HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
Bob Roach's polished stainless-steel cryptid, unveiled 2003 and Point Pleasant's most-photographed spot
201 4th Street, Point Pleasant, WV 25550
Research updated August 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free public sculpture on the sidewalk; no admission
Access
Wheelchair OK
Paved downtown sidewalk
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 2003 · Public art commemorating the Mothman legend · Point Pleasant tourism landmark · Walking-tour meeting point
The Mothman Statue stands on 4th Street in downtown Point Pleasant, a short distance from the Mothman Museum on Main Street. Sculpted by West Virginia artist Bob Roach and unveiled in 2003, it renders the local legend in polished stainless steel: a muscular winged figure with large eyes, mounted so visitors can stand beside it for photographs.
The statue is part of the town's deliberate embrace of the Mothman story as a civic identity and tourism draw. After the 1966-67 sightings and the cultural attention that followed John Keel's 1975 book and the 2002 film, Point Pleasant built much of its downtown visitor economy around the legend. The statue, the museum, and the annual Mothman Festival form the core of that effort.
Today the sculpture is the most-photographed spot in town and the customary meeting point for local Mothman and ghost walking tours, which gather there before setting off to cover the sightings, the 1967 Silver Bridge collapse, and other chapters of Point Pleasant history.
Sources
The statue gives physical form to a legend built on eyewitness reports from 1966 and 1967. Witnesses described a tall winged figure with glowing red eyes, often seen near the TNT area, a former munitions storage site of concrete bunkers north of town. Local newspapers carried the accounts and supplied the name Mothman.
The legend grew after the December 15, 1967 collapse of the Silver Bridge over the Ohio River, which killed 46 people. Writers and residents later cast the earlier sightings as an omen of the disaster — a connection that lives in folklore rather than in any engineering finding about the bridge.
Visitors rarely come to the statue expecting a sighting; it functions as a monument to the story and a gathering point for tours that recount it. The polished surface and exaggerated features lean into the legend's pop-culture life as much as its origins in the 1960s reports.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
A polished stainless-steel statue of the Mothman, sculpted by Bob Roach and unveiled in 2003, stands on the sidewalk in downtown Point Pleasant near the Mothman Museum. It is free to visit, a popular photo stop, and the usual meeting point for local Mothman and ghost walking tours.
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