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Who — or what — is the Mothman, and what does it want with the citizens of Chicago? CASE DETAILS  The Mothman is known as a harbinger of doom. In 1967, locals from all over the small town of Point Pleasant, West Virginia, reported bizarre sightings of a terrifying, black, winged humanoid creature with red, glowing eyes. This creature comes to be known in the papers as the Mothman. These sightings culminate in a horrific local disaster, known as the Silver Bridge collapse, when close to 50 people die after a bridge that runs through the heart of Point Pleasant suddenly collapses into the Ohio River. The combination of Mothman sightings and the horrific disaster cements the Mothman’s reputation as a harbinger of doom.  Most sightings of the Mothman note its glowing red eyes. In the decades following the Silver Bridge collapse, the Mothman, with its unmistakable red eyes and black humanoid shape, continues to be spotted worldwide. Reports circulate that the strange creature has even been seen at the site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Still, the tragedy in Point Pleasant remains the only location where the Mothman is seen in such a specific cluster of sightings. That is, until 2011, when a surge of terrified witnesses came forward in the greater Chicago area.  Lon Stricker and Tobias Wayland have created a live map to track sightings. Tobias Wayland and Lon Strickler, prominent paranormal investigators who study and track cryptid sightings from all over the country, diligently collect these witness reports amidst the deluge of Mothman appearances. They vet each encounter, looking for credible sightings and commonalities between these haunting experiences. Witness sightings span from the inner city of Chicago to its suburbs. There is even a strange cluster of sightings from both flight personnel and ground crew in and around Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. Eventually, Wayland and Strickler launch a local interactive Google map that tracks each credible report. Between 2011 and 2023, Wayland and Strickler receive over 300 reports and add over 170 credible sightings to their map, which continues to grow.  Those who have seen the Mothman continue to live with a sense of fear and dread. Thanks to this witness map, people who have had Mothman sightings can see they are not alone. However, this is a small comfort among the confusion and terror that the Mothman inspires in its unlucky witnesses. Despite hundreds of similar encounters spanning decades, the identity and nature of the Mothman remains elusive. Who or what is this creature? Is it some form of alien life? An interdimensional being? Why is it appearing to so many people in Chicago, and what does it want? Unlock more content at www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/unsolved-mysteries-volume-4. |
