Reports from the Void: 'The Only Thing I Can Compare It to is a Small Dragon'

*(Tobias Wayland / Singular Fortean Society)*

The Singular Fortean Society received the following email on April 24th, 2020:

I wanted to report something strange I saw today [on April 24th, 2020] at 2:45 pm. I am currently babysitting a child in the Bucktown area [of Chicago, Illinois], and we usually play in her back porch blowing bubbles or looking at birds or trees. As I was holding the child, she pointed at what I thought was a bird in the sky (the usual).
I smiled at her and said “Oh yes, a bird” without really paying attention to it. Then I began to stare at it and thought to myself “Wait a minute, that's not a bird, its a bat.” It had the webbed wings and similar flapping motion as a bat. But the more and more I stared at it and began to notice the size and the fact that it had a tail, I realized that it was not a bat either.
It was nothing I had ever seen before. The only thing I can compare it to is a small dragon. Even the way it was flying. I had heard about the Mothman story a few years ago, but I never believed it or even thought about it. But from what I read, what I saw is not the Mothman, because what I saw to me looked like a bat/dragon, not a humanoid.
I’m really upset I didn’t get footage, as I had the child in my arms and left the phone indoors. So there's no way I can prove what I saw, but I know I saw it, and I hope other people did as well and can share their stories.

Lead investigator Tobias Wayland responded, saying he agreed with the assessment that it likely was “not the Mothman,” and adding that the sighting reminded him of a report received by Lon Strickler of Phantoms & Monsters from a man who said he’d seen a “pterosaur” in Wheaton, Illinois, on the afternoon of July 5th, 2019.

The witness did not respond to Wayland’s request for an interview.

While no causal connection has been made between the phenomena, a number of sighting reports of weird, winged creatures—often of a similar description to this witness’s report—have been submitted from the same areas around Lake Michigan in which witnesses have been reporting encounters with flying humanoids. The being from the flying humanoid reports is often referred to as the ‘Mothman,’ due to its resemblance to a series of sightings from Point Pleasant, West Virginia, in the mid-1960s. It is unknown whether the flying humanoid sightings around Lake Michigan constitute encounters with a single similar—or even the same—creature, or if multiple creatures could be responsible. Although, given the frequency and geographic distribution of sightings, and variations in the witnesses’ descriptions of the creature, it seems a multitude of creatures would be most likely.

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.

Reports from the Void is a repository to share those stories for which we do not have enough information to make a full report. This is usually because of little or no communication from the witness following their initial submission. The Singular Fortean Society will always provide as much information as possible regarding any correspondence during our attempts to speak with those involved.

This series is meant only to present you with the full breadth of the information sent to us, and makes no judgments towards the veracity of any stories shared within it.

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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