HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
WWII TNT plant whose concrete igloo bunkers became ground zero for the Mothman sightings
McClintic Wildlife Management Area, off WV-62, Point Pleasant, WV 25550
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free public access to the McClintic Wildlife Management Area. Hunting seasons and posted rules apply.
Access
Limited Access
Wooded wildlife area with gravel roads, trails, ponds, and overgrown concrete igloo bunkers
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1942 · WWII TNT manufacturing plant · Surviving concrete igloo bunkers · Origin point of the Mothman sightings
The federal government built the West Virginia Ordnance Works on farmland north of Point Pleasant in 1942 to produce TNT for the war effort. The plant ran from 1942 until 1945 and, like most wartime ordnance works, was supported by a field of concrete storage igloos, dome-roofed bunkers built to hold explosives at safe distances from one another. Around 100 of these structures still stand, scattered through the woods.
After the war the site was decommissioned and much of the land was turned over for conservation, becoming the McClintic Wildlife Management Area, a state-managed tract of ponds, fields, and forest open for hunting, fishing, and hiking. The bunkers remain among the trees, and the surrounding ground carried a long legacy of contamination from the plant's operations, which prompted environmental cleanup work over the decades that followed.
Locally the whole tract is still called the 'TNT area.' It is open to the public, and visitors come both for the wildlife area itself and to see the surviving bunkers. This account follows the Wikipedia entries for the West Virginia Ordnance Works and the McClintic Wildlife Management Area, along with a WTRF news report on visiting the site.
Sources
The Mothman story begins here. On the night of November 15, 1966, two young couples driving through the TNT area reported a tall, dark, winged figure with glowing red eyes near the old power plant and bunkers, and said it chased their car back toward town. Their account ran in the local paper, and over the following weeks more residents reported seeing the same kind of creature around the ordnance grounds and elsewhere near Point Pleasant.
The sightings, the strange events that locals associated with them, and the Silver Bridge collapse in December 1967 were later braided together by author John Keel into 'The Mothman Prophecies,' which became a 2002 film. The empty igloo bunkers, half-swallowed by the woods, are now the heart of a cryptid pilgrimage, especially around the annual Mothman Festival in town. Investigators and curious visitors walk the area at dusk hoping for their own encounter; what they reliably find is a quiet, overgrown WWII site with a very strange reputation.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Drive north of Point Pleasant on WV-62 to the McClintic Wildlife Management Area, where dozens of WWII-era concrete igloo bunkers from the West Virginia Ordnance Works still stand in the woods. The area is open to the public for hiking, wildlife watching, and hunting in season. This is the spot where the 1966 Mothman sightings began. Bring a flashlight and watch for hunting seasons and posted warnings.
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