Modern Thunderbird Sightings

Thunderbird is a term used in cryptozoology to describe large, bird-like creatures, generally identified with the Thunderbird of Native American tradition. Similar cryptids reported in the Old World are often called Rocs. Thunderbirds are regaurded by a small number of researchers as having lizard features like the extinct pterosaurs such as Pteranodon. Reports of Thunderbird sightings go back centuries, and the fossil record does show that giant birds (teratorns) with wingspans between 12 and 18 ft (3.7 and 5.5 m) were likely contemporary with early man. Today the thunderbird is generally regarded as a myth.

This post deals with modern sightings (the last 200 years) of such a creature, reported as real, as opposed to mythological accounts, though believers in the phenomenon often use the Native American legends in attempts to support their claims.

20th century

Bigfoot researcher and cryptozoology author Loren Coleman wrote about a series of thunderbird sightings in the 1940s. On April 10, 1948, three individuals in Overland, Illinois spotted what they originally thought to be a passing plane, but after seeing a large set of flapping wings, they realized this “plane” was something very different. A few weeks later, in Alton, Illinois, a man and his son saw what they described as an enormous bird creature with a body shaped like a naval torpedo. The creature was flying at at least 500 feet and cast a shadow the same size as a small passenger airplane.

Similar sightings around the same time in St. Louis, Missouri prompted residents to write concerned letters to then St. Louis mayor Aloys P. Kaufmann demanding that the city do something about these reportedly huge birds. The mayor instructed an administrative assistant to set a trap to catch one of the creatures, but when blue heron tracks were discovered on an island in the Meramec River, the mystery was considered solved.

There was a spike in Thunderbird sightings in the late twentieth century. On occasion, such reports were accompanied by large footprints or other purported evidence.

Among the most controversial reports is a July 25, 1977 account from Lawndale, Illinois. About 9 P.M. a group of three boys were at play in a residential back yard. Two large birds approached, and chased the boys. Two escaped unharmed, but the third boy, ten-year-old Marlon Lowe, did not. One of the birds reportedly clamped his shoulder with its claws, then lifted Lowe about two feet off the ground, carrying him some distance. Lowe fought against the bird, which released him.

Viewed by some as a tall tale, the descriptions given by the witnesses of these birds match that of an Andean condor: a large black bird, with a white ringed neck and a wingspan up to 10 feet (3 m). However, an Andean condor’s talons are not strong enough to lift heavy objects^.Loren Coleman and his brother Jerry interviewed several witnesses after the reported event.

21st century

In 2002, a sighting of a large birdlike creature, with a wingspan of around 14 feet (4.3 m), was reported in Alaska. The Anchorage Daily News reported witnesses describing the creature like something out of the movie Jurassic Park. Scientists suggested the giant bird may have simply been a Steller’s sea eagle, which have a wingspan of 6–8 feet (1.8–2.4 m).There had also been previous reports of similar creatures in the same area around that time.

As recently as 2007, sightings have been claimed in the area around San Antonio, Texas.

Analysis

As mentioned above, some cryptozoologists have theorized the ancient Thunderbird myth to be based on sightings of a real animal with a mistaken assessment of its apparent size.Some skeptics have claimed such a large bird could never have flown, but several flying creatures with huge wingspans are indeed known. The prehistoric vulture-like Argentavis magnificens had a wingspan of around 7 m (23 ft) and was capable of flight. The massive Cretaceous-era pterosaur Quetzalcoatlus northropi (or perhaps Hatzegopteryx thambema) was the largest known flying creature in history, with a wingspan of around 12 m (40 ft). However, the Thunderbird’s identity as a pterosaur is unlikely because the pterosaur is extinct. A pterosaur’s wings were made of a membrane of skin stretched over a bony finger, similar to a bat’s wings. San Antonio based cryptozoologist Ken Gerhard believes it is a teratorn.



Teratorns (from the Greek Τερατορνις Teratornis, ‘monster bird’) were very large birds of prey that lived in North and South America from Miocene to Pleistocene. They include some of the largest known flying birds. So far, at least four species have been identified.

Ken Gerhard has written a book (BIG BIRD! - MODERN SIGHTINGS OF FLYING MONSTERS) on these dark birds as big as planes, with wingspans from 15 to 20 feet. Native Americans called them thunderbirds: depicted in their art, their flapping wings were said to cause explosive noises.

“What’s interesting is that the reports of these giant, raptor-like birds do continue into modern times,” said Gerhard, a cryptozoologist. Cryptozoology is the study of and search for legendary animals to prove their existence.

He says there’s solid evidence something is overhead. “I believe there’s a good chance that a lot of large, prehistoric animals, if you will, remain undiscovered by modern science,” he said.

In a San Antonio account Guadalupe Cantu III says a creature like this flew right over his car. He says he’s seen what most have not, an unidentified flying object, one that still scares him.

    “We were afraid that it would come at us. So we stayed in the car till it passed this way,” witness Guadalupe Cantu III said.

    “This thing’s all feathers, all black. Much bigger than me. It looked at us. It had very stooped-up shoulders.”

The beast has been spotted from the Rio Grande Valley to the mountains of New Mexico.

“(It) looked like what was possibly two people standing on top of a mountain up there,” said David Zander, who saw the monster in New Mexico. “Something that big … I guess it kinda makes you feel like it could come over and carry you off if it wanted to.”

So what could the giant birds be? Some witness sketches eerily resemble prehistoric creatures, like the pteronadon of 160 million years ago.

Gerhard theorizes the Teratorn, “These are the surviving ancestors of modern condors and vultures. They lived up until 6,000 years ago, we know for sure, in parts of North America,” Gerhard said. “In fact, over 100 specimens have been recovered from the La Brea tar pits in California.”

Cryptozoologists also posit that the Thunderbird was associated with storms because they followed the drafts to stay in flight, not unlike the way a modern eagle rides mountain up currents. Cryptozoologist John Keel claims to have mapped several Thunderbird sightings and found that they corresponded chronologically and geographically with storms moving across the United States.

Angelo P. Capparella,an ornithologist at Illinois State University, argues that the existence of such undiscovered large birds is highly unlikely, especially in North America. There is not enough food, Capparella says, in many areas where abnormally large birds are reported. Perhaps more important, according to Capparella, is the lack of sightings by “the legions of competent birdwatchers … scanning the skies of the U.S. and Canada” who sometimes make “surprising observations” with cameras at the ready (see for example 20th-century sightings of the Eskimo Curlew). Were there breeding populations of large, unknown birds, Capparella contends they could not remain unknown very long.

There is one genus of extinct flightless-birds from the Americas that has been named Brontornis, whose name literally means “thunder-bird”; however few, if any, cryptozoologists regard this bird as the origin of the Thunderbird because of its flightlessness.

You can find thunderbird images atop many totem poles and also carved into the lava rocks of the Petroglyph National Monument in Albuquerque. Similar images are found in petroglyphs all over North America.

According to legend, the thunderbird is said to have a wingspan the length of two canoes with the ability to deafen people with the sound of its flapping wings.

“It is definitely a real animal, according to the native peoples,” Gerhard said. “It’s not necessarily a legendary animal.”

Sources: s8int.com/phile/eyewit30.html , en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderbird_(cryptozoology)

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Did Pterosaurs Survive Extinction?

Dozens of eyewitness accounts and a few intriguing photographs suggest that this flying monster, thought to have died with the dinosaurs, might still exist.

They were the largest creatures to ever attain flight. With wingspans reaching nearly 40 feet, pterosaurs ruled the prehistoric skies for over 100 million years, until they died out with the dinosaurs about 65 million years ago.

Or did they?

There have been many modern-day sightings of creatures that by eyewitness description sound like pterosaurs. There are also intriguing rock carvings and even photographs that suggest that this species of amazing flying monsters could have survived extinction, could have soared through the skies of the southwestern United States until very recently, and might still exist in small numbers in remote parts of the world.

Pterosaurs were not dinosaurs, but a family of large flying reptiles (“pterosaur” means “winged lizard”) that includes the pterodactyl and pteranodon. The pterosaur stood on two rather spindly legs and had wings composed of a leathery membrane that stretched from the animal’s extremely long fourth finger to its body.

Despite their appearance, they were not related to birds (as dinosaurs are theorized to be), and were highly successful flyers that might have dined on fish and insects.

Modern Sightings

Although there seems to be no hard evidence that pterosaurs did not die out millions of years ago - no pterosaurs have ever been captured and no bodies have ever been found - sightings have persisted. Stories of flying reptiles have been recorded for many hundreds of years.

Some think that tales of the “mythical” dragons in the lore of many cultures around the would could be attributed to the sighting of pterosaurs. Here are some more modern accounts:

May, 1961, New York State - A businessman flying his private plane over the Hudson River Valley claimed that he was “buzzed” by a large flying creature that he said “looked more like a pterodactyl out of the prehistoric ages.”

Early 1960s, California - A couple driving through Trinity National Forest reported seeing the silhouette of a giant “bird” that they estimated to have a wingspan of 14 feet. They later described it as resembling a pterodactyl.

January, 1976, Harlingen, Texas - Jackie Davis (14) and Tracey Lawson (11) reported seeing a “bird” on the ground that stood five feet tall, was dark in color with a bald head and a face like a gorilla’s with a sharp, six-inch-long beak. A subsequent investigation by their parents uncovered tracks that had three toes and were eight inches across.

February, 1976, San Antonio, Texas - Three elementary school teachers saw what they described as a pterodactyl swooping low over their cars as they drove. They said its wingspan was between 15 and 20 feet. One of the teachers commented that it glided through the air on huge, bony wings - like a bat’s.

September, 1982, Los Fresnos, Texas - An ambulance driver named James Thompson was stopped while driving on Highway 100 by his sighting of a “large birdlike object” flying low over the area. He described it as black or grayish with a rough texture, but no feathers. It had a five- to six-foot wingspan, a hump on the back of its head, and almost no neck at all. After consulting some books to identify the creature, he decided it most looked like a pterosaur.

Africa’s Kongamato

While other reports of pterosaur-like creatures have come out of Arizona, Mexico and Crete, it is out of central Africa that some of the most interesting anecdotes have come. While traveling though Zambia in 1923, Frank H. Melland collected reports from natives of an aggressive flying reptile they called kongamoto, which means “overwhelmer of boats.”

The natives, who were occasionally tormented by these creatures, described them as being featherless with smooth skin, having a beak full of teeth and a wingspan of between four and seven feet.

When shown illustrations of pterosaurs, Melland reported, “every native present immediately and unhesitatingly picked out and identified it as a kongamato.”

In 1925, a native man was allegedly attacked by a creature that he identified as a pterosaur. This occurred near a swamp in Rhodesia (now Zambia) where the man suffered a large wound in his chest that he said was caused by the monster’s long beak.

In the late 1980s, noted cryptozoologist Roy Mackal led an expedition into Namibia from which he had heard reports of a prehistoric-looking creature with a wingspan of up to 30 feet.

Out of Stone

If pterosaurs really died out with the dinosaurs and their fossil remains were not first discovered until 1784 (in Germany), then a depiction of one could not possibly exist in an ancient rock carving. Yet a pictograph found high on a cliff face near Thompson, Utah seems to show just that.

While many experts believe the drawing is of a bird, the beak, head prominence, wings and legs also look very much like those of a pterosaur.

Another fascinating tale of a pterosaur literally coming out of stone dates back to 1856 in France. Workmen were digging through Jurassic-era limestone for a railway tunnel between the St.-Dizier and Nancy lines. When a large bolder of limestone was split open, the workers were astonished to see a large winged creature come stumbling out. They said it fluttered its wings, let out a croaking noise and then dropped dead at their feet. The creature had thick black, leathery skin, a beak full of sharp teeth, long talons for feet, and membrane-like wings that spanned 10 feet, 7 inches, by their measure.

The body of the creature was taken to the nearby town of Gray, according to the story, where it was identified as a pterodactyl by a student of paleontology. As reported in the Illustrated London News of February 9, 1856, the rock in which the creature had apparently been entombed for millions of years, contained a precise mold of its body.

Pterosaur Photos

The April 25, 1890 edition of the Tombstone Epitaph ran a story of two Arizona ranchers who claimed to have chased on horseback a flying monster “resembling a huge alligator with an extremely elongated tail and an immense pair of wings.” True to the spirit of the West, they shot the creature.

Taking measurements, they reported that the monster was 92 feet long with a 160-foot wingspan and a mouth full of sharp teeth. The story is not taken seriously by many researchers today, but it corresponds loosely with a story about a thunderbird that was allegedly shot in the same area in 1886 and dragged into town to be photographed.

Several paranormal researchers claim to recall seeing that photo, but don’t know where, and the photo has not been seen since.

Then in the late 1990s, a photo surfaced on the Internet [showing Civil War soldiers posing next to a dead “Pterosaur”] and many wondered if it was related to the long-lost photo in any way. As it turns out, however, the photo is a hoax, created by Haxan Productions for their “Freaky Links” television show.

But what of all the eyewitness accounts of pterosaurs? Are they merely misidentified birds and bats? Or is it just possible that this ancient species survived into the 20th century, and perhaps still exists?

An even more bizarre theory is that these sightings are artifacts of a slip in time - either a look into the distant past, or that some of these flying monsters have passed through some time portal to present day. Whatever the answer, these pterosaur sightings present a fascinating glimpse into the unexplained.

cemeterycreep:

One day in June of 1873, a farmer in Bonham, Texas, USA, looked up from his work and was astonished at what he saw. There appeared to be an enormous flying snake, banded with brilliant yellow stripes, writhing and twisting in the sky above him.

Other people in the Bonham vicinity also witnessed this strange apparition, which was said to be at least as long as a telegraph pole. According to a report in the local newspaper, Enterprise, the bewildered eyewitnesses watched the creature coil itself up, and thrust forward its enormous head as if striking at something.

This is just one account of a strange phenomenon that has been reported for thousands of years.

Indeed, the ancient Mayan civilization worshipped a flying serpent, known as Quetzalcoatl. (pictured above)

In Loren Coleman’s 1985 book entitled “Curious Encounters” his research revealed that a similiar “sky serpent” was seen not long afterwards above Fort Scott in Kansas by the US Calvary that were stationed there, along with many civilians. A serpent that could be heard hissing was seen in 1888 over South Carolina, a shining snake wriggled vertically through the skies of Scandinavia in March of 1935, and there were two seperate sightings over Cruz Alta, Brazil in December of 1935 and then again in July of 1937.                                      

In 1917, a pilot reported seeing a dragon like animal flying in the sky near him. While the most reasonable explanation for these sightings is that it is some form of meteorological manifestation, it does not explain why so many people, through so many years should mistake such a thing for a snake, which is very readily identifiable by most people.

These people were not claiming that they saw something that “looked” like a snake, they were claiming that they saw snakes. In medevial times in Europe, there were reports of dragons and cockatrices (creatures that were reported to be a cross between a rooster and a reptile). Ancient Chinese mythology is rife with dragons. Indeed this phenomenon has been reported and recorded all over the earth through most of recorded history. Strange indeed.

Further reading at http://forteanzoology.blogspot.com/2009/12/dale-drinnon-churchwards-quetzalcoatl.html

You may also be interested in reading native Texan and Cryptozoologist Ken Gerhard’s book, called ‘Big Bird! Modern Sightings of Flying Monsters’.