Pellington was hired. If there's one thing you demand in a real-estate agent, it's the good judgment to leave a closet door closed when he hears the unmistakable sounds of coitus coming from behind it. Cinemark By opting to have your ticket verified for this movie, you are allowing us to check the email address associated with your Rotten Tomatoes account against an email address associated with a Fandango ticket purchase for the same movie. 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