"Chicago Aviation Department Employee" Reports "Mothman" Sighting at O'Hare International Airport

*(Emily Wayland / The Singular Fortean Society)*

Manuel Navarette of UFO Clearinghouse received a report recently from a woman claiming to be an employee of the Chicago Aviation Department who said that she saw a seven-to-eight-foot-tall, black, winged creature with glowing red eyes after leaving work at O’Hare International Airport at approximately 9 p.m. on April 15th.

According to the woman’s report,

I wanted to relate a possible sighting of the Chicago Mothman that I had on April 15th, 2021 at approximately 9 p.m. at Chicago O’Hare. I initially was not going to report this and had kept it to myself for fear of someone thinking I had lost my mind and was seeing things. That changed when I read the sighting that was posted on Facebook about the gentleman who had the Mothman sighting not even two blocks from where I work. The sighting prompted me to look up your website and eventually send this to you.
I work for the Chicago Department of Aviation at the office located on the airport grounds. I have worked there for about nine years and had previously worked at the airport in another capacity for five years prior. I know the airport like I know the palm of my hand and I have heard the stories that people tell about all the strange goings-on that happen with surprising frequency.
My sighting happened after I stayed late to catch up on work and had left about 9pm, as I walked out of the building into the parking lot, I heard what I could only describe as wings fluttering, kind of like you hear when a bird is going to take off or land. I dismissed it as just geese, as the airport has literally hundreds of them that hang around doing whatever geese seem to do. What followed was a loud screech, nothing like a goose’s honk but a very, very loud, ear-splitting screech like what you hear when a train is applying its brakes; but it was different as it went from a higher octave to a lower one and then higher again. I know it was not the train as the train tracks are on the other side of the airport, about three to four miles away.
I continued walking toward my car, when I heard the screech again and it sounded like it was coming from behind me. I turned and looked toward the trees over by the road and saw what looked like two red eyes looking right at me. I sat there looking at those eyes for what seemed an eternity, I couldn’t move and it felt like the air was being sucked out of my lungs, almost like I was having an asthma attack.
I saw this thing emerge from around the trees, it was illuminated from behind by the warehouses that were across the road and it must have been seven to eight feet tall and was black. About this time a large truck was coming down the road, and it shot into the air and was gone in the matter of a second. I stood there for a few seconds, still too afraid to move, when I finally came to my senses and practically sprinted for my car. I could not get into my car fast enough and as I closed the door, I heard the screech again. I turned on my car and left as quickly as I could.
I am not one for over exaggerations, but I felt almost as if I was being stalked. I felt sick to my stomach for two to three days after that encounter and it took just as long for the feelings of paranoia to finally go away. It was the feeling of utter and complete hopelessness that disturbed me the most and it helped contribute to my hesitancy of telling someone; I didn’t even tell my boyfriend of this until after I had decided to send this to you.

Navarette said that he was able to communicate with the witness via email, and “after lengthy discussions about her job at the Chicago Aviation Department she proceeded to tell me about her sighting.”

"The office where she works is located almost directly in line with the structure where the previously submitted winged humanoid sighting occurred," he noted. "It is approximately 300 yards away and within visual sight of the office."

The sighting referenced by Navarette came from a man claiming to have seen a large, humanoid owl while working as a shuttle bus driver at O’Hare on April 21st.

According to Navarette, the woman "advised that she parked on the other side of the building, facing the tarmac and cargo offloading area for a pair of long warehouses that house a multitude of air cargo companies based out of O’Hare. It is also within a city block of a reported sighting last year by a cargo company employee that was submitted to Phantoms & Monsters in approximately 2019."

That cargo company employee sighting was investigated by Tobias Wayland of The Singular Fortean Society, who was able to speak with the witness over the phone, and later visited the sighting area while filming a documentary for German public television.

Navarette verified the details of the woman’s sighting and “asked her if she saw anything as she initially walked out,” to which she replied that she had not, because “she was checking her phone and did not look up.”

He went on to ask her about the sound of “flapping wings,” and the woman told him “that there are geese in the area nearly every single day and she just assumed it was a goose that was in the parking lot or nearby and paid it no mind.”

The "ear-splitting screech" was another matter entirely, and the woman reportedly said that "even now the thought of that sound sends chills down her spine and brings up a feeling of fear in her."

She compared the sound to "train brakes, but modulating from high to low, and it would fade off before coming back again."

As for “the sighting of the entity itself,” said Navarette, “The witness said that from the moment she saw it, she was frozen in fear and could not move, her mind was only focused on the eyes and everything else seemed to fade into the background.”

Navarette said that "When the entity came out from behind the trees it stood there and stared at her for a few seconds before the vehicle interrupted the encounter. When asked if it made any advancement toward her, the witness said that it did not, yet she felt as if it was sizing her up or stalking her. When the vehicle coming down the road caused the creature to fly away, the witness stated that she still felt spellbound for a few seconds, almost as if in a trance."

The woman was only able to describe the creature as "black, skinny, and tall; approximately seven to eight feet tall" and said it had "glowing red eyes."

The wings were also black and had an estimated 10-foot wingspan.

"She said that from the time of the entity unfurling its wings to the time it was in the air was only a matter of one to two seconds, after which it was out of sight," reported Navarette.

Navarette concluded that, after speaking with the witness, "it is this investigator's opinion that she did witness something and that this case merits further investigation."

"A visit to the site of the incident will be conducted soon and all photos and data obtained will be posted on the website for all to see," he added.

Any subsequent updates will be shared by The Singular Fortean Society as they are received.

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.

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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