Oct 17, 2026 · 1 hr 38 min · 13 segments
Wes is joined in the Shed by author, podcaster, and Fortean researcher Ashley Hilt, host of On Wednesdays We Talk Weird. Together, Wes and Ashley discuss everything Mothman: its origin story…
There's kind of a lot of debate, but I think that the story that people would most be familiar with or what's going to be most popular when you Google it is going to be the night of the Scarberry Mallet sighting.
They were both 20, and they were hanging around what was known in that area as the quote tnt area um give you a little backstory about the tnt area this was a big plot of land that was purchased by the u.s government in the 1940s um to set up a munitions power plant and then they had built these massive concrete domes on the land to house said munitions um Um, that whole entire history gets weird in and of itself, and maybe we'll have time to get into it, but, um, eventually the war ends, right? The war and the military pulls out of that area and it has kind of sat abandoned for the most part for many, many, many years.
So it ends up becoming like, you know, make out lane, right? It's where all the kids go to do drugs and touch each other and whatever, you know, kids You know, that's where that's where the cool kids hang out.
They're out there and they're hanging out and they pull up and they park at the power plant itself, which, you know, again, people would do frequently while they're parked there.
I'm going to tell you the story that, you know, from the witnesses and not just what's been sensationalized, but what the witnesses say while they're parked there.
they believed a guy started shuffling towards them from the side of the power plant building.
So they're all outside of the car and they're like sitting on the roof, you know, leaning up against it, whatever.
And as they're getting into the car, all of a sudden the shadow expands out further.
And what they realized, what they thought was something carrying on its back are actually wings.
You know, they take off in the car, but this thing also takes off after them and starts chasing them through this middle-of-nowhere patch of land in West Virginia.
And, you know, they said that they did upwards of, like, 70 miles per hour going down these crazy, windy roads and, you know, went into town.
There's kind of a lot of debate, but I think that the story that people would most be familiar with or what's going to be most popular when you Google it is going to be the night of the Scarberry Mallet sighting.
They were both 20, and they were hanging around what was known in that area as the quote tnt area um give you a little backstory about the tnt area this was a big plot of land that was purchased by the u.s government in the 1940s um to set up a munitions power plant and then they had built these massive concrete domes on the land to house said munitions um Um, that whole entire history gets weird in and of itself, and maybe we'll have time to get into it, but, um, eventually the war ends, right? The war and the military pulls out of that area and it has kind of sat abandoned for the most part for many, many, many years.
So it ends up becoming like, you know, make out lane, right? It's where all the kids go to do drugs and touch each other and whatever, you know, kids You know, that's where that's where the cool kids hang out.
They're out there and they're hanging out and they pull up and they park at the power plant itself, which, you know, again, people would do frequently while they're parked there.
I'm going to tell you the story that, you know, from the witnesses and not just what's been sensationalized, but what the witnesses say while they're parked there.
they believed a guy started shuffling towards them from the side of the power plant building.
So they're all outside of the car and they're like sitting on the roof, you know, leaning up against it, whatever.
And as they're getting into the car, all of a sudden the shadow expands out further.
And what they realized, what they thought was something carrying on its back are actually wings.
You know, they take off in the car, but this thing also takes off after them and starts chasing them through this middle-of-nowhere patch of land in West Virginia.
And, you know, they said that they did upwards of, like, 70 miles per hour going down these crazy, windy roads and, you know, went into town.
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