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Posted on Sun, Aug. 15, 2004
Sleuth for Mothman
Some weird attractions are too big for one state; stop in W.Va. for eerie fun
By Denise Grollmus
Beacon Journal staff writer
Today, we wrap up our three-week look at some of the more unusual spots in Ohio. Today's attractions would make an ideal three-day, two-night eccentric Ohio adventure. It cheats a bit as it includes a skip and a jump across the Ohio River into West Virginia territory -- Point Pleasant, to be exact.
Before you get to West Virginia, the trail includes a variety of strange museums, manmade phenomena, a few arcane objects that claim the title of ``the world's largest,'' as well as two quirky accommodations.
But the true treat of the trip lies just across the river, in the tiny town of Point Pleasant, where Mothman once resided.
Though many assume the story begins with a swashbuckling Richard Gere as a renegade reporter in The Mothman Prophecies, this story actually begins in Point Pleasant in 1966, when five men were preparing a grave and spotted a humanlike figure with wings lifting off from the trees and flying away.
They weren't the only ones who claimed to see this flying mystery man. For the next year, ``Mothman'' was sighted all over the region, until Dec. 15, 1967, when the Silver Bridge, which linked Point Pleasant to Ohio, collapsed into the Ohio River, killing 46 people.
The Mothman Prophecies is actually a 1975 book written by reporter John Keel. It includes more than 100 testimonies from people who claimed to have seen Mothman and it also suggests a link between the bridge collapsing and the creature's strange presence (hence the ``prophecies'' part).
After Mothman disappeared, locals claimed to be interrogated by men in black.
Was it a biological disaster at the hands of the toxic chemicals hiding in an abandoned TNT plant in the Point Pleasant woods that created the monster? Or was Mothman an extraterrestrial being, sent from outer space as an omen of bad things to come?
Follow the Mothman trails and you decide.
Now, get out your Ohio map and plan your routes to the following destinations. See if you can find more Ohio oddities on your own!
Orrville Toy and Hobby Museum: Collecting a massive number of mundane objects is a human activity that truly puzzles the mind.
One of the biggest mind puzzlers lies in Orrville's Toy and Hobby Museum.
Their 10,000-plus collection of pencils will make your junk drawer a pack rat joke.
It's also nice to see someone preserving the art of pencil engraving -- you know, all those pencils with some company's name emblazoned in a gold print that flaked off onto your teeth when you chewed your pencils?
There's also an exhibit of more than 4,500 toy trucks and more than 1,000 salt and pepper shakers.
World's largest cuckoo clock: It's the world's largest cuckoo clock, what more can you say?
It's huge!
Every hour, a 13-inch bird pops out of the Swiss-styled cabin as a five-piece oompah band plays on and cloggers get down, spindley legs and all.
Located on the Alpine-Alpa Cheese House's roof in Wilmot, stop in the shop and grab some cheese (it's really good cheese), check out the robotic milkmaid, or get some grub in the amazingly gawdy restaurant. It's so Swiss!
Warther Museum in Dover: Ernest ``Mooney'' Warther was a good guesser.
After learning how to whittle a pair of pliers out of wood in just 10 cuts, he guessed that if he made 31,000 cuts into one piece of wood just over a foot long and just under an inch wide, he could cut 511 pairs of pliers into what would resemble a tree of pliers.
He did it.
But that's not all he did. He also carved the history of the steam engine, a miniature model of the steel plant he worked in, and a commemorative model of Abraham Lincoln's funeral train. His carving of the Empire State Express is the world's largest ivory carving.
And if that doesn't seem impressive enough, his wife's 73,000-plus collection of buttons is also on hand to boggle your mind.
World's largest picnic basket: At 23 feet tall, 11 feet wide, and 48 feet long, this picnic basket is not joking around.
Sitting in the center of Dresden, the largest Longaberger basket in the world was woven in 1980 by 2,000 employees at the Longaberger Basket Company.
Though it pales in comparison to the company's Newark corporate office building, built to resemble a basket, this basket was actually woven in the same manner as the company's trademark durable picnic basket.
Devil's Garden to Hell's Oven: New Straitsville is probably the most literal version of hell in a traditional ``pit full of flames below the Earth's surface'' kind of way.
The town has been sitting on top of an active fire for the past 115 years, thanks to a coal strike in 1884 where coal miners filled coal cars full of flaming timbers and hurled them into the mines below.
In the 1930s, the New Deal's WPA attempted to clean up the fire without any success. The town became a national tourist attraction, and a few local's capitalized by paying children to fry eggs and percolate coffee over the fuming cracks or fuel the fires by adding tires and gasoline.
Though the fire will appear to have stopped, every once in a while a crack opens up in a new location. The last major fissure occurred in 1991, when a 15-foot crack appeared, spewing fire and smoke.
When the town was still a major tourist trap, these holes were named everything from Devil's Garden to Hell's Oven.
The streets are also rumored to be unusually warm, and supposedly the snow melts as soon as it hits the ground.
The most interesting site would be the top of Plummer Hill, where the coal miners first started what some call the ``longest burning man-made fire in history.''
You can also stop by the New Straitsville History Group for a glimpse of historic photos.
Ravenwood Castle: Sleeping in castles is awesome.
Now, thanks to Sue and Jim Maxwell, you no longer need to go all the way to Europe for a bit of medieval living.
The Maxwells built the Ravenwood Castle in New Plymouth in the style of a 12th century Norman castle to meet all your medieval needs.
The castle boasts everything from King Henry VIII suites and Queen Elizabeth guest rooms to gypsy wagons and 15th century cottages for two.
Breakfast is also served in a ``Great Hall'' decorated with elaborately carved furnishings and an intimidating fireplace that adds a bit of Gothic flare.
Best part yet: Ravenwood Castle sits on the highest hill in Vinton County, so you can walk out onto the balcony of your King Arthur suite, gaze out upon miles and miles of greenery and shout ``It's all mine! Wahaaahaaahaa!''
Dust off those Renaissance festival costumes and get ready for an antiquated sleep over!
Serpent Mound: At1,330 feet-long, Ohio's Serpent Mound in Locust Grove near Peebles is the most famous of all effigy mounds in the United States.
The head of the serpent, with what appears to be an egg in its mouth, is said to point to the summer solstice sunset and the coils also appear to purposefully point in the direction of the winter solstice sunrise and the equinox sunrise.
No one knows for certain who built it or why, though the mound has been associated with two different groups -- the Adena Indians (800 B.C. to A.D. 1) and the Fort Ancient Indians (around A.D. 1000).
The mound is also extremely curious because of its location in an area that is composed of extremely faulted and folded bedrock, an uncommon geographic characteristic for Ohio.
Some have speculated that the unusual makeup of the land is due to a volcano eruption or a meteorite strike, but no volcanic matter or meteorite debris have been found.
The Serpent Mound museum was opened in 1967, and contains exhibits illustrating various interpretations of the snake pattern, the processes of constructing the effigy, and the culture of the Adena people.
Mothman: Though Mothman was spotted all over southern Ohio as well, Point Pleasant, W.Va., was considered the creature's abode and the town contained the largest concentration of sightings.
Mothman's ``home'' was in the same area where TNT storage huts were built by the United States Army during World War II.
Now abandoned, the structures sit in the McClintic Wildlife Management Area. The domes are super conspicuous because they look like man-made hills of grass with little trap doors in the center... super spooky.
Probably the site of the most terrifying set of UFO sightings in the region, Point Pleasant is still proud of its extraterrestrial heritage. Some are also still haunted by the sightings, especially in their connection to the collapse of the bridge.
All along historic downtown, coffee shops and stores sell Mothman memorabilia and books that include copies of original Mothman police reports.
At the center of historic downtown's Gunn Park sits a steel sculpture of Mothman, created by Bob Roach.
In 2002, Point Pleasant began hosting the annual Mothman Festival. This year's celebration will be held Sept. 18 and 19.
Lots of locals are happy to share their Mothman stories, and most businesses offer a number of maps to the Mothman trails, which will lead you to the TNT huts as well as key sites where Mothman's most hyped appearances took place.
There's a lot of adventuring to be done, so it's suggested that you stay the night in Point Pleasant, especially because searching for Mothman at night is way more intense.
The Lowe Hotel is highly recommended. It's in the center of the historic district, where you'll find a great greasy spoon, a pretty cool record store, and lots of Mothman stories.
The hotel was built in 1901, and it hasn't lost a bit of its early 20th century charm -- the rooms are still locked with old skeleton keys. It's the perfect place to get you in the spooked-out Mothman mood.
Hint: If Mothman and the Lowe Hotel aren't scary enough for you toughies, ask around for the Lakin State Hospital. It's an abandoned mental institution sitting alongside state Route 62, north of Point Pleasant, in the middle of a giant field. It is a very ominous looking building -- classic haunted house style. There are many a ghost story about this place.
Birthplace of the banana split: Mothman hunting spook your soul? Soothe it with the original banana split before you trek home.
Actually it's a battle of midwestern wits, as Latrobe, Pa.,and Wilmington, Ohio, battle it out to prove which town invented the banana split first.
Though Latrobe has claimed that it invented the dessert monolith three years prior to Wilmington, Buckeyes scoff as they celebrate the Banana Split Festival each June in honor of Ernest Hazard, Wilmington's prized inventor.
In 1907, Hazard, owner of Hazard's Drugstore (which no longer exists), held a contest among himself and his employees to see who could create the best new ice cream dish.
The bossman beat the help out with his one scoop of vanilla (covered in chocolate syrup), one scoop of strawberry (covered in crushed pineapple), and one scoop of chocolate (covered in strawberry jam), all topped with whipped cream, nuts, a few cherries on top, and cradled elegantly between a split banana.
Hazard's cousin, Clifton, gave the dessert its famous epithet, the ``banana split,'' and you can still eat a historical reproduction of Hazard's original at Wilmington's Gibson Goodies.
http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/living/9370126.htm