76. The Legend of The Mothman
29:12 Share

You're listening to an Ono Media podcast. Hey everybody and welcome back to the Into the Dark podcast. I'm your host Peyton Moreland and I am so happy you are here. If you're watching on YouTube, can you please, please, please give this video a thumbs up? Just drop a comment. It takes two seconds and it helps me out so much. And if you are listening on audio and can leave me a review, I would love it. I would appreciate it. Thank you guys for being here. Thank you for always supporting the podcast. It means more than you know.

So for my 10 seconds today, I realized the other day that I've obviously been coloring my hair darker and darker as I've been doing this entire podcast journey. You probably have noticed. And now that I'm at the color I'm at, it's great. I love it.

but my eyebrows are still blonde. And when I wear makeup, I color them in, but when I don't have makeup on, they're blonde. And I think I really, really need to dye my eyebrows as well, but it's just like a whole thing. Like I was just thinking about it. I'm like, it's just so weird that we change the hair color on our head, but then we're like, oh shoot, our eyebrows have to match too. I don't know. It's just funny. It's something I've been thinking about. I'm really glad I wear makeup most of the time on this show. So you don't have to look at my vaginal

very blonde, unsettling eyebrows with this dark of hair color. But, uh,

and I'm gonna keep doing it, okay? And I'll let you know if I die then. Okay, let's get into the story. All right, if you're a superstitious person, then there's nothing more unsettling than coming across a bad omen, like crossing paths with a black cat, breaking a mirror, spilling salt, or watching someone open an umbrella indoors. To some, these things might offer a warning that something terrible is on the horizon.

To others, they're just laughable old legends, encounters with everyday objects that are bound to happen at some point or another. But if you lived in the town of Point Pleasant, West Virginia, back in 1967, you might have a different take on what a bad omen looks like. Because that year, dozens of people all over the small town

began spotting an object, or rather a creature, that brought along this impending sense of doom. And after the final sighting, the town experienced one of its biggest tragedies in history, leaving many to wonder if this creature, which they called Mothman, was just a bad omen.

or had it intentionally come to Point Pleasant to warn the townsfolk in a desperate attempt to stop the catastrophe that was going to happen. Now, Point Pleasant, West Virginia, back in 1966, was a sleepy little town, home to a little under 5,000 people.

It was located right on the border of Ohio along the river. Point Pleasant had a quaint little downtown area with neighbors who all seemed to know one another. It was a place where boredom had a tendency to run rampant and gossip was valuable currency. It was a small town in search of its own big story, its own place in the history books.

And come November of 1966, the first chapter of Point Pleasant's story was about to be written. It all started on a little farm with a man named Newell Patridge and his German shepherd, Bandit.

So it was around 10.30 p.m. on November 14th. Newell and his wife were cozied up on the couch watching a movie. It had been a long day for both of them. They were already starting to nod off when Newell was rattled awake by the sound of static on the TV.

Then it was followed by something more unsettling. It was a high pitched whining noise. He'd never heard the television set make that noise before. Newell described it sounding like a musical scale going as high as it could and then coming back down and repeating. Meanwhile, a noise outside the house also caught their attention. It sounded to Newell like a generator winding up or something.

accompanied by the howls of his German Shepherd, Bandit, who'd been sleeping outside. So the partridges waited a few minutes, thinking it would all stop in due time. But when they could no longer ignore it, Newell grabbed a flashlight and went to check on his dog. By that point, Bandit was barking and howling towards the barn at the far end of the property that was about 150 yards away.

So Newell shined his flashlight in that direction. And that's when he saw something he would never forget. It was two bright red eyes on some shapeless creature just reflecting back at him in the darkness. Now, obviously a chill ran down Newell's spine. He'd been an avid hunter most of his life and he knew whatever was staring at him was not some local game.

but before he could even catch his breath or give bandit any commands the dog takes off in the direction of the creature darting down the property and into the woods so that's when newell rushed back inside to grab his shotgun but as he went back outside with the gun he found himself too afraid to brave the darkness again too terrified to even go after his trusted german shepherd

Instead, the Partridges shut off their TV, they bolted their doors, and they climbed into bed with the shotgun under Newell's pillow. Now, Newell hardly slept a wink, and the next day when the sun was finally up, Newell set out looking for Bandit in the daylight. He went out towards the barn following Bandit's tracks, which led him just a short distance away from where he'd last spotted the creature. But Bandit's tracks didn't continue into the woods.

Instead, they began going in circles, almost as if the dog had just started chasing its own tail. Now, Newell knew that that couldn't have been the case because Bandit wasn't a playful animal. He was 110-pound hunting dog bred to attack any game that crossed his path. Yet there were no other tracks, neither Bandit's or another creature's beyond what Newell was seeing. So it was as if the dog and the creature maybe just vanished into thin air.

And that's when an overwhelming sense of dread washed over Newell Partridge. Whatever was going on here was not natural. And something told him this wasn't the last time he'd be hearing about it. So later that same day at around 1130 p.m. on November 15th, two 18-year-old newlywed couples were cruising around Point Pleasant in their Chevy.

Linda and Roger Scarberry were in the front while Steve and Mary Mollet were in the back. And they decided, why not take a little detour through one of the more

Interesting features of the town, it was the old TNT area, otherwise known as the West Virginia Ordnance Works. The location was used to store ammunition during the Second World War, everywhere from bullets to explosives. But since the war had ended, the location had been abandoned, leaving behind these thick concrete domes called igloos. It was a series of tunnels as well and old deserted buildings.

So come 1966, it was considered a wildlife sanctuary, becoming a preserve for birds and other animals native to the Ohio River Valley, not to mention the occasional teenager looking for the perfect place to pull over and make out.

which was what the Scarberries and the Mollets were up to when they decided to cut through the TNT area that evening. They parked their Chevy near an old generator plant and turned off the car, but before the windows could even start to fog, Linda Scarberry pointed something out in the distance. Standing in the darkness, several feet in front of the car were two bright red eyes, literally the size of bicycle reflectors just staring back at them.

But unlike Newell Partridge, they could see what those eyes belonged to. It was a seven foot creature standing on two legs. It looked like a tall gray man with muscly legs, but it also had wings folded along its back. Steve Mollett screamed for Roger to hit the gas and get them out of there. All four of them were looking at it.

They took off spinning through the dust back onto Route 62 and the couples raced towards town but that's when they noticed the creature wasn't staying behind it had actually followed them flying closely over their vehicle. So Roger picked up the speed the odometer literally reading 100 miles per hour and yet the winged creature kept up. At the same time they noticed the beast was making a strange sound squeaking like a giant mouse as it tormented these teens.

They raced towards the sheriff's office, praying the creature would eventually tire of this game. And eventually, it did seem to let up. Roger was able to slow the speed of the car a little bit. And when he did, this gave everyone else an opportunity to notice something on the side of the road as they got back into town. It was a dead German shepherd.

So when they finally made it into the sheriff's office, the couples were in hysterics. They wondered, should they even bother to file a report? Would anyone even believe them? What had they seen? This doesn't feel like real life. Luckily, the officer on duty, Deputy Millard Halstead, did.

He'd known these kids their entire lives. They weren't the kind of people that would make something like this up. And the look of fear on their faces was enough to convince him and his partner to head back to the TNT area that night.

Sometimes after a particularly long day, I love to play games on my phone to get my mind off things, and one game I have been loving is June's Journey. June's Journey is a hidden object mystery mobile game that puts your detective skills to the test. You play as June Parker and investigate beautifully detailed scenes of the 1920s while uncovering the mystery of her sister's murder.

murder. With hundreds of mind-teasing puzzles, the next clue is always within reach. Every new scene and chapter leads to more juicy secrets and clues being revealed about this mysterious murder that brings out the detective in everyone. Plus, you get to chat and play with or against other players by joining a detective club. You'll even get the chance to play in a detective league to put your skills to the test.

I have always loved good scavenger hunts and puzzles, and of course we all know I love a good murder mystery, and this is just the perfect marriage of the two. Right now I'm on chapter two. I've been trying so hard not to use the light bulb feature to help me search for clues. I seriously look forward to playing it every night. Discover your inner detective when you download June's Journey for free today on iOS and Android. Okay, you guys, let me guess. Your medicine cabinet is crammed with stuff that doesn't work.

You still aren't sleeping. You still hurt and you're still stressed out. That's how it was for me. So I cleared out my cabinet and reset my health with CBD from CB Distillery. And it has been a real change. Now, CB Distillery's targeted formulations are made from the highest quality clean ingredients. No fluff, no fillers, just pure effective CBD solutions designed to help support your health.

In two non-clinical surveys, 81% of customers experienced more calm. 80% said CBD helped with pain after physical activity. And an impressive 90% said they slept better with CBD. And you guys, I have taken CBD to help me sleep and I

always zonk out so fast and have such a restful night's sleep. Those nights that I'm tossing and turning, I always reach for my CBD. So if you struggle with a health concern and haven't found relief, make the change like I did to CB Distillery. And with over 2 million customers and a solid 100% money back guarantee, CB Distillery is the source to trust. I have a 20% discount to get you started.

Visit cbdistillery.com and use code dark for 20% off you guys. If you wanted to give CBD a try, go to cbdistillery.com, code dark. cbdistillery.com, use code dark. All right, let's get back to the episode.

Now, after combing the old storage facility, neither Halstead nor his partner noticed anything out of the ordinary until the time they were just about to leave. So Halstead switched on his radio and was met with an extremely loud, high-pitched noise, almost like a tape being fast-forwarded at high speed. He'd never heard his equipment act like this before, and frankly, it freaked the cops out.

Halstead and his partner hightailed it out of the area, certain that something definitely wasn't right. Between the teenager's sighting, the call from Newell Partridge, and the experience with the deputies, the sheriff felt it was only right to call a press conference the following morning. So that's how fast all of this happens. By November 16th, the local papers were already printing headlines about a winged creature that was terrorizing the Point Pleasant area.

With its description closely resembling the Batman character, locals began calling it Mothman.

And almost immediately, people from all over the Ohio, West Virginia area flocked to the TNT area, hoping to have their own experience with the winged cryptid. Everyone from grown men touting shotguns to families with kids prepared to camp out overnight for one quick glimpse. What many didn't know was that if they wanted a peek, they should have just moved a mile or two down the road.

to Virginia and Ralph Thomas' home, because that evening, two other families had stopped by the Thomas' to say hello. And as they were getting back into their cars after dark, one of the visitors, Mrs. Bennett, saw something stirring in the bushes behind her vehicle. Now holding her baby in her arms, the child started to cry as a giant seven-foot winged creature rose and stood just a few feet away from Mrs. Bennett.

She was so terrified that she actually dropped her baby and stood there, like just completely fawning, dissociating, just transfixed in horror. And that's when one of the other visitors, a man named Raymond Wamsley, grabbed Mrs. Bennett and the baby, ran back to the house and locked the door. Now they all stood there, knees shaking as they heard the creature creep over the porch and stare with those giant red eyes into one of the windows.

It was around 9:00 PM when they called the police, but by the time they arrived at the Thomas's house, Mothman was long gone. Now after that evening, the bizarre occurrences around Point Pleasant seemed to just increase by the day. On the night of November 18th, two Point Pleasant firemen were out in the TNT area when they spotted Mothman. On the evening of the 20th, five teenagers were diving around the area when they saw the man-sized creature zipping through the trees, pursuing their vehicle.

That same night, an elderly man called the police claiming he saw Mothman standing on his front lawn. And around 7 a.m. on November 27th, a man named Thomas Urie rushed into the sheriff's station to say he saw a bird-like figure pursuing his car in broad daylight. In his report, he claimed he felt such a paralyzing sense of fear from the creature that he had to call out of work that day.

He said, quote, I've never had that feeling before. A weird kind of fear, the fear that grips you and held you. He continued on. Somehow the best way to explain it would be to say that the whole thing just wasn't right. I know that may not make sense, but that's the only way I can put into words what I felt. Now, as the sightings heated up, news of Point Pleasant's cryptid began traveling out of state.

The headlines particularly caught the interest of one paranormal researcher and journalist from New York, a man named John Keel, who by December 7th, 1966, had packed his bags and journeyed south to West Virginia in hopes of getting to the bottom of this mysterious creature. Now, John's first stop upon arriving in Point Pleasant was the sheriff's office for a word with Deputy Halstead.

who was also fully convinced by this point that the town was undergoing some sort of supernatural phenomenon. But John Kill was armed with a more in-depth theory. After having read about some of the encounters locals had had with Mothman, he found that their experiences were reminiscent of just traditional UFO encounters. How some people were transfixed, others seemingly experienced a loss of time. So

So he asked Deputy Halstead, he said, have there been any UFO sightings in the area? And Halstead replies, not that I'm aware of, just the bird. But Halstead didn't shut John down after this question. Instead, he offered up the address to one of the first Mothman witnesses. It was the home of Roger and Linda Scarberry.

So less than a half hour later, John was knocking on their door. Before long, the living room was filled with other locals who had experienced firsthand encounters with Mothman. So all of them kind of show up just eager to spill their guts to John Kill. One of the most interesting accounts was that of 18-year-old Connie Carpenter. She claimed on the morning of November 27th, she was driving home from church, passing a golf course when she had a bizarre encounter.

Out of her car window, she spotted the giant gray man standing on the greens. Immediately, she was locked into those piercing red eyes that almost had a hypnotic effect on her. Connie was transfixed by the Mothman and couldn't look away. In fact, she told John Kill it was a miracle she didn't drive right off the road. Connie then watched as the creature spread its wings and began hovering above the ground like a helicopter.

Finally, the science fiction-like beast, as Connie described it, flew right over her car before taking off into the woods. Now, it wasn't Connie's story that stood out to John Kill as much as it was the state in which she was telling it.

Because John could see that Connie's eyes were terribly red and swollen. She admitted to John that right after the encounter, she'd actually gotten a severe case of conjunctivitis or pink eye. A symptom John Kill had seen repeatedly while studying UFO encounters. Which he proposed was from the ultraviolet rays that some of these otherworldly objects can give off.

It was after this conversation that John felt he was getting closer to confirming his theory. Perhaps Mothman was some type of extraterrestrial being or at least had a connection to UFOs.

So following this meeting, John teamed up with Connie's aunt, a local reporter named Mary Heyer, to dig further into the phenomenon. And their first order of business was actually to see whether there was anyone in the area who had spotted UFO activity outside of Mothman. There were any mysterious lights in the sky or objects in the distance that they couldn't explain. Well, turns out there were dozens of them all over the place.

all over the area. A few sightings even happened to occur the first few nights John Keel was in town. For example, in the early morning hours of December 8th at around 2:00 AM, a young man living on the Ohio River woke to go to the bathroom and spotted something outside his window. It was a bright round object that seemed to hover right above the water. It was so close that he could make out a set of windows around the saucer that appeared to be covered with some sort of foil curtains.

And then just a few hours later, a couple in Cheshire, Ohio, just across the river from the TNT area, saw a similar object.

And as the sun was starting to rise, Mr. Hearn was out walking his dog when he noticed a bright red light parked on the riverbank. And beneath the light, he spotted several small figures moving around outside of a spacecraft. Mr. Hearn said he actually rushed inside to wake his wife, who then went across the street to get their neighbors. And all four of them stood out there in the cold morning, their mouths agape as they watched these beings putter around for some time.

Finally, the red light on their craft turned green and the beings scuttled back inside before the craft took off into the night sky. So it appeared John Kill was kind of onto something after all. It wasn't just Mothman that had seemingly moved into Point Pleasant. It had arrived with an entire host of supernatural activity. And someone out there was not happy that the townspeople were talking about it.

On January 19th, 1967, a man named Tad Jones was driving to work at around 9 a.m. And as he turned onto Route 64, he came upon a large object blocking the road. At first, Tad was frustrated, assuming it was construction and that it would keep him from opening his store on time. But as he got closer, he realized the object wasn't parked in the middle of the road. It was hovering just a few feet above it.

It was a 20-foot long aluminum sphere with four legs on the bottom. And there was a small window on the craft, only Tad couldn't make out what was inside. When he got closer, the craft seemed to activate a propeller on its undercarriage before rising higher into the sky. Then it just shot up and disappeared above the trees. Now, Tad didn't know what to make of this situation, but he did call the police to report it.

And then the following day, however, Tad would come to regret that because a note had been slipped under the door of his home, written in oddly shaped blocked letters that said, we know what you have seen and we know that you have talked. You'd better keep your mouth shut. And I think it's important to point out multiple people who claim to see Mothman actually got threats because of it. Like someone, something was threatening people who were coming forward saying they were seeing Mothman. And then Tad,

One day, it just vanished. No one seemed to see Mothman again until November of 1967. Almost a year to the date it was first seen, it seemed like Mothman had seemingly returned.

- Okay, most beauty brands don't understand fine color treated hair, but Proz does. They have a formula that can address my specific type of hair needs, which makes sense because it's based on me. If you're wondering whether custom hair care is worth the hype, let me tell you it is, and that's why I'm obsessed with Proz.

Since 2017, Proz has transformed traditional hair and skincare with a made-to-order model that reduces waste, celebrates unique beauty over one-size-fit-all beauty standards, and works better than off-the-shelf alternatives. Developed in Paris and bottled fresh in Brooklyn, Proz combines the know-how of its world-class team of in-house cosmetic chemists with an advanced AI algorithm that personalizes your formulas

based on 80 plus unique factors. You literally go on, take the quiz, it asks you all types of questions and then they personalize your hair care. Since I switched to pros, I've noticed that my hair is so much shinier, stronger, and my color actually lasts longer. And because you're always changing, so is your pros. Your formulas evolve alongside you and pros will address any new concerns, adjust your formulas with the seasons and learn from your feedback with an always custom fit.

You guys, Proz is so confident that they'll bring out your best hair that they're offering an exclusive trial offer of 50% off your first hair care subscription order at Proz.

at pros.com/dark. Pros.com/dark. Go on, take the quiz. See what they come up with. Take your free consultation, get your one of a kind formula and see the difference custom hair care can make with 50% off at pros, P-R-O-S-E.com/dark. Let's get back into the episode.

So remember the Thomases? This is the family who lived close to the TNT area whose friend dropped her baby when she saw a Mothman outside of their home a year prior. Well, on November 2nd, 1967, Virginia Thomas was cleaning her kitchen around lunchtime when she heard this strange mouse-like squeaking in her yard. She went outside to see what the sound was, and that's when she noticed this large shadow creeping across her property.

She looked up to see that Mothman had reappeared, tall, gray, and as imposing as ever, hovering slightly above the ground, gliding towards the trees. But after that day, something unexpected happened to Mrs. Thomas. She began having the most bizarre dreams of people standing around the Ohio River, grabbing their children and running.

And the odd thing was Mrs. Thomas wasn't the only one that had begun to have these nightmares. Mary Heyer had begun having them, dreams of people in and around the Ohio River. She could see Christmas packages floating in the water. People were drowning. Mary and Virginia didn't know what to make of the dreams, but by the next month with the holidays approaching, they sort of forgot about them.

Now, come December, the downtown area of Point Pleasant was decorated for Christmas. And on the evening of the 15th, people were out and about, obviously in town, doing their holiday shopping and running their errands, which meant that evening traffic on the Silver Bridge connecting West Virginia to Ohio was a bit heavier than usual.

Making it worse, the light that gave people the go-ahead to enter the bridge and keep it at capacity wasn't working properly. So by 5 p.m., rush hour traffic had also started to pile on, causing a bit of a standstill on the bridge. And among them was a woman named Charlene Wood, a local hairdresser who was on her way home from work that night.

But Charlene's frustration quickly turned to fear when she realized that the bridge had started shaking. So she tried reversing her car a bit, wondering if others might follow suit, maybe try to get off the bridge. Only it didn't work. Suddenly, Charlene heard what sounded like a jet plane, a rumbling so insanely loud that it hurt her eardrums. And that's when she realized a chain on the bridge had snapped, causing a domino effect of damage.

Metal scraped against metal as the center of the bridge collapsed into the freezing cold river below, taking dozens of cars down with it. Cars carrying men, women, and children, leaving their wrapped Christmas presents floating in the river below. And it was exactly like the dreams Mary Heyer and Virginia Thomas had been having. Or rather, a premonition? One no one could have ever predicted would actually come to life.

Rescue teams flooded the area, pulling as many bodies out of the water that night as they could. But when all was said and done, 46 people died on this bridge collapse. So after this accident, Mothman and the UFO sightings and all the weird extraterrestrial stuff that had been happening was kind of the farthest thing from most people's minds. But for those who were more connected to the phenomenon, like Mary Heyer and John Kill, well,

Well, they couldn't help but wonder if all of this had just been connected in some way.

There were a few who claimed to see several UFOs in the area shortly after the accident. Even one or two claimed they'd spotted Mothman lurking near the bridge shortly before it came crashing down. But if that were true, then were these supernatural beings the catalyst? Or were they merely there trying to warn people? To try and tell the people of Point Pleasant that something terrible was coming their way? This was the question that haunted both John Kill and Mary Heyer in the weeks following the tragic event.

And on December 22nd, about a week after the accident, Mary had one final bizarre encounter. This time, two short men, hardly five feet tall in overcoats came walking through the doors to her office and they appeared to be twins.

but when they approached mary at the counter they didn't ask about the tragedy the town had suffered instead they said we hear you've had a lot of ufo sightings around here now mary was a bit taken aback by this comment considering ufos were essentially old news by now but still she admitted the town had seen quite a bit of strange activity over the last year and that's when one of the twins responded with a threat has anyone told you not to publish these reports they asked

Mary shook her head no as they continued asking, "What would you do if someone did order you to stop writing about flying saucers?" To which Mary replied, "I'd tell them to go to hell." And that was seemingly the end of this very strange conversation. And also kind of the end of a lot of strange occurrences in Point Pleasant. After that day, there were no more Mothman sightings, no more UFOs, no more strange little men offering half-baked threats.

The town of Point Pleasant mourned the 46 people they lost and eventually ordinary life resumed for the town. I think it's important to say that Mothman since then has been spotted in multiple areas all the way in Ukraine just before the Chernobyl disaster. He was also allegedly seen before the 9/11 disaster in New York and before a Minnesota bridge collapsed in 2007. Literally like it's a bad omen.

One of the most recent sightings happened in 2009 in Mexico just before a major outbreak of the swine flu. If this is true, then I'm not sure the Mothman really is something we should fear. Maybe Mothman isn't a monster at all, but an angel. Something or someone whose warning should be taken seriously in an effort to alter whatever terrible fate might be awaiting humanity. And that is the history of the Mothman.

I really hope you guys enjoyed this episode and I will see you next week as we go further into the dark together. Goodbye.