Cryptozoologist and friend Ken Gerhard recently shared the following account with me. It details a flying cryptid encounter near Chicago in 1969. The report was included in his book BIG BIRD! - MODERN SIGHTINGS OF FLYING MONSTERS
An Illinois Sighting
(1969) Park Forest, IL
I along with four of my friends saw a pteradon about three to four feet tall through the body around April of 1969 as memory serves it might have been 1970.
I do recall we were riding in my friends 1969 Boss Mustang.
We were on a gravel road south of Park Forest, Illinois. A small suburb on the south side of Chicago. At that time there was nothing but country and farmland south of Park Forest. We were heading west on Stuenkle Road going to Monee, Ill.
We were in the valley a few houses west of were I used to live as a boy, I was like 17 or 18 years old. It was a foggy night, really thick blanket of fog close to the ground, as we started up the hill we emerged from the fog and it was a crystal clear night with a full or almost full moon and lots of stars.
We were driving along and my friend just slowed down and stopped the car. He leaned up over the steering wheel and stared at an angle out of the windshield.
I asked him what he was doing and he didn't answer me he just kept staring out the windshield, so I leaned forward and looked up and out of the windshield and silhouetted against the full moon, sitting on the top of a telephone pole was this pterodon.
The body was covered with fur like a bat, It had its wings folded up tight against it's sides and you could see little claws at the top of each folded wing.
It had a tail similar in length to that of a cat in comparison to the body size, but it was smooth like a rats tail except for a single tuft of hair at the very end.
As we sat there watching it, it was looking to the left and then to the right and then it would look off across the golf course to the north. The whole time it was switching it's tail around like a cat does when they are aggravated, very nervous movements. The neck and head were smooth leather like, no hair at all.
I don't know exactly how long we sat there watching it, probably only a few minutes but it eventually looked down at us in the car and then threw its head back opened its mouth, showing very impressive teeth and let out a blood curdling screech and with three flaps of it's wings did a half back over twist and sailed silently out over the field headed toward a large marsh south of our position and disappeared into the fog.
We were only 30 feet from the base of the phone pole and the pole was probably only 20 to 25 feet tall, so we were very close and got a real good look at the thing.
Over the years I have only shared this information with a few close friends and they treat me like I'm nuts. I am still friends with two of the guys I was with that night but we have never talked about what we saw that night.
Well that's my story. I hope it helps.
Source: The Pterodactyl Society
Encounters with Flying Humanoids: Mothman, Manbirds, Gargoyles & Other Winged Beasts
A Menagerie of Mysterious Beasts: Encounters with Cryptid Creatures
The Monster Book: Creatures, Beasts and Fiends of Nature
A Manifestation Of Monsters: Examining The (Un)Usual Suspects
