There are certain cornerstones to the unexplained where it is safe to make assumptions; these easy assumptions sometimes mature into factual theories of unexplained events and phenomena. For instance, it is agreed within most circles that the Lochness Monster is a plesiosaur that somehow survived whatever cataclysm wiped out the dinosaurs. Bigfoot is assumed to be a missing link of sorts between man and primate. UFOs (for the most part) are almost surely extraterrestrial aircraft. These are all convenient and plausible assumptions, theories that make an odd sort of sense within their own respective fields.

But what about the more bizarre events that seem to go beyond any possible boundaries, real or imagined? What of the legends that lack any logical bulk upon which to form any starting point for reasonable assumptions? Without question, there are several such cases of unexplained phenomena and it seems that in these cases, we tend to leave well enough alone and be content with the title of Unexplained.

Mothman is one such case. If we follow the frantic path of the Mothman legend, many roads eventually lead us to the possibility that Mothman is somehow related to UFOs. First of all, there were alleged reports of men-in-black type figures scoping out Point Pleasant, West Virginia following the peak of sightings in 1966-67. Then we must consider the strongest evidence of UFO influence in the Mothman tale which comes from the famous accounts of John Keel, author of The Mothman Prophecies. According to Keel's book, he had been primarily attracted to Point Pleasant at first due to a large number of UFO reports. He allegedly witnessed several UFO sightings of his own before and during the Mothman sightings.

So here we have a "connect the dots" scenario. Dot one: there were UFO sightings around the area before and during the appearance of Mothman. Dot two: Men in Black (or something similar to them) showed up in town afterwards. The connecting of these two points is easy enough, but these are only two dots. And no matter how two dots are positioned, they don't make a very clear or interesting image.

Turning away from the UFO stream of thinking, we then look to the events that occurred in Point Pleasant following the Mothman sightings. Is it any coincidence that the tragic collapse of the Silver Bridge seemed to mark a permanent end to the Mothman sightings? Looking back into history, one has to wonder. There have been reports of seemingly prophetic winged creatures throughout the course of time. The only problem with such claims is that they all seem as elusive and as far fetched as the story of what happened in Point Pleasant between 1966 and 1967.

There are claims that a Mothman type creature was spotted prior to the Chernobyl disaster; people also reported having spotted "winged, flying men" before major earthquakes and natural disasters in Mexico and India. As recent as 2002, there were reports of a stranger with prophetic warnings preceding a major earthquake in Tbilisi.*

So, from this point of view, we must speculate that Mothman was a prophet of sorts, only appearing prior to major disasters. After all, there are never any stories of Mothman attempting to inflict harm on anyone. Just like the unknown intelligence behind the UFO sightings over Point Pleasant, Mothman apparently only wanted to make his presence known. For what reasons remains the center of debate.

Here we have two possible Mothman theories. Was it a creature of some bizarre divine origin, sent to subtly warn people of eventual disasters? And if so, why were there no concrete warning signs from the creature in Point Pleasant? Or maybe you lean more to the side of the UFO argument. Perhaps Mothman is an extraterrestrial, delivered to Earth by the UFOs that rocketed over West Virginia at around the same time Mothman was being sighted.

Or maybe there is something more. Maybe there is some unified force to all things unexplained. Maybe the men in black that appeared in Point Pleasant knew what Mothman was, knew why the UFOs were present, knew that the Silver Bridge was on the brink of collapse. (I think there is a lot to be said about these fellows, but that's a discussion for a later date).

If all of these things are real, it goes without saying that serious investigations need to be carried out in the future. If there are forces as apparently benign as Mothman and as sinister as the men in black-and if they are somehow connected-it seems dangerous to happily catalogue them under the indistinct title of Unexplained.

Before closing a case on the unexplained and being content that it is simply beyond explanation, we all need to keep our minds open to things that reach beyond our simple guidelines of human understanding.

* Researched from http://www.mothman.us/history.html

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