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The Mothman and the Silver Bridge Collapse

Thirteen months of sightings in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and the real disaster that followed.

Quick answer

What is the Mothman?

The Mothman is a winged creature with glowing red eyes that people in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, reported seeing from November 1966 through late 1967. On December 15, 1967, the town's Silver Bridge over the Ohio River collapsed at rush hour, killing 46 people. Investigators traced the collapse to a single cracked eyebar, but the timing tied the sightings and the disaster together in local legend.

Timeline

  1. November 15, 1966Two couples report a large winged figure with red eyes near an abandoned World War II munitions site outside Point Pleasant.
  2. 1966 to 1967Dozens more sightings are reported. Newspapers coin the name Mothman.
  3. December 15, 1967The Silver Bridge collapses during rush hour. 46 people die.
  4. 1970The National Transportation Safety Board concludes the collapse began with a crack in one eyebar link in a suspension chain.
  5. 1975John Keel's book The Mothman Prophecies connects the sightings to the collapse.

What is documented, and what is not

On the record

  • Sightings were reported to police and in local newspapers.
  • The Silver Bridge collapse killed 46 people.
  • The collapse was caused by the failure of a single eyebar due to a small crack.

Disputed or unproven

  • No physical evidence of a creature exists. Suggested explanations include large birds such as sandhill cranes or owls.
  • Any link between the sightings and the bridge is folklore.

Common questions

Is the Mothman real?

People did report sightings, but there is no physical evidence of an unknown creature. Large birds are the most common explanation.

Why did the Silver Bridge collapse?

A tiny crack in one eyebar, a link in the bridge's suspension chain, grew until the eyebar failed and the bridge fell. It led to national bridge inspection standards.

Where is Point Pleasant?

In Mason County, West Virginia, on the Ohio River. It now has a Mothman statue, museum and annual festival.

Read the record yourself

Links go to official archives, museums, agencies and published research. Search links open the archive's own search for this topic.

THE FICTION BUILT ON THIS RECORD · FILE 045 · VOLUME VIIA Town Saw Red Eyes for 13 Months. Then the Bridge Fell.The warning is never the monster. The warning is what you do after you see it.Read the first pages free →

Last reviewed 2026-10-13. This page covers the public record only. Archive files are dramatized and always marked as files.

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