The Mothman Cometh

Point Pleasant, West-by-God-Virginia is home to the elusive, catastrophe predicting harbinger of doom...The Mothman! And though I did not personally set eyes on him this weekend during my day in Point Pleasant for The Mothman Festival, I did set my sights on many a visual delight...

Here is the town's official Mothman statue.

I wandered all over, not straying too far from the festivities lest I have a run-in with the creature himself. It was a gorgeous sunny September day and I spent most of my time consumed with greedily snapping up as many pictures as my camera phone would take between battery charges in the car.

I wandered over to the the rail road tracks (always my favorite) to preserve the moment in pictures. This was just one of many things I could not get enough of; I could have shot this structure for hours. 

 And this, this old State Theater was a stunner! I could have spent a couple of hours on it too. There was not enough time in the day to get my fill.

I took this pilgrimage with a good friend of mine who, unlike me is not an amateur photographer but is none the less agreeable to everything and an excellent road trip buddy. We just walked around all day, in and out of crowds, loving the many splendored people watching and general Americana observing.
We watched a train pass overhead and basked in the shade along the stunning Ohio River, which I dipped my bare feet into! Sadly, that part was during a phone charging break, so no pics to document my Southern feet willingly soaking in Yankee waters. But I'll admit, the water was clear and beautiful and if I had but been with my sister I would have gone all the way in for a swim!

We wandered and watched and studied our toes.

 Stopped in for a beer to escape the mid afternoon heat.

Ate funnel cake in an alley. Correction: he ate funnel cake while I consumed my calories in liquid form, Coca Cola style!

 Mothman pancakes looked pretty tempting at first, but I settled on just taking pictures. On the T shirt it says "Mmm! I sure do make a tasty pancake". Evidently any food or drink can be Mothman-ized with the addition of two (or sometimes just one) maraschino cherries which represent his glowing red eyes.

 Point Pleasant is on the banks of the Ohio River, on the West Virginia side, for a long way they have a big brick wall with murals depicting the town's history. There was a live band and all manner of kid entrapping devices like this enticing colorful slide! Don't you just want to hop right on?

Here is one of the bridges connecting Ohio to West Virginia. The Mothman rose to infamy in 1967 when he predicted the collapse of the Silver Bridge, resulting in the death of about 60 people. Yes, that really happened.
And on a more relevant note, the fact that West Virginia touches Ohio proves their Yankee status. No self respecting Southern state would dare touch Ohio. But for all my trash talking, I really do love it up there; it's very beautiful country with a geological and sociological charm all its own.

  I think we still have one of these in Charlotte at Park Road shopping center, but just in case we don't...

 Some time after I first shot this theater I came back by and the sky was just right. I have a whole series of variations on this, with the sky repeated in the window. Amazing!

I'll admit to having had mixed emotions about taking this trip; the festival was exactly on my Mom's birthday and I'm scheduled for hip surgery four days after, I had a lot of "nesting" to do to prepare for that. I am so glad I went, to show that bone one more good time before it gets cut out and meets a lonely hot death in the medical waste incinerator! Can you believe they won't let me keep it because it's biohazerdous or something to that effect? What a gyp.

But we had one last hoorah. It was a beautiful, perfect, memorable September weekend I won't forget, the pilgrimage to the Mothman festival!
So in closing, let me just say when given a choice between staying, preparing, saving, waiting, dreading and getting the Hell outta Dodge for the weekend, take the second option every time.