Mothman

The Mothman, also referred to as the Weremoth, is a legendary creature in American folklore. Point Pleasant, West Virginia, United States saw Mothman from November 15, 1966 to December 15, 1967.

Artist's impression of the Mothman

Mothman (cropped)

The first newspaper publication of November 16, 1966 was titled "Couples See Man-Sized Bird...Creature...Something."^[1]

The people who saw Mothman saw a dark shape with very large glowing red eyes.

Mothman may have been a barred owl. Barred owls's eyes shine bright red in the dark. At night, the eyes look much bigger than they really are. The people may have seen a barn owl flying very close to them and thought it was a larger animal further away.^[2]

A barred owl in daylight.

In popular culture

• The Mothman became popular when American journalist and UFOlogist John Keel wrote the book The Mothman Prophecies and published it in 1975. The book was adapted into a 2002 movie.

• Also the Mothman appeared in the video game Fallout 76.