True Horror Story: "Was It the Mothman or a Demon?" (Bonus)

A late‑night visit in Mothman country leads to an encounter that blurs the line between folklore and fear. "Was It the Mothman or a Demon?" was submitted by Ramona Wooten in November, 2006. This segment first appeared on Episode 71 of the Castle of Spirits True Ghost Stories podcast, "Paranormal Pareidolia," on May 8, 2025.

Music:
“Dark Depression” Ashot-Danielyan-Composer (pixabay.com/users/27049680)

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Transcript

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You're listening to a bonus episode of the Castle of Spirits True Ghost Stories podcast, where we bring you some of our favorite real life paranormal stories as told by the people who experienced them. The following is based on a true story submitted by Ramona Wooten from West Virginia in November of 2006. This is called Was It the Mothman or a Demon? It's a warm summer night in 1989, in a quiet corner of West Virginia, where Ramona Wooten's life is quietly interrupted by something unexpected. Her husband is out on a coon hunt, leaving her alone on the property. The kind of isolation that gives you space to think, but also lets your mind wander in ways that it might not otherwise. This evening, Ramona decides to drive over to her sister-in-law's house. The land is close, just a short drive through the night, but it feels right to make the journey. Ramona and her sister-in-law sit, talking late into the night, but then in the kind of casual way that we talk about spooky things when we're trying not to be afraid, her sister-in-law mentions something that chills Ramona to the core. She had been playing with a Ouija board, and it had given her a message. The board said that she would die at exactly 1 o'clock AM by axe. It didn't explain more than that, but the message was frighteningly clear. Ramona didn't know whether to laugh or shiver. Ouija boards, they're a part of a tradition of stories, ghost stories, the kinds that we half believe but never quite admit to. Still, when it's your turn to face the darkness, the lines between what's real and what's imagined can blur. By the time Ramona heads home, it's late. Too late to be out alone. So she asks her nephew to come back with her. He's twelve, young enough to believe in everything, but old enough to know when something feels wrong. At her house, the two of them settle in on the couch. Ramona's done this before. She sleeps on the couch when her husband's gone, partly out of habit, partly because when she lies in her bed, she hears footsteps in the hallway. If she sleeps on the couch though, the footsteps stay on the porch. It's a little safer that way, or at least she hopes. And then she falls asleep. Or so she thinks. What happens next is the kind of thing you don't forget. Her nephew wakes her up very suddenly. Panic in his voice. He tells her he heard something outside, the sound of footsteps. Ramona's mind races. She's used to these noises, to the footsteps, but this is different. This is new. This is something she doesn't understand. Then her nephew tells her to look at the door. There, in the narrow glass window of the back door, a pair of blood red eyes stare in. Ramona's frozen. She says nothing. She hopes in that quiet, desperate way, that it's a trick of the light. But the longer she looks, the more it feels real. The eyes don't blink. They just stare. The two of them don't speak. Instead, they decide to draw what they see. No words, just pens moving over paper. When they're done, they compare their drawings, and the images are identical. A gray, wrinkled face, no nose, no mouth, just layers of skin, and those eyes, red, almost glowing, as if they've seen something that we can't begin to understand. It's then that fear really settles in. They're not imagining this. Whatever it is, it's real. Ramona wants to just call it off to say it's a bad dream. But the thing at the window doesn't move, doesn't back off. In fact, it cocks its head to one side, almost like it knows exactly what she's thinking. In a split second, her nephew reaches for the door. He wants to go home and check on his mom. He's worried, after all, about the Ouija board's warning. But Ramona stops him. No, she tells him, if you touch that doorknob, I'll kill you. It's not the kind of thing you say lightly, but she means it. Whatever is outside, it's not something she's willing to let in. Not tonight. She grabs her husband's twenty two pistol just in case. The night drags on. The red eyes never leave. They don't blink, they don't look away, they just watch. By dawn, the face is gone, faded, vanished like it was never there. Ramona Wooten doesn't know what it was. Was it the Mothman, a creature of West Virginia folklore? Or something else, something darker? She still doesn't have the answers. And after that night, she moved away, tried to leave the past behind. But even now, from time to time, she hears the footsteps, not on the porch anymore, but inside her head. And she wonders, was it ever really gone? In the quiet of her new home, far from the land that once held her fears, she still asks, What was it that she saw that night? And more importantly, what did it want? Ramona Wooten's story is one of many in the mysterious and sometimes unnerving folklore of West Virginia. But for her, it's a truth she'll never forget. Thanks for listening to this bonus episode of the Castle of Spirits and the True Ghost Stories podcast. Don't forget to check out our full-length episodes appearing weekly on all major podcast platforms, as well as on our YouTube channel. Visit Castle of Spirits.com if you want to learn more.