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.

Gigantic Winged Creatures Sightings

1/31/18: In the past two weeks three witnesses have seen a creature with gigantic wings in Independence, Missouri – and one was my own. This, added to the three giant bird sightings already on file- makes SIX sighting reports in the same area. 

The first sighting was reported by a woman who was headed to her car after work on the evening of Friday, January 12, 2018. She heard sounds like something was flapping and running on the ground towards her from behind. She thought the flapping sound was a plastic tarp that was tied over a crate, but she thought the running sound was someone chasing her. She did not look back - but ran to the car door and jumped into the driver’s seat, then quickly closed and locked the door.

At that point, the woman noticed that there was something black in her rear-view mirror, then the entire car became enveloped in very large feathered black wings from the back around the side windows, and finally covering the front windshield. She was petrified. She could not see anything through the windows except blackness and could not see the body of whatever it was. Then, as quickly as it came, the creature disappeared. She did not see where it went. She was too afraid to get out of the car, so she called her son, who was still inside the building where they both worked.

A check of the security camera at the business showed nothing on camera during the time of the event, other than the woman running to her car and getting inside. Since there was no wind that night, the flapping sound could not have been the plastic tarp. What could have made sounds and be visible to this woman, and not show up on a security camera?

The next evening, I would see my own giant creature. I was outside on my deck sitting in my hot tub at about 11:30 pm when I heard a sound that drew my attention to the trees located on railroad property in the back of my house. These trees are on the opposite side of the tracks and they are about 100 feet away from where I was located. 

I was astonished to see a pair of gigantic wings spread out across the front of the trees as if a huge bird was sitting on a branch with its wings out. I could barely make out an indefinable body shape between the wings. It was dark out with the only light coming from the streetlights 300' feet away. Then movement caught my eye to the right in trees on my property. There were several undefined dark masses in these trees that were moving but silent. I turned back to look at the huge wings but they were gone. I noticed that there was no wind and it was dead calm, as it was the night before. I could not tell if the creature left, or if it may have brought its wings down and was still sitting in the trees, but I decided not to stay to find out. This was just too weird for me, so I went inside the house and locked the door.

A couple of days later I received a call from Jean Walker, a local investigator I often work with. She said that a woman saw a giant bird the size of a small plane flying over her house in Sugar Creek one evening this past week at about 11:00 p.m. This location is near the Missouri River and Independence. The witness often sees UFOs over her house, and at times has seen ET’s. Both Jean and I have seen and heard strange things at this person's house, but never a giant bird. 

In 2013 there was a giant bird sighting in east Independence by a local woman and her two sons. She said that this creature flew, or rather glided, silently over her house and was the size of a small plane. It had a long straight tail with a puff of feathers at the end of the tail. I did some research and could find no such bird listed anywhere. I then called the Missouri Department of Conservation and they knew of no gigantic birds like I described.

In 2015 my daughter, grandson, and I were standing in the front yard of my office in Independence at dusk when we noticed a very large bird flying overhead. It was flying very high (approx. 1,000 ft) and was extremely large. My grandson took a picture of it, then looked up the shape on an app. The closest thing he could find to match the shape was an albatross, which is not found in this area, but that does not explain the size. We don't know if there is any relation to the recent sightings. 

Is it possible that some type of gigantic winged creature is flying the skies over Independence and landing on cars?  If so, where is it hiding out? Perhaps in one of the many caves in the area or trees or bluffs along the Missouri River, which is just a few miles away from most of the sighting locations mentioned, and blocks away from the Sugar Creek sighting event.

It should be noted that a giant bird was reported along the Missouri River near St. Louis about 15 years ago. The witnesses said it looked like a Pterodactyl. We have no way of knowing if it was the same bird, or a species related to the same bird that is being seen in Independence, however, the Missouri River flows from the Independence area to St. Louis. The creature may be something that is navigating along the river. There are numerous caves and bluffs along the river areas where something big could hide. 

Several people have speculated that this creature is the Mothman, and is a portent to a coming disaster.

I submitted an inquiry to the Missouri Department of Conservation and here is what they said:

"The largest bird wingspan in Missouri is a bald eagle at 80” (just shy of 7 feet). A bald eagle would be fairly easily recognizable and would not perch on a car, but soar high above or seen perched at a distance. A turkey vulture would, however, perch on a car and has a wingspan of 67” (about 5.5 feet). Not large enough to cover an entire car, though.

No bird in Missouri has a 20-25 feet wingspan. The largest wingspan of any flying bird is the critically endangered California Condor, only found in tiny pockets in the far west."

I would like to hear from anyone who has seen similar creatures, no matter where you live.

Joshua P. Warren discussed these events on his podcast on February 18, 2018 

http://www.buzzsprout.com/127013/645529-joshua-p-warren-daily-when-mothman-flies-over-your-house

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Margie Kay is the director of Quest Investigation Group. Contact her at www.margiekay.com or margiekay06@yahoo.com.