Charles Humphreys, “Mothman’s Daddy†and a former director of Main Street Point Pleasant, stands beside Point Pleasant’s Mothman statue on Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. Humphreys is credited with bringing the idea of the statue to the artist Bob Roach and, then, to the city’s downtown.
The Mothman Statue, created by artist and sculptor Bob Roach, of New Haven, W.Va., stands along 4th Street, photographed on Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024, in Point Pleasant, W.Va..
People making the journey from Virginia and Ohio pose with the Mothman Statue while visiting town for this coming weekend's Mothman Festival on Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024, in Point Pleasant.
POINT PLEASANT — The annual Mothman Festival returns to Point Pleasant this weekend, filling the streets of the Ohio River town with activities including paranormal-based events with special guests, live music and food, and folks dressed in their favorite cosplay outfits.
The Mothman Statue, created by artist and sculptor Bob Roach, of New Haven, W.Va., stands along 4th Street, photographed on Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024, in Point Pleasant, W.Va..
Ryan Fischer | HD Media
At the core of the festivities is a strange-but-some-say-true tale of a creature that appeared in the Point Pleasant area 58 years ago. The official Mothman Festival website describes the story as follows: “The Mothman Festival is an annual event held every third weekend in September that commemorates the 1966 Point Pleasant, West Virginia, Mothman sighting, which gave birth to the infamous red-eyed winged legend. People from all over the world gather around our charming Main Street to celebrate their favorite cryptid during this one-of-a-kind event.â€
The stories of the appearance of the strange creature seen in Mason County by multiple witnesses even made the newspapers of that time, including in the Point Pleasant Register, in the Athens Messenger in Athens, Ohio, and in a column by Dave Peyton in The Herald-Dispatch.
Skeptics viewed the sightings as a case of the collective excesses of the human imagination, and even attributed the nighttime sighting to the appearance of a large bird known as the sandhill crane. Many others viewed the unknown creature as a paranormal cryptid.
Charles Humphreys, “Mothman’s Daddy†and a former director of Main Street Point Pleasant, stands beside Point Pleasant’s Mothman statue on Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. Humphreys is credited with bringing the idea of the statue to the artist Bob Roach and, then, to the city’s downtown.
Ryan Fischer | HD Media
Years later, documentaries were made about the Mothman encounters to go along with the books written about the events, all leading up to the 2002 film called “The Mothman Prophecies,†based on a book with the same name written by John Keel.
There is a sad aspect to the Mothman story, however, when a year later in December 1967, the Silver Bridge in Point Pleasant gave way and fell into the Ohio River with its wintertime temperatures. Forty-six people were killed that day.
Some folks considered the idea that the appearance of Mothman was an omen connected to the bridge collapse, a thought that was buttressed by the fact that seemingly all Mothman sightings ceased after the calamity happened.
The annual Mothman Festival was created in downtown Point Pleasant in 2003, and since then, the free carnival has been an important part of the city’s fall schedule, especially in a time when shows about the paranormal, Bigfoot and other various otherworldly subject matters are very popular.
The 2024 Mothman Festival will take place Sept. 21-22 on Main Street. The “festival and street fair with a little ComicCon mixed in†will feature an array of speakers considered experts on the subjects of UFOs, cryptids and the paranormal.
Mothman costumes of many different varieties abound at the Mothman Festival in Point Pleasant Saturday.
CHRIS DORST | Gazette-Mail
There will also be cosplay booths hosted by different movie fan clubs.
For directions on parking and a full schedule, visit or visit the event’s Facebook page at .
Jeff Wamsley, director and a co-creator of the Mothman Festival, said the festival has been growing since its inception.
“Our festival brings in large crowds that are well-behaved and family friendly, and it has almost become a sort of family reunion at this point because a lot of folks come back every September,†Wamsley said. “It has just become a fun, yearly gathering for a lot of interesting people.â€
People making the journey from Virginia and Ohio pose with the Mothman Statue while visiting town for this coming weekend's Mothman Festival on Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024, in Point Pleasant.
