Mysterious Questions that Arose From a Blizzard of Moths

I have to stop leaving work late on Fridays and maybe that will reduce the amount of strange things that happen to me on my ride home. Tonight it was the blizzard of moths that made it almost impossible to see out the windshield.

Living in the Hudson Valley means co-existing with many things in nature. A ride home on a summer night could result in encountering all kinds of things including moths. Typical moths will be flying around during a dark ride home and occasionally you catch a glimpse of them in the headlights as they flutter by or bounce off the front of the car.

Tonight on my way home I actually encountered what I can only describe as a blizzard of Hudson Valley moths. Once again on a back road headed towards home, I rounded a curve and boom there they were a cloud of moths. I still can't figure out why they were all gathered there in one spot. It was impossible to drive around them so I drove through them and for a split second I thought I was driving through snow.

Mysterious Question Number 1 - Moth vs Butterfly

After I got clear of the miniature winged herd of fly dust balls I started to think what is the difference between a butterfly and a moth? Turns out it is a bit scientific and mostly about their antennas. Wikipedia does a great job explaining it with lots of species names but the short of it is butterflies have thin antennas and Moths have feathered ones.

Mysterious Question Number 2 - Who is Mothman?

While I was looking up info on Moths I came across the legend of the Mothman. I had forgotten about the movie with Richard Gear. It turns out there was a new story done in 2020 The Mothman Legacy. After watching the trailer I think I will stick with the smaller version of the moth I saw tonight.

Mysterious Question Number 3 - Moth vs Miller

When I was younger I called every flying thing I saw at night bouncing around a light bulb a moth, that was until my Grandpa said those aren't moths their Millers. I never really thought about that too much but I figured I am looking up all this moth info let's check out the Millers. Turns out Millers are a type of moth. From the picture on Wikipedia,  I am going to guess that my Grandpa was calling any moth that was void of color or markings a miller.

One more thing about Moths - Symbolism

Moths have meaning and symbolism in some cultures. The symbolism of a moth according to what I read online from Crystal Clear Intuition is that the moth represents death. It could be the nocturnal thing that is keeping the moth in the dark shadows. However, some Native American tribes believe that the moth carries messages for those close to us that have passed on.

These are the places the Mothman would hang out in the Hudson Valley