The Ohio River runs northeast from Pittsburgh to Ohio, more or less, then veers south-ish for 200 miles or so, as it defines the Ohio-West Virginia border. Then it turns northward; the river here separates Ohio from Kentucky. Beyond that, I have no idea — I guess it continues on to the Mississippi (I’ve never driven that far, so I really can’t say).
Point Pleasant, West Virginia is situated on the river, about 250 miles southwest of Pittsburgh. It was here on December 15, 1967 that the Silver Bridge collapsed under the weight of rush hour traffic, killing 46 people. The bridge hadn’t been designed to carry the 75 vehicles that it held at the time of the crash.
Compared to that tragedy, Pittsburgh got off quite lucky. Ten injuries were reported when the bridge crossing Fern Hollow collapsed early this morning on Forbes Avenue in Regent Square. This is a major artery, and anyone living in the area has probably crossed this bridge hundreds, if not thousands, of times.
President Joe Biden happened to be visiting Pittsburgh this morning to promote the Democrats’ infrastructure legislation. I would’ve hoped that Alex Jones or some conspiracy theorists on Rumble would’ve called the incident a “false flag attack,” but unfortunately none have as of yet. But when I sat down to write this, another possibility struck me: What if this is the work of the Mothman?
The Mothman is a piece of West Virginia folklore dating back five decades. Beginning in 1966, multiple people have reported seeing a large, humanoid creature with wings and glowing red eyes in and around Point Pleasant. When the Silver Bridge collapsed a few years later, the Mothman was accused of causing the tragedy — even though inspectors later determined that it was a 2.5-millimeters deep crack in an eye-bar that did the trick.
In the case of today’s incident, a picture of the bridge in question — snapped in 2018 — has been making the rounds of social media. Hard to say what it means, exactly, but it doesn’t look good:
So, what brought down the Fern Hollow Bridge? Personally, I’m inclined to believe that Joe Manchin, working with Mothman, concocted this false flag attack on the morning of the President’s visit to the City of Bridges. The other option — that the infrastructure around us is crumbling, and one of the dozen bridges I take every week could collapse any day — is more than I can deal with right now.
This week on Failed State Update
The big story this week has been my coverage of a sovereign citizen group called the American National Union (or the National Assembly, or Temple of the Reign of the Heavens society — it has many names). Sovereign citizens, as you’re perhaps aware, are a type of conspiracy theorist that believes the laws of the United States don’t apply to them. Late last year, they began feuding with a group called The Satanic Temple, a story that I covered in Failed State Update:
Sovereign citizens declare war on The Satanic Temple: Inside Temple of the Reign of the Heavens, the far-right group that put a $100,000 bounty on Satanist Lucien Greaves and GoDaddy CEO Aman Bhutani (January 20)
The sovereigns didn’t like my coverage of them — or my referring to them as “right-wing” — so they put me on blast:
Failed State Update publisher charged with attempted murder: Sovereign citizens escalate war on Satanists; targets include Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift and Joseph L. Flatley (January 25)
Last I heard, the sovereigns emailed me to tell me to "get a lawyer.” I’ll let you know how that goes.
More stories from this week:
Havana Syndrome Report: CIA finds no evidence of commie death rays (January 28)
Spencer Sunshine on Oath Keepers, militias, and left-antisemitism: Can we all just agree that no one wants racists in their social movement? (January 27)
How antisemitic conspiracy theories contributed to the recent hostage-taking at the Texas synagogue: Conspiracy theories provide a simple explanation for bewildering social changes that people find hard to explain and confront by Jonathan D. Sarna at The Conversation (January 26)
The Boston Marathon Bombing 'truth' movement: Crisis actors in the Hub (January 24)
It's Taxes or Pitchforks: An open letter signed by millionaires and billionaires calls for economic reform in a bid to avoid the guillotine by Jake Johnson at Common Dreams (January 21)
Pittsburgh's used conspiracy theory salesman: How Ben Davidson turned impending doom into a YouTube empire (January 18)
Next week on Failed State Update
Next week, I’m afraid Failed State Update is going to be a little light; I need to concentrate on my side gig writing podcast scripts to pay the rent. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Won’t you consider a paid, yearly subscription to this newsletter? For just $75 a year you can help this writer keep the lights on.