Mothman

This coming Thursday, we are headed to the annual Mothman Festival in Point Pleasant, WV.  If our previous trips are any indication, we should have an interesting time.  Here is a quick overview of the story of Mothman:

The McClintic Wildlife Preserve located in Point Pleasant, West Virginia is a designated bird sanctuary. During World War II, the preserve was dug up to bury 100 igloos to hold wartime explosives. The igloos were covered over and made to look like rolling hillsides from the air.

After the war, the underground igloos were sold to several different companies, all of whom dealt with biochemicals. The McClintic Wildlife Preserve is now referred to the TNT area, and has also developed a far more perplexing history: a creature known as Mothman.

November 14, 1966 - A gentleman by the name of Newell Partridge was home watching television one night around 10:30 P.M. when the TV picture turned to static and a loud whining noise started. Bandit, Newell Partridge's German Shepherd, was on the porch when he began howling towards the barn. Partridge shined his flash light towards the barn and picked up the glow of two red pulsating eyes like bike reflectors. The dog ran towards the eyes snarling and Newell went inside and locked his door. He was very shaken and terrified.
The next morning, Newell went outside to find Bandit, but all he saw of the dog were a lot of tracks that looked as if the dog had been chasing his tail, something the dog had never done before. Bandit was never seen again.
November 15, 1966 - Two young couples were parking in the TNT area when they saw the shape of a man 7 ft tall. What they saw had wings folded on its back and large red eyes. Terrified, the young adults took off in the car, only to have the creature shoot straight up in the air and follow them, at speeds up to 100 MPH. Once they had reached the city limits, the creature stopped following.
The two couples contacted Deputy Halstead with the Mason County Sheriff's Department. Halstead returned with the individuals to the spot they had first sighted the creature. The deputy's radio began making high pitched squealing noises and garble. Everyone left and Halstead reported the trouble with the radio.
Several more sightings were reported of the creature flying over cars. The sheriff conducted a press conference. In the time that Mothman as the creature became know, was active, there were over 100 reports. Between November 1966 and December 1967, dog and livestock disappearances and mutilations were common around the TNT area.
When did the Mothman sightings stop? On December 15, 1967 The Silver Bridge spanning from Point Pleasant, WV and Gallipolis, OH was covered with rush hour traffic when suddenly cables ripped off moorings and the bridge and cars plunged into the water. Of the 46 people killed, most had seen the Mothman. Though Mothman sightings are still reported, the reports aren't of the same frequency as they were those 13 months in 1966-67. The collapse of the bridge put an end to Mothman sightings for the most part.
I personally believe that the biochemical companies were to blame for Mothman. Who knows what sort of things leached into the ground water that an animal could have gotten into. On a trip to the TNT area in Point Pleasant, WV, there were several ponds with signs warning of contamination. One pond in particular had red ooze in it and giant lily pads.

One of the contaminated ponds.

Spray painted sign reads: "Mothman shall return"

Water and the Paranormal

During a radio interview I gave, the question was asked if I thought water had any bearing on paranormal activity.  At the time, I hadn't given the idea much thought.  But if you consider that paranormal activity seems to be electrical in nature (draining batteries, pulling from heat energy, more prevalent during solar weather and causing changes to EMF) and water can be a good conductor of electricity, then it stands to reason that water could help fuel a haunt.

First, we need to clear up the science of water's ability to conduct electricity.  Water itsself does not conduct electricity.  It's the impurities in the water (minerals, pollutants, etc.) that conduct electricity.  So the more impurities you have the more conduciveness you have.  The Discovery Channel's "Ghost Lab" show featured the theory of water fueling the paranormal on their "Murky Waters" episode.  It was found that the waters of the Mississippi River near the Nottoway Plantation had a high level of conduciveness.  But what about other paranormal "hot spots"?

Gettysburg as a town is a paranormal hot spot, but what about locations within Gettysburg?  Spangler's Spring has always been an area of the battlefield that has produced paranormal experiences and evidence.  One of the best known ghost stories of Gettysburg, The Lady in White, takes place at The Spring.  Most of my own personal paranormal experiences in Gettysburg have also originated from Spangler's Spring, and most of these experiences have been some of the best/scariest.   So where is the water?  Spangler's Spring is so named because of a spring that is located on the property.  In 1895 the spring was capped off because of damage it had suffered from visitors to the area.  But the spring isn't the only source of water in that area.  Next to the spring is a large meadow that is bordered by Rock Creek.  Plenty of water available.

Bridges are also known for their ghosts.  There are several bridges in and around Gettysburg that are reputed to be haunted.  Sach's Bridge in Gettysburg, Starner's Dam Bridge in Harney, MD, Utica Covered Bridge in Thurmont, MD and Roddy Creek Bridge in Thurmont, MD all have ghost stories associated with them.

In the Tidewater region of Virginia, there is an area referred to as Old House Woods.  The 50 acres of trees has boasted paranormal activity since the 1800's.  The Baltimore Sun thought it was worthy of a news story in the 1920's.  Personally I feel it is one of the most haunted and spooky locations I've been in.  Every time I have been there I have experienced some bone chilling things to include hearing phantom footsteps, having a car door slam shut and having a locked and latched car trunk open on its own.  The Chesapeake Bay borders one end of the woods and White's Creek runs along the other edge. 

So the next time you're out investigating, think about checking to see what bodies of water might be in the area.