Multiple Witnesses Report Camouflaged Creature "Straight from the Movie 'Predator'" in Chicago

A still image from the movie Predator (1987). *(20th Century Fox)*

Lon Strickler of Phantoms & Monsters recently received a report from a woman who said she had seen a “transparent human figure that shimmed a yellowish-white color” last September in Chicago’s Groveland Park neighborhood.

I'm no storyteller but I will try to recall as much detail as possible. Now my experience happened on September 2nd, 2022, so not that long ago. I had been out through the day running a few errands here and there for my dad who is elderly. Later that same day [I returned] back to my dad's apartment, which just happens to be in a tall residential building in Chicago. His apartment is six floors up.
At some point during the earlier evening, I decided to go out on the balcony for a quick cigarette. I was standing there just staring out into thin air not really thinking about much or doing much. As I stood there with my cigarette in hand, I shifted position and began to observe a very large tree about 20 feet away. It was roughly about 15 feet down from me. I noticed that one of the branches on this tree was bowing quite heavily which I remember now thinking back was quite odd at the time.
As I'm staring at this branch and trying to make sense of what my eyes are seeing, I have this horrible feeling come over me. The most intense sense of dread and fear. It was like almost every part of my body was screaming at me to turn around and run, but I didn't know why.
At this very moment, the bowing branch that I had just been observing began to shake violently despite my internal instincts still screaming at me to leave. Curiosity had now gotten the better of me and I started to move along the railing to get a closer look.
Then I saw it.
What I saw at first was a small glimmering form. As I stared a bit closer, this glimmer then became what I can only describe as a transparent human figure that [shimmered] a yellowish-white color. I snapped out of my fixated stare and quickly took a step back from the railing. It suddenly hit me that what I was looking at was like something straight from the movie "Predator." More specifically when the Predator is using camouflage.
At that very moment, when I realized what I had just seen, this 'thing' dropped out of the tree and hit the ground below. It landed directly behind a man who just happened to be walking past at the time. The man immediately spun around assuming that someone had thrown something at him. The only thing I noticed was a cloud of smoke or dust arising from the ground behind the man. I waited for some time expecting to see this thing re-emerge from the dust or smoke, but it was completely gone.
At the same time, another neighbor just a few floors below had also observed exactly the same thing as me and they managed to confirm all the same details. The neighbor and I then managed to track down the man who was walking past a few hours later. We had a conversation with the man, and he said that he'd felt an impact but didn't see anything when he turned around. He also went on to report that he felt the same dread that I'd experienced only hours before.
Does anyone have any idea what these beings are? I feel like they can be dangerous.

Strickler said that he was eventually able to interview the witnesses by telephone.

"I was eventually able to talk to both witnesses by telephone," Strickler said. "They both are very apprehensive about this entity. [The woman who submitted the original report said she] believes that the entity still inhabits the area and that she occasionally experiences a feeling of dread when visiting her father."

The Chicago metropolitan area—along with numerous locations within a radius of a few hundred miles surrounding Lake Michigan—has been the site of dozens of flying humanoid sightings resembling the infamous Mothman reported in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, from 1966-67.

The Lake Michigan Mothman sightings ostensibly began in the spring of 2017, but historical sighting reports gathered since then date back to 1957.

These winged humanoid sightings have been accompanied by a variety of encounters with seemingly flightless entities like the one mentioned above.

In Chicagoland, a woman said she may have seen a mysterious humanoid creature while bicycling with her friend in the Cook County Forest Preserve on the afternoon of December 8th, 2019; a couple said they saw a “large, thin man appear out of [Schiller Woods]” with what "almost looked like a praying mantis’ eyes, just jet black" on December 23rd, 2019; a woman said she saw a “very tall, skinny, all-black figure about seven to eight feet tall” shuffling towards her while walking her roommate’s dog in the Albany Park neighborhood on January 9th, 2020; a man said he encountered a "humanoid spider or other insect ... with white flesh" whose "eyes were human-like and had a reddish glow" in Evanston, Illinois, in the spring of 2020; and a man said he saw an “egg-shaped” object fly over O’Hare International Airport and shine a “brilliant blue light” to the ground, through which a “person” appeared to be taken aboard the craft on January 23rd, 2020. That “egg-shaped” UFO was reportedly seen over Resthaven Cemetery, a little-known cemetery within the boundaries of O’Hare. Also at O’Hare, a trucker said he’d encountered a diminutive, grey-skinned, black-eyed humanoid while picking up air freight on the night of July 31st, 2020.

Additionally, a man in Richmond, Indiana, said he and a friend had seen a “shadowy man” transform into “a big, black shadowy cat-like creature” after suddenly appearing out of a “flash of bright light” in June of 1993.

Because of the sightings’ close geographic proximity to reports of the ‘Lake Michigan Mothman,’ some connection to that case cannot be ruled out.

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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