Episode 3: Terror in the Skies
The Mountain Mysteries Episode 03
Terror in the Skies
The Mountain Mystery of the Mothman of Point Pleasant West Virginia
It was December 15, 1967 when a catastrophe occurred that claimed 46 lives. The Silver Bridge in Point Pleasant West Virginia…collapsed under the weight of rush hour traffic. It would be something the town and its people would never forget. There was no warning, not signs…or were there?
13 months before hand, beginning November 15, 1966, people reported seeing a large grey creature with a ten-foot wingspan whose eyes glowed red when the car headlights hit it.
This is The Mountain Mysteries, Terror in the Skies, The Mountain Mystery of the Mothman.
Small, quaint, that hometown kind of feel that so many places are lacking today, is what Point Pleasant West Virginia is all about. Just over 4,100 in 3.10 square miles. The kind of place where people watch out for each other, like many small American towns, and stories spread like hot butter.
The first sighting came November 12, 1966 in Clendenin West Virginia when it’s said some gravediggers spotted something that looked like a huge man flying overhead moving quickly form tree to tree as they worked, and they later described the figure as a brown human-being.
Only three days later, in Point Pleasant two different couples noticed a white winged creature between six- or seven-feet tall standing in front of the car that they all sat in. Roger Scarberry and Steve Mallett told The Point Pleasant Register that it had bright red eyes about half a foot apart and a ten-foot wingspan and wanted to dodge the headlights on their car.
Witness statements said the creature was able to fly a incredible speeds, maybe as fast as 100 miles per hour, and they all agreed it was clumsy as hell running on the ground. Apparently, they knew this because it supposedly chased them on the outskirts of town while flying then scuttled into a nearby field and ran away.
At first, reporters were doubtful. In the papers, they called the Mothman a bird and a mysterious animal. However, they did print Mallett’s description: “It was like a man with wings.”
But more and more sightings were reported in the Point Pleasant area over the next year as the legend of the Mothman grew. The Gettysburg Times reported eight additional sightings in the short span of three days after the first allegations. This included two volunteer firefighters, who said they saw “a very large bird with large red eyes.”