Books are better than films…
A few years back now, being aware roughly of the events that occurred in Point Pleasant, West Virginia in the sixties, I settled down and watched the film, ‘The Mothman Prophecies.’ Now before you roll your eyes and leave this page, let me confirm that I knew that the film is loosely based on the book of the same name by John A. Keel. At that point I fully intended to read the book, but for some reason I simply never got around to it. However it was always a case that remained a fascination in the back of my mind.
Fast forward to earlier this year and I sat down to watch a new TV show on YouTube; which was the thoroughly engaging ‘Hellier.’ Watching Hellier quickly reminded me of the tragic story of Point Pleasant and brought me back to Keel’s book, ‘The Mothman Prophecies.’ It actually highlighted a couple of other books too. So, pretty much as the credits rolled up on Hellier I jumped on Amazon and ordered the books. I must admit I really love it when something captures me to the extent of gathering additional information on the subject. Something that often occurs due to some of the SPR lectures I now attend. The Scole Experiment was another one for that too without doubt.
Challenging perspectives…
Just to point out this isn’t a book review of The Mothman Prophecies, its more about looking at what Keel’s book covered. In fact the concepts that Keel addresses in the book alone are remarkable and challenges how we often split Ufology and other aspects of the paranormal. However Keel presents some really great statements and information that begin to tie instances of UFO encounters to psi activity, but also the now infamous Men in Black.
I must admit that although concepts of Ufology have often captured my imagination, I have never really gone off into that realm. However I am beginning to wonder why I didn’t as its a really interesting subject area.
Now I’m no UFO expert, in fact I’m happy to admit that at this point I know very little about the subject. However Keel knew his stuff and not only that, his investigations and witness interviews appeared to over shadow the authorities at times. He quickly learnt what information to capture, but more importantly the right questions to ask in order to discover more about the contactees experiences. That’s an extremely valuable point actually, as obtaining good quality information in any paranormal case is key to our witness statements. Just like a Police investigation it can be those witness statements that help provide us with somewhere to look in order to locate true evidence. That in itself can help build a case, be it a UFO case or even a Poltergeist case. And there’s an important reason that I mention Poltergeist too, but more on that later.
Keel spent a year there…
Keel spent about a year documenting the experiences of the local residence in Point Pleasant. Experiences that would range from simple, but odd lights in the night sky; to witnessing actual UFO’s in close proximity, so much so they could describe them in detail; to having a UFO land nearby and on some occasions a humanoid being would also be seen too. It went further still though with some having real close encounters of the very strange kind as they would interact with these beings. There were also the very odd encounters with a seven foot tall humanoid with huge wings or as it was also described, a giant bird-like creature. A creature that later became known as ‘The Mothman.’ Also, let us not forget the character Indrid Cold either, the visitor that made contact with Woodrow Derenbergers. All in all Keel encounters a remarkable amount of activity in one area across the year he is there. What I find particularly interesting was the range of witnesses that Keel interviewed. These were made up of varying individuals from all walks of life. This included people outside town in remote properties, like farmers; to locals in positions of responsibility within town, like Mary Hyre. In fact during his time in Point Pleasant Keel himself also experienced a few encounters of his own kind too.
UFO’s and Poltergeists…
Remember I mentioned Poltergeist activity earlier; well Keel states that in some cases contactees experienced what could only be described as Poltergeist activity after their UFO contact. This particular aspect of the phenomena raises some interesting questions, which I am hoping that further research may reveal. Like I said, Keel mentions the Poltergeist activity, but in the book doesn’t explore it in great detail. However he does elude to probable psychic ability post UFO contact being the probable cause. This means some of these contactees are displaying heightened telepathic and telekinetic aptitude. Is it possible that in these cases of UFO contact they’ve been given or indeed had awakened psychical ability?
Now if you were thinking this was simply coincidental in this case then its probably worth mentioning that in his book, ‘This House Is Haunted,’ Guy Lyon Playfair also draws attention to increased UFO activity. Playfair mentions the increased activity in the area, but also that this wasn’t mentioned to the family at the time of the Enfield Poltergeist case. Still I find it a little interesting, that this strange connection between UFO’s and Poltergeist is mentioned at all, by both writers. Especially with them an ocean apart.
The Mothman element of the book draws into the mix the possibility of Cryptozoology too. So, now we have a case touching on UFO’s and their close encounters, we have Poltergeist activity, with psychic abilities and now a strange bird-man creature too. This is why Keel couldn’t leave it alone, its without doubt an unbelievable case. However there would be yet another aspect, which given the events at Point Pleasant would become even more disturbing. That is the presence of Indrid Cold and messages to Derenberger. Messages that would allegedly tell of the tragic events around the silver bridge, which would make national and international news.
Precognitive conspiracies…
In fact this kind of contact displayed by Cold and reported by others was remarkable, but very scary too. This apparent precognitive information that initially was close to reality when it occurred, but not exact raised even more questions regarding the origins of these visitors for Keel too. This was also when the ‘Men in Black’ showed up and began to arrive at witness homes ridiculously quickly. Whether or not these ‘Men in Black’ were from the Government or not is something which remains part of the mystery. However some believe they operate on behalf of a kind of shadow Government, pulling the strings out of sight. Keel does talk about how these men followed him, tapped his phone and so much more. He even began to realise in some cases of UFO sightings, they turned up first and would often take a random photo of the contactee. Is it possible these photographs were a kind of hypnotic trigger?
Reading ‘The Mothman Prophecies’ has opened my mind to yet another possible angle. Its certainly helped to realise a probable connection to Poltergeist activity and is blurring the lines of all phenomena more. The visitors to Point Pleasant could also have been from a different dimension or time too, ideas Keel seems to have supported. It certainly looks as if its time to expand my own horizons more and look beyond the normal of the paranormal.
Ashley Knibb 