|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Mothman investigation begins at the Mothman Museum in Point Pleasant, W.Va.
The museum's creator shows the team the original handwritten statements that the first three Mothman eyewitnesses gave to the local police department. The team also learns that during the time of the Mothman sightings in 1966-67, more than 100 U.F.O. sightings were reported. In addition, a news article on display states that the Lowe Inn, where the team is staying, is haunted.
At the Lowe Inn, a woman named Robin describes her Mothman sighting of 40 years ago, when she was 8 or 9 years old: a muscular "man with a wetsuit with wings" and red eyes. She also claims to have seen apparitions more than once inside the Lowe Inn and takes the team on a tour of the haunted rooms, one of which is 311, where Deb is staying. Rob thinks he sees a ghost in the hall and says "something weird is going on."
The team meets with several witnesses. Linda Scarberry, who reported the first Mothman sighting, says she saw a creature with bright red eyes that was half human and half bird with wings and red eyes. Marcella Bennett describes seeing a six-foot-tall, birdlike creature. Thirteen months after her sighting, her uncle saw the Mothman on the same day that the Silver Bridge over the Ohio River collapsed. Faye DeWitt says the creature jumped onto the hood of her car and then leaped to the top of a building. Since then, she has had numerous premonitions that have come true, including on the day the bridge collapsed, and she links them to the Mothman sighting.
At the River Museum, the team learns that a broken eyebar is the reason the Silver Bridge collapsed.
Dottie Campbell, next-door neighbor to Mary Hyre, a respected journalist who covered sightings of the Mothman and of U.F.O.s, tells the team about conversations she and Hyre shared in 1966. Hyre had been frightened of men dressed in black who appeared in Point Pleasant and told her not to write about the sightings. Hyre, Campbell says, thought the men were aliens disguised as humans because of their complexions and their aversion to shaking hands.
The team decides to camp overnight at a wildlife reserve where the first Mothman sightings occurred, but no one spots the creature. Rob attempts to discover new evidence of the Silver Bridge wreckage by going scuba diving in the Ohio River, but the water is too murky to see anything. The team is unable to turn up any physical evidence during the investigation.
At the Harris Steakhouse, witness Carolyn Harris shares her story. Most interesting, the team believes, is her statement that the Mothman mystery has been good for the local economy. Harris says visitors have come to Point Pleasant from all 50 states and many foreign countries.
|
|
|
|
|
|