The Lake Michigan Mothman: High Strangeness in the Midwest

by Tobias Wayland, Emily Wayland (Illustrator), Amy Casey (Editor)

This book represents over two years of research by a dedicated team of investigators who have taken dozens of reports of a weird, winged humanoid seen around Lake Michigan. Author and investigator Tobias Wayland has collected these reports for the first time in one volume, along with his analysis and insider perspective as a member of the investigative team. The phenomena described within represent the continuation of a decades-long series of events first recorded in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, in the late '60s, but that has likely been with humanity since our advent, and seems just as likely to be with us until our end.

Genres: Nonfiction, Cryptids

223 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 18, 2020

Reviews

[Ceci Perez · Rating 1 out of 5]

Where do I start with this book? It’s messy at best. It took me way too long to read this because it’s terrible. I paid 20 dollars for it which is anywhere from 13 to 17 dollars too much. There is an editor credited in this book. Get a new one, whatever Amy E. Casey was compensated, it was too much. I hope editing isn’t her full time job. This book is riddled with grammar problems. Stephenville not “Stevensville” was the Texas UFO hotspot. Spacing and font weren’t on this editor’s checklist. I counted several fonts within one witness account and on one page. The spacing and formatting was clearly done by an amateur not yet out of elementary school. Software technology has advanced enough that this shouldn’t be an issue. Several chapters were inconsistent and there was a lack of complete thoughts from paragraph to paragraph and between chapters. If the author had paid as much attention to the above issues instead of obsessing over what other investigators were doing, this book may have been partially readable. The witness accounts were interesting to read and the cover was enticing. The epilogue was the strongest part of the book, mostly because I knew I was almost finished and could move on to my next book. I was super excited to read this and abysmally let down. Not so much high strangeness as highly disappointing. I wanted to put this in my Little Free Library but I don’t know that I want to waste another reader’s time. Skip this wreck. If you’ve been interested in the paranormal or supernatural for any time at all, do your nerd knowledge a favor and read anything else. Anything. Anything at all.

[Syn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book that is a recount of several sightings in the area around Lake Michigan in more recent times. If you are interested in Mothman this book may be of interest to you. It is a nice catalog of several weird and interesting sightings.

This book has a great wealth of knowledge but it is unfortunately terribly edited. I could not in good conscience rate this book any higher than 3 stars due to that.

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF after about 100 pages. It has intriguing content about sightings but that’s really all it is. A collection of eye witnesses seeing everything from a man-bat to a pterodactyl. Interesting but not much point to the book to me.

[Diana Forsberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are interested in cryptozoology and the unexplained, then this is a book that you will find interesting. The book covers the investigation of the numerous sightings of a flying humanoid creature, known as the Mothman, in the Chicago/Lake Michigan area.

The book provides countless witness reports of these creatures. The reports are arranged in a timeline fashion, providing a somewhat shocking fact that these are not just recent occurrences. The author also provides an analysis of the witness reports. One important feature of his analysis is that he explains some of the sightings are probably things such as misidentified birds. However, he cannot so easily explain most of the sightings. It seems that something strange is flying around the Lake Michigan area.

These sightings are well-documented and plentiful in the book. However, at times, I found myself skimming over parts of the book as the reports became a little repetitive.

However, I recommend this book to anyone interested in the investigation of unexplained phenomena.

[Flannery · Rating 4 out of 5]

In quality, this book is barely above a self-published zine. But when you're interested in reading about cryptozoology, that's pretty par for the course. As the author admits in the dedication, "...this would have been written somewhere in the internet using green text on a black background."

I found this book endlessly charming and amusing, although the anecdotes did all sort of blend together after a while. None of the incidents described in this book could be called credible proof of the supernatural, but it's a fun romp nevertheless. It's especially entertaining if you live in the Chicagoland area and can picture various sites. I thought it was a hoot.

I don't believe in the Lake Michigan Mothman, but if I do ever see him I'll know exactly who to call.

[Guillaume Demers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ce livre est intéressant uniquement si vous vous intéressez vraiment au paranormal, et plus particulièrement au Mothman. Il ne possède pas de réelle structure et aucune analyse poussée sérieuse n'est entreprise pour tenter d'y voir plus clair dans cette longue série de témoignages d'observations des 10 dernières années. L'argument le plus convaincant de l'auteur ? "Je ne sais pas si c'est vrai mais je ne saurais affirmer que c'est faux."
Quelques témoignages qui sortent du lot peuvent être dignes d'intérêt.

[None Birch · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is for you if you like reading copy-and-pasted reports from MUFON's website for hundreds of pages with not even a fraction of the writing flare of John Keel.

The author forgets a key part here, which is the lore. Reading report after report of a witness who saw a black spot in the sky is boring as hell.

What's interesting about Mothman is that it's not just about a sighting, there's a STORY around it. John Keel understood that and that's why his book is so engaging: he knew how to build it. There are the poltergeist events and the leadup suspense and the foreboding feelings and then the phone calls. Keel knew how to treat Mothman symbolically. This book has none of that.

Literally most of it is people being like "I saw what looked like a bird in the sky," and the author chimes in between these reports with NO useful analysis or connections. Just filler between quotations.

It's a tedious report logging exercise with zero effort. It makes me convinced that the author is just out there to get on reality TV shows and milk cryptozoology nerds for as much as possible. The author here fails at even the most basic storytelling though, so this book isn't even interesting if you're a fan. Might as well reread Keel's book again or The 8th Tower or Hunt for the Skinwalker or Communion.

The book left me more convinced than ever that all these sightings are just birds.

[Becca Younk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just a collection of anecdotes of people's interactions with Mothman in the Lake Michigan area. I guess I was hoping for more of a narrative, and I kind of wish the author rewrote many of the anecdotes because the people themselves aren't very good storytellers. But, I suppose he wanted to keep journalistic integrity by relating the anecdotes in their own words. Doesn't make a particularly engaging book, unfortunately, but it's interesting enough.

[Travis Stacey Watson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good overview

The author does a good job of laying out the timeline for these bizarre sightings and providing a lot of detail from the witness reports. While this follows in the great tradition of Forteana, it can be repetitive at times. A definite must have for persons interested in this phenomenon.

[Tea Krulos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tobias Wayland has done a great job of breaking down a strange flap of sightings into a narrative that is easy to comprehend. He presents the Lake Michigan Mothman case A to Z in this well written, insightful collection of cases. Bonus points for being a well designed book, too.

[Imaginary Llama · Rating 5 out of 5]

For those interested in the strange and weird area of paranormal and cryptid research, this is an excellent read. Well documented with intriguing research. A fresh look into an area that has classic beginnings. This book looks at the data as clues to a mystery. Enjoyably recommend.

[Michael Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent look into modern sightings of The Mothman, and also an honest look at how some of these sightings can be easily explained as totally normal phenomena. Some of the sighting reports however cannot be easily explained.

[Peter A. Lio · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a pretty bare-bones collection of stories that might be best featured on a blog. I applaud him for putting it together, and it’s not terrible, it just doesn’t have a whole lot of polish or new ideas or material.

[Rachel Rae · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book wasn't bad but it wasn't good. It was just there...like furniture. The author tried to make everything cohesive and stick to the facts of the sightings but honestly half the time my eyes glazed over.

[Allyson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book I’ve ever read. Tobias did an amazing job. Really made it seem like I was in Lake Michigan. Highly Strangness? Highly Entertaining. Thank you, Tobias. Can’t wait for your next book!