By Hemal Gosai
Spooktober: The Mothman of Chicago O’Hare
In this week’s edition of Spooktober we explore something slightly more disturbing than the conspiracies of Denver International Airport. While the airport in Denver has a considerable amount of mystery it doesn’t really have beasts and monsters associated with it that much. That title is reserved for Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport and its Mothman.
For nearly a decade residents of Chicago, especially those around O’Hare, have reported seeing a huge winged beast. It’s reported it’s between 6 and 10 feet tall with a 10+ foot wingspan. It vaguely resembles an owl or a bat and has terrifying red eyes according to many eyewitnesses. It’s also reported that the creature is covered in fur and also has leather-like skin and bat wings. Origins of Mothman are unclear but there are some reports as far back as the 1960s where some people in West Virginia have spotted the creature.
There have been sightings here and there of this huge winged creature but it appears that since 2011 its made Chicago its home. There have been sightings all around the airport and large bodies of water.
In 2017 there were 55 sightings of this winged beast in Chicago and the sightings haven’t stopped since.
In 2019 a truck driver allegedly saw the creature at the airport while he was picking up a cargo shipment. The beast was apparently in the cargo parking lot and according to the driver, “it looked like a person with wings that were stretched out and flapping”
Now just this year there was yet another sighting at the airport. Late September a United States Postal Service worker who works at the airport reports seeing the creature as she was leaving work one night. Initially she thought it was a very tall person with a long coat. However, as she went to unlock her car the headlights came on illuminating the figure.
The figure allegedly turned around and ran towards her wings outstretched screeching before it took off into the air just a mere 10 feet away from her.
No one knows for sure either if all of these sightings are of the same individual creature of a brood of them. All people can say is that for now Chicago is the location of choice for this creature or creatures and that it happens to fancy the airport at night too.
As with many mysteries of this nature, many liken it to just some sort of large bird that people didn’t get a good look at or just someone with a drone and a drone costume flying around looking to get a few scares in.
Hemal took his first flight at four years old and has been an avgeek since then. When he isn’t working as an analyst he’s frequently found outside watching planes fly overhead or flying in them. His favorite plane is the 747-8i which Lufthansa thankfully flies to EWR allowing for some great spotting. He firmly believes that the best way to fly between JFK and BOS is via DFW and is always willing to go for that extra elite qualifying mile.
