Mackinac Bridge

Mackinac Bridge
Mackinac Bridge, taken from the ferry on the way to Mackinac Island.

Saturday, October 4, 2014

Mothman Festival, Point Pleasant West Virginia, Part 2


Again, we had a great time over all at the Mothman Festival!  see Part 1 from yesterday....

After we explored the NEW Mothman Museum, we made our way around the vendor area.  I really love the set up here.  If you are interested in cryptozoology, the paranormal, UFOs, and Mothman, this is an great place to find books and other items.

In fact, there are many well known authors on those subjects here.  Some of the more prolific writers in these fields attend the Mothman Festival.  They generally have an all star line up of Fortean authors.

There are also some interesting artists, publishers, people selling shirts, etc.  A couple of regional book publishers set up too, often with some interesting titles discounted.  As a book lover, I have left every year with an extra arm load of books!

Oh, and we did pick up an UNBELIEVABLE snack item this year- Buff Lo Dip!  They were selling "Collectors Edition" Mothman jars of their stuff (brilliant marketing by the way!) for $6 each, or 2 for $10.  We bought 2 jars and I am already nearly out.  Buff Lo Dip is a cheese type dip with a buffalo kick.  Pick up a jar and a bag of pretzels and you are good to go.  They are made by a family out of Ohio.  Check out their site-
http://bufflodip.com/

After making a couple of laps around the park, we went over to catch the bus for a tour of the TNT area!

I actually took the bus tour last year, but again, it was cold and rainy in 2013.  I was excited about taking the tour again this year, with MUCH better weather. 

The bus tour was pretty much the exact same as last year.  We road out to the legendary hidden concrete igloos in the TNT area.  Our tour guide Ashley told us all about various theories of the Mothman as she pointed out where some of the original sightings occurred.  One of my favorite Mothman stories that she told involved one of the early witnesses seeing him out her window on the roof one evening.  The witness felt sorry for him as he shivered in the cold.

We went inside of two igloos this year.  Even if you are not interested in the legend of the Mothman, the igloos are an interesting and strange place to visit.  I personally plan to take a trip back to the area at some point soon, just to explore this area for a full day.

After our bus tour, we went to the local theater for some of the Q&A sessions.  The one that struck me the most was Faye Dewitt-Leport.  Ms. Dewitt was an actual Mothman witness from the area.  She seemed very sweet and pleasant...and believable.  Her description was also thorough.  This wasn't something she briefly saw out of the corner of her eye.

We did take a moment to walk along the river, and to visit the monuments to the fallen Silver Bridge.  I actually had not walked out along the river before to see the one closer to the water.  See my photo.

We took a moment to step into some of the other shops in the area too.  Our favorite was the Mason Jar, which has a nice selection of antiques and crafts.  They had some cool old postcards, lots of furniture, and some other more upscale items.  I saw some cute Halloween related folk art dolls and included a picture here.

This was a really good year for the Mothman Festival.  It is still far enough from me that I can't make this an event that I must go to each year (though I probably will if I am available).  I had so much fun that I will be keeping an eye on what they have planned for next year.  AND, the town of Point Pleasant is intriguing enough that I want to come back when there is not a festival going on to explore more....










2 comments:

Jacob said...

I have not been to the TNT area. Very cool.

jimerado said...

Yeah, I am going to have to get back down there too, just to explore this area some more!