Question asked on Yahoo Answers: Why was the Mothman Watcher sent to the asylym?

Beware; for some reason the link doesn’t work, or it didn’t for me; I got an alert that Yahoo removed the question due to “community guidelines.” So here’s what came through in my alerts:

It’s not clear in the film but here’s what I found on wiki :

“During the ’50s, as Mason later mentions, the House UnAmerican Activities Committee forced all active costumed vigilantes to reveal themselves to one of their representatives. Due to left-wing friends that Mothman had cultivated while a student, his clearance was considerably more difficult than his companions. He was eventually cleared, but Mason describes the investigations as both lengthy and ruthless.

Mason speculates that the pressure of this meeting may have prompted his future drinking problem, but Laurence Schexnayder points out that the stem of his harder drinking was after the death of Dollar Bill. After a long bout of drinking, Mothman had a complete mental breakdown, and in 1962 he was admitted into a mental institution that Rorschach reveals is in Maine. “

Approximately two months ago, I awoke in the middle of the night, roughly within the magical 3am hour (That in itself is worthy of more study, as it always seems to be at that particular hour. But I won’t veer off course here). What I began to hear, was in fact, as best I can describe, the sound of a LARGE ‘mechanical and metallic’ bird(?) outside of my window. I was stunned by this sound, but not afraid. I didn’t even feel the urge to look, to be honest. I just paid attention to the sound itself. It was fascinating. For the better part of ten minutes, it would ’squawk’ several times, take a break for about 30 seconds, then resume the vocalization. I heard it that one night, and never again. If I were to match the scope and size of this ‘bird’ with the size of the sound, this thing would’ve been 8ft. tall. Better I not look after all.

He goes on to write about synchronicity; contacts with others experiencing similar things, and some of what he’s discovered via research, past experiences, and the movie The Fourth Kind.

What struck me as interesting was the immediate “mothy” vibe I got from reading this account. Even though there is no mention of Mothman or indication of any Mothman phenomena, I couldn’t help but be reminded of Mothman. There is the bird like imagery of this encounter of course, but I thought of the electronic voices Keel described in The Mothman Prophecies.

Ed Walters, author of The Gulf Breeze Sightings, described hearing weird electronic or metallic voices outside his bedroom windows at night in connection with his UFO experiences.

I was also reminded of Greg Taylor’s article Her Sweet Murmur, in DarkLore volume 1, which explores the rushing, roaring, bell clanging/chiming sounds many (including myself) experience during esoteric events. These episodes appear diverse and often unconnected from each other; UFOs, BVM (Blessed Virgin Mary) appearances, Mothman, Bigfoot or other crypto sightings, aliens, OOBEs, etc. but, Taylor asks, is there a common source from where these entities emerge? These strange sounds of clicking, clacking, singing, bells and the like are shared by fringe phenomena; possibly pointing to the idea they are related. UFOs, aliens, abductions, contactees, Bigfoot weirdness, BVM sightings, MIBS, fairies, maybe they are kaleidoscopic manifestations of the same thing.

As far as Mothman goes, Mothman wasn’t, or isn’t, an isolated and specific event. There’s a whole high strangeness context enveloping Mothman: UFOs, MIBS, telepathic messages, OOBEs, electronic voices, premonitions, heavy dreams laden with messages and communications, curses and legends, synchronicities and a thread of violence that trails Mothman. This is not to say Mothman itself is violent, or responsible for the aura of violence connected with the phenomena, but a response to it.

I was working on my Orange Orb column for UFO Magazine last night (wrote a full article on one memory “dream” that I call the “bedroom radiator alien” but followed where that led me, to an earlier memory, of the following “dream.” ) Like my patio alien “dream” I had around the same age (but in a different house) this memory has stayed with me for some fifty years or so, as vivid as the day it happened. It wasn’t a dream and yet, it must have been, since it couldn’t have literally happened:

I’m flat on my back in the dead center of my bed, which I remember as being large, and white; white sheets, and just a white covering. The bedroom is lit up very bright; which I wonder at: if I’m supposed to be asleep why are all the lights on?

I am so full of happiness!!!! I have an expectant joy that is so wonderful; I know “they” are coming. I stare up at the ceiling in anticipation. The ceiling opens up, two halves move up and outwards, revealing the starry night sky.

A giant eagle — so huge it’s almost the size of the open ceiling — swoops down from the sky, to my left, and down into the bedroom, right above me. It’s come to take me up. As the eagle flies into the room I turn and see my parents, my grandmother, and some others, standing in the doorway. They seem to be stuck there; they aren’t coming into the room. They’re just watching. I’m very glad to see my father but am a little confused; he doesn’t live with us and I don’t understand why or how it is he’s here.

The eagle comes, it’s so fantastic!

It wasn’t until last night that I realized there is a Thunderbird and Mothman connection to this experience. At age five or so I didn’t know what Thunderbirds were, nor did I know anything about Mothman of course.

I started doing some research about eagles in terms of UFO accounts and before I knew it, I had found all kinds of interesting things; things that will take awhile to explore.

One thing I found that I haven’t read fully but did skim is an article for the E.L.F. Infested Spaces (ELFIS) ‘zine by Jeffrey Lewis: Idiot Stick – Whitley Strieber’s Encounters. It is very esoteric and I only mention it because of the thinking done by Lewis on the nature of dreams, memories, symbolism and connections in the context of UFOs, aliens and entities. Frankly I don’t know what to make of it but as I say, I haven’t given it the attention needed. (There is much there; this is a site that will take you in many directions. . . )

Mentioned, I think, somewhere on the Elfis site, was something about the myth of Leda and the Swan; I also found a passing reference to the Greek myth in Erik Davis’s 1993 My Favorite Martians: A UFO Epistomology — this myth in context of UFO experiences has been addressed by UFO and esoteric researchers before. The comparison of this theme of a god like being or entity (Zeus), disguised as an animal that is familiar to humans, coming from the skies to have sexual relations with a human female to alien-UFO abduction and contactee accounts is an obvious one to explore in terms of alien-UFO stories.

I am not suggesting my memory had anything to do with anything so literal or sexual — but the comparisons and connections, all those glittering threads that reveal themselves when going tumbling down the rabbit hole of esoterica — are natural ones to follow for Fortean junkies like myself.

All that aside, bird and winged – being imagery is strong in UFO accounts, and that includes Mothman accounts.

Image: Leda and the Swan, painting by artist from the School of Leonardo da Vinci, 1505-1510, public domain.

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http://orangeorb.blogspot.com

I’ve written about this a bit on my Bigfoot blog Frame 352, and I’ll write more for my next Trickster’s Realm column for Binnall of America, which will be up next week.

The story of this 19 year old man working in his garage at 1:00 a.m. on his rural property off Lorane Highway, who saw a strange creature, follows:

The “thing” was about 15 ft. from the witness at about 1:15 A.M. behind his house. He accidentally locked himself out of his house while working in his garage late last night. He went around to the back of his house to climb in through a window. He heard something and used the light from his cell phone, pointing it in the direction of the sound. The thing had a human form only quite large over seven feet with red reflecting eyes and very large wings. It jumped into the air flying off with the sound of massive air displacement with each wing stroke.

Overall, I just had a red flag go up, especially given the way this first e-mail started out, with the man’s intention of sacrificing a live lamb, tethered by “shark hooks” in order to trap this so-called “batsquatch”:

Can it be baited with a lamb? I’m thinking of putting shark hooks with 3/32″ braided steel leader in the lamb’s fur along the back. I want to tether the lamb near the edge of a field near the woods. I am concerned about coyotes getting the lamb first.

I immediately e-mailed the person and told him I do not support any such thing. He wrote back surprised, thinking I would be all over this. Why he would think that I don’t know, I’ve written many times on-line I support a “no kill” policy on Bigfoot, I’m against trophy and canned hunting, exotic pet ownership and exploitation, etc.

Then things turned even weirder; turns out the batsquatch is, in this man’s opinion, a “demon” and so, must be dealt with. Both men are Christians, and he tells me only a strong faith in Christ can handle such a creature. I then wrote to him and asked him if that were so, wouldn’t an exorcism of sorts work, given his faith? In other words, instead of using a live animal as bait, try prayer, focus, intent, light, and so on.

His justification for using a live lamb, aside from the religious angle, was that coyotes, bear, cougar, and other predators kill lamb. His other justification was that the encounter with this creature needs to be proved. Yes, I replied, but they are predators eating to survive, not playing games with a supposed demon. Using an innocent creature to capture another to vindicate one’s experience of the strange is simply immoral in my world view:

There are coyotes, black bears, one lynx, and a couple of cougars in the area so the lamb may end up eaten one way or the other.

I replied with the following. At this time, this is the last e-mail received and sent:

So, very sad to say, it seems you intend to go ahead with this and sacrifice a lamb to gratify an ego-driven need to “prove” to the world such a “demonic” creature exists. The fact that bear, cougar, coyote, etc. kill livestock does not make this okay. One is the natural predation of creatures upon another; yours is an ego driven choice made out of a religious conviction a need to eat for survival.

By the way, if you really believe any of this, the fact (in your view) this thing is a “demon” — well, does it even need food? Why not try a sort of exorcism, without the lamb? Prayer, light, intent, focus, etc. — that might go a long way.

Also, if it’s a demon, do you really think such a creature would hold still within the confines of being held prisoner in a lab somewhere, especially a government lab? For no doubt the authorities would get involved such a fantastic find.

Do you really trust the Big Science Infrastructure (talk about demons) and government that much — that they wouldn’t kill this thing, cut it up, and hide it away after they’ve done what they’ve wanted? And how much credit or vindication do you think such authorities would grant you in regards to the proof of this creature? You’re really back at square one.

I don’t expect this to have any influence on this person, I was basically venting my frustration. I figure if he contacted me first he takes the responsibility of response to his plans.

My initial response to this was that this 19 year old man was either highly distracted or agitated to begin with — working in a garage at 1:00 a.m, locking himself out of the house on rural property? etc. — or a “tweaker” (meth head.) I realize the irony of this coming from me, after all, the pathological skeptic uses this excuse all the time to explain away witness encounters. Combine that with the superstitious form of their religious belief, and the symbolic nature of the sacrificial lamb . . . just adds up to an unwholesome scenario I don’t want to be a part of.

Besides which, I don’t know of any Batsquatch sightings in Oregon, though I know there are reports out of Washington state and Mt. Shasta area.

I posted a short review on The OrangeOrb, and Loren Coleman reviewed it on his blogCryptomundo.

I found this image in a couple of places on-line, including the Coast to Coast site, where a listener had sent in this info about the illustration:

Cleveland Press (a now defunct newspaper) printed back in late 1950’s. This was from the “True Life Adventures” (non-fictional) put out by Disney.

I like the fact that Disney put this in the non-fiction, “True Life Adventure” category…

I’ve been having fun, and just seeing where this takes me, playing in e-book world. You can download, for free, an e-book of UFO-Mary.

Also available is McMinnville, Oregon UFO: Festivals and Hoaxes.

Visit my e-book storefront on Lulu.com for more.

Pazuzu was said to be invoked in amulets which combat the powers of the malicious goddess, and hated rival, Lamashtu, who was believed to cause harm to mother and child during childbirth. Although Pazuzu is, himself, an evil spirit, he drives away other evil spirits, thus protecting humans against plagues and misfortunes. ~ (Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pazuzu)

Lamashtu bears a resemblance to the deity Lilith.

I don’t remember if Andrew Colvin mentions Pazuzu in Mothman Photographer’s II, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he had. I’ll ask him at his forum on Yahoo: Mothmans_photographer.

Pazuzu reminded of Mothman in some ways. I wonder if both Pazuzu and Lamashtu aren’t depicted somewhat simplistically here; (as Lilith often is) (for that matter, so is Mothman at times.)

llk36, who left the comment also mentions that Pazuzu was depicted in The Exorcist. I’ve seen that movie a couple of times; vaguely recall that winged statue and the shot of the bright red yellow light; it was over 30 years since I’ve seen the movie. I guess I completely missed or forget this part:

Pazuzu first appeared in William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist in 1971.[1] The novel is about a young girl, Regan MacNeil, possessed by a demon. The demon is later revealed to be Pazuzu, the demon whose statue was found in northern Iraq by Father Merrin.

I just assumed it was the plain ol’ devil Devil, lol. All the same I suppose.
Here’s why I remember that shot of the statue and light:

Two years after the novel was published, Pazuzu debuted on the silver screen in The Exorcist. The film was adapted from Blatty’s novel, who wrote the screenplay for the film himself. In the beginning of the film, Father Merrin seeks Pazuzu in Iraq, where he finds a ruined statue of the demon.

More from Wikipedia:

Pazuzu is also a figure in Dungeons and Dragons: In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game, Pazuzu is a powerful demon prince, called the Prince of the Lower Aerial Kingdoms. He rules the skies above all layers of the Abyss. He is sometimes known as Pazrael or Pazuzeus.

Well, after surfing images and info on Pazuzu, I’m feeling a bit creeped out and unwholesome. And I don’t get a “mothman hit” from it, although there are some parallels.

One last thing; according to llk36, Walt Disney died the same day of the first reported Mothman sighting, which was Dec 15 1966. I don’t know why that would be relevant, except, that it just does, being Disney, as well as Mothman being a messenger of death. It also seems to me Colvin mentions this in Mothman’s Photographer II but that’s something else I’ll have to ask.