Name: Selina (Last name kept private at request of witness)

Age: 25

Number of witnesses: 1 primary, 1 secondary

Location of sighting : Seminole Highway Exit & Allied Drive Apartment Basement. Madison, Wisconsin

Date of sighting: January and February of 2002

What you believe the creature was : My mom calls it the "The Bat Man” or “Bat-like Figure"

Message: *This is my mom's (Heather) story, I was just in the car. I was 6 when this happened and only remember her panicking*

In January of 2002, we were staying in an apartment right off of the Seminole Highway Exit on the beltline in Madison, WI. My mom got off at our exit, turned left, and started towards the second set of lights after crossing over the bridge. As she reached the lights, she saw a large "bat like creature" flying towards us. She says it turned it's head and she believes they made direct eye contact. But as soon as she saw it, it disappeared.

She said it was opaque in color, almost shadow like (this event happened in the evening so it was darker outside and details were impossible to make out), the wings it had didn't flap, it was just gliding in the air. This thing had bright red glowing eyes, and she absolutely freaked. I remember her scream.
As stated previously, this thing vanished as soon as it appeared. She thought that was it, that she wouldn't have to see this thing again.

But a few weeks later, in our Allied Dr apartment we moved into, my mom was downstairs doing the laundry when she turned around to look in our storage unit. In the back of the unit, behind some of our junk, she saw another bat-like face with glowing red eyes staring straight at her. Similar to that of the creature she witnessed on Seminole.

She panicked, ran upstairs, and she NEVER went back down into that basement. We moved out of there shortly after the second incident, and we never bothered getting our things out of the storage unit. Yes, we left our things there. That was the last time my mom ever saw anything like that.

About 2 or 3 days after her second incident with seeing this creature, my mom saw a few news reports about other people reported to have seen a VERY similar creature to what my mom had seen. Occasionally, we try to find these news reports, but we have yet to find ANYTHING on it. I STRONGLY believe that whoever removed these news articles, they are trying to keep the sightings away from the public as there are no official reports anymore (to be found).

To this day, she says whatever it was, it didn't appear earthly.

Selina, thank you so much for reaching out to us and sharing your mothers sighting. While it may seem strange and unusual at first, even frightening at times, rest assured that your mother is not alone in what she saw. Sightings of red eyed flying humanoids have been seen all over the place, and those who have seen them, more often than not, describe the creature(s) almost identically. What exactly this creature is though, nobody is really sure. But there are a select few people who are actively working to help bring this being out of the darkness and into the mainstream consciousness.

When people reach out to me to either make a report, or just gather more information about a flying humanoid, they typically do so because they came across the story of The Wisconsin Man-Bat. A strange creature that was said to have been encountered by a father and son while driving through La Crosse County. The incident took place on September 26, 2006 and was so traumatic for the duo, that they each become quite ill after the creature had left them. The creature was described as being man-like in appearance, but possessed wings, long claws, and a mouth full of visibly sharp teeth. The eyes were also reported as glowing yellow, and its this particular feature that so many individuals who have seen something strange in the sky personally differ from. Because what often gets reported now, is a large flying creature with glowing RED eyes. And when witnesses point out that little detail, it officially leaves Man-Bat territory and confidently enters into the realm of the Lake Michigan Mothman.

For those of you who are unaware, the Lake Michigan Mothman is a name given to a strange flying red eyed humanoid who has been witnessed on multiple occasions by many individuals within the Lake Michigan region. The creature, which as been actively investigated by good friend and colleague of The PBI, Mr. Tobias Wayland of The Singular Fortean Society, is reported to have been seen as far back as 1969 (according to the official timeline of sightings) and is often reported as looking human-like, being dark in color, having a slender frame and build, possessing large wings (descriptions of wings vary by witnesses), and having noticeably bright red “glowing” eyes. The creature has been witnessed in both the air as well as the ground, and has even been seen multiple times by a select few individuals.

The people who have seen this creature have described it as looking anywhere from a “gargoyle” to a “human owl.” One witness even claimed it resembled a “bat-like creature running like a gorilla.” Could this description, that of a bat-like being, mean that the Wisconsin Man-Bat and the Lake Michigan Mothman are one in the same? While we can’t definitively say yes, we can say that it is a high probability.

Prior to being officially documented and cataloged over the past few years, it must be recognized that many earlier encounters with the more “unique” flying humanoids/cryptids (those described as giant bats, dinosaurs, witches, gargoyles, etc.) may have possibly just been the same type of creature. But since the witnesses at the time didn’t have any highly researched information in which to link back their sighting to, they were only able to describe the creature based on the features of a handful of normal flying animals in which they already knew. But now, since there are legit researchers who are actively trying to solve this mystery, we are learning that a majority of witnesses are all describing the same thing, they just don’t know what to call it when sharing their story with others.

Could these weird flying creatures really be one in the same? Yeah, they could be. But they could also be entirely separate things for all we know. The world is a strange place and even though we as humans like to think we have all the answers, when you really look into it, we actually don’t know that much. So whether you believe you saw a large human-like bat in Wisconsin, a moth-man over Lake Michigan, a gargoyle above Texas, or a giant owl-man flying around an abandoned building, just know that you are not alone. Yeah, some people are going to shout that these things couldn’t possibly be real and loudly proclaim that there is no way you saw what you did, but when all is said and done and they have finished their rant, just remember these five words: They weren’t there, you were.

Thank you again Selina for reaching out to us and sharing your story!

Also, for anyone who has seen something strange in the sky that they can’t explain and are looking for more information, we highly recommend heading on over to The Singular Fortean Society and checking out their official timeline of The Lake Michigan Mothman.

-The Pine Barrens Institute

Image Credit: Stock Image

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