One evening, about 100 people saw a huge craft, “seven stories high,” emerging from the waters of the Ohio River. “It drifted slowly high above the river, then from the craft sped a dozen smaller vessels. They hovered motionless for half an hour, then moved away and disappeared. We called it the mother-ship and its scouts. “At least one person had a Polaroid camera and used it. But every picture turned out completely black.” The strange craft, with lights blazing, were seen patrolling the skies for months. Staring eyes “The lives of everyone who saw it were changed in some way,” said Linda. “I was divorced. The Malletes who first saw it with us refuse to even discuss it and live strictly on their own. A leading businessman turned to drink. A woman had a miscarriage. People who had never been ill in their lives began to pick up every ailment going.”
It was when the UFO eyewitnesses began to get together to talk about it that the strange things began to happen. I got the stories of people, who now refuse to give their names or to be interviewed, who were stalked by the men in black and white, and red and white, checkered shirts. These strangers, singly or in pairs, would be seen emerging from a garage just as the owners returned home.
Chidren who knew nothing about the UFOs or Mothman, reported walking during the night and finding the strangers in the room, just staring at them. i All our lives changed in some way Lonnie McDaniel told of his own experience. “I was in a friend’s house, both of us watching TV. Suddenly the set went black and a voice said, “We’re not finished with you yet.”
Then the film came back on again.” On December 15,1967, a year after the first arrival of Mothman, tragedy and horror struck Point Pleasant. The 700-foot long Silver Bridge spanning the Ohio River collapsed without warning, taking 31 vehicles and carrying 46 people to death in the icy waters. Author Keel is of the opinion that the tragedy was somehow connected to the UFO presence, and so are many of the townspeople.
It was when Mrs. McDaniel tried to contact a woman who had seen Mothman that I experienced for myself the eerie phenomenom of the telephone interference. Clicking The dialing tone had gone for several rings. Then there was silence, then a loud clicking began. Mrs. McDaniel, from the other end of the room, held up the phone. I could distinctly hear the sounds — loud pings and clicks. They continued for five minutes, then the phone went dead. It was not until the next day that I was able to get in touch with the woman, Mrs. Marcella Bennet, 34. Mrs. Bennet was visiting her sister when she met Mothman. “I walked to the back of the car and suddenly it was in front of me. It was about six feet tall, and in the little light there was, I could see its body covered in gray feathers. It was hunched over, looking at me, but I saw no red eyes.” But somehow she got inside the house, and Mothman went after her. Her nephew Ricky slammed the glass door shut and pushed a table against it while the creature battered against the door. Then he grabbed a flashlight and shone it on the thing. Mothman turned and vanished.
Mrs. Bennet had a miscarriage. One woman who kept on delving into the mysterious UFOs was Mary Hyre, a local journalist. One day she told friends of a phone call and a strange male voice telling her: “Soon you’ll be in some other place.” A few weeks later, on February 15,1970, she died suddenly, aged 54. WHATEVER the truth about the Mothman, it has the whole area worried. A few hours after our investigation started Reporter Scott and Photographer Ranns were stopped by police and told to leave the State.
San Antonio Express
San Antonio Texas
1975
Above art by Aric on Deviant Art
Sasysquatchgirl 