Woman Reports Sighting of Tall, Owl-Like Being with Bright, Glowing Red Eyes near O'Hare International Airport

A photograph of the sighting location taken by Navarette. *(Manuel Navarette)*

Warning: This article contains strong language and adult situations.

Manuel Navarette of UFO Clearinghouse recently received the following report from a woman who claimed that she and her friend encountered a creature with “bright red eyes” and a “big black body” while parked at a construction site near Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport at around 10 p.m. on March 5th.

I was out driving around with a guy I had just started talking to. We were out by the airport just cruising around, listening to music and getting to know one another. We decided to park to smoke some bud and one thing led to another.
We were in the backseat when he looked up and started screaming “What the fuck!” over and over again. It was then that we felt like something bumped into the side of the car, like when someone slammed up on the side of your ride.
I sat up and saw a pair of bright red eyes and a big black body looking into the drivers side window into the backseat. It scared the hell out of both of us and we both started screaming out loud, this thing kept looking into the car and then it just disappeared.
A security guard shows up, then two more show up, they made us get out of the car and started asking us why we are there, but after looking at us they start asking about what we had seen, we told them and they screamed at us to get dressed and leave.

Navarette said that, after some convincing, he was able to speak with the witness over the phone.

"I contacted the witness via email and after much assurance, she agreed to an interview over the phone,” he said.

The investigator called and spoke with the woman, whom he described as a 20-year-old Hispanic woman. Her companion that evening, he said, was a 26-year-old man and also Hispanic.

According to what the witness told Navarette, she and her friend had been out driving around when they decided to stop at a construction site near the airport to talk and smoke marijuana. No one was around at the site, given the late hour, and the couple decided to park near the entrance but still out of the way to avoid law enforcement.

"For the witness’s sake, I asked her to please skip the details and to please just stick to the sighting itself," said Navarette, at which time she recounted the details of their incident.

She described the entity as being tall and thinly built with bright red eyes that were "glowing." She [also] described feeling the car move as if someone had slammed against the side of it, followed by her partner starting to scream.
The witness described the entity as bending down to peer into the window and from the brief glimpse she saw of it when she sat up, described it as owl-like. Her partner told her that it looked like its eyes were set into the entity’s shoulders.
The witness stated that the creature was gone within a few seconds and that almost immediately the security guards arrived. When asked how long from the creature leaving to the security guards arrival, the witness said that she was certain the guards had to have seen the creature taking off as they arrived.

When Navarette asked the witness about the security guard, he said she told him that the guards asked them to get out of their car and, seeing the state of them, asked them why they were there and what they had seen.

"The guards questioned them for a few minutes, took their information, and then told them to finish getting dressed and leave immediately," Navarette said. "She said they were both told that the next time they were seen at this site, they would be arrested immediately."

Following that encounter, the witnesses reportedly left, and the young woman was dropped off at home.

Navarette said that he asked about the second witness's contact information, but the woman told him that the man did not want to be contacted, and that they had only talked a few times after the event but had not gone out again.

"The witness then expressed her desire to conclude the interview and I thanked her for her time," Navarette added.

He explained that the construction site where the sighting reportedly happened is on Highway 72, and that he planned to conduct a field investigation of the area soon. Navarette speculated that the construction could be part of the expansion project currently happening at the airport, but said that details "will be confirmed with further investigation."

Research by investigator Tobias Wayland into incomplete construction projects at O’Hare showed that a major expansion for Terminal 5 is currently underway, but is located on the southeastern edge of the airport’s campus—directly opposite of the reported sighting location. However, the I-490/I-90 Interchange Project is still underway adjacent to the sighting area, and while not attached to the airport, would explain the construction site’s location.

This makes it unlikely that the witness encountered the coordinated security response mentioned in other encounters in and around the airport.

Navarette promised that any information obtained during the field investigation will also be on the UFO Clearinghouse website and shared with Phantoms & Monsters Fortean Research Team.

"As of right now this is an ongoing investigation and further information will be posted as it becomes available," Navarette said.

The Singular Fortean Society partners with both UFO Clearinghouse and Phantoms & Monsters to investigate anomalous sightings, and will update this article with any new information as it is 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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