Speaker 1: Welcome to Unexplained Extra with me Richard McClain Smith, where
Speaker 1: for the weeks in between episodes, who look at stories
Speaker 1: and ideas that, for one reason or other didn't make
Speaker 1: it into the previous show. In our last episode, or
Speaker 1: that we see we trace the origins of the moth Man,
Speaker 1: of folkloric legend of modern day America. Having first been
Speaker 1: apparently cited in November nineteen sixty six on the outskirts
Speaker 1: of Point Pleasant in West Virginia, the legend of the
Speaker 1: moth Man has only continued to grow, with countless sightings
Speaker 1: of it being reported all over the country ever since.
Speaker 1: Many will be quick to point out that the enigmatic
Speaker 1: creature is merely a figment of our collective imaginations. However,
Speaker 1: there is no denying that, whether real or not, in
Speaker 1: the wake of those first apparent sightings, it has undoubtedly
Speaker 1: taken on a solidity and reality of its own, regardless
Speaker 1: of what anyone might think about it. Many in Point
Speaker 1: Pleasant are proud of the so called Mothman's connection to
Speaker 1: their city. There you can find the world's only Mothman museum,
Speaker 1: who also run tours out to the infamous TNT area
Speaker 1: where it was once thought to have resided. There's even
Speaker 1: an annual Mothman Festival held on the third weekend of
Speaker 1: every September to commemorate those strange few nights in nineteen
Speaker 1: sixty six when rumors about a terrifying, red eyed, flying
Speaker 1: humanoid monster first held the town in its grip. One
Speaker 1: aspect of the story that some listeners wanted to know
Speaker 1: a little more about was how exactly the collapse of
Speaker 1: the Silver Bridge fitted into everything. Well, let me tell you.
Speaker 1: Local journalist Mary Higher, as mentioned in the last episode,
Speaker 1: her little interest in the subject at the strange and
Speaker 1: unexplained prior to the first Mothman sightings. Soon after, she
Speaker 1: became fascinated by what she felt was a growing number
Speaker 1: of strange occurrences that seemed to be plaguing the local area,
Speaker 1: so much so that she began to use her regular
Speaker 1: column in the Athens Messenger, Where the Waters Mingle to
Speaker 1: document them. In early nineteen sixty seven, after a number
Speaker 1: of apparent UFO sightings were reported to her, and one
Speaker 1: particularly unsettling incident in which a strange, unearthly man was
Speaker 1: said to have attempted to abduct her niece, Connie Carpenter,
Speaker 1: Mary had her own strange encounter. In March of that year,
Speaker 1: Mary was driving through Point Pleasant with her husband, Scotty,
Speaker 1: and sister Alice. Pulling up to an intersection, she noticed
Speaker 1: the staff of a nearby gas station were all staring
Speaker 1: at the sky. Following their gaze, she claimed to have
Speaker 1: then seen a long, spherical object as big as a silo,
Speaker 1: hovering about three hundred feet in the air, with a
Speaker 1: set of lights underneath that continually changed from orange to white.
Speaker 1: Then in April, a man and his son from the
Speaker 1: village of Middleport, Ohio, not far from Point Pleasant, reported
Speaker 1: seeing some kind of butterfly creature as large as a
Speaker 1: car land in their garden. The following month, Higher wrote
Speaker 1: to New York based writer John Keel, with whom she'd
Speaker 1: struck up a friendship during those strange weeks when the
Speaker 1: mothman was first apparently spotted a number of strange events
Speaker 1: that had occurred since, but there was something else too.
Speaker 1: Keel returned to Point Pleasant a number of times to
Speaker 1: help keep track of the events, and both he and
Speaker 1: Mary couldn't shake the feeling that it was all building
Speaker 1: to something ominous. Throughout John Keel's years of researching UFOs
Speaker 1: and all associated phenomena. He'd built a network of contacts
Speaker 1: people who claim to have either been abducted or simply
Speaker 1: contacted by alien entities. These contact hes, many of whom
Speaker 1: believed they were still in regular contact with the aliens,
Speaker 1: either through their dreams or via telepathy, would occasionally contact John,
Speaker 1: claiming to have some vital information about the fate of
Speaker 1: the planet. Normally, John would take this with the l
Speaker 1: large pinch of salt. That all changed, however, when he
Speaker 1: was apparently told at some point in nineteen sixty seven
Speaker 1: that on December fifteenth, some form of electro magnetic effect
Speaker 1: was going to inflict a significant part of the United States,
Speaker 1: possibly in the form of a large power failure. This
Speaker 1: in turn would lead on to some kind of disaster
Speaker 1: occurring somewhere along the Ohio River in which many people
Speaker 1: would die. With Point Pleasant being next to the Ohio River,
Speaker 1: Keel said that he alerted Mary Higher immediately in early
Speaker 1: November nineteen sixty seven. He then traveled down to Point
Speaker 1: Pleasant to catch up on the latest strange events that
Speaker 1: had been happening there. Mary Higher picked him up at
Speaker 1: the airport, where she proceeded to detail a terrifying nightmare
Speaker 1: that she'd had just before he told her about the
Speaker 1: apparent impending disaster. She'd seen images of people drowning in
Speaker 1: the water after some kind of catastrophic event. But the
Speaker 1: strangest thing of all, she said, was that she'd also
Speaker 1: seen Christmas presents floating alongside the bodies. Keel stayed in
Speaker 1: Point Pleasant until early December, when, having allegedly witnessed more
Speaker 1: inexplicable phenomenon such as multiple strange lights in the sky,
Speaker 1: he returned to New York. Then, soon after he apparently
Speaker 1: received further news from his contact. He whatever was going
Speaker 1: to take place, they said, would happen precisely at the
Speaker 1: moment then President Lyndon B. Johnson switched on the White
Speaker 1: House Christmas tree lights, and so it was that a
Speaker 1: few days later, on December fifteenth, John Keel was sat
Speaker 1: in his apartment staring bug eyed at the TV green
Speaker 1: as shortly after five pm President Johnson trotted out onto
Speaker 1: the White House lawn and prepared to light up the tree.
Speaker 1: Just over five hundred miles away to the west, the
Speaker 1: traffic in Point Pleasant was at a log jam as
Speaker 1: evening Christmas shoppers and workers attempted to get home Charlene Wood,
Speaker 1: a young hairdresser who was five months pregnant with twins,
Speaker 1: was in her Pontiac heading home to Gallipolus on the
Speaker 1: other side of the Ohio River. Cars were stretched bumper
Speaker 1: to bumper across the seven hundred foot to Silver Bridge
Speaker 1: as she eased her car toward it, when she was
Speaker 1: suddenly overcome by a bizarre sensation, as if she had
Speaker 1: just experienced a minor earthquake. A little further ahead, teenage
Speaker 1: couple Howard and Margaret Boggs were also making their way home,
Speaker 1: along with their seventeen month old baby and their car
Speaker 1: laden with presents for what would be only their second
Speaker 1: Christmas together as a family. They too felt something shake
Speaker 1: beneath them. Feeling anxious, Margaret looked about that all the
Speaker 1: cars packed tightly together on the bridge, then turned to Howard.
Speaker 1: What on earth would we do if this thing were
Speaker 1: to break up? She said. Back in New York, in
Speaker 1: John Keel's apartment, John watched with bated breath as President
Speaker 1: Johnson finished wishing peace and goodwill to all, and then
Speaker 1: flick the switch to light up the tree. At almost
Speaker 1: that precise moment, witnesses all over Point Pleasant heard a
Speaker 1: loud crack ring out through the town, followed by a
Speaker 1: momentary flickering of street lights. Then they watched aghast as
Speaker 1: the town's iconic silver bridge first began to sway, then slither,
Speaker 1: before buckling completely in the middle. Then one of its
Speaker 1: towers slowly pitched over, followed soon after by a second,
Speaker 1: and then the entire stretch of it twisted and arched,
Speaker 1: sending all thirty seven vehicles laid out on it tumbling
Speaker 1: into the five degree waters of the Ohio River below,
Speaker 1: and moments later what was left of the bridge fell
Speaker 1: down on top of them. Police arriving to help pregnant
Speaker 1: hairdresser Charlene Wood found her with her hands still gripping
Speaker 1: the steering wheel in fear. She'd thankfully escaped the whole thing,
Speaker 1: having never quite made it up on to the bridge,
Speaker 1: but had witnessed it all right in front of her.
Speaker 1: Having been tipped into the water along with his wife
Speaker 1: and child, Howard Boggs had just enough awareness to locate
Speaker 1: a smashed passenger window and free himself. Unbeknownst to him,
Speaker 1: he was already thirty feet under water at the time.
Speaker 1: Howard survived after eventually making it to the surface, where
Speaker 1: he was spotted by a rescue vessel and plucked from
Speaker 1: the water. His eighteen year old wife, Margaret, and their
Speaker 1: seventeen month old baby, along with forty four others, were
Speaker 1: not so fortunate. Back in New York, in John Keel's apartment,
Speaker 1: he watched as a news flash popped up on screen
Speaker 1: announcing the disaster. Though it wasn't the power cut he'd
Speaker 1: been promised, he was left in no doubt to the
Speaker 1: Silver Bridge tragedy was undeniably linked to everything that he
Speaker 1: and Mary had been investigating, and all of it stemmed
Speaker 1: from that first mothman sighting in November nineteen sixty six.
Speaker 1: Mary Higher was only half a block from the bridge
Speaker 1: when she heard it collapse. After racing to the point
Speaker 1: pleasant approach side. Moments later, she gazed out in horror
Speaker 1: across the water at all the bodies and Christmas presents
Speaker 1: floating together in the Ohio River. If you enjoy Unexplained
Speaker 1: and would like to help support us, you can now
Speaker 1: do so via Patreon. To receive access to add three episodes,
Speaker 1: just go to patron dot com forward slash Unexplained Pod
Speaker 1: to sign up. Unexplained the book and audiobook featuring ten
Speaker 1: stories that have never before been covered on the show,
Speaker 1: is now available to buy worldwide. You can purchase through Amazon,
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Speaker 1: of Unexplained, including the show's music, are produced by me
Speaker 1: Richard McClain smith. Please subscribe and rate the show wherever
Speaker 1: you listen to podcasts, and feel free to get in
Speaker 1: touch with any thoughts or ideas regarding the stories you've
Speaker 1: heard on the show. Perhaps you have an explanation of
Speaker 1: your own you'd like to share. You can reach us
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