You all know the story of Mothman. Well, maybe you don’t, but I do. Basically, in 1966 and ’67, there were numerous reports of a strange winged creature appearing in West Virginia and Southern Ohio. Towering and intimidating with its evil red eyes, the monster haunted the hills of Appalachia, terrifying people on lonely roads at night.

And then, in December 1967, as the feeling of fear built to an awful climax, the Silver Bridge collapsed, killing 46 people. And the Mothman was never seen again. (Or was he?)

John Keel was witness to many of these events. A Fortean writer in the business of chasing UFOs, he interviewed many of the citizens in and around the town of Point Pleasant, West Virginia during this period. As well as many other oddballs who appeared, behaved very strangely, and then vanished.

If Keel’s account is to be believed, there was something very weird going on in West Virginia, and indeed, in the United States generally, during this period. There can be no doubt that there was “something happening” there, even if what it was “ain’t exactly clear.” (You can pretty much throw in the rest of the lyrics too; they all fit. And it’s worth noting that song was written in 1966!)

Keel was an entertaining writer, and the way he starts the book is very clever. He plays around with the way an event is described to remind the reader that things are often not what they seem. It’s the literary equivalent of Gene Wilder’s entrance as Willy Wonka, establishing right from the start that you can never be sure whether you can trust this character.

Unfortunately, while Keel could spin a good yarn, and his tales are often quite interesting, he never really does manage to establish what exactly we’re supposed to make of all the goings-on that he reports. A bunch of people saw and heard unusual things, including prophecies of various disasters, some of which happened, some of which did not, and some of which are too vague to say. I’m sorry, but if some non-human intelligence wants to impress me with its ability to forecast the future, it’s going to have to do better than “there will be unrest in the Middle East.” 

As an account of an eerie and surreal atmosphere, not to mention a history of the UFO craze in the late ’60s and early ’70s, it’s an engaging tale. As an attempt to prove any of Keel’s theories regarding preternatural phenomena, it’s kind of a failure, since the entire thing is nothing more than a compendium of what Keel either claimed to have seen himself or been told by others, with no supporting hard evidence. 

You will find my reaction put better than I could ever hope to express it in the words of Leonard Nimoy on The Simpsons: