In November 1966, locals in the town of Point Pleasant, West Virginia, reported seeing a large birdlike creature flying in the sky. These sightings would give notoriety to the town that would claim the Mothman as their own and continue the legend to this day. To develop my research further on the Mothman, I have the following questions: Why Point Pleasant? How can the existence of the Mothman be explained? How did the Mothman legend become an omen? I will explore the following disciplines: history, science, and psychology to broaden my understanding and insight into this urban legend of the Mothman.  

Why Point Pleasant?

         Looking back on the history of the town of Point Pleasant in November 1777, a Native American named Chief Cornstalk (Keigh-tugh-gua) was captured by the English colonists after a failed attempt at peace talks. Chief Cornstalk was murdered by the colonists and believed to have placed a curse on the land on his deathbed. People believe that the curse by this tribal leader was the cause of the Mothman’s appearance in Point Pleasant. According to Peter Newman’s article entitled “To Indians, Land is Not Real Estate” located in Maclean’s (Vol 103, Issue 37) , which was located on Gale Academic OneFile database, “Most Indians regard North Americans whites as temporary visitors to their nation and not very welcome ones at that.” This historical and cultural perspective held by Native Americans is just as true two hundred years ago as it is today. Thus, if I were of Native American descent, I would believe that Chief Cornstalk had the spiritual power to command an evil birdlike creature to cause destruction in Point Pleasant with the Silver Bridge collapse in 1967 in the form of a curse.

                  How can the existence of the Mothman be explained?

  In addition to the belief of the curse of Chief Cornstalk about Mothman, there is a theory that the Mothman is an extraterrestrial being. Scientists within the U.S. government have been studying the existence of unidentified flying objects (UFO) since 1947, with the first sighting of bat-like aircrafts flying over Mount Rainier in Washington State. That same year, a reported UFO was found on a ranch in Roswell, New Mexico, which would become the Roswell Incident, and when the government started Project Blue Book. Over the decades, and still today scientists have been employed to research UAP (Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena) for the United States government. According to the journal article called “A History of Scientific Approaches to Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena” by Tim Lomas that was found on a Google Scholar database. Lomas in his article from the Journal of Scientific Exploration stated, “Even if the scientific community overall has designated a phenomenon off limits, some scientists will still advocate bringing it back within limits and may well continue to study it.” Scientists continue to attempt to apply scientific research methods to explain UAP encounters. Thus, the discipline of science confirms that the Mothman remains one of these unexplained UAP encounters in the science world.

                How did the Mothman become an omen?

    Unexplained eyewitness sightings of the Mothman were observed around the world after the Point Pleasant sighting in the 1960s. In 2007, a I-35 bridge collapsed in Minnesota killing people and in 2001, Twin Towers collapsed. Each incident had reports of seeing a creature flying in the air. One of the worst accidents at a nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine, had sightings of birdlike creatures flying above the plant before the explosion. Could the sightings of the Mothman before a historic life changing event be an omen? Through the discipline of psychology, the belief in omens and superstitions allows people to believe events or set actions like a broken mirror can predict the future. According to Aisha, Farhat, and Ruhi who wrote the journal article, “Thinking Styles and Belief in Superstitions” found in the ProQuest Psychology Database, “Superstitions still prevail in today’s developed world despite the fact that one does not need to rely on these nonscientific beliefs to deal with daily life situations”.  This article taken from the Pakistan Journal of Psychological Research gives me an awareness that people who have superstitious beliefs will put faith in omen to explain a horrific event. Thus, the urban legend of the Mothman will continue to be retold by superstitious people who believe in its fortune telling power.

         In conclusion, the academic disciplines of history, science, and psychology have given me insight into the fact that a person’s belief system is formed through their cultural or family values. The beliefs that a person possesses will determine if he/she will believe in any facts and theories relating to the urban legend of the Mothman. If one is Native American, a believer in UAPs or is superstitious in any way, the person may believe that the Mothman is a real beast that flies about predicting the calamity of world events.