Mothman: The Facts Behind The Legend

by Donnie Sergent Jr., Jeff Wamsley

On the night of November 15, 1966, two adventurous young couples drove into the TNT area north of Point Pleasant, West Virginia. What they saw in the countryside that night has evolved into one of the great mysteries of all just who -- or what -- was the Mothman?This book will answer many questions regarding just what those couples saw outside the abandoned North Power Plant that night. Culled from a variety of sources, the materials presented inside are not conjecture -- the authors are careful not to cross the line between fact and fiction -- leaving any decisions regarding the truth behind the Mothman legend solely up to the reader.

Genres: Nonfiction, Cryptids, Cryptozoology, Paranormal

176 pages, Paperback

First published November 15, 2001

Reviews

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

My boyfriend and I realized our road trip this year would be taking us right by Point Pleasant, WV, so it was the perfect time for me to read up on the Mothman legend. What better book to start out with than one written by locals! I especially appreciate that the authors collected the testimonies, newspaper clippings, and other facts objectively and didn’t try to convince the reader either way as to what is true.

This was definitely an informative read and a great place to start, but I did find portions of the book rather dry, especially the lengthy section of newspaper clippings. I’m finding the book “Mothman: Behind the Red Eyes” much more readable and just as fascinating.

[Shaun Stanley · Rating 2 out of 5]

A book the claims to be a documentary on the Mothman but provides very little exclusive information. The author claims that so much of the material in this book can't be found elsewhere when over half the book is just reprinted newspaper clippings. There are two really cool parts of this book: an extended interview with one of the first witnesses of the Mothman and a collection of letters that John Keel sent to various witnesses and contacts. Almost all of this information can be easily found on the internet, but could be a cool collection piece for Mothman fans.

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book about Mothman

Plenty of interesting facts about the time in which Mothman was seen in WV. There are plenty of newspaper clippings which were great to read. Anyone who is interested in this subject will certainly want to read this book.

Another great book provided by my kindle unlimited subscription.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reproduces witness interviews, newspaper articles, and some supplementary information on the Mothman legend. It's interesting to contrast some of the information with Keel's book.

[Justin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hoo boy...this is one of two books my local library has on Mothman, which I checked out in anticipation of being part of a podcast on the subject. Then it turned out one of the other hosts couldn't make it, so the rest of us shifted to the Jersey Devil instead; I still had the books though, so I figured I may as well read them. After finishing this one, I can only hope the other is better.

Mothman: The Facts Behind the Legend is less a book in the traditional sense, and more a series of printouts of old news clippings. There is one interview (wherein the interviewee goes off the rails and starts talking about men in black after awhile--something not mentioned at all in the rest of the book), and a section or two of correspondence and diary entries, but nearly half the page count is devoted to (rather redundant) newspaper reproductions. In the midst of all this, Mothman, itself, i only the focus a fraction of the time; the rest is all the aforementioned men in black, or UFOs.

It's a short book, but so many of the diaries and articles keep hitting the same points over and over again, that it really drags. The short version is: In the mid-1960s, a lot of people in West Virginia claimed to have seen some sort of winged humanoid, and/or UFOs. Experts say the winged figure was likely a sandhill crane, and the UFOs were various types of mundane aircraft. The witnesses don't believe them.

There. I just summed up the content of this book in a paragraph. If you really want to witness a bunch of poorly-spelled (were there seriously no proofreaders in the '60s?) and factually incorrect (at least one paper confuses sandhill cranes with endangered whooping cranes), news articles from over half a century ago with your own eyes, have at it. Otherwise, there's nothing here that you can't find more quickly, and less tediously online.

[Ludor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting little book (or rather it could have been a little book, much of the text is space into the center of the pages with wide margins, but it's nice if you like to write notes). In the main portion of the book are reprints of old news articles about the Mothman and UFO sightings, which can get a little repetitive and in many cases the articles are not complete, but it makes a nice collection for the curious. I would have liked a little more explanation on why some of the people involved believed the things they did, but I supposed that wasn't really the point of the book.

[Libby Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

That was weird, also the formatting on my e-book page numbers was super off. It would say I would like jump ahead 100 pages and this book cannot be more than 200 pages long seriously

But the Kindle book is claiming it’s 1000 it’s very confusing


Also this book is super weird and makes a lot of sense

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful Book

An excellent job of capturing the history of the town and the creature that not many know about. It reveals a lot about the town in general and what some may think the Mothman is.

[Cody · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great collection of what can be found online in one physical location. While over 20 years old now, it is still enjoyable to read the accounts of Linda Scarberry who has now since passed. It would be great to see an updated text.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

to be honest, it was very poorly formatted but still had some good information and is a good collection of articles and related stuff.

[Matthew Chapman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved being able to read the original newspaper articles.

[Terrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book collects interviews, newspaper clippings, and letters from individuals who lived in Point Pleasant, WV during the Mothman appearances of the 1960s. I found it to be most interesting, as these people certainly saw something in the night sky.
A creature? A bird? UFOs? We may never know. What is certain is that many townspeople witnessed something that no one has been able to explain to this day. Worth a read if you are interested in such a curiosity.
I plan to create a shadow puppet performance of the Mothman legend, and found all of the information very intriguing.

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, that was nothing like the movie. It was "just the facts" and the facts make this story less interesting.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very thorough, well documented collection of info on the Mothman. Very good.