MUFON Closes Report on July 22nd Winged Humanoid Sighting at O'Hare; Witness Opts to Speak with UFO Clearinghouse

A drawing of the reported creature provided by the witness. (Sam Maranto / MUFON) — A drawing of the reported creature provided by the witness. *(Sam Maranto / MUFON)*

The Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) has closed the report they received regarding the July 22nd sighting of a winged humanoid at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, citing a lack of verifiable information.

It is currently one of four reports from witnesses claiming to have seen a winged humanoid which elicited a security response at the airport that night.

The report, case file 117223, shown below, purportedly came from a member of the ground crew working during the July 22nd sighting.

I am part of the ground crew for a major air cargo facility at O’Hare, and we were working on unloading a cargo plane that had arrived earlier that evening. I was operating one of the lifts that lifts cargo containers down from the plane to the ground. It was about ten at night when the call came over our radios that there was a report of an unknown person being seen on the tarmac near the fence.
I began looking around and saw a large man standing approximately fifty feet away from us, near the fence separating us from the road. He must have been close to seven feet tall, but I was not close enough to tell for sure. He was wearing what looked like a black coat and was just standing there.
I radioed my supervisor that I saw someone over by the fence and my supervisor ran over to where I was at; by this time the entire ground crew was aware of this man’s presence and was radioing in to their supervisors.
It must have been no more than 20 seconds after that that the first of many airport security vehicles showed up. One approached the man from the other side of the fence, while another two drove past us and stopped short of the man, who by this time was easier to see with the car lights on him.
It did not look like any man I have ever seen, he was solid black and had red eyes that must have been reflecting the lights like cat's eyes; it also had wings that were now spread open and must have been 15 feet from tip to tip.
This man let out a loud screech, it sounded a lot like a barn owl when it tried to warn you away. This man then started flapping its wings and took off, you could hear the sound of the wings as it took off into the air and was gone in seconds.
I was honestly scared for my life and started to pray for protection. I know in this world that demons walk among us and I was certain that whatever this thing was, it had to be demonic and an agent of the devil.
A lot of my coworkers were also very frightened after this thing took off and many of them ran inside the safety of the plane when it took off. I am certain that this was a demon and it must have been sent here to frighten us.

MUFON investigators were ultimately unable to interview the witness, despite exchanging emails, and MUFON State Director Sam Maranto told The Singular Fortean Society that since “we have no verifiable information from any verifiable and reliable source indicating anything even remotely resembling such an event ever took place, we closed the report.”

However, added Maranto, "We are more than willing to open it up again if such data becomes available."

MUFON was unable to find any match with the name listed by the witness in Illinois, the address provided was that of the airport, and no identifiable ownership was found for the email provided.

The witness did provide a cellphone stylus drawing of the reported creature via email, which is pictured above.

MUFON investigator Tim Aines reportedly exchanged emails with the witness, but after the witness stopped responding, he called the phone number listed in the report.

Aines was not able to contact the witness using that number and it is suspected it could be fictitious, although, said Maranto, "Giving the submitter the benefit of possibly hitting the wrong key on their computer, [Aines] sent another email noting this very fact. To date there has been no response."

Despite MUFON’s difficulties in contacting the witness, investigator Manuel Navarette with UFO Clearinghouse said that he was able to interview the witness over the phone after the man contacted him directly.

"The witness was at first very hesitant and was not willing to go into much details due to the threat of losing his job," said Navarette.

The witness said "they were explicitly told to not talk to any media or investigators about any of the events that transpired that night or risk being disciplined, up to and including termination of employment,” explained Navarette.

Navarette reassured the man that "his anonymity would be preserved and that no information would be shared with anyone outside of the research team investigating this sighting."

“After about a half hour of talking and reassurance, the witness opened up about his sighting,” said Navarette.

The witness told Navarette that he had "initially contacted the Mutual UFO Network regarding his sighting and then contacted us after seeing UFO Clearinghouse and Phantoms & Monsters run the story about his reported sighting. When asked if he spoke with a MUFON field investigator, the witness said one contacted him via email and they exchanged one or two emails but after that there was radio silence and the investigator did not reach out to him again. The witness did provide information to the investigator regarding the sighting and included a sketch of the creature he reportedly saw. When asked if he could provide a copy of the sketch, the witness said he did not have it but could draw another for me."

As for the sighting itself, the witness told Navarette that "they were unloading a cargo plane that had just recently arrived and that there were about eight other people working both in and out of the place plus one or two supervisors watching over the operation."

[He] said someone got on the radio reporting someone was on the tarmac by the fence. That is when the witness looked over and saw the entity. He described it as approximately six to seven feet tall and thin with a large pair of black wings that were at least 10 feet across and with bright red eyes.
The witness said that the entity was standing near the fence and appeared to be observing them and did not appear to move toward them at all. The entity just stood there, slowly moving its wings back and forth.
According to the witness, the first TSA and airport security personnel showed up within two to three minutes of the initial sighting and they shined their flashlights directly at the entity. The entity then screeched and began to flap its wings faster and took off into the air. He stated that he saw the entity circle around twice before heading off toward the runways and into the night.
When asked why no one took a picture, the witness stated that he was in complete and total shock at what he was observing and the thought of taking a picture had not crossed his mind. He stated that if he had been observed taking a picture, it would have probably been confiscated by his superiors and TSA.

Navarette then asked the witness what he was told after the encounter, to which he responded, "[we] were told to get back to work and not to talk about any of what had just happened."

The witness said they were all pulled into a meeting the next day and told that it was nothing more than a large owl or heron and that they were explicitly told not to talk to anyone from the media regarding this sighting and that disciplinary measures would be strictly enforced including termination. [He] said that his direct supervisor along with a company executive were at this meeting and they were told to “forget the entire episode” and focus solely on their work.
The witness said the company executive came off with an aggressive stance against the employees involved in the incident and it was he who told the employees that anyone who spoke out about the events of the previous night would be dealt with directly by himself and his superiors and that they would be dealt with harshly.
When asked why he decided to speak out, the witness said he felt it needed to be told that these events are happening and that someone needed to know what he and his coworkers saw that night. When asked if he was scared of losing his job, the witness said he genuinely was and that is why he was going to such extraordinary lengths to protect his identity. It was at this point the witness said he would go no further and [I] thanked him for his time and concluded the interview.

Navarette concluded that "this witness does sound credible and does not seem to be attempting to deceive anyone with a fabricated story. The fact that multiple witnesses have come forward to corroborate this sighting has only lent credence to the validity of this sighting."

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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