Name: Darrell Ashley

Age: 68

Number of witnesses: 1

Location of sighting: Lansing, Illinois

Date of sighting: Summer of 1968

What you believe the creature was: Pterodactyl

Message: “I was 17 in 1968 when I was going to my neighbor’s house in late spring or early summer. The sky was clear and only a few clouds crossed the sky. As I got outside I noticed it was peculiarly silent and calm. Not even one bird was making any sound. 

As I got to the sidewalk and before I turned right to go next door, I caught a glimpse of something just behind me in the eastern sky. I turned and looked and couldn't believe my eyes. There was this pterodactyl flying overhead! It was about the size of a Piper Cub airplane and it had a grayish-blue body with bat-like wings and had mixed reddish-brown areas on it. As I watched this thing fly only 100 to 150 feet from me and just 30 feet or so over the trees I tried desperately to get someone's attention to witness this thing with me. There was no one - no cars on the street and not even a person in sight from what I could see from their windows. 

I decided to yell to see if I could get its attention. I yelled and it turned its head slightly as if trying to pick up on where the sound was coming from but it turned its head away from me I yelled a second time louder and it turned back to its right, looked directly at me and opened its mouth. I saw the rows of teeth in that 4 foot 'beak' and I didn't make another sound. Then I thought I'd have to hide under a car or something but, the thing just kept its course, turned its head back straight and flew due west.

 Its head was brownish-red with the 'nob' or 'cone' part, that looked to be about 2 feet long, being a brighter red. It made slow continuous strokes with its skin-like membrane wings that had claws or 'hand' type bony fingers at the middle. It had feet that were tucked under its body and a long tail that was darker which had a big 'knot' kind of end, kind of spade shaped. 

I watched in awe for the whole duration of about a minute to maybe 90 seconds from the beginning before it just went out of sight over the western horizon. I only told my friend I went to see that time in my life. Later in life I've told more than a few - not caring what they thought. I now have read stories of others seeing these things and now - I don't feel so 'crazy'!

What truly amazed me about this sighting is that - this was in Lansing, Illinois - just one block off the major road of Torrence Avenue and only a few blocks south of interstate I-394/80 and not in some 'off the beat' trail in some far from civilization forest park or what's considered a wilderness area! Of 'other oddities' that have happened in my life, this ... by far ... was the strangest.”

Thank you for contacting us and sharing your sighting, Darrell! We can certainly say that what you described as witnessing all those years ago back in 1968 definitely sounds like it fits the classic pop-culture depiction of what many people consider to be a “pterodactyl”. But if you want to get technical, and we always do, while many people assume the Pterodactyl (Pterodactylus antiquus)l was the only flying prehistoric reptile of its time, it is actually just one specific species within the larger Pterosaur family which contains over 150 unique species altogether! This means that there are a lot of choices on what specific “prehistoric beast” may have been responsible for your sighting.

Right off the bat for us, three specific pterosaur species come to mind when reading your sighting. These are based entirely on your description of the knobby “spade-shaped” tail alone. The three types are the 3ft Eudimorphodon, the 5ft Campylognathoides, and the 6ft Rhamphorhynchus. Now, I am not saying that one of these three is responsible for your sighting, not by a long shot, I just find it fascinating that multiple species can fall into the same possible suspect pool based on one feature alone.

The next part of your story that I want to touch on doesn’t actually even deal with the creature itself, but rather the part where you said that since you have read about other people seeing these strange creatures in the sky, you don’t feel so “crazy”. That is the part I am most excited to hear because while many may scoff and laugh at sightings such as these, the unknown flying creature phenomenon is a very real thing, especially for those who have seen one! In fact, we have actually written about various sightings of Pterosaurs in Wisconsin before, so to hear about another sighting of one of these mysterious creatures in the Midwest region is super exciting!

Finally, the last thing I want to bring up is where your sighting took place. Lansing, Illinois is only about 20 min away from Lake Michigan, and if you follow the ongoings of strange Fortean phenomena, then you are more than likely already familiar with sightings of what has been dubbed The Lake Michigan Mothman. For those who don’t know, the Lake Michigan Mothman is a mysterious and unknown winged “thing” that has been sighting numerous times all across cities and states surrounding Lake Michigan. Sightings have been so numerous in fact that our good friends at The Singular Fortean Society have not only created an official timeline to keep track of thing, but researcher and investigator Tobias Wayland has even written an entire book on the subject! We could try our hand at describing the LMM here, but honestly, there is a lot to unpack when dealing with that subject, so if you want to know more we would suggest heading over to The Singular Fortean Society and getting it straight from them.

Once again, thank you, Darrell, for getting in touch with us. Modern-day sightings of flying “dinosaurs” are one of the most intriguing cryptid stories to hear about, so when a new witness decides to come forward and share their story, it truly helps the field overall. The more sightings we have on record, the better chance we have to solve the ongoing mystery! So with my utmost sincerity, thank you for contributing to the cause!

-The Pine Barrens Institute

Image Credit: Google

If you have a sighting to share or a piece of folklore to tell, make sure to get in touch and let us know! Remember: It’s your story, so why not share it in your own words!