Reports from the Void: 'I Remember the Eyes Glowing Red'

The Singular Fortean Society received the following email with “Possible Mothman” written in its subject line on October 20th, 2020.

This was maybe seven years ago. I need to make clear I have never heard of the Mothman before this incident. So, seven years ago in Fort Myers, Florida, I was at my boyfriend's house. He left to go to his mother's house down the street.
It was night, I’m assuming around 10 or 11 p.m. I was in bed, and this was the only time I’ve ever suffered with what I’m assuming was sleep paralysis. If that was what happened.
I remember lying in bed facing the window. I recall seeing this huge bird flying to the window. I remember the eyes glowing red.
When it got closer, it seemed more human. It was looking in at me. It was tall and black, but the only thing I could see was the eyes.
I remember feeling trapped, stuck, not only in my mind but my body as well. My mind was saying go away, go away. At first I thought it did. But then, it was at the other corner of the window. Like it was taunting me or looking for someone. I felt pure evil.
Next came nothing, darkness, maybe the fear finally made me pass out. All I know is I awoke not long after that, somehow sitting upright at the corner of the bed.
My boyfriend at the time finally gets back home and finds me there. I asked him how long he was gone. Not even 30 minutes.
I explained everything that happened. He said it was probably just a nightmare and not to worry about it.
So, fast forward a month later. I haven’t thought about that night since, and we decided to watch a movie and picked a documentary, Mothman. I felt sick all over. It was that thing I saw that night, identical.
I can’t say it’s the same experience most get, but I feel like sharing. It could have been just sleep paralysis, but it felt so real. I haven’t suffered from sleep paralysis since then.

Investigator Tobias Wayland replied to the witness in an attempt to gather more information about their experience, but received no response.

Descriptive features such as glowing red eyes and a feeling of fear, or even sensing evil, are not uncommon in reported Mothman sightings. Rockford, Illinois resident Jonathan Lane reportedly saw a creature with “very large red eyes” that filled him with “fear and intimidation” perched in a tree outside his home in 2016. Similarly, a woman in Madison, Wisconsin, reported being haunted by a terrifying flying humanoid with glowing red eyes in 2002. And in 2019, a man who works with cargo at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport said he saw a red-eyed, winged humanoid while driving near work one night.

"It felt really evil. It had those red eyes. How could any creature have those?" he asked during an interview with Wayland.

The world first heard of the Mothman in November of 1966, when a series of sightings of a large, black, flying creature with glowing red eyes took place in and around Point Pleasant, West Virginia.

More recently, dozens of other reports of similar phenomena have been collected as part of the Lake Michigan Mothman investigation, and a timeline with links to articles describing those sightings is available 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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