Here’s Coleman’s review on his blog Cryptomundo.

From 2002’s The Mothman Prophecies with Richard Gere, some of my favorite quotes:

“The nocturnal butterfly. In ancient cultures, the moth represents a form of the psyche, or the soul immortally trapped in the hellish death realms. Mothman. Well, that’s what the Ukrainian’s called him. Rough translation of course. There were a hundred sightings in Chernobyl when the nuclear pump went down. Galveston, nineteen sixty nine, just before the hurricane. They saw it. But seeing isn’t always believing.” ~ character of Alexander Leek, played by Alan Bates.

John Klein: I think we can assume that these entities are more advanced than us. Why don’t they just come right out and tell us what’s on their minds?
Alexander Leek: You’re more advanced than a cockroach, have you ever tried explaining yourself to one of them?

Alexander Leek: If there was a car crash ten blocks away, that window washer up there could probably see it. Now, that doesn’t mean he’s God, or even smarter than we are. But from where he’s sitting, he can see a little further down the road.

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.

Visit my blog The Orange Orb

http://orangeorb.blogspot.com

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.)

A thank you to Nick Redfern, who alerted me to the news that Amazon.com now has Andrew Colvin’s book, The Mothman’s Photographer III available. (Nick Redfern wrote the forward for the book.) Yea! I just ordered it, and can’t wait to read it.