Missing persons

I have an envelope of smiling faces I don’t know. I have a locket with a stranger inside. I have a lost child in my cedar chest.

My mom and my Aunt Judy gave me an envelope of photos that belonged to my Ma-Maw Lipscomb that have no IDs. I have no idea who they are, but I can’t throw them away. One of my most prized possessions is my Ma-Maw’s locket. I think it belonged to her mother, and inside is a woman’s image. My great-great-grandmother? I don’t know. In my cedar chest, I have a framed photo of a nameless child who grew up to be one of my ancestors. I think we all have these mysterious missing persons in our families.

One of the saddest sights in an antique store is the box of cold case files. You know the one. It’s on a dark and dusty shelf and contains hundreds of photos, memories on sale to whoever wants them. How would you like it if your great-great-great-granddad’s face ended up on the walls of a Cracker Barrel?

I can’t urge you enough to write names on the backs of your photos and to organize and name digital photos so that others know whose image they see. Make scans of old photos and share them with your relatives and friends. Don’t let a lifetime of memories disappear through an accidental delete. Don’t create more missing persons! (I promise less of a rant next post. :) )

Mothman!

OK, so I’m Mothman fan. I’m wearing my orange Mothman T-shirt as I type this, and I have a stuffed animal Mothman on my desk at work. Yes, I’ve been to the Mothman Festival and hope to return this year. Ghosts and monsters are part of West Virginia’s Appalachian heritage. How cool is that?

If all you know about the Mothman is what you saw (or didn’t see) in the 2002 movie starring Richard Gere, you haven’t heard the entire story. The facts are far more chilling than fiction. No matter what you believe, residents of Point Pleasant, W.Va., saw some kind of winged creature in 1966 and 1967. (Of course, some say it was a sandhill crane.)

If you want to hear some details that will make you question what goes bump in the night, check out the book “Mothman: The Facts Behind the Legend” by Jeff Wamsley and Donnie Sergent, Jr. The pair grew up surrounded by the contemporary supernatural legend and wanted to set the record straight through a documentary-style account. Their book features police reports, newspaper articles and an interview with Linda Scarberry, one of the first eyewitnesses. (John Keel’s “The Mothman Prophecies” is worth reading, but I find it disjointed and hard to follow in places. I guess you'll have that when writing about transdimensional creatures.)

I definitely recommend a visit to the Mothman Festival on Sept. 19 and 20, 2009. There is a Mothman Museum and you can take a night-time hay ride tour of the TNT Area, the location of the original sighting. You can support the Mothman through your purchase of merchandise. Also, you can hear from some interesting folks talking about ghosts and other paranormal critters. It’s a fun time. I hope to see you there. Beware the men in black.

For more info, check out www.mothmanlives.com.