But Kittenz’s description of a Great horned owl filling a 12X12 kitchen would be as much an unknown animal as Bighoot (which may have been the “WooWoo” creature heard on the wing by Ivan Sanderson in New Jersey on one occasion, but not seen). As to its biological identity–we can probably be fairly sure it was SOME kind of an owl going on all that–but we cannot say more until we know more about its markings and coloration. It does NOT appear to be a “Horned” owl but a very large round-headed owl of some type. The coloration of gray and white is probably significant. The size of the eyes is sometimes exaggerated in reports, but the red eyeglow is quite significant indeed.

And along with disputing the descriptions of its imagined manlike arms and other details added on, I would also dispute the given height estimates. A recent posting on Chad Arment’s blog quoted a ranger to the effect that “When we get these reports, we always cut the reported dimensions in half.” I find no problem with the idea it might be 3 and 1/2 to 4 feet tall rather than the reports of 7 feet tall or more: people often judge cryptids to be “man-sized” at a distance and thus exaggerate somewhat. A wingspan of ten feet I would put at an approximately-estimated maximum value, the average size being something well below that. I hypothesize that it is about the size of a big eagle, but not usually much bigger. And it would not be a usual resident of West Virginia, whatever it was: it was something out-of-place there when it was noticed.

If you land on the other side and mothman is “not of this world” then mothman is whatever your imagination can conjure. At this end all rational scientific inquiry ends and the matter becomes one of theological speculation and unanswerable mystery.

Other large owls do occur here as well, especially barn owls, and the very occasional snowy owl strays in. There are some owls in other parts of the world that are even larger than Great Horned Owls. Possibly one of those could have strayed or been released into the area. I doubt that though.

Also, large, man-(and woman-) shaped, straight-winged, flapless beasties of many types have been reported frequently, including Biblical Angels, the Jersey Devil and, more recently, the smaller Chupacabras.

Many animals can be unidentifiable under the right/wrong conditions, especially, as pointed out above, with the passage of time and the flexibility of imagination.

I remember years and years ago, my dad was coonhunting in Kentucky and he caught a horned owl that was wounded in the wing. Somewhere there is a photo of that huge bird stretched out between my dad and my uncle. It had an almost human-sized head (allowing for the fluffed-out feathers), huge round reddish-orange eyes, and its wings stretched almost all the way across our 12 ft by 12 ft kitchen (one man holding a wing on either side). Its legs looked stocky too, from the fluffy feathers like baggy pajama bottoms. We kept it in the smokehouse and fed it catfood and hamburger until its wing healed and it could be released.

I think that a surprised person, coming suddenly upon a Great Horned Owl, maybe sitting on a branch with its head close to human-eye level, could remember seeing something very like a Mothman.