Lon Strickler of Phantoms and Monsters recently received the following report from a witness who claimed to have seen a weird flying creature at the Goshen Dam in Goshen, Indiana, in the summer of 2000.

I came across your post on my Facebook timeline and it automatically brought back some rather scary, yet crazy memories of a run in with what everyone has been recently seeing in the Chicago area or something very similar.



It was back in the late summer of 2000, around this time of the year. There's a park/dam in a town by the name of Goshen, Indiana that people frequently visit during the day. A friend of mine lived right near the dam and sometimes at night we would head over there and just hang out.



One clear night we decided to take a walk to the dam since there was a full moon out and it was a really bright out...so we figured why not. So we walked to the dam which was about a 5 min walk. Once you get to the damn area there's a long path along the top of the lake that you have to walk to get to the end where the dam starts at. We were walking like normal, just talking and looking at the sky when we approached the end area of the dam. There are some steps that go down to the bottom of the dam that's usually used by people who like to fish.



Anyway...we hear this loud rumbling, like the rocks moving like crazy down below. We were like 'what the heck is that noise, what's going on down there?' All of the sudden we hear this whoosh. It was something similar to the whoosh you would hear from a pterodactyl in a Jurassic Park movie, that's the only way I can describe the sound. It flew right at the edge of the dam but it was too dark to clearly see it. What we did see was the outline before is swooped in the moonlight. I remember feeling the intense rush of air from its flap. I've seen A LOT of birds growing up in the country and traveling to all kinds of nature parks, and this was no ordinary bird. It had a scary similar resemblance to the creeper in mid-flight with it's wings in the movie Jeepers Creepers.



But that wasn't the scary part.



Not more than 3 whooshes from its wings, we hear the brush behind us that leads to the woods move around. Then we hear this loud BANG! Someone was SHOOTING at it! We bolted out of there as fast as we could, sprinting back towards the parking lot at the end of the dam, when we heard this loud CRASH on the opposite side of the lake where we think the creature landed.



We got back to my friend's house and heard police sirens. We didn't go back out, but we went the next day to see what crashed on the opposite side. There were huge broke tree branches but nothing else. A man was outside walking around the area and he said he lives nearby and heard something that sounded like a plane crash in the trees. But there was no sign of anything but broken trees.



My friend and I talk about that thing every time we see each other. His uncle witnessed something like that in 2002 in the South Bend area.



But the real question is...who was shooting at it? That's what bugged me the most all these years! We made jokes it was Van Helsing lol.



But yeah, when I hear stories like it really makes you think of all the OTHER things that are there.

This sighting occurred on the opposite side of Lake Michigan from Chicago, about 50 miles away from the great lake. It predates any of the Chicago area sightings reported so far by a decade, but as this story continues to run, older sightings are beginning to be reported.

The recent flap of flying humanoid reports in Chicago began in early 2017, and since then sightings have spread to the surrounding suburbs. As the sightings continue to be reported, witnesses who have had similar experiences in the past are now coming forward; something that suggests this phenomenon may have a history previously unguessed.

The sightings generally take place in the evening or at night, often in or near a park and around water, and witnesses consistently describe a large, bat or bird-like creature with humanoid features; although in one case the creature was reportedly "insect-like."

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, and an interactive map here.