10 REAL Mysteries That Would Make Great Doctor Who Episodes

On 15 November 1966, Roger and Linda Scarberry reported seeing a "slender, muscular man", about seven feet tall and with glowing red eyes, who was standing by the site of a disused World War II munitions plant in Point Pleasant, West Virginia.

Soon, other people were also reporting sightings of a man-sized bird creature with glowing red eyes. The creature was dubbed the Mothman by the local press, and was later popularised beyond West Virginia by John Keel's 1975 book The Mothman Prophecies, which was subsequently adapted as a movie starring Richard Gere in 2002.

So what was this mysterious creature? A supernatural being? An alien from another planet? An omen, warning of the Point Pleasant Silver Bridge collapse a year later, an incident which claimed the lives of 46 people? Or just a really big heron?

It's fertile ground for a Doctor Who story, one that could perhaps begin during World War II, with the Doctor and their companions discovering that the munitions plant is harbouring a terrifying secret. Maybe the Mothman was the result of some experiments to create a supersoldier, or a fugitive escaping from an alien spacecraft that was downed during the war.

Or maybe the TARDIS lands in Point Pleasant at the height of the Mothman sightings and the Doctor decides to investigate, only to discover a misunderstood and lost alien creature that actually means no harm.