Mothman Seen in Chicago

by M.P. Pellicer | Stranger Than Fiction Stories
Sightings of Mothman come from all over the world, but it became famous after this portender of doom was seen by several people in Point Pleasant, WV in 1967 before the Silver Bridge collapsed.

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M.P. Pellicer at the memorial to the Silver Bridge Collapse c.2009

Fifty years later it is being seen in Chicago. Could the high amount of homicides that the city has become notorious for be enticing this eerie creature?

For some willing to suspend disbelief, the sightings of Mothman are an ominous sign of a disaster. Others pass these stories off as pure fiction. How could something that looks like a large bat, owl or even a man in a winged suit be real?

Those who have seen it in Chicago describe glowing red eyes, and even more alarming a sense of dread they cannot ignore.

According to The Chicago Tribune, Lon Strickler a paranormal researcher said, "I believe the witnesses are seeing something, because the descriptions don't compare exactly. I think there could be at least two or three different beings." Strickler had his own sighting of Mothman when he was a child living in Pennsylvania. He started to receive reports from the Chicago area since 2011.

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A winged creature has recently been seen in the skies over Chernobyl

In 2017, more than 25 reports were received of a "winged humanoid" over the city of Chicago, many close to Lake Michigan. Drawings made of it, are similar to the Mothman sighted over Point Pleasant in the mid-1960s.

The creature became famous due to the 2002 movie staring Richard Gere and Laura Linney based on the 1975 book, The Mothman Prophecies written by UFO researcher John Keel.

The story describes strange sightings originating with different people living in the Point Pleasant, West Virginia area that culminated in the collapse of the Silver Bridge in 1967, where 46 people lost their lives.

Present day there is a silver-colored statue of Mothman in the town square, and a Mothman Festival is held every September.

Strickler said the sightings in Chicago were the largest cluster seen in the last 50 years. He has recorded 21 Chicago Mothman sightings in 2017 alone, the earliest was on April 7, in Oz Park, when a woman walking her dog described encountering a creature standing in the park.

​She said:

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I saw a large man, probably 7 feet or taller standing on the ground. It was solid black, but what really stood out were the large, and I do mean large pair of wings that were folded behind him. I felt like this thing could see right through me, read me, it knew what I was thinking, like it could stare right into my very soul. It was the most terrified I have ever been in my life. It then spread its wings and flew off.

M.P. Pellicer (doing her best impression of Forrest Gump) in front of the Mothman statue in Point Pleasant . (c.2009)

Many of the sightings happened to occur near water. A fisherman and his son who were at the Little Calumet River in Hegewisch Park, described a black bird as large as a man. He saw this on April 30 at 7:30 p.m. 

On May 5 around 8 p.m., another man walking with his son in Calumet Park described seeing a similar figure. 

The next sighting was reported on June 23, by a group near Adler Planetarium, who saw what they described as a large bat.

According to Strickler, six days later a little before midnight a Chicago police officer on patrol with his partner at 81st and Throop streets in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood, described being flagged down by a "group of people who were pointing up to the top of an apartment building that was on the corner." The man who claimed to be a police officer described a large creature with wings, who flew away when they directed their flashlights at it. The people gathered there said they had seen it flying over the neighborhood for the past two nights.

Strickler checked with the Chicago Police Department database, who did not find any reports describing the incident in their database.

In July, at about 5 p.m. a man smoking a cigarette out at the Willis Tower looked up and saw a large-winged, man-shaped figure near the top of the building. According to Lon Strickler, "As he watched, the being leaped off the building, stretched out its wings, dipped and swooped upwards. It gained altitude as it flapped its wings and headed off in a northern direction."

He also said, "We've looked into everything. People say it moves its head and its legs. It acts like it's living. If it was a suit it would need some kind of jet pack. It's got some propulsion to it. It flaps its wings and accelerates."

Lon Strickler's said regarding the Mothman, "I have long theorized that the Mothman, and other unknown winged beings, are multidimensional lifeforms ... that can be summoned by high-energy incorporeal entities that reside on our Earth plane."

Another report from August 9, 2017 came from a couple taking a nighttime stroll along North Lake Shore Drive. They described the following:

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Then suddenly, the large winged being slowing descended in front of them, no more than 25 feet away. It hovered about 5 feet above the sidewalk, with it's wing spread open, as it peered at the couple with large bright red eyes that slowly altered back and forth in intensity. Several people on the other side of the street, including a delivery van driver, reacted with screams and frightened yelps. The winged being hovered for 10 seconds, then quickly pulled the wings into its body and shot up quickly into the night sky.

Another sighting was reported to Navarette at the UFO Clearinghouse in September 2020. The woman had worked for 17 years for the USPS, 15 of which were at the sorting facility at O'Hare Airport. ​

SEPTEMBER 24, AT 11 PM
I had just left work at the USPS Sorting Facility at O’Hare Airport at about 11:00 pm on Thursday the 24th of September and was walking out to my car when I saw something standing at the far end of the parking [lot] where I usually park . At first I thought it was a very tall person with a long coat. As I got closer to my car, I unlocked my car, which caused my headlights to come on. My headlights hit the person standing about 20 to 25 feet from my car causing it to turn and look right at me.

I saw that this was not some person but some red-eyed [creature], and what appeared to be a coat were actually wings which it spread out as it turned to look at me. At first I thought it was some kind of very, very large bird, but I’ve never seen any bird that stood almost seven feet tall. I’m 5’4" and this thing looked taller than me by at least two feet. This thing then started making some type of chirping sound, almost a half chirp and half click like someone was clicking their tongue but much much faster. It then made some type of screeching sound and took off running toward me, it got to within 10 feet of me and took off into the air and flew above me.
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I was screaming hysterically as I crouched down behind cars open door and I dived into my car head first. I was in a near panic as I tried to start the car, close and lock the doors and turn on my interior lights. I started my car and took off out of the parking lot and flew down the road till I hit the main road. I got home and told my husband who also works at the same facility and he was the one who told me about the sightings of this thing. I was scared shitless and hope I never see this thing again. This thing is roaming around the area, scaring people half to death. I hope the airport people decide to do something about this thing someday.

Lon Strickler reported on another sighting at O'Hare dating to April, 2021. An employee of the Chicago Department of Aviation witnessed a tall, winged figure as she left her job. This is how he described her encounter:

The witness, a long-time employee of the Chicago Department of Aviation, had stayed late to finish work and left her office around 9:00 PM. She had worked on airport grounds for nearly fourteen years in various roles and knew the layout, routines, and sounds of O’Hare better than most. Strange stories were common among airport staff, but nothing prepared her for what she was about to experience.

As she stepped into the parking lot, she heard what sounded like large wings fluttering. At first, she assumed it was one of the many geese that occupied the airport grounds and gave it no thought. Moments later, a piercing screech split the night. It was nothing like a goose. She described it as similar to a train braking but with a disturbing modulation that rose and fell in pitch. She knew it could not be a train because the nearest tracks were miles away.

She continued toward her vehicle when the sound came again, this time from behind her. Turning toward a line of trees near the road, she saw two glowing red eyes staring directly at her. She froze. Her body would not move, and her breathing became labored, as if the air itself had thickened around her. What had been watching her stepped out from the trees, backlit by warehouse lighting across the street.

The figure was tall, thin, and black, towering an estimated seven to eight feet. As she stared, a large truck approached on the road. The moment its headlights hit the area, the creature unfurled massive wings and launched into the air. From the moment its wings opened to the moment it vanished was only a second or two.

Still shaken and barely able to move, the witness finally broke free and ran to her car. As she closed the door, she heard the screech again. She started the engine and left the area as fast as she could.

In the days that followed, she felt physically ill and emotionally unsettled. A heavy sense of dread, paranoia, and hopelessness lingered for nearly three days. The experience disturbed her so deeply that she hesitated even to tell her partner, only coming forward after learning of another winged humanoid sighting less than two blocks from her workplace. Lon

What is it about this area that attracts the Mothman phenomena?

Since 2021,  at least 12 sightings were reported from the airport area. Not surprisingly other incidents involving UFO, bizarre events and sightings of other cryptids dovetail with these reports of a dark, flying humanoid figure.

Strickler believes there are not one, not two, but at least three humanoid creatures flying around Chicago, based on the locations in which they were spotted, and small differences in eyewitness testimonies.

No doubt if Kolchak the intrepid, fictional reporter from the 1970s who lived in Chicago was real, he'd be investigating these stories.

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