Mothman

This week, we're travelling to Point Pleasant, West Virginia, where a series of terrifying sightings would turn an ordinary town into the centre of one of America's strangest mysteries.

As witnesses reported a towering winged figure with glowing red eyes, fear spread through the community. When tragedy struck soon after, many believed the creature had come as a warning.

In this episode, we'll explore the sightings of the Mothman, the theories behind the legend, and why, nearly sixty years later, people are still asking the same unsettling question... what did they really see?

So grab a drink, settle in... because some legends refuse to die.

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:17

Welcome back! Welcome back! To Kill the Moon. We have just spent literally two or three hours waffling slight because we haven't seen each other. For a few days. Actually, it's been longer because I was at work and you won't. Almost a week, because of my birthday. Yeah, so I saw you Wednesday last week. Yeah. Don't you think it's mad? Like yesterday I was going back to work and I was like, literally, it was only a week ago that we were flying back from everything went so quickly. We did like, no, we yeah, everything went really quickly when we were there, but then I was only off for two weeks, but I literally did so much. Oh yeah. Like when I was going to bed on Sunday night, I was like, I was still in Ireland this time last week. Yeah. And I've done so much in my next week off as well. It was just mind-blowing. And then I just came back to work and it was literally just the same shit. Yeah. Everyone was in sat in the same chairs doing the same thing. That was a Monday morning. Got back to work, and then everyone was just like, Oh, it's so nice that you're back. And I was like, Is it? Is it? I literally doesn't feel nice. I've done so much admin. Hey, I'll do the intro. Welcome to Kill the Mood Podcast. Keep all the windows open because I've got a hum. Welcome to Kill the Mood Podcast. We're here to talk about everything spooky-dooky. We are not professionals and we mean no offense in anything we say. This is just us trying to make sense of the senseless. Without further ado, this week's case is As I promised last time, Mothman. Oh my god, I was like, I don't even know what you're doing.

unknown 1:37

Mothman!

SPEAKER_00 1:38

I was like listening to the app because obviously, did I do the last one? I must have edited the last one. Yeah. So while I was as I was editing it, I heard myself say, Oh yeah, I'll do Mothman next. And then I thought, fuck, that's not the notes that I've got. So I wrote them today. Oh my god, that's so good of you. So yeah, we're doing Mothman. I just like to apologise first. My voice sounds like this because England beat Norway. Your voice would sound like that if Norway had beat England. Yeah, exactly. And I apparently have turned into a fucking hooligan for it. And now I'm literally obsessed. Obsessed if we win, I'm not coming into work on Monday. I've already decided. You call in and you're like, sorry, I'm actually a wag. Yeah. I'll be like, do you not understand? Every person, like me, watching, was there on the pitch. We put in as much as the players did. I did a lot of watching. Yeah. I don't see how we're gonna win. I have to say, but I am gonna believe we can regardless. And do you know what I've really enjoyed? It's been so much fun. We go to the same pub with mostly the same people every time we watch a game, and it's so much fun. It's so nice on a weekly basis going out for a pint that you don't get to see 90% of the time. Yeah, that's true. And just having a reason to go together. So it's been fucking great vibes. I've been chilling bare seas, drinking loads of pints. The Norway versus England game is the reason that I won't be drinking. Yeah, that's why you're done. Because I literally woke up on Sunday and was so poorly and was like, again, I'm gonna have to stop. And this happened last year, but at the end of this month, I made it to, which was Lauren's birthday. I will not make it this time. Also, you're gonna go to a birthday. I've booked it off. I don't think there's any yarn in the evenings, Peppy. Well, yeah, probably. I think I might go to Rick Sanchez. Isn't that such a good culture?

SPEAKER_01 3:30

Yes!

SPEAKER_00 3:33

That's so fun. Yeah, I just was like, I think I might. He's very obvious. Any of my favourite TV shows, there's not really anyone that's like What the fuck is going on? I actually do think that there might be wildfires going on in Cornwall at the moment because there's been loads of fire engines today. Yeah. And they've been everywhere, and there's been so much smoke, and we live on one of the main roads. Yeah. It took me the It took me the maddest, maddest route here. Yeah. We're in this chair. Oh my god. Do you want to see me a pink? Yeah. Fetch me a baby Guinness. What's the crack? We've been there. Although I can't promise that I'm not gonna try and make you drink. Yeah, that's fair. You can try. I'm just gonna sprinkling some money. Yeah, anyway, we need to get into it. But yeah, there's nothing else to tell you. Sorry I sound like this. We went to Ireland. We went to Ireland, Irish Virginity. Yeah, I just went to Ireland with my dad. I went to Dublin, we saw Lily Allen, it was fucking sick. Then we went to Belfast. Then we met Kelly's parents, that was sick. Then we went up north to Port Rush. Fucking great. Had a great time. Scenic route, it was lush. Came back, had a week off, I had a week off, Nish went back to work. My best friend Persindu came down. We all had my mummy birthday, went out for dinner, did loads of fun stuff. I bought Amy a Kill the Mood. Yeah! Our first ever Kill the Mood top. I've got some merch! I might start doing fun stuff now, like socks. Yeah. Oh my god. Why is everything you've got but holes in? Jimmy. It's just like the holiest of holes. Oh my god! Yeah, it's so bad. I've never seen it, it looks like a moth has been eating it.

SPEAKER_01 5:10

Mothman.

SPEAKER_00 5:11

Or it's intentional. Yeah, mothman's got to your shirt. Wait, I don't know where my phone. Oh my phone's wrong again. I don't know where my phone is. It's going on the Instagram. Okay, yeah. Tell me about Marshall. Okay. Okay. Point Pleasant is a small riverside town situated on the Jersey Shore. Jersey Shore, why I know. Molly Shore. That's George Shore. Isn't it? Jersey Shore is it? Snooky. Yeah. Is that her name? Yeah. And Paulie. No, not Welsh. Yeah, the Valleys as well. They're from Jersey. Yeah, and I can't remember anyone in it. No, there's a guy named Paulie.

unknown 5:48

Paulie.

SPEAKER_00 5:49

I think. D or something like that. I've never watched it. No, I watched it. I did watch a bit of the valleys, but Geordie Shaw was where it said from there. Yeah, Geordie Shaw, always. Yeah. Situated on the Jersey Shore, surrounded by forests and farmland. Just outside of town sat an abandoned West Virginia Ordnance Works, which was a huge World War II explosives facility. That's what we said. Ordinance. Yeah. Ordinance works. Ordnance means explosives. I didn't I doubt it. I didn't announce it. I don't know what I was going to say that. I didn't announce it. I died myself. So after the war, it was left mostly empty with concrete, storage bunkers, overgrown roads and wetlands. This abandoned complex was known locally as the TNT area. Mm-hmm. I think because they used to store explosives. Explosives. It's not a smart nickname, it's just a nickname. I just feel like that makes kids be like, should we go to the TNT area to see if we get blown up. To be fair, mine my like local place to go was called the Wreck.

SPEAKER_01 6:48

I'm not telling you. About the wreck.

SPEAKER_00 6:50

It's called the Wreck. And it was a real fucking dodgy place. We shouldn't have been there. Lots of bad stuff happened at the wreck. But that's what it was called. The cage. I don't know why they were the wreck. The cage. The cage was a basketball cage. That's why it was called the cage. It wasn't like a cage. Yeah. We had there was like quarries and stuff. Yeah. But like I never had that thing off Strange Things or like it or where they just go to a place with loads of abandoned cars and everyone just like smashes shit up and there's like a random armchair. No. We did also have this place, I can't remember where it was really. Do you have town train station? Yeah. When you like come down from there and then go underneath, walk as if you're gonna walk back on yourself to Fox Rose Hill. Yeah. There was just a bit there that everyone used to smoke weed, and we just called it Drain. And then someone put an ashtray in drain once, and someone put it on their Instagram. Was like, yo, who put this ashtray at drain so smart? What? What the fuck? Why has that just come back to me? Yeah, but I think it was like this place called Rookery. And yeah, it was a park called Rookery Park. And I think there was like there was like what we called the devil's drop or something shit. Like some fucking tire swing that just went over a crazy drop. Yeah. That was probably one of the weirdest places that we had. We there's a few quarries and stuff that have like big jumps and stuff, but just nothing that's like a wreck like the wreck. The wreck. The wreck was just a big flat bit of land, really, that went straight through the middle of Erdington, so you could get from one area to another if you walked across the wreck, and then there was a park at one end. Yeah. Okay, for normal people might have called it Street Lee.

unknown 8:19

Streetly. Wreck.

SPEAKER_00 8:21

Streetly. Anyway, so that was the TNT area. On the night of the 15th of November 1966, two young couples were driving through the TNT area. Roger and Linda Scarbury and Stephen Merrymallet. Stephen Merrymallet. They report later reported seeing a large grey figure standing near one of the abandoned buildings. They described glowing red eyes, folded wings, and a height of roughly six to seven feet. Good fucking lord. It gets so much worse. That is so fun. As they drove away by climbed, the creature took flight and appeared to chase their car even as they reached a hundred miles per hour. Bullshit.

unknown 9:10

Ha!

SPEAKER_00 9:11

I call bullshit. That's too fast. Moth can't fly. Even if I was driving for my life, I still think I'd be like 100 miles an hour, it's too fast. What you were like, so you don't think it's too for the moth, you just think they couldn't have drove a hundred miles an hour. But if you were being chased by a six foot or seven-foot creature, how do you not crap? Maybe it was a straight road. Or maybe the fucking lightning queen. That's insane. I love what you didn't hide from that story. That's your problem with it. I would get to 80 and be like, just the highway code. If you are being chased by a different model, you can only go 80. I just like that's a lie, right? How's it fly? I don't know. I think there's a lot of things we should have a problem with in this story. She's there's no fucking way they did 100 miles per hour. That's actually illegal. No, okay, yeah. Sorry, I did glaze over the fact that there was a seven-foot moth chasing. I said he's got wings, he's flying after them, and you said no, they couldn't be going a hundred miles per hour. You looking dead in the eye and said, That's not real. I don't know if that's the biggest issue with the story. I have seen some fucking huge mothers. I would pass away. Like you can see a cow that's seven feet long. Fucking hell. I think I've read somewhere that it was like, which one was he? I've forgotten his name. Roger was the one driving, and he just fucking freaked out and was like, off! Yeah I'm off. Yeah. Have you seen this? Reminded me if you've seen that video of those guys that are like, catch him, Derry! There's a bat in the kitchen. It's just the four older people that I assume are just like two couples. The bats got into the kitchen, but one of them's just filming me. Catch him dairy! Quickly, Dairy! Catch him reminded me when we were going down that viewpoint on the way, like in Ireland, and I just went, How much is that fresh rule like setting you back then? About an hour. And you literally were just like, I haven't thought about that video so long. And then I'm literally not even joking. Cindy picked us up, we dropped off Kelly, and on the way back I said something like, He said, When do we have to meet Charlie and Kira? And I said, An hour, and he said, I'll just have fresh Rolex to be back, and I was like, Why is everyone bringing that back up? And then when we were home later, Piscindu went, Lauren, and then she was like, What? And he went, An Albad, and she went, I think it's a good one. I feel like that's a bit of a stim for me. Yeah, I love working stim. Like I do that quite a lot. Yeah, I literally was like, I haven't thought about that video in the longest time. And I was just walking in silence, like down this hill, and then I just started doing it for some reason. So funny, and then yeah, Persindu just did it, and I was like, Why has this come back into fruition recently? Anyway, sidetracked massively. I've literally got through two paragraphs. Yeah, so six to seven feet tall, and these over the red eyes. Yeah, literally red eyes, folded wings and height of roughly six to seven feet. And then I said, as they drove away, the creature took flight, and you were like a hundred miles per hour. That is just add some realism to the story. I think just the moth was so unbelievable that I had to try and relate to something. I was like, I can't even relate to the speed. I told you the worst bit then. Wow, because they also said that the creature was screeching as it raced them. And it chased them to the limits of Point Pleasant before they lost it. They lose it. He just was like, oh, it's too much fun. And then Linda's out here saying some weird things. Because she said that she'd been able to say something. She's already seen it's completely normal. Now she's gonna say something weird. And then Linda out of nowhere. In this crazy story, she says, I think we were going 110. Okay, sorry, I'll shut up. Linda said that she had been able to see its face due to its hypnotic eyes. And then I put Roger would go on to sketch the Mothman himself, and then I have to show you the Mothman sketch because I maybe pissed myself for 10 minutes when I first saw this drawing. We don't have time for me to piss. I know, I'm so sorry you're gonna have to do it so quickly. Isn't that the line? I'll put it on the Instagram. She's just got up and literally removed herself from the scene. I know she got so much mascar in my eyes. So good. Like, how is that? But the only way I can describe it It looks like a tooth. It looks like a tooth. It looks like a kid's drawing of a tooth, but they've put some lines of a human body in the middle, and then there's just two big black eyes. Do you think those sketch eyes came in as well? No, I'll do this last. No, get rid of the features, get rid of the head, get rid of the head. Um think tooth. Think tooth. Isn't it insane? I knew I was gonna enjoy showing you this because I literally died when I found it. I was like, I cannot believe that's real. That cannot be real. I should be gone somewhere else. Maybe he's deceased. That is a fucking story. So bad that he needed to get that down, it's four lines. I just don't know how it's gonna leave my brain. A fucking moth chased you. I love that he's trying to draw the hair as well. He's added no colour, even though it's not red eye. He's just been like quick. Yeah, like he's literally this is like a child in a horror film. Yeah. Yeah. Actually, it's I'm not sure that's good because at least a child in a horror film has X's for eyes and some blood gushing out. It's like this is literally No, that's a haunted too. Do you remember that weird, scary, that scary love heart thing in the sky? Yes, yes, yeah. Oh my god, what's his name? Gosser Gossamer. Gossamer, that is what we'll also put a picture of Gossamer on there because just for comparison, we'll put them next to each other. That was the most weirdest thing I've ever seen. Yeah, so that is what Roger drew for the police, for the report, or for the newspapers. I'm not really sure who it was for. Yeah. Generally and practically, I don't know what it was for. That's so funny. I just can imagine literally the artist coming in and being like, I'll draw it, just give me a description. And he's been like, I've got one, I've got one. And then they're like that. We don't need to improve upon that. It doesn't even look like a fucking moth. No, that's not a moth. No, why? Yeah, it looks more like a ghost. Like a cartoon ghost, like a kid's drawing of a ghost. Shite. Sorry, Rod. So the following day, their story appears in the local newspaper, and journalists are the ones who coined the name Mothman. Yeah, but really. And this is actually a pop culture-inspired name rather than being based on the creature's appearance. Okay, like a moth. Because this is a nod to the killer moth from the Batman comics. Yes, okay. Because it was like Batman was all rage at the time. Batman. Calman. Cowman, shit drawing man. Not an artist. Not an artist man. Grossman! No, that's not what it was. Grossman. Grossman man. The same night I'm gonna. I'm putting a little trigger warning here. You didn't think this was gonna happen in this, but there's an animal. Ai! Does the dog die?

unknown 17:25

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 17:26

Yes. The dog goes missing. The same night as the couple's encounter, 90 miles away, a man named Newell Partridge. Yeah, is it was at his home in Point Pleasant, Salem. His German shepherds. Salem. Is that where the witch strolls were? Yeah. Like Salem. Yeah. I don't know. I think so because I watched How many Salems are there? Yeah. This is Ohio. So next to his barn were two red glowing eyes that he was absolutely categorically positive was not from an animal. Okay. What animal has red glowing eyes? Yeah, I don't know. Glowworm! Glow worm. Do they even have eyes? Are they real glowworms? Next to each other. Just perfectly hovering next to the barn. Yeah, I think I think you've sold it. That's wild. So I'm sold, it's real. Bandit runs off at the creature to try and challenge it, and Partridge runs inside. Partridge runs inside, so he said, to get his gun, and he intended to go back out because but he was so scared he never went back out and he didn't check what bandit was. Yeah. So yeah, he he said that actually the next morning next to the bar, the tracks of Bandit looked like he was like doing circles. Like he was like he was chasing his own tail. But Bandit was never seen again. And then a few days later, Partridge reads the story of the events that took place the same night as his encounter. He sees that drawing and he's like, It's him! He stole my bandit. Quite weirdly, as well, apparently in Linda and Roger's story, yeah, they say something about there being the body of a dead dog on the road somewhere, and they went back to try and prove that the Moffavan was there, and then the body was gone of the dog. So there is a some feeling about whether that was bandit. Because you don't I don't 100% know the time frames, but I think that actually I think that his is first. Yeah, and there's later at night and his is first, but he reports it afterwards when he sees theirs and then because I'm not being funny, if something booked me out and my dog had gone missing. I mean it's well it scared you and your dogs ran off. You're not gonna call the police. What are they gonna do? They're gonna be like, okay. Yeah, exactly. So as quickly as the next few days, more sightings start to come in. There are two volunteer firemen who claimed to see the creature sighting its large red eyes. Over the next 13 months, dozens of people claim similar encounters. Reports consistently mention glowing red eyes, a dark winged figure, and silent flight.

unknown 20:10

No.

SPEAKER_00 20:11

I don't like that. Yeah, it's weird in it. I don't mind. Well happened to the screeching. I think I preferred the screeching. Do you know what it reminds me of? Have you ever seen Jeepers Creepers? Yes, yes, it reminds me of Jeepers Creepers Creepers. Where did you get those peepers? Yeah, and they go to that house and then that Justin Long. Yeah, oh my god. Yeah, Scream King. Yeah, like that, it really reminds me of Jeepers Creepers. Yeah, that really does. Oh yeah, not a fan. I just don't like the idea of like does silent flight mean that like all you hear is like a flap of a wing? Maybe. And it's just like just like maybe I don't know if you could let this. Ah! There you go. We were trying to waft in front of the mics to see if that would work. I'm just or maybe not even the flap of the wings. Yeah, because then you'd hear is just your own screaming. Roger thought the scream was coming out of the car, but it was actually him. And you don't realise that you've made a noise because you're like just it's usually if I'm like laughing. Yeah, you see that in books sometimes, and they're like, and there was screaming, and I didn't know what it was coming from, and then I realised it was coming from me. Yeah, it's coming from yeah, mad. I'm not fan of that. So most of the sightings are occurring around the TNT area, although others were reported along nearby roads and rivers. Around the same time, Point Pleasant residents also reported strange lights in the sky, alleged men in black encounters, and unusual animal behaviour and some electronic disturbances. It's Buffy. So don't worry, guys. I can't wait to see the episode where she takes on Mothman. We should draw some like red circles on your tattoo. Oh my moth. Yeah. I've got a moth tattooed on my knees. He's back again. Yeah, so none of these reports have been independently verified, obviously, but they've become intertwined with the Mothman story. So people feel like they're quite important. We're gonna do theories and they're like pretty good. Actually, this might be quite a short app for months. So on the 15th of December, the silver bridge connecting Point Pleasant and Gallipolis, I don't know if that's right, Ohio, collapses during rush hour and it kills 46 people. Fuck me. Engineering investigators later conclude that the collapse resulted from a failure of a single, like weakened oh, eyebar. Sorry, I'm not laughing. Yeah, laughing at the 46. Single moth chewing at the wires of the bridge. A single eyebar weakened by stretch, corrosion, and fatigue. So basically then it was probably quite avoidable and it was wearing tear. That's mad. You know why? Because the Mothman sightings mostly stopped after this bridge collapse. So everyone was like, okay, Mothman's an omen. And they were like, actually, he was an omen for a bad thing that was going to happen. And now they're like, he's not an animal at all. He's a fucking omen. He was telling us that this bridge collapse was gonna happen. What but how? Because chasing people down the room. That was also a Georgia. Yeah, what are you doing now? Yeah. Stop screaming. Oh, actually, maybe he was trying to tell them. He's just like, on November 15th, December, 1967, a bridge is going to collapse. Why are you driving so fast? Stop driving. No recording. No, there's like an end scene, and it's like, we're gonna tell them the way to core space aid. And then he's how do we know that they're gonna understand us on the other side? And it's they just will, and then they come out and they're like every single time that animals can speak in a he literally just turns back around on them, and it's just but a moth's just like because what other noise could a fucking moth make when it's fucking seven feet tall. Um so there was a Georgian newspaper that actually claimed that Russian UFOologists believe Mothman had been had actually foreshadowed the 1999 Russian apartment bombings where four apartment blocks across four cities were bombed simultaneously, killing 307 people and injuring thousands. So this Georgian newspaper says that Mothman was an omen for that too. Just no. Yeah, like why is this the first we're hearing of it? Yeah. That's what I'm not like an omen. What are you doing? Yeah, which is a good idea. Obviously, this is later on 1966, I think is later on. But yeah, that is what someone claims at some point later on. I just don't it just makes no sense. It doesn't make sense. Don't do that. My episode next week, but there are some theories that I just think fucking wild. I had to cut out some of the theories because I was like, this is just getting it's fucking droning on. But I put in quite a few of the most popular theories, and some of them just fucking I don't even go into much detail because some of them are just like okay, fine. Yeah, fair. So in 1975, journalist John Keel published The Mothman Prophecies. The Moth Ross. I fucking hope that that's what he refers to as. Welcome back to the Moth Ross. I can't even say it. So rather than arguing for an unknown species, Keel suggests that the events involved UFOs, psychic phenomena, and other unexplained circumstances. Great. Just write a book on that. It's unexplained. Yeah, and I have no proof. His ideas remain speculative but hugely uh influenced by the legend. Obviously, there's no proof. But it's just been like, I'm just gonna write a book about what people said happened and then still give no opinions and just leave it like and it's unknown. I guess we do that. Yeah, that is exactly what we do. But I just feel like we should write a book about it. Let's write a book about our opinions, just like our theories about things that we've got no right in talking about. To be fair, some of your opinions are actually potentially correct. I've got some real hot takes. Yeah, like when you do a hot take in this pod, I'm like afterwards, I go home and think, fuck, what if you just solve it? This is why it appears to be friends with intelligent people, right? I wouldn't call it intelligent. I would call it fucking notice. Yeah, that's probably fair too. Can't deny it. Only because of who you are as a person and the way that you are. That and the things that you do. Yeah, I feel like you just retain things and then you come out with things, and I just think later, well, you should be a police. You should be a police author. A detective, maybe. Yeah. I just I don't want to have to do all the boring first bit. Yeah, you just need to walk in and just flick a cigarette. I'm a detective. Take your gun out. This is my police station. You know, at the end of cozy crimes like Death of Paradise and stuff where they do the big reveal, and for some reason all the crimson, it's just me and I start spieling off. And that was because they flicked that, and I yeah, and it's like now give me my detective station. And you're pointing like, and everyone thought it was you when it was actually you! Sheila. You fancied him the whole time, admit it. And then for some reason, everyone's just allowed to be in the same room. Yeah, for this matter. I don't even have to have any training. Yeah, they just put me on the job, and you're just like and I say evidence is for lawyers. Take this man to jail, I go off vibes. Yeah, anyway, so controversially, Joe Nichol, sceptic and paranormal investigator, not sure how those two things work together, but apparently that is a thing. Wants to prove himself wrong, says that a number of hoaxes followed the publicity generated by the original reports, such as a group of construction workers who tied flashlights to helium balloons, pretending to be Mothman, which is fucking genius. I love that. Genius. We're gonna start doing it. We're gonna go to Bodmin Mall and dress up as a cat. Do you remember that like we were talking about the other day, that phase that everyone went through where they just dressed up as cats as clown being weird? But you could do something creative like that. Going to the colour. You could keep a fucking legend alive. How is the helium balloon going on to Mass now? What the heck? Yeah, yeah. I feel like that is actually I kind of respect that. Yeah, me too. Massively. Scare the shit out of me, but I'll do it. I love a hoax. That is something that Scooby-Doo would go after. Yeah, and then be like, the whole time it was actually old man's. Is that what they say? I would have gotten away with it too if it weren't for you dumb kids. No, what is it? Medling. You meddling kids and that dumb dog. Yeah. I have been watching Mystery Incorporated. It's so the one about the crocodile. I was like, what a throwback. It's literally taking me back to if you haven't seen it, like Mystery Incorporated is on Netflix right now. You have to. It is so good. Everyone watch it so that it's not. Yeah, we don't want it to disappear. I actually might have to watch it because I was thinking about re-watching it the other day, but I feel like Tom would tell me to piss off until he started watching it and then he'd be hooked. No, it's so good. Fred is I just forget how fucking annoyed he is. Oh, he's so annoying. And he's she just like Dash Love me. I love Daphne, and I love Daffy. Yeah, that's literally. And then she'll be like, Fred, what are you doing? And he'll be like, Duh, make it a trap! And I'm like, oh my god, girl, like be more interesting, please. He loves what's his little neckerchief called? Those things? Oh a cumber bun, no cum no. Cravat. Yeah, cravat. Obsessed with those and traps. And traps. And I'm just like, yeah. Shut up. He's not even a cool guy in Ministry Incorporated. He's literally just the vibe that makes traps. Yeah, honestly. He just doesn't do anything else, and he's so dumb. Yeah, he's fucking thick as shit. It's so funny. Thick of pig shit. Yeah. Shaggy's the one for breakfast. Right. Shaggy girl, mum. That makes so much sense. If you would have asked me who's your biggest vibe, I would have said Shaggy. And then immediately Velma. Which means mine, Valma.

unknown 30:42

Velma.

SPEAKER_00 30:44

That's fair. Um so yeah, Nickel attributes the Mothman stories to sightings of bard owls suggesting that the Mothman's glowing eyes were actually eyeshine, like reflection. But I don't know about red. Red I find difficult. I feel like I've seen white and yellow eyeshine, but that's like in the films, I've never seen it in life. If I saw eyeshine out in the wild, I'd be dipping. Yeah, honestly. That is just kind of vibe that that Garfield's Nine Lives thing was giving. Yeah, fuck that. Me and Tom were in the car the other day. We were just driving to the spa yesterday, and we were like talking about owls because we drove past the owl sanctuary, and then we were like, imagine if owls were like apex predators. Oh my god. And then we're talking about from, and then we're like, imagine it was like from and like that you couldn't come out your house at night because owls swoop down and eat you. Yeah, that would shit me up, bro. Yeah, and then it did make me a little bit scared of owls, and then for the rest of the day we just kept seeing things about owls. That's weird. That is weird. And now I'm talking about owls again. It's happening again. I know I never think about owls. Um I know I'm gonna think about them all the time. They're gonna be everywhere. I have to tell you about we went to watch obsession. Oh and it was so fucking good. Like it's like ridiculous, but it's so jarring. Like you're literally on edge from the moment the wish goes into play. But what I love about horror is like horror like that, is like the story is unrealistic, that's not gonna happen. But the morals that are going through it happen all the time all the time. It's like people that can't take no for an answer, people that don't understand. The way people use women, yeah, yeah, it's so well made. Like it's it's all about consent, it is a great story for consent, and about how someone would rather fuck up someone's whole life than about nice guys, and this like that nice guys are owed something for being nice guys, and that oh, it's so good, it's just so good. And there's so many chances that he has to do the right thing and he just won't get what he wanted, which is her, even though it's not in the right way. Yeah, oh it's so and he's got her, and she's not enough, she's not enough like the way he wants her to be, so he's trying to change her, and he tries to alter her. It's so fucked. There's also a little sneaky sideline of something that he could have had if he just wasn't so so obsessed. So obsessed, it's so good, it's so obsessed. Everyone should watch it. It's literally low budget made by a YouTuber. I assume maybe not low budget, but no, but it's it's homemade like like more but it's made it's surpassed Blair Witch project in being like a film that's had such a low budget and it's a high turnover. It's fucking amazing to see, and it's amazing to see like original, but I'm so sick of stuff being regurgitated, it pisses me off. I love a book adaption, I'm on board with those. I just feel like how incredible as well that like things like The Woman in Black and like even it, like I appreciated the storyline of it, but that is high budgeted films. Oh yeah. That the woman in black is shit, in my opinion. Yeah. Talk to me, all of them. Oh my god, talk to me, bring her back, that's it. Obsession. There's also, I think Backrooms is also one of them, which I would like to watch, but I've heard that's been really good. The host or host. Host, yeah. That was just a load of people on Skype Skype that made a film during lockdown, and it was one of the best that we've watched, and I just feel like that makes it ten times more incredible. That is potentially my film of the year obsession. Uh no, I said the exact same thing yesterday that it is my film of the year so far. Oh good. No, I'll watch that again. I actually might make him watch it in the next two days. Yeah, anyway, that's not why I bought it up. Sorry, yeah. I bought it up because this fucking bitch, we watch this film, right? And we watch it in the middle of the day. So we come out sort of nice, light, airy, wonderful. We go about the rest of our fucking day, we talk about the film afterwards, we then we're done with it. We don't bring it up again. Me and Amy are sharing a bed. We get into bed, she switches off the light, she does a little sigh, and then she goes, Wasn't Obsession the scariest film you've ever seen? And I was like, What the fuck have you just bought that up? And for anyone who has watched it, obviously this is not really a spoiler, but there's a scene in the bedroom where she's it's terrifying. Yeah. And I literally was like, switch on the fucking light, switch on the fucking light, put the light on now. I just as soon as I turned the lights out, it's what I thought of, and I thought I can't do this alone. So I just immediately dragged you into it with me and was like, ha ha, obsession, right? And then we're just lying there with all the lights on, reading our books, trying to go to sleep. I was so angry at her because it literally scared the shit out of me. And this is the thing about me is I love a horror film. I will never pretend to you that they don't scare me, but I watched them because they scare me. There was one bit where we all knew it was coming and the scream like clinging onto Susha's leg, and then Kelly was like wrapped up, we were all together. It's such a good film. Don't really watch it unless you like massively recommend watching it in the cinema as well. Like I think something else that is prevalent. That's my favourite kind of horror. That's why I love what Jordan Peel makes. Yes, I think Jordan Peel's so good because I love horror that has the purpose too. I feel like us is potentially the best film. Oh, us. I love film I've ever seen, and that storyline is a weird side, but I still enjoy Nope. Like owl is also so. Yeah, just yeah. Ah, anyway, bang. Side tracked again. Yeah. We've watched some good stuff. Yeah, we've watched some great shit. Yeah. He was talking about eyeshine, common in many animals, caused from reflection of light from bright light sources. He was saying, I just think I get that with the glowing, the red, not so much, but maybe I don't know enough about eyeshine to dispute that. But the leading scientific explanation is mistaken identity. Larger birds, such as sandhill cranes. Imagine mistaken identity. It's because they're looking for the wrong man after that drawing. You just get stopped in the street. Like they dude, are you mothman? Fucking stopping it from Adam's family. Yeah, so large birds such as sandhill cranes, great blue herons, or owls seen at night can appear much larger than expected, I don't know, about seven feet, but maybe. Especially when illuminated by headlights. Psychologists also point to expectation, memory reconstruction, and media influence as reasons why reports became increasingly consistent after that first time. Okay. Basically, mass hysteria. Yeah, definitely. Despite decades of interest, there's no verified physical, no authenticated photographs. Although there is somebody who said that they did get a photograph of Mothman, which I did not look up. So I will do that at the end of this once we've talked about theories. No DNA feathers nests or remains of everything out. A nest for a seven-foot moth. I'd love to see it. Yeah. Why do we think that they nest as well? It's not owl man, it's moth or something. A nest for a seven-foot moth, but just my broken. Also, it's anything like moths. Surely its lifespan's fucking hella short. I don't know. Bru just accidentally gets trapped in a car. He just sleeps really still and then just falls down the side of someone's bed. Like gets trapped in a loungeade. So he really enjoys the light too much. Just a head bite. Oh my god. I imagine being sat. Right now, my French doors are open downstairs. Imagine being sat in the living room and mothman fucking flies towards the light. 100 miles per hour. Absolutely bored. I can't believe you're telling me this story. This is how far we've come in a year. Yeah. So, whether viewed as folklore, a psychological phenomenon, or something unexplained, a Mothman has become one of the world's best known cryptids. Do you know that that's what they're called? Point Pleasant now embraces the legend with annual Mothman Festival, a museum. And there is a fucking massive Mothman. A massive Mothman statue in Point Pleasant. My god. Yeah. Maybe we'll put that on there as well. So now let's dive into theories. Yes, theory meal. Mothman was an omen of disaster. That's the most famous theory. So the idea that Mothman doesn't cause disasters, it appears shortly before them as some kind of warning. Supporters point for the timeline. November 1966, first sightings begin. December 1967, Silver Bridge collapses. After the collapse, sighting in Points Pleasant largely stop. Maybe it's got something to do with the fact that it was almost a year later and no one gave a fuck anymore. Who knows? Guys, do you remember that time when we all just got really booked up by this big moth? Yeah. Argue believers argue that can't be a coincidence. Yes, it can. Yes, it literally can. Categorically can. Natural disasters be happening every day. Literally. Like, oh, that must be because do you remember that one time? That's because your mom's fat and I stepped on a crack. Yeah, literally. Yeah. No. I actually walked over a triple drain and then 40 people died. And then 40 people died. So it's something to do with me walking over that drain. Although I don't walk over drains and I do salute. So I don't do any of that. That's spend your life. To be fair, I would I would salute a magpie. I always salute a magpie. But I like I don't know. When do you miss a magpie? How's your wife and kids? I think it's because everyone that I know doesn't walk over triple drains. Yes. So I just have to be the one that does it, otherwise we're all just like sitting in the street. Yeah, fair. Good luck. What? Doubles are good luck. Three is bad luck. Wait, who told you that? I don't know, I just heard it once and that's. Yeah. Yeah. They also claim that Mothman appeared Moth one later disaster. Sorry. Because it's just overall. 9-11 and Fuckershima. Oh my god, go away. Yeah. If I was someone that had lost someone in 9-11, and then some big things like, do you think that's it? Mothman was there. Yeah, Mothman's there. Mothman was seen there just before. You guys heard about Mothman?

unknown 41:03

Fuck off.

SPEAKER_00 41:05

What why didn't you do anything then? Do you mean do something? And I thought because I thought it was funny. However, it's important to note that these claims are almost entirely retrospective, and there is no reliable records showing that Mothman was reported before those events. It was literally threatened you. Yeah, and Mothman hats you. Because I can't go. And then you crash your car. Actually, you wouldn't say that, you'd say he's just trying to protect people, but he's actually scaring people when the bad things happen because he's scaring them. So the next theory is that Mothman is an ultra-terrestrial. Right. And this is John Keel's theory that wrote Mothprops. Mothprops. Mothprops. This is where things become genuinely strange. John Keel is a journalist, I have said that before. Spacecrafts from other planets. He does not believe that. That's not real. He said, he proposes that Mothman, UFOs, ghosts, men in black, and other paranormal phenomena are all manifestations of ultra-terrestrials. According to Keel, they're not aliens, they're not ghosts, they're not animals. Instead, they're intelligent entities existing alongside us in a reality humans cannot perceive. Again, why? How? How is right? I'd like to see your evidence. But I just yeah, how is like the like how the big one? What does this guy think of? It's a big one. But I just feel is he saying to do something, or just the man just accidentally broke the void. He believes that these things can manipulate perception, create apparitions, appear differently to different witnesses, influence human behavior. Keila's also suggested that they might intentionally deceive people rather than reveal their nature. And someone willingly designed to become a seven-foot moth that can only just like somebody is played a massive prank on them. And then what? Go see the humans. He shapeshifts into But you should be a massive moth. He shapeshifts into a faulty wire and then a plane that crashes into the Twin Towers. What? And then Chernobyl. He's the reactor. And he's gone, he's not again. Wait, let me fix that. Oh yeah, sorry. No, yeah, he's not actually the villain. Yeah, he's just showing up. I don't know. I'm now picturing Chernobyl, the TV programme, Mothman in the background. You know, when they're like 3.6 Rockton, not terrible. Yeah, I actually have never watched Chernobyl. It's ridiculous. It's on my list, and I've never watched it. I've seen some of the things. It's a bit grossive, but it's rough. Um, but yeah, I have been told. That is like mad, but then I've never just sat in my bed like I'm gonna watch Chernobyl now. Yeah, I'd really like to see that disaster actually. Although we do that above. So, third theory is Mothman is an interdimensional being. Which is this, as you can imagine, this theory evolved from Keel's work. Okay, Keel, shut up and stop writing things down, Keel. Also, Bro's not a journalist, he's a fantasist. He is a fiction author. I love how fucking hard we go in on all of these. We at no point ever pretend to buy into any of this. We never do. But you literally we do have things that are interesting, isn't it? Some things I could be. I'm superstitious. Yeah, you're superstitious, and I do not have to be a lot of people. But I can't possibly believe in mother conspiracy. But then the second I start talking about it, I'm like, but it's bullshit, right? Yeah. I don't know. Can't break us. So instead of another planet, believers think Mothman originates from another dimension. Evidence they point to includes witness reports. Claiming. Maybe he's just a spiny man. He's moth spider-man. He's the one that's got wings. He's glitching. He's just glitching. He just glitched somewhere on the way in total moth, little moth boy. So the evidence that they point to moth sharp thing, just sharp. Includes witness reports claiming it appeared suddenly, if it can fly 100 miles per hour, I'm not surprised. Disappeared instantly, flew with obvious wing beats. Oh, without, sorry. Sorry, without, which is the silent flying. Made almost no sound.

unknown 45:47

Yeah, that was terrifying.

SPEAKER_00 45:48

Some paranormal writers argue this behaviour doesn't resemble any known eye. But it doesn't, obviously it doesn't. It's one of the most popular modern paranormal interpretations. Yeah. So the next theory is that Mothman is connected to UFOs. Throughout 1966, Point Pleasant experienced far more than winged creature reports. Residents also describe strange lights, glowing objects, hovering crafts, bizarre encounters. Okay. Rather than treating these as separate events, Kill believed they were all part of one phenomenon. Confusius still argue. UFO activity, mothman sightings, men in black sightings, all and maybe they are. Yeah. Who are we to judge? After us judging. Yeah, after us judging this entire time. I'm gonna skip some of these because they're gross. So this one is quite this one's very different and a bit fucked. The Indrid Cold slash grinning man connection. Isn't that a horrible image? Yeah. So this one is one of the strangest parts of the story. About a month before the first Mothman sighting, salesman Woodrow Derenberger claimed a strange craft landed near his truck. A smiling man allegedly emerged. He introduced himself as Indrid Cold. According to Derenberger, Cold spoke telepathically. He claimed to come from a place called Lanulas. He later invited Derenberger aboard the craft. And Derenberger eventually claimed that he had visited Lanulas. Keel later connected the story of Mothman and suggested Injrid Cold and the creature were part of the same wider phenomenon. Many later paranormal researchers referred to Injury Cold as the grinning man. Because obviously terrifying premise sceptics note that many of Derenberger's later claims became increasingly extraordinary, and that even Keel's handling of the story has been criticized for blurring fact and embellishment. So they're just like clutching at straws to try and make these two things come together. The next theory is Mothman feeds on human fear. I like this one. Yeah. Some paranormal authors speculate that Mothman isn't simply observed, it actively influences emotions and it does it on people. They argue it creates anxiety, causes nightmares, increases panic, and feeds on the fear. The idea is similar to folklore surrounding certain supernatural entities from European traditions. That's it. That's the theory. Then there's one that's Mothman is a fallen angel or demon. Take your pick. And then the final theory is secret military experiment, which is always a theory, isn't it? So the conspiracy theory suggests that an abandoned TNT area wasn't actually abandoned. Okay, fair. Just giving one talk vibes. Yes. So versions include biological weapons testing, radiation experiment, genetically modified animals, and escaped military projects. Some even claim Mothman was a failed government experiment. You see, there is no proof at all. Let's experiment and make a giant moth. I just feel like pound for pound. Why would you do that? Why would you go with a moth? What can they do? They're just harmless little bees. Yeah. That's the thing, it's like, why a moth if you're using them as a government wedding? Exactly. What is that gonna do so? Or at this point, are you just doing it for fun? They're just like, how big can we make some moth? So that's it. That's the end of Mothman. I believe it. No, I'm buying in. I would love to go to the festival. I would love to see the statue. I want to buy into it so badly. Lean into it, guys. Like that's what you're doing. It's so much fun. I don't know how much I believe in any of the cryptid stuff. No. Because I just find it wild how there's four people at an event that all say they saw it. Yeah, it is. And I was like, how does that work if it's not? Did they all agree to Did they all just sit round? Or did one of them be like, oh my god, did you just No, because there's just no way. They would have had to have maybe they were just tripping balls. I hope so. Because like there's just no way. If I was like, why don't we make up a conspiracy? And then I was like, what about a giant moth chased us and we went 100 miles an hour? So that's the that's the sculpture. Jack. Denge. I'm trying to be like Mothman. That is definitely Photoshop. That's a joke. That drawing is a joke. But then there's this one. Math met what the fuck? That's just the top of the fucking fence. That's a bridge, but it's not on the other side. It's only in the oh I see.

unknown 50:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 50:54

It's just a blob. It is just a blob. This is like the cat all over again. I was like, when I was searching, I was like fully convinced. And then I showed you it and was like, oh shit, sorry. Anyway, yeah, that's Mothman. Mad so much. That has really made my cloud title Twitter. It's so nonsensical. Because also I was doing the notes and I was like, there's not really anything to tell you. There's some some sightings of you know general mysteries and then theories, but that's all you can really do with cryptids. Yeah. And mysteries in general. Anyway, yeah. Thanks for listening, guys. It was nice to be back. Yeah, nice to be back. You don't know we've gone anywhere. Yeah. We haven't actually missed this week like we thought we were going. I don't know. Unless we don't edit this time. Unless that doesn't happen. It's an hour long. I think I can edit it probably on time is too. I actually don't think we've done that much waffling. No, we've definitely done a lot of tangents, but they can stay, and there is a bit about work. Oh yeah. Let us go. Hey, love you guys. Yes, thank you so much. Um, follow us on Instagram if you want to see all this nonsense and Amy's holy shirt. Um and that fucking drawing is worth it. And that drawing is worth that is the worst thing I've potentially ever seen. Yeah, it is fucking hilarious. It is actually that in five. Oh my god, yes. Or an owl, whatever you saw, but that is crazy. Like I understand that you couldn't make out features of it. Yeah, that's that you know it had a head. If it wasn't a hairy tooth, it can't have been. Otherwise, you wouldn't have been scared. Love you lots. Yes, lots of love. See you next week.