Lon Strickler of Phantoms and Monsters received the above sketch along with a brief email message on Wednesday, September 27th; although the reported sighting took place the night before.

Hello, I just found your email and want to tell you what I saw. Please do not contact me. I live near the elementary school on Central Park Ave. Last night (Tuesday September 26, 2017) at 9:15 PM I heard the neighbor dog barking like crazy. I looked out the back door and turned on the porch light. We saw this monster bat spread open its wings in my back yard. My son saw it too. It took off into the air in just a second or two. We both fell to our knees. I am so scared by this. My son drew this sketch. The red eyes were very bright and it looked at us.

This report came out of Chicago's Little Village neighborhood, which would place it within several miles of Lake Michigan. It is the fourth such sighting to be reported in September from that area.

"It took me awhile to figure out that this sighting was in Little Village, and very close to the previous sightings," Strickler said. "I believe the school the witness is referring to is the Castellanos Elementary School located at 2524 S. Central Park Avenue."

Strickler plans to follow-up with the witness, and hopes to be able to gather more information about their sighting.

"I am going to attempt to reach out to the witness and see if they will reconsider adding more information or possibly talk to me or Manuel [Navarette of UFO Clearinghouse]," he said.

UPDATE: Lon Strickler was able to contact the witnesses and clarify some of the details previously received; although there were some slight changes to the description of events.

“I was able to talk to the witness this evening," Strickler said. "I sent an email and was given a telephone number to contact them."

The woman and her adult son witnessed the winged being and are sticking to most of the original story...though there were a few revisions. I asked how long they observed the being, and I was told by the son that he watched it for at least 10 seconds. His mother had an immediate reaction to it and dropped to the floor. He continued to watch the being until it flapped it's wings and ascended quickly. He said that the wings were about 15 ft. wide when fully open, judging by the width of the yard. He thought the height was about 6-7 ft. He never heard a sound, even when it flapped the wings. It was standing in front of the garage at the end of the yard, so there was a good backdrop for him to see detail. The son actually wrote the original email...seems his mother doesn't use a computer. I asked if he would talk to an investigator...he said possibly, but they would not be able to meet at his mother's house. He also told me that his girlfriend drew the sketch this morning from his description. He also said that the drawing was very close to what he witnessed. He told me that he was hesitant to make a report, but his girlfriend and her brother had heard of the sightings and gave him my information. We had a pleasant conversation...but he is concerned for his mother. She is not reacting well to the sighting.

This is the latest in a string of flying humanoid 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. 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."

UFO Clearinghouse also offered the following plea to witnesses who may be concerned with being identified publicly.

This is a plea to any witnesses that have had similar encounters in the Little Village neighborhood. You are assured that your report and your identity will remain anonymous if you so wish. The information gathered here will be purely for research purposes into these sighting and will not be shared with anyone else outside of the UFO Clearinghouse research team and will NOT be shared with any governmental or law enforcement agencies. Esta es una súplica a los testigos que han tenido encuentros similares en el vecindario de Little Village. Usted está seguro de que su informe y su identidad permanecerán anónimas si así lo desea. La información reunida aquí será puramente para propósitos de investigación en estas observaciones y no será compartida con nadie más fuera del equipo de investigación de UFO Clearinghouse y NO será compartida con ninguna agencia gubernamental o de aplicación de la ley.

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.

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