Lon Strickler of Phantoms and Monsters received a pair of reports recently from the late nineties that describe a demonic flying gargoyle seen in Illinois. The reports came on the heels of another report submitted last Sunday from a Wisconsin man who described an encounter with a humanoid "bat-dragon" that occurred in April of 2017.

Strickler posted the following reports on May 1st, 2018.

The first report took place in Rock Island, Illinois, in 1997. Rock Island is around 160 miles west of Chicago near the border between Illinois and Iowa.

I am now 32 and this story is coming out of Rock Island, Illinois, about 3 hours away from Chicago. In about the year 1997 I remember my mom having to work 3rd shift. She asked me to run out to the car and get something for her before she went to work. This was about 9 or 10pm and all of a sudden I heard something make a big whoosh that sounded like ginormous wings right above my head.



So I looked up (we lived right in front of the Chippiannock Cemetery...that never ever scared me mind you even at night) and I looked up at street light across the street from our house (but that night the light wasn't on it went out). So I remember looking up and all of a sudden I seen a figure with red eyes looking back at me and it was just sitting there and I could tell it had huge Wings down at its side.



So I ran back in the house and told my mom that I just seen this thing out there and told her what it was. I don't know if she believe me or not but she was like, "that ain't nothing but the devil after yo a**". So I was scared. So after that I went to my room and lay down and all of the sudden I heard the whooshing sound by my window. I can't remember if I had seen anything or not. I just heard the sound again and I was just terrified. So I just close my blinds, turned my TV on and fell asleep.



Whatever I seen that night I don't know if they call it a devil or what, but it was real. I remember it probably being about 5 ft tall in the wings had to be pretty large because I remember when it was looking at me from on top of the the light pole, its wings were kind of like hanging down as so if it was wrapped up and they look pretty big. From that day on I believe all the sightings that I've been hearing about were true. I've been hearing about it for years.



Thanks for listening to my story if there is any more information you need just let me know.

Strickler said he was able to speak to the witness of this first report over the telephone.

"I called the witness and she described the incident in detail," Strickler said. "She stated that it reminded her of a gargoyle and that the eyes were quite bright and that there were small protrusions or horns on the head. It seemed that the incident still bothers her to this day...very believable."

The second report is from the Lisle/Naperville area only 25 miles west of Chicago, and took place roughly 20 years ago.

I was a senior in high school, taking a late night ride with my boyfriend near his house in Naperville/Lisle, Illinois. We were sneaking out to have a cigarette. As we were driving along a street, slowly with both windows completely down (had a Mustang and didn’t want to wake the neighborhood with his loud exhaust)...we heard a loud screech in the distance.



We looked at each other and confirmed that we both had heard the same thing. He slowed down to a complete stop to listen. All of the sudden, coming from the left side of the driver's side of the front windshield appeared this gargoyle-like thing. It was about 4 feet in length, with wings, front claws, Reptilian like skin and big glowing eyes. The color is hard to remember, it was almost transparent like...purple.



As it flew in front of the windshield, literally over the cars hood, it stopped suddenly and proceeded to scare the sh*t out of us both. Its eye protruded from it’s head and it made a snarling like jester. It definitely was trying to scare us. It then flew off or disappeared.



This happened so quickly. The adrenaline in our veins pumped instantly from the fright. Immediately after the thing flew off, I looked to the left at my boyfriend and every hair on both of his arms was standing straight up. Again, we both confirmed what we both had seen and were bewildered.



20 years later, I still wonder what we had seen. I’ve researched on my own on the net. I have found that what I had witnessed has been possibly been seen and may be still out there.



This sighting makes me a believer that there is another dimension that we cannot see. It sometimes may show its face. This thing, this entity was not nice. It was demonic, it used its power over us to scare us beyond anything that I’ve ever felt before.



I drive by the location all the time. I live near it. The location is near a wooded area/a subdivision and...get this, an Abbey and Monastery. The land that we were traveling on and also the wooded area (perhaps it lived in) was once land owned by the Abbey. Is there a connection? I’d love to know!

Strickler has not yet spoken to the second witness, but stated he will update the report after doing so.

Both witnesses told Strickler that they found Phantoms and Monsters after using the internet search engine Google to find stories similar to their own. The witness in Wisconsin, too, admitted that he found Strickler's website the same way.

Flying humanoid sightings from the greater Lake Michigan region and surrounding areas have been reported to the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), UFO Clearinghouse, and the Singular Fortean Society, but the greatest number of reports have been sent to Phantoms and Monsters. The likeliest explanation for this is the popularity of Phantoms and Monsters combined with how search engines like Google prioritize websites.

Google's process uses an algorithm that prioritizes websites in a search return according to relevance, which is determined based on a variety of factors, not the least of which is the number of incoming links leading to a page. The flying humanoid reports from Phantoms and Monsters have been shared on a variety of platforms linking to the site, and thus it is prioritized in many Google searches regarding the subject.

Other efforts have been made to funnel reports to a manageable number of websites including Phantoms and Monsters--such as the links at the bottom of this article--but search engine optimization remains the likeliest explanation for the sheer number of reports made to Strickler's site. And as the sightings and reports continue, so too will the visibility of the existing reports increase, which will likely lead to even more and even older reports being sent to sites like Phantoms and Monsters--the easier the reports are to find, the more people will come forward with stories from the past that they otherwise wouldn't have shared in isolation.

This is the latest news in a string of flying creature sightings reported around Lake Michigan. Most of the sightings have taken place near the lakefront in Chicago within a few miles of Lake Michigan, although there are some reports coming from the suburbs surrounding Chicago and even farther afield. The sightings generally take place in the evening or at night, often in or near a park, and around water. Witnesses consistently describe a large, bat or bird-like creature, although in a small number of cases the creature was described as insect-like; and humanoid features such as arms and legs are often reported. 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 large bird or bird-like being could explain some encounters.

To report a sighting, contact us directly at The Singular Fortean Society through our contact page.

You can view a timeline of the sightings so far here, and an interactive map here.