Severely spooky book about the UFO phenomenon, written by John Keel. It details an area of West Virginia -- Point Pleasant, New Jersey, to be specific -- which was plagued by weird happenings throughout 1968. Some of the bizarre occurrences included cattle mutilations, over 100 sightings of strange lights in the sky, about 70 sightings of Mothman (a mysterious figure with large wings, red eyes, and a threatening attitude), many encounters with unearthly men in black, telepathic aliens, sinister phone calls (sometimes coming through telephones that have actually been disconnected), and ominous prophecies.
Keel claims that most major UFO flaps are accompanied by a similar air of surrealism and terror -- usually ignored by both the hardened skeptics and the ardent believers -- that affects only residents in the area or determined investigators. He doesn't believe that UFOs come from outer space; he thinks they come from another dimension and were once called elves, goblins, fairies, and demons. He doesn't believe they're nice guys -- he says they like to play with humanity, tell lies, and sometimes kill, just to amuse themselves.
I don't believe in UFOs anymore, and I don't consider this book to be nonfiction. Yes, many of the facts of the Mothman incidents are accurately depicted, or as accurately as you can get with a book like this. I think Keel believed in the Mothman 100%, and believed that it and its controllers were ultraterrestrials from another dimension. Nevertheless, I don't believe most of Keel's conclusions are reliable -- they are what Keel wanted to believe, and there's no actual proof that the Mothman or the sinister Indrid Cold existed, or that they caused the Silver Bridge collapse described in the book. Still, this book is noteworthy and essential reading, because it is one of the most terrifying works of semi-nonfiction ever written.