Cargo Company Employee Recounts Series of Strange Events at O'Hare International Airport

Manuel Navarette of UFO Clearinghouse received a report at the end of September detailing a series of strange events from an employee of one of the large cargo companies that fly in and out of O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois.

According to Navarette, in the witness’s report he "tells of multiple sightings of UFOs, and humanoid entities, including a winged humanoid both at work and at home."

I am 34 years old and live in Elk Grove Village, Illinois. I work at O’Hare International Airport for [a large cargo company] where I am a member of the ground crew. I have worked for [them] for the last eight years and have seen a lot of strange things in my time there. I have also heard from others of the strange things that are seen and heard at O’Hare at all hours of the day and night. Anyone who has worked in and around the “cargo” facility for more than a few months has seen the strange lights in the sky or have seen anything from ghosts to strange creatures of all manners at least once. The entire airport itself is spooky, with many strange tunnels that are sealed off and forbidden to even go near to strange military vehicles that come and go at all hours of the day and night, there’s even an old graveyard on the airport grounds.
I have seen my fair share of things. I’ve seen a lot of UFOs in the air above the airport, strange creatures that seem to hang around the airport, including the one they call the Mothman. These sightings mostly occur toward the evening and night. I work second shift so get out later in the evening and have seen many of these strange lights after 10 or 11 p.m. There is one object dubbed the “Diamond Craft." It’s a large diamond-shaped light that frequently appears in the sky around the perimeter of the airport on some nights. It’s pretty well known to many of the ground crews that work throughout the airport and can sometimes be seen for two to three nights in a row. It frequently appears in the same general area and hangs around for about five to ten minutes before disappearing.
One night, about the 4th of July, I was outside overseeing the unloading of a plane when myself and a group of four people all saw what looked like a large person with wings fly over us. It was about 20 feet above us and flew right over us with very little sound. It looked basically as I said, a large man about six feet tall with a very large pair of batlike wings. It was solid black, so much so that it stood out against the sky and lights of the airport. It was over in a matter of a few seconds and people joked that we had just seen the “Mothman” and the conversation quickly turned to the many sightings that people have had in and around the airport of something similar. I have had multiple encounters with UFOs and their occupants that have been ongoing for the last two years.
I have seen what I can only describe as aliens on at least eight occasions, both at work and at home. It all started back in 2018. It was around May and I looked up into the sky as I was moving from one building to the next and saw a large circular object that was giving off a green glow. It hovered silently about 100 feet from the ground and I as I looked up at it, I got the strange sensation that the object or something in it was looking back at me. I picked up the pace and tried to get into the building but the closer I got to the door an overwhelming urge came over me to stop and look up at the object. It finally got too much to bear and I stopped about 20 feet from the door and looked up just in time to see the object slowly drift away and higher into the sky. It continued its upward trend for about 10 seconds before it simply disappeared from sight.
My first encounter with seeing one of the aliens happened a month later, I went to the office to get a set of extra keys that were needed to access a storage locker. The office was dark as the people in it had all left sometime earlier. I went in, got the keys and was walking out when something made me stop and look out into the hallway toward the stairs and I saw what looked like a medium-sized man looking right at me. We looked at each other for what seemed like a minute before I turned away and when I looked again, it was gone. The freak out then came over me. It looked like what you see on TV, grey skin and very large black—almost insect-like—eyes. It had no lips to speak of, only a thin slit and was at least three inches shorter than I am (I’m 5’10"). I must have sounded like an idiot basically hyperventilating in an empty dark office, but within a few minutes I had regained my composure. Surprisingly, I was not afraid and have not ever sensed a reason to be afraid. They can look scary as hell but I have never felt like I was in danger. I have, since then, seen them only from a distance, usually in the shadows or trying to hide and observe.
I have sensed them at home, but have never seen them inside the house. I have caught glimpses of them looking into the windows, but those were only momentary glimpses, as they seem to be able to anticipate me looking toward them and quickly get out of sight. I have a dog who will bark at the window or the door unexpectedly at night as if he is trying to warn me, but when I go to look, I end up seeing nothing. I also have a cat, but if she’s seen anything she’s not telling or is indifferent to the whole thing. I have only had one encounter with one at home where I have seen it, and that was the reason that prompted me to write to you.
It happened about a week ago. I had days off and was at home at about 10:30 at night when my dog started growling and then ran toward the back door. As I got up and followed him, I saw that the backyard lights had been triggered and that standing on the back deck in front of the back door was what looked like the same alien I had seen the first time. My dog was going berserk and would charge the door but stop short of hitting it and then back up again. It looked right at me before it took a step back and straight out disappeared right in front of me. I didn’t freak like the first time but felt a little unnerved that it had come so close to my house and had allowed itself to be seen. As before, I felt like I was in no danger but did feel like it was trying to communicate with me in some way. My dog stayed in front of the door growling for another 10 minutes before it came back to my room with me. I stayed up for a while trying to make sense of what had just happened. That’s when I got online and started looking up information about what had just occurred that led to this website and the reports of the sightings at O’Hare.

Navarette said he was able to speak with the witness “on two separate occasions."

He proceeded to confirm the witness's testimony, which in the investigator's opinion was "exactly as reported in his sighting."

"The witness is an employee for a major airline operating out of O’Hare International Airport and has been working there for over eight years," Navarette said. "He is a 34-year-old divorced male who lives in the area of O’Hare Airport. When I asked the witness for verification, he produced employment credentials which included a security badge."

After verifying the witness’s identity, Navarette asked the man a series of questions about his experiences.

"The witness stated that he has worked the overnight shift for most of his time at O’Hare. In that time, he has witnessed various UFOs and has had encounters with what he could only describe as 'aliens' [as well as] one encounter with a flying humanoid while at work on the tarmac," he said. "When I asked him to elaborate he indicated that he was working with a crew prepping a plane for flight, and that one of the crew noticed and pointed out the flying humanoid. When I asked him to describe the entity, the witness said it looked like it was six to seven feet tall and had black wings that he estimated were at least 12 feet wide. The witness did not indicate seeing any red eyes and stated that it was completely black and flying at a very fast rate of speed."

Further questioning by Navarette revealed that many of the witness's coworkers had heard stories of the 'Mothman' said to haunt the area.

"When asked how the rest of his crew reacted, he stated that many joked that it was the 'Mothman' and many of them had either seen or heard stories about this creature and the sightings around the airport," he said. "When I asked him if he had any feelings of dread or fear the witness indicated that he did not. When I asked if it could have been something like a crane or heron or a large owl, the witness stated there was no way it could have been as he had seen large birds before and this entity did not fit the shape of a large bird."

During his first encounter with a strange being at work, the witness reportedly told Navarette that "he had gone to get an extra set of keys he needed and while inside the office building he had come face to face with the being."

The man said that he and the being "stared at each other for what seemed an eternity," but which "in reality...might have only been a few seconds."

After turning away and looking back, said the witness, "[the being] was gone."

The witness described the event as "pretty cut and dry," adding that "there were no bright lights or other theatrics involved."

Following his initial encounter at work, the witness told Navarette that "he has felt that they have been observing him from a distance."

He has reportedly “seen them at the perimeter fence and sometimes attempting to blend into the shadows of the buildings at the airport."

When asked if he'd experienced any missing time during his experiences, the witness indicated that he had not, but added that he “could not be 100% sure that he had not experienced missing time."

The witness went on to tell Navarette that he “felt that he was being observed and that they did seem to keep track of his movements both at work and at home."

Navarette asked him to elaborate, to which the witness responded that he “can sometimes see them out of the corner of [his] eye and that he sees unexplained shadows at night that he cannot account for."

However, the witness said that he “felt no ill intentions from them and [he thought] that they were merely curious."

The beings, he surmised, would be able to abduct him if that's what they wanted and he would be powerless to stop them from doing so.

The witness also speculated that "the entity he saw that night at his house was scared off by his dog barking and he felt that he was in no danger."

While discussing his sightings at work, the witness told Navarette that he “has always seen strange things at night around the airport."

He described sightings of unidentified flying objects as "commonplace" and said that the object described as a "Diamond Craft" had been seen by "various airport personnel at least three to four times a month, and that it would hover for a few minutes before either disappearing or shooting off at a rapid pace."

According to the witness, the airport at first responded to the sighting reports, but "eventually they became so commonplace that the airport would just basically ignore them and tell their employees that unless there was a 'clear and present danger' to the aircraft there was not much they could do."

In regards to the reported increase in military presence at the airport, the witness told the investigator that "ever since his report was submitted he had noticed a marked increase in military presence around O’Hare."

He told Navarette that "military and government vehicles were a common sight and they came and went around the airport at all hours of the day and night."

When asked what he thought the military might be doing, the witness said that he “did not know and really did not want to know."

The witness also described a series of tunnels that crossed "the entirety of the airport grounds, many of them large enough to accomodate large service vehicles."

He told Navarette that "many of the tunnels were off-limits and many were locked and posted as off-limits," but that many others were "service tunnels used in the day-to-day operations of the airport for accessing utilities and whatnot."

He did not know for what the tunnels that were designated "off-limits" might be used.

Navarette concluded that, in his opinion, "the witness is being truthful and his accounts of the sightings are credible and warrant continued investigation. The witness has been helpful and forthcoming with information and has indicated that he would assist by reporting any further sightings to [me] and the [other] members of the Phantoms & Monsters Fortean Investigation Team."

Hand-drawn sketches provided by the witness of the entities he encountered while at work around the airport and outside his home. (UFO Clearinghouse) — Hand-drawn sketches provided by the witness of the entities he encountered while at work around the airport and outside his home. *(UFO Clearinghouse)*

This is the most recently reported sighting in a series of unusual sighting reports that have taken place in the vicinity of O’Hare International Airport from late 2019 into 2020. Most of the reports describe a flying humanoid, but there have been sightings of other mysterious humanoids as well, including a woman who said she may have seen a mysterious humanoid creature while bicycling with her friend in the Cook County Forest Preserve on the afternoon of December 8th, 2019; a couple who said they saw a “large, thin man appear out of [Schiller Woods]” with what "almost looked like a praying mantis’ eyes, just jet black" on December 23rd, 2019; a man who said he saw an “egg-shaped” object fly over O’Hare and shine a “brilliant blue light” to the ground, through which a “person” appeared to be taken aboard the craft on January 23rd, 2020; and a trucker who said he encountered a diminutive, grey-skinned, black-eyed humanoid while picking up air freight around 10 pm at the United Cargo facility in O’Hare on the night of July 31st, 2020. The aforementioned “egg-shaped” UFO was reportedly seen over Resthaven Cemetery, a little-known cemetery which rests within the boundaries of O’Hare, and is the same cemetery mentioned by the witness in the above report.

Because of the sightings’ close geographic proximity to reports of the ‘Lake Michigan Mothman,’ some connection to that case cannot be ruled out.

You can view a timeline of those sightings 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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