The WV Mothman and Dashed HGTV Dreams
The contractor is here, tearing complete and absolute hell out of our upstairs bathroom. Plus, he won’t stop asking me questions. He seems like a nice guy, but likes to talk. I can feel another half-assed update on the horizon…
I try. I swear I do.
Last night while driving home from my demoralizing job, I was listening to George Noory, and he was doing a full show about the Mothman.
Have you ever heard of this mythical creature? I knew nothing, and was surprised to learn that the legend is based in a town roughly fifty miles from where I grew up — Point Pleasant, WV.
Supposedly two couples were driving through a wooded area there, back in 1966, and spotted what looked like a 7ft-tall man with wings, stuck in a fence. When they stopped to check it out, this “moth man” freed himself and flew away(!).
This freaked them out, understandably, so they took off in their car. And the creature started following them, flying above their vehicle, and making all manner of terrifying noises.
After that, there were regular sightings of the Mothman in the area. And a year later a well-traveled bridge collapsed, killing dozens of people. At the time it was one of the worst disasters in the history of the United States.
After the bridge fell, nobody ever saw the Mothman again…. And I just had a full-body shiver.
How could I not know anything about this?? There was a best-selling book about it, as well as a big-budget Hollywood movie. Point Pleasant even has a Mothman statue in their town square! Here’s some Wikipedia information about it. It’s all new information to me…. And I grew up there.
Are there any legends of paranormal activity in your neck of the woods? Like Bigfoot sightings or UFO crashes, or things like that? Tell us about it, won’t you?
Also, what do you know about this West Virginia Mothbilly? Are you familiar with it? I need to know more.
And I need to go. Sorry, but I’m always about 2 minutes late at work, and I’m supposed to be setting an example. Ha!
I’ll leave you now with a video Knucklehead said I could share with you folks. If you’re a regular in the comments section, you’ll know that Knucklehead (Teri) and her husband will soon be moving to Italy.
Somehow, through a confusing series of events, they were invited to audition for the HGTV series, House Hunters International.
Producers liked their audition video, and told them it was almost a certainty they’d be picked to star in an episode. Unfortunately, however, they finally decided they’d done enough shows about that particular section of Italy, and the whole thing came crashing down.
Which really makes me sad, because I was going to try to talk Knucklehead into wearing one of the shirts…
In any case, here’s their audition tape. Pretty cool.
Have you ever been on a TV show?
See you guys tomorrow!
Filed under: Daily
The woman who first reported The Mothman died not too long ago.
Deuce
Tada!
I have a DVD with a few of the old Joe Pyne Shows from the late 1960s and one them is devoted to the mothman. It was a hoot. Joe just tore the guy up.
Howdy doody Top 10!
No national TV for me (other than in a shot of the crowd on Letterman, and once on Conan), but I was on Romper Room as a child here locally.
Hope your day gets out of the shitter, Jeff…plumber jokes rock!
Holy shit, I can’t believe you’re a West Virginia native and totally missed out on the Mothman!! That’s incredible.
Anyway, not being a Pittsburgh native, I have no idea if there is anything paranormal specifically associated with this area. Maybe my fellow Yinzers here can enlighten me. I grew up near Philly and the closest thing that would be akin to the Mothman is the Jersey Devil….which is probably just a crane or a Great Horned Owl.
http://www.strangemag.com/jerseydevil1.html
In Western NY there exists an overweight buck toothed lawn gnome that springs to life whenever someone hits a mailbox with a baseball bat. The gnome seeks and destroys the federally offensive Babe Ruth then picks up and delivers the mail.
So don’t crap your pants if a fat walrus looking midget freak in a dunce cap shows up at your house with your phone bill…he’s just trying to be nice.
I’m not a big believer in the supernatural mostly because everyone I’ve ever met who is a big believer appears to be missing a few chromosomes (or have a few extra as the case may be). However there is one semi-famous local legend that I’ll tell you about:
Not far from my home in London, Ontario there’s the little town of Lucan which 1n the 1870’s was the home to a family of Irish Catholics known as the Donnellys. The Donnellys were rumored to be responsible for a variety of criminal activity and general jackassery so in 1880 a gang of vigilantes stopped by their house one night, wiped out the whole clan (except for a couple of lucky survivors) and set the house on fire. The whole affair has been retold numerous times, and Steve Earle even wrote a song about it. More to the point many claim that the ghosts of the Donnellys still haunt the area for some reason.
If you care, there’s more info here: http://www.donnellys.com/Ghosts.html
Just marking my place. All we have around here is corn fields. There are several old homesteads that are said to be haunted. But I have no experience with any of that.
Jeff,
You should consider a daily caption contest for the bunker cam. I’ll bet the responses would be priceless.
@ Knucklehead – I hope your planning to pop in from time to time and tell us how things are going. Gonna miss you, damn, here come the tears…
Loved Knucklehead’s audition video. Very relaxed. They sound like a fun couple with great pets. Would have been interesting to follow their move.
We had Bobo, who lived under the bridge of my hometown. Couldn’t tell you what he looked like as every other person would tell you a different story. All you had to know was to Beware Of Bobo!
I’ve not been on tv, but my work has.
Never saw a ghost or a ufo or any kind of paranormal event. I did see a vietmanese refuge try to take a crap in a pad-eye though. Very funny…
I don’t see Knucklehead on there anywhere. Which clip is it?
There’s a local super hero called “Shitty the Kid” who wears a cape and a Lone Ranger mask. He ask people to shit in a bread sack for him and if they don’t do it willingly he gasses them or tazes them or something and gathers their feces while they’re in a daze. He’s been seen putting fake toilet bottoms in Wal-Mart. People think they’re shitting in the toilet but they’re actually shitting into a little removable bowl that “The Kid” later collects. He drags around a giant Santa Clause sack and I presume it’s full of shit.
We were camping at Yellowstone a few years ago and I thought Bigfoot was trying to get in the tent. I offered him my wallet if he’d go away, but it turned out to be a racoon.
The Mothman Prophecies Movie scared the shit out of me. The name Indrid Cold still gives me goosebumps!
It’s been rumored that ”The Missing Link” hails from
NEPA– any comment Joe T. ?
Jason – In any case, here’s their audition tape. Pretty cool. Click on “here’s”
I’m clicking on “here’s” like hell and nothing’s happening…
Oh shit. I found it. I thought you meant click on “here’s” in your comment. I skipped right over it in the main article.
Great job Knucklehead!
HA HA! I have to laugh about the mothman stories. I remember reading these tales when I was just little. They always made me laugh. Just the thought of a 6+ ft moth makes me crack up!
As for strange things…I grew up really close to Gettysburg. There was no secret to those that lived there that hauntings happened a lot there. In the 90’s with the rise of the internet and cable paranormal programs, you would have thought these things hauntings started overnight.
I worked in Gburg for a few years. The one place had a ghost that use to do all sorts of things from knocking the flourescent light covers off, to randomly turning on and off all sorts of electrical equipment.
You could always tell when he didn’t like one of the new employees because that person would become the target of his tricks. Sure enough those people just didn’t seem to last very long. Nobody really knows what happened the one night, but one employee left looking ghost white, and swore never to set foot into the store again. Wouldn’t even come back in to pick up his paycheck.
@ Cartoon…LOL
I’ve seen the Missing Link many times. But I haven’t seen him come out for about 9+ years. I think maybe it was my bachelor party night.
@ Jason – Some days you scare me. Great sainted mother of all that is Velveeta.
You can’t turn around here in the Philippines without tripping over some kind of spooky thing. There’s “floating ladies” (normal garden-variety ghosts), dwarves that live in trees, giants that live in trees, weird vampire creatures that eat babies, talking snakes…if you can think of it, it probably exists here. Many, many people, even educated people believe some or all of this stuff. Honestly, I don’t know why the Gypsies haven’t found this country yet, they’d make a fortune.
Been on TV here a few times, usually as a guest on the afternoon show that no one watches on the news channel. I guess it qualifies as national TV, just a different nation.
@ Jason,
Are you on drugs? If so I suggest you cut back. If not, I suggest you start.
Heard about Mothman when I was a kid. First time from Bill Richards on the news and then in a book about creepy things that I always checked out at the elementary school library. Not one of Mel Gibson’s better movies.
There is a legend in Sarasota that there is a white, non-hispanic cook at one of the restaurants here. I have yet to pinpoint where he is located, and do not believe it until I see him with my own eyes.
Another legend is that hurricanes do not land here because of the shape of the Gulf of Messico floor. Thats why the Indians came here during the “Fall Gales” to avoid dying.
I was on Mr. Cartoon one time when I was four, but don’t remember a thing about it. It was a different Mr. Cartoon than the one who replaced him (who we all knew was the WSAZ weatherman, Jule Huffman.
This guy’s name was George Lewis. Also was a guest audience member on the Sleepy Jeffers show once. I know this means nothing to 95 percent of you.
Did you know- Tom Waits’ song “Table Top Joe” is based on the life of freak show performer Johnny Eck?
On IPOD right now- “Tomorrow”- Silverchair
My brother-in-law and I once saw the Mothman while driving south on Highway 219 in Monroe County, West Virginia. It was the craziest thing we had ever seen. He was huge! He looked at us while we were speeding towards him and then with one flap of his wings, he was up and gone.
I, as they say in our Motherland, shit you not.
Good God! Is everyone in the comments area but me sleeping on wads of cash? If I lost my job, I’d be moving to an underpass, not Italy! 1/4 million dollar homes, $5,000 sewer lines…I’m what you’d call white-collar, but some times during the year I’m hard pressed on whether I should go ahead and buy that pack of Mentos for my Diet Coke….
I’m sure Andy’d like the underpass thing, but I like my air conditioner, DirecTV, and you know, walls and windows and stuff! Also, the fact(s) that my dog and Jeff’s dog are both border collies and named ‘Andy’ is purely COINCIDENTAL. I didn’t have much say in the matter and I also did not realize the connection at the time. http://thewvsr.com/index.php/coherency-is-for-suckers-2/
I don’t believe in paranormal anything, but this place is fun to visit at halloween (holding a nice stiff whiskey):
http://paranormal.about.com/library/weekly/aa031201a.htm
“Back in the 1930s or 1940s, a school bus full of children was making its way down the road and toward the intersection when it stalled on the railroad tracks. A speeding train smashed into the bus, killing 10 of the children and the bus driver. Since that dreadful accident many years ago, any car stopped near the railroad tracks will be pushed by unseen hands across the tracks to safety. It is the spirits of the children, they say, who push the cars across the tracks to prevent a tragedy and fate like their own.”
Have to give some thought to local legends. Not much exciting happens around here.
My TV appearances have been non-events — a news report for the California State Fair when I was a kid; in a crowd waving in Times Square during some random live TV broadcast; audience member at The Paget Show (with Paget Brewster loooong before she was on Criminal Minds); audience member on some local morning show so long ago that I can’t recall the name but the guest was “psychic” Sylvia Browne, who fed my mom a load of crap when my mom asked her what she saw for our future; MTV Europe (on the phone) when they destroyed a gift from a former boyfriend for me; and CNN International, when I wrote a viewer comment regarding a news report.
One of my students saw the comment onscreen and came to my office to discuss it because he didn’t share my opinion. He was a particularly argumentative person — never agreed with any of the grades I gave him — and I didn’t have the time or desire to get into it with him at that moment. So when he came in saying, “I saw your comment on CNN last night. You don’t really believe that, do you?” I claimed not to know what he was talking about and said it must have been someone else with my name, which was entirely possible since my name is fairly vanilla.
Coincidentaly, I’ll be seeing a 7 ft tall demon-man with wings tonight. Hint: he’s the bassist for KISS.
Saw Ice Cube, The Yardbirds and Our Lady Peace last night.
I use to DJ the college radio station at IU and had a morning rock and jazz show I recorded for AFRTS when I was in the Navy, thats Armed Forces Radio and Television Service, um-k. When I attended college at IUPUI, I was interviewed about the school closing during a snow storm. I also made an appearance on the 1980 Miss USA contest escorting one of the contestants but several of the walk-in segments got cut to save time. But the memory was great and so was Ms. Arizona. She got first runner-up. Eat your hearts out guys…
@ Ben K – Because Gypsies taste funny. Haha!!! You would have had to of visited the Phillipines to enjoy that one.
There is also the famous Flatwoods Monster (alien?) out of Braxton County, West Virginia. I don’t know how to post links but you can check it out on Wikipedia if you are so inclined.
No TV.
@Angry White Guy- Did Mel Gibson do a movie about the Mothman too?
@ Eugene B Sims…. NO f’n way!!! Wow. I would have shit a lung.
@ Gretchen….. I’ve been the the ‘Burg for a while and I, too, have never heard of anything like Mothman. But since Pittsburgh is littered with old buildings, houses and such, I have heard of many hauntings.
@ Jeff….. LOVE Tyrosine’s idea for the Bunker Cam Caption Contest. That would be the Tits on a Ritz!
Saw the movie “The Mothman Prophecies” starring Ashton Kutcher. A good thriller. Recently, I believe on A&E, they did a series of legends believed to be true and Mothman was one of them. Crazy shit.
There’s a creepy little guy at tne grocery store who follows you around and keeps putting your produce back. He just says he wants to make sure it stays fresh. He doesn’t even work there.
Bobby Mackies Bar in Northern KY is haunted. Supposedly. I was more frightened of the clientele and the beer selection.
Mothman was a lame movie…
I’ve never been on tv… but I hear I might show on youtube soon. Ugly ugly night.
Off to JAMBOREE IN THE HILLS (!!!) for the rest of the week. OOOOOOT!!! A four day drunken country concert complete with “Running of the Rednecks” to secure your spot by the stage; camping (ugh); and major jackassery! Fun as hell. Some of the headliners are Alan Jackson, Toby Keith, Steve Miller Band, Waylon Jennings.
….and for those out there who hate country (and I know who you are!)…you don’t have to like country music to have a complete ball there!!! See ya next week!!
Waylon Jennings died about 6 or 7 years ago.
Tadpolegal- My mistake- Richard Gere….not sure what I was thinking of there. Almost quitting time.
Did you know- Mel Gibson would never put a gerbil up his ass?
On IPOD right now- “Yellow Ledbetter”- Pearl Jam
@ bikerchick – I wish I could go with you, I would definitely liven things up if you know what I mean. But no Harley, yet. I like a little bit of country as long as the Kentucky Headhunters aren’t on the venue. Even Jeff Foxworthy would touch those rednecks. One of my good friends always brings me Alan and Toby to listen to.
@ AngryWhiteGuy – but what about Richard Gere?
egads – wouldn’t I mean…
@Brynhildr,
That’s the one and only thing I don’t miss about teaching: Whiny argumentative grade-grubbing students. I had a student one year that was late constantly. I taught him in a lab course, so it was a major safety issue (he’d miss the pre-lab lecture) and he wouldn’t be able to follow along with the rest of the class. I started locking the door when the lab started,and wouldn’t let late-comers in. No lab, no results. No results, no lab report. No lab report, you just lost 20% of your final mark….Problem solved.
In another class the same kid was always 10 minutes late. The professor set an open-book mid-term and reminded the class numerous times at the start of her lecture. This kid came to the exam not knowing it was open book “the prof knew he was always late and therefore had no knowledge of the exam format”. He took his appeal as far as the university senate before he finally gave up.
OOPS! …My bad…meant to say Merle Haggard. Oh well, to you non-country fans, they’re interchangable. Thanks Jason!
I’m on the local news about twiced a year. my neighbors and me gets interviewed anytime theres a tornado a coming.
This is supposed to have happened deep in the woods not far from where I grew up…
http://www.mysteriesofcanada.com/New_Brunswick/dungarvon_whooper.htm
My hubby worked on the Mothman movie. Awful, just awful. But the car crash scene is pretty good.
“After 15 long months of pampering. Massages with exotic oils. Pricey high-fat foods. Butter and Clove enemas, dinky was finally ready to be eaten”
That’s my entry for the bunkercam caption contest.
I’ve never been on broadcast tv, but my mug might be appearing on Google street view. Came up on the camera car this morning.
@ KYDave
“After 15 long months of pampering. Massages with exotic oils. Pricey high-fat foods. Butter and Clove enemas, dinky was finally ready to be eaten”
^^WIN^^
on tv for spelling bee in 6th grade.
on the news in college when Kenyon Martin broke his leg for my sports expertise (ahem).
Mothman was my neighborhood, too. Marietta Ohio. Didn’t really know about it till the movie came out though. R Gere really kinda gayed it up.
I might have known about it previous since I had this mysteries of the unexplained book which had some scary shit in it.
Tyrosine — yep, hated grade grubbers with a passion, but not quite as much as the anonymous class evaluations at the end of each semester. I am my own worst critic and am fairly clear on my own shortcomings. Whether or not I succeed in mastering myself is a completely different story. I used to get good and likkered up before I could muster up the courage to crack open the evaluations.
In the end, none of them were ever as bad as I imagined they would be. Some were clearly criticisms by students upset about their grades and could therefore be taken with a grain of salt. And others were valid suggestions made by people who actually put some thought into their answers. I really, really liked the love letters that told me what a wonderful person I was, especially if I could pinpoint which student wrote it. Everyone needs to be fawned over now and then.
One of the most gratifying things about that job, though, was getting to see when people actually grasped what you were trying to teach them. I’d sit in my office reading a particularly well-written master’s thesis or university exit exam, and I’d recognize the name or handwriting and be thrilled that they actually listened and that I wasn’t just blah, blah, blah-ing to the wall for hours on end. Some days I had my doubts.
The Mothman movie is outstanding, creeps the shit out of the wife and I.
We have a “Blue Lady” that’s haunting a bar in Moss Beach, CA. She was supposed to be a girlfriend of a Rum Runner that was killed during the Prohibition and is still waiting for him to return. There’s been many shows about it – what was that show with Robert Stack? She was on there as well as a few others I can’t think of at the moment.
Seems to me there’s probably a lot of people drinking one too many “blue ladies” and that’s why they see her.
Don’t cry, Shiny Rod, the first thing I’m gonna do when I get there is have my internets hooked up so I can keep up with the daily riduclousness around here. I may even start a blog of my own about how my husband and I kept from killing each other through the selling/moving process.
Happy Wednesday, Surfers!
Giant 7-foot moth-people with glowing red eyes are commonplace here where I live. I really don’t see what the big deal is.
Knucklehead…”Unsolved Mysetries”… old time fave of mine
Mysteries…crap…I guess typing is a mystery I’ll probably never solve. I mean…I’m only using two fingers and can stii screw it pu!!
@ Knucklehead – ***Smiles***
Unsolved Mysteries
@ DTO – It took me some years to break that habit. I got the Mavis Beacon Typing thing and now I’m a bit fast and I’ve moved 6 fingers. Still can’t get that thumb and baby finger to join in the fun. I still screw up every now and then. Even helped my guitar and piano playing.
@ Brynhildr,
We never got our evaluations until the summer term when the kids were gone. I presume this was so we couldn’t avenge ourselves during finals. I began TA’ing as an undergrad and they gave me full “lecturer” status in grad school (bargain for them: an instructor at a grad student price, fully paid by NSERC for two years), and I loved every second of it. My evaluations were always good, and I generally was in the top 3 for my department, but the comments were hilarious.
Have you ever checked yourself on Rate My Professor.com? Here’s my favourite:
” His section of the exam will be the hardest because he actually enjoys screwing the students over. He makes up for it in his tutorials which are VITAL! GO! Very large, news broadcaster voice which is scary but makes you pay attention.”
I never actually enjoyed “screwing students over” but I did set challenging exams. My second year course was team taught, so after each exam we’d run the stats (in a class of 1300 everything is multiple choice) : The “Difficulty Level” would always spike at my questions.
I remember the Mothman happening. My friends & I prank-called the radio station in Charleston and said we’d been chased by it while we were parking in a near-by holler (hollow). There are tons of legends and myths around the Kanawha Valley and further south in the coal camps. A friend of mine told me one about some giant catfish that supposedly lived below Bluestone Dam. Something to do with a train crash and when the divers went to look for the victims were nearly eaten by the catfish. Not to mention the Braxton County Monster, just north of Charleston toward Morgantown. Giant hairy beast, flying saucers–the deluxe version! I know tons of legends from WV.
Mavis Beacon Typing? Sounds like something Aunt Bee might suggest a girl do to prepare to become part of the steno pool. (Except that it’s a computer program, of course.)
@ Tyrosine and Brynhildr – Thanks, you two are really making me feel great about starting on my Masters next year.
Man, Jeff, how did you miss the Mothman living in this great state? Do you know about the Flatwoods Monster?
I live outside Charleston (think Jerry West’s birthplace and surroundings) and used to drive to the McClintock Preserve near Pt. Pleasant to deer hunt every fall. Nothing like being 14 years old totin’ a Marlin 30-30 around the woods just wishing I’d stumble onto that sucker in his secret lair and take him back to town…or just blow his head clean off.
The giant catfish story happens all over the state. I grew up with a guy who started working for his brother’s scuba salvagie business and he promises it’s so murky at the bottom of the Kanawha you can’t see five feet in front of you underwter even with strong lighting…but there are three places they refuse to dive on the river because of things they know other divers have seen.
I worked in a music store years ago and best friend of Gray Barker became a customer…maybe I need to blog about that one. He came into our store looking for sheet music by Ponfar…it goes wild from there…
Man, Jeff, how did you miss the Mothman living in this great state? Do you know about the Flatwoods Monster?
I live outside Charleston (think Jerry West’s birthplace and surroundings) and used to drive to the McClintock Preserve near Pt. Pleasant to deer hunt every fall. Nothing like being 14 years old totin’ a Marlin 30-30 around the woods just wishing I’d stumble onto that sucker in his secret lair and take him back to town…or just blow his head clean off.
The giant catfish story happens all over the state. I grew up with a guy who started working for his brother’s scuba salvage business and he promises it’s so murky at the bottom of the Kanawha you can’t see five feet in front of you underwater even with strong lighting…but there are three places they refuse to dive on the river because of things they know other divers have seen. Just won’t even talk about them.
I worked in a music store years ago and a best friend of Gray Barker became a customer…maybe I need to blog about that one. He came into our store looking for sheet music by Ponfar…it goes from there…
Various computer programs and tests to help with finger placement and helps build typing speed. It’s a good program for people like me who type tons of documents, spreadsheets and presentations all day. Since I have mastered the document organization part. I can hammer out flawless technical reports with ease. as I have said previously, it’s tough keeping a 4.0 GPA but I “git-r-done”.
Bikerchick… it’s very true. I wanted to stop the car, get out, and take a look. My scared shitless brother-in-law kept saying “No! No! No!”. That alerted the rest of the family in the backseat. They couldn’t believe it, but Kevin’s yammering (usually a quiet guy) convinced them that we had indeed laid eyes upon the Mothman.
I will never forget it and I’m always looking for a return visit from him when I hit that stretch of Highway 219.
The mothman is understood by sensible folk to have probably been a large owl flying towards someone’s windshield, scaring the crap out of them. The glowing eyes were because of the headlights.
Tyrosine – I taught at a German university so RateMyProfessor doesn’t apply. I liked screwing WITH students but that can be problematic since “Germans don’t do humor. They do beer.” (at least according to Beck’s, was it?)
I remember reading somewhere that first and second year instructors are the hardest on students because they’re still working out their “issues” from their days as students. I know I was unsympathetic when it came to the students’ excuses and my expectations were pretty high. When I left that job, a few people said I was tough, but that they learned the most from me because I kept them in line. And they liked that I was the youngest faculty member in the department. I would tell them goofy stories to lighten things up now and then.
@ Shiny Rod:
Grad School’s a blast and telling people you’re a grad student is just another way of saying you’re an alcoholic.
The worst part for most is writing the thesis but I hated the advisory committee meetings. My supervisor was ultra anal, so I’d have to prepare a short paper two weeks in advance, then prepare a talk….both of which had to be revised about 100,000 times (she basically wanted to see my chosen words in every possible permutation to decide which order she liked best). Before one meeting she eventually revised my paper back to the original draft. Almost had to kill her that day.
You should stick around for the Ph.D.: your comprehensive exam will take “soul destroying” to all new glorious levels.
What program are you taking? Is is a thesis based program, or are you pussing-out and taking a course-work masters?
Jeff were you aware there is a mystery in Olyphant PA where you live?
Ancient Egypt’s Portal
The County Line (excerpt of)
Carol Crane
…
John Peruka believes the founders of Olyphant were influenced somehow by powers emanating from Ancient Egypt and other world. Here is how he explained it to me.
The Ancient Egyptians worshpped the seven stars that comprise the constellation of Orion. The ancients believed the virthplace of their pharaohs was orion and that when their rulers died, they returned to the constellation.
At that time, Peruka produced a map which showed the locations of the seven churches of Olyphant. Using dots to represent the churches, the pattern matched perfectly with the alignment of the stars in the Orion Constellation.
Next, he produced a picture taken in the 1950s that showed an earthen pyramid overlooking Olyphant. Although somewhat eroded, the triangular muontain still is visible on the Olyphant skyline.
John believes that everything in nature can be broken down into triangles. For instance, the base of any pyramid is comprised of two triangles.
John went on to relate “Do you know what the elevation of Olyphant is?”. He points out the elevation of Olyphant is 960 feet – which is exactly twice the height of the Great Pyramid of Giza.
John believes the anchor that adorns the towns southern boundary was a mystic connection to ancient aviators that were not of this world.
This may be true as we have an eye witness on the video clip shown on this page that saw a ufo right over or near the anchor of Olyphant.
Peruka believes this to be the same anchor that the famous abductee, Betty Andreasson talks about as something she saw during her abduction. She spoke in great detail of a giant anchor that she saw along her heavenly journal. Her description matched the Olyphant anchor exactly, according to Peruka.
John related the belief that Olyphant, the pyramid, the churches which align with the constellion of Orion, the anchor and other facts all are an indication the Olyphant , by design of the Ancient Egyptians, is some sort of a portal to another dimension.
He also pointed out that the outline of the map of Olyphant matches that of the Giant Sphinx.
(Carol Crane is the Citizen’s Voice Luzerne County Report. She can be reached at ccrane@citizensvoice.com
@Shiny Rod…is that the same Mavis Beacon who used lived above Schwab’s Drugs on Beale Street in Memphis? She used to hock essential oils and had a voodoo section there too. Had no idea she could type.
Jeff were you aware there is a mystery surrounding Olyphant PA were you reside?
Ancient Egypt’s Portal
The County Line (excerpt of)
Carol Crane
…
John Peruka believes the founders of Olyphant were influenced somehow by powers emanating from Ancient Egypt and other world. Here is how he explained it to me.
The Ancient Egyptians worshpped the seven stars that comprise the constellation of Orion. The ancients believed the virthplace of their pharaohs was orion and that when their rulers died, they returned to the constellation.
At that time, Peruka produced a map which showed the locations of the seven churches of Olyphant. Using dots to represent the churches, the pattern matched perfectly with the alignment of the stars in the Orion Constellation.
Next, he produced a picture taken in the 1950s that showed an earthen pyramid overlooking Olyphant. Although somewhat eroded, the triangular muontain still is visible on the Olyphant skyline.
John believes that everything in nature can be broken down into triangles. For instance, the base of any pyramid is comprised of two triangles.
John went on to relate “Do you know what the elevation of Olyphant is?”. He points out the elevation of Olyphant is 960 feet – which is exactly twice the height of the Great Pyramid of Giza.
John believes the anchor that adorns the towns southern boundary was a mystic connection to ancient aviators that were not of this world.
This may be true as we have an eye witness on the video clip shown on this page that saw a ufo right over or near the anchor of Olyphant.
Peruka believes this to be the same anchor that the famous abductee, Betty Andreasson talks about as something she saw during her abduction. She spoke in great detail of a giant anchor that she saw along her heavenly journal. Her description matched the Olyphant anchor exactly, according to Peruka.
John related the belief that Olyphant, the pyramid, the churches which align with the constellion of Orion, the anchor and other facts all are an indication the Olyphant , by design of the Ancient Egyptians, is some sort of a portal to another dimension.
He also pointed out that the outline of the map of Olyphant matches that of the Giant Sphinx.
(Carol Crane is the Citizen’s Voice Luzerne County Report. She can be reached at ccrane@citizensvoice.com
sorry for the double post. Computer froze up
@ Brynhildr:
My supervisor was German, so I know all about German stoicism.
Most universities up here put new profs in senior courses: the topic is more focused and generally better tuned to their research interest. Most first and second year courses are taught by people with 5+years experience. In junior courses you have to broaden things out a lot. I was tough on students because I was still close enough to being an undergrad to remember what it was like and to see through the bullshit.
Holy shit….I’m not even from here–but learned about mothman in about the third week I lived in West Virginia. I’ve been to the statue–in fact, I’m pretty sure there is a Smoking Fish with him somewhere–maybe I just thought that up. If not, I’ll be over there before too long and will take care of it.
Perhaps I can put a tee shirt on the statue and snap a pic. Would that be blashpemy? Would my car be attacked by a union of gigantic insects? I’ll have to think on it.
Buck Out
Better still Jeff, when you guys come to WV, let’s get together and run over there. It’s only abouut :30 drive from where your parents now live…seriously–and only a few miles up the road from the Hillbilly Hotdogs…which incidentally was this week named one of the “101 Most Unique Places to Dine in West Virginia.”
http://www.wvtourism.com/101uniquedining/index.html
Bunker Cam Caption:
Dog – “If you’re only 415, then I’m a greyhound”.
@ Tyrosine – The thesis doesn’t scare me, just the money but now that I am a member of Alpha Chi and the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, I will be able to tap into some funds that are not coming out of my pocket. Hey, and as long as they have single malt scotch, I’m good. PHD is another story, Gonna have to find a wife to help smooth things out for me, home wise that is. Whoever she may be, she’s gonna get a real good package. Brains, brawn and bucks…
@ Limey – dog – “Now sit master!”
@ DTO – I wouldn’t doubt it. She’s had 17 releases of her product so there has been some tweaks to get the product right.
I am from Point Pleasant. I’ve been “home” to visit my parents while the Mothman Festival was taking place on Main Street. I saw cutoff shorts, sleeveless little league baseball shirts and a few mullets. That was just while I was driving by. I knew then, that in 20 years nothing had changed.
Now, I refuse enter into the madness on Main Street. When I was younger feller I would go to these festivals and raise all kinds of hell. I was younger then and full of the festival’s sugared treats. Typical (M) pubescent activities would include, launching an ant covered candied apple into a crowd of teenagers. It seemed like a good idea in those days.
EVERY festival in Point Pleasant seemed to pull the assholes out of the woods (including asshole kids that throw treats into crowds of zit poppers) . The type of people that you would encounter only at the county fair would find their way to the festivals. There would always be a sea of tough guys and shitheels.
There always seemed to be drunkenness (The fall down and piss yourself type) and a ton of assholes, and the two just don’t mix. Especially, when street vendors are selling knickknacks that included real knives and swords. I’m surprised there wasn’t a fatality. Damn, they set us up for some grand social experiment and nobody took the bait. Results….inconclusive.
God, that place sucked during festival times. Hell, there really wasn’t a festival when I was growing up. There was “the Regatta”, Battle Days and the Fourth of July activities. That was too much then, and an additional event now!? I can only imagine what kind of shit goes on now. You know, with technology and all.
A street full of dirt merchants and their iPods singing Kid Rock, Nickelback and whatever songs they listen to nowadays, at maximum God damn volume.Ah, Damn you cheap technology! God damn you all to hell!
Well, I guess every year I can hope and pray for the 11o’clock news to open up with some rat tail sporting ass bag, sitting on the post office steps, wrapped in Glad Wrap and nursing a sucking chest wound.
WSAZ and WOWK, please don’t let me down.
Hillbilly Hotdogs just rocks. Well worth the drive from anywhere.
@ Tyrosine – There are a number of variables that range from when to whom. Which person you choose alters your life path considerably. If causal determinism is true, then at every instant of your life, there is exactly one physically possible future (and one person available to you for marriage, and so forth). If causal determinism is true, then the agent cannot “get” to any of the alternative paths from the path he is on. Hence, it cannot be true that we have free will and that the doctrine of determinism is correct. One or the other of the suppositions is false. If determinism is true, then our acts are the consequences of the laws of nature and events in the remote past. But it is not up to us what went on before we were born, and neither is it up to us what the laws of nature are. Therefore, the consequences of these things (including our present acts) are not up to us. The Consequence Argument maintains every event is the causally necessary outcome of previous events, so that a chain of deterministically linked events stretches backwards into history. From a past event, given determinism, a person can trace a line forward through necessarily linked events up to each present events.
I’ve baked a lot of girls noodles with this.
Nonholonomic system perchance?
*scratching my noggin*
I’m leaving work and I’m going to stop at my favorite watering hole in 20 minutes or so. Was this decided for me before I left for work this morning? Before I was born? Do I have any control over it? I wonder how many beers I’m predestined to drink? Only one way I know to find out. Peace out!
Shiny Rod — Aw, come on, don’t do that. You sound like my Sunday School teacher back before it was predetermined that I would become an atheist, no matter how hard they tried.
oops – should have said “back before I realized it was predetermined….”
Thanks Shiny Rod…yep, makes sense! She was missing a coulpe or three fingers..so I think that’s her.
Caption…
“Don’t screw with me judge….I ate one bigger than this for breakfast”!
Bunker Cam Caption 2:
Dog – “Bitch, did you just squirt mustard down my back?!”.
Oh, we’re doing captions now? Okay.
“Pleeze gawd, let the lady fall sideways!”
Shiny Rod or Bryhildr, why don’t you provide some German captions for Scheisee und Kichern. After all, it is a Deutsch doggy.
Jeff.. watch the movie.
If you REALLY wanna get creeped out –
When you first see MothMan
It is through a windshield …
..and it is quick.
I remember we rwd, paused and slowmow-ed
till we saw a full frame
GREAT MOVIE.
Loved Teri’s video.
HOW EPIC that she
as a LOONG time WVSR’r
was so close to making the show.
They should have made it.
I love HH and HHI. I very rarely watch tv
but I have fallen in love with this show.
And I always know the house they will pick.
@ Brynhildr -Sorry dear, I wasn’t trying to sound like a sunday school teacher. What I am trying to say is that if determinism is true, past events are now out of your control and what happens now because of previous events and laws of nature that are out of your control, then what happens now (as the outcome of those previous events and natural laws) is also out of your control. Not that I am trying to shed any light on what you believe. I am far from attempting to change anyones mind based on their beliefs. I know that I have issue with the authorship and context and I will leave it alone. Sartre interjected that the position that some human choices, in particular moral ones for which we can be held accountable, are NOT determined by previous events and is is not fixed by heredity, environment, or any other factor except our capacity for choice. We create who we are by the choices we make. So with that in mind, we make choices whether predetermined or not based on our ability to control or not control the outcome of our future.
@ WB in OH – enjoy the beer, save the philosophy for the bartender.
@ Gretchen – Since you asked, this one is just for you.
Der Hund sagt: Schnell, bevor der Richter kommt vorbei. Fan meine backside, weil ich gerade vorbei Gas.
Gretchen — I’ve been trying to come up with something clever, but I got nothin’ — not in English, not in German. All the other captions made me LMAO. Can’t top that. I will however say that when I first saw #415, I thought she looked quite a bit like an English Bulldog in human form. She certainly has the proper stance, as well as a thick neck and plenty of loose skin. I wonder if perhaps she fits her breed standard better than the Dachshund does his own.
Jeff, How do you not know about the Mothman? We read that book in Sr. English in Miss. M’s class….you should remember that. Also I have some family who live in Pt. Pleasant, (you know them Caldwells),who swear to have seen him.
@ t-storm – Hertz parallels Poppers theory. “Within the field of science we have a criterion of progress: even before a theory has ever undergone an empirical test we may be able to say whether, provided it passes certain specified tests, it would be an improvement on other theories which we are acquainted.”
@ Tyrosine – to answer your final question, I will be pursuing a Masters in Information Systems with a concentration in Decision Support
System Management.
@Shiny Rod: Ah, the gassy daschund. Thanks for making me smile.
Has anyone ever seen Jesco and Mothman in the same place at the same time? I think they’re one and the same, like Clark Kent and Superman. In fact, I think I heard that Mothman was hoofin’ it on the bridge and that’s what made it collapse!
@ Gretchen – Now, if can just get a smile from Brynhildr.
Caption: And in the spirit of Richard Gere, Bonnie had big plans for Digger the dachshund.
Sorry, didn’t want Google sending Nostrils this way so thought I should low brow it a bit.
Don’t know anything about the Mothman really other than what the movie showed. I did have a cousin who was in line in traffic to cross that bridge on the night it fell however, kinda weird I guess…
I have got to get out more. All work and no play is making jack a very dull boy.
I am fascinated by both philosophy and religion. I have read quite a bit about both, but casually (not causually). I have come to the conclusion that they have the same purpose: to explain the unexplainable. Philosophy attempts to take the scientific approach, religion just makes stuff up and asks one to believe.
Both are flawed and yet valid.
Bunker Cam caption- “Five second rule!!”
Did you know- An early theory was Mothman was a misidentified Sandhill Crane?
On IPOD right now- “Sky Pilot”- The Animals
@ Taiwan On – Philosophy and religion are both just the rambling thoughts to bring reason to chaos and order to the masses. While one group will claim, there is no God, I can’t see him so he does not exist. Another group say god is present I see him in everything so he exist. What we are not careful of is putting to much weight on any position. The extremes are where we get into trouble. I think that Aristotle had it right. To say that a claim is rationally defensible does not necessarily mean that it is true or has been proved true. However, the reasons supporting the claim may only remove all reasonable doubt (not all doubt) from our minds; or they may be just strong enough to make it more likely than not that the claim is true (because it is supported by a “preponderance of the evidence”). Ergo, I exist, therefore, I am. But remember this to, philosophy was long in existence before any organized religion.
@ shiny rod:
That’s no joke bro. They eat things here that are, well, NOT FOOD.
Actually, the reason why there’s no Gypsies is probably because the Albularyo Association would run them off; damn foreigners taking local jobs. (Albularyo = fortune-teller, quack doctor, psychic surgeon, potion chef, etc. I know a couple.)
Bunker Cam Caption 3:
Beast In Show
In my birthland of southeastern Massachusetts we had the legendary Hockomock Swamp, which was a holy place for and one of the last holdouts of the resistant Native population, and as such is said to be riddled with ghosts, yetis, man-sized skunks, wendigos, will-o-wisps, and what have you.
So of course my dad took us into the middle of it for a picnic one weekend. We saw mosquitoes and poison ivy, but no restless spirits.
Bunker Cam Caption 4:
Dog – “Yo Shamu, you know I’m not literally a sausage dog, right?”
@ Shiny Rod – See, this is the problem. The simple (it cannot be explained) becomes the ridiculous (e.g., your rambling retort). Allow me to elucidate:
“The extremes are where we get into trouble.” I agree.
“I think that Aristotle had it right. To say that a claim is rationally defensible does not necessarily mean that it is true or has been proved true.” Now you lost me. This is the kind of philosophical bullshit that drives me crazy.
“However, the reasons supporting the claim may only remove all reasonable doubt (not all doubt) from our minds; or they may be just strong enough to make it more likely than not that the claim is true (because it is supported by a “preponderance of the evidence”). Ergo, I exist, therefore, I am.” WTF? Can I buy a vowel?
“But remember this to, philosophy was long in existence before any organized religion.” I beg to differ. In the beginning, philosophy and religion were the same thing.
Here is my posit restated: Philosophy, while a fascinating intellectual excercise, fails to fulfill the void.
Religion fills the void, but in the end, comes up empty.
So here we are. As the late great George Carlin put it, a bunch of protoplasms walking around. If you need to explain that, I understand. But me, I’m just glad to be alive to see what happens next.
I loved the “Mothman Prophecies.” Totallt scared the crap out of me! The Silver Bridge in Point Pleasant had a twin upriver in St. Marys. After the collapse, they closed the bridge in St. Marys, and ran a ferry across til they built a new bridge years later.
The only weird thing that happened to me in WV was one night back in the 80s. I was parked with my girlfriend down by the power plant in Belmont. This was the one where the cooling tower scaffolding collapsed in the 1970s. Anyway, as she and I were sitting there talking, all of a sudden the car got really, really cold (yet it was a warm night). I got this weird feeling of impending doom, and my girlfriend swore that she felt spirits all around us. Totally creeped me out!
@ Taiwan On – Philosophy consist of three seperate branches: Metaphysics, Axiology and Epistemology. Otherwise, what is reality, what is good or what do you value, and what do we know or accept as true. Religion is to be taken not as something that can be proven or disproven but instead as a boundary condition or principle through which we interpret life and our experiences. So philosophy is actually the foundation and religion is the boundary. BTW, I love Carlin and Maher’s points of view when it comes to religion. So I think that makes me agnostic, either way I’ll wait to see what happens and watch the two side duke it out. I think this is what happens when you have grown up christian most of your life and some event (knowledge) changes your perception. So, I agree with you, I’m just happy to be alive. P.S. Your are right, you can’t have one without the other.
This guy shoulda just picked up a block of Velveeta –
http://www.wvgazette.com/News/200907140348
@ Alice in WV – and they let him out on bond!!! I am at a lost for words for this douche bag.
@ Taiwan On – This is one of those extremes I was talking about. He totally missed the boundary.
I’ve heard all the legends about WV. in fact, a friend of Mr.Man’s swears he saw a UFO on his was down I-79 late one night. He’s a pretty serious guy but when he tells this story, his voice shakes and he trembles. He says that his car shut off and then as he sat in the dark, a UFO came up from the side of the mountain and hovered in front of him for a few minutes and then went straight up, really fast and disappeared.
He sounds very convincing when he tells it.
In Maine there are legends of hauntings, ghost ships and other sea related things. Of course there are other things as well, which Stephen King has written about in some of his novels. For example, Pet Cemetery reminds me of the legend of a tree that sits near a pet cemetery on the coast. There are faces carved into the tree and rumor has it that the spirits of the pets buried there come back to haunt their owners.
As for my own neck of the woods in Maine…
Back in the late 70’s and early 80’s there was a man who worked for a farmer near where I lived. Every day when he was finished work, he’d walk home from the farm to his house. It was several miles and normally it would be dark or close to dark. One evening he swore there was something following him in the woods next to the road.
This continued for weeks and while he’d catch a glimpse of it, he couldn’t pin point what it was. He assumed it was a moose or a bear.
Then one night when the moon was full and he could see things more clearly, it stepped into a clearing in the woods and he said it stood upright, approximately six and a half feet tall, with reddish brown fur covering it’s body. It began walking toward him and he saw it had arms, not legs.
He ran to the nearest house half a mile down the road, watching it follow behind him the entire way.
When he reached the house, he pounded on the door. Then trying the door knob, found it unlocked and went inside.
The man who lived there came out of the bathroom and found him white as a ghost, sitting behind a chair. He’d soiled himself in fear.
He began to ask him what was wrong when he looked up and saw the creature looking in the window at him.
He said it’s eyes looked human and he was captivated by them, not able to look away.
Then it moved away from the window and walked into the woods. Neither of the men saw it again, although there was a huge group of men who searched the area for it for days after the event.
Because the account came from two men well into their fifties, people treated it with more credibility, I suppose.
They never found anything except for some partial tracks and broken branches.
Who knows?
That’s really the only thing I ever heard of locally that would compare to the mothman thing here in WV.
@Ognir – As did John Keel, investigator of the Mothman and writer of The Mothman Prophecies.
Jesus Christ, I had to go up 800 posts before I found what the John Keel statement referred to.
Usually, the bunker cam, further evidence and Classic have been changed by now if there was going to be an update, so here’s a question, should you be obliged to comment to (which no one ever does). What were you doing 40 years ago today when the moon landing was on TV? I was planning my future as an astronaut, until real life set in. The weird images did not seem real, as some try to disclaim any of the moon landings. Where were you?
Did you know- The new space shuttle astronauts may not make it back?
On IPOD right now- “Something I Can Never Have” – Nine Inch nails
Yeah, I know the launch was today and the landing was on the 20th. No need to correct me.
@ Shiny Rod. Your meta-clarification on boundry condition physicsamology has cleared everything up. Thanks.
AWG – I wasn’t alive 40 years ago. I know, not an interesting answer, but true.
Hey, over here in East Virginia (I actually had someone ask if I was from East or West VA) we have the West Point Ghost. The story goes that a railroad worker was killed on the tracks at a crossing at West Point VA and that if you go there at night you can sometimes see the ghost waving a red lantern. It was a real drinking hang out when I was a teenager but i never so anything but friends of mine claimed that they did.
I can’t decide if I believe what I know or if I know what I believe.
Also I might be agnostic, but I’m not sure.
Sorry, Angry White Guy, I was roughly three years, two months, and five days from being born. Which strangely enough still makes me feel old.
@ AngryWhiteGuy – Sorry for those loooooong post. Had to get something off my chest. I hate it when I get stuck in philosophy. Only way out is to rationalize it.
Thanks for answering, at least, mountie. I know a lot of people here are over 40, though.
Did you know- Jerry Springer is in the building where I work right now?
On IPOD right now- “Salt on a Slug”- Black Flag
@ AngryWhiteGuy – Running for my life because I was the nerdy kid in the neighborhood. Sorry, no pocket protectors here, just brains.
Now playing on the iPod – “Vivaldi’s Song” Michael Franks
@ Laserboy – Just for you so you can be sure. Agnosticism admits to the middle ground of uncertainty between a belief in a God or some ultimate reality and a rejection of belief in a God or some ultimate reality.
Now playing on the iPod – “Stay Awhile” – Special EFX
I also wasn’t alive 40 years ago. Sorry.
AWG — I had just turned 2 years old and was doing whatever a toddler does — probably still soiling myself, breaking things, messing up the house, picking my nose, eating the dog’s food, sucking my thumb, pulling my sisters’ hair, throwing tantrums, gnawing on lead paint, and the like. Of course, during the actual broadcast, there’s a fair chance I was sleeping. Or maybe not. We lived in Alaska then. Dunno.
AWG…the launch was yesterday….http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html…They have repair knowlegde and can wait out a rescue.
I have a crush on Julie Payette…
There’s always a chance anyone of us might not survive the night’s asleep. I’ll take my chances always putting both feet in….that’s my Philosophy and a religion, if one must cling to one. I’m a Karma, Zen kinda guy without the incence. Cool is the rule.
Huh?……http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html
Don’t know why that won’t link…crap….anyway….it was the 15th.
-d
I don’t know- the NASA track record isn’t very good when noticeable shit is flying off the capsule before they come back. Good luck to them all.
Did you know- a Space Shuttle must reach speeds of about 17,500 miles per hour to remain in orbit?
On IPOD right now- “In the Flesh”- Pink Floyd
I find it very interesting and a bit sad to see the ramblings on here about religion, philosophy, agnosticism, etc….. I am a Christian. I believe this to be the way to go. I am an Air Force Veteran who spent many years underground at the NORAD Cheyenne Mountain Complex. Of this I am certain, because I have experienced it first hand. There are things in this world that we cannot explain. They happen daily and be thankful there are those looking out for us. Christianity is always the religion that is attacked. You never see so called “intelligences” speak out against Bhuddism, Hinduism, Shamanism, etc…. They all want you to believe that we are all good and all paths lead to the same place. Haven’t you ever wondered why Christ is always attacked? Think about it boys and girls. The greatest scam Satan ever pulled on the world was convincing it that he doesn’t exist.
I was 10 1/2 Months old- Probably screaming at the top of my lungs!
Feeling sorry for the poor girl stuck in the bathroom with a cow…
Now playing on the iPod – “Sweet Miracle” – Rush
@ Jerry in WV – As much as I would enjoy the debate, satan wasn’t the lone culprit in the conspiracy. The Jewish Sanhedrin had a big hand in the crucifiction. But lets leave it on a philosophical level and try not to dance around those religious borders. I don’t want anyone to feel uncomfortable about their beliefs. But you do bring up a valid point.
here’s MY point to all the closed minded creationists, evolutionists, spiritual and atheist out there. Why don’t you respect other peoples beliefs and opinions. You might be right, you might be a little right, or you might be dead wrong.
I think Asimov posed an interesting question: http://www.multivax.com/last_question.html
I was 2 and 1/2 when Mr. Armstrong stepped out of the Lunar module. I’m guessing my Mom would have had it on and had all us kids watching but to young to remember. I’ll have to ask my sister.
Shiny Rod – Just kidding. I already knew what an Agnostic is I just like to play with words. I certainly don’t mean to offend. Just ellicit a smile.