Sarah Lyon October 22, 2008 Informative speech Comm. 103 T/R 200-315 The Moth man Lives Topic: The Moth man of Point pleasant West Virginia General Purpose: To provide information on the actual Mothman occurrences In point pleasant West Virginia. Specific purpose: To inform my class to the truth behind the movie the moth man prophecies and let them hear the err tale of the hauntings that are so close to our campus. I. Thesis: The Mothman proposes is a legend about a human side bird like creature that has been linked to many deaths over the years in point pleasant west Virginia.
Organizational pattern Attention grabber: Im the type of person that loves Urban legends and when from the moment that I got to Marshall’s campus I wanted to find one. And then the hunt began, I searched and I found The Moth man. Most of you are problem familiar with him from the movie the mothman prophecies. However the story doesn’t end when the final credits started to roll. II. Background: In the early 1900’s, an area outside Point Pleasant was designated the McClintic Wildlife Preserve. It was, among other things, a bird sanctuary.
As part of the World War II war effort, part of the preserve was ripped up and converted to a munitions dump where about 100 cement and steel ” igloos” were built to house wartime explosives. These were later sold off to a variety of gunpowder, chemical and even bio-chemical companies. This area soon became known to the locals simply as the T. N. T. , and later became a popular hangout where young people would ” park” and have parties. This is the area where many of the Mothman sightings occurred. III.
Relevance: All of the sighting of The Mothman have been linked significantly to deaths around point plesant including the collapse of the silver bridge that killed 46. IV. Establish credibility: Now I’d like to tell you that The Mothman is just a figment of our imagination and that we live in the safe state of West Virginia where nothing bad ever happens, but I’d be lying to you. He has been linked to hundreds of deaths across our great state and there have been similar stories all over the world of a bird like mythical creature that brings about death. V.
Thesis/preview: The Moth man prophecies are not just a subject tile for a popular thriller movie but a real life urban legend that exists here in west Virginia. He has been linked to hundreds of deaths and the great silver bridge collapsing. Transition: Even though it is hard to believe that a bird like man is responsible for killings around the entire state it is common knowledge that animals affected by strong chemicals can have strange mutations. Body I. How are the deaths linked to The Moth man? A. Prior to every death, reports of seeing a birdlike man with red eyes were sighted. . “ In the summer of 1966, sightings began to take place around the Ohio River. One woman reported seeing something looking like a giant butterfly, about six feet long. On another evening a group of gravediggers saw what they described as a ” brownhuman being” fly out of the trees. Later that November a man in Salem, West Virginia saw two red objects hovering over a field. His German Sheppard took off after the objects and was never seen again. ”(http://www. otherplane. com/am/ammothman. htm). 2. ” It was shaped like a man, but bigger. Maybe six and a half or seven feet tall.
And it had big wings folded against its back” Roger Scar berry told reporters. “ But it was those eyes that got us. It had two big eyes like automobile reflectors,” added Linda Scar berry. “ They were hypnotic. For a minute, we could only stare at it. I couldn’t take my eyes off it. ” (http://www. ufocasebook. com/themothman. html) B. The movie, The Moth man Prophecies is a semi-fictional account of a reporter who “ solved” the story of the moth man. 1. In the film the reporter finds himself entranced by the legend when his wife has mysteriously died suddenly after a car accident. 2.
He gets in his car after her death and arrives by accident in Point Pleasant west Virginia. 3. He becomes friends with the locals and starts to invest the eerie phenomenon that is engulfing their quiet American town. Transition: The movie was good at explaining what happened as far as the deaths due to the mothman but did not go into great details about how The Moth man was actually created. II. The story A. during WWII an area of Point Pleasant was inhabited by “ igloos” that were used to manufactory Trinitrotoluene (TNT). The “ igloos” housed the TNT until it was needed to be sent for war efforts B.
The Igloos were sealed and had been hidden, the EPA said that there was no way they could have leaked out any of the chemical, however many choose to believe otherwise. C. The area is now known to locals as the TNT area. It is a recreational area for locals as well as a place where teenagers tend to hang out and party. Conclusion I. Restatement of thesis: Despite common held beliefs that the moth man is just a creature that haunted the town of point pleasant wv, he is actually a bird preserve inhabitant that was destroyed by the efforts of WWII.
He will still haunt the town of point pleasant forever because he is linked to over one hundred deaths but as we can see, we have no concrete evidence to show this.
Bibilography: ” OTHERPLANE: Ancient myth paranormal mothman. ” OTHERPLANE. Otherplane. com. 22 Oct. 2008 ; lt; http:/http://www. otherplane. com/am/ammothman. htm; gt;. ” The mothman souce: chapter 1. ” The mothman legend. Ufobooks. 22 Oct. 2008 ; lt; http:/http://www. ufocasebook. com/themothman. html; gt;.
