Conspiracy Corner: The Mothman Cometh
Welcome, fellow paranoids, to the inaugural article of Conspiracy Corner. Here, we will take a break from the regular, worldly reporting of the Columns to bring you accounts and true stories from the fringes of reality. From lizard people running the government to Bigfoot sightings in the Northwest to UFO lights over Phoenix, we bring you the things you need to know but ‘they’ don’t want you to.
Being resident West Virginians, there should be one creature that always comes to our minds when we think of the strange and paranormal. I speak, of course, of the infamous Mothman of Point Pleasant.
The first sighting was back in 1966. It was November 12th and five men were busy at work in a cemetery outside Clendenin, West Virginia. They were digging a grave for one Homer Smith. Among these men were Robert Lovejoy, Emil Gibson, Andrew Godby, William Poole, and Smith’s son-in-law, Kenneth Duncan. The graveyard made a fittingly morbid setting for what would be the first of many, many sightings.
According to the men, a large, humanoid figure swooped down over their heads repeatedly for about a minute before disappearing into the trees. The men decided not to report their story to the authorities. That was until more sightings followed.
The next sighting was on November 14th in Salem, West Virginia. Merle Partridge was home, watching tv, when suddenly the signal cut out. He reportedly heard his dog howling at his barn. When he came out onto the porch, he saw two large red eyes before the creature supposedly flew into the woods. Partridge’s dog, a German Shepherd named Bandit, chased after the creature. Merle Partridge, sadly, would never see Bandit again.
Only a day later, the creature was supposedly seen again in one of the Mothman’s most iconic sightings: the Scarberry and Mallette Sighting.
On the outskirts of Point Pleasant, there is an abandoned field that was once used as a storage area for explosives during the Second World War. It had earned the nickname “The TNT Area” by the locals and became a spot for teenage couples to hang out.
November 15th, a single black Chevy whirled down the road near the abandoned North Power Plant. Inside were Steve and Mary Mallette along with another couple, Linda and Roger Scarberry.
Reportedly, two red eyes appeared before the car – glittering in the light of the car’s headlights. When the light fully revealed the creature, they saw what they described as a winged creature that resembled a man and stood around seven feet tall.
The couples drove away as quickly as they could but soon witnessed the creature spread its wings and take flight. Terrifyingly, the creature not only pursued the vehicle but managed to keep pace with it as the couples drove well over 100 mph. The couples only escaped the creature when they reached the edge of town and it gave up the chase.
The teenagers promptly reported their experience to Deputy Millard Halstead. Halstead searched the TNT Area but found no sign of any strange creature – though he reportedly heard strange static on his radio.
Little did the Scarberrys, the Mallettes, and Deputy Halstead know, that night would kick off a wave of hysteria across Point Pleasant as mysterious events kept piling up and eventually ended in tragedy. Join us at the Conspiracy Corner next week as we continue our dive into the Mothman of Point Pleasant.
