"Air Traffic Controller" Provides More Info on "O'Hare Mothman" Sighting from July 2020; Identity Remains Unverified

A sketch of a similar entity sent to investigator Lon Strickler in 2017.

In an emailed response to a list of questions sent by investigator Tobias Wayland, the Singular Fortean Society recently received more details from a witness claiming to be an air traffic controller at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport regarding the sighting of a six-to-seven-foot-tall “very big bat [that] was also very human-like in appearance” he claimed to have seen at the airport last July. The witness was unwilling to verify his identity or work credentials during the exchange.

Manuel Navarette of UFO Clearinghouse provided both the Singular Fortean Society and Lon Strickler of Phantoms & Monsters with the witness’s email address after receiving his permission to do so.

According to the witness’s emailed response:

Dear Mr. Strickler and Mr. Wayland,
I want to thank you both for reaching out and contacting me in regards to my sighting that I reported to Manuel. As I stated to Mr. Strickler, I am more than happy to discuss my sighting with you via email and to answer any of the questions that you may have regarding the sighting I had that evening.
To answer some of the questions you had Mr. Wayland, I was not really able to see many features of this creature's face, it was mostly just a void of black with the exception of the two red eyes. During my sighting it had its head pointed down to the ground almost like it was searching for something. When it did raise its head up, all you saw were the eyes. Not much else was discernible to me from that distance. I must also confess, that once you saw the eyes, that was almost all you wanted to keep looking at. As for distance, I have to estimate that I was approximately 20 to 25 feet away from where it stood.
When it did take off, it did so much like a large bird would, it basically leaped into the air, its wings flapping repeatedly until it gained enough altitude and was gone. This struck me as odd because from my knowledge of flight dynamics, this thing should have needed a running start to gain airflow under its wings much akin to how an albatross would take off. This creatures take off was similar to a raptor like a bald eagle or large hawk. I have been an avid bird watcher since I was a young child and have seen many birds of prey take off in similar fashion. The thing that stuck out to me was that this creature was frail, very, very frail, raptors are able to take off in this way because they are very heavily built with massive muscles that control their wings. If you look at how a raptor is built, you can see how barrel chested they are due to the muscles required to flap its wings. The creature I saw that night looked as thin as a rail. There was no way this thing had the muscles needed to get itself into the air without a running start. Yet, I saw it fly into the air from a standing position and take off right in front of my eyes.
It was approximately 11:30 at night, give or take 10 minutes. I have talked to a couple of colleagues and two have expressed interest in speaking about their encounters, I can forward your information to either one of you or to Manuel for follow-up. I have told them that they do not have to give out their information or what they do at the airport. There are stories you hear from various people here of encounters with strange things while on duty at the airport but many are apprehensive about coming out due to endangering their job or their clearance.
I had to really think about it before I could summon the courage to reach out to Manuel with my sighting. It’s not because I think that people will think I'm crazy or a lunatic, I’m past the stage in my life where I care what others think of me. My concern lies in the fact that reports of this sort can follow me if I ever decided to leave my job here in Chicago and went somewhere else or it can also hinder if not outright block my chances at a promotion. So you can appreciate the gravity of what my colleagues and I face in talking to others about our encounters.
This is what I told Manuel when I initially showed him my credentials, I was initially not going to share them with him but decided to do so only to show that I was not a hoaxer or a crackpot but only after having gotten Manuel’s word that he would never share the information with anyone else. I just can not jeopardize losing my job or my clearance or my pension.
Myself and my colleagues have worked too hard to get where we are to have it destroyed by someone plastering our information and job titles all over the world wide web for anyone to see. None of us want to subject our careers or our families to ridicule or harassment.
Please do not take my stance as hostile or belligerent, I am willing to talk and to answer questions regarding my sighting and to go out on a limb to talk about what others have shared with me about this thing we have seen. I am just not willing to risk my privacy or my job in order to do so.
As always, I stand ready to aid your investigation and I will write out the stories told to me by my coworkers and send them to you as I complete them. If you have any other questions, feel free to write and I will be more than happy to try to give you as much information as I possibly can.
Until then Mr Strickler and Mr. Wayland, I wish you both a very safe and happy holiday season and will talk to you both very soon.

Navarette earlier claimed to have verified the witness’s work credentials, but was unable to provide them to other investigators due to the medium through which they were sent. The witness reportedly sent them via Snapchat, a social media app where temporary pictures can be sent to other users.

The emailed response came on November 30th, and so far no other response from the witness has been received, despite further inquiry from the Singular Fortean Society. Any further information about this case will be published as it is received.

This article constitutes 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. They generally take place in the evening or at night, often in or near a park or natural area, and around water. Witnesses consistently describe a large, gray, brown, 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, green, or orange eyes, and humanoid features such as arms and legs are often reported. Some witnesses have reported feeling intense fear and an aura of evil emanating from the creature they encountered. 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 misidentified large bird—such as a heron or crane—or some type of anomalous avian species could explain some, although certainly not all, of the encounters. A number of associated high strangeness incidents have also occurred alongside the creature sightings; these include reports of UFOs, other anomalous flying creatures and mysterious humanoids, parapsychological phenomena, and bizarre events experienced by those investigating the sightings.

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.

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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