It only took five seasons, but it looks like Riverdale is finally venturing into the realm of the supernatural. At least, that's what the Feb. 24 episode is leading viewers to believe. While simultaneous mysteries are beginning to unfold now that Season 5 is hitting its stride, the most unexpected one involves aliens and the strange ramblings of an old man. So uh... what is The Mothman on Riverdale? Jughead's newest enigma might play a role in the bigger picture of the show.
Spoiler alert: This post contains spoilers for Riverdale Season 5, Episode 6, "Back to School." Archie, Betty, Jughead, and Veronica are finally back at Riverdale High, but this time as teachers. While Veronica is busy battling with her husband Chadwick and Barchie is busy hooking up, Jughead is balancing his new teaching gig as well as writing a book and working at Pop's.
It was during one of his shifts at the diner that he told Tabitha Tate (the new owner of Pop's), about his book centered on Riverdale. After giving him an interview, Tabitha told Jughead she secured his next subject: "Old Man Dreyfus." According to her, Dreyfus lives at and runs a junkyard on The Lonely Highway and had a ~wild~ story about "The Mothman." And uhhhh, wild doesn't even cover it.
After Jughead got Dreyfus' address from Tabitha, he headed out to the dark and creepy Lonely Highway (yup, the same highway Polly went missing on). Once there, Dreyfus told him about a strange occurrence that happened "30 or 40 years ago." Basically, while digging out a deserted mine off the Lonely Highway, one of the men on his crew, Ramos, mysteriously went missing. The crew went to sleep, woke up the next morning, and Ramos was gone. Poof! But then the next morning, Ramos was back and a different guy was missing.
So, what happened? According to Dreyfus, Ramos told him "some Mothman had taken them up in their ship" and basically swapped Ramos out for Raymond. When Raymond came back the day after he disappeared, he said the same thing and a different guy went missing. While at first Dreyfus didn't believe the stories, after it kept happening, he changed his tune. So much so that when Jughead asked why he was still hanging around the area, Dreyfus said it was because he wanted to go up in the ship too.
As for what The Mothman actually is, Dreyfus said, "Aliens, angels, mothmen — call 'em whatever you like. They live in the woods off the caves off The Lonely Highway." And while Jughead said he had never heard of them before, Dreyfus told him to ask around. It turns out, the Mothman pops up time and time again in American folklore and all of the stories are pretty sinister. Could The Mothman be behind the creepy truck driving along the road, too? TBD, but it all seems pretty sus if you ask me.
It's a good thing Betty is part of the FBI, because between The Mothman, The Killer Truck, and The Trash Bag Killer, Riverdale is definitely not the place to be rn. Find out if the Core Four makes it out with their friendships — and their lives — intact as new episodes of Riverdale air Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on The CW.
