Mothman Festival draws record-breaking crowd in 2025

POINT PLEASANT, W.Va. (WBOY) — The annual festival celebrating West Virginia’s most famous cryptid welcomed visitors from as far away at the United Kingdom over the weekend.

Mothman Festival takes place the third weekend in September every year, and according to festival organizers, this was the biggest year yet. Located in Point Pleasant where the 10-foot black winged creature was most famously seen according to legend, the festivals draws thousands of people every year. And with great weather, 2025 was no different and set attendance records with the largest crowd since the festival began in 2002.

“Weather was great, the people were great, and we couldn’t have asked for more,” the festival said in its official Facebook page.

The page said that people from all over the world attended this year’s festival, including some from as far away as the U.K.

Although the original sighting of Mothman in Point Pleasant on Dec. 15, 1967 was marked by tragedy when the collapse of the Silver Bridge between Point Pleasant and Gallipolis, Ohio killed 46 people, Mothman has become a positive figure in West Virginia cryptid culture and is often seen as a symbol that warns of tragedy rather than creates it.

In Point Pleasant, he is celebrated with a statue, museum, artwork and the annual festival.