The Mothman Mystery

The Miskatonic gang looks for a missing person while waiting for their motorhome to be repaired.

[ Recording of game session (YouTube)]

Summary

(Spoiler alert: this summary reveals plot details of the Chaosium adventure, The Madman.)

While travelling through the Rocky Mountains in their motorhome, the Miskatonic gang experiences an earthquake. The motorhome's undercarriage is damaged, and they have to stop in the small town of Wallace, Idaho (population 2,206) for repairs.

While in town, they learn that there have been sightings of the Mothman, a creature whose appearance presaged the destruction of the Silver Bridge, a suspension bridge connecting Point Pleasant, West Virginia and Gallipolis, Ohio.

On December 15, 1967, the Silver Bridge, a suspension bridge connecting Point Pleasant, West Virginia and Gallipolis, Ohio, collapsed killing 46 people. Spanning the Ohio River, this eyebar-chain bridge, built in 1928, met its fate during rush hour as people were returning home from work and families were going into town to begin their Christmas shopping. What caused this well-traveled bridge to collapse wasn't a mystery; a defect in one of the eye-bar links caused a crack to form which led to the catastrophe. The real mystery was the appearance of a strange visitor sighted several times by the citizens of Point Pleasant during the months leading up to the tragedy. This strange visitor was known as the Mothman.

-- from The Real Story Of The Mothman, by David Ian McKendry

Some townsfolk think the appearance of the Mothman is a portent of a catastrophe (earthquakes have been more common in the past year than anyone can remember), while others think it might be related to the disaster at the Sunshine Mine the year before. In May of 1972, a fire broke out in the Sunshine Mine. 91 workers died from smoke inhalation or carbon monoxide poisoning. It was the worst disaster in Idaho's history, and one of the worst mining disasters in American history. As of the Miskatonic gang's visit to Wallace, the mine has only recently re-opened.

While at a diner, the Miskatonic gang meets a pair of moonshiners, Haff Jurgle and Tenny Mope, who claim to have seen the Mothman. Mope did not get a good look at the creature, but Jurgle claims to have shot at it. Since then, he has been plagued with nightmares. He has tried to draw the creature, but everything he draws looks "wrong" to him -- as if something about the creature is impossible to draw correctly. He gives his sketches [1][2] to the Miskatonic gang, vowing not to think about the damned thing any more, then has what appears to be an epileptic fit.

People

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  Cumbley Gritness, editor of the Tattler
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  Haff Jurgle, moonshiner
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  Nataliia Kakhidze
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  Tenny Mope, moonshiner
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  Elsie Poletto, stringer for the Tattler
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  Booger Rheems, handyman
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  Bellista Widefeed