Case File Companion: The Mothman

Every Archive comes with homework. The fun kind.

Before your Mothman file arrives, or after you have torn it open, here is everything to listen to, read, watch, and visit. Curated by the Archive, updated with every case.

Listen: The Podcast List

Sinisterhood, Episode 31: Mothman

Heather and Christie take on Point Pleasant directly: the 1966 sightings, the red eyes, and every theory from government experiment to sandhill crane. The perfect primer before you read the case file.

Listen via Sinisterhood

Two Girls One Ghost, Episode 262: Indrid Cold, The Grinning Man and the Mothman Prophecies

The deeper cut. A mysterious grinning man warning of disaster while Mothman sightings climb and a bridge nears its end. Pairs directly with the Silver Bridge documents in your file.

Listen on Spotify

And That's Why We Drink: the Mothman obsession

There is no single ATWWD Mothman episode. There is something better: a years-long love affair with the cryptid running through their whole feed, including the Cryptids Unscripted specials where Mothman receives actual slam poetry. Search Mothman in their feed and enjoy the rabbit hole.

Find the show

Read: The Source Material

The Mothman Prophecies by John Keel (1975). The book that built the legend. Keel spent 1966 and 1967 in Point Pleasant interviewing witnesses, and his account connects the sightings, the strange visitors, and the Silver Bridge. Everything since is a footnote to Keel.

Watch

The Mothman Prophecies (2002). Richard Gere, loosely adapted from Keel. Atmosphere over accuracy, and a good gateway.

The Mothman of Point Pleasant (2017, Small Town Monsters). The serious documentary. Interviews, archival footage, and the town itself. If you watch one thing before your file arrives, watch this.

The Mothman Legacy (2020, Small Town Monsters). The follow-up, focused on the sightings that never stopped.

Visit: Point Pleasant, West Virginia

The Mothman Museum. The world's only Mothman museum, in downtown Point Pleasant, steps from the 12-foot chrome Mothman statue.

The Mothman Festival. Every September, the town that saw him celebrates him. Tens of thousands attend.

The Historical Record

The Silver Bridge collapse, December 15, 1967. The bridge connecting Point Pleasant to Ohio fell into the river at rush hour, killing 46 people. Thirteen months of Mothman sightings preceded it, and then they stopped. This is the event that turned a local scare into an American legend, and it is where your case file ends.

Read about the Silver Bridge

Been to Point Pleasant? Heard something in the dark?

Members can go on record. Send your theories and stories to the Archive and the best ones get credited in future files.

A new Companion publishes with every Archive. This page updates when the next case opens.