The Silver Bridge collapse and Mothman
On 15 December 1967 the Silver Bridge at Point Pleasant, West Virginia, collapsed into the Ohio River in rush-hour traffic and 46 people died. Author John Keel later tied the collapse to the Mothman sightings.
At Point Pleasant, West Virginia, the Silver Bridge fell on 15 December 1967 while crowded with rush-hour traffic. According to the West Virginia University Libraries, 64 people fell into the Ohio River water, and 46 died. Wikipedia adds that two of them were never found. The Libraries attribute the collapse to a cracked eye bar chain together with years of poor maintenance. They add that vehicles had become heavier and more numerous since the bridge was designed.
The Mothman legend started from several sightings of a winged creature in 1966. John Keel's book The Mothman Prophecies, first published in 1975, claimed paranormal events connected to those sightings and a link to the bridge collapse. Wikipedia says Gray Barker's The Silver Bridge explored similar ideas in a heavily fictionalized way five years before Keel's book. A film of Keel's book, starring Richard Gere, followed in 2002.
The connection to Mothman is a claim made by these authors. The West Virginia University Libraries state that the collapse was clearly the result of no monster's intentions, and Point Pleasant now holds an annual Mothman Festival.
"The creature was later popularized by John Keel in his 1975 book The Mothman Prophecies, which claimed that there were paranormal events related to the sightings and a connection to the collapse of the Silver Bridge.[5] This came five years after Gray Barker's The Silver Bridge, a narrative that had earlier explored similar ideas but in a "heavily fictionalized" way.[6][7] The Mothman Prophecies was adapted decades later into a 2002 film starring Richard Gere.[8]"
- Mothman, e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia (West Virginia Humanities Council)
- Silver Bridge Collapse, West Virginia & Regional History Center, WVU Libraries (2020)
- Silver Bridge, Wikipedia