The Mothman Prophecies

by John A. Keel

A paperback edition is still available from Amazon.Com for $6.99.

ISBN: 0-8415-0355-9

Review by Brent Raynes

In 1967, journalist John A. Keel conducted several extensive field trips to UFO-plagued Point Pleasant, West Virginia. Besides UFOs, there were over a hundred witnesses to what had become known locally as "Mothman," a frightening thing that stood some 7 feet tall, had a ten foot wing span, plus glowing red eyes, and when in flight was reportedly able to pursue a car up to 100 miles an hour. There were also "men in black" incidents,

poltergiests, prophetic dreams, mysterious phone calls, and, of course, all climaxed with the tragic collapse of the Silver Bridge.

All of this is similar to the recently released movie with Richard Gere, except Keel didn't have a wife, didn't end up in Point Pleasant because of a "missing time" event, he wasn't at Point Pleasant when the bridge collapsed, and a few other critical exceptions too. But there were indeed "Mothman" sightings, UFOs, MIBs, mysterious phone calls, all of the weird elements covered in the movie. When Keel's book first came out in

1975, he was disturbed by the skeptical, highly critical reactions of "UFO buffs." "People actually called up some of those named in the book and demanded to know if it was true, if I had paid them to say such things," Keel has told us. He says the book "laid a big egg" - only sold 50 copies in all of West Virginia, and he only made $202 in royalties from it at that time.

In 1976, myself and Ron Schaffner, editor of Creature Chronicles, descended upon Point Pleasant one weekend and visited the notorious abandoned TNT plant north of the city, and got to talk with some of the witnesses mentioned in Keel's book, and not only verified their stories, but even learned a few additional details. Indeed, John Keel did not make these people and their stories up! He was factually describing a truly puzzling and unexplained series of events that transpired in West Virginia back in 1966 and 1967.

I highly recommend this book!

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