Holidays With The Mothman
When Legendary Harbingers Trade Doom for Tinsel: A Mothman Makeover
I never actually met a Mothman. Which, frankly, is probably for the best. But I grew up knowing about them thanks to my grandfather and a comic book that illustrated the Silver Bridge disaster. According to legend, strange winged figures were spotted around Point Pleasant, West Virginia shortly before the bridge collapsed. Someone even claimed to see a Mothman near the site. Which raises the obvious question: were Mothmen warning us about impending doom… or did they just show up dramatically and forget to explain why?
Because here’s the thing. Mothmen are terrible harbingers of disaster. They never warn anyone. No pamphlets. No knock on the door. No “Hey, maybe don’t cross that bridge tomorrow.” They just appear, people panic, and then tragedy happens later. That’s not prophecy. That’s bad timing. As mythological creatures go, Mothmen have the worst PR department in folklore.
Which is why I decided they needed a makeover. In most art, Mothmen crawl out of the shadows with glowing red eyes, dripping dread and existential anxiety. Not mine. The Mothmen in my Etsy store are having a much better time. As a kid, I imagined all kinds of Mothmen: baby Mothmen, Mothwomen, some more moth than man, some more man than moth. And when the holidays are over? They go on year-long vacations, hopping from one global hotspot to another, soaking up neon lights like they were born to do.
The lore itself is well documented in The Mothman of Point Pleasant, a documentary now playing on Tubi. It chronicles the many sightings leading up to the Silver Bridge collapse. Hollywood later dramatized it in The Mothman Prophecies, starring Richard Gere. Hardcore Mothman fans love to roast that movie, calling it slow, boring, and overly psychological. Which is ironic, because nothing says “giant flying insect man” like quiet existential dread. The perfect Mothman movie may still be waiting to hatch, but the documentary is a solid gateway into the legend.
One surprising detail: sightings in Point Pleasant go back to the 1940s. Back then, they didn’t call him Mothman. They called him Birdman. Somewhere in the late ’50s or early ’60s, Birdman got a rebrand. Wings stayed. Feathers became fuzzier. Marketing improved. And once you notice that shift, it’s clear that many cultures have their own version of a creature that’s half grounded, half airborne, and fully unsettling.
In the Philippines, there’s the manananggal, a creature that literally separates from its body and flies through the night looking for pregnant women. So yes, comparatively speaking, Mothman is kind of adorable. Even Pazuzu from The Exorcist can be read as a sort of cursed insect-man sent to distribute divine punishment. Wings, claws, bad vibes. Different cultures, same nightmare fuel.
And yet, one of West Virginia’s biggest attractions today is the Mothman Museum in Point Pleasant. Instead of running from the legend, they embraced it. Now there are festivals, statues, souvenirs, and an annual economic boost powered almost entirely by a creature that may or may not have forgotten to warn anyone about a bridge.
So maybe it’s time to stop fearing the moth. Embrace him. Celebrate him. Wear him proudly. Grab a cute and cuddly Mothman t-shirt from my Etsy store. The Mothman appreciates you… and this time, if something bad happens, it’s definitely not his fault.