The Mothman Prophecies

Rating:
Summary: What a bunch of baloney !
Review: I like reading from time to time about unexplained phenomena. Why have I bought this book ? - it is another unexplained thing to me; probably happened because I noticed that motion picture had been made based on this story.
What a flop it is !
There is hardly any action in this text and I can't imagine how somebody was able to create anything suitable for big screen.
Book is simply boring, nothing but repetitive descriptions of very old, supposedly true experiences and "facts" related to strange lights, poltergeists, UFOs, Men In Black and other encountered critters. Whole information is presented in a very chaotic and mixed up way. Facts are taken from all kind of local trashy newspapers, old UFO magazines and questionable at best police reports, as if these were proof of anything.
Besides, today in XXI century, after more than 40 years (book was published in 1975 and tells about events taking place in 50es and 60es), UFO and paranormal researchers try different approaches and changed their attempts to explain "unexplained". Views presented by the author are simply naïve, outdated and archaic.
He crammed in the same sack: angels, Beelzebub, MIBs, flying dragons, vampires, robots, haunted places, creatures from different spaces and dimensions, ancient history, believes and you name it.
"The Mothman Prophecies" is good for kids, grade 7 max, who like intriguing horror stories but not for adults who like to read more serious stuff about strange and unknown happenings.
I had enough of this rubbish in the middle of it and tossed this book into the garbage.
Luckily it was cheap. Do not waste your time reading; it is worse than tabloids standing on display in your local grocery store.

Rating:
Summary: They're all different pieces of the same puzzle!
Review: If you want to read one book about how creepy the truly weird can become, start with this one. This book is probably the most frightening, bizarre book ever written in this field, by a reporter who was actually there when the events happened.

Some of the reviewers that gave this book one star probably missed the point. The reason that Mothman, the men in black, and UFO reports are all in the book is that these are all different pieces of the same puzzle; they didn't all show up there together by coincidence. The book seems to jump around from topic to topic because all of these things were happening at the same time, and they are interrelated. Some readers probably don't see that (or don't want to), probably the same ones who saw the movie first and then decided to pick up the book, not realizing that "the rest of the story" is much stranger than the movie ever hinted at.

The movie, which only focused on psychic effects of the Mothman sightings, left out many important aspects of the mystery (mostly so they could add a fictional love story for Richard Gere.) A friend who hadn't read the book called the movie "incomplete", which is the best description I could give it too. But the book weaves all the bizarre elements together gradually as the events unfold, and they all need to be taken together to find some understanding of these phenomena. (Read Keel's classic "Operation Trojan Horse" for even more on solving these deep mysteries.)

Sure, this book isn't "All About Mothman", but that's a weak criticism. The movie wasn't about Mothman at all! At least the book has enough scary moments for a decade of Stephen King TV miniseries. That's more than enough reason to give it 5 stars, whether or not you believe in these types of phenomena. Read it before bedtime at your own risk.

Rating:
Summary: THIS BOOK IS WHOOPING A HORSES BEHIND
Review: Well for one thing, the book is pretty freakin' freaky. Aside from the fact that Keel often goes off on crazy tangents about how he thinks the world works, the book is pretty good. I'm not sure if all of this actually happened, but if it did then I'm sold!