Motel Cryptids

Here, I imagine the Billy Motel in Davis, West Virginia as a strange little gathering place for some of the state’s most iconic monsters, spirits, and local legends.

 

Mothman perches on top, bringing in the eerie mystery of Point Pleasant; the Flatwoods Monster adds a sci-fi sense of wonder with its strange, alien shape; and the Ogua, a giant turtle-like creature from the Monongehala river, brings in a bit of natural life, peeking around the corner. A ghostly girl from the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum adds a more human kind of haunting, connecting the piece to West Virginia’s many ghost stories and abandoned places.

 

When I was younger, I often stayed at the Billy Motel during cross country ski trips to White Grass. I had a very overactive imagination (which I have maintained), and this piece brings that imagination to life, turning the motel into a playful but spooky celebration of Appalachian folklore and the strange magic of West Virginia.