"There was no mistake. The leathery wings, the little horns,
the barbed tail - all were there. The most terrible of all
legends had come to life, out of the unknown past. Yet now
it stood smiling, in ebon majesty, with the sunlight gleaming
upon its tremendous body, and with a human child resting trustfully
on either arm."
- Arthur C. Clarke, Childhood's End,
1953
The
Mothman Prophecies, by John Keel, is
a novel-like compilation of true and documented stories about people
who claim to have lived through a series of bizarre experiences they
could not understand. The setting for such unexplained phenomena is
Point Pleasant, a small, regular town like so many others in West
Virginia. But the book reaches out far beyond the limits of this
"beghosted" place... it refers to cases from all over the world. In
2002, Hollywood director Mark Pellington brought these old stories
back to the limelight as well as the controversy that has always surrounded
them.
My
personal interest in this kind of subject is an old one: I have read
my share of books and articles about UFO's, and I have also seen a
handful of TV documentaries about the same subject. As any other youngster
of my generation, I was raised in a world where UFOs, extraterrestrials,
ghosts and other unexplained phenomena filled my childhood imaginary,
in the form of movies, TV series, comic books, among others.
I
step forward and admit my interest for any fortean (phenomena that
science is yet to explain) subject whatsoever, mainly those who relate
to the apparition of strange, (yet) physical objects, known as UFOs.
Despite the title, the book I will now place under scrutiny is, essentially,
one of the most sensational essays on the UFO phenomena and its consequences.
If such objects have been seen everywhere in this world for ages,
if such objects have shown behaviours and forms we can't begin to
understand, may we afford ourselves to face them as taboos?
Unfortunately,
this is an area of knowledge heavily polluted with the thoughts and
ideas of men without credibility who create an hazard as large as
the mystery itself. I have stumbled upon a few in my life, people
who write or create their own ridiculous web sites containing the
most absurd theories and ideas - based more on their personal beliefs
than in solid facts. I have seen them on national television as guests
for sporadic TV shows about the subject, exposing their (almost) religious
points of view and labelling a serious and urgent area of knowledge
as some kind of folklore, illustrated by little green men that come
from the distant side of the galaxy.
Nonetheless, I am also aware of the existence of many other serious
investigators.
After
a careful reading of the book, I felt the need to perform an analysis,
a series of comparisons, some sort of work that resembled a thorough
review, done chapter by chapter. This, however, is but a mere amateur
exercise, an outcome from my necessity to write about the subject.
It should not prevent you from buying the book and read it,
thus taking your own conclusions.
As
always, I would be glad to get some feedback...
B.F