Mothman Revisited

[MORTARDUDE]

MOTHMAN REVISITED

Cryptozoologist and paranormal researcher Loren
Coleman has turned up new and unusual facts in the mystery
surrounding "the Curse of The Mothman Prophecies."
A statistically unusual number of sudden deaths have
been linked to the opening of the 2002 film, which dealt
with the strange events around the collapse of the Silver
Bridge in Point Pleasant, West Virginia on December 15,
1967.
In his latest update, Coleman noted that "Aaron
Stephen Rebsamen, 14, unexpectedly committed suicide in
his Fort Smith, Arkansas home. He was the beloved son of
the well-known cryptozoology artist William Rebsamen, who
did the cover illustration of Mothman for Coleman's book,
Mothman and Other Curious Encounters."
"Under a tight deadline after the publisher rejected
earlier images from another source, Bill Rebsamen created
the Mothman painting, overnight, in one creative
inspiration."
"Witnesses such as Linda Scarberry, upon seeing the
Rebsamen full-length, colored illustration of Mothman,
said it is the best drawing, which most matches" the
creature that "was first seen on November 15, 1966."
Three days after the boy's unfortunate death, "near
Webbers Falls (Oklahoma)," about 40 miles (64 kilometers)
west of Fort Smith, Ark., "fourteen people died after a
barge collided with an Interstate Highway I-40 bridge,
sending cars, trucks and trailers into the Arkansas River
early Sunday morning, May 26, 2002."
The bridge collapse was eerily similar to the fall of

the Silver Bridge into the icy Ohio River in December
1967.
"The bridge crossed the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River

waterway in eastern Oklahoma. Seven women, seven men and
at least 10 vehicles were pulled after one of two barges
pulled by a tugboat struck a pillar, collapsing a 500 to
600-foot (150 to 180-meter) section of the bridge."
(Editor's Comment: The "seven women/seven men" theme rang
a bell in your editor's memory. Then I remembered the
Greek myth of Jason and the Argonauts. Every year,
ancient Athens was required to send seven men and seven
women to the land of Colchis (modern Crimea), to be used
as human sacrifices.)
"Among those lost were Andrew Clements, 35, who was
traveling from California to Woodridge, Virginia; Jeanine
Cawley, 48, of Lebanon, Oregon; Margaret Green, 45, of
Stockdale, Texas; Gail Shanahan, 49, of Corpus Christi,
Texas; Misty Johnson, 28, of Lavaca, Ark.; James Johnson,
30, of Lavaca, Ark.; Wayne Martin, 49, of Norman, Okla.;
Susan Martin, 49, of Norman, Okla.; Jerry Gillion, 58, of
Spiro, Okla.; Patricia Gillion, 57, of Spiro, Okla.; David
Mueggenborg, 52, of Okarche, Okla.; and Jeanne
Mueggenborg, 51, also of Okarche, Okla."
"The Johnsons' three-year-old daughter, Shea Nicole,
was found floating approximately one-half mile (0.8
kilometers) south of the bridge. She was one of the 14
victims pronounced dead. The Johnsons were on their way
to the Tulsa Zoo."
Adjusting for time zones, the Webbers Falls bridge
collapsed into the Arkansas River at the same time the
"bridge destruction" climax of the film The Mothman
Prophecies was showing on movie screens in Sydney,
Australia. The Webbers Falls disaster took place on May
26, 2002, the very same day The Mothman Prophecies
premiered in Australia. (Many thanks to Loren Coleman for
the updated Mothman information