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The Mothman Prophecies by John Keel: A Retrospective

Posted by daev

Having finally read previously neglected copy of John Keel's 1975 fortean classic The Mothman Prophecies, Blather would care to share with you a smidgen of its worth.

Reading this thoroughly enjoyable book at this late stage has caused me no real loss either -- if I had read it back when I began delving into murky fortean literature, I may have enjoyed the book less, as I would have been very conscious of how to deal with the material therein -- after reading it now, it has allowed me to put many predominant cultural motifs into chronological context and mythical perspective.

So what's it all about? Seen the movie Men In Black, or ever noticed all those eerie West Virginia episodes of the X-Files? I'm not a regular viewer of that particular TV programme, but according to what I'm told, there was episode which mentioned the Mothman, called Detour. Many of the predominant motifs in The Mothman Prophecies have leaked into popular culture. This is not to say that these motifs did not exist before Keel wrote about them, but rather the book serves to illustrate how they soaked into pop media.
(http://www.thex-files.com/epi504.htm)
(http://www.suite101.com/articles/article.cfm/4370)

So - what, or who, is the Mothman? For a thirteen month period from November 1966 until December 1967, the town of Point Pleasant, West Virginia, USA was seemingly tipped into a state of chaos (or, if you like, a 'state o' chassis!'[1]), overrun by UFOs, poltergeists, Men in Black in beyond-fashion-clothing driving impeccable old cars and fake service workers -- both groups had dark, sharp features, and wearing thick soled rubber shoes. If that wasn't bad enough, a surrealist abbatoirist left cattle cadavers strewn about the fields of Point Pleasant.

The appearance of all these phenomena appeared to revolve around regular sightings of the more fearsome visitor of all - a winged humanoid that quickly became known as the 'Mothman'. Mothman tended to hang about the disused North Power Plant, which was part of the dormant West Virginia Ordnance Works complex. The area was used as a shooting range and 'lovers lane', and kind of unofficial common.

There were hundreds of alleged witnesses to these phenomena -- some members of the population claimed 'contact' with various extraterrestrial -- or, as Keel posits ultra-terrestrial -- entities.

It seemed that anyone even peripherally involved was affected, and Keel, who had arrived from New York to investigate the reports, was no exception.

Before long, he was experienced disconcerting sychronicities, such as many of his 'contactee' friends knowing of his future actions before he had himself decided on them. His phone line became almost unusable with untraceable interference, tapping, line cutting, crossed lines, harassments, hoax phone calls and dark photographers trailing him round Manhattan. . . "Between the IRS, the phone company. . . and flying saucers I was fast becoming a candidate for the funny farm".

Keel received constant precise predictions throughout the 13 months, presumably 'channelled' by various contactees. These 'Mothman prophesies' had a nasty habit of being almost right - but not right enough. The predicted assassination attempt on the pope -- followed by "days of darkness" didn't happen, instead the pontiff escaped eradication in the Philippines three years later.

Things finally came to a head during rush hour on Point Pleasant's Silver Bridge, which spanned the Ohio River. Keel's contactees warned of a nation-wide power outage for December 15th. Instead, the Silver Bridge crumpled into the river, taking 31 vehicles and 67 people with it. There were 46 deaths.

The difference between Mothman Prophecies and other 'casebooks' of this ilk is illustrated by Keels good humour (how he kept it I don't know), his modesty, and his apparent realisation that he was not in a position to assume an objective role in documenting the goings-on in Point Pleasant. He knew that he was too close.

However, I would urge readers to keep their fortean hats secured to their noggins with a suitable chin-strap. Although Keel's testimony is invaluable, one should employ a liberal dash of salt when considering many of the incidents involved. Keel succeeds in pulling off a fairly convincing objective analysis of a subjective experience, but I was left wondering where the objectivity began and the subjectivity took over. As Hilary Evans points out in Fortean Times 53:54, "Insofar as Keel has encouraged serious and thoughtful researchers to extend their notions of the possible, he can have done nothing but good. Insofar as has encouraged flightier minds to espouse dubious notions for which the evidence is less than adequate, he may have done more harm than good."

Nonetheless, if 'fortean study' ever becomes an academic science, The Mothman Prophecies should be prerequisite.

A damned fine book.

Note 1: Occasional Blatherskite Mark Pilkington met and interviewed John Keel in New York earlier this year. This interview is expected to appear in the pages of Magonia.

Note 2: See Fortean Times 65:27 for another interview with John Keel.

The Mothman Prophecies
IllumiNet Press
ISBN: 0962653438

Buy The Mothman Prophecies from the Blather Bookstore

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With its winged aliens and ghastly premonitions, can The Mothman Prophecies call itself a true story? Paranormal expert Bob Rickard reports

Mothman Movie

Mothman: Alien Creature in West Virginia?

Point Pleasant County Seat of Mason County West Virginia

[1] Juno and the Paycock by Sean O'Casey

Dave (daev) Walsh
June 12th 1998

The Book!

Get your copy of the The Mothman Prophecies!

Mothman: The Facts Behind the Legend

Mothman and Other Curious Encounters by Loren Coleman

The Mothman Prophecies movie - from Blackstar

The Mothman Prophecies movie - from amazon.com

The Mothman Prophecies movie - from amazon.co.uk

The Mothman Prophecies Soundtrack

Posted by daev at June 12, 1998 10:24 AM

I think Yowie Hunter did an article on this topic. It was suggested that a large bird was responsible for many of the sightings.

I finally watched this movie and then read everything I could find on it. I do believe that it was infact the goverment doing something, some kind of tests, and something went amiss and they HAD to get out of Point Pleasant fast. Look at area 51. With that I also believe it is a test sight, but then people really wanted to know what was going on, so they "play the game" but the real area 51 is somewhere that we do not even know, to keep us lookie lu's out...
It is true, we are a nation of sheep. We believe anything we are told on the 6 pm news...Start really thing people, as it could be comming to your town....

this is probably the dumbest thing i have ever heard in my life a f'n mothman wow how dumb can people be

I have known John from the 60s. He is a musing man and a little off beat but he cuts to the chase.
I used to writeto him and he always wrote back to me.
To me he is one of the best ufologist out there. He goes to sightings not just "read" about them like others

wow i am so interested about the mothman...i really do believe what people say about it! If anyone knows anyway i can gwet in contact with john keel e-mail me!thanks

i just watched the movie .. and in the movie . richard gere that played hte reproter showed him recording the calls of the mothan .. are these tapes ut so we can hear them and anything was jsut wondering abut that thanks

megustaria sabermas sobre todos estos temas

que temas?

EErie, from what I can understand of this creature,it seems to be one of the fallen spirit beings who were banished to live out thier last days on earth.The eye witness account of the woman who accidently ran over him when she had just arrived home in the driveway,got me to realize/remember that the fallen one's that are here are slowly becoming sleepy-heads because of there time coming when they are all put to sleep for the 1,000 years of peace so as not to cause any medling disturbances like they have been doing.Anyway, it also seem's it was ousted from the others for some ill reason. Probably very lonely, and if seen again then just walk over to it (thier neither he or she)and talk with it for awhile!. EJS

well it may be so strange for people living an ordinary life all over the globe and thinking how to improve thier lives, but i wanna target and assure these people that , there are so manny NONmaterial aspects on this planet maybe born with it, that are there, forces that rarely talked about due to our material intrests only, as I MYSELF AND SINCE I WAS A KID USED TO BE INFORMED (ALWAYS BY THE WAY OF DREAMS )from this strange force, of EVENTS that are going to happen (IT WAS ALWAYS BAD EVENTS ) AND IT ALWAYS DID .....!!!!