The Pandemonium Witches: Murders, Mystery, and Mayhem · TPW3MPodcast

S1.E110 - W is Also for West Virginia: Mountains, Monsters, and Mystery

·1 hr 18 min·5 clips

Mothman sightings began on November 15th, 1966, and the creature was first described as seven feet tall with red eyes.

1. The Pandemonium Witches podcast uses S1.E110, "W is Also for West Virginia: Mountains, Monsters, and Mystery," to frame West Virginia as a state episode with cryptids and railroad legends. 2. Kat, Rachel, Em, and Meg are the hosts, and the rotating speaker setup matters because the conversation keeps shifting between history, local anecdotes, and spooky stories. 3. The episode’s core question is what makes West Virginia feel "mountains, monsters, and mystery," and the answer moves from state facts into Mothman and tunnel hauntings. 4. The hosts say West Virginia was part of Virginia until 1861, stayed with the Union, and became the 35th state in 1863. 5. They name Charleston as both the capital and the biggest city, and they note the state bird is the cardinal, the state flower is the rhododendron, and the state animal is the black bear. 6. The episode identifies West Virginia as the only state completely within the Appalachian mountain range and says it has the highest elevation east of the Mississippi. 7. The hosts discuss Berkeley Springs, also called Bath, where George Washington and his troops wintered and where hot springs still draw visitors. 8. They also mention the New River Gorge Bridge in Fayetteville, which they describe as the longest steel arch bridge in the Western Hemisphere and the image on the state quarter. 9. Famous West Virginians named in the episode include Pearl S. Buck, Stonewall Jackson, and Chuck Yeager. 10. The Mothman section names Point Pleasant, the first sighting date of November 15, 1966, and the report of a large black creature with glowing red eyes near the TNT area. 11. The hosts say Roger and Linda Scarberry, plus Steve and Mary Mallett, reported a seven-foot creature that followed their car to the Point Pleasant city limits. 12. They note that a police officer and two volunteer firemen described the creature differently, with one calling it an unusually large heron or "shite poke." 13. The episode says Point Pleasant held its first annual Mothman festival in 2002, the statue was unveiled in 2003, and the museum and research center opened in 2005. 14. The hosts give the festival’s average attendance as 10,000 to 12,000 people and mention pancake-eating contests, vendor exhibits, guest speakers, and hayride tours. 15. The Brandy Gap tunnel story includes a reporter from the Sandusky Star Journal, disembodied voices, and a man lighting a match inside a tunnel indentation and finding nobody there. 16. The hosts connect the tunnel voices to a nearby cemetery, deaths along the tracks, and a worker named Hanley who died in January 1853 when earth fell on him. 17. The Silver Run tunnel legend follows an engineer on a 1910 midnight westbound run who sees a woman in a pale dress, Raven-colored hair, and golden slippers on the tracks. 18. The episode’s tone is loose and talkative, with map jokes, pronunciation corrections, and repeated side conversations about mugs, measurements, bears, and wax museums. 19. Listeners who like state history with cryptids and railroad ghosts would probably enjoy this episode. 20. Listeners wanting a tightly structured, topic-only history episode may skip this one.

As heard by us

A lively Point Pleasant folklore tour that keeps Mothman and the town's mythology front and center.

Point Pleasant and its Mothman lore give the episode its center of gravity, and it is strongest when the hosts move easily between the statue, the festival, and the museum before circling back to the story.

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Why you'd press play

You want Mothman, Point Pleasant, and a delightfully unruly West Virginia tour.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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