'The Biography Channel' Targets Mothman Mystery

POINT PLEASANT, W.Va. - Cameras are in Point Pleasant again to film about that popular red-eyed creature, Mothman.

The Biography Channel, a channel associated with A&E, began filming Wednesday for a new paranormal series that will feature the Mothman documentary as its pilot episode.

Filming will continue throughout the week, and on Saturday, starting in the late morning and continuing through much of the day, Main Street will be shut down. The crew intends to take the present Main Street back in time to 1966 while they film re-enactment scenes.

The street will be lined with vintage cars, and extras will be sporting clothing from the 1960s. Visitors are welcome to watch the filming as long as they do not interfere with the crew and cameras. Visitors also are asked to keep their distance as they watch and move all present-day cars off the street in order to fully transform Main Street to 1966.

Dave Porfiri, series producer, said they chose Mothman for their pilot episode because of its interesting and mysterious story.

“The Mothman is really intriguing to us. It is such a compelling story, especially when you talk face to face with the eye witnesses ... when you put a face with it, it has more of an impact, and that is what we are doing,” Porfiri said. “We are really glad we came here first.”

Porfiri is not new to paranormal documentaries - he has done a tremendous amount of work in dealing with paranormal subjects as well as ghosts.

“I find (paranormal subjects) endlessly fascinating,” he remarked.

In addition, he has done many other documentary television production in travel and historically-based pieces. Aside from the Biography Channel, Porfiri has worked with The Discovery Channel and National Geographic, to name a few.

Porfiri said he was excited for the new, currently unnamed paranormal series, and for the pilot episode, he is trying to make the Mothman legend come alive with a series of re-enactments and discussions with eyewitnesses.

In addition to the Main Street scene Saturday, the crew intends to turn Convention and Visitors Bureau chairman Denny Bellamy's backyard into a 1966 party, which will be a re-enactment of Dottie Campbell's UFO sighting on her street. The party extras also will be decked out in 1960s clothing in order to achieve the full effect of the time period.

Other re-enactments include the car chase that Tom Ury experienced in November 1966. Porfiri said they will be using vintage cars for the scene and will be filming in almost the exact location where Ury was chased, which was right outside the TNT area. A re-enactment of Faye Dewitt's experience, as well as Linda Scarberry's, also are in production plans.

Porfiri mentioned that the majority of actors and extras being used for re-enactment scenes were chosen from a casting call at the Ariel Theatre in Gallipolis.

“We had a great turnout at the casting call, and everyone that showed up was chosen to be an actor or an extra,” he added.

The Biography Channel crew plans to interview other eyewitnesses, such as Dewitt, in addition to Ury and Campbell.

The new series is expected to air in 2008, and in addition to the Mothman episode, Porfiri said the crew plans to do documentaries on other paranormal subjects, such as Bigfoot, UFOs and the Bermuda Triangle. The crew also might return to the area at a later time to film if the show ends up having a host, in which case additional filming with the host will be done.

Biography Channel Mothman
Biography Channel Mothman