MothMan Sighting in Independence, MIssouri 12/12/19

Tony Degn was headed home after work at KCI Airport on December 12, 2019, at 3:00 a.m. when he noticed a gigantic bird in the distance. The creature headed in his direction and as it got closer Tony could see that it had a humanoid body with long legs and large bat-like wings that measured approximately 10 to

Drawing: www.singularfortean.com

15 feet in width. He did not get a good look at the face or notice eyes. "I was focused on driving and on the wings and legs, which were quite amazing," said Tony.

Degn was driving south on Hwy 291 just past 24 Hwy as the creature swooped down to just 20' above his vehicle, then flew off. "I noted that the wings did not operate as normal bird wings and that they reminded me of bat wings or Pterodactyl wings," said Tony. He thought the entire experience was very strange, especially since he saw a similar creature in Lee's Summit in July of 2014. His first thought when he noticed the creature on Thursday morning was "Oh no, its back."

He was unable to capture a photo of this creature, but Tony did capture the 2014 creature on film:

Photo taken by Tony Degn in 2014
A helicopter and a large bird-like creature are in the photo

Close-up

This makes sighting number 24 of a gigantic bird or Mothman-like creature in the greater Kansas City area in the past few years. Several witnesses have described gigantic birds with wingspans ranging from 10 to 36 feet. Some speculate that it is a Thunderbird or Pterodactyl. The largest known bird in the United States is the California Condar, which has a wingspan up to 9.8 feet. 

According to Wikipedia "The California condor (Gymnogyps californianus) is a New World vulture, the largest North American land bird. This condor became extinct in the wild in 1987 (all remaining wild individuals were captured), but the species has since been reintroduced to northern Arizona and southern Utah (including the Grand Canyon area and Zion National Park), the coastal mountains of central and southern California, and northern Baja California. Although other fossil members are known, it is the only surviving member of the genus Gymnogyps. The species is listed by the IUCN as critically endangered.

The plumage is black with patches of white on the underside of the wings; the head is largely bald, with skin color ranging from gray on young birds to yellow and bright orange on breeding adults. Its 3.0 m (9.8 ft) wingspan is the widest of any North American bird." 

The Condor is not in the Midwest region, so it must be ruled out as a possibility.

See previous articles for more information about other sightings. Another recent report was received by a man in Lee's Summit, Missouri. His wife saw a gigantic black bird swoop down over her windshield in a grocery store parking lot in early December, 2019. She said the wingspan was approximately 15 feet.

Quest Investigation Group is investigating these cryptid sighting reports.  Open the sighting report page to report a sighting. Margie Kay, the lead investigator, can be reached at margiekay06@yahoo.com or 816-833-1602.