The Mothman is a mythic creature that made an appearance along the Ohio River in West Virginia in 1967. Multiple witnesses saw this apparition during a flap that also included a whole slew of paranormal weirdness. It is the subject of John Keel's must-read classic, THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES.
Andy Colvin was a boy in Charleston West Virginia during that heady time, and he claims to have had his own powerful experiences that go well beyond simple seeing a large red-eyed winged creature. And these experiences have followed him to this day.
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His obsessive role as a researcher has culminated in three books and a 36-hour documentary (that's not a typo) earning him the title The Mothman Photographer. He also has a blog.
During the interview Andy talks about a very curious photo from 1973 (see above). We see him as a 13 year old boy, with a blurry image out the window. At one point, his three year old son saw the snapshot, pointed to the window and said, "The Garuda." (see image to the left) And, if you look at the image, it does seem to take on the form of the the Hindu Deity, albeit fuzzy and elusive. But perhaps even more strange is the profound significance that this photo holds for Andy.
A simple snapshot taken by Andy's sister. There is a somewhat elusive figure in the window just above Andy's left shoulder. Make of it what you will.
These are representations of The Garuda, and if you squint your eyes a little, there is a resemblance to that figure in the window above.
During the interview Andy talks about a very curious photo from 1973 (see above). We see him as a 13 year old boy, with a blurry image out the window. At one point, his three year old son saw the snapshot, pointed to the window and said, "The Garuda." (see image to the left) And, if you look at the image, it does seem to take on the form of the the Hindu Deity, albeit fuzzy and elusive. But perhaps even more strange is the profound significance that this photo holds for Andy.Here's a video clip of Andy interviewing the late John Keel about the paranormal strangeness that surrounds the Mothman mythos.
There is a four minute clip of Andy posted at the end of this audio interview. The edited clip was lifted from EERIE RADIO (episode 60) and it's well worth listening to, it fills out some of the details shared here.
And another good interview with Andy is archived on Adam GoRightly's UNTAMED DIMENSIONS.
21 comments:
I haven't listened to the interview yet Mike, but just want to say thank you in advance for this. I've been following Andy for some time, I read his books and loved them . . . and he's inspired me in many ways. So many things to appreciate about Colvin, one is that he is from the area, has his own experiences of high strangeness, and integrates that into this research of para-politics, for lack of a better word; esoterica in the world, I guess. Okay, off to listen!
Thanks Regan,
I desperately wanna do a follow up with Andy. There is simply TOO much stuff that we never even touched on.
Peace,
Mike C!
Hey Mike,
What is that owl looking thing sitting right above his head with the glowing eyes?
Yeah - I noticed that too (the owl thing with the reflecting eyes).
I also saw a blurry image of the face on mars in the window, but that might be my own rorshock abilities.
FYI. The object above his head is an old wall telephone.
http://dorkdungeon.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/antique-wall-phone.jpg
Hi Mike,
Just wannted to say that you've got a cool blog here and I appreciate your work very much.
Peace
Ah! I've been waiting for this one for a while now >:) <--- evil grin
I'm too deeply fascinated with Andy and his take on things "paranormal". Take for instance that picture of his; now, I personally don't see anything unusual other than weird tricks of lights and shadows coming from outside —and I consider myself a person who can "find" all kinds of funny shapes when looking at marble tiles or clouds or Rorschach ink spots— nevertheless the photograph interests me for two reasons: a) he was 13-years-old, and that seems to be a particularly important age for some people who come in contact with the larger side of reality —Lucia DosSantos, the main witness of the Fatima apparitions, was 13; Chica Bruce BTW was also 13 when she saw a weird UFO in Sao Paolo— and b)because *I* was born in 1973... in fact I'm kind of wondering about the actual month the photograph was taken!
Dogs were mentioned twice during the interview; and it's interesting to consider that, in mesoamerican cultures, a dog would help the dying soul find its way to the underworld. Also, in Aztec mythology, Xolotl (that's the nahuatl name for dog) was the god associated with lightning and death. He was considered to be the dark "twin" of Quetzalcoatl, but in reality they were some form of positive/negative duality. Kind of like, when Quetzalcoatl crossed to the other realm, he would transform into this other "double".
I remember that this "double" business resonated a lot with me when I was reading the books of Castañeda, and he began to discuss the things about the "doubles", this energetic body a shaman was supposed to create with his intent in order to migrate his consciousness and survive after physical death.
Back to other things, I've heard Andy said on numerous occasions that after his Mothman experiences he acquired a great skill in painting and drawing, yet I've been unable to find any webpage containing any of his art. I would be very interested in seeing some of his work, because his ideas that all this shebang is correlated with the creative process resonates with my own musings about the inspiration and intuition, and the way the seeds of ideas are "planted" and grow inside our minds; something I was considering a lot after renting "Inception" last weekend ;)
Ah! I've been waiting for this one for a while now >:)
I'm too deeply fascinated with Andy and his take on things "paranormal". Take for instance that picture of his; now, I personally don't see anything unusual other than weird tricks of lights and shadows coming from outside —and I consider myself a person who can "find" all kinds of funny shapes when looking at marble tiles or Rorschach ink spots— nevertheless the photograph interests me for two reasons: a) he was 13-years-old, and that seems to be a particularly important age for some people who come in contact with the larger side of reality —Lucia DosSantos, the main witness of the Fatima apparitions, was 13; Chica Bruce BTW was also 13 when she saw a weird UFO in Sao Paolo— and b)because *I* was born in 1973... in fact I'm kind of wondering about the actual month the photograph was taken!
Dogs were mentioned twice during the interview; and it's interesting to consider that, in mesoamerican cultures, a dog would help the dying soul find its way to the underworld. Also, in Aztec mythology, Xolotl (that's the nahuatl name for dog) was the god associated with lightning and death. He was considered to be the dark "twin" of Quetzalcoatl, but in reality they were some form of positive/negative duality. Kind of like, when Quetzalcoatl crossed to the other realm, he would transform into this other "double".
I remember that this "double" business resonated a lot with me when I was reading the books of Castañeda, and he began to discuss the things about the "doubles", this energetic body a shaman was supposed to create with his intent in order to migrate his consciousness and survive after physical death.
Back to other things, I've heard Andy said on numerous occasions that after his Mothman experiences he acquired a great skill in painting and drawing. I would be very interested in seeing some of his work, because his ideas that all this shebang is correlated with the creative process resonates with my own musings about inspiration & intuition, and the way the seeds of ideas are "planted" and grow inside our minds; something I was considering a lot after renting "Inception" last weekend ;)
I don't know if my comments passed or not, so here goes again:
[part 1]I'm too deeply fascinated with Andy and his take on things "paranormal". Take for instance that picture of his; now, I personally don't see anything unusual other than weird tricks of lights and shadows coming from outside —and I consider myself a person who can "find" all kinds of funny shapes when looking at marble tiles or Rorschach ink spots— nevertheless the photograph interests me for two reasons: a) he was 13-years-old, and that seems to be a particularly important age for some people who come in contact with the larger side of reality —Lucia DosSantos, the main witness of the Fatima apparitions, was 13; Chica Bruce BTW was also 13 when she saw a weird UFO in Sao Paolo— and b)because *I* was born in 1973... in fact I'm kind of wondering about the actual month the photograph was taken!
Dogs were mentioned twice during the interview; and it's interesting to consider that, in mesoamerican cultures, a dog would help the dying soul find its way to the underworld. Also, in Aztec mythology, Xolotl (that's the nahuatl name for dog) was the god associated with lightning and death. He was considered to be the dark "twin" of Quetzalcoatl, but in reality they were some form of positive/negative duality. Kind of like, when Quetzalcoatl crossed to the other realm, he would transform into this other "double".
I remember that this "double" business resonated a lot with me when I was reading the books of Castañeda, and he began to discuss the things about the "doubles", this energetic body a shaman was supposed to create with his intent in order to migrate his consciousness and survive after physical death.
[PS]Back to other things, I've heard Andy said on numerous occasions that after his Mothman experiences he acquired a great skill in painting and drawing. I would be very interested in seeing some of his work, because his ideas that all this shebang is correlated with the creative process resonates with my own musings about inspiration & intuition, and the way the seeds of ideas are "planted" and grow inside our minds; something I was considering a lot after renting "Inception" last weekend ;)
[PPS] Something else I forgot to mention (last thing, I promise!) is that yesterday I was reading my Darklore vol. 5 anthology, and the first essay by David Luke, "Disembodied Eyes", which deals with his DMT encounter with a multi-eyed octopus-like entity, has this paragraph:
"Jackson and Howard likewise associate Azazel, the great watcher, with the Persian dragon serpent Azhadaha, the black serpent of light and leader of the Inri [emphasis mine], the fallen angels known —appropriately— as the watchers"
Since Andy has such an interest in the etymological roots and name games with Indrid Cold, I thought this might interest him.
Very strange photo!!
As always, Andy has keen insights and I really enjoyed the interview. One sour note.The linked EERIE Radio interview irked me. The hosts were smarmy with Andy. They claimed he didn't answer their questions but the dullards were not capable of grasping what Andy was saying. They didn't take him to task during his interview in a professional manner but after the interview ripped him. They seemed to have one big circle jerk going on amongst themselves.
Reply to Brian:
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I didn't listen to the whole Eerie Radio interview, so I can't comment. I just listened to Andy's part, not the prolog or epilog.
The only reason I posted that clip is because Andy gave a clear explanation about the events in his youth surrounding an odd experience. That experience (where he had a premonition about new york and 2001) was hinted at in our discussion, but it was left not fully explained.
Andy hinted about that interview, and he seemed disappointed by the way the hosts acted. He didn't say much, and he didn't act bitter.
Loved it,Mike.
This interview was right up there with Jake Kotze's.I've never heard of Andy Colvin before,but I'll be ordering his books,after listening to him talk here.And I'll be watching "The Mothman Prophecies" once more,and reading Keel's book.
Thanks so much for doing the interview.I must say,I've been right through your site,over the last 4 or 5 days bringing myself up to speed,and listened to all of but 2 or 3 interviews you've done,and can truly say that you are doing a great job with these interviews.I'm sure there are a lot of people out there who are glad that you have gone to the effort,also.
Cheers / Daz
Also,I forgot to add,that while I was Googling images of the Garuda,I came across these great artworks by Paul Heussenstamm.
The link to his site is below,as I thought reader's of your blog may be interested,if not yourself.
http://www.mandalas.com/gallery.php
P.S. I just have to say how much that Garuda on the lefthand side reminds me of 'Sam the Eagle'
off "The Muppet Show".
Hey, Mike- all due respect to Mr. Keel, but there were psychics who predicted 9/11- the Psychic Twins, Terry and Linda Jamison, have it well documented as an example, they predicted it about a year or two beforehand very accurately. Whether or not the media chose to pay attention and record these predictions from others is another matter entirely and raises all other kinds of issues, but that is incorrect that people weren't picking up on it. And contrary to what the twins say, there are others who came forward to talk about 9/11 too, they just weren't as publicized about it as the twins were.
PS- Having gone through Pt. Pleasant, WV many times on my way back to my hometown of Athens, Ohio, I would say why the hell would you want to hang out in Pt. Pleasant, but that's just me. He was on a journey. Besides Mothman, there's a good Salvation Army/Goodwill there if you like vintage stuff/cool junk!
PS- If you ever see the statue of the Mothman that's there, it's utterly creepy...
Here's a link for some of the Psychic Twins predictions:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3zooEOxWdo
I've ordered Andy Colvin's first two Mothman photography books and Keel's "The Mothman Prophecies",just because of this post,so you might be up for a commission from the publishers.-)
>"[...]so you might be up for a commission from the publishers.-)"
Or from Indrid Cold himself :P
Mike,
I've just finished reading
"The Mothman's Photographer"
and loved it.
Here's a part of the 5 star review I gave the book on Amazon;
" I think Andy sums this book up perfectly for for me,when he says in his quote at the front of the book;
"While I have come to understand a bit of what it all may mean,there are still deeper layers that go beyond me,to the realm of the collective unconscious.It is most likely there that the only enduring answers can be found."
If you're a fan of the "Mothman" phenomena,I think you'll find this book speaks to you subconsciously better than any novel on the subject could.
Eerily good. "
I think you would like it Mike.You might even get some inspiration for your own graphic novel.If you don't have a copy,I would urge you to get one.You won't be sorry.
Cheers / Daz
Just finished reading
"Mothman Photographer II",another great book by Andy Colvin.
Anyone who loved Keel's book,is sure to love this one,too.
Great stuff!
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