Bigfoot, Mothman, and other unique local cryptids are fueling a mini tourism boom across America.
The most famous resident physician of Point Pleasant , West Virginia , is 11 infantry tall and full nude . He expect no race , no creed , and no visible genitals — only the clean stare of someone who does n’t consider in mathematics . Also , he ’s get a chrome tail end that could snap a tree limb in half .
He is the Mothman statue of Point Pleasant , West Virginia , a pharos of cheek presiding nudely over the town of just under 4,000 . And he rakes in trillion of tourism dollars each yr .
Every September , X of thousands of tourists come on Point Pleasant for its annualMothman Festival , a three - day issue that celebrates the townspeople ’s nonmigratory cryptid . They fall for the costume contest and the chilling eyewitness panels ; they delay to caress the statue ’s formidable chrome rear end , curving pert and precious beneath a pair of in an elaborate way chip at moth extension . They also pass their firmly - earned dollars up and down Point Pleasant ’s quaint main puff .
Photo courtesy Main Street Point Pleasant. Illustration by Manali Doshi.
Meanwhile , in Fouke , Arkansas , route trippers stake hours out of their way to call in theFouke Monster Mart and roadside pizza stick . Burlington , Vermont , benefit off of its apocryphal lake behemoth with extensivecollegiate baseball game merch . Churubusco , Indiana is the alleged birthplace of a grievous polo-neck known as theBeast of Busco ; lacking the infrastructure for a jumbo polo-neck museum , Churubusco celebrate its yesteryear via the annualMiss Turtle Days pageantry . As population lossacceleratesin rural America , these town are all tapping into a lucrative truth : People love a well scare — especially one they can fatigue on a T - shirt .
Denny Bellamy , a lifelong Point Pleasant resident , is the longtime touristry director for Mason County , where Point Pleasant is turn up . He suppose the Mothman Festival costs the town up to $ 50,000 in extra time staffing , which is pocket modification compared to the weekend ’s profits . “ It ’s still a multi - million dollar event , ” he says . “ It ’s like Christmas in Point Pleasant . ”
The 2024 festival bring in close to $ 5 million and as many as 45,000 out - of - town visitors , consort to Bellamy ’s estimation . And while the unforesightful - term economic boost is gravid , local benefit even more from year - unit of ammunition Mothman touristry , which admit visit to the town ’s flagshipMothman Museum .
The Monster Mart in Fouke, Arkansas|Photos courtesy Fouke Monster Mart
Bellamy adds that , while the fable is absolutely the Ithiel Town ’s principal source of touristry , it drives visitors to the townsfolk ’s other attractions , including a principal street line with murals and stunning natural scene . “ People come here for the festival , but they ’ll make a second slip to Point Pleasant to visit the town and see everything here with no lines , ” Bellamy says . “ They get to run through in our restaurants and shop in our gift shops . ”
Now , he contribute , there ’s a wait list to charter a storefront on Main Street , and younger house physician are staying in town to get their small-arm of the Mothman pie . “ The unseasoned generation who develop up with [ Mothman ] are the single opening all the stock on Main Street , ” he say . “ Our young gift is in the end stay home . They ’re on the City Council . They ’re up for anything now . ”
Ashley Wamsley Morrison represents that untested generation . Her father , Jeff Wamsley , plant the Mothman Museum and the fete 20 long time ago , and she ’s market it from yr one , when her dad set up a single card table with memorabilia for a fistful of curious visitors .
Brittany Sayre, a Mothman Museum associate in Point Pleasant, poses in the museum.|Photo by Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via Getty Images.
Morrison ’s social selling strategy is simple . She does n’t swear on a orotund budget or influencer endorsements ; she just provide information about an undeniably engrossing figure . “ Honestly , I think [ our success ] is a lucky premix of thing , such as finding ways to relate to people who naturally cluster to cryptids and connecting with them in ways that are both veritable and a niggling weird , ” Morrison say . “ And you ca n’t go ill-timed with making and partake in a skilful meme or two . ”
She also espouse the power of merch . Morrison ownsCounter Point , a creative co - op and dress shop a few door down from the Mothman Museum . “ Most masses pretend to Point Pleasant for Mothman , so , naturally , they are attract to souvenirs to commemorate their visit , ” she says . Bellamy calls thyroxine - shirt “ walk billboard . ” He note : “ People buy the t - shirts , they go home , and their champion say , ‘ Hey , what ’s that ? ’ And , well , there ’s only one Mothman Museum . ”
Venture to the south to the tiny town of Fouke , Arkansas , for another glimpse into the power of monster merch . With a population of just 826 , Fouke has become an unlikely global tourist destination , all thanks toMonster Mart , a keepsake frontier settlement and pizza pie articulation dedicated to Fouke ’s own cryptid : a Bigfoot - similar beast that inspired Charles Pierce ’s 1972 furore repugnance classic , The Legend of Boggy Creek . Today , rooter of the pic see Fouke as a pilgrim’s journey site of variety .
A couple take a selfie in front of the Mothman statue in Point Pleasant.|Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via Getty Images.
“ The impingement is great , ” says Fouke Mayor Terry Purvis . “ There ’s so many hoi polloi that come and visit our townsfolk to live this caption , which just keeps living on . ” He recalls meeting travelers from California , Oregon , and even Belgium .
Purvis was so pleased with the legend ’s encroachment that he had a Fouke Monster decal professionally applied to the Ithiel Town ’s exclusive police cruiser , which is shared between its two part - fourth dimension deputies .
Purvis has n’t seen the monster , but he understands the ingathering . “ It ’s the closed book of it all , ” say Purvis . “ It ’s challenging . kinfolk that develop up around here , they know what a bobcat looks like , they screw what a bear looks like . This is n’t that . ”
The single Fouke police cruiser with its monster decal.|City of Fouke.
Rachael Ironside , an associate professor at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen , Scotland , echoes that appeal . “ The supernatural is just a really compelling form of storytelling , ” say Ironside . Her research centers on the contact between inheritance , polish , and so - call up “ dark tourism , ” which encompasses everything from cryptid museums and shade turn to sites of historical tragedies .
Ironside explains that monster tourism , or “ fable tripping , ” can also have a uniquely phantasmal appeal , even for non - believer . “ We ’ve moved aside from established traditional religions being the only sort of notion system usable to us , ” she articulate . “ The supernatural can be a really compelling direction of [ exploring belief ] , because it does n’t require us to stick by a rigid substitution class . We can establish up our own beliefs . ”
And while supernatural lore has always bewitch believers and skeptics likewise , social media is probable to give thanks for the rocket popularity of attractive feature like the Mothman Festival . “ People can participate in the narration now , ” says Ironside . “ You ’ve sire TikTokers who are going to these place and talking about them — anybody can engage with these legends from anywhere . ”
A woman holds a Mothman is My Boyfriend pin.|Photo by Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via Getty Images.
Of course , monster touristry has its flaws . Every year , Point Pleasant slew with the same base issue that occur when a town ’s universe rise from 4,000 to 45,000 overnight . “ Everyone who lives here is working to plow the bunch , trying to find seat for them to park , places to utilize the bathroom , ” tell Bellamy . “ We have to bring in all these nutrient vendors , and they pack our Main Street from one goal to the other . ”
He interest that local businesses are sometimes obnubilate by the outsider , though the town is taking measure to verify everyone benefits equally from the fete . Even remote vender sling Mothman keychains will before long have to apply for a urban center license . Overall , though , Bellamy welcomes the attending — as do occupant of other Town impacted by monster tourism .
Terry Purvis , of Fouke , just wish he could give thanks the colossus in soul . “ I ’d sit down down and have a beer with him , ” express mirth Purvis . “ Grill him up a steak . He help our townsfolk . ”
