Woman Reports Series of Encounters with UFOs and Weird Humanoids from West Virginia to Illinois

Lon Strickler of Phantoms & Monsters was contacted recently by a woman who wished to report a series of encounters she said she’s had with UFOs and weird humanoids over the past decade.

This is reportedly the first time she has shared her experiences, since, she said to Strickler, “I've never told a soul about this, fearing that I would be rebuffed.”

The woman’s first encounter came one night in November of 2014 at approximately 9 p.m. when she was 17 years old and living at home with her parents and younger brother in Morgantown, West Virginia.

She was in bed watching television at the time.

According to her testimony:

Directly above my bed were three windows with glass panels. The television was to the left of my bed. Suddenly, my attention was drawn to the floor approximately four feet from the desk my television was on. What I saw was a beam of light moving very quickly in small circles in one concentrated spot on my floor. The circle motions it made were not perfect, the best I can describe them as were "wobbly circles." The beam was solid, pure solid light, and approximately an inch or less wide. It was very thin. The color was pure white with somewhat of a blueish tinge around the outside of the beam. The beam itself was bright but did not seem to emit any light beyond its edges. My room was not filled with light, only this beam.
I watched the light for about 30 seconds, but I began to feel dread and fled my room in a state of total panic. I was not able to tell exactly which of the three windows the beam was aimed through but assumed that had it beamed straight into my room onto the wall parallel it would be 90 degrees, I would estimate that it hit my floor at a diagonal angle of about 60 degrees.
When I got downstairs, I looked outside to see any evidence of a craft (I [had] never to my knowledge witnessed a UFO [before]) and there was none. There were no aircraft of any kind besides high-flying commercial planes. I did not tell anyone in my house about what I had seen. I wasn't sure if my mind was playing tricks on me or what had actually happened, but I saw something. When I checked the area later, there was no evidence whatsoever of the beam having ever touched my floor.

Her next anomalous experience came just two days later.

Two days later, I witnessed one more anomalous event which I believe may be connected, and this time my younger brother was also a witness. A pitch-black figure, which appeared to be two dimensional, in a very humanoid form, quickly passed across a window and wall which were directly in front of where we were sitting, about 12 feet away. The figure had no discernable features on its face, no clothing, and no hair. Just a round head and human-like torso were all we were able to make out. It was impossible to make a height estimate. It was for certain inside our house, not a reflection from outside. The sighting of this "being" lasted about 10 seconds. Then it faded away. There was no logical explanation for what we saw, it was most certainly paranormal. I have seen a figure like that once before and I am certain it was of the same nature.

Nearly a decade later, at around 7:15 p.m.on August 15th, 2023, while at the Public Storage on Green Bay Road in Evanston, Illinois, she claimed to have seen a "dark humanoid-like being" flying overhead.

She was with her husband and daughter at the time.

"It had large wings that were shaped like a bat," she said. "I'd say that it was approximately 150 to 200 feet above me, gliding westbound very slowly. I reached for my phone, but it suddenly gathered speed and quickly zoomed off."

Most recently, at approximately 9:40 p.m. on August 20th, 2023, she said, "My husband and I observed a huge bright cylindrical object in the sky."

"It streaked above our property while we were in the backyard. [...] It was traveling too fast for a photograph," she said of the object.

Following the sighting, she found Strickler's contact information while searching Google, and then read about the history of winged humanoid sightings in the area, sometimes referred to as the "Chicago Mothman" or “Lake Michigan Mothman” phenomenon.

"I had never heard anything about these sightings previously," she said. "I wonder if this winged humanoid was related to my previous experiences in Morgantown?"

Strickler asked the woman if she would be willing to meet with an investigator from The Singular Fortean Society, but she has so far been unwilling to do so.

This woman is not alone in having witnessed both a winged humanoid and a UFO.

Witnesses Gerald Turrise, Jonathan Lane, and Shana and Barbera Clippert have all reported UFO sightings along with winged humanoid sightings, and another witness named Paula said she saw a mysterious beam of light with no apparent source in the same area she would later encounter a winged humanoid.

And at least one other report of a shadow person has been received alongside the winged humanoid reports.

Because of its proximity to other sighting locations, the creature described to Strickler in this report could be related to the larger Lake Michigan Mothman phenomenon. Those sightings are commonly reported within a few-hundred-mile radius surrounding Lake Michigan, including every state bordering the great lake.

The 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, 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.

A map of the sightings, compiled by Strickler, is available here.