STATE FILE · WV
Cryptids of West Virginia
What cryptids are in West Virginia? The best-known are Mothman, Flatwoods Monster, Bigfoot and Snallygaster.
West Virginia is the Mothman state. In November 1966, two young couples driving near the abandoned World War II “TNT area” outside Point Pleasant reported a man-sized gray figure with enormous wings and glowing red eyes that chased their car. Dozens of reports followed over the next year, and when the Silver Bridge over the Ohio River collapsed in December 1967, killing 46 people, the legend acquired a tragic coda. John Keel’s 1975 book The Mothman Prophecies and the 2002 film of the same name made the story world-famous. Skeptics suggest a sandhill crane or large owl, amplified by fear and media attention.
Cryptids reported in West Virginia
FLYING · 1966
Mothman
Point Pleasant and the “TNT area”, Mason County, West Virginia
A man-sized winged figure with glowing red eyes reported around Point Pleasant, West Virginia, in 1966–67 – now a festival, museum and steel statue.
REGIONAL LEGEND
HUMANOID · 1952
Flatwoods Monster
Fisher farm hillside, Flatwoods, Braxton County, West Virginia
A ten-foot figure with a glowing face and spade-shaped hood that seven witnesses met on a West Virginia hillside after a light fell from the sky in 1952.
REGIONAL LEGEND
HOMINID · 1958
Bigfoot
Pacific Northwest forests, reported across North America
North America’s most famous cryptid: a huge, hairy, upright ape-like being reported from the Pacific Northwest to Florida since the 1958 “Bigfoot” tracks.
WIDELY REPORTED
FLYING · 1730s
Snallygaster
South Mountain and the Middletown Valley, Frederick County, Maryland
A winged, beaked dragon of Maryland’s Blue Ridge: born of German settlers’ folklore and made famous by a 1909 newspaper hoax in the Middletown Valley.
REGIONAL LEGENDThe legends of West Virginia
Point Pleasant has embraced its cryptid: a stainless-steel Mothman statue by sculptor Bob Roach was unveiled in 2003, the Mothman Museum opened downtown, and the Mothman Festival each September draws tens of thousands. In Braxton County, the town of Flatwoods remembers September 12, 1952, when a group of boys and adults reported a towering, glowing-eyed figure on a hilltop after a light streaked across the sky. Investigators later suggested a meteor and a barn owl; the Flatwoods Monster Museum in nearby Sutton and giant monster-shaped chairs around the county keep the story alive.
The mountain state has more: the Grafton Monster, a headless, pale figure reported in 1964; the Snallygaster of the eastern panhandle, shared with Maryland; and Bigfoot reports from the Monongahela National Forest and the southern coalfields.
Hotspots
Home of the Mothman statue, museum and annual September festival.
The former munitions site where Mothman was first reported in 1966.
Site of the 1952 Flatwoods Monster and the museum dedicated to it.
Taylor County town of the 1964 Grafton Monster reports.
Vast highland forest with many of the state’s Bigfoot claims.
Sightings timeline
- February 12, 1909The Valley Register breaks the story Snallygaster
The weekly Valley Register published a letter from T. C. Harbaugh of Casstown, Ohio – himself a Middletown native and writer – describing a gigantic winged monster headed toward Maryland. For about a month the paper reported eggs, attacks and sightings across the region.
- March 1909The last stand at the railroad station Snallygaster
According to later retellings of the 1909 coverage, the final report described three men battling the creature outside a railroad station before it fled toward Carroll County. After that the paper fell silent.
- Late 1932Charles Main’s encounter Snallygaster
Middletown ice cream maker Charles Main reported a winged creature with a 12- to 14-foot wingspan that threw out long, octopus-like streamers. Sources disagree on the year – Preservation Maryland gives 1923 – but most place this second wave in 1932.
- December 1932Death in a moonshine vat Snallygaster
The Hagerstown Morning Herald reported that the snallygaster had been drawn to a moonshine still, overcome by fumes and drowned in a vat of alcohol; revenue agents supposedly destroyed the carcass along with the still.
- Mid-September 1952National media attention Flatwoods Monster
Kathleen May and Eugene Lemon travelled to New York and appeared on CBS television to describe the creature, with an artist’s drawing based on their accounts. State police, meanwhile, dismissed the affair as mass hysteria.
- September 12, 1952The encounter on Fisher’s farm Flatwoods Monster
Kathleen May, her sons Eddie and Freddie, Tommy Hyer, Neil Nunley, Ronnie Shaver and Eugene Lemon climbed a hill after seeing a light fall from the sky and reported a towering, glowing-faced figure in a choking mist. All fled, and the story was in national newspapers within days.
- June 22, 1953A monster in Life magazine Snallygaster
Writer Whittaker Chambers, who lived on a Carroll County farm, used the snallygaster – a winged hobgoblin used to frighten rural children – as a metaphor for Senator Joseph McCarthy in an essay for Life.
- Late November 1966A wave of reports Mothman
Over the next few days several more residents, including volunteer firefighters, reported a large bird-like creature with red eyes. Newspapers across the country picked up the “Mothman” story.
- November 15, 1966The couples in the TNT area Mothman
The Scarberrys and Mallettes told Mason County deputies that a winged, red-eyed figure chased their car toward town. Their account appeared in the Point Pleasant Register the following day and launched the legend.
- December 1, 1966The sandhill crane theory Mothman
An Associated Press story quoted WVU wildlife biologist Robert L. Smith, who said the descriptions matched a sandhill crane, possibly far off its migration route. The headline “Monster Bird With Red Eyes May Be Crane” ran in papers nationwide.
- December 15, 1967Silver Bridge collapse Mothman
The bridge over the Ohio River collapsed at rush hour, killing 46 people. Engineers blamed a fractured eyebar, but later writers, especially John Keel, linked the tragedy to the Mothman sightings.
- 2000Joe Nickell’s investigation Flatwoods Monster
Writing in Skeptical Inquirer, investigator Joe Nickell argued that a meteor, a red aviation beacon and a barn owl explain every element of the story. The explanation echoed conclusions reached by earlier investigators, including the U.S. Air Force.
Latest from West Virginia
Videos
ARCHIVE.ORG3:07
Patterson–Gimlin film (unedited)
Roger Patterson and Bob GimlinThe original 1967 Bluff Creek footage – the most famous and most debated minute in Bigfoot history. Marked public domain on archive.org.
ARCHIVE.ORG4:59
The Film That Made Bigfoot A Star
Oregon Public BroadcastingOPB’s short documentary on how the Patterson–Gimlin film turned a regional legend into a global icon – and the hoax claims around it.
▶ VIDEO
Sts’ailes Sasquatch Days in Harrison Hot Springs
Tourism Harrison River ValleyShows the festival celebrating the Sts’ailes people’s Sásq’ets, the being behind the word “Sasquatch” (no archive.org equivalent).
ARCHIVE.ORG59:41
Sojourners Along the Way: Mothman – The Investigation
ACTV (community television)Talk by Jeff Wamsley, founder of the Mothman Museum and author of books on the sightings, about the witnesses and events of 1966–67.
ARCHIVE.ORG1:38
The Mothman of Point Pleasant (trailer)
Small Town MonstersTrailer for Small Town Monsters’ 2017 documentary built around interviews with Point Pleasant residents.
ARCHIVE.ORG21:40
The “Mothman” Encounters, 1966–1967
Think AnomalousA detailed documentary walk-through of the original Point Pleasant reports and their context.