Gallipolis

Who made it? When was it recorded? Was it written before publicity? Is there a recording, a document, a named witness, or only a later retelling? The most consequential event, later absorbed into the cold and Mothman mythology, was not a legend at all.

On December 15, 1967, the Silver Bridge collapsed during evening traffic between Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and Gallipolis, Ohio.

Forty-six people died.

The bridge disaster became tied to Keel's larger story because he had written about warnings, strange calls, and a possible coming disaster in the Ohio Valley.

These are noble objects, one of which is worth all the mummies, Egyptian heads, and Rob Roy purses in Christendom, and all the rocks and stones that ever the ingenuity of one age piled up to puzzle the curiosity of another.

During the same night, we passed the mouth of the Kanawha River, Point Pleasant, and Gallipolis.

On the Kanawha, about seventy miles from its mouth, salt water is found in abundance and of excellent quality.

Extensive manufactories of salt have been in operation here for many years.

There are, however, strong reasons for the belief that Logan himself was deceived as to the part supposed to have been taken by Colonel Kresoff in the massacre of his family and that some of Kresoff's men, in retaliation for an attack made previously by the savages upon some traders, perpetrated this murder without his knowledge.

Kresoff, it is said, was not in the neighborhood at the time and could not have known of the sudden broil which produced a catastrophe so deeply to be deplored.

The town of Gallipolis in Ohio, four miles below the mouth of the Kanawha, is finely situated on a high bank and commands a pretty view of the river.

It was settled about thirty years ago by about a hundred French families who sought an asylum from the political tempest which devastated their native country.

It's, it would be in the cryptid family, along with Sasquatch and Yeti and some of these other things.

But, uh, the Mothman essentially haunted Point Pleasant, Gallipolis, that area around 1966, 1967, uh, leading up, coincidentally or not, to the collapse of the Silver Bridge, which unfortunately 40 people lost their lives.

People would have these sightings of this creature that would be about six to seven feet tall based on the descriptions, kinda dark complected, didn't really have the head.

There seemed to be eyeballs kind of at the level of the shoulder blades.

A tragic incident occurred in 1967 just 10 days before Christmas.

During rush hour traffic, the Silver Bridge, which connected Point Pleasant to Gallipolis, Ohio, collapsed and caused the death of 46 individuals.

According to some reports, there were sightings of the Mothman at or even on the bridge shortly before its collapse, and it was believed that the creature's presence was a sign of the impending disaster.

Wamsley says, "The fact that the UFO sightings, men in black presence, and the Silver Bridge disaster all happened during the Mothman sightings intrigues many people.

You can't get that guy for that.

He was going to chase him clear through Gallipolis, Ohio.

Being along the border counties was interesting.

Yeah, wow.

This is episode 93, The Silver Bridge Collapse.

During the 1920s, growing numbers of cars and commercial vehicles created demand for a permanent road crossing between Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and the communities around Gallipolis and Canoga in Ohio.

Until then, travelers wishing to cross the Ohio River depended largely upon ferries.

The proposed bridge would connect the two states while providing an important route for local businesses, workers, and longer distance traffic.

The sky was cloudy, a light wind came from the west, and darkness was approaching.

Point Pleasant stood close to the meeting of the Kanawha and Ohio Rivers.

Across the water lay Kanauga, immediately north of Gallipolis.

The Silver Bridge carried US Route 35 directly between the communities and had become essential to daily life on both sides of the state boundary.