Red-Eyed Creature Reported near Richmond, Illinois

*(Emily Wayland / Singular Fortean Society)*

Lon Strickler of Phantoms & Monsters recently received the following email, which describes a strange encounter had by a woman and her son the night of October 5th near Richmond, Illinois.

Friday, October 5, 2019, around 10 p.m. my [17-year-old] son and I were coming home through Richmond, Illinois. He wanted McDonald's. We took the back roads home (we live in Wisconsin on [the] border) and on Rt 173 and Broadway (I believe it’s Broadway) we both saw something very tall (six to seven feet) hunched over looking with the brightest red eyes we’ve ever seen! It looked as if it were floating or hopping. We couldn’t make out much as it was very dark, but it was not like any animal we’ve seen before! When I got home I started Googling animals and found some Mothman myth. I'm not sure what we saw but it was out of the ordinary. We take this road often but only a few times at night and had never seen this before. It was maybe 10 to 20 feet from our car and my son was freaking out telling me to go, so we didn’t stop. Our family thinks we’re crazy and teases us [that] we saw a zombie, so I’d prefer this to stay anonymous. I came across your info and thought I’d share. We didn’t notice any wings but it was dark out. We both thought it was hopping like a kangaroo, and now I’m curious if there are any other odd sightings in this area.

"I was later able to talk by telephone to [the witness]," Strickler said. "She had left work late on Friday October 5th, 2019, and had picked up her 17-year-old son on the way home. The time was approximately 10 p.m. They [were] on Route 173 (Kenosha Street) and Broadway Road, on their way to a McDonald's. They were also adjacent to the North Branch Conservation Area."

"They both noticed a pair of very bright red eyes along the side of the road. The creature was about seven feet in height and dark in color. It was stooped or hunched over, as if something heavy was attached to its back. The witnesses never saw wings, but it seemed some structure was on its back. As they approached it, the creature looked at them and started to 'hop' back. They had gotten very close to it, about 20 feet or less. As it hopped back towards the field, they looked back and it seemed that it suddenly disappeared. It never took flight. [The witness] stated that the eyes were similar to two very bright lights [that] emanated from within the creature," he continued. "[She] wanted to turn around and look again, but her son was totally freaked out by the encounter and insisted she continue driving."

"The witness had no indication of the winged humanoid sightings in and around Chicago," Strickler added. "She immediately began to research her sighting and found my information."

Singular Fortean Society investigator Tobias Wayland was also able to interview the witness over the phone.

She described to the investigator how she was struck by the creature’s eyes.

"The first thing I saw were these red, glowing eyes. They were really bright, it was different. It wasn’t glowing like a normal animal; like eyeshine. They looked like they were producing their own glow. That’s what was super weird about it," she said.

The witness began to slow down as she realized she was seeing something very strange.

I slowed down a lot, and it looked really tall, I’d say six or seven feet. It was hunched over, and it looked like it was either hopping or floating going towards the field—there’s a big, open field there. It looked like it was looking at us. I didn’t say anything to my son. Then I started slowing down more, and he started flipping out. He said ‘What are you doing? Go! What the hell is that?’ I said ‘Okay, so you saw it, too.’ I’d never even heard the word before, but he said ‘It’s some type of cryptid! You’re taking a back road, are you nuts? Get the hell out of here!’
Then it was just kind of gone. I don’t know if it turned around, if it had closed its eyes or what. We didn’t see anything fly up. But he saw the same thing I did, because he said ‘It was huge. It was super tall, it had the weirdest eyes, and it was hopping or floating.’ He saw the same thing as me.

It was cloudy that night, and it was difficult for the witness to see much beyond the thing’s eyes because it was outside the range of her car’s headlights, but she was able to make out some details.

"It was really hard to see, because it was dark, but its upper body looked bulky and hunched over," she said. “I wouldn’t be able to tell you if it had anything [like wings] attached to its back or not. It just definitely looked hunched over, and then the way it was moving, no animals around here float or hop.”

Normally, said the witness, she would have stopped and tried to take a picture.

“I didn’t feel scared. I was just like, ‘What the heck was that?’” she said. “I wanted to go back, but [my son] was freaking out. He didn’t want to turn around. He said ‘Just get home.’”

As for what she saw that night, she isn’t exactly sure; she only knows it was far outside of her normal experience.

“It was definitely different. The eyes were definitely something I’d never seen before,” she said. “I just couldn’t comprehend what it was and what I was seeing.”

The village of Richmond, Illinois, is approximately 15 miles northeast of Woodstock, a city that hosted a series of winged humanoid sightings earlier this year, and around 20 miles northwest of Wauconda, another city in Illinois wherein a witness reported a strange light and a winged humanoid in 2014 and 2016, respectively. While this most recent witness did not see wings, the red eyes she reported are similar to what witnesses of the Lake Michigan Mothman have reported in the past. This report may be unrelated to those sightings, but Richmond’s proximity to Lake Michigan—less than 30 miles—and its centralized position within other areas rich in sightings, make it a strong candidate to be a similar phenomenon.

This is the latest news in a string of ‘Mothman’ sightings from within a few hundred mile radius surrounding Lake Michigan, including every state bordering the great lake. These sightings ostensibly began in the spring of 2017, but more historical accounts are being reported as more people become aware of the phenomenon. Sightings of weird winged beings around Lake Michigan have been reported at all hours, often in or near a park, and around water. Witnesses consistently describe a large, gray or black bat or bird-like creature—although in a small number of cases the creature was described as insect-like—sometimes with glowing or reflective red, yellow, or orange eyes; and humanoid features such as arms and legs are often reported. Many of the sightings are also of something seen only briefly or are described only as a flying creature with few details, which leaves open the possibility that a large avian being could explain some encounters. Sightings of anomalous avians, including thunderbirds and pterosaurs, are often reported in or near the same locations as those where witnesses have reported winged humanoids.

To report a sighting, reach out to us directly at the Singular Fortean Society through our contact page.

You can view a timeline of the sightings so far here, and an interactive map here.

To report your own encounter with the impossible, reach out to us directly at the Singular Fortean Society through our contact page.

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