It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s…Uh,oh.
Jan 21, 2023
On Premonitions
⚠️It’s probably something to do with survival on a grander scale, but we each have the innate ability to sense danger. And I’m not saying we all have ESPN or anything — (the millennials in the group are all giggling right now while everyone else is raising their eyebrows and talking to their screen like, “Umm, don’t you mean ESP??” So, I’m just going to put this here: if you haven’t seen the movie Mean Girls, go watch it. It’s a cult classic. Like seriously, go now. Watch it. Then come back. You’ll be giggling right along with the rest of us. 🙃)
So, this capacity to detect danger: it’s not a telepathic ability, or an “I’ve-been-bit-by-a-spider” superpower 🕷️ , but we all have the intrinsic ability to sense when something’s…off. Again, there were probably one too many people walking in front of carts or mammoths—or whatever the transport of choice was way back when —that we evolved to be able to sense and avoid imminent harm and to use this biological boost to ultimately win the grand prize of continuity. And for those that didn’t gain that ability…wellll, we’ve all seen what happens to the winners of nature’s consolation prize, the Darwin Awards. 🫠
Yep.
But what exactly is the threshold between what’s ordinary and what’s extraordinary? When does this sense of precognition cross the line from being something we all naturally have to something… more?
Have you ever had the same dream over and over? Or maybe you suddenly felt sick before traveling so you decided to postpone the trip. Maybe you’ve suddenly felt the need to drive the “other way” home from work for no apparent reason. Now, this post isn’t about the butterfly effect by any means, but it does apply here. Most of the time, the results of these seemingly trivial shifts in patterns are never seen. But what if you were somehow able to see the significant cause and effect made by your seemingly minute choice? —Is it bad that I had to look up the spelling of “minute” in that context? It should definitely be spelled “minoot” by the way 🤨. Anyway, if that were the case—that you could tangibly see how your actions altered the future series of events— would you be able to believe in the extraordinary then?
What if we were able to look deeper into this scenario and find out that by taking the “other way”home from work, you avoided a multi-car pig pile, caused by none other than —you guessed it—you 🤯 ?
Hey, it’s something to think about. 🤔
The phenomena of precognition is known as premonition. And it’s likely a lot more common than we realize. I personally believe that it’s tied to that given ability we each have to detect and avoid danger…to survive. Fun fact: people who study this topic say that premonitions are stronger when they are about someone to whom you have a strong bond. ❤️
Premonitions, they say, can manifest in dreams, as physical symptoms or even as visual omens. 🫣
🦋 The Point Pleasant Mothman Sightings
In 2002, a movie was released starring some guy named Richard Gere—whoever that is—titled the Mothman Prophecies. The movie of course took liberties (as most movies do), but it was based on true events as told by author and journalist John Keel in his book of the same name. I’m not going to tell you about the movie (I’m sure you can find it on Netflix or something though), but I am going to tell you about the Mothman cryptid of the small town of Point Pleasant, West Virginia.
Sightings of the Mothman began in West Virginia on November 12, 1966, when five men who were digging a grave outside Point Pleasant reported seeing a large, bird-like creature the size of a man with a misshapen head and saucer-like glowing red eyes. On November 16, 1966, two couples reported to the Point Pleasant sheriff that they had been out driving the night before, near the TNT area of the old World War II munitions plant, when they were chased by a giant, screeching bird-like creature. They reported that although their car had topped 100 miles per hour trying to outrun it, it had no problem keeping up with them. It chased them to the border of the town and then suddenly disappeared. Another sighting occurred when a young mother arrived at a friend’s house and was stalked by the creature as she ran terrified inside from her car, carrying her child, and locked the doors behind her. The creature then climbed onto the front porch and watched them through the windows, disappearing just before the police could arrive. There would be over 100 sightings of the Mothman over the next year in Point Pleasant— most of which occurred near the munitions plant.
Because Mothman never reportedly hurt anyone, people have believed him to be an omen of impending danger, appearing simply to warn humans of tragic events on the horizon. On December 15, 1967, several people in the Point Pleasant area claimed to see Mothman on a hill near the Ohio River. That very evening, during rush hour traffic, the Silver Bridge connecting Ohio and West Virginia collapsed without warning into the icy river below, killing 46 people. The Mothman was never seen in Point Pleasant again.
Origin Theories
Some people believe that the Mothman is an extraterrestrial named “Indrid Cole”, who identified himself telepathically to a man named Woodrow Derenberger in the 60’s. Derenberger reported that Indrid Cole did not move his lips as they communicated, but instead kept his mouth fixed in an unyielding wide smile, leading to him to be known since as “the Grinning Man”. (And, side note, there’s a lot more to this particular story, and dang it sounds interesting! I’m going to need to do a review on this one soon too! )
Other people believe the Mothman was originally a normal animal living near the munitions plant in Point Pleasant, whose DNA was affected and altered by toxic chemicals from the plant.
Others believe that he is actually the manifestation of a curse put on the land by the betrayed Native American Chieftan Cornstalk, who was ambushed and murdered by American soldiers in the 1700’s.
Other Sightings of Mothman around the World 🌎
Many people around the world have claimed to see Mothman just before the occurrence of disasters.
Early January 1926, China: locals describe a dragon-like creature hovering near the Xiaon Te Dam. Later that month, the dam collapses, flooding the farming valley below with over 40 billion gallons of water and killing an estimated 15,000 people.
1978, Germany: a group of miners heading into work are greeted by a bird-like creature at the mouth of the tunnel. The creature, they would later say, was about 6 or 7 feet tall, with huge wings and large glowing red eyes. The men stood dumbstruck, staring at the creature, until it let out a petrifying screech that made them turn and run away from the mine. The mine would collapse within the hour.
Throughout 1985, Ukraine: many of the scientists and workers living near the Chernobyl nuclear plant claim to see a large bird-like creature with the body of a man and large glowing red eyes flying around the plant. On April 26, 1986, the creature was seen flying though the smoke and wreckage of the Chernobyl nuclear explosion.
September 11, 2001, New York, USA: New Yorkers claim to see a strange bird-like creature the size of a man with glowing read eyes circling the twin towers in the days before the terrorist attacks. On the day of the attacks, witnesses describe seeing the same creature flying side by side with the second plane as it crashed into the tower.
The Mothman has most recently claimed to have been seen by the residents of Chicago, causing people to speculate if it will be the site of the next major disaster.
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So, that is the lore around the Mothman cryptid of Point Pleasant, West Virginia…where they have a nice little festival for him every year in September. 🤷♀️
It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s… Mothman! 🦅
Letttt’s hope not. 😬
I was just kidding by the way— I love Richard Gere.
[🧡DT]
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