Manuel Navarette of UFO Clearinghouse received a report recently from a man who claimed to have seen a "giant, skinny man with a large pair of wings and red eyes" while pulling out of a truck stop off of Interstate 41. The reported sighting took place at around 11:30 p.m. on February 15th, 2018.

I was driving home on Rt.94 headed back home. I pulled in to the TA truck stop to get something to drink and something to eat before finishing my trip home. It was about 11:30 p.m. (February 15, 2018) when I left the store and got in my car, as I was pulling out of the parking lot to get onto the Interstate I noticed what looks like large person standing to the side of the road. This thing looks right at me with very bright red eyes and then opened a huge pair of wings and started to fly off like some kind of big bat. The whole damn thing took less than 5 seconds but I know what I saw and it looked like a giant, skinny man with a large pair of wings and red eyes. I’m not sure what to tell you that it was, but I can assure you it’s something I’ve never seen on the Discovery Channel before.

Navarette said he was able to interview the witness, and plans to follow-up at the sighting location in an attempt to locate further witnesses.

I spoke with the witness regarding his sighting. The witness is a 37 year old male who lives in Gurnee, Illinois but works in Racine, Wisconsin. The witness works as an industrial welder and has worked at the same position for 21 years. The witness states that he takes the same route five to six times a week and has stopped at the truck stop in multiple times I have never seen anything like what he saw that night. The witness states that he stopped at the TA truck stop and spent about roughly 10 minutes inside the store. The witness got in his car and started headed back toward the highway when he saw what looked like a large winged humanoid. He stated that the encounter did not last very long and that during the encounter he saw a large humanoid figure that was solid black with a large pair of wings. The creature was hunched over and appear to be looking at something on the ground when the witness pulled up. The witness says that when he illuminated the creature, it looked up. Then the witness says that the creature took a couple of steps away from him and started flapping its wings and took off into the air. The witness seemed very sincere, albeit scared and a little bewildered. When asked questions meant of mislead, the witness quickly corrected me and stuck with the original story. He stated that the creature was out of sight within a matter of seconds and that he did not get out of the vehicle because he was a little frightened. When asked if others might have seen it, the witness states that there must be others because it is a busy truck stop. Further investigation of the area and the possibility of posting flyers asking if other witnesses have seen the entity will be necessary.

The location of the sighting is about a mile south of the Wisconsin/Illinois border, just off of Interstate 41--the interstate highway that connects the interchange of I-94 and U.S. Route 41. The TA truck stop is at the intersection of the interstate and Russell Road, and is bordered to the east by the Van Patten Woods Forest Preserve. Other forest preserves and natural areas dot the landscape to the immediate south and southeast. It's approximately eight miles from Lake Michigan, and 35 miles north of the last reported sighting of a flying humanoid in Oak Park, a village just west of Chicago.

This is the latest in a string of flying creature sightings reported in the Chicago area. Most of the sightings have taken place near the lakefront 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, 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.

If you enjoyed this article and would like to support the Singular Fortean Society, please consider becoming an official member by signing up through our Patreon page—membership includes a ton of extra content and behind-the-scenes access to the Society’s inner workings.