The Mothman Festival
Hello world. I am back home and settled in after a weekend at the Mothman Festival in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. This has been a bucket list item for a couple of years. It was exciting to finally check it off my list.
The weekend started on Friday by driving up to Point Pleasant. Usually, I try to check-in to the hotel first, but I was on another mission. I wanted my first stop to be the Mothman Blacklight Mini-Golf, which is relatively self-explanatory. It’s a Mothman themed cosmic mini-golf. The nine hole course is all indoors and utilizes some jump scares alongside a variety of props. I didn’t keep score since I was playing alone, but it was a lot of fun. It’s different from your typical mini-golf given its theme and given that it’s inside. I’m glad that I had the chance to do it before a lot of people arrived so I could enjoy the experience and not feel rushed.
From there, I went to Jackson, Ohio, where my hotel was. I made sure to visit Bookish on Main to pick up my required vacation book and to visit Sixth Sense Brewing Company for a local beer. I checked into my room later that day, but I did not spend the rest of the night hanging out in the room. The Tu-Endie-Wei State Park was hosting an out door showing of the Mothman Prophecies. This felt like an absolute requirement given that I was in town for the Mothman Festival. So, I drove back to Point Pleasant that night to watch the movie. I arrived a little early and was able to stop by some of the vendors who had already set up as well as get a burrito from Rio Bravo 2. Not surprisingly, the burrito was in the shape of Mothman. (Sensing a theme?)
Saturday was festival day. I arrived in Point Pleasant at about a quarter til nine and picked up some coffee from Silver Bridge Coffee Co. It was a Mothman blend. I then explored all the different booths and vendors, visited the one and only Mothman Museum, and saw Dusty, the mascot for the Charleston Dirty Birds, and Mothman himself. The historic site that hosted the movie night also had their historic building open during the festival. That was unique site for me since I have not seen a historic house like that before. The steps are narrow inside the house, and you have to make sure that no one is coming in the opposite direction when you go up or down. That is par the course, though, for a historic building.
Throughout the morning and afternoon, I saw so many amazing costumes. Some people were dressed up as Mothman while others were characters I could not identify. While I chose to leave a little early, it was still such a cool experience. It was amazing to see all these people come together to celebrate a cryptid. There was also so much excitement, and everyone was just having a good time.
From the festival, I drove to Chillicothe, Ohio. I visited the city a number of years ago and decided to visit again since I was so close. Here, I picked up a book from Wheatberry Books and roamed around Grounded, the Plant Bar. Unfortunately, I didn’t buy any plants, but I wanted to get them all. I also made sure to have a flight at Fifty West Brewing.
I eventually meandered back to Jackson where I dropped by Sixth Sense one more time and had dinner at the Corner Pub with a friend, which brought the day to an end.
Today was day 2 of the festival, but I chose to drive home this morning to give me some time to relax this afternoon.
Overall, it was a wild whirlwind weekend that involved plenty of driving and a lot of Mothman related things. But, in the end, it was worth the visit.
I don’t know when or what I’ll post next but keep your eyes open
