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The Box of Oddities

Mothman Wasn’t Alone

The Box of Oddities

John Elliott and Kat Walls

Society & Culture, True Crime, Comedy

4.83K Ratings

🗓️ 23 February 2026

⏱️ 29 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This episode of The Box of Oddities drifts from quiet museum news into deeply unsettling territory, beginning with an update on the International Cryptozoology Museum and sliding straight into one of America’s most enduring paranormal mysteries. In Point Pleasant, West Virginia—forever linked to the legend of Mothman—the hosts revisit the famous sightings that turned a small river town into ground zero for strange phenomena in the 1960s. But this time, the story doesn’t stop with glowing red eyes and winged silhouettes. Digging through old police blotters uncovers something far quieter and, in some ways, far more disturbing: decades of reports describing the same unidentified man walking the streets at night. Long before and during the height of the Mothman flap, officers documented encounters with a figure who never aged, never spoke, and never quite seemed human. The overlap raises uncomfortable questions about observation, surveillance, and whether Point Pleasant was being watched—by something else—long before the town knew it was strange. From paranormal folklore, the episode pivots sharply into real-world secrecy, exploring espionage during World War I, where ordinary people became invisible spies. In occupied Europe, women used knitting not just as cover, but as a potential method of steganography—encoding military intelligence into stitches, patterns, and yarn, right under the noses of enemy soldiers. These stories blur the line between domestic routine and covert resistance, revealing how underestimated skills became powerful tools of war. Blending cryptids, coded yarn, historical intrigue, and listener-driven discoveries, this episode captures what The Box of Oddities does best: connecting the paranormal with the overlooked corners of history and inviting listener engagement along the way. From Mothman to men who don’t belong, from quiet streets to quiet stitches, this is a journey through mysteries that hide in plain sight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Coming up in this episode of The Box of Oddities, for decades in Point Pleasant. Before and during

0:05.3

mothman sightings, police reports describe the same man, wearing a black suit, dark glasses,

0:11.6

and he never seemed to age. And later, the most dangerous knitting circle in history,

0:17.6

quiet terror, professionally delivered. Next.

0:22.6

When Johann Rawl received the letter on Christmas Day 1776, he put it away to read later.

0:28.7

Maybe he thought it was a season's greeting and wanted to save it for the fireside.

0:32.3

But what it actually was, was a warning, delivered to the Hessian colonel, letting him know that

0:36.9

General George Washington

0:38.4

was crossing the Delaware and would soon attack his forces.

0:42.9

The next day, when Raw lost the Battle of Trenton and died from two colonial Boxing Day

0:48.2

musket balls, the letter was found, unopened in his vest pocket.

0:53.2

As someone with 15,000 unread emails in his inbox,

0:56.3

I feel like there's a lesson there.

0:58.8

Oh well, this is the Constant, a history of getting things wrong.

1:02.2

I'm Mark Chrysler.

1:03.3

Every episode, we look at the bad ideas, mistakes, and accidents that misshaped our world.

1:08.4

Find us at Constantpodcast.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

1:16.6

Have you ever wondered who the Mary was from Bloody Mary? If the Lochness monster was real, or if Ouija boards actually worked?

1:31.0

On each episode of the family-friendly unspookable, we look at the histories and mysteries

1:36.5

behind your favorite scary stories, myths, and urban legends to get the real stories behind

1:42.7

the scares. Want to solve your next mystery? Find and

1:46.8

follow unspookable now wherever you get your podcasts.

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