• The Mothman Prophecies

  • By: John A. Keel
  • Narrated by: Craig Wasson
  • Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (1,403 ratings)

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The Mothman Prophecies  By  cover art

The Mothman Prophecies

By: John A. Keel
Narrated by: Craig Wasson
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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.

What listeners say about The Mothman Prophecies

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Smart, compelling, disturbing

A word to the wise: If you're looking for a novelization of the Richard Gere movie, you might want to think twice before ordering this book. John A. Keel's "The Mothman Prophecies" is not a novel, nor is it fiction. It is the sober account of a professional journalist who also happens to be a paranormal researcher. As such, it is one of the best books of its genre. By way of the mysterious figure of the Mothman, who haunted Point Pleasant, West Virginia, in the late 1960s, Keel puts forth his grand unified theory of all things paranormal, which connects such seemingly diverse phenomena as ghosts, fairies, UFOs, men in black, Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, Mothman, angels, demons, and even The Shadow, the pulp-magazine crimebuster. Keel's clear, engaging style lends credence to the strange goings-on that he collects and documents, and the conclusions that he draws not only ring true but also linger long after the final page. As the Mothman mystery deepens and the author's life begins to imitate a David Lynch film, readers may want to turn on a few extra lights, but they won't be able to turn off this book.

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50 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

The Nature of Human Perception

Keel's The Mothman Prophecies is a book that explores the unknown--human consciousness. The theme of the book is clear from the beginning. Keel is more interested in the root causes of phenomena than the evidence. And the cause, for him, lies somewhere in the mystery of human consciousness and perception. It is a fascinating read. If you like pyschology and parapsychology, this is the pinnacle.

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17 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Not really a book

This is not really a book but a series of loosely connected anecdotes. They generally start something like this - On June 13, 1961 while Bob Smith was walking down the street he encounter a large bat-like creature.

The problems with this book are not related to the subject matter but how it is presented. Lots of random sightings that aren't linked together into any kind of narrative and are not supported by much fact.

I am very interested in this topic but this book was completely unengaging.

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13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Hogwash

Where do I start? How about with the fact the author states that dark-skinned asians from outer space drive mysterious black VW Bugs and come to our planet to mutilate cattle, make prank phone calls, pretend to be government agents, and take suprise photographs of us while hiding in our living rooms?
I can't believe that 'literature' like this got published but hundreds of authors get rejected every month.
And the money the author accepted from Hollywood for the rights to develop a movie based on it would have been better invested in nursery rhymes.
It amazes me that this guy actually has made a living since the 1960s writing this stuff.
He takes credit for every original thought that UFO folks have had (because he 'wrote a paragraph' about it earlier). But discredits some of the folks he interviews while trying to make others look more believable.
The book isn't about the mothman - which he describes as being everything from a 10 foot chicken to a nude dark 7 foot tall woman with wings. It's about nothing in particular; just a collection of accounts in the late 60s and early 70s that he 'investigated.'
It's hard to listen to the book without being insulted by the author's attempt to even make you belive some of this stuff.
Like a proverbial 'train wreck' the only reason to continue to listen is to see just how far out on a limb this guy can go. Just when you think he's managed to completely confuse everything that you've ever heard about UFOs; he'll take it a step further by telling you that these same aliens will cause your phone lines to screach and then send poltergeists to your house just for kicks. Obviously no one ever told him that UFOs, Ghosts, & Demons are about as different subjects as Vasectomies, Home Shopping Channes, and Oil Changes are.
Save your money.
Save your sanity.
Save what's left of your good taste.
Don't buy this book.
You've been warned.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • GB
  • 12-07-04

very insightful and well read

I'm a zoologist, and I ejoyed this book thoroghly. It was insightful and knowledgable. Some people complain that the title was "decieving", due to lack of information on the Mothman. Keel only spends a chapter talking about this winged creature, but what was there was very interesting. Being in the field of zoology, I come across cryptids like the Mothman all the time. the most popular being obviously, bigfoot and nessie. If these subjects interest you then you should find this to be a very interesting listen.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Not The Movie!

Before buying this, you should know that although it WAS the basis for the film of the same name, it is not a novelization of the film. Keel's MMP details the actual events that transpired during a thirteen month period in Point Pleasant WV and the Ohio Valley in the late 60's. It's an incredible read and nicely done in audio book form.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

A UFO paranoiacs delight

Story after story after story ad infinitum of sightings. each story lasting 3-4 minutes. NOTHING like the movie. Listen to the sample. Of all the audio books I have purchased, this is the only one I couldn't get through.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

A mixed up jumble...

...of sightings, strange occurances, UFO's, Men in Black and other such things. Keel goes to great lengths to tell all about each event that happend in Point Pleasant before the bridge disaster. He also backs up many events with other sightings and visits and occurances, until your head is swimming. The biggest problem is the lack of continuity or timeline, and cross-referencing with events he's already covered (which is hard to go back to in audio format...if you really want to go back in the first place). While at the heart of the book is an interesting tale of bizarre events leading to a strange disaster, there is a lot of extras to get through.

The narration is well done and easy to listen to.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

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.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Not what was expected, but suprisingly better!!

As has been stated, this book has little in common with the movie, and though I loved the movie and would have liked a more focused examination of it, this book turned out ot be infinitely more riveting. This is no novel, it is a collection of observations expressed by a journalist with a literary style that is absolutely captivating, amusing, and simultaneously disturbing. Instead of shocking us with outrageous and overly colorful depictions of events, John Keel has an amazing ability to evoke the inherent eeriness in what might seem the most mundane interactions, which when carefully analyzed, provide profoundly unsettling conclusions. He does not force his interpretation of these events, but leaves the reader to make up his or her mind. If you want a book to capture your imagination for hour upon hour on end by a talented author with a wry wit and healthy amounts of both marvel and cynicism, you will listen to this book several times without any loss of interest.

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4 people found this helpful