The Singular Fortean Society was recently contacted by a witness who said she had seen a hulking, winged creature in Wauconda, Illinois. That encounter was preceded by a sighting of a strange beam of light two years prior.

The witness agreed to allow the use of her first name, Paula.

On April 20th, 2014 Paula was sitting near a window in the bedroom of her ground-level apartment near the Lakewood Forest Preserve in Wauconda when she saw a bright beam of light “come shooting down” across the street at around 11 p.m.

“It was so bright and defined,” said Paula.

The light, which lasted between 15 and 20 seconds, was an orange/gold color and did not illuminate its surroundings; nor did it move much, making only a slight “side-to-side or back-and-forth” motion.

The light retracted at one point, only to reappear a moment later.

Paula fell back onto her bed in shock.

“Oh my god, this thing sees me!” she remembers thinking. “I had the deepest feeling this thing saw me, it knows.”

But the light retracted a final time and was gone.

“I heard a hum at the end, just before it took off,” said Paula.