Mothman
Nothing helps the tourism industry of a small river city like a monster.
Or so it seems in usually quiet Point Pleasant, W.Va., a bit less than three hours east of Cincinnati. It has a population of roughly 5,000, and its downtown is nestled comfortably, quietly behind an Ohio River floodwall painted with attractive murals.
But on Saturday, Sept. 20, its Main Street will explode with the bizarre activities of the eighth annual Mothman Festival, which, along with the Mothman Museum, has made the city the focus of monster-based tourism. Both are promoted by Jeff Wamsley, a good-humored local resident with a love for pop culture and the supernatural.
The mythic Mothman of West Virginia is supposedly a humanoid creature with huge wings and piercing red eyes, capable of standing and flying. It was first seen by two young couples on Nov. 15, 1966, in a ruggedly mysterious outlying area called TNT, where it chased their car to the edge of the city. Other sightings followed, and Mothman became like the Pacific Northwest’s Sasquatch – only mothier.
During World War II, the TNT Area was a classified, 8,000-acre area used for the manufacture of dynamite. It contained some 100 camouflaged concrete igloos for storage. There were two power plants, and the first Mothman sighting was made near the now-demolished North Plant. Today, a portion of the area is a wildlife preserve, but it still contains three hidden and abandoned – and very dark! – igloos that can be entered by tourists. The other igloos are still out there, but sealed and reportedly leased to private concerns.
The Mothman Museum, which stays open all year although hours vary by season, runs bus/walking tours of the area throughout the summer and also during the festival, often with Wamsley as guide. Before a recent one, he made guests sign a disclaimer. “It states if we get chased by a creature, we don’t get sued,” he says, joking.
The free festival has become the city’s biggest event, drawing an estimated 4,500 people last year. Visitors this year will be able to tour the museum, have their pictures taken by a 12-foot (life-size?) Mothman statue, hear eyewitness accounts of Mothman encounters, buy a “Mothman frappuccino” at local souvenir shop the Point, watch the premiere of a new Mothman movie called “Dark Wings” at the historic State Theater, admire Miss Mothman contestants, hear the Mothman Band and other musical acts, and take TNT Area tours. (Bus tours cost $19.95 and were supposed to be booked and paid for by Saturday; call 304-812-5211 noon-5 p.m. daily for any late vacancies.)
“Of all the history we’ve got, it’s that darn old Mothman that brings in the business,” says Carolin Harris, whose Harris Steakhouse has its best days during the festival. “People want to see what they don’t know. So we say Point Pleasant has history and mystery.”
That history includes the Tu-Endie-Wei Point Pleasant Battle Monument State Park, with its 84-foot granite obelisk and memorials marking what locals call the first battle of the American Revolution.
Source: news.cincy
