Three people had been driving in northeastern Illinois when they saw a flying creature with ‘human proportions’.

The encounter, which was recently featured in an article on the Singular Fortean Society’s website, was submitted to the organization by one of three witnesses.

Ryan, his husband, and a mutual friend were travelling home from O’Hare International Airport to Dubuque, Iowa when they observed something weird in the sky.

“I was looking off to the left and saw a winged creature fly above the crops on the left side, and fly straight across the road several yards in front of us,” Ryan wrote in an email.

What was the mystery creature? Image Credit: PD – Steve Baxter

“It disappeared over the field on the right side of the road. It had a wingspan of several feet. I did not see what the body looked like.”

“The other people in the car saw it but said it was just a large bat. It was much larger than a bat. The way it flew was more like a large bird like an eagle, but it was gray and black.”

In a later phone contact, investigator Tobias Wayland emphasized that the sighting occurred in a semirural location to the south of Wisconsin.

“It was about human-sized, maybe smaller than six feet,” he said of the creature. “The wings were maybe the length of a human’s arms, but a bit wider, maybe five to six feet.”

“I saw a body shape, like a human-type shape, human proportions, basically. Then the wings were the main things I saw. I couldn’t believe it. I’ve never seen wings on something flying that big.”