Reports from the Void: 'The Feeling I Got Was of Pure Evil'

An illustration by artist Donie Odulio of the creature people have been reporting in and around Chicago and the greater Lake Michigan area. (Donie Odulio / Instagram: @donie_odulio)

The Singular Fortean Society received the following report, titled “Mothman sighting in Schaumburg, IL,” via email on April 21st, 2021.

Hi, I never went to the police or publicly reported my possible encounter with Mothman because I didn't know of such a thing—it sounded crazy and who would believe it? Now I wish I could find the date this happened or that I would have reported it officially! I did tell my daughter and a handful of people.
I was never afraid to walk at night in my neighborhood prior. My mom lives three blocks from me in a quiet townhouse community called Lexington Green in Illinois. I was walking to her house along with my dog, since it was a nice night. As I was approaching a sort of intersection where my mom's street (Plum Tree Court and 7 Pines Road/Williamsburg Road) meets with a circle berm around the parking lot for the clubhouse, I was semi watching a group of neighbors on their balcony probably about 100 feet away. They had their patio door open, laughing, etc.
I suddenly heard flapping wings, "th, th, th, th," and literally saw a big black creature fly down and drop just to the backside of the berm. It was much taller than me; I would estimate at least seven feet tall. The wingspan was very large, since I saw it fly down and could see the wings fold. It had a human-shaped body with legs and what appeared like feet. It had red glowing eyes and the feeling I got was of pure evil.
I believe I am sort of intuitive to emotions and can read body language and tone well. I was so caught off guard, as I never had concerns walking at night. I decided not to run, afraid it would chase me, and my 28-pound dog is almost blind, so I turned to briskly walk as close as I could to the shorter trees and stayed close to the townhouses till I reached my mom's at the end of the cul-de-sac.
I never told her because I didn't want to freak her out! I made her drive me and Buddy home since I was too afraid to walk.
I thought at the time that maybe my neighbors were evil and one was a vampire? Since I had never heard of Mothman at the time, and sensed a horrible evil, a vampire was the only thing to explain what I saw.
I was trying to replay in my mind how it flew down. Did it fly from the neighbor's balcony as if one of them transformed into a vampire? Did it come from elsewhere and drop down?
I know what I saw and was one hundred percent awake. I believe we are not the only beings that exist. When I saw a video on TV mention Mothman, that was when I realized I know what I really did see! Then after periodically researching on it to find this listing of sightings, I am convinced it IS what I saw!
This happened between late summer 2017 and 2019. I am trying to find where I may have wrote it down or made record of it. I tried to forget at the time to move past the fear thinking a neighbor or their guests are dark evil. If I can find a record of the date, I will respond back. Thanks for recording this sighting history, because I now know I'm not alone in what I saw.

Investigator Tobias Wayland attempted to contact the witness, but received no response.

The appearance of the creature and accompanying feeling of “pure evil” described by the witness is not unusual.

Wayland spoke to a man in 2019 who said that he’d seen a red-eyed, winged humanoid while driving near Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport on the night of December 6th that year.

"It felt really evil," said the man of what he'd seen.

A Wauconda, Illinois woman similarly described a palpable sense of evil emanating from a hulking, winged creature she said she had seen in April of 2017.

“This is evil,” she recalled of the experience. “I’m seeing evil.”

This sighting area in Schaumburg is approximately 20 miles south of Wauconda and only about seven miles west of O’Hare International Airport in Chicago.

It is bordered by Spring Valley Nature Center & Heritage Farm a few hundred feet to the west and Busse Woods less than a mile to the east.

O’Hare International Airport has been the epicenter of recent winged humanoid sightings in the Lake Michigan Mothman investigation, with over a dozen sighting reports coming from the airport itself since August of 2019, and many more reported in the surrounding communities. Reports from the larger investigation have come from every state bordering Lake Michigan and date back to 1957.

This report 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.

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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