John Keel's Mothman Prophecies

I just finished reading The Mothman Prophecies by John Keel. If you're interested in Mothman or UFOs, this is a great book to read.

Let me start out by saying that the title of the book is a little misleading. Sightings of the Mothman are brought up but the entity itself is not focused on too much. The book is more about the various mysteries surrounding Point Pleasant as a whole.

Possible Mothman sighting

Throughout1967, the sleepy town of Point Pleasant, West Virginia was plagued by many unusual occurrences. Unidentified flying objects and unexplained lights appeared in the sky regularly, bizarre strangers in black suits began showing up in town, and a six-foot-tall, gray creature with glowing red eyes and wings was seen repeatedly over the course of the year. Some people were even contacted by aliens who claimed to know the future. These things continued to happen until the tragic collapse of The Silver Bridge on December 15, 1967.

The fact that the author of the book was actually investigating Point Pleasant at the time when all of this was happening lends a lot of authenticity to the book. The narrative is centered around facts, dates, actual events, and interviews with eyewitnesses, but Keel manages to make the story seem much more like a fictional thriller than a textbook. My only minor gripe about his writing style is that he seems digress from the main narrative a little too frequently (although these tangents are usually relevant and always interesting).

Keel spent several years researching and writing the book. In the book, he explains his theory that the aliens who contacted these people are actually entities that use hypnosis and forms of propaganda to perpetuate the myth of aliens for some unknown purpose. This theory is a little far fetched for me, but it suppose it can't be ruled out.

I came away from The Mothman Prophecies feeling inspired. Writing an investigative piece on a paranormal phenomena like this would be a dream come true to me. It's just too bad that nothing this strange ever happens in Michigan.