Imagine you’re the mayor of a small seaside town and you need to kick start an ailing economy. One day, you hear that one of your citizens saw a mermaid while playing in the ocean. An ingenious idea pops into your head, one that’ll guarantee droves of visitors. You get the council to offer a one million dollar reward for the first person to capture the strange creature on film.

The seven foot tall, red eyed Mothman was regularly spotted between 1966 and 1967 (then the LSD must’ve run out!).

A fishy tale

It sounds like the plot of a cheesy Hollywood movie. But it’s not. As you read this, the Israeli town of Kiryat Yam is being swamped with people, cameras at the ready, desperate to catch a glimpse of this mythical lady. Whether this is just a great example of creative marketing or a real mystery, Kiryat Yam is not alone in making money from fishy tales.

Bitten by the Mothman bug

Point Pleasant in West Virginia, USA, for example, is said to be home to a Mothman. Described as a seven-foot tall, winged and man-sized creature with large reflective red eyes, the Mothman was first regularly spotted between 1966 and 1967 (then the LSD must’ve run out!). Even today, the town attracts visitors eager to hunt down the big bug. There is even a Mothman museum.

Lean, mean and green

Not be outdone, just down the highway, the good ole’ boys and girls of South Carolina share their state with the Bishopville Lizard Man of Lee County. First spotted in 1988, the predictably green Lizard Man is reportedly seven-foot tall with green scaly skin and red glowing eyes. Sound familiar? The local radio station offered a million dollar reward for its capture, but to no avail. The Lee County Chamber of Commerce does, however, hold an annual Lizard Man 5k run. You don’t have to be green and scaly to
enter.

Cry Wolfman

And if you’ve still not had your fill of animal-man-combo creatures, you can always head to Elkhorn, Wisconsin, home to the Beast of Bray Road. Guess the height of this wolf-like creature that walks like a man? Yes, it’s the obligatory seven feet. There’s no mention of the colour of its eyes, though. If you want to find that out for yourself, you won’t be alone.

Other than the similarities between all these creatures and the publicity they’ve generated, it’s interesting to note that they all seem to appear in small country towns of no more than 7500 people.

The moral of this is clear. If you’re lacking a tourist attraction, there’s monster money to be made from a good story.