The Mothman Prophecies

By: John A. Keel

Narrated by: Craig Wasson

Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

West Virginia, 1966. For thirteen months the town of Point Pleasant is gripped by a real-life nightmare that culminates in a tragedy that makes headlines around the world. Strange occurrences and sightings, including a bizarre winged apparition that becomes known as the Mothman, trouble this ordinary American community. Mysterious lights are seen moving across the sky. Domestic animals are found slaughtered and mutilated. And journalist John Keel, arriving to investigate the freakish events, soon finds himself an integral part of an eerie and unfathomable mystery.

Translated into over thirteen languages, John Keel's unsettling account of what he encountered in Point Pleasant has long been regarded as a classic in the literature of the unexplained. It is now the basis of a major motion picture starring Richard Gere and Laura Linney.

The Mothman Prophecies is also available in print from Tor Books.

©1991 John A. Keel (P)16 9; 2002 Random House, Inc.

Very Enjoyable to Listen to

The voice actor has a great voice, especially for this story. John Keel's story is interesting and my goal is to read more of his writings. This is one of my favorite Audible books.

Without question, not the movie.

So this book was not the movie, as alot of the reviews state, and that is fine. But where it goes wrong it that it has very little, (almost none) of material relating to the Mothman. It is all about UFO's. The book pretty much just consists of account after account of UFO signings, encounters, and visitations. This is all fine if the book was entitled "Strange UFO Encounters" but it wasn't. It was titled the "Mothman Prophesies" and it just didn't have anything about either the Mothman or events surrounding his sightings. The book is interesting and well done. It just doesn't have anything in it about the topic that made me what to listen to it to begin with.

Get out Your Tin Foil Hats!

This is a fun book, but it's very hard to take seriously. The stories are so far-fetched, it's like listening to a sci-fi story. I guess in the '70s (when it was originally published), it would have sounded more credible, but now that modern science has advanced, a lot of the incidents related here could be easily explained.

Also, the title of the book is misleading. There's barely any talk of the Mothman. 90% of the book focuses on UFOs and conspiracy theories. The movie version did a better job of focusing on the Mothman and Indrid Cold than what's conveyed in here.

Nonetheless, still an interesting listen, especially if you want to get an idea of the general mindset of the '60s.

Truly fascinating to hear the details behind the headlines

Enjoyed this and appreciate all the extra facts not normally covered in programs and other coverage of John’s work.

Loved it. Really fascinating read!

Craig Wasson brings the story to life really well.. This is even better than the movie!

Thought provoking

Not much like the movie and as is most always the case more deep. The history and where the writer takes you left me really thinking.

JCC

spooky classic

it's a fun read. crazy similarities between cases. gets repetitive 2/3s in but then comes back

not enough moths, too much man

fun, not enough mothman, to much 60s/70s racism for my blood. it's very of its time and place. I was hooked until the mount misery section, which is when it stops being about the point pleasant UFO flap and starts being about John Keel's cosmic importance, and the shift in geography doesn't help the transition.
the book is torn between a journalistic account of UFO phenomena and a memoir about higher beings communicating with Mr. Keel specifically, and it has trouble reconciling them. it's almost narcissistic at certain points, as Mr. Keel places himself more and more at the center of events.
then, of course, we have the racism. Keel's men in black are consistently given Asian features, and the Princess Moon Owl section is... very uncomfortable in a modern context. I was able to work through it by recognizing it as an artifact of its time, but I would caution against reading this book if you're particularly sensitive to that sort of thing. there are other, I would say, better sources on the topic of mothman that do not have that material.
prose wise, Mr. Keel is uneven. I think the opening chapter does a lot of solid work to establish the ideas and atmosphere the book explores, but elsewhere Mr. Keel devolves into flat language and overuses adverbs. the best work, in my opinion, is in the first half while Mr. Keel is writing about strange encounters. I definitely think this book needed one or two more passes by an editor.
the audio was very well done, Mr. Wasson's delivery of the material really gave off the vibe of discussing confidential secrets off the record in a darkened room, which matched the conspiratorial nature of the prose.
all in all, I found this book fun, but it is not what I came looking for.

Well done.

I don't always agree with Mr. Keel's conclusions, but it is an entertaining production anyway.

Intriguing and surprising

While this book primarily takes a larger view of the paranormal and supernatural I enjoyed the stories he shares about his personal experiences at Point Pleasant. I was intrigued by his candid and objective perspective of matters seemingly out of this world and surprised by his conclusions. This was my first John Keel books and I will be reading more of his work because of it.