MOTHMAN FLUTTERINGS

I’ve been working on delving into many of my UFO experiences, including “dreams” or/ and memories, missing time, and time line of events. A few of my posts have appeared on-line in the past week or so. My idea was to start with intent — intent to remember, to retrieve: An Intent Experiment Retreiving Missing Time , and Dreams and Memories in a UFO Context The latter article I wrote and posted on Phantoms and Monsters last night.

Mothman wasn’t on my mind, just UFOs, but I had the following dream last night:

I’m on my way to Point Pleasant — road trip! A Mothman road trip. A couple of friends are with me. I have an idea to film all this, do a documentary, even though I don’t want to. I keep saying that there are so many documentaries on Mothman what could I possibly contribute, or uncover, that would be new for anyone? Same old same old. There is also the fact I don’t know a thing about making movies or documentaries. (And yet later, when it comes to editing, a tedious process I do not want to do, I can’t trust anyone else, even with years of editing experience, to touch the film. What if they miss something, lose something, or misnterpret my discovery? I’ll do it myself, even though it’s going to be a huge pain.)

We start off in the west; vast, beautiful landscape. Violets and blues and pinks and huge canyons and deserts, just absolutely amazing. Uninhabited by humans. A bit scary too; and suddenly, to my surprise, I realize Mothman is here as well. He, it, has been here. A giangantic shadow appears overhead, gliding silently across the sky. It’s the shadow of a Mothman/Thunderbird, but not the thing itself. I’m surprised we’d find Mothman out here right away, so far from Point Pleasant.

We keep going. Find petroglyphs in the Southwest that are definitely Mothman. Many Naitves are upset with me, accusing me of being a “twinkie” and appropriating and exploiting culture, others don’t and are helpful. We move on.

Make it to Point Pleasant. Turns out it’s the day after the Mothman Festival. Streets are littered with confetti, flyers, etc. I’m a little shocked, and disturbed, at the poverty of the place. A veneer has been set in place but it’ s flimsy; you can see right through things. There is sadness, confusion, loss, and a sense of being lost . . . I really want to leave.

We find a family who own an “antique” shop, more of a vintage, sort of, catch all thrift store. They remember Mothman well and to my surprise, are willing to talk to me. I would have thought everyone in the town would be talked out but they want people to understand, to know, and so they don’t mind me being there. And yet there is such an overall sense of desperation. Not from Mothman, but because of Mothman: because of how the world has responded to them, their town, their story.

I was contacted not long ago by a producer from Monster Quest, who wanted to pick my brain about Mothman. It became clear that the producer and MQ were more interested in Mothman as a literal creature, along the lines of an owl (more on that in a moment) rather than the so-called “paranormal” or conspiracy, spiritual, high strangeness side.

When I mentioned that some think Mothman was just a giant owl, like uber-debunker skeptic Joe Nickell, who refers to himself as a “paranormal researcher” instead of the skeptic he is, she said she had been in contact with him. I gave her my opinion, that Mothman was no “owl” and that Nickell seems to favor owls; owls are his explanations for the Kelly Hopkinsville UFO entities, and the Flatwoods Monster.

I also mentioned some things about cross-over cases (as Nick Redfern calls them) in crypto research; Mothman (not an owl and all the strange things connected with that) Bigfoot (seen with UFOs, psychic communications, etc.) and so on. As to Mothman, I offered up the idea that the government seems to have been involved; their interest in school children and their statistically out of whack high intelligence, the fact that Charles Manson, when a child, lived in the area, and so on. The producer gave a nervous little laugh and said she “didn’t want to get abducted by the government or anything.”

It was clear the producer was more interested in Mothman as Big Bird; an owl, a crane, rather than the esoteric side, though I got the impression MQ would throw some of that in just for show. After all, like all shows on television, it’s entertainment.

The conversation was amiable; and who knows where this will lead. I gave her names of better people than I to speak to about this subject; Andrew Colvin, Nick Redfern, and others. (all of whom she said she’d been in contact with, or was planning to contact.) I just found the take on Mothman an interesting one, of course, the episode hasn’t aired (if it’s been made yet) so who can say.

In thinking about the episodes of MQ, they seem to shy away from the paranormal/supernatural or Fortean side. They do go there, but it seems they prefer to stay on the “it’s fantastic, but it isn’t weird” side of the fringe fence. Which is fine, I’m making an observation, not a criticism. (Although it would be nice to see more of the strange side.)

I was browsing through the Oregon Coast section of Craigslist, and found this (spelling, etc. left intact):

A iwo year investigation into the return of the Mothman to a rural county in Texas. Catalog mulitple sightings of the Mothman, cattle mutilations, ufo sightings, the Name Game and much more. This investigation culiminated into a real X-File by the FBI.

Find out the truth and more…

http://www.conspiracycafe.us

Don’t worry it’s FREE!!

Following the link, I find myself at Conspiracy Cafe, which tells me about a 2004 investigation of Mothman in Texas. The Mothman Returns, by Ericca Cordier. I’m not familiar with the book. What a link was doing in the Oregon section of Craig’s List for Texas I don’t know, unless of course the person was just sharing Mothy goodness.

http://www.conspiracycafe.us/premium/wise/theudpate2.html

L.O.W.F.I. is a the brain-dream of esoteric writer and go-getter Skylaire Alfvgren. Skylaire’s blog of Fortean writers includes Lesley (Debris Field, Beyond the Dial,) Adam Gorightly (Untamed Dimensions), Andrew Colvin of Mothman Photographer’s II and III, and myself, among others. The blog has “mini blogs” — regional blogs from each writer, reporting on Fortean topics from their area. For example, I focus on Western Oregon. Visit the site and have fun!

I think this will develop into something more in depth later on, but right now I’m just commenting on the pull Mothman seems to have for so many people, including myself. I’ve been intrigued by the Mothman story since I first heard about it years ago, and yet, I’ve never been back east. (Only briefly for a few days in N. Carolina.)

I had given someone at work my links to blogs, etc. and he comes up to me a few days later, asking me: “What the f*** is Mothman?” He had never heard of it. Hard to explain, or do any of the story justice, in a minute or two while at work. I did my best. I mentioned how West Virginia has a haunted, weird, Fortean history going back hundreds of years. He told me he’s been to that area, and that there is something very weird there, a general “vibe” of weirdness. He also told me he’s fascinated by Mothman and wants to know more.

Colvin mentions this pull in his books as well. A lot of layers to this idea, and that’s why I say this line of thinking will no doubt be developed further.

Speaking of Colvin’s books, I highly recommend them.

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.

I’ve always thought of Mothman and Springheel Jack as being connected in some way. I’m not sure how I mean that but a vague relationship seems to exist between them. It could be nothing more than the combination of winged human like creatures popping up in unexpected places, along with the specific regional aspect of both anomalous creatures.

Here’s an interesting article
A Look at Springheel Jack and the Interdimensional by Paul Dale Roberts on Springheel Jack, who isn’t Mothman of course, but there is that distant, vague thread between the two. As Roberts points out, Springheel Jack sightings still occur. The first sighting was in 1837 in England, which predates Mothman in Pt. Pleasant here in the United States of course. But, while both are set in time, seemingly, both still appear to witnesses. Both also have been described as having glowing red eyes, and both give the appearance of being winged; in Mothman’s case, literally, with Springheel Jack, the cape like “wings” give the impression of wings, like Mothman. (Many illustrations of Springheel Jack depict him as having wings, or wearing some kind of winged shaped “cape.”)

Roberts, as does Keel and other researchers of the esoteric, consider that beings such as Mothman and Springheel Jack are interdimensional beings. This isn’t a new idea by any means but sometimes we forget about this idea, moving on to other theories. It’s funny for me to think that Keel, Clark, even Vallee, etc. are considered almost old fashioned now in some ways at times. When I started out reading about this stuff as a teenager those writers made a kind of sense to me; now, forty years later (!) those theories are moved aside for awhile. There are some who keep this idea going, Patrick Harpur, author of
Daimonic Reality: a Field Guide to the Otherworld, and George Hansen, author of The Trickster and the Paranormal for example.

I think we’re moving back to this idea, that all these things are connected in some way, including the UFO enigma. Even while being separate in their own right, including the idea there are aliens from space, and yet, somehow, they share a connection. Each is its own thing, its own manifestation, but of the same source.

Maybe. Don’t mind me, I’m just musing along here.

Anyway, back to Roberts: it’s a well written article, and the ethical and moral questions of being a narc aside, his experiences are worth reading about. There’s also an embedded YouTube video on Springheel Jack in the article which is nice.

Andrew Colvin discusses the Garuda a lot in his book Mothman’s Photographer. I came across this image and thought I’d share.

Mothman researcher and author Andy Colvin reports. Among other things, he has news of his visit to Point Pleasant.

I’m always glad whenever someone sets out to investigate UFOs or paranormal, cryptid or Fortean phenomena, but I’m not a big fan of this show. For one thing, you can’t be an expert in anything, certainly not occult or paranormal areas, if you’re nineteen or however old the Paranormal State people are; and I also don’t like their Christian take on things, though they sometimes use other methods. But that’s my bias. I do like Chip Coffey however, and this clip gives me the chills; when I saw the show the first time, before Chip spoke, I had a literal gut feeling, a strong feeling in my solar plexus, that the energy known as Mothman was there with them and that Coffey was about to make contact. Notice how Coffey says “them” instead of refering to Mothman as a singular entity.