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Description

Something I really like doing is imagining how Cryptids would fit into the Cthulhu Mythos. What would a gormless Miskatonic Alumni find when investigating a cryptid hotspot?

So I'm doing a split, top row is actual sightings of Mothman and similar creatures, bottom row are Mythos entities that might "explain" the sightings. Not all of them have to be true at once. Consider them possibilities, CoC investigation prompts or even in-universe theories by people "in the know".

Mothman

Your ordinary every day Mothman, best known for its appearance in Point Pleasant West Virginia preceding the collapse of the Silver Bridge. It was seen again fairly recently, during the Chicago flying humanoid flap of 2017. Some also claim it was present for several tragic events including a German mine collapse, the Chernobyl meltdown and even the 9/11 attacks, although I believe these are apocryphal.

Contrary to its name I don't believe I've ever read an account of a Mothman sighting that gave it any insectoid features whatsoever. It is usually described as a furry or feathered biped of approximately 6-7 feet tall, winged, headless and featureless aside from glowing red eyes. It is usually dark, although some of the early sightings in Point Pleasant reported that it was white or ash-grey.

Mothman sightings often coincide with other anomalous phenomenon; including UFOs, poltergeist activity, hairy hominids and strange inhuman men, specifically the Grinning Man Indred Cold.

Owlman

Often considered the British counterpart to the Mothman, it was sighted a few times in Cornwall in the 1970s through to the 90s before crossing the pond in time for the Chicago flying humanoid flap. The main difference between it and the Mothman is the presence of a well defined head. It also has clawed wings in some reports.

While it was never connected to any major tragedies, the British Owlman sightings supposedly coincided with severe weather and bizarre animal behavior. If the Owlman is the same kind of entity as the Mothman and they are attracted to disaster, perhaps something esoteric was going down in Cornwall at the time?

Bat Beast of Kent

Another British offering, although this one actually precedes the Mothman by three years! Four teenagers witnessed a golden "star" floating behind some trees before a black humanoid figure shambled out of the woods. They said it was a headless humanoid, about 5 feet tall with webbed feet and large batlike wings.

While both Mothman and Owlman were seen during a time of increased UFO activity, only the Bat Beast was (to my knowledge) actually witnessed at the same time as an apparent craft, although nobody actually saw it leave the UFO.

Interestingly a similar UFO was witnessed the week before in the same area but accompanied by a human figure with a red cape. If all these phenomenon are connected, perhaps the red caped person was the Bat Beast's equivalent to Indred Cold?

Spiderbat

Sighted in southern Alberta Canada, the Spiderbat was seen ducking into the witness's barn. He said it was huge and bulky and described it as "kind of like Mothman but with spider teeth and small white eyes". It perched in the barn's window even though it seemed like it should be too large to fit. As soon as he saw it, the witness turned to run for his house. He felt as though it was rushing at him as he fled, even though it never reached him. Although it hasn't been seen again thel witness claims he still hears strange noises from the barn at night and often feels watched in the area.

This is a weird one and I don't normally take this sort of sighting very seriously but I really wanted to draw it! Besides, it's way better than the Batsquatch.

Spectre

This is less an actual sighting and more personal speculation with artwork fueled by the Mothman Prophesies movie. The Mothman sometimes seems less than a physical creature and more like a haunting force, impressing supernatural terror into those that witness it and behaving in impossible ways. It flies without flapping its wings, it seemed to have an effect on nearby electronics and poltergeist activity was also reported in the area.

Perhaps the Mothman is a spiritual entity, either a warped human ghost or some elemental creature of the Astral realms?

Mothman in the Mythos

Fungi From Yuggoth

The story "Documents in the Case of Elizabeth Akeley" implies that the Mothman are a simple misidentification of the winged sporecrab forms of the Migo and that certainly makes some sense. The Migo are connected to alien folk-lore already. Their biodrones look like the archtypical Grey alien, their gateships are certainly disk shaped and they have human allies and waxen masked Migo infiltrators to serve as the Men in Black. But I'd like to go a little further.

Perhaps they are in fact another form of the Fungi's encounter drones? A heavily armored surveillance platform, the encounter drones where deployed to Point Pleasant to investigate strange psionic energy readings in the area. As the locals were gripped in Mothman hysteria, the Migo hunted for the source of their readings. Unfortunately they were unable to find it before the bridge fell and the psionic energy dissipated. Now it's 2017, the same energy has appeared in Chicago and the Migo aren't planning to fail twice...

The Million Favoured Ones

The so-called "Grinning Men" were in West Virginia around the same time as the Mothman, often in the company of UFOs. Some theorists posit that they are the Mothmen, taking a human form in order to interact with us. Indrid Cold is the best known Grinning Man but supposedly two more named Demo Hassan and Karl Ardo where also encountered in the area.

Perhaps the Mothmen are members of the Favoured Ones, shapeshifting alien sorcerers who do Nyarlathotep's inscrutable bidding. What purpose would they serve in prophesying or orchestrating the collapse of the Silver Bridge? It's unlikely that anyone would be able to find out until long after the fact.

Living Pterosaur

You might ask, "hey, isn't this an actual theory on what Mothman could be? Why is it down here in the Mythos section?" Well hypothetical person; in the Triassic era the Yith encountered a species of sapient pterosaurs, described by a captured human mind only as "black-snouted, winged creatures".

The Yith keep hidden stasis vaults of specimens and artifacts, serving as museums or supply caches and safe-rooms for their brain-casting operatives throughout time and space. Occasionally these vaults open unpredictably, their mechanisms failing after millions of years or by sabotage from the Yith's many enemies. It has happened before, a vault released populations of Cretaceous megafauna onto the Thurian continent during the pre-Hyborian age.

Now the pterosaur-folk are just the tip of the iceberg as Mythos forces converge on Point Pleasant, searching for the secrets of the Yith and their valuable artifacts.

Byakhee

It is unlikely that most witnesses would neglect to mention the sensory impressions of searing yellow light and psychic demands for space mead but regardless, some of the smaller species of Byakhee bear a more than superficial resemblance to the Mothman phenomenon.

Tskohmoi
Independent Race

The Tskohmoi are an alien species from a distant part of the galaxy. Although they are entirely composed of physical matter, they are capable of sorcery and use it in their exploration of the universe. They can wrap themselves in plasmoid shells, racing through the void of space as blazing orbs. Although they are not shapeshifters the Tskohmoi are masters of mental influence and can impress all manner of images with their magic, including making themselves appear human to an observer.

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Mothman is one of my favourite cryptids, constantly jockeying for position against the Flatwoods Monster and high-strangeness Sasquatch sightings. Chupacabra used to be up there too but now that it's just a mangy dog it's not as interesting.

I plan to make at least a few more of these but it kinda depends on what I get good ideas for.

Description

Something I really like doing is imagining how Cryptids would fit into the Cthulhu Mythos. What would a gormless Miskatonic Alumni find when investigating a cryptid hotspot?

So I'm doing a split, top row is actual sightings of Mothman and similar creatures, bottom row are Mythos entities that might "explain" the sightings. Not all of them have to be true at once. Consider them possibilities, CoC investigation prompts or even in-universe theories by people "in the know".

Mothman

Your ordinary every day Mothman, best known for its appearance in Point Pleasant West Virginia preceding the collapse of the Silver Bridge. It was seen again fairly recently, during the Chicago flying humanoid flap of 2017. Some also claim it was present for several tragic events including a German mine collapse, the Chernobyl meltdown and even the 9/11 attacks, although I believe these are apocryphal.

Contrary to its name I don't believe I've ever read an account of a Mothman sighting that gave it any insectoid features whatsoever. It is usually described as a furry or feathered biped of approximately 6-7 feet tall, winged, headless and featureless aside from glowing red eyes. It is usually dark, although some of the early sightings in Point Pleasant reported that it was white or ash-grey.

Mothman sightings often coincide with other anomalous phenomenon; including UFOs, poltergeist activity, hairy hominids and strange inhuman men, specifically the Grinning Man Indred Cold.

Owlman

Often considered the British counterpart to the Mothman, it was sighted a few times in Cornwall in the 1970s through to the 90s before crossing the pond in time for the Chicago flying humanoid flap. The main difference between it and the Mothman is the presence of a well defined head. It also has clawed wings in some reports.

While it was never connected to any major tragedies, the British Owlman sightings supposedly coincided with severe weather and bizarre animal behavior. If the Owlman is the same kind of entity as the Mothman and they are attracted to disaster, perhaps something esoteric was going down in Cornwall at the time?

Bat Beast of Kent

Another British offering, although this one actually precedes the Mothman by three years! Four teenagers witnessed a golden "star" floating behind some trees before a black humanoid figure shambled out of the woods. They said it was a headless humanoid, about 5 feet tall with webbed feet and large batlike wings.

While both Mothman and Owlman were seen during a time of increased UFO activity, only the Bat Beast was (to my knowledge) actually witnessed at the same time as an apparent craft, although nobody actually saw it leave the UFO.

Interestingly a similar UFO was witnessed the week before in the same area but accompanied by a human figure with a red cape. If all these phenomenon are connected, perhaps the red caped person was the Bat Beast's equivalent to Indred Cold?

Spiderbat

Sighted in southern Alberta Canada, the Spiderbat was seen ducking into the witness's barn. He said it was huge and bulky and described it as "kind of like Mothman but with spider teeth and small white eyes". It perched in the barn's window even though it seemed like it should be too large to fit. As soon as he saw it, the witness turned to run for his house. He felt as though it was rushing at him as he fled, even though it never reached him. Although it hasn't been seen again thel witness claims he still hears strange noises from the barn at night and often feels watched in the area.

This is a weird one and I don't normally take this sort of sighting very seriously but I really wanted to draw it! Besides, it's way better than the Batsquatch.

Spectre

This is less an actual sighting and more personal speculation with artwork fueled by the Mothman Prophesies movie. The Mothman sometimes seems less than a physical creature and more like a haunting force, impressing supernatural terror into those that witness it and behaving in impossible ways. It flies without flapping its wings, it seemed to have an effect on nearby electronics and poltergeist activity was also reported in the area.

Perhaps the Mothman is a spiritual entity, either a warped human ghost or some elemental creature of the Astral realms?

Mothman in the Mythos

Fungi From Yuggoth

The story "Documents in the Case of Elizabeth Akeley" implies that the Mothman are a simple misidentification of the winged sporecrab forms of the Migo and that certainly makes some sense. The Migo are connected to alien folk-lore already. Their biodrones look like the archtypical Grey alien, their gateships are certainly disk shaped and they have human allies and waxen masked Migo infiltrators to serve as the Men in Black. But I'd like to go a little further.

Perhaps they are in fact another form of the Fungi's encounter drones? A heavily armored surveillance platform, the encounter drones where deployed to Point Pleasant to investigate strange psionic energy readings in the area. As the locals were gripped in Mothman hysteria, the Migo hunted for the source of their readings. Unfortunately they were unable to find it before the bridge fell and the psionic energy dissipated. Now it's 2017, the same energy has appeared in Chicago and the Migo aren't planning to fail twice...

The Million Favoured Ones

The so-called "Grinning Men" were in West Virginia around the same time as the Mothman, often in the company of UFOs. Some theorists posit that they are the Mothmen, taking a human form in order to interact with us. Indrid Cold is the best known Grinning Man but supposedly two more named Demo Hassan and Karl Ardo where also encountered in the area.

Perhaps the Mothmen are members of the Favoured Ones, shapeshifting alien sorcerers who do Nyarlathotep's inscrutable bidding. What purpose would they serve in prophesying or orchestrating the collapse of the Silver Bridge? It's unlikely that anyone would be able to find out until long after the fact.

Living Pterosaur

You might ask, "hey, isn't this an actual theory on what Mothman could be? Why is it down here in the Mythos section?" Well hypothetical person; in the Triassic era the Yith encountered a species of sapient pterosaurs, described by a captured human mind only as "black-snouted, winged creatures".

The Yith keep hidden stasis vaults of specimens and artifacts, serving as museums or supply caches and safe-rooms for their brain-casting operatives throughout time and space. Occasionally these vaults open unpredictably, their mechanisms failing after millions of years or by sabotage from the Yith's many enemies. It has happened before, a vault released populations of Cretaceous megafauna onto the Thurian continent during the pre-Hyborian age.

Now the pterosaur-folk are just the tip of the iceberg as Mythos forces converge on Point Pleasant, searching for the secrets of the Yith and their valuable artifacts.

Byakhee

It is unlikely that most witnesses would neglect to mention the sensory impressions of searing yellow light and psychic demands for space mead but regardless, some of the smaller species of Byakhee bear a more than superficial resemblance to the Mothman phenomenon.

Tskohmoi
Independent Race

The Tskohmoi are an alien species from a distant part of the galaxy. Although they are entirely composed of physical matter, they are capable of sorcery and use it in their exploration of the universe. They can wrap themselves in plasmoid shells, racing through the void of space as blazing orbs. Although they are not shapeshifters the Tskohmoi are masters of mental influence and can impress all manner of images with their magic, including making themselves appear human to an observer.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mothman is one of my favourite cryptids, constantly jockeying for position against the Flatwoods Monster and high-strangeness Sasquatch sightings. Chupacabra used to be up there too but now that it's just a mangy dog it's not as interesting.

I plan to make at least a few more of these but it kinda depends on what I get good ideas for.