I watched a few documentaries these last few days on YouTube. First up was The Mothman of Point Pleasant, from 2017. It was a cool flick that went into the history of the sightings that lead up to the collapse of the Silver Bridge.
The movie begins by talking about some early sightings before the 60's, with a handful of reports of a large bird creature in the vicinity. Then they go into the town’s history, where there was a fight between the Indian native tribes and settlers new to the area. The leader of the tribe, Chief Cornstalk, decided to make a peace treaty, but was captured and killed. It's alleged that his last words before his death was to curse the area for 200 years. There were several floods over the next several years that locals blamed on the curse. Then they talk about the 2 couples who had the first reported sighting of the creature in the mid 60's. They had been driving at night when they saw something by the side of the road. They said it looked big and dark, and seemed to have folded wings behind it's back. When they drove off, the thing took flight and flew over their car, following them for several miles before finally flying off.
Then the doc goes into the subsequent reported sightings of the creature, with many locals having witnessed a large, black or dark grey being with large wings and glowing red eyes. Some reported seeing it fly, others would see it outside their window, by abandoned buildings, etc. Despite authorities trying to blame the culprit as being something natural, like a large crane or owl, the sightings continued. In addition to people seeing the creature, others were reporting strange lights in the sky, UFO's, and several reported encounters with a strange grinning being that called himself Indrid Cold. Others reported being questioned and harassed by mysterious men in black shortly after their sightings. Eventually, a local reporter named Mary Hyre began writing about the sightings in her local paper. John Keel, a writer from NY, came down to the area, and together, they continued to investigate the sightings. Keel eventually wrote the book The Mothman Prophecies, which was later turned into a film. The strange reports continued until the collapse of the Silver Bridge on December 15, 1967. The street lights had gone out, and there was bumper to bumper traffic on the bridge when the collapse occurred. A total of 46 people died as a result. After that tragedy, everyone's focus was shifted and Mothman wasn't talked about again, although there were still alleged sightings. The documentary was well done, with interviews, eye witness accounts, newspaper clippings, and animations depicting the occasional encounters. At a little over 1 hour, it's worth checking out if you're a fan of cryptids.
The next one I watched was a 1974 special hosted by Rod Serling about Bigfoot, the abominable snowman and the Loch Ness Monster.
It begins looking into the abominable snowman or the Yeti. Discussed were how various animals that were once thought to be myths, such as the gorilla and Komodo Dragon, were eventually discovered. The snowman had been talked about for years in its region, but it wasn’t until the late 19th century when British mountaineers, attempting to conquer Mount Everest, became aware of its alleged existence. In 1951, the first photographic evidence was taken of large foot tracks in the snow. In 1953, Lord John Hunt heard the cries of the yeti while on an expedition.
Next up were the reported sightings of Bigfoot in the US. It was believed that these creatures migrated to North America across a land bridge than once connected Alaska to Asia. They had witness interviews and dramatic recreations of alleged encounters. There was one funny segment where some local was questioned by Bigfoot hunters if he believed in the monster. When he said no, the hunters replied with “of course you hicks wouldn’t believe in it”, so he made fake boots duplicating a large foot and ran across the area, fooling the hunters into believing they were actual Bigfoot tracks.
The last segment of the doc talked about encounters with the Loch Ness Monster aka Nessie.
Topics discussed were the various eyewitness accounts, the 1952 speed champion who died attempting to set a new world record (wakes in the water were allegedly blamed on Nessie), a Reverend performing rites of exorcism in ‘72 to keep the monster away, and photographic evidence, including the infamous surgeon photo showing a neck sticking out of the water, which later was reported to be a hoax. I recall catching a repeat of this on TV when I as a kid, and loving it. Rod Serling had the perfect voice to narrate this flick. It was a fun 45 minute documentary from a bygone TV era.
And finally, 1977's Secrets of the Bermuda Triangle, hosted by Peter Tomkins, discussing various ideas and theories on what is behind the many disappearances in the infamous area.
It shows several dramatic recreations of alleged events, such as a Fort Lauderdale radio personality who was conducting a hotline show about the triangle. Suddenly, no calls were able to come in. He finally received one strange one where the mysterious person stated that those who disappeared in the triangle were stuck in a timeless void. Other stories were about a flight from Puerto Rico to Miami in 1948 that suddenly vanished, another flight that disappeared from radar for 10 minutes, and when they finally landed, the watches of everyone on board were 10 minutes behind, a strange unknown mass that appeared on radar, and a crypt in Barbados where all the coffins were found to be frequently moved on their own that was alleged to be tied to electromagnetic forces.
The final recreation was the famous story about the disappearance of flight 19 in December of 1945. All of the dramatizations, whether or not they were factual, were well done. These old documentaries always had just the right amount of eeriness to make them compelling. Peter Tompkins’ voice also lends well to narration; he’s just as captivating a speaker as Rod Serling. I grew up watching these type of shows and documentaries, so I enjoyed this one a lot.
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