The Mothman Prophesies, starring Richard Gere portraying the real-life
John Keel offers a complex juxtaposition of anomalous phenomena including
cryptozoology, precognition, prophetic dreams, teleportation, UFOs,
and demonic messages. While the movie version is placed in a contemporary
setting, the actual events occurred in Point Pleasant, West Virginia
beginning in 1966 and precipitously diminished in 1967 following the
catastrophic destruction of the Silver Bridge, 15 December of that year.
The movie notes that the story is based on actual events. These have
been reported by John Keel in his books but are supported by newspaper
articles and other researchers. For many moviegoers, the ending will
be less than satisfactory as there is no final confrontation, conclusive
definition of Mothman, or resolution of the phenomena. Fiction writers
are blessed with control over their story lines. Real life, unfortunately,
tends to be vague and often inconclusive. As in this case, the strange
events just taper off, defy conventional explanations, and resist all
attempts of scientists and researchers to obtain accurate data.
During an interview with Art Bell, John Keel noted that the movie accurately
captured the mood and the atmosphere of the book. The director, Mark
Pellington, has incorporated sounds, lighting, and a symbology to create
a foreboding sense of doom. The incidents depicted run from the spooky,
but probably explainable, to those beyond all logic. As an example of
the totally bizarre events reported in the by Keel and portrayed in
the movie, when plagued by disturbing phone calls, the instrument was
jerked out of the wall. Though not plugged in to any circuit, the phone
still rings. Keel reports that mechanical sounding voices would give
him messages including some that accurately predicted coming events.
John Keel has his detractors in the UFO community. Many do not like
the commingling of various phenomena and believe it obfuscates the extraterrestrial
aspects of UFOs. At NIDS we tend to support the notions put forth by
John Keel. While we cannot verify any of the specific incidents he reported,
we can state unequivocally that similar diverse events have been documented
by us.
Readers of this website are probably aware of the research conducted
by NIDS at a secluded ranch in NE Utah. During that period of observation
and research multiple witnesses, many highly-qualified, reported strange
occurrences that parallel those of Point Pleasant. There were numerous
UFO sightings, a point underplayed in the movie, encounters with very
unusual creatures, extensive poltergeist activities, interactions with
balls of light, a sense of apprehension and fear prevalent in both humans
and animals, discarnate voices and mysterious sounds with no known origin.
John Keel reports men-in-black incidents along with the phone calls
from persons unknown during his investigations. Similar incidents, including
threatening strangers and telephone anomalies have been experienced
and reported in N.E. Utah.
Mothman is described as a large creature standing seven feet or more
in height and having large wings. Some observers have reported seeing
Mothman flying at a high rate of speed while others have claimed that
a Pterodactyl-like bird is in the area. Cryptozoologists have researched
this aspect and failed to find the bird. However, there are credible
accounts from this general area, including home movies, of very large
airborne birds of a species not currently known.
One of the most notable attributes of Mothman is the glowing red eyes
that are reported to have a hypnotic quality. Again, beasts with glowing
red eyes have been reported throughout history and in many areas of
the world. To date, none have been captured.
The movie does move a bit slowly and was dubbed “the X-Files on Prozac”
by one reviewer. However, for those interested in learning more about
how complex and frustrating anomalous phenomena can be, The Mothman
Prophesies offers some quick lessons. It supports the notion that
there are many strange things that we simply do not yet understand.
And despite our best efforts, maybe we never will.
