In Point Pleasant, West Virginia, there's a museum dedicated to a monster. The Mothman Museum preserves the story of the creature - described as seven feet tall, with glowing red eyes and wings like a giant moth - that reportedly appeared to dozens of witnesses in the Ohio River valley between November 1966 and December 1967. Then the Silver Bridge collapsed, killing 46 people, and the sightings stopped. Was Mothman a harbinger of disaster? A mass hallucination? An owl seen by hysterical witnesses? The museum presents the evidence and lets visitors decide. Outside stands a 12-foot stainless steel statue of the creature, muscular and menacing, a tourist attraction that brings thousands annually to a fading river town. Point Pleasant has embraced its monster. The Mothman Festival draws 10,000 visitors each September. The creature has its own movie, dozens of books, and now this museum - a serious-faced collection of newspaper clippings, witness interviews, and memorabilia from America's strangest cryptid encounter.
It began on November 15, 1966, when two couples driving near an abandoned TNT plant saw a large gray figure with glowing red eyes rise from the ground and chase their car at speeds over 100 mph. Over the next thirteen months, more than 100 people reported seeing something similar - always the red eyes, always the wings, always the unsettling sense that the creature was watching. Some witnesses were credible: a contractor, a cemetery caretaker, volunteer firemen. Some sightings occurred in broad daylight. The local newspaper, the Point Pleasant Register, covered the story extensively. The creature was named 'Mothman' by a copy editor who'd seen a Batman TV episode.
On December 15, 1967, the Silver Bridge collapsed during rush hour, dropping 46 people into the freezing Ohio River. The bridge, built in 1928, had failed due to a single eyebar that had developed a stress fracture over decades. It was a preventable tragedy, an engineering failure. But the last known Mothman sighting occurred two weeks before the collapse, and the creature was never seen again. Believers connected the events: Mothman was warning Point Pleasant, or perhaps Mothman caused the collapse, or perhaps Mothman fed on the tragedy. The bridge's fall became inseparable from the legend.
The Mothman Museum opened in 2005, founded by Jeff Wamsley, who grew up in Point Pleasant hearing the stories. The museum occupies a storefront on Main Street, filled with original newspaper clippings, witness testimonies, props from the 2002 film 'The Mothman Prophecies,' and memorabilia from decades of Mothman hunters. The collection is exhaustive and presented with straight-faced seriousness - the museum doesn't mock the legend or the witnesses. Exhibits cover the sightings, the bridge collapse, the investigations, and the cultural phenomenon that followed. Visitors can watch interviews with original witnesses, some now deceased. The gift shop sells Mothman everything.
The 12-foot stainless steel Mothman statue was created by artist Bob Roach and unveiled in 2003. It stands outside the museum, depicting a muscular humanoid figure with massive wings and glowing red eyes (LED-lit at night). The statue has become Point Pleasant's most photographed landmark, more popular than the city's Civil War monument or the marker for the 1774 Battle of Point Pleasant. Visitors pose between the creature's wings. The statue is simultaneously terrifying and absurd - a serious work of art honoring a cryptid that may or may not exist. It perfectly captures Point Pleasant's relationship with its monster: proud, profitable, and a little uncertain.
The Mothman Museum is located at 400 Main Street in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. Hours vary seasonally; admission is charged. The museum is small but comprehensive; allow an hour. The Mothman statue is outside and free to photograph. The annual Mothman Festival occurs the third weekend of September, featuring speakers, vendors, live music, and thousands of enthusiasts. Point Pleasant is at the confluence of the Ohio and Kanawha Rivers, accessible via US-35 from Charleston (55 miles southeast) or Route 7 from Parkersburg (45 miles north). Yeager Airport in Charleston is the nearest commercial service. The TNT area where the original sightings occurred is now the McClintic Wildlife Management Area, open to visitors.
Located at 38.84°N, 82.14°W at the confluence of the Ohio and Kanawha Rivers in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. From altitude, Point Pleasant is visible where the two rivers meet - a small city grid on the West Virginia bank. The Silver Bridge site is at the Ohio River crossing; the replacement bridge is visible. The TNT area (McClintic Wildlife Management Area) is north of town, a patchwork of woods, ponds, and abandoned bunkers. Charleston is 55 miles southeast. The terrain is Ohio River valley - wooded hills, river bottomland, small towns. Yeager Airport in Charleston is the nearest commercial service.