If you were looking for Family Oriented paranormal fun….
Most families take day-trips to quaint little places like “The World’s Biggest Ball of string” or art museums, or Six Flags…The Rupps? Well, we recently took our little family to Point Pleasant West Virginia. Home of the world’s ONLY Mothman museum, and site to more UFO activity than Roswell, not to mention some serious battles from the American Revolution, it seemed only natural it would be a magnet to mysterious goings-on and much speculation about both.
Our google-maps route brought us to state route 2, in West Virginia. This was an adventure in itself, ten miles out, we came upon a “Hillbilly’s Hot Dog stand”, done up with as much gaudy trailer park bling as you can imagine. We followed this route, along the Ohio River to Point Pleasant…Going into the quaint town was like entering a place time forgot. Original colonial buildings held offices and stores on either side….We cruised downtown, following the well-placed signs to the Mothman museum and parked. (Parking’s free, by the way) The museum wasn’t impressive looking at first glance, but on closer look, you began to get the feel of mystery everyone seems to have felt listening to the Mothman stories…Paired with reading for yourself handwritten eye-witness accounts from the original four teenagers from 1966. The very friendly and helpful gentleman at the counter was easy with our questions and very accommodating when I asked about Harris’ Steakhouse, owned by Carolyn Harris, co-founder of the Mothman Festival.
Well, not only did we find and eat at Harris’ Steakhouse, we had the privilege of being served by Carolyn herself!! She greeted us like she’d known us all our lives, and sat down with us and chatted like she was our nearest relative. She answered our questions about the mothman, sightings and the festival. She talked about the movie being filmed, and the hauntings on the third floor of nearby Lowe’s hotel. Our food arrived and soon after, Ms Harris bade us goodbye for some errands she had to run. Before she left, we got a quick hug and I had my picture with her, and promises to return during the actual festival ( Don’t think we’ll be seated at the Diner as quickly then, do you?) and we left to explore more of downtown Point Pleasant. We did some antiquing and explored the State park which holds the burial of Chief Cornstalk and “Mad” Anne Bailey, a woman who broke rules and made history. We saw the Silver memorial Bridge nearby and agreed that the strange energy in the whole town was hard to deny. After falling into the usual tourist trappings of t-shirts, Amish jam and homemade candy, we trekked back to Kentucky, fulfilled, happy and a bit sheepish that it was only our first time to this wonderful paranormal hotspot that was always right in our own backyard.