Have you seen Mothman? Unsolved Mysteries Wants to Know

“Will they have a supernatural episode again?” I wondered as I started watching the trailer for Netflix’s Unsolved Mysteries: Volume 4. Halfway through, I got my answer. Yes. And it looked like it was going to be about Mothman.

Which I had mixed feelings about. The Mothman that terrorized—and was an alleged omen of the Silver Bridge collapse— in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, is a creepy story, but a little tired. (Or I’m tired of it, at any rate.) Surely they already covered it in the original series, didn’t they? Couldn’t they have found a more current mystery, as they did with the “Berkshires UFO” episode in Volume 1, the “Tsunami Spirits” in Volume 2, the “Something in the Sky” and “Paranormal Rangers” episodes in Volume 3, Part 1, or “The Ghost in Apartment 14” episode in Volume 3, Part 2?

That’s exactly what they did. Unsolved Mysteries: Volume 4 started streaming on Netflix on July 31. Episode 5, “The Mothman Revisited,” explores the mysterious Mothman-like sightings reported in the Chicago area.

The Chicago Phantom

The second I started watching the episode and realized it was going to be about the Mothman sightings in Chicago, I wondered if Lon Strickler from Phantoms & Monsters would be in it.

Yep.

There’s a reason his site’s tagline is “pulse of the paranormal.” He definitely stays on top of what’s happening, what people are seeing, etc. Experiencers often reach out to him to share their stories, and the case of the Chicago Mothman, or the “Chicago Phantom” as he first started calling it, was no different.

It didn’t take him long to realize something was up in Chicago. He started meticulously documenting the sightings and gathering eyewitness reports.

I first became aware of it in 2017 thanks to Lon who messaged me about all of the “Owlman” sightings. He asked for help getting the word out. “Need information, reports and people willing to look into this,” he requested.

I was glad to learn that help came in many forms, among them fellow paranormal researcher Tobias Wayland, who has since written a book about the phenomenon called The Lake Michigan Mothman. Together, they’ve continued to gather evidence in the case.

Compelling Mothman Encounters

Just like the seasons that preceded it, Unsolved Mysteries: Volume 4 contains unnarrated episodes stitched together by those involved in the cases. Along with Lon and Tobias, “The Mothman Revisited” includes several eyewitnesses relating their accounts.

What I didn’t appreciate until watching the episode was that, unlike the West Virginia Mothman sightings, the Chicago ones have continued to happen—even now. One witness shared an encounter from as recently as 2022.

Multiple Mothmans (Mothmen?)

However, the Chicago Mothman may have been making appearances years earlier than anyone realized. One of the witnesses, Roxanne from Berwyn, Illinois, took 20 years to share her story, which took place in September 2001. Lon called it “one of the most compelling Mothman encounters on record.”

Roxanne’s story started out like many do. In her case, she was alone in her backyard at night when it happened. But what made it unusual was that she didn’t just see one Mothman, she saw four!

As Lon said, “Most of the sightings have been singular sightings, but there have been a few reports of multiple beings. Very few, but there have been.”

The Canal Creature

But the encounter that freaked me out the most was the one that mother and daughter Barbera and Shana Clippert had. After a McDonald’s run, they were hanging out behind their apartment, chatting for a bit, when something screeched. It was unlike anything they’d ever heard before. And then they saw something.

“I saw a really large, dark creature crawling out of the canal and up the embankment,” Shana said. “He was crawling on all fours. And it looked like it had hind legs.”

“I think I was more in shock than anything,” Barbera said. “I was just startled and trying to figure out what we were seeing.”

I’ll tell you what. Barbera has a true investigator’s heart. She didn’t panic, freak out, or flee. Much to Shana’s chagrin, she got out of the car for a closer look!

“As I looked over, I saw him just taking flight from the ground,” Barbera said. “You could hear the flapping of the wings.”

Gulp!

Missing Accounts

Overall, it was a good paranormal Unsolved Mysteries episode, but it wasn’t my favorite. While it minimized the coverage of the well-worn West Virginia Mothman story (but did include it and clips from when the series featured it before), it lacked something.

I couldn’t figure out what at first, so I let it sit overnight. Then I realized what it was.

Previous episodes of this nature (meaning supernatural) included testimony from police and journalists. Why didn’t some of the eyewitnesses call the cops?

I imagine part of it was they were just trying to figure out what they’d seen. It’s easy to talk yourself out of something and explain it away.

But in Roxanne’s case, she saw four “somethings” and her first reaction was to get away, which is a natural one. But she ran to the bathroom and splashed cold water on her face. Why didn’t she alert anyone else in her household? Or call the police? If any of those questions were asked, the answers weren’t presented in the episode.

Neither were any accounts from any of the workers who allegedly saw the phenomenon at Chicago O’Hare International Airport. Or any of the pilots. I understand they may not want to risk ridicule or their jobs, but did they, or did they not, contact airport security? As a traveler, I want to know. If they didn’t, it doesn’t give me comfort that they’re not saying something when they see something.

Or maybe they did report it, and all those involved declined to participate in the episode. If so, I wish that had been disclosed.

Mothman Revisited and Still Unsolved

What is the Chicago Mothman? In some cases, it seems similar to the West Virginia one. Many eyewitnesses described similar features, namely the glowing red eyes, massive humanoid figure, and giant wings.

But “The Mothman Revisited” included a second mother-daughter sighting. They made drawings of what they saw, and it did not look like a Mothman. It was a wingless, robot-looking figure.

Is there more than one type of flying humanoid that calls Chicago home? Why? Where are they from and what do they want?

If anything. Maybe they want nothing at all. Or maybe they’re trying to gather proof of humans to take back to show their kind. Who knows?

The episode considered some popular theories, including that it may be a harbinger of doom or from another dimension. (Lon believes Resthaven Cemetery, which is near O’Hare, might be a portal.)

No one knows. Lon and Tobias are committed to finding out, though. That’s why they’re looking for more stories. Clues lie within them all. If they get enough, they may be able to complete the puzzle.

And now they’ve got Unsolved Mysteries on their side. Just like they do at the end of every episode, the series includes a call to action. In the case of “The Mothman Revisited,” it reads: “If you have witnessed the creature known as Mothman, go to Unsolved.com.”

I wonder how many new reports they’ll get? Maybe we’ll get lucky and they’ll do a volume of follow-ups to the various cases, including this one.

Check-In

Do you believe in flying, winged humanoids like Mothman?