"Mothman. That's what the Ukranians called him. Rough translation, of course. There were sightings in Chernobyl the year the nuclear plantwent down. Galveston, just before the hurricane."LINK: Galveston.com Forums thread
- Alexander Leek, The Mothman Prophecies movie script
I'm unsure about using this as a source, but still, a lead is a lead, right? The "harbinger" thing seems to tally well with the Gray Man.
"Okay here is the "real" story on the Mothman...He has been sighted in over 30 different cities starting with the earliest in Galveston, TX just before the 1900 storm. It's said that he is a harbinger of ill omen, because after each of these sightings a horrible event has occured. The storm in Galveston, A Bridge collapsed in Michigan, a 22 car pile up...etc. The latter I thought the most interesting because everyone at the scene of the accident had seen him at different times during their day They say he normally resembles a being of about 6 to 8 feet tall with no real humanoid body to speak of he appears to resemble an overturned vase covered in Coarse feathers or furs with two large luminous red eyes. They call him the Mothman because some people have claimed to have seen two large wings unfurl from his body"
- heytheyfoundabody, Unexplained Mysteries Forum
Michigan?
22-car pileup? (Where? When? I wish there was more info on this.)
"[The film] contains many elaborately fictionalized situations, such as Gordon Smallwood’s character, and contains little tidbits to support the storyline, such as the “factoids” that Mothman appeared before the Chernobyl meltdown and the Galveston hurricane. But there are no records of Mothman at Chernobyl or Galveston or before any earthquakes...."A considerably more reliable source, and leaving some significant bruises on the Gray Man -Mothman theory. (I don't recall the Chernobyl mention, though - maybe I just missed it? Maybe it's not an explicit reference? I'll have to watch the show again.)
- Loren Coleman, cryptomundo.com
"Factual errors: When John consults the supernatural expert/book author Albert Leek in the library, Leek refers to other times Mothmen have been sited before big disasters. He mentions the Galveston Texas hurricane of "1969" when (at least the famous hurricane that hit that town) it happened in 1900. About 6000 people died."Ah, that fine source of fact. Still: Everyone is assuming they're referring to the Great Storm. I did, too. But Galveston has a lot of hurricanes - maybe there really was one in 1969? Or maybe it was another storm entirely. I mean, I know the 1904 (1905? 06? something like that) was significantly worse than the G.S., even if the death toll was lower. Whose to say we're even looking in the right direction here?- The Mothman Prophecies Goofs, IMDb
1879 Aug 23rd a cat2 with 105mph winds passes just east while heading north.Hm. Nothing listed as 1969, but again - so much in the movie has been warped, who's to say that's the actual year. Also, this list seems incomplete to me. We get hit by tropical storms almost every year, or at least that's how it feels - and yet there are huge freaking gaps here.
1886 June 14th a hurricane with 95mph winds passes just east while moving north.
1888 JUN 16 enter moved SW of Galveston. 13.9" 18 inches of rain in Houston.
1900 the great galveston hurricane kills 8,000 people with a 15ft storm surge even though it was low tide while hitting it traveled 6 to 10 miles inland .The pressure at landfall was 27.55inches with winds of 110mph.Half of Galveston destroyed with 2,600 buildings destroyed & 10,000 people left homeless would have been much worse if not moving so quickly. It is said that a one inch steel hull of an ocean going freighter was pierced through with a piece of lumber.According to the hurricane research division winds were of Category 4 strength at landfall. Newspaper headline | max wind map
1909 in july a 10 ft strom surge with a cat 3 41 killed in texas.
1915 AUG 5th a cat 4 kills 275 ,12' tides flooded Galveston 5' to 6' in the Business District. Winds at Galveston were 97 mph gusts to 110mph putting this in the cat 2 range.Press 970 mb,28.63inches.Seawall prevented a repeat of the 1900 disaster.Causes 50 million in damage max wind field
1932 Aug 14th 145mph winds from the SE direct hit
1934 july 28th, a storm surge of 5.9ft with a cat 2 that passes just east while moving south
1943 july 27th a storm surge of 4 ft with a cat 2,nineteen killed,86mph winds.More
1947 August 24th a minimal hurricane hits.
1959 in july hurricane debra hit with 95mph winds bar 29.07 14.42 inches of rain
1915 a 12 ft s.s 275 killed despite the wall,120mph winds aug 17th.
1983 hurricane Alicia on aug 18th causes 2 bill damage as a cat 2/3 with 71 to 98mph winds in Galveston moving at a forward speed of 8mph. 21 killed 1.2 billion dollars in damage,a 10 to 12 ft storm surge at normal high tide.90% of Dwellings on Jamaica bch destroyed.Many highrise glass buildings sustained heavy damage. Pressure in Galveston was measured at 989mb 29.20 inches at 2:00AM. Damage photo | #2 | max wind field
1989 Oct 15th Jerry 3 dead over 8 million in damage ,85mph winds.The latest a hurricane ever hit the upper Texas coast ----
2001june 5th T.S Allison hits with 60mph winds dumping extremely heavy rain especially inland in the Houston area. Over a 120 hr period houston recorded 36.99 inches of rain.Only 3 tropical systems have produced more rain in this area. T.S Amelia 46.00",T.S Claudette 45.00",unamed 1921 40.00". 41 deaths related to flooding & 5 billion in damage. Allison was finally retired in July of 2002 as the only T-storm to be retired.
- HurricaneCity.com
Okay, just checked the script. It says "the hurricane", which explains why everyone jumps to the conclusion that it was the Great Storm. But could he have been referring to a hurricane, any hurricane? It's not like there haven't been others.... There's no other mention in the script, either.
I'll try to pull a complete list of hurricanes, TSs, and TDs in the Galveston area from the National Hurricane Center later - I think theirs will be much more complete, and give me a better look at the years. But I rather doubt that they'll include information like who saw what sort of paranormal...thing...before which event. Not really their area, you know?
...and as of page 3 in the google search ("mothman in galveston"), I am getting no further relevant hits. Which makes me think that there aren't any Mothman sightings on the Island after all. A shame, but oh well.
Still intrigued by the Mothman-Gray Man angle, though.
2 comments:
In the early 70s, my brother and his girlfriend were on the deck of a beachhouse in Galveston. They heard a "whooshing" sound and then a shadow was cast on them from the full moon. When they looked up they saw what he described as a black, manta-ray shaped object, about 10 feet long and 8 feet wide flying no more than 20 feet above them, silent except for the noise it made as it cut through the air.
They were so freaked out, they jammed the door trying to get in. When the others in the beachhouse saw how freaked they were, they got freaked out.
There were no other incidents. Mothman? Who knows. My brother thought it was a UFO.
In 1969 Hurricane Camille hit Mississippi causing heavy damage to both my home town of Groves, TX and Galveston.
Perhaps this is the hurricane being referred to?
Post a Comment