Mothman

Beyond Mothman: I-35W Blues

Things fall down. People look up. And when it rains, it pours.Magnolia, 1999. The collapse of the I-35W bridge in Minnesota is a tragedy, some say of epic proportions. Certainly, it is the most significant bridge collapse, not caused by an easily visible external reason like an earthquake or an impact from a barge, since 1967. An Anomaly National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Mark Rosenker said it is too early for officials to know if the accident could have been avoided. “They are built not to fall down. This is an anomaly and we’re going to try to find out [...]

Bridge Name Game: Reeves/McDaniel

August 1, 2007: The I-35W Bridge collapses. Taking a couple Fortean and Mothman sidetreks, here is more pondering in the wake of the I-35W Bridge collapse. While reading the accounts about the fall of the Minnesota bridge, I noticed two names popped up, Reeves and McDaniel. Hang in here with me as I let that Fortean part of my brain wander and wonder. Jay Reeves, 39, was one of the first people on the scene after the collapse. He tried calling 911, but all the lines were jammed. Then, he heard the sounds of children’s screams from the school bus. [...]

Bridge Collapse: Flashback to 1967

A bridge over the Mississippi River has fallen. The I-35 W is visible as one of the darker (thus wider) bridges on this map, and is labeled. It is seen near the Gasworks Area and the Bohemian Flats. As it gets near 10 pm EDT, the wire services are saying seven people are reported dead from the freeway bridge that fell into the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota, about four hours ago. Reuters is flashing the news around the world that “One hundred cars [are] missing in US bridge collapse.” News channels on television are showing wall-to-wall images of the [...]

Mothman Deaths Keep Away No One

Anniversaries are those logical points on the calendar when we all naturally think about events that may have been too overwhelming to have sink too deeply into our psyche at the time. Three years ago the Mothman Death Curse, if there is such a thing, hit close to home. On July 19, 2004, the first copies of the August 2004 issue of Fortean Times went on sale in London, with distribution to the USA, later in July. It contained the first publication of “The Mothman Death Curse” article that I had completed a few weeks earlier, after researching the subject [...]

Search For The Mothman

The David Grabias documentary Search For The Mothman – at least nine minutes of it – that is contained in the Deluxe Special Edition of The Mothman Prophecies has just appeared on YouTube. Here is the video below. You will note, especially if you watch the entire documentary, that John A. Keel and I are the two major Mothman historians appearing throughout. (I don’t like the word “expert” much, or “talking head,” but then, I’ve been called worse.) More importantly, I find the full-length documentary worthwhile because it contains archival footage from the time of the sightings and collapse of [...]