"Chicago Mothman" Video Prompts Skepticism from Investigators

Lon Strickler of Phantoms and Monsters received a video recently from someone claiming several of their friends witnessed the “Chicago Mothman” flying around during an evening cookout in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood on June 10th, 2023.

Make sure to enable sound for the video in order to hear the witnesses’ reaction to what they are seeing.

According to their emailed report:

Hi, Lon. This is the first time I have ever reached out to a paranormal researcher, so I hope I'm doing this correctly.
On June 10, 2023, I had about 10 friends over to my new home in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood for an evening rooftop cookout. For the scene setting, my rooftop is on the 26th floor of a high-rise on Lake Shore Drive, surrounded by buildings of similar height, right across from Lake Michigan. The panoramic views from this height reach up to 25 miles in every direction.
During the party, around 6:45 PM, we began to run low on chilled wine. So, five members of the group, myself included, went downstairs to my home on the 3rd floor to get more wine and use the restroom. When we came upstairs, we found the remaining five who stayed on the roof visibly frightened and disturbed. These were people who were born and raised Chicagoans, not phased [sic] by anything! But they were absolutely scared of "something they had just seen."
They explained to us that a large, 10-13 foot tall, 15-foot wingspan "person" was FLYING AROUND THE BUILDING. I could not believe what I was hearing, but truly, I could not believe it. The being "appeared" next to them, about 15-20 feet off the roof, 30 feet above, and began to circle, looking at them! They all said they fell silent, nobody moved. After 15 seconds, the being "loudly" flapped its wings and "glided" west. This is when a friend present at the party took out his camera and filmed it. Please see the video attached.
The being then disappeared 100+ feet above what looked to be the intersection of Broadway and Halsted streets, about 0.4 miles away.
Over the last year, my friends have been scared, nervous, and apprehensive to go on my roof. They had no idea what they had seen.
Until we watched Unsolved Mysteries' newest season. We all sat there in complete silence. THAT IS WHAT THEY SAW!
We'd all be willing to share our story with you.
Let me know if you'd be interested in talking!

Strickler said he talked to the person who submitted the video and that he plans "to talk to other witnesses who observed the winged being," although he "wanted to get this out ASAP after the video was cleaned up a bit."

Please note that a modified version of the video is available on the Phantoms & Monsters website.

Strickler also stated that the location of the supposed sighting was 3649 North Lakeshore Drive.

Other investigators who have viewed the footage remain dubious.

Fortean investigator Ashley Hilt (On Wednesdays We Talk Weird) said that while the video is “compelling,” it is “too dark and blurry to make a definitive conclusion.”

Furthermore, she added, the video’s timing with the release of Unsolved Mysteries’ new Mothman episode “seems a little suspicious,” while “the audio definitely sounds like kids or young adults maybe reacting to a giant bird of prey rather than a winged humanoid.”

“I expect more of these to crop up with the recent airing of Unsolved Mysteries and, while I can’t vouch for or dispute this video or what’s to come, I can say it will take more than a blurry video to convince anyone of the validity (of this phenomenon),” Hilt said.

Meanwhile, folklorist Adam Benedict (The Pine Barrens Institute) and paranormal investigator Nick Simons (28 Days Haunted) shared a similar sentiment in conversation with The Singular Fortean Society’s Tobias Wayland.

Benedict began by questioning the being’s reported dimensions.

“Just my personal opinion, for a ‘humanoid’ to be that big, 10-13 feet tall, its wings would need to be much, much larger than 15 feet,” he said. “Unless these humanoids weigh as much as a piece of Styrofoam, their wings are much too small.”

Benedict continued by expressing suspicion with the timing of the video’s release and the witnesses’ response to what they were seeing in the footage.

"They even said they recently watched the Mothman episode of Unsolved Mysteries. So, they took their opportunity to join in on the sightings and made one up. They filmed a bird, joked around about how they were scared, and sent it to Lon as a joke,” he said.

"So where does the video date from June last year come in?" Simons asked.

"Perhaps they were already aware of the phenomena said to be occurring in the city back in 2023? Mothman is starting to take the top spot as number one cryptid away from Bigfoot, and the Chicago sightings will easily come up in Google if searched," Benedict responded. "So, they made a video, forgot about it, and then when the Unsolved Mysteries episode came out, the person who took it remembered it and decided to submit it."

“The tone of the, ‘I don't like thaaaaaaat, I'm scaaaaaaared,’ really doesn't match with what the person who submitted the report is saying,” he added.

Simons said the video simply had “too many red flags” for him.

“First time reaching out to an investigator, and they reach out to a guy from Unsolved Mysteries only after the episode aired with shitty video of a bird; a very sarcastic [year-old] group video,” he said.

Benedict agreed, responding, “Biggest red flag for me is the joking tone of the people on camera who were supposedly very scared and frightened by what they saw. The monster was apparently still flying around the building, you were scared, and yet you didn't actively try to leave to go back downstairs. You chose to stay? Doesn't seem right.”

“Chose to stay and laugh,” Simons added.

Because of its proximity to other sighting locations, the above report could be related to the larger Lake Michigan Mothman investigation. 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, or orange eyes, and humanoid features such as an upright, bipedal posture 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.