Mothman

Mothman is a creature found in Appalachia in 2102. It has a museum dedicated towards its mythology, and was worshiped by the Cult of the Mothman. It can be encountered in a random encounter in which it appears near the player character. If the player character approaches it, it flies off and disappears.

Background
The Cult of the Mothman had performed a ritual to summon the mothman on the day before the Great War. This summoning had apparently worked and the mothman had warned them of an impending flood. As such, the cult members heeded the warning and decided to seek shelter in high elevations, where they undoubtedly perished when the bombs fell. However, in 2082, the raiders of Appalachia destroyed the Summersville Dam, which triggered a massive flood.

Characteristics
It is a man sized moth with multi-celled eyes, large insectoid wings and two large antenna sprouting out of the top of the head. It is skittish and quick to flee in certain encounters.

Biology
The mothman is described as being a "winged beast with piercing red eyes that prey on those in the Point Pleasant area." Its carapace sports a dark and furry texture, and its multifaceted eyes glow various colors; it also possesses a beak like mouth. Its wings are membranous and veined, akin to a real life fly or moth.

On rare occasions, it can simply disappear into thin air, briefly leaving a dark shadow behind.

Gameplay attributes
The mothman has a large detection radius. It has three different eye colors, purple for passive, yellow for caution and red for attacking. In combat mothmen attack via sonic attack, producing a sound similar to deaths-head hawkmoths. They fly up and disappear, often landing in a new location to confuse opponents.

Wise mothman
The wise mothman can be seen after completing The Path to Enlightenment at the lighthouse where the player character needs to collect bioluminescent fluid from a firefly. If the event is completed, the wise mothman will appear and give the player character a 5% experience points boost for the next hour if interacted with. The wise mothman can be distinguished by its purple eyes instead of the normal red eyes.

Vengeful mothman
This version of the mothman can be encountered by doing the mission Queen of the Hunt.

Scorched mothman
The scorched mothman is a mothman that is infected with the Scorched Plague. There are chances to see it, but they are usually spotted during the Scorched Earth event at Fissure site Prime when a player character drops a nuclear bomb at the site.

Appearances
The mothman appears only in Fallout 76.

Behind the scenes
In West Virginia folklore, the Mothman is a creature reportedly seen in the Point Pleasant area from November 12, 1966, to December 15, 1967. The first newspaper report was published in the Point Pleasant Register dated November 16, 1966, titled "Couples See Man-Sized Bird ... Creature ... Something." The national press soon picked up the reports and helped spread the story across the United States. The sightings were also closely followed by other paranormal encounters in the region, including many reports of UFOs and Men in Black. On December 15th, the Silver Bridge spanning the Ohio River in Point Pleasant collapsed, resulting in the deaths of 46 people. Many have tied this event back to the Mothman itself, as following the tragedy, sightings of the Mothman and other related phenomena ceased in the area.