Is the Chicago Mothman really an Unsolved Mystery?
A quick look behind the claims suggests otherwise...
Originally published in 2024 on the Hayley is a Ghost blog
Volume 4 of Netflix’s Unsolved Mysteries recently hit the streaming platform, and episode 5 is titled ‘The Mothman Revisited’. The 40-minute episode centres around the contemporary sightings in Chicago of a winged humanoid that people were quick to associate with Mothman, a cryptid best known from sightings in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, in the 1960s.
Watching the episode, I was surprised that Allison Jornlin did not feature. Her meticulous investigation of the sites of the contemporary sightings across Chicago found several inconsistencies in the eyewitness reports1. For example, by visiting locations where the sightings happened, Jornlin found that some locations’ geography, urban design, weather data, and moon phases did not make the eyewitness reports possible. What eyewitnesses described to have taken place there could not have happened. Additionally, Jornlin noted that eyewitness reports sometimes used similar wording and phrasing despite being made by allegedly different people, which would suggest they came from the same source.2 At least five individual eyewitness reports also came from the same IP address. Could they have been made up?
In The Mothman Revisited, two cryptozoologists whose research formed the foundation of the alleged Unsolved Mystery skimmed over these inconsistencies as though they were no big deal. Throughout the episode, it struck me that they were excited at the prospect of a cryptid as infamous as Mothman visiting an area local to them.
Several times throughout the episode, the ominous question of whether Mothman was a portent of doom was discussed by the cryptozoologists who mentioned the 1967 collapse of the Silver Bridge in Point Pleasant, which saw 46 people die. Was the sudden appearance of Mothman in Chicago an omen? They seemed to think this was possible, even hinting that Mothman could be an interdimensional creature. Was Mothman the cause of a catastrophe yet to happen? Here to warn people? Or was it drawn to disaster?
From my perspective, the cryptozoologists in the episode seem eager to attribute reported sightings to the Mothman, even if it means stretching the reports to fit their narrative. For instance, Sandy Styden and Stacey Ahern’s sighting of a dark humanoid rising into the sky, which does not share many features with other Mothman sightings, is still included. Some eyewitnesses saw multiple creatures; others saw one. The eagerness to fit these diverse sightings into a single Mothman narrative raises questions about the objectivity of their investigation.
When we consider the knowledge we’ve gained from Jornlin’s investigation, which clearly shows that some sightings could not have occurred as described, it becomes evident that the Mothman of Chicago is not a mystery at all. Instead, Unsolved Mysteries Vol. 4, Ep. 5 serves as a stark reminder of what happens when research is driven by a desire to believe, a thirst for adventure, and a lack of investigative skills. The over-reliance on questionable eyewitness testimony further undermines the credibility of the episode.
The fact that this episode was commissioned alongside serious episodes about violent, unsolved murders of women is, frankly, quite distasteful.
Unsolved Mysteries can be streamed on Netflix
On her Youtube channel, you can watch footage that Allison Jornlin filmed at all of the locations of the Chicago Mothman sightings.
Jornlin has also appeared on the MonsterTalk podcast to discuss her research with hosts Dr Karen Stollznow and Blake Smith.