Reports from the void: 'I saw a human with wings flying in the sky yesterday'
On March 23rd, 2021, The Singular Fortean Society received the following email with “I saw a human with wings flying in the sky yesterday” in the subject line.
Yesterday, between 1:00 and 3:00 in the afternoon, it was a beautiful, clear blue sky with some clouds. I was sitting on our patio in the backyard and noticed something was flying above us. [I] thought it was a bird, but birds don't stand up and glide or float.
I stood up and kept watching what I was seeing, then it glided into the clouds and disappeared. That's when I started getting scared of what just happened. What did I just see? I experienced something bizarre and unexplainable; it was a human with arms and legs and big wings in the back. [That] is what I saw.
Investigator Tobias Wayland replied with a series of questions regarding the incident, but received no response.
It is unclear where this sighting took place, although The Singular Fortean Society and other investigative organizations with whom they regularly communicate have received flying—often winged—humanoid reports from all over the United States and southern Canada.
In contrast to the written report above, most such reports which involve witnesses seeing creatures in flight describe them as flying with their bodies parallel to the ground. Reports of humanoids travelling through the air in an upright position are not unheard, though, and in May of 2019, Burbank, California resident Pablo Morales posted a video to YouTube which some thought showed just such a being.
Many who were skeptical wrote the object in the video off as a balloon.
However, after seeing the object appear to descend, Morales reportedly visited the object’s landing site but found "no balloons or trash or anything that could have been that big."
Similarly, a pair of videos out of Phoenix, Arizona, in March of 2020, appear to show a possibly winged object floating upright in the air.
Speculation regarding the object quickly turned to flying humanoids once the videos were shared to social media, specifically the winged being or beings known as Mothman.
Skeptics pointed out that if the object were a creature, it’s odd that it does not appear to be moving any of its limbs. But believers rebutted by explaining that many Mothman witnesses describe the being as flying without moving its wings.
Many skeptics said that they believe the object captured on video to be a balloon—specifically, a balloon of popular Toy Story character Buzz Lightyear, an item available for sale through retailers like Party City. However, weather data from the time of the sighting shows that the wind was out of the south/southwest, which would have been moving against the object’s heading, according to a report submitted to the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON).
So far, no definitive explanation for the sightings has been found, and likely won’t be without physical evidence that may no longer exist.
Reports from the Void is a repository to share those stories for which we do not have enough information to make a full report. This is usually because of little or no communication from the witness following their initial submission. The Singular Fortean Society will always provide as much information as possible regarding any correspondence during our attempts to speak with those involved.
This series is meant only to present you with the full breadth of the information sent to us, and makes no judgments towards the veracity of any stories shared within it.
To report your own encounter with the impossible, reach out to us directly at the Singular Fortean Society through our contact page.
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