The Silver Bridge Was a Marvel of Engineering - THEN IT CAME CRASHING DOWN.

How a risky design, cost-cutting, and strange supernatural warnings changed a small town forever

- COLIN DICKEY

A SLEEPY TOWN OF BARELY 4,000 PEOPLE, Point Pleasant sits on the north bank of West Virginia's Kanawha River, where it empties into the Ohio River. A single, family-run hotel and smattering of local restaurants and fast food joints greet the traveler. It feels, for the most part, indistinguishable from many rust-belt towns: lush with greenery and open park spaces, punctuated by derelict buildings and businesses with a sense that life has passed it by.

But for one weekend in the early fall, Point Pleasant hosts the annual Mothman Festival, celebrating the region's homegrown, enigmatic cryptid: a flying humanoid with glowing red eyes burning out of its chest.

The 2022 festival is massive, with an estimated 15,000plus attendees. Some wear elaborate cosplay getups, others are in Mothman T-shirts (one reads "Live, Laugh, Lurk," while many others are lewder, Mothman having become something of a sex symbol in this world of mythical creatures). Booths line the streets selling stickers, hot dogs, and funnel cakes. Amateur ghost-hunting crews sit at recruitment tables, and half a dozen authors are hawking their self-published books on any number of paranormal themes. The coffee shop has brought out its plywood face-in-hole board for patrons to pose as Mothman for photos, while, down the street, one vacant store has been converted into a makeshift lecture hall where speakers are giving talks on topics including "Flying Monsters" and "Top Ten Cryptids."

Authors Bill Kousoulas, PhD, and his wife, Jacqueline Kousoulas, round out the first day of activities with a discussion of their research into Point Pleasant and Mothman. At one point, Bill says to the crowd, "It's nice to see so many people out here for today's celebration," but then immediately corrects himself: "It's not a celebration." "One of the reasons we're all here today," Bill says, "is because of that bridge collapse."