First reported in November, 1966, in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, New World, Mothman is said to be a flying creature, humanoid in shape, with red glowing eyes. People report that Mothman has leathery wings and can fly fast, as fast as 100 mph.
While some claim that Mothman is from the depths of hell, others say Mothman is from the "upper echelons of space". I watched an X-Files episode back in the 1900s that was about Mothman. Mulder thought that maybe Mothman was an evolved Spanish conquistador, the strangest take and one that strains the lore.
The origin story goes thusly. In November, 1966, a group of people driving one night claimed they saw Mothman standing and he looked to be six to seven feet in height. They sped off. I like to think that Mothman, who was probably just relaxing in the cool night air, started flying home but was in that awkward situation where the people were driving along the same route as the route to Mothman's nest, but people are panicky creatures and they thought he was following them.
Imagine Mothman's dismay the next day when his privacy was rudely violated with the crude headline "Couples see Man-Sized Bird...Creature...Something!" People started blaming Mothman for every possible thing they could, from pet dogs going missing to chasing cars.
One person claimed that his dog went running into the woods after two glowing red dots. When the person followed his dog's paw prints, he found the paw prints going around in a circle but not going anywhere further, implying that Mothman somehow flew off with a full-grown German Shepherd in his hands. Really, have you ever been to the woods in West Virginia? You can't just follow paw prints like you're at the beach at low tide. The ground in West Virginia is steeply hilly, rocky, with much undergrowth. Successfully trailing your dog's pawprints many hundreds of meters into the woods - at night! - would require not just keen tracking skills but also an improbable amount of luck that the dog followed Mothman along a path of perfectly moist earth. I'm not buying it. The man's dog probably ran off and he needed a story for his kids, so he blamed Mothman. For shame.
The Mothman sightings were short-lived. The Silver Bridge collapsed in December, 1967, and nobody saw Mothman again in West Virginia. In 2019, people reported seeing a flying moth creature in Chicago. Mothman stays hidden from the cruelties of humans.