In 1986 the worst nuclear disaster the world has ever seen occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Abandoned for nearly a quarter of a century, witnesses believe that the spirits of those who died in the tragic accident still roam the town.

At the start of April 1986 the people living and working at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, located near Pripyat, Ukraine, in the former Soviet Union began to experience a series of strange events. Sightings of a creature, described as a large black, bird like creature or a headless man with a 20 foot wingspan, and red eyes began to be reported by workers of the power plant. The creature would later become known as the Black Bird of Chernobyl.

People who witnessed the Black Bird soon started to experience horrific nightmares, threatening phone calls and some had first hand encounters with the winged beast. Reports of these strange happening continued to increase until the morning of April 26th, 1986. At 1.23am, reactor number four at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the former Soviet Union exploded.

The Power Plant suffered a catastrophic steam explosion that resulted in a fire, causing a series of additional explosions followed by a nuclear meltdown. The power plant spewed a plume of radioactive fallout which drifted over parts of the Western Soviet Union, Eastern and Western Europe, Scandinavia, the UK, Ireland and eastern North America within 48 hours.

The radioactive fallout was four hundred times greater than that of Hiroshima bomb and was the first level seven event, described as a “Major Accident” and the highest grade possible to occur on the International Nuclear Event Scale. The Chernobyl Disaster, as the incident was dubbed, is considered the worst accident ever in the history of nuclear power.

Following the meltdown, and subsequent explosions and fires, Soviet helicopters were dispatched to the scene, equipped with special fire fighting gear. These helicopters circled the plant dropping clay, sand, lead and other extinguishing chemicals on to the burning facility. Most of the fire was put out by 5am, but the fire burning in reactor 4 continuing to blaze for several hours after.

The fire fighters who responded were unaware of the nature of the fire, assuming that it was simply an electrical fire, and received mass overdoses of radiation leading to many of their deaths. Many of the workers who survived the initial blast and fire, claimed to have witnessed the large black, bird like creature gliding through the swirling plumes of irradiated smoke pouring from the reactor. Most of these workers would later die of radiation poisoning.

The catastrophe left the nearby Soviet city of Pripyat a radioactive ghost town. The morning of the catastrophe, the population of Pripyat was 50,000, by sunrise the following day, the entire population was evacuated, never to return. No further sightings of the Black Bird of Chernobyl were reported after the Chernobyl Disaster, leaving researchers to speculate just what haunted the workers of the plant during the days leading up to the disaster.

The most commonly accepted theory suggests that the Black Bird of Chernobyl may have been the same creature, dubbed the Mothman that terrorised the population of Point Pleasant, West Virginia, leading up to the collapse of the Silver Bridge on December 15, 1968.

Investigators have suggested that the appearance of this creature is an omen of disasters to come in the area in which it shows itself. The physical description of both the Black Bird of Chernobyl and the Mothman are very similar, and the reports of nightmares and threatening phone calls leading up to these disasters are shared in both cases.

Both the Black Bird of Chernobyl and the Mothman have not been sighted since their respective disasters, leaving many unanswered questions.

Pripyat, the nearby abandoned Chernobyl worker town, is believed to be haunted. People have had the feeling of being watched when walking past the city hospital. Apparitions and shadows are often seen. Some have even reported being touched.

A harrowing account at Chernobyl was given by Andrei Kharsukhov, a Nuclear Physicist from the University of Buffalo, after visiting the site during 1997.

“I arrived at the abandoned power station at about 7:30 am. I proceeded directly to the Reactor Four sarcophagus where the explosion took place. I could not enter, due to the radiation.”

“I stood by the entrance taking radiation and roentgen readings. I know no one could be inside the old reactor core, but I could hear very distinctly hear the sound of someone screaming for help, shouting that there was a fire inside.”

“I ran upstairs to tell someone, but they said that when I entered the reactor control room, I was the first person to open that door in three years, and the only way to get inside the old reactor is through the doors I came in through. If someone had gone inside the reactor when I was not looking, they would have tripped an alarm that goes off when the reactor door is opened mechanically.”

“The reactor door requires a password and a handprint, yet someone, or something was inside. Later that evening, as we were eating dinner outside the building by the river next to the plant, a flood light turned on in the room of the installation. There was no way anyone could be inside. As we ate we figured there was a power surge or something. Then just as my colleague said that, the light turned off.

When SyFy channel’s Destination Truth team conducted a paranormal investigation at Chernobyl, numerous incidents were recorded. After donning radioactive protection suits, the team investigated the remains of Reactor 4. They were shocked to see a human figure appear on a thermal imaging camera inside the reactor. Throughout their analysis of the abandoned hospital, the team continues to spot multiple figures moving in the seemingly abandoned building.