“It was Christmas time. It was supposed to be a time of happiness, but we had funerals in town. We couldn’t put off the funerals until after Christmas. They said later, they found a hairline crack in an eyebolt, and once one part went down, the whole bridge went down.” – from the book Bridging The Tragedy by Bill & Jaci Kousoulas

When the Silver Bridge collapsed on December 15, 1967, the tragedy touched the lives of everyone in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. In the months leading up to the disaster, hundreds of people in the Ohio River Valley reported UFO sightings, psychic events, poltergeist activity, Men in Black and encounters with a flying humanoid that became known as Mothman. What happens to a community that undergoes this kind of trauma? Bill & Jaci Kousoulas decided to find out.

Richard was fortunate enough to meet Bill & Jaci at the 2025 Mothman Festival in Point Pleasant. In this interview, Richard talks with them about their initial interest in the case (sparked by the movie The Mothman Prophecies), their paranormal investigations, the concept of “Post Traumatic Growth”, and the people they met in Point Pleasant – many of them first-hand witnesses to the bridge collapse and the Mothman himself – all of which led to the publication of their book Bridging the Tragedy -- Silver Linings In The Mysterious Ohio River Valley.

LINKS:

Buy Bill & Jaci’s book “Bridging the Tragedy” here https://www.amazon.com/Bridging-Tragedy-Silver-Linings-Mysterious/dp/B0CGKK5KTC/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2UISTYHW9O71R&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.JGFkN_m1TGe7bsB-M4g1NV0X-SsmyxkAfqfydVAkI4z6qQIdI1EhVVj1HxqXLrXm.elAVktCytqkj6YX87VPcYvE9F4C_LnqmyBHd4r6AhBI&dib_tag=se&keywords=bridging+the+tragedy&qid=1769029017&s=books&sprefix=bridging+the+tragedy%2Cstripbooks%2C168&sr=1-1