you know
there are not that many local legends about West Virginia. It's a big deal to a lot of people in the state Winton said, adding that he went to Point Pleasant with his dad to go to the Mothman Museum.
More than 30 years ago, a 7-foot-tall creature with wings and glowing red eyes was spotted about 40 miles south of Athens - and its appearance remains a mystery today.
Two couples first reported seeing the Mothman, as the creature came to be called, on Nov. 15, 1966, in Point Pleasant, W. Va., noting that it could travel up to 100 miles per hour. More than 100 sightings were reported in that town until the collapse of the Silver Bridge, which spanned the Ohio River, on Dec. 15, 1967, killing 46 people.
Some people believed that the Mothman appeared to warn against the bridge collapse and other impending disasters, but most witnesses did not say that in interviews, said Jeff Wamsley, curator at the Mothman Museum in Point Pleasant.
The Mothman legend has continued to grow, especially after the release of The Mothman Prophesies in 2002, starring Richard Gere. However, the unexplained monster is more than mythology to the people of southeastern Ohio and West Virginia.
Ohio University freshman Alex Winton, who is undecided about his major, said growing up in Charleston, W. Va., the Mothman was a part of his culture.
My parents always told me about the legend of the Mothman. They made me read little stories on it because
you know
there are not that many local legends about West Virginia. It's a big deal to a lot of people in the state
Winton said, adding that he went to Point Pleasant with his dad to go to the Mothman Museum.
Monster myths like the Mothman serve specific functions in society, said Steve Scanlan, assistant professor of sociology at OU who discusses the Mothman in his Collective Behavior class.
With the Mothman
and other monsters
if we can explain it as being this kind of myth - that has this type of story line
this type of creature
this type of occurrence - by naming it or controlling the story or shaping it in the way we either felt that it happened
or the way we wish it happened
