Bonny Rushbrook: Family reunites at Mothman Festival in Point Pleasant

August and September seem to be a good time for family reunions, and my family is no different from the others out there. Any excuse to get together.

We had our second annual Rushbrook Reunion on Sunday, Sept. 21. OK, I admit we weren't drawing Rushbrooks from everywhere. For one thing, Rushbrooks aren't everywhere. How many can you name?

Anyway, our meeting place was certainly not your usual everyday reunion spot. No Hawaiian getaway or even a local state park. No, we made our second pilgrimage to one of our favorite places -- Point Pleasant. Yes, yes, The Mothman Festival. We went last year and had such a good time, we decided to make it a regular occurrence.

As was the usual case, we were victims of our own circumstances. No one really planned it. For some of us, this is an unfortunate part of the Rushbrook DNA . OK, maybe not just Rushbrook DNA. Yet, somehow we always manage to pull it together. I consider this a great personal talent. However, this year was no different. I warned them the Festival would be on Sept. 20 and 21. Our oldest son said he didn't know if he could make it. The ones in Pittsburgh could not drive south because one of them had to work. In addition, the oldest had already planned an overnight trip to Ohio. That would leave me, the King and the one daughter still home and thus forced to take part in our yearly alien excursion to munch on Mothman pancakes and other cholesterol-filled festival food.

However, one called from Pennsylvania early Saturday morning to say if we would wait until Sunday, they could leave as soon as they got off work on Saturday evening. We quickly agreed. The one in Ohio would be home by then also, and if we could get the one in Huntington, well -- it would be a real reunion.

It is times like these that make me glad we still have the Explorer with the extra back seat. It was just like old times in the minivan. I think someone even yelled, "I get the big seat!" We piled into the car, cameras ready. We got to the festival, and contacted the son from Huntington who was on his way. However, before he had gotten very far, he was called out to work. Maybe next year.

Going on Sunday is not quite the same as going on Saturday. The Mothman pancakes were only available on Saturday, the band Mothman was only appearing on Saturday, and the hayrides were only available on Saturday. Even the power lifting tournament was on Saturday.

I wasn't disappointed, however. Sunday also turned out to be pretty good. One could still see the "Men in Black," the "Ghostbusters," and the great Mothman himself walking around being friendly. As I have said before about the big bird, "He was raised right." And, hey, it isn't about the pancakes -- it's about walking around on a sunny afternoon in September and seeing the odd mix of people who show up for this, West Virginia's strangest festival.

When we first got there, we went down to the riverfront and sat on picnic tables to eat. Actually, it wouldn't matter if it were Mothman or the Pumpkin Festival. My family mostly goes to eat. They love festival food. While some of our party got the tacos in a bag, others munched on hotdogs and fries. No one complained. While they ate, I took pictures and talked to people who were participating in the event.

This is another good reason to go to this festival in particular. While some festivals are nice to go to and enjoy the day, this one is fun because of the people you meet. They know they are doing something different and they like what they do. It gives going to work for them a whole different meaning.

For instance, it would not be the Mothman festival without the Ghostbusters. They are actually two great guys. They are Matt Burnett, 23 and Ronald Cain, 22. Both are from Point Pleasant. According to Burnett, they were asked by Jeff Wamsley who is the festival director, if they would fill in for the real guys. The two Foodland employees were glad to have a couple of days to walk around in strange outfits and pretend for a while that being a Ghostbuster was their real job. Plenty of time to rejoin the real world later. The guys were really on the job. I did not see one ghost the whole day.

Looking down, I noticed a guy was talking about Weird Ohio. Is that redundant or what? Anyway, we know that West Virginia is more weird than Ohio and much scarier, which sort of makes Ohio a poser.

Anyway, James Willis, author of "Weird Ohio" talked about urban legends and how the same ghost story will appear in different areas of the country, but with a few changes. He said sometimes the story backfires. He once took friends out to an isolated hollow road to investigate the "blinking car lights and a ghost boy on a bike will appear" story. You blink your lights three times. You will see a boy on a bike coming up behind you (think ghost) .You have to start your car before the bike reaches you or you will die.

First of all, I would have stayed off the hollow road. Being a big chicken, I would have instead, tried this in my driveway at home where I wouldn't have far to go. If I would go out to some hollow, my car would be starting on the third time I flashed the light. Anyway, the author tried it once and low and behold a motorcycle appeared behind him. They were so surprised and frightened, they had a hard time getting their car started. Instead of a ghost boy, it was an old man on a motorcycle. Willis said he figured the old man and his wife got a lot of entertainment out of watching for people like him. He also told how to make little handprints appear on a car as if some ghostly children had been around. I won't tell you here. You should read his book. His talk was fun.

People come from all over the country to this festival. Listening to Willis was Nikki and Joe Nozza from Buddlake, New Jersey. With them were their two shelties, Jigen and Goemon. The dogs were dressed a little like Mothman with red eyes and special wings. Nikki said Joe had been interested in the Mothman since he was a kid, and they had been coming to the festival for the last four years.

"My husband saw it (festival) on the Internet and we came down. This is the second year bringing the dogs," she said. She went on to say the dogs had won second place in the special costume contest the year before.

"It's just for fun," Nikki added.

If there were any real ghosts floating around, the real ghost hunters didn't detect any. "Prodigy Paranormal Group," from Dayton, Ohio, has been coming to the Mothman festival for three years according to Spokesperson Alicia Rubin. She said they all have day jobs; however, once their other eight-hour day is over, they investigate private and public places that might or might not be haunted.

"We do a lot of pre-investigations to see if there are any historical aspects -- anything to help validate the haunting that is occurring," she said.

They then take equipment such as night vision and infrared cameras, audio recorders, and thermometers when they go to investigate a possible haunting. In addition, they try to detect if magnetic or radioactive energy is present, which might indicate the presence of a ghost.

How does one get to be a ghostbuster? She said all of them had experienced situations that were unexplainable, and they had wondered what they had actually seen.

"One person met another person and we formed a group together," Rubin said.

She said they don't really run into a lot of substantial evidence.

"We'll get weird anomalies -- cold spots or instant headaches. Some of it has to be valid, but 90 percent is not," Rubin said and laughed.

She said although they did not find anything at the TNT site, the area still gave them a chill.

"There was nothing paranormal. It's creepy without being paranormal. We did hear something that sounded like a big cat," she added.

Later, I walked up to a lady selling homemade jewelry which was a little suspicious because it looked a little, well, regular. I asked her wasn't her stand a little too normal for the Mothman Festival?

"That's the funniest thing anyone has said to me all day," she said, laughing.

The lady was Point Pleasant resident Lois Kinkaid. The Wahama High School teacher said she had wanted to participate in the festival so she brought her beaded jewelry to sell. On Saturday she did face painting for children.

"I painted Mothman on their faces -- it was something for the kids," she said. Kinkaid was clearly enjoying herself.

"It's been fun -- it gives people a chance to get out and mill around, especially in this weather," she said.

Although I didn't win the Mothman quilt, I had a great time. If you have never been to the festival, plan to go next year. You will enjoy it.

Bonny Rushbrook is a freelance writer and mother of four who lives in Putnam County. She can be reached at scripto@wv-cis.net.