The Mothman Legend

The following is Linda Scarberry's police report of her encounter with the Mothman. She was with her husband and another couple. The "TNT area" referred to in the account is an 8320 acre area about six miles north of Point Pleasant, West Virginia. The area consists of abandoned industrial buildings and bunkers built to make and house ammunition for WWII. (Dixon, 2007, pg. 197)

"We were riding through the TNT area on a side road by the Old Power house building 12.00 on Tuesday night Nov. 15th, 1966 when we came over this small rise in the road. All at once [Steve Mallette] yelled for us to look at that thing in the road. I looked up and saw it go round the old Power house. It didn’t run but wobbled like it couldn’t keep its balance. Its wings were spread just a little. We sat there a few seconds then [Roger] took off. I kept yelling for him to hurry. We didn’t even stop for the curves. We got out on Route 66 and was coming down the road and that thing was sitting on the second hill when you come into the 1st bad curves. As soon as our lights hit it, it was gone. It spread its wings a little and went straight up into the air. When we got to the armory, it was flying over our car. We were doing between 100 and 105mph down that straight stretch and that thing was just gliding back and forth over the back end of the car…To me it just looks like a man with wings. It has a body shape form with (It was a dirty gray color) wings on its back that come around it. It has muscular legs like a man and fiery-red eyes that glow when the lights hit it… I couldn’t see its head or arms. I don’t know if the eyes are even in a head…" (Dixon, 2007, pg. 196)

After facing disbelief and blowback from her community, Linda Scarberry reports that she doesn't care because she is still just coping with what she saw. (Dixon, 2007, pg. 197)

"I know people are laughing at us but it’s no laughing matter. We’ll never forget this thing… When it gets dark I feel the fear creeping over me. When I go anyplace I automatically look up and out the windows. I am afraid to sleep at night so I lay awake sometimes crying with fear … Even in daylight I’m afraid to be by myself. I walk around in my own house expecting to see that thing … Every little noise scares me to death…" (Dixon, 2007, pg. 197)

The other woman in the car on that night, Mrs. Mallette, shares her fears in the aftermath and recounts her experience with community blowback. (Dixon, 2007, pg. 197)

"At night you wonder where this man-like creature is and if it will harm you and is all I seem to think about. And when we go somewhere I can feel someone laughing at me. And I can be in a crowd and hear people say, ‘Well they were all liqored up,’ and God only knows we were not." (Dixon, 2007, pg. 197)

The police report and coverage by local media caught enough traction to convince some locals to go check out the area of the two couples' sightings with local TV and newspaper in tow. (Dixon, 2007, pg. 197)

"…we went back with the TV reporters and all the men looked in the building and came back to talk with us when they heard a clang in the building and went back to investigate the noise and one of the doors of
the boilers had been opened. That evening we all went back. The reporters from The Messenger went up. While they were all looking at the building Linda saw the eyes in a field and Mrs. Hyre also saw the eyes." (Dixon, 2007, pg. 197)

After these initial sightings in Point Pleasant in 1966, the witnesses were presented with images of the animal that scientists thought most resembled the Mothman, the Sandhill Crane. All of the witnesses said it did not resemble what they saw. One even stated, "My God, that's not the thing we saw." (Dixon, 2007, pg. 199) These experiences that became collective, community experiences due to media coverage, went on to solidify the Point Pleasant's community identity with the Mothman.