At the Mothman Festival, guests can buy cryptid-themed mementos, listen to firsthand accounts of Mothman and UFO sightings, and indulge in deep-fried oreos all at the same time.
This festival in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, attracts people from around the world every year. People of all ages came to explore the festival, with some, including dogs, in mothman-inspired costumes. Meanwhile, vendors took over the streets, selling mothman-related products.
The festival spanned from Sept. 19 to Sept. 20, at 400 Main St., Point Pleasant, West Virginia, where the Mothman Museum and Mothman statue stand. Both of those attractions had long lines of visitors waiting to capture a memory of the festival.
David J Hardie is an author, illustrator and cryptomythologist. Cryptimythology, a term created by Hardie, is defined as treating mythical creatures as potential beings. This is his second year as a vendor and speaker at the event. He owns Cryptid Empire where he sells clothing, books, stickers and comics related to cryptids. Hardie said he is also one of the biggest sellers for the Mothman Museum.
“Being a cryptid aficionado, it's like your Super Bowl,” Hardie said. “It's the best thing ever. It is 32,000 interested people, that’s what I love. It's not just 32,000 moderately passive people. It's 32,000 borderline rabid people.”
James Sisson is in his seventh year working at the Mothman Museum, but has been involved with the festival for 13 years. His usual job during the event is escorting the person wearing the Mothman costume.
“A two-year-old just walks up to a stranger in a giant furry suit, gives a high five,” Sisson said, "That's just cool. It's fun to see people be happy.”
The first Mothman sighting occured in November of 1966. The creature was reported to be very tall with glowing red eyes and large wings. Sisson said there were multiple sightings over 13 months between 1966-67, with various theories on what exactly the Mothman was. Some believe Mothman was involved in the collapse of the Silver Bridge in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, which killed 46 people.
“But a lot of that has been debunked,” Sisson said. “There’s not a whole lot of evidence making that claim the day of, until months or years after. That’s sort of like an after-the-fact, kind of making the story more interesting.”
Sherri Brake is the owner of Haunted Heartland Tours where she goes on paranormal walking tours exploring haunted areas in Nevada, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Ireland and Scotland. She is also a columnist and an author, with over a dozen books published on haunted history. This is her sixth year as a speaker and vendor at the event. She was the only female speaker for the festival, and is one of few females within the paranormal tour industry.
Brake speaks about her latest book, “Point Pleasant: A Haunted History,” which goes beyond the story of Mothman, and dives deeper into the history of the small river town of Point Pleasant, West Virginia.
“I found if you dig deep enough, you can find a dark history anywhere,” Brake said. “And people tend to sit up and pay attention a little bit more if you talk about something that's kind of dark and gritty.”
Other guest speakers at the event included Jeff Craig, Brian Seech, Richard Hatem, Joe Perdue, Ron Lanham and Steve Ward.
Elisha Marr, who lives in Ohio, traveled one hour to attend the festival for the first time.
“With the world being the way that it is, it’s more fun to believe that there’s something whimsical and imaginary, or maybe potentially real out there that brings a little bit of light to the world,” Marr said.
Ethan Graham traveled over four hours from Jamesport, Tennessee, to attend. He has been a longtime fan of Mothman, hoping to visit the festival.
“I’ve been a fan of Mothman pretty much since I was a kid, hearing the stories from YouTube and some of my friends were in the cryptid space,” he said. “It’s been kind of a bucket list thing for me for a while.”
The event hosted two people who gave their accounts of Mothman from the mid 1960s. One being Linda Sigman, who says she encountered Mothman and UFOs with her boyfriend when she was 16 years old in 1967.
In 2023, Sigman released her book, “Beyond the Pale Moonlight: A UFO-Mothman Encounter,” which details her experience and includes drawings of what she says she saw that night.
The town of Point Pleasant, West Virginia, goes all out for the festival, with streets shutting down and local businesses decorated with Mothman stuffed animals, spiderwebs and other spooky decor.
For information regarding Mothman, or next year’s festival, check out the Mothman Festival website.
