They are large, birdlike creatures with glowing red eyes. Their wings are huge, spanning at least twelve feet. They are not covered with feathers, but with dull, gray skin. And as hideous as they look, what they do is far worse. They have been known to swoop down upon unsuspecting human beings, carrying them off in their sharp claws. And what they do with human beings they catch, no one really knows.

It sounds like something out of a weird science fiction movie, but these creatures are real-terrifyingly real. History is full of reports of these flying beasts, and the accounts have come from all over the world. The monsters have been seen in the skies over Russia, England, Vietnam, Brazil, and the United States.

Are these creatures left over from the dinosaur age? Are they some sort of strange mutation, half-human and half-bird? Or are they aliens visiting our planet from a different world? No one knows for sure, but we do know that to encounter them is to experience terror.  And, as a father and daughter discovered one night on a lonely road in West Virginia, such an encounter can even be deadly.

Madison McCauley hadn’t really wanted to go out on that misty night in September, but her father had convinced her to. It was a perfect night for hunting, he said, and they needed food for the family table. Madison actually kind of enjoyed these early evening hunting trips with her dad. Just after sunset when the moon was low in the sky, the critters in the woods around her Sky Falls home came out of hiding. Possum, rabbits, groundhogs, and raccoons all scurried around in the underbrush.

The father and daughter had decided to head to The Sanctuary Hunting Grounds. They usually had good luck there. Even though the grounds were just off the major highway, they were always plentiful with small game. The two talked and laughed as they rode along.

Maddie’s dad always was always quick with a joke, and he told a few as he guided the car along the dark roadway. Suddenly, he slammed on the brakes. Madison’s seat belt pulled taut against her shoulders. Ahead of them, in the beam of the headlights, Madison could see a figure.

It looked like a man, but it was much larger. A giant almost. Madison looked over at her father. Sweat beaded on his brow. His eyes were wide in terror. Maddie closed her eyes, sure she was imagining things. But when she opened them again, the huge thing was still there, just standing in the middle of the road.

The moon came out from behind a cloud and Madison could see it more clearly. It didn’t seem to have a head of any kind. And there were two gray humps, one on either side. “Daddy?” Madison said, her voice shaking. Her father didn’t answer. He turned and looked at her, his face ghostly white.

Suddenly, two bright red lights seemed to turn on from the top of the creature’s body where its eyes would have been. The lights glowed blood-red, dripping hatred and malice in the darkness. Madison was so terrified that she would do anything to get away. Why didn’t her father just back the car away and get them out of there? She looked over at him. He was frozen with fear, completely unable to move.

Maddie reached across him and pushed hard on the car’s horn. A long honk sounded in the night. As if responding to the honk, the creature turned around quickly. Then the two gray humps unfolded. Now Madison could see what they were. They were wide wings, lined with deep red veins. And they were as wide as the road itself.

But as wide and horrible as they looked, the blood-striped wings weren’t the most terrifying feature of the flying beast. Beneath the wings, hung two claws. On the claws were silver points, flashing in the darkness. The claws were extended in Madison’s direction, as if they threatened to carry her away.

The creature took to the air, its shining talons extended, its giant wings making a deafening flapping sound as it hovered over their car. Then it disappeared into the gray clouds. Madison’s breath caught in her throat. Then a fierce shivering took over her body. She looked over at her dad. The color was returning to his face, but the look of terror remained. It was a look Maddie had never seen before.

Then her dad steeped on the gas with such force that Madison’s body was flung against the seat. Her seat belt dug into her skin as the car zoomed away. It wasn’t until they were safely back in town that Madison’s dad stopped the car.

He gave Maddie a long, sad look. “I didn’t think it would ever come back,” he said, slowly shaking his head.

“Come back? What do you mean, Dad? What was that thing?” asked Madison. Maddie’s dad sighed. “I’m not sure what it is, honey. The old times call it the Mothman and they say it used to be seen around these parts all the time. But the stories were just jokes, used to scare little kids at night, you know.

Madison’s dad stopped suddenly, a faraway look in his eyes. “Have you ever seen it before, Daddy?” Madison asked.

“Once,” he said. “When I was about your age, I was out hunting with my uncle and it swooped down from the sky like some huge, ugly bat. My uncle had his gun at his side and he fire at it twice. I was sure that he hit it, but it didn’t seem to be wounded-like the bullets couldn’t touch it.” He paused for a moment, shaking slightly.

“And then it happened,” he continued. “The thing swooped down and grabbed my uncle in its claws.” His voice asked choked on a sob. Madison could see his eyes filling with tears. “It carried him off, just a little ways, and then it dropped him. I can still hear him screaming as he fell to the ground and then rolled over the edge of a cliff.

“Did he . . . “

“Die?” Maddie’s father finished for her. “Yes, he did. And I never told a soul how it happened. I didn’t think anyone would believe me. So I said he lost his balance and fell off the cliff. I told the story that way so many times, I began to believe it. I began to think that the Mothman was some crazy dream or a hallucination. Until tonight. Now I know the truth. The Mothman is real.”

Madison shook her head as she listened to her father’s story. Now she knew the truth, too. And she also knew something else. She and her father had been lucky. They had survived their encounter with the horrible Mothman. She shuddered as she thought about how easily they could have become the Mothman’s next victims.