MOTHMAN IN MIDDLE TENNESSEE

Being a paranormal investigator, it is my responsibility to report as accurately as possible and in as much detail as possible, any strange occurrence or sighting that happens my way. Over the last several years of doing this research, I have grown fairly adept at being able to discern small details in photos and videos. I use this same learned ability when doing ghost research, UFO skywatching or any other research activity. It is in this same vein that I will share an occurrence/sighting that I personally witnessed on July 20, 2005. I will not state emphatically that what I witnessed was the actual "Mothman" creature, but what I did witness had the general overall appearance of the creature as described by others.

The time was around 10:30 pm. The night sky had intermittent clouds, but I do not remember the fullness of the moon. I was traveling west on Bethesda-Arno road in the Thompsons Station/Bethesda/Williamson county area of Middle Tennessee, about 25 miles south of the Davidson county line of Nashville. My speed was 40 miles-an-hour though the road is posted for 50. Bethesda-Arno is a typical country road, curvy and straight, fairly narrow and bordered more by farm land than homes. At the exact spot of my sighting there are three homes set back several hundred yards off the road on a fairly steep grade on the north side of the road. The south side of the road is bordered by a fairly steep slope with a thick hedge row of mangled brush and trees, and is offset some 20 feet from the road. There were no others vehicles on the road, and my headlights were on full brightness.I first noticed the creature as I rounded a curve and continued onto a short straight away with a slight rise in elevation. My estimated distance from the creature was 300 feet and I immediately began to slow my car. The creature was standing a foot or two off the side of the road on the south side. In back of him was the back side of a 7 ½ foot tall road sign. The sign was attached to a grated metal pole, and the sign itself was triangular and 3 ½ feet in width from point to point, and attached some 3 ½ feet up the pole from the ground.

The top of the creature's head was several inches above the sign, though his feet were on the ground. This would have put the creature nearly eight feet tall. The creature's body was covering about 1/5 of the triangular sign. The head of the creature was human in shape but with a peculiar triangular appearance as well. The head seemed a tad bit to large for the rest of the body. The neck was normal in appearance and attached to narrow shoulders. The chest appearance was normal, though narrower than one would have imagined. The chest area tapered down to a very thin looking waist. The legs of the creature were long and slender, almost skinny, especially the thigh area extending down to the knees. Both arms were long and thin and connected to hands with long, slender fingers, four or five, I am not sure. The face of the creature was shrouded in a shadow like appearance. I could discern no facial features. The creature arms were outstretched, and attached to the wrist of both arms was dark webbing that extended downward and attached at the knees, and also was attached to the torso of the body directly at the underarm and extending downward to the knees. The webbing was solid in structure, with a slight tapering that came to a point mid way to the knees, and then continued to taper as above to the knees. From the shoulders down to the feet, with the exception of the arms and webbing, the color of the creature was bright, reflective red. The color reminded me of paintings that depict the Devil with the ever present pitchfork, though I had absolutely no gut feeling that this creature was either the Devil or any other type of religious portrayed demon. My gut feeling told me that this was some type of unknown species that modern day science insists does not exist.

The duration of my sighting was a brightly lit 7 to 8 seconds and at one point not more than 7 feet from the open window of my car and as I passed the creature. Never once did the creature move or make any type of hostile gesture toward me. I managed to bring my car to a full stop some 100 yards from the creature. I immediately turned my car around in the middle of the road in the hopes of seeing the creature again, but it was for naught.

Being a researcher intent on being accurate, I decided to retrace my path several times in the attempt to dismiss any status quo explanation for what I had witnessed. I have traveled down this road numerous times day and night, and have never once mistaken a tree limb, brush, road signs, or the rarity of nighttime walkers for a creature such as I witnessed.

The rather tall and thick hedge growth on the south side of the road, and the distance from the road to the nearest house on the north side, precludes an attempt by someone playing a practical joke. The distance to run and hide in a matter of just a few seconds would have been impossible. The road sign is a typical road sign, and there was no mistaking that a very tall creature with a slender body and wings was obscuring part of the sign. There was no bright color hindrance reflecting from the headlights of my car to skew my vision since the creature was standing on the back side of the sign, the dark side. My conclusion then was simple to deduce, I had seen this creature in all of the details I have just shared.

I do not know what type of creature I witnessed on July 20, 2005. Was it the same "Mothman" creature of West Virginia fame? I do not know. Have any disasters happened near Nashville as was the basis for the story and movie "The Mothman Prophecy?" Not to my knowledge. As with many other things paranormal I've investigated that cannot be quickly explained, it is a wait and see attitude that takes much patience before the final answer reveals itself.

Sandy Nichols www.alienresearchgroup.com