The Singular Fortean Society was contacted recently by David Ramos, a 60-year-old retired police officer who said that in 1971, at the age of 12, he had encountered a shadowy winged humanoid near the North Branch of the Chicago River.

Ramos served as a police officer in Chicago’s 14th district from 1994-2009.

According to Ramos’ initial email:

When I was a kid about 12 years old in Chicago, we used to live near old Riverview Park. A bunch of us boys were playing around near the banks of the [North Branch of the Chicago River], throwing rubble concrete from when they demolished the park into the river and making big splashes. I didn't like being too close to the water, so while the others were down by the riverbank I went up to the path again by myself. I looked northward and I swear I saw a very tall, skinny man [who was] very dark on the path about 200 feet away. He glanced my way and threw his arms up, and he had wings and ran and flapped them and disappeared into the trees towards the bank. I was petrified right there...and looked around but my friends were looking south and still playing around. I said "Did you guys see that guy?" I wasn't sure If I was seeing a guy pranking [us] or what. It was always spooky by the river, even in broad daylight, where they demolished Riverview. I tried to explain but [my friends] told me to shut up and didn't pay any attention to me, [since] I was smaller and younger than them. I am now 60 years old [and] a retired Chicago police officer living in Florida, and [I] never told anybody else really until I saw your article just now. And it shocked the [expletive] out of me. I too got the feeling of something evil that day, and wanted to go home immediately.

In a follow-up email he added additional details.

I tried to get a look at his face when he glanced my way. Back then I thought he had like a scary Halloween mask on or something. There was no focal point for me because it was not a human-type face. Big eyes was the thing I remember. It still creeps me out to this day. I tried to remember if something bad happened to any of us shortly after that and…I just remembered that one of the older boys that we were with that day shot and killed a rival gang member shortly after that sighting. He was 16 at the time and went to jail at 17 for at least five years for murder.

Mothman sightings are seen by some to be harbingers of tragedy.

Investigator Tobias Wayland was able to contact Ramos over the phone for an interview.

"There was a path above the water, about five feet above the water on a slope. I wasn’t too comfortable being down there with these guys throwing concrete all over the place. I thought it was pretty dangerous, so I went up the embankment to the path," said Ramos.

"It was a fall day. In Chicago it’s always very gray, not too sunny or anything like that, but it was still daytime,” he continued. “I was by myself [on the path], and I looked down there, and there was a tall, black figure walking. He looked like he had a cape on. He was north of me, about two hundred feet. He was like a big, tall man with a cape on. He looked seven feet tall. He was facing north, [away from me]. I don’t know if he sensed me or whatever, but he looked back in my direction and I just couldn’t make out a face. I was like, ‘Where’s his face?’ I couldn’t make out a face, but I noticed he had big eyes—like he had goggles on or something—they were yellowish red. He threw up his right hand and there was a wing. It was huge! He ran north a few steps, started beating his wings, and went up into the trees."

“I was looking for a regular face, but it didn’t have a face—or it was too dark to see it. But it looked like he had goggles on; I couldn’t explain that,” Ramos added. “I was expecting this thing to be a man, but it turned around and it wasn’t a man.”

The experience had a profound effect on Ramos that he’s carried with him for the past 48 years.

"I never went back again," he said. "They built one of our stations right over there, the 19th district, that's where we used to exchange our cars and have our cars serviced. Even as a policeman, going over there for that, I still remembered that day and it was very creepy. It stuck with me forever."

The location of Ramos’ sighting is only a few miles west of Lake Michigan.

This is the latest news in a string of ‘Mothman’ sightings from within a few hundred mile radius surrounding Lake Michigan, including every state bordering the great lake. These sightings ostensibly began in the spring of 2017, but more historical accounts are being reported as more people become aware of the phenomenon. Sightings of weird winged beings around Lake Michigan have been reported at all hours, often in or near a park, and around water. Witnesses consistently describe a large, gray or black bat or bird-like creature—although in a small number of cases the creature was described as insect-like—sometimes with glowing or reflective red, yellow, or orange eyes; 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 avian being could explain some encounters. Sightings of anomalous avians, including thunderbirds and pterosaurs, are often reported in or near the same locations as those where witnesses have reported winged humanoids.

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.