Couple encounter flying humanoid during walk in Bensenville, Illinois

Date of Sighting: August 2, 2022
Time of Sighting: Approximately 2030
Location of Sighting: Bensenville, Illinois
Number of Witnesses: Two

Investigation Status: Active

Sighting Details:

I was out with my boyfriend for our nightly walk around the walking trail at Redmond Reservoir. We live in the apartment complex directly across the street from the park and do nightly walks around the walking trail to get some exercise. Tonight we were on our second time around and were approaching the wooden bridge at the top of the path when we spotted what we thought was a large bird landing by the trees on the other side of the bridge. I told my boyfriend about what I saw and he told me it might be some geese we had seen earlier when we got home from work. Seeing geese was not unusual as we see and hear them all the time during the spring and summer months. As we continued to walk, we were engrossed in our conversation as we walked over the bridge when we heard a very loud screeching sound, like the sound a large owl makes, only much, much louder. We then saw the same large bird taking off, only this time the bird had much larger wings and arms and legs that looked more like a person than any bird I had ever seen. From where we stood it looked like it was about 6 feet tall, much taller than a goose and it had large black bat-like wings. It took off and headed over the reservoir and headed toward and over the apartment building and out of sight. The lady that screamed had booked it and was running toward her car and we stood there trying to see if we could find it again before we continued walking and headed toward home. It took off and flew much, much faster than I’ve ever seen any bird fly and it covered the distance from the parking lot, across the reservoir and the park and over the apartment building in the matter of seconds. I have never seen any bird fly that fast. It was very spooky to see this thing and at the same time fascinating.

Investigator Notes:

I reached out to the witness and was able to talk to her on the phone. She stated that she and her boyfriend have lived at the apartment complex for 2 years now and have never seen anything like this before. She confirmed the date of the sighting as August 2nd and the time as about 8:30 P.M. She described the entity seen as standing approximately six feet tall and thinly built from where she was standing on the trail. She estimated the distance to the entity as 30 feet but that was only her estimate as the entity was in flight when she got a look at it. When asked for any features, she stated that she could not make out any other than the thin legs, arms and wings and that the color was dark black and that it stood out against the sky.  When asked about the screech she heard, she said it sounded like a barn owl, an animal she grew up with and was familiar with. The witness said the sound was much, much louder and that the entity seen was far larger than the barn owls she said she grew up seeing. The witness also said that the entity seen by her and her boyfriend flew much faster than any barn owl she had seen and when asked about the distance it covered she estimated it took all of 5-7 seconds to cover the distance of maybe 3-4 football fields in distance.

The second witness was not available and my contact information was left with the initial witness to pass along to her boyfriend.

A field investigation will be conducted and pictures and measurements will be taken. The information will be posted to the website. This is still an ongoing investigation and the case will be passed on to the Phantom and Monsters Fortean Research Team and they will be updated with further information.