My best friend Robb and I went to Point Pleasant, WV on Labor Day 2012,
09-03-12. Robb lives in Ashland, KY, just over an hour away from Point
Pleasant. Point Pleasant is the site of the 1966-'67 Mothman sightings,
and other mysterious phenomenon. A year of weird happenings, ranging
from many reputable people sighting the tall, red-eyed human/moth
combination creature and numerous UFO sightings, to Woodrow Derenger's
meetings 40 miles away in Parkersburg, WV with the mysterious Indrid
Cold, and many "Men in Black" harrassing residents of Point Pleasant all
culminated with the horrible tragedy of the Silver Bridge.
During rush
hour on December 15, 1967, the Silver Bridge plunged into the frigid
Ohio River, killing 46 people and leaving the water strewn horrifically
with wrapped Christmas gifts, a scene local reporter Mary Hyre had
envisioned in a nightmare prior to its actually happening. Today, Point
Pleasant is a quaint river town, with the restored Lowe Hotel, a
riverwalk, and the Silver Memorial Bridge, which was built back only two
years after the tragedy.
Robb and I would love to go back sometime and
stay in the hotel, and visit the infamous TNT Area, purportedly home of
the Mothman, which is now a wildlife and nature preserve, and the West
Virginia State Farm Museum. On this brief daytrip, we did visit the
Mothman Museum, which features actual newspaper articles and other
memorabilia from 1966-'67, as well as a collection of items from THE
MOTHMAN PROPHECIES, the movie filmed in 2001 which was loosely based on
the Point Pleasant events, although heavily fictionalized and updated to
the then-present day.
Me in front of the Mothman statue in dowtown Point Pleasant, WV
Robb hanging onto the Mothman, LOL.
Closeup of the Mothman statue's face. (Someone had given him a flower for a snack, lol.)
The tugboat Allegheny on the Ohio River at Point Pleasant.
Me on the Point Pleasant riverwalk with the Silver Memorial Bridge in the background. (I was actually NOT trying show leg here, in spite of how the pic came out looking, LMAO!)
Memorial to the 46 people who lost their lives when the Silver Bridge collapsed into the Ohio River on December 15, 1967. This is located in Point Pleasant at the place where 6th Street (then US 35) once started up onto the ramp leading onto the Silver Bridge.
Downtown Point Pleasant, WV
Robb with a Mothman costume in the Mothman Museum.
The Silver Memorial Bridge, as scene from the Point Pleasant riverwalk, was built downstream from the original bridge in only about two years' time after the December 15, 1967 tragedy.
