The Mothman Prophecies

Rating:
Summary: Okay!?...
Review: I'll admit it, I didn't have a clue what was going on in this book (which claims to be real, but is obviously a work of fiction), nor did I really have much of a reason to.

UFOs...Men in black...Mothmen...Abductees...government coverups...sightings...It's all here, and regardless makes no sense whatsoever.

I actually walked into this thinking it was going to be great, that there would be a wonderful story based upon the legend of the mothman, but no I was bombarded with 266 pages of "research" having no really meaning, or thesis. Honestly, I say avoid this like the plague.

Rating:
Summary: 30 Years Later - still not debunked!!!
Review: The movie was good but forget about connecting that flick to this book. This book was first written in 1975 - NEARLY 30 YEARS AGO! If you have ever read "true story" UFO books before, then you have probably come across a lot of recent material that seems more plausible like "The Gulf Breeze Sightings by Ed Walters" and "Fire in the Sky: The Walton Experience by Travis Walton" but both of these books have since had their day - they have been pretty much debunked and are widely known as absolute hoaxes, if not downright fabrications at best. After 30 years, The Mothman Prophecies is still a SOLID story because of the amount of witnesses to the events, biological medical evidence and the final catastrophe that ended the phenomena. The only case that debunkers have against this story is that the Mothman could be an owl or a large species of crane, but eyewitnesses deny that it is any such animal.

In fact the Mothman is not part of any category of cryptozoology. Much like the chupacabra, it is a zoological impossibility so the only possible realm of existence for this thing is genetic experimentation, an apparition or extraterrestrial. The latter category is what the Mothman falls into and this book is all about just that.

Keel went to Point Pleasant West Virginia in 1966 and 1967 to investigate a series of unexplained happenings that the towns people where experiencing at the time. Most importantly was the sighting of a creature that could only be described as some sort of a flying monster. This creature, dubbed the Mothman, was new to Point Pleasant but not to the history books and so Keel went digging around to see what he could find. While doing this he unearthed an astonishing amount of information on this mythical beast. At the same time there was some UFO activity in the area and Keel was the one who made the connection between the Mothman and the UFOs.

Essentially "The Mothman Prophecies" is a book that documents and reports on a HUGE UFO FLAP in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. Coupled with this event where strange lights in the sky, encounters with the unknown, men in black, psychic phenomena, cattle mutilations and an impeding of Keels investigation by possible secret government agencies. Keel is only one of many people that where exposed to these events and although the book must be treated skeptically, it does open your mind because there is simply too much activity taking place to call it a hoax or work of fiction. Various people seemed to be attacked by the Mothman. Even an ambulance used for blood donation was chased and attacked by the thing. In short this is an excellent UFO book that still stands the test of time.

For years we have been waiting for its re-release and the movie has helped spur that along. When you compare this book to other true stories about UFOs you really begin to appreciate its value. I have read a lot of UFO books and books about strange encounters but this is the one that really got me gripped from start to finish. After reading this book it is very hard to see it as anything less than real and truthful. "Occam's Razor" tells us that in explaining a thing no more assumptions should be made than are necessary - but when applied to this book you must explain how everything occurred in this one region to so many people. Keel not only researches the Mothman but documents everything that happened at Point Pleasant during that fateful period of time.

It is a whopping story that is highly intriguing, absolutely baffling, horrific and extremely hard to dismiss as a work of fiction. It is not until you see the Mothman documentary that is on the movie DVD that you actually get to put faces to the people in this book and hear them talk about their experiences. This is first rate investigative reporting and an amazing story to boot that can't simply be dismissed as all in Keel's mind, or a hoax or fabrication. Strange things went on in Point Pleasant, West Virginia and the people where scared. Then it ended with a massive tragedy and the supernatural phenomena stopped. There is no doubt that something completely out-of-this-world occurred at Point Pleasant and you should not miss reading about it.

Exceptionally riveting journalism!

Rating:
Summary: A Real Disappointment...
Review: As someone who has enjoyed reading about UFOs and other paranormal events while maintaining an "open-minded skepticism" about them, I was looking forward to reading this "classic" 1975 book about the bizarre events in and around Point Pleasant, West Virginia in 1966 and 1967. I had read a few brief summaries of the "Mothman" sightings in other books, and they had usually referred to Keel's book as the "standard" work on the subject. After seeing the "Mothman Prophecies" film (which is excellent, by the way) I bought a copy of this book. Unfortunately, I was greatly disappointed in the "Mothman Prophecies". This appears to be one of those rare occasions where the movie is actually better than the book. Unlike the film, Keel's book has an annoying tendency to go off on tangents - he spends the entire book simply wandering from one story to the next, with no overall theme or focus to tie the stories together. Keel reminds me of a person who starts one story, then breaks off in the middle and launches into a second, unrelated story, then breaks off the second story and starts telling a third unrelated story, and so on. Much less than half of the book actually deals with the "Mothman" sightings in Point Pleasant. The rest of the book consists of Keel's rather wild-eyed speculations and theories (which he never bothers to support with anything resembling credible evidence) of how UFOs, demons, ghosts, the "Mothman", "Men In Black", etc. are all related. Keel repeatedly ridicules the notion that UFOs might be alien spacecraft, and instead he makes the dubious argument that UFOs are "projections" from "energy beings" from a "parallel universe or dimension". Keel recounts several stories of "Mothman" sightings, creepy phone calls to residents of Point Pleasant, and the like, but he rarely offers any evidence that the stories - or the people telling them - have any credibility. A couple of examples from the book illustrate how difficult it is to consider Keel to be a serious researcher: in one passage he writes that he helped a couple to "contact" a UFO by telling them to go outside their home at 9 pm one night and shine a flashlight in the direction of anything "unusual-looking" in the night sky. Lo and behold, writes Keel, a large orange UFO suddenly appeared over the couple's home, and loud beeps came out of their TV set. Keel then proudly announces that he has given this same "insane" (his word) advice to many other people, and almost invariably something similar happens: doorbells ring for no reason, UFOs appear over their home, etc. It's nice to know that Keel has discovered a foolproof method for contacting UFOs. In another section Keel describes driving down a lonely road near Point Pleasant and feeling absolutely terrified along the same stretch of highway. After some "experimentation" (which involved nothing more than walking back and forth over the stretch of road where he feels terrified), Keel announces that his terror was caused by a "beam of ultrasonic waves". Given that he has no equipment to check for an "ultrasonic wave", I'm still wondering how he came to that conclusion. As for the notion that Keel is believable because he does "on-site" research, simply repeating other people's stories as the absolute truth doesn't qualify as "research". Most credible researchers of the paranormal do background checks to try and verify the witnesses' claims, but not John Keel. Instead, he seems to believe that every person he spoke with in 1966 and 1967 is telling the absolute truth, and no further investigation is required. And the more outlandish and eccentric the story, the more Keel seems to trust the "witness". I have read numerous books on UFOs and other strange phenomena which have thorough research and references to back up the writer's claims. Do NOT be fooled into thinking that Keel is a serious-minded and objective researcher, as this book is anything but "serious-minded" or objective. When Keel does manage to focus on the "Mothman" sightings in Point Pleasant, the book improves considerably. However, Keel's penchant for going off on tangents with one unrelated story after another, and his insistence in focusing upon himself and his theories as much as the "Mothman" sightings themselves, made this book a real disappointment. If you want to see a first-rate account of the "Mothman" sightings in West Virginia, then buy the "Mothman Prophecies" Special Edition DVD set and watch the excellent "Searching for the Mothman" documentary contained therein. This fifty-minute documentary, which aired on the FX cable channel, is much more believable and realistic than Keel's book.

Rating:
Summary: A great story that makes absolutely no sense
Review: John Keel's ideas (now much repeated by the paranormal crowd) center around a sort of deconstructionist/quantum physics attitude applied to supernatural phenomenon.
I like the creepiness, and I like how from the very beginning, Keel describes that creepiness is relative.
All manner of weird things happen to poor John on his quest to find the Mothman, a large, winged being haunting Point Pleasant, W.Va., just across the river from Ohio. The process of investigation leads to Men In Black, hairy hominids, ufos and other odd flying machines and Keel leads us to believe that this bizarre process happens with every such investigation. Wild!
The other great thing about the Mothman Prophecies is that the story is an arc with a beginning, a middle, and a tragic (and frightening) end. Unlike many paranormal books, Keel dosen't wade into the material as a believer. He is in disbelief even as he reveals his strange facts.

Rating:
Summary: A creepy work of fiction
Review: It is worth noting that Keel wrote about Mothman just a few years before this book came out. A chapter in "The Complete Guide To Mysterious Beings" (1970) is devoted to the Point Pleasant phenomena. While Keel describes the various interviews he conducted with witnesses, at this point he doesn't involve himself in the story at all. He never indicates that he experienced any of these things himself. It was only later that he apparently had the idea of crafting a Mothman story with himself as the central character.
Even more notable, in "Mysterious Beings," Keel draws no connections between Mothman and the bridge collapse. In fact, he specifically says, "It is completely erroneous to blame the collapse of the rickety old Silver Bridge on flying saucers or 'Men In Black.'"
This represents direct evidence (something Keel never seems to have) that we are simply not dealing with a researcher or a journalist, as Keel so often claims to be. He is a clever storyteller. Nothing more. I know the stories seem much more exciting when you think they're true, and in the middle of the night, even I get creeped out thinking about Mothman. But the story is flimsy and transparent when held up to the light of day.
I loved the movie though!

Rating:
Summary: Good Read for Limited market
Review: I bought and reread this book that I read years ago. I still liked it. If you want a Novel or Liked the movie you might not like this book. The book isn't written that way and novel reads. you are a novel reader you may find it harder to follow and get lost by the end. It isn't a smooth read beause it's written more real life. Real life isn't a smooth read. If you want a first hand account by a investigator who was trying not to loose objectivity then you will like it. The people who might not like it are those readers who con't see a connection between UFO, Bigfoot or other strange creatures, Ghost & poltergeist phenomena. You won't see the writer trying to comunticate with undead spirits or make peace with extraterestirals. You will find an investigator who noticed that ufo sights seem to corispond with poltergiest and other supernatural activity.

Rating:
Summary: Off the beaten path... a BIT too far.
Review: First of all, I'll admit-I saw the movie before I read the book. Before you cast judgement, let me say that the concept of the film appealed to me very much, and certainly prompted me to read the book in hopes of learning more about this bizarre series of incidents.

That's where my main criticism lies-that the book promises insight into this phenomenon, using the film as its sounding board. Very soon into the novel, however, you'll discover that Mr. Keel ventures off the topic of "Mothman" and more into the realm of UFOs. I remained optimistic that his stories of Men in Black and UFOs would somehow come together to support the larger theme of this "Mothman" , and more specifically, the tragic collapse of the Silver Bridge that was supposedly prophecised. Page after page, chapter after chapter, Keel goes off on a tangent on these UFO stories, many of which end abruptly and few of which seem very relevant.

More disturbing to me was his nonchalance about these phenomena, casually stating how he'd witnessed these flying objects routinely-practically every night. He expressed virtually no surprise or awe in any of the descriptions of these rather unbelievable accounts.

To go even further, I found Keel's take on these oddities to be almost egotistical. He frequently knocks other "UFO buffs" and indirectly implies that he's the only true authority on such matters. He also doesn't hesitate to mention the many articles, interviews, and public appearances he'd given (several times over).

I found the lowest part to be when he and a colleague were viewing "UFOs" in a rural spot. The colleague asks him what he thinks the strange lights are doing, and Keel responds to the effect of, "Well, Mary, I think they're trying to tell me something..." This type of personal attachment which Keel places on the very broad phenomena he describes comes across as if the world (and then some) literally revolves around him.

I finished the story feeling mislead, in that I'd read a book on UFOs when I thought it had absolutely nothing to do with them. I would estimate that only 20% of the book actually deals with "Mothman" and his prophecies, the rest is a self-serving collection of UFO research. I also wondered why John Keel hasn't seeked professional help...

Rating:
Summary: Prophecies? If you liked the movie, don't buy this book!
Review: If you liked the movie, don't buy this book! It was the worst compilation of meandering thoughts that I have read since, well, since ever. This book left me wondering: "Huh?! What were you thinking?!"

But, if you are the ever true believer in MIB (not the movie), black helicoptors, and cow mutilations, this just may be the book for you. If you will accept an explaination for parnormal events, presented in a matter of fact form, as truth, without further explaination as to how such conclusions are reached, then you will accept, probably love, this book. However, for me, a reasonable person, wishing for education, not blanket belief, this book is nothing more than a waste of money. I would gladly send you, dear reader, this book for free, saving you the cost of purchase, but the shipping fee is too great a cost, considering that I may use the book for fuel for a fire to warm me on a cold winters night...It reminds me of the great words of Eric Cartman: "Well, they took me up in their spaceship, and Scott Baio gave me pinkeye". Your pinkeye, Mr. Keel, was probably caused by rubbing your eyes too much...trying to stay awake while creating such garbage.

Rating:
Summary: VERY VERY CREEPY!!!!!
Review: This book is not what I expected at all. I picked up the book after I saw the movie. It turns out that the movie is a fictional story based on the mothman. In this book, author John Keel tells his stories of traveling around the east cost areas and, well, UFO hunts. It is very creepy the stories he has to tell and the fact that thousands have witnessed what he is writing about. This is a very fun, and creepy book. It will leave you stirring in your sleep.

Rating:
Summary: POST MODERN NEW BELIEF SYSTEMS
Review: Keel's tome regarding the Mothman has nothing to do with thie film (ok, I'm nitpicking)...more to the point, it involves itself not only with the events in WV, but, also with events on Long Island and other locales.

THIS IS NOT A NARRATIVE.

At least, not in the normal sense. It's a story of one man's journey from skeptic to the other side....by the end of the book, Keel is not necessarily a stone believer, but he is a stone paranoid, which amounts to the same thing. He goes into the book carrying one belief system and walks out of it with quite another.

This, I feel, is the actual appeal of the book. We get to witness not the transformation of a character, but the transformation of the author, which makes this not only a fascinating study, but a dangerous book indeed.

And why is it dangerous? Because a researcher changed his mind? No, it is dangerous because the researcher had CREDENTIALS beforehand...he's a scholar. If Gore Vidal (the historian) told you that in his research for "Lincoln" he discovered that Lincoln liked to savage rabbits with his bare hands...would you believe me?

Of course not...but the problem here is that there is no historical record to go on, that if we are to believe, we believe on the basis of our judgment of a man's character.

That said, I believe he is telling the truth. I have read not only the book in question, but many other works by Keel, and I believe him to be sane. Naiive, yes, often. But always he thinks about his topic. This educated man experienced something back in 1967. The question is : should we accept his account of events?

I personally say yes, but that is an answer rising from years of "ufo's exist..." upbringing, along with my religious convictions.

I leave it up to you.

The point is, this is a book that needs to be taken not with a grain of salt, but with a full salt lick in front of you. The facts presented are merely things to be looked at more carefully. Here's hoping you do just that. Highly reccommended.