Man-butterfly

The man-butterfly (or man-moth ) is a mysterious winged creature which would have been observed in several countries, in particular with Point Pleasant in the State of the Virginia-Western , with the the United States, in 1966. Known on the other side of the Atlantic under the name of Mothman , this mythical creature, photographed with some recoveries, seems to appear during the last moments preceding a catastrophe.

History

The concept of the man-moth was born from testimonys in 1966 in Western Virginia: people claim to have seen a creature humanoïde winged with the blazing red eyes. Several observations would have followed one another until December 15th, 1967, which sees the collapse of the Silver Bridge of Point Pleasant in which 46 people find death. The appearances rarefy after the event. In the Seventies, the ufologist John Keel gathers testimonys in one entitled book The Mothman Prophecies ( the Prophecy of the shades ) and proposes that the man-moth is a creature of another world whose function would be to inform of an imminent catastrophe. Of another authors like Jeff Wamsley and Andy Covin take again the topic, which takes a universal dimension: the man-moth is identified with many entities of similar aspect, such as the Asian Garuda S or the Amerindian bird-thunder S, and its appearances are regarded as one of the forms of a world phenomenon including/understanding the Apparition S mariales and the UFO S. According to them, this creature were observed and described in an identical way in many countries, in particular in China, the ex-USSR, with the Chile, in Georgia, and in many areas of the the Middle East. Multiplicity of these descriptions, of which the reported first go back to the beginning of the 19th century, combined with surprisingly similar descriptions, complicates the analyzes of the researchers.

Observations

Not Pleasant, November 1966 - December 1967

One of the most incredible documented appearances of the man-moth goes back to the November 12th 1966. This evening, five men prepared a fall into a small cemetery close to Clendenin in Virginia-Western (the United States), when what they described as a “brownish human form with wings” took its take-off since a thicket near the places and passed above their heads. However, this appearance was not immediately made public; it was taken again only three days later by the American media.

This event was going to be followed many others, always localized in the area. Late in the night of the November 15th, two young married couples of Not Pleasant, Roger and Linda Scarberry like Steve and Mary Case, left to walk by car. They passed in front of a manufacturing plant of TNT (going back to Second world war) to approximately 11 kilomêtres outside Point Pleasant (to 10 kilomêtres of McClintic Wildlife Station), when they saw two strange red gleams in the darkness, beside an old tank close to the fence of the factory. They stopped and were impressed to see that they were brilliant eyes coming obviously from a large animal, “of human form, but larger, perhaps six and half or seven feet height (2m10 approximately); with large wings folded back on the back”, according to Roger Scarberry. Terrified, the two couples escaped in direction of Road 62. By taking the exit, they still transfer the creature, which was held on the side of the road. It drew aside its wings and flew away, while taking drives out the car of it. The witnesses affirmed to have tried to take speed the “thing” while rolling until the speed of 100 miles per hour (approximately 160 km/h), but without success: the creature always followed them closely and “almost did not beat wings”, according to their testimony. When they approached the city, the creature disappeared. They then went to the law courts of Mason County and told their history with the deputy Millard Halstead, who, questioned later, would have declared: “I know these children for a long time. They never had problem with justice and they were really frightened this night. I took them with serious”. It went on the spot of the observation, but did not find any trace of the strange creature.

The following night, the November 16th, the local townsmen, armed, organized one beaten in the surrounding zone of the factory of TNT to try to unearth the creature. Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Wamsley, like Mrs. Marcella Bennett and his daughter Teena junior left by car to return visit to friends, Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Thomas, which lived in a bungalow among the " igloos" (structures in form of dome set up for storage of explosives during the Second world war) close to the factory of TNT. The igloos were not empty, some belonged to the county, others with companies which made use of it like storage space. At once left the car, they transfer a figure to appear behind the car in parking. It is at this place that the second observation of the man moth took place. Mrs. Bennett declared later that it was like if this " chose" was raised slowly of the ground, broad and gray, with eyes rougeoyants. While Wamsley telephoned the police force, the creature advanced under the porch of the house and disfigured them through the window.

The November 24th, four people transfer the creature to fly above the zone of factory TNT. The morning of the November 25th, Thomas Ury, who led on Road 62 to the north of the factory, known as to have seen the creature being held in the field close to the road, opening his wings and taking off, while following his car whereas it slipped by towards Point Pleasant to report the event with the sheriff.

The November 26th, Virginia-Western Mrs. Ruth Foster of Charleston , suburbs of St Albans, known as to have seen what one invited already the mothman (man-moth) to be held on his lawn, but it was not there any more when his/her brother-in-law checked. The morning of the November 27th, the creature continued an young woman close to Mason, Virginia-Western, which was brought back again to St Albans the same night by two children.

The man-moth was seen another time the January 11th 1967, and still on several occasions in the year. It is however necessary to consider with prudence last testimonys, because of influence of the first observations on the population: in an American atmosphere taken of fever of irrational, and particularly for the extraterrestrial life, the last cases to Point Pleasant seem not very reliable.

December 15th 1967, highway 35 connecting Not Pleasant, (Virginia) and Kanauga, (Ohio) near to the place of the apparations, crumbles in the Ohio river, killing 46 people, of which Marvin Wamsley.

For the observers, the collapse of the bridge seems to be in close link with the appearances of the man-moth: one of the first advanced theories supposes that the creature played, by its successive appearances near the place of the catastrophe, the role of heralding the imminence of the drama.

A book of John A. Keel and a film of Pellington Mark (with Richard Gere, Laura Linney, Will Patton…) draft of the events of Pleasant Point: the Prophecy of the Shades ( The Mothman Prophecies ).

New York, September 11th, 2001

The day sadly celebrates where the the United States entered the terror and where thousands of people lost the life in the collapse of the World Trade Center to New York is marked by testimonys bringing back the presence of the man-moth near the places of the drama. An astonishing photograph of the creature was even taken by the photographer Steven Moran, who covered a turning of chain WTC and took at this moment on Greenwich Street of the stereotypes of aid operations following the attacks. The experts to date could not confirm or cancel the authenticity of the stereotype.

Analyzes

The largest collection of information noted on the man-moth is in a book of John Keel written in 1975, The Mothman Prophecies , in which it lays down on paper the chronology of the appearances as of other events that it regards as parapsychologic, all occurred in the area at the same period. They include/understand observations of UFO, meetings with Hommes in black, Poltergeist, and the December 15th 1967, the collapse of Silver Bridge in the river Ohio. The film the Prophecy of the shades (2002) is an adaptation of the book of Keel. Loren Coleman, author of articles on l'" strangeness ailée" and of a book published in 1978, Creatures off the Outer Edge , publishes Mothman and Other Curious Encounters , which gathers the details on investigations cryptozoologic S and tries a demonologic interpretation .

Some explanations provided in connection with the case of Jack Heel-with-Arises ( Spring-Heeled Jack ) which appeared during the era victorienne in England, namely that the creature would be a bird of big size, could be applied to the man-moth:

According to the magazine Skeptical Inquirer from March-April 2002, the most plausible explanation of these visions would be the meeting of imaginative and excited people with a Barn owl. Mark A. Hall, in its book Thunderbirds , has not contradicted the assumption of the owl, but proposes that it would be about a kind of giant owl, seen in the area for 100 years. A probable candidate is the Grand owl with horns, the Virginia-Western being the place which has the most varieties in the world of this kind of gray and savage night bird, size of a child, who can walk a long time on the ground and make jumps of five feet. The Lappish Owl, winter migratory bird rare in the American States of the south, larger still than the large owl with horns (60 to 83 cm), is also possible. Another assumption would be a large gray crane of the hills. Nevertheless, these birds do not have the red eyes and the witnesses estimate the size of the creature at 2 meters or 2 meters 50.

Popular culture

Tourism

The man-moth became a tourist attraction of Pleasant Point where one finds a statue the representative and a small museum which is devoted to him. An annual festival is dedicated to him.

Literature

In the book Children of Icare of Arthur C. Clarke (original title: Childhood' S End - 1953), the Overlords resemble the description of the man-butterfly.
the Prophecy of the shades , delivers writes by John Keel in 1975 (first French edition in 2002). The Prophétie starts besides with a quotation of the Enfants of Icare .

Video games

the man-butterfly was used as the base of a monster in the roleplay Alternity Dark Matter: Shades off Grey and in the adventures " The Killing Jar" , and was a monster in D20 Menace Manual, called the Mothfolk .
the man-butterfly shares resemblances to Morph Moth , one of the Boss in Megaman X2 on the console Super Nintendo.
a version " mignonne" man-butterfly also appears in Shin Megami Tensei: Night on the Playstation 2.
the Luminoth, a tribe of creatures humanoïdes which appears in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes for the Gamecube from Nintendo can also be regarded as a tribe of man-butterflies.
In Castlevania: Dawn off Sorrow, it is one of the three monsters based on the Cryptozoologie, seeming a creature in black core with wings and broad eyes.

Television

In an episode of X-files called Turning , the Mulder agent speaks about the appearances of a creature to the red eyes called " the man-papillon" at Point Pleasant. The Scully agent requires of him sarcastically if this is of the same type as " The cockroach that ate Cincinnati " (a song dating from the Sixties).
One of the characters of Aqua Teen Hunger Forces in the episode " Mothmonsterman" is also certainly based on the man-butterfly, including even a parody of the film scene where the character of Richard Gere receives a telephone call of the monster.
a butterfly killer appears in the animated series Teen Titans sharing a notable resemblance to the description of the man-butterfly.

Film

the Prophecy of the shades (2002), with Richard Gere, is a retranscription of the events to Point Pleasant between November 1966 and December 1967.
Batman Begins (2005) includes/understands a scene of hallucination which depicts Batman like a creature of the " type; man-papillon" , with wings and eyes rougeoyants.
Mimic is a film in connection with a species of insects having transferred in a form which enables them to be made pass for human beings. Their natural form is of approximately 2m10, and resembles the man-butterfly.

Music

the Canadian progressive rock group built a mythology wire-red since their first album with the title eponyme left in 1978 to their third opus " Silent Knight". This mythology took the form of a civilization of men butterflies lodged on a remote planet whose intentions were the arrival on Earth and its colonization by fire and blood.

References and sources

The Mothman Prophecies , by John A. Keel, Saturday Review Near, 1975 and Tor Books, (paperback) 2002 ISBN 0765341972
Mothman and Other Curious Encounters by Loren Coleman, Paraview Near, 2002, ISBN 1931044341
Nickel, Joe. 2002. “Mothman” Solved! Skeptical Inquirer March-April 26 (2): 20.

External bonds

Mothman Death List/Mothman Curse
Mothman pages on Dmoz
Mothman
Central Mothman
" The Mothman" by Frank Frazetta
the Wave
Mothman Festival at Point Pleasant
Mothman Museum, Not Pleasant

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