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mothman

Started by b_dubb, April 09, 2011, 11:01:08 PM

b_dubb

hey. i just finished watching "The Eyes of Mothman".  a documentary about ... TA DAHHH .... mothman.  actually, it was more of historical documentary about Point Pleasant, WV.  that touched on mothman.  and lots of other things that happened in and around Point Pleasant. it was surprisingly good and if you have ANY interest in mothman at all ... i think you'd find it interesting.  i actually drive through Point Pleasant two or three times a year when i go home to visit family in Ohio (i live in North Carolina) so it's especially interesting. 


i'd be interested to know what other CoastGabbers think of the mothman stories


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mothman

haloedorchid

The Mothman is another paranormal favorite of mine. I actually first heard of it from the movie, The Mothman Prophecies. I rewatched it a few weeks ago -- it's not that bad of a movie! Yeah, some if the details are off, but still. It got me interested.

I don't really have anything to add, but thanks for bringing the topic up. I may have to make a trip to Powell's for a used Mothman book. ;)

Bell2Gray

I heard one was spotted in Beaverton about 20 years ago...

sinaminika

We just watched this on Netflix (view it now) a couple weeks ago.  Pretty good documentary. Worth a watch. Might even watch it again.

haloedorchid

Quote from: Bell2Gray on April 15, 2011, 04:13:34 PM
I heard one was spotted in Beaverton about 20 years ago...
Do you have a link for that? I can't really find anything. I'm on the border of Beaverton and Hillsburrito.

Usagi

Quote from: haloedorchid on April 17, 2011, 11:19:47 AM
Hillsburrito.

Don't you mean Hellsburrito?  It was a surreal experience driving through there the first time on the way to Forest Grove.

West Virginia... Beaverton, OR?  What's with Mothman and his... interesting choices of locale? ;p

Scully

Quote from: b_dubb on April 09, 2011, 11:01:08 PM
hey. i just finished watching "The Eyes of Mothman".  a documentary about ... TA DAHHH .... mothman.  actually, it was more of historical documentary about Point Pleasant, WV.  that touched on mothman.  and lots of other things that happened in and around Point Pleasant. it was surprisingly good and if you have ANY interest in mothman at all ... i think you'd find it interesting.  i actually drive through Point Pleasant two or three times a year when i go home to visit family in Ohio (i live in North Carolina) so it's especially interesting. 


i'd be interested to know what other CoastGabbers think of the mothman stories

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mothman

I read John Keel's book when it first came out, and found it totally intriguing.  When the movie came out, I was disappointed that it wasn't more faithful to the book. 

I read the cited wikipedia link, and I don't know what to think about possible hoaxing.  I guess issues like this will always involve skeptics who deny the possibility that something is paranormal.  That's why I used to find C2C so compelling.  It kept me up to date on things that go bump in the night.  :(

b_dubb

i think it was a hoax or hysteria in the beginning.  then it just grew from their.  i drive through Pt Pleasant several times a year.  the town doesn't have much going for it.  so i say Mothman ... save Pt Pleasant

Scully

Quote from: b_dubb on April 20, 2011, 08:26:53 AM
i think it was a hoax or hysteria in the beginning.  then it just grew from their.  i drive through Pt Pleasant several times a year.  the town doesn't have much going for it.  so i say Mothman ... save Pt Pleasant

I've seen people on tv describing their encounters with the "creature," and they seemed very credible.  Granted, they weren't PhD-types, but it's hard to totally discount their assertions.

I want to believe, but you may well be right.  :(

haloedorchid

I just got the book The Mothman Prophecies, which I plan on starting tonight. I'm really interested in that Indrid Cold character -- hopefully he will get a mention in the book.

onan

Although not often referenced in common reading, all of us in a state of heightened awareness are capable of seeing illusions. Illusions are, simply put seeing one thing but either by lack of understanding or some extreme mental state misinterpret the image. For instance an alcoholic in withdrawal sees shadows in his blankets but interprets them as bugs. Why bugs? because it is a frame of reference that makes some amount of sense.

When we are in a hypervigilant state such as a dark night in an unknown/unfamiliar area and something flits by the mind tries to fill in the gaps to bring some sense of understanding.

Some owls have a wing span of over 6 feet, not a well known fact but true. However telling a story of I was driving... it was dark... I got scared... omg an owl... lacks impact. But OMG a flying beast with glowing eyes... much more entertaining at the watercooler.

b_dubb

i drove through Pt Pleasant yesterday.  my God that town is in bad shape.

i'm with Onan. a couple of kids are out goofing off ( drinking beer, etc ) one night and they see an owl.  at night. 

in the shadows it looks much larger.  the eyes look reddish because of how they pick up secondary light from the headlights/moon.  the kids see this. panic.  make a run for it. 

this story doesn't require a mythic creature / alien / spirit being.  it makes a lot more sense.  the subsequent reports of mothman could be attributed to copycat type panic events.  hysteria.  the fact that mothman sightings stopped after the collapse of the Silver Bridge supports this theory.  the mothman frenzy / hysteria was supplanted by a very real event.

Scully

Even taking into account psychological studies which show that people are terrible eye-witnesses, and that we see or don't see whatever fits our expectations, I don't totally discount that sometimes a cigar really is a cigar.  8)

b_dubb

sometimes a cigar is mothman's wang-dang-doodle

Harmness

Quote from: b_dubb on April 23, 2011, 12:42:18 PM
sometimes a cigar is mothman's wang-dang-doodle

Well, that'll certainly make Cigar Dave's show sound different to me now.

haloedorchid

I just finished watching Eyes of the Mothman. It was pretty well-detailed. I wish they would've shaved off some Chief Cornstalk time and added more to the Men in Black. Until I started reading the book, I didn't know about all of the UFO and Men in Black sightings.

The mothman could've been a mutated crane, but why would it invoke such fear in people? It might be startling, but these people suffered post-traumatic stress events from what they saw. Maybe some things are mob mentality and hysteria, but there are other things that are genuinely unexplained.

How does an entire town hallucinate UFOs and MiBs, as well?

Also, I don't know why, but that Indrid Cold character FREAKS me out. I think it's the grinning.

b_dubb

i think there's a shit ton of toxins in the water supply from storing super toxic munitions nearby.  i think it may be the case that the town was partially tripping their balls off for a good while. i'm only half joking when i say this. 

for the record ... i don't refuse to consider mothman may be exactly what witnesses describe.  i'm just looking for more conventional explanations

haloedorchid

The book also goes into more detail about freakishly large bird sightings, which I believe could be due to the chemical exposure.

Centurion40

A 'buddy' of mine from another forum told a story of something that happened to him... and it made me think of a mothman.

Here is the story, I'd be interested to know your impressions:

I'm cool with sharing with you, but the story sounds so f**** crazy I didn't want to put it out there for everyone. This is the only “supernatural” thing that’s ever happened to me directly, although I have stories of family and friends. Ok, here’s the unedited version.
 
My girl and I had gone to the movies. It was a Saturday night, my brother and sister were staying the weekend with their dad, and my mom and stepdad were hitting the bars and wouldn’t be home before closing time. So my girl and I knew that we could go back to the house and have sex without worry of interruption.
 
It was about ten pm. We pulled up to the house, got out, and both looked up at the same time towards my room. The house was completely dark except for the reddish orange light coming from my room. We both saw movement, shadows, then saw very distinctly a figure standing at the glass door, looking like a tall, thin man. We stopped in our tracks. I said something brilliant, like “what the f***”, when the figure changed shape. My girlfriend squeezed my arm so hard, then said what I was thinking at the moment. “ It’s got wings”.
 
We both saw it, and after a few moments the light faded without going completely out and the room got dark. It’s the only time in my life I almost pissed myself, and I’ve never been more scared. The rest of the story went as I’ve shared, we climbed the stairs to the house, then I went up to my room with a shotgun. After I knew the house was clear, I drove her home and we sat in my car and talked until the bars were almost closed. Then I went home and sat in the living room, pretending to watch tv until my mom and stepdad returned home.
 
Obviously I didn’t want to share this because it sounds f****** crazy. Crazier still, the Exorcist came out a year later and I went to see it at the theater ( I’m an old f***, it was first run ).  There is a scene early in the movie where you see a statue and wings. I almost had PTSD, it looked so much like what I had seen. I was very f***** happy to move out of that house.

SgtRocko

Did anyone else get extremely frustrated on August 21 when George Knapp interviewed the guy from the Mothman Experiences?  I wanted to ring in and tell George to yell "FOCUS" at the guy 10 times between each break.  He'd get on an interesting area, the VEER off into another topic, or his country singer girlfriend, or...  It was maddening!  Seriously, every time he'd mention a strange occurence, the words "Native American spirituality" would be uttered and BAMMO off he shot, completely off topic.

Sorry, had to vent a bit

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