POINT PLEASANT, W.Va. - A quick stroll up Main Street is enough to learn who this river town's most famous resident is: His name is on signs, in shop windows and restaurants, and there's even a museum devoted to him. 

And the sculpture in the middle of town prominently depicts his enormous wings and glowing red eyes.

More than 40 years after the first reported sighting of the mysterious creature later dubbed "Mothman," residents here have embraced his legend, helping to turn the town into a destination for people in search of an offbeat tourism experience.

But while there's no local consensus on the veracity of the stories, most agree that Mothman is good for business.

"It's helped the town, it's actually helped with business recruitment," said Ruth Finley, who owns the 106-year-old Lowe Hotel on Main Street along with her husband. "People come because of Mothman and they stay at the hotel, they go to the restaurants."

Every September, Point Pleasant hosts the weekend-long Mothman Festival, which draws about 2,000 people a year to this town of roughly 4,500 at the confluence of the Kanawha and Ohio rivers.

Walking along Main Street, conventioneers can have their picture taken near the statue, drink a "Mothman Frappachino" (advertised in a local cafe window) and drop into the Mothman Museum, which convincingly bills itself as the world's only such institution.

Inside, they can look over everything from handwritten eyewitness accounts of Mothman sightings to voluminous newspaper clippings to props from the 2002 Richard Gere film "The Mothman Prophecies," which helped boost interest in the creature and Point Pleasant.

Jeremy Pitchford, an employee at the 2-year-old museum, said it's a valuable repository for a side of Point Pleasant that few were willing to even discuss until recently.

"This has been something that's been kind of suppressed, in a way," he said. "A lot of people never knew that Point Pleasant had anything like its own folklore."

The first sighting was reported on Nov. 15, 1966, by a group of people in an area of town known as TNT, the site of a former World War II munitions plant. Others later came forward to say they had seen a gray creature about 7 feet tall with bright red eyes and wings like a bird.

The sightings ended abruptly on Dec. 15, 1967, the day of the collapse of the Silver Bridge, which linked Point Pleasant to Ohio. Forty-six people were killed, and ever since people have speculated on whether the sightings were connected to the tragedy.

During the Mothman convention, tourists drive out to TNT hoping to catch a glimpse of the creature, but usually have to settle for a more prosaic version: the Mothman pizza made at Village Pizza.

A genuinely unique creation, the $10 pie depicts the fearsome creature with eyes made of red and green peppers dotted by an olive pupil, mushroom wings and a pepperoni body. It's such a classic that Bill Ward knew he had to leave it on the menu when he bought the restaurant four years ago.

"We sell a lot of them when the convention's in town," he said.

Even when it's not convention time, the town has its share of Mothman visitors, including film crews. Recently, a crew shooting an episode for the new A&E series "Paranormal State" was in town, and the Lowe Hotel has hosted crews from as far away as Japan and Australia.

But some chafe at the notion that Point Pleasant is best-known for reputed visits from a winged creature with glowing eyes. In fact, the town is rich in real American history, from the Revolutionary War to the era when steamboat traffic crowded the Ohio and Kanawha rivers.

"With all the history we have here, what do people come here for? That darn Mothman," said Jack Fowler, executive director of the Point Pleasant River Museum.

Located a few blocks down Main Street from the Mothman statue, the river museum includes historical exhibits and archives on everything from the steamboat trade to the 1967 Silver Bridge disaster. With plans to expand and add an aquarium in partnership with Marshall University, Mothman is distinctly out of place here.

Out of place, but not entirely absent: the river museum sells copies of a book about Mothman.

"I always said there would never be anything about Mothman in this museum," sighed Fowler. "But when the convention's happening, so many people come in here and ask about it."

Although he's not keen on Mothman, Fowler has made his peace with the creature's local backers. The river museum and the Mothman Museum have a reciprocal relationship, directing curious visitors to each other's exhibits. It's a way to let tourists see all sides of Point Pleasant, Fowler and Pitchford say.

"The great thing is, it brings in people from all over," Finley said. "They may come here for Mothman, but once they're here it's our responsibility to show them why they should come back."

___

If You Go ...

GETTING THERE: Point Pleasant, W.Va., sits along the Ohio River, about two hours south of Columbus, Ohio, and roughly 50 miles from both Charleston and Huntington.

MOTHMAN MUSEUM: 411 Main St.; http://www.mothmanmuseum.com/. Open daily noon-6 p.m. Adults, $3; children 9 and under, $1. Private group tours can be arranged two weeks in advance for other times.

POINT PLEASANT RIVER MUSEUM: 28 Main St.; http://www.pprivermuseum.com/ or 304-674-0144. Open Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.; Saturdays, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.; and Sundays, 1-5 p.m. Closed Mondays. Adults, $4; children, $1.

THE LOWE HOTEL: 401 Main St.; 304-675-2260. Rooms start at $68 per night.

CAUSES OF POVERTY.[1]

The most interesting, and at the same time the most difficult, problem connected with an analysis of cases is to determine the real cause of destitution. It requires great experience and intelligence on the part of workers in charity to give even approximately the fundamental reason why a certain family has come to destitution. To classify cases from records without personal knowledge of each case, and then simply to count the cases, is a very inadequate method of arriving at the truth. The primary difficulty, of course, is to reach a classification. The one adopted by Mr. Warner in his book on American charities is: 1. Causes indicating misconduct; 2. Causes indicating misfortune. Under the first head come drink, immorality, laziness, shiftlessness and inefficiency, crime and dishonesty, a roving disposition. Under the second head come lack of normal support, matters of employment, matters of personal capacity, such as sickness or death in family, etc. The trouble with such a classification is that one cause may lie behind another, as drink is often the cause of lack of employment, of sickness or accident. On the other hand, lack of employment may lead to drink, immorality or laziness.

With the limited number of cases that have been analyzed in this investigation, it would be impossible to expect any very conclusive results. We have endeavored, however, to make up for the small amount of the material by a careful and intelligent analysis, and by approaching the subject from three different points. We have first taken the alleged cause of distress—that is, the reason assigned by the person applying for relief. This, of course, will present the most favorable side, and the one most calculated to excite sympathy. We have, secondly, tabulated the real cause of distress, as gathered by the tabulator from the whole record. This, of course, is the judgment of an outside party, and the emphasis will be laid upon misfortune or misconduct according to the disposition of the investigator. We have, thirdly, the character of the man and woman as gathered from the record. This is supplementary evidence as to the real cause of distress. We go on now to present these three points of view. Loss of employment, 313; sickness or accident, 226; intemperance, 25; insufficient earnings, 52; physical defect or old age, 45; death of wage earner, 40; desertion, 40; other causes and uncertain, 103; total, 844. An attempt was made to follow the example of Mr. Booth and introduce supplementary causes as well as principal causes. About the only result, however, is that sickness often accompanies loss of employment, and that loss of employment often accompanies sickness or accident. It is clearly seen in this whole table how disposed applicants for relief are to attribute their distress to circumstances beyond their control.

In the following table we have an attempt to analyze the real cause of distress, according to the judgment of the tabulator as gathered from the full record. In chronic cases the same cause is apt to appear in the successive applications. It was thought that this might lead to undue accumulation of particular causes. A separate tabulation, therefore, was made for the 500 first applications, and then for the total—832 applications. The table is as follows:

THE REAL CAUSE OF DISTRESS.

In this table it will be seen that emphasis is laid on misconduct rather than on misfortune. The difference between the two sets of returns is obvious. Where lack of employment and sickness have been alleged as accounting for 62⁶/₁₀ per cent. of the total, they are believed by the tabulator to really account for only 41⁸/₁₀ per cent. On the other hand, intemperance comes in as the real cause in 19⁹/₁₀ per cent.; shiftlessness in 12²/₁₀ per cent. of the applications, and in 14⁶/₁₀ per cent. of the applications it was judged that there was no real need. It is very probable that these judgments are severe, but the result shows how frequently, at least, the personal character is a contributory cause of poverty.

An attempt was made when reading the records to determine the general character of the man and woman—that is, the adult members of the family. Such classification is at the best very rough, and does not give us much information. It may be said that the character was put down as good unless something distinctly to the contrary appeared. The results are given in the following table:

PERSONAL CHARACTER OF MAN AND WOMAN.

It would seem from this table that the judgment of the investigators was lenient. In nearly one-half of the cases the character of the men and women was said to be good.

Fire tests of cast iron columns, made by order of the city authorities of Hamburg, are described in recent issues of the Deutsche Bauzeitung. The columns were 10 feet 8 inches long, 10.5 inches in diameter and of 1/13 inch or 0.5 inch metal. They were loaded centrally and eccentrically, and some were cased with a fireproof covering. A hydraulic press was placed below the column and its crosshead above it, and then a hinged oven containing twelve large gas burners was clamped about the column. The oven was furnished with apparatus for measuring heat, with peep holes and with a water jet. On an average a load of 3.2 tons per square inch, with a heat of 1,400° F., produced deformation in thirty-five minutes in a centrally loaded column without casing. This showed itself by bulging all round in the middle of the heated part, especially where the metal happened to be thinner; fracture occurred finally in the middle of the thickest point of the bulge. If the load was less, this occurred at a higher temperature. Jets of water had no effect until deformation heat was reached. The casings had the effect of increasing the time before deformation began from half an hour to four or five hours.

Player Collapses At The Plate

Raspberry Poke Cake Poke around your cupboard and freezer and you'll probably find everything you need to make a classic "poke" cake. Some things just get easier. Prep Time:10 min Start to Finish:3 hr 45 min Makes:12 servings 61 Ratings : 8 Reviews Read Reviews Rate/Review Recipe

Nutrition Information:

Police Take Missing Teen Into Custody