The Mothman Festival is a festival that celebrates a seven feet creature with wings. In the year 1966, tow couples on a nightly drive through the abandoned TNT area where chased by what they described as a creature standing seven feet tall and had wings. Despite their speed the being, later dubbed "Mothman," kept up with them. Over the next year, Mothman hysteria swept through Mason County and the whole state of Ohio. Wild claims about this red eyed beast were popping up left and right. People thought it was an alien a demon or Chief Cornstalk's curse over Mason County. Others believed that this creature sabotaged the Silver Bridge, causing it to collapse during the height of Christmas shopping. Some credited it as not evil, but harbinger of tragedies.
After a while, talk started to die down without much as a stir until many years later when the Mothman craze decided to come back with a vengeance when the book "Mothman Prophecies" was turned into a movie and was in theaters everywhere.
The Mothman Prophecies (film)
Kittanning Citizens Bridge
Panther Books 1976 British editionDespite the fact that the movie was not filmed in Point Pleasant, but somewhere in Pennsylvania, the people of Mason County decided to reap the benefits of their fiendish celebrity.
The Mothman Festival first started on November of 2002, in honor of the first sightings. Later it was decided to have the festival in September due to the warmer weather. Since it's still quite new, it hasn't gained much popularity like the Roswell Alien Convention. People will go here to sell their Mothman souvenirs. Some of which is just as strange as the stories. Tables would litter the sidewalks of Main Street; each one would have different items ranging pens, books and t-shirts. Once in awhile there'll be little bags
labeled as "Mothman Poop," which the merchants say is the genuine thing. Besides crazy vendors, the festival has hay rides through the abandoned TNT plant area where Mothman was first sited, a room full of memorabilia from the "Mothman Prophecies" movie, book signing and guest speakers who talk about Mothman and the paranormal. An artist made a statue just for the festival that had the likeness of a rabid butterfly. Sadly, there is not much in the way of food. Many people just go to a fastfood restaurant located near by, like McDonald's or Wendy's.
The collapsed Silver Bridge, as seen from the Ohio...
Silver Bridge in Point Pleasant, West Virginia whi...
English: Gravesite of , . Photographed 2005.