On the Trail of the Mothman

**Amanda McGowan**: Every small town has that one spot where people sneak off to at night. In Point Pleasant, West Virginia, back in the 1960s, that place was the McClintic Wildlife Management Area. The locals called it the TNT area.

During World War II, this had been a giant munitions factory that produced explosives, but after the war, the factory closed, the land was open to the public, and you could wander around the crumbling remains of all the buildings there. **Sherri Brake**: There’s an old power plant there, lots of woods, just acres and acres of gravel and dirt roads, and it’s really easy to get turned around while you’re up there in the TNT area. People would go up there and have parties. People would go up there parking, you know, sweethearts would go up there and watch the full moon, etc., etc.

And that’s basically, you know, what these two young married couples did, the Mallettes and the Scarberrys. **Amanda**: Two young couples, the Mallettes and the Scarberrys, headed to the TNT area on the evening of November 15, 1966. What happened next would be immortalized in town lore forever. They were hanging out in the Scarberrys’ car parked near the old power plant, and just around midnight they saw something. **Sherri**: And it was Linda Scarberry that first saw this creature and of course all four of them saw it and panicked.

I mean, what would you do if you saw something 8-foot-tall with black wings and, you know, crouching up in a tree with red glowing eyes. You’re going to get your car, you’re going to start your car, and you’re going to get the heck out of there. **Amanda**: Roger Scarborough, who was driving, peeled out of the park, but the creature followed them. **Sherri**: This creature, this “birdman,” as they first called it, was able to keep pace with the car. **Amanda**: The couple’s report of their sighting was published the next day in the “Point Pleasant Register” under the headline, “Couples See Man-Sized Bird, Creature, Something.” It kicked off a frenzy in Point Pleasant that is arguably still going on to this day. Though the nickname Birdman did not stick.

Over time, this creature became known by a different name: the Mothman. I’m Amanda McGowan and this is Atlas Obscura, a celebration of the world’s strange, incredible, and wondrous places. This episode is brought to you in partnership with West Virginia Tourism.

Today, we’re talking about the legend of the Mothman, one of America’s most famous cryptids, and the story starts with a strange sighting near an abandoned power plant that drew the attention of the press, visitors, and those interested in the paranormal and the unexplained. It generated a powerful legend that, over time, became woven into the story of the town, from its tragedies to its triumphs. And today, this creature has gone from being a source of terror to a kind of folk hero. _This is an edited transcript of the__Atlas Obscura Podcast__: a celebration of the world’s strange, incredible, and wondrous places.