THE

MOTHMAN

ANNOTATIONS

Chapter Eight

Michael D. Winkle

The page numbers below refer to the 2001 TOR Books reprinting of Mothman Prophecies by John Alva Keel, the version most easily obtainable by the general public.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Page 86: "The strange ones. . ." In an interview with Doug Skinner for the Fortean Times, Keel says he looked for but could not find cult activity in the Point Pleasant area. "They did have a serial killer on the loose. They didn't find the bodies until many years later. They found a cave full of decaying bodies, mostly teenagers he'd picked up, driving along. And they would end up in this cave." [p. 34]

On the other hand, Donnie Sergent, in his interview with Linda Scarberry, said he had heard about "Satanic rituals" in the TNT Area. Linda replied: "We saw those people up there a couple of times. They always scattered when we came back by for the second time. They had a cross up on a tree out there one night when we drove by. When we drove back by, it was gone and so were they." [Sergent and Wamsley, p. 23]

Page 87: "There were other weird types." The TOR paperback Mothman Prophecies does not carry the Afterward from the IlliumiNet 1991 edition. Marcella Bennett's Mothman sighting is mentioned in SCFTAS without the later assault by the "Fright-Wig Man." In the 1991 Afterword Keel enlarges upon the man in the Ford Galaxy:

The man in the fright wig who molested many women in the Point Pleasant area was never identified or captured. I always felt that he was really the key figure in the whole situation and may have been linked to the mutilated (sacrificed?) dogs and other animals found in the area. [pp. 273-74]

Page 88: Mrs. Hyre's strange visitor: It is curious that the MIB and other oddballs who show up in paranormal hot spots sometimes display supernormal knowledge, yet at other times seem lost, confused, and rather dim-witted. Some are certainly human enough, hoaxers or just plain strange people attracted to such events. Others act like badly-programmed androids. Some act normal but finally reveal a bizarre quirk, as with "Richard French."

Page 95: Tall figure in white cape: Reminiscent of England's Springheeled Jack.

Page 97: Warning to Tad Jones: Keel leaves off the final line, "You want be warned again," found in SCFTAS. See the "there want be another warning" farther down the page. Good spelling is wanting among the MIB.

Page 98: Strange footprints: The footprints found by Linda Scarberry and company near the generator plant and the Thomas house resembled small "double hoofprints." Footprints that appear from nowhere and end abruptly are common in "hairy humanoid" reports. Giant dog tracks and naked human print: a werewolf?

Page 101: CIA paranoia: Keel's Asia trip was documented in his first book, Jadoo (1957).

Page 102: Watergate, Kennedy assassination: A big can of worms that I'd rather not open. An odd fellow who was a player in the "Dero" tales of Richard Shaver, the early flying saucer/MIB case of Maury Island, and the Kennedy assassination was Fred Crisman. See Kenn Thomas' Maury Island UFO: The Crisman Conspiracy (San Francisco: Last Gasp of San Francisco, 1999).


Coleman, Loren. Mothman and Other Curious Encounters (New York: Paraview Press, 2002).

Keel, John A. Mothman Prophecies (Lilburn, GA: IllumiNet Press, 1991).

-- Strange Creatures from Time and Space (Greenwich, CT: Fawcett, 1970).

Sergent, Donnie, Jr., and Jeff Wamsley. Mothman: The Facts Behind the Legend (Point Pleasant, WV: Mothman Lives Publishing, 2002).

Skinner, Doug, et. al., "Lunch with Keel," in Fortean Times No. 156 (April 2002), pp. 34-35.


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