Woman Reports Sighting of "Large, Black Creature" Gliding over Chicago Suburb

The Singular Fortean Society was contacted recently by a woman who wished to report her sighting of "a large, black creature gliding over Roosevelt Road by Elmhurst, [Illinois], going north, on May 8th" at around 8:15 p.m.

The woman, who asked that she remain anonymous, said that she was in her car driving west on Roosevelt Road in Elmhurst when she saw the creature.

"Roosevelt Road in that area is like an expressway," she said. "It had just crossed over the expressway. It caught my attention as it was going over my car."

According to the woman, she doesn't live in the area but was on her way to her daughter's home in Villa Park to feed her dogs.

"I live in Melrose Park," she said, "[But] I am on that road often to go to her house or the gym in Oakbrook."

The creature, she said, “was larger than a regular bird. It was by itself, at night, with large wings and a long body. The long body is what caught my attention. It was coming out long from below the wings. It never used its wings. It was just gliding.”

It was way larger than any regular bird. The wings were very large. It was all black and it was alone. The lower body was larger than any bird.
Most birds' head and legs are proportioned to their bodies, and this thing's legs were very long. It was starting to get dark at that point and I was driving fast, but its size is what made me do a double take.
It was going north but it wasn't necessarily flying. I never saw the wings flap. They were extended out. It was more like gliding. It reminded me of a kite. It wasn't going too fast, either, like most birds.

Nothing about her sighting immediately stuck out to the woman as paranormal, although she did say that she has "experienced paranormal stuff” since she was a kid.

"Even now as an adult, I still have experiences," she said.

One thing that did stand out was the amount of anxiety she felt, even before her sighting that day.

"Not sure if this counts, but I was extremely anxious all day that day. So much that I felt a need for a drink or Xanax," she explained. "But my daughter was away that weekend with her boyfriend and I knew he was going to propose so I was waiting for the news. I figured that's why I was so nervous that day."

After the sighting, that anxiety became fear.

"I did become scared after I saw it," she said. "I was afraid to be in the dark. I didn't let the dogs out long because I didn't want to see it again in the yard. I ran to my car once I went home. I was very uneasy and could not stop thinking about. To this day, I still think about it every day."

The sighting in Elmhurst, a suburb of Chicago, is within a dozen miles of a multitude of other, similar sighting reports, with many such reports coming most recently from in and around Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, which is approximately five miles north of Roosevelt Road in Elmhurst.

O’Hare International Airport has been the epicenter of recent winged humanoid sightings in the Lake Michigan Mothman investigation, with at least 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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