City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > West Virginia
The Mothman Prophecies (Point Pleasant: buying, car, retired)
Silkdashocker
Location: Winfield, WV
Originally Posted by phonelady61
I believe all of this the mothman I mean . I think there are strange things that happen without any provacation and we see what we are supposed to see . I think that you can be haunted by things like this for the rest of your life . as for me I believe .
I totally agree with that. There are lot's of phenomenon in this world that people have trouble explaining. Such as some of the aviation, and space phenomenon that NASA either hasn't grasped yet, or they are afraid to release their knowledge of it to the public.
Two-Rivers
Location: nunya
Part of the story line in the movie was borrowed from an incident occurring on I-77 at Parkersburg in 1966. The movie reference to Indrid Cold comes from Woodrow Derenberger's encounter.
One of the most famous UFO sightings in the Mid-Ohio Valley involved the late Woodrow Derenberger on Nov. 2, 1966, said local author Susan Sheppard who wrote "Cry of the Banshee," which details the encounter through old audio tape interviews conducted at the time as well as newspaper reports and other sources.
"Mr. Derenberger was at the center of one of the most bizarre and fascinating UFO cases in U.S. history," Sheppard said. "Derenberger's claims were so mind-boggling, servicemen from West Virginia and the Ohio Valley listened to reports of Derenberger's close encounter over the radio while serving in the jungles of Vietnam."
Derenberger was a salesman, commuting daily from his farmhouse in Mineral Wells to his job in Marietta. On Nov. 2, 1966, he was driving home along a darkened Interstate 77 around 7 p.m. when he encountered a UFO similar to "the shape of a glass chimney of an old-fashioned kerosene lamp lying on its side, with a dome-like top."
Within a few minutes, a hatch opened and a human-looking individual exited the craft. Derenberger later described the individual as "like any man you would see on the street," and added, "there was really nothing exceptional about his appearance."
The individual, who introduced himself as "Cold," told Derenberger not to be afraid, that he meant no harm and he only wanted to ask a few questions.
"But the Marietta businessman was alarmed because while the man talked, his lips did not move at all," Sheppard said.
Cold apparently pointed toward the city lights of Parkersburg that glowed in the distance and asked what that was. Derenberger answered it was Parkersburg, a city. Cold replied, "Where I come from, we call it 'a gathering.'"
Cold held a 10 to 15 minute conversation with Derenberger, discussing topics such as cities and towns, the climate, population and the farming of livestock in the area.
Once the conversation ended and Cold gave his farewell, he got back into his craft and flew off. Derenberger went home, and his wife convinced him to call the authorities. He recounted the story to a number of authorities.
He also said Cold, who later revealed the first name of "Indrid," remained in contact with him for awhile. He also claimed mysterious "men in black" visited him and threatened him if he didn't stop talking about the encounter.
"What really happened to Derenberger after Cold's visitations is open to speculation," Sheppard said. "Some say that Woodrow Derenberger went about his life as normally as possible, ignoring both public sympathies and insults."
Derenberger's sighting occurred a couple weeks before the appearance of the Mothman, the insect-like being believed responsible for or which foretold the collapse of the Silver Bridge in Point Pleasant. The figure said to be a Mothman was a winged creature with large glowing red eyes reportedly seen around the state during the mid-1960s, causing havoc where ever it went.
Worth noting, around the time of the Mothman sightings, there was also the Kecksburg, Pa. incident.
Here's a website that has quite a bit of Mothman coverage:
Cryptomundo » The Silver Bridge: How Many Died?
Retired Navy
Location: Cottageville, West Virginia
I hate to burst any bubbles but "Mothman" did in fact exist; however, he was nothing more than a Sandhill Crane that had part of his beak broken off and had taken up residence for a while in the TNT Area near Point Pleasant. I was in Vietnam at the time but my father, who lived just across the river in Gallipolis Ohio used to fish in the ponds at the TNT area and saw the bird several times. He sent me many newspaper articles about "Mothman" sightings. Another friend of mine, who has since passed away, was a radio newscaster in Gallipolis who also saw the bird several times and tried to dispel the mothman myth on his program....but a bird just wasn't as exciting to his listeners as a Mothman!!! If you Google "Sandhill Crane" and look at the photos you can see how the descriptions of Mothman are very similar to the appearance of the bird.....especially since it's beak was broken off.
I've seen and photographed many Great Blue Herons, but have never seen either bird fly at night, near dusk maybe, but never at night. Neither bird can match the speed of a car running wide open.
Ceezer
My Grandpa lived in Point Pleasant so I heard lots of the stories growing up. When the movie came out I watched it on my PC and my stomach cramped up from suspense and holding my breath. No other movie has done that to me.
I'd heard of the relationship of Indrid Cold to the Mothman but never knew the whole story before now. Thank you for that. It's especially freaky, being so close to home for me.
I'll go ahead and throw my hat into the crazy pot now, since we're on the subject: I attended elementary school at Warren, about 8 miles outside of Marietta. One night in 1985 I was working on a report for school and asked my mom to take me to my grandma's, for access to her ginormous encyclopedia collection. On our way there we were passing Warren Elementary when my my whipped the car over on to Wynnwood Drive and pointed out why. There, hovering over the playground between the school building and Wynnwood Drive, was a ship. A highly lit ship, maybe 60-80 feet from the ground and probably the same in width (I was 8 at the time so I'm trying to go off memory). I remember thinking it was no big deal, as this was in close proximity to the release of E.T., but I wish I had been more aware of the scope of the situation so I could have taken note of the details. I don't know how much time passed while we sat there staring - it felt like seconds but it could have been minutes - when out of nowhere the area was swarmed with helicopters (probably from the ANG in Parkersburg) and it chased/escorted the ship out. Mom pulled up to the school itself and the night janitor, Dan Marrow, was standing there in the parking lot. The first words out of his mouth were, "Did you see that?!", so we weren't the only ones to witness it.
I'm not saying I think it was a ship full of little green men, or anything, but in the 12 years I spent with the military/DoD Aerospace with clearances the public doesn't even know exist, I've never seen anything like it
You're not alone Ceezer, I've seen plenty of things that can't be explained as 'swamp gas', and I've had my DoD clearances too.
The articles I find on Derenberger state he was an appliance salesman. I remember him as a farm tractor salesman, owning Derenberger Tractor Sales on Division St. in south Parkersburg for decades(where the gambling joint is now). There's a better accounting of the story somewhere on the web, if I find it soon, I'll post it here. But simply putting Derenberger ufo into Google turns up all the references.
And let's not forget the Flatwoods Monster from around 1952-53.
Last edited by Two-Rivers; 02-12-2009 at 03:50 PM.. Reason: Flatwoods Monster
snorpus
Location: Western Pennsylvania
aka The Braxton County Monster. The date was Sept. 12, 1952.
Buzz123
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
Growing up in Clarksburg, Harrison County, which is not that far from Flatwoods, in Braxton Cty, I remember the incidents and how scared everyone was; especially us kids. I also remember Gray Barker, who worked in Clarksburg, and how promenent he was in all of that. He wrote about the monsters and The Silver Bridge several years before John Keel wrote The Mothman Prophecies. I don't know if there were any Mothmen, or Men In Black, but the scary incidents that accompanied the stories were true; especially the silver bridge collapse.
Originally Posted by Retired Navy
I'm sure you weren't in Vietnam in 1952 when all of that began, but there probably is a reasonable explanation such as a crane or something similar. Gray Barker - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Originally Posted by Buzz123
Correct...I was in Vietnam in 1967-1968. The Silver Bridge fell in December 1967 but the Mothman sightings began in the summer of 1967 as I remember. I think it was first seen by some teenagers who had gone to the TNT area to drink beer and make out. My father had just crossed the bridge about 20 minutes prior to it falling and one of my buddies was in line at the red light on the West Virginia side waiting to cross.
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