Recent Chicago Mothman Sightings

There have been multiple recent reports of a large winged humanoid creature spotted in various locations throughout the Chicago area.  From the lakefront to near Midway airport, several sightings have occurred and bear an eerie similarity, many during the same stretch of time on the evening of April 15^th and early morning April 16^th. Many familiar with the folklore have speculated that it may be the infamous Mothman of West Virginia lore, who first appeared in the late 1960s and whose presence precluded the tragic collapse of the Silver Bridge in Point Pleasant, WV.   While sightings attributed to Mothman have not been in frequent or regular occurrence during the past 50 odd years, every once in a while accounts surface regarding strange, considerably-sized winged creatures that are similar in tenor and often precede disastrous events -- fires, earthquakes, building collapses.  Some point to similar tales of occurrences prior to or during disasters like Chernobyl, the I-35W Bridge collapse in Minneapolis, and the 9/11 attack on the Twin Towers.

While it remains to be seen whether or not recent sightings are a foreboding sign, the CCS went looking for possible occurrences in the past.  While Chicago is no stranger to tragic events, city itself having rose from the ashes of the Great Fire, many disasters have claimed the lives and property of Chicagoans since—the Iroquois Theatre Fire, the Crash of Flight 191, The Naperville Train Disaster, and most notably the Eastland Disaster.

On  the morning of July 24, 1915, 840 people lost their lives when the SS Eastland capsized in the Chicago River before it could embark on its journey to Michigan City, Indiana filled with 2500 Michigan Electric employees en route to a company picnic.  While the disaster ultimately seem to be one not of mechanical failure, but over-capacity and unfortunate dynamics of weight distribution, hundreds were trapped inside the capsized boat or pulled under by the force of the sinking object. In examining photos of the incident and its aftermath, the CCS team was able to spot a strange dark object in the sky above the buildings just over the river.  While initially, we expected it could be a spot on the film or a flag or other rooftop object, photos taken later reveal no such anomaly.

Did the strange winged figure foretell this catastrophic boat accident nearly 50 years before the first Mothman sightings in West Virginia?  Are they the possibly the same creature or something entirely different? 

Many have speculated that such occurrences may simply be large birds that are uncommon to the area –sandhill cranes or turkey vultures or possibly just a large owl.   Illinois lore details the mysterious thunderbirds, creatures hailing from the Mississipi River region and who are suspected to have been responsible for a near abduction of a Child in Lawndale Illinois.

Birdman or mothman?  Avian or insect?  Mythical or real?