The "Lost" Thunderbird Photo

The "Lost" Thunderbird Photo

Thunderbirds -- and "living dinosaurs," in general -- are a difficult topic to discuss, due to religious Fundamentalists, moneyed "experts" who receive backing from shady organizations and are known to falsify research, and a general lack of evidence that has been made public.

Many photos, video documentation, even alleged specimen, regarding a great number of topics we discuss exist in private collections that are not accessible to the public.  Some can be found in reputable books (where they were licensed for publication), others in privately-owned museums (where no photography is allowed), and elsewhere -- just not online.  Uploading them can result in termination of accounts (though the images are usually just reported/removed), and has -- as they are protected by Copyright and similar restrictions.

Stories of Thunderbirds go back centuries, but appear to be specific to North America.  While tales of winged, sky-faring, man-eating beasts appear in cultures worldwide, the very term is taken from Native American accounts.  Early settlers' accounts repeatedly mention the fear American Indians had of these creatures, and record tales of their attacks on people -- mostly children.  These scant details bear the hallmarks of Legend, but the story goes deeper.

Accounts of posses being amassed, and hunts organized, for Thunderbirds also exist in historical record.  In several cases, these hunts were carried-out by otherwise serious-minded, "common" people of Anglo-Saxon descent who may have been swept-up by hysterical tales of recent attacks, or sightings in the area.  Others were expeditions carried-out by wealthy trophy hunters -- even more important, as it proves that belief in these tales was strong enough to entice men of a higher status (and assumptively better education) into paying top-dollar, and traveling the world to brave unchartered territory, just for the chance to nab one!

There are a handful of similar photos, all of which appear to be fakes based on the fabled accounts of "The Lost Thunderbird picture" -- none of which mention Vicksburg or the Civil War, by the way.  Most Thunderbird accounts of that period came from the American Southwest -- Arizona and the immediate area, to be precise.  Some of these tales were likely cases of mistaken identity coupled with fear -- the product of conditioning from hearing tales of such fearsome, loathsome beasts since childhood -- others, however, are not as easily dismissed.

And, though some modern researchers have conducted studies that seemingly "prove" modern people untrained in Zoology often misidentify known creatures -- not something serious researchers question in the first place -- their apocryphal data proves nothing regarding the knowledge of ancient tribal peoples whose entire lives were spent living and working in tandem with their natural surroundings.  This is especially true of American Indian culture, which revered nature and the animal kingdom.  On a separate note, the very hypothesis smacks of racial bias, as it seems to "confirm" the era's prevailing, racist views toward Amer-Indians more than anything.

This alleged picture of a Thunderbird hunt may well be the "Lost Thunderbird Photo" of paranormal lore.  While many have attempted to debunk it, no conclusive evidence proving its fraudulence has come to light.  Proffering that it may have been a hoax of its day -- a staged photo in front of a theatrical prop or taxidermic creation -- is a sound approach toward establishing reasonable doubt; resorting to claims of digital manipulation is lazy at best, and not at all convincing.  As always, I am not claiming this is an authentic photograph; I remain hopefully skeptical that it is, and so far unswayed by attempts to debunk it.

Especially since I am not sure how this picture made it online, because I think it belongs to a private collection.  Most of the photos from said private collection are unavailable online (although many are available in print), so I am not entirely sure how this particular photo of an alleged Thunderbird hunt around the turn of the 19^th-Century persevered.

Though I, too, may be mistaken.

© The Weirding, 2017

Pics of a Golden Eagle Attacking a Full-Grown Deer

Deer Attacks Eagle

Eric Walters, a 46-year-old IT worker for Discover Card, took his camera to an Illinois nature reserve, hoping to spot a prairie falcon reportedly seen in the area. What he snapped instead has excited the wildlife community to no end: A golden eagle attacking an adult, white-tail deer!

Experts say that while the incident is extremely rare, it isn't unheard of -- it largely depends on how scarce food is. Rodents and small mammals tend to comprise the brunt of golden eagles' diets according to experts, but they are known to attack larger creatures like mountain sheep, coyotes, even caribou.

Like the prairie falcon, the golden eagle is a rare sight -- especially in Illinois -- and one attacking prey as large as an adult deer is rarer still. While Walters missed the prairie falcon, he managed to get what many consider the pictures of a lifetime. The entire attack lasted about 35 seconds and Walters captured at least three good pics.

This is particularly interesting to cryptozoologists because of the phenomenon known as "Thunderbirds." Thunderbirds are said to be oversized avians, sometimes believed to be creatures unknown to science or possibly animals thought extinct, which have been reported to attack humans -- notably children.

© C Harris Lynn, 2010

Pterodactyl in Wenatchee, Washington?

A 29-year old man from Wenatchee, Washington, wrecked his car on a lightpole in December of last year.  When police investigating the crash asked him what happened, he said, "Pterodactyl."

Witnesses claim the man veered into oncoming traffic before plowing into the lightpole and police found "a minimal amount of alcohol" in his system.  None of the crash witnesses reported any airborne objects, whether or not any were present.

While most likely a drunken incident, this is far from the first time the prehistoric pterodactyl has been reported in modern times.  In particular, reports persist in the Southwestern United States (notably Arizona and Texas) to this day.  Some cryptozoologists and phenomenalists have even suggested that the infamous Mothman sightings of the 1960s may have been related to a pterodactyl(s).

Most recently, the Sci-Fi Channel hit series, Destination Truth, caught something on camera in Rio Branco where the local populace has been complaining of a "winged monster."  Whatever it was had bright, red eyes, just as reported.

As noted, Washington is quite a ways out of the pterodactyl's normal stamping grounds, but the center of Batsquatch activity.

Source: Olyblog

© C Harris Lynn, 2008

Thunderbirds

One of the better episodes of MonsterQuest last night dealt with Thunderbirds. The episode was entitled "Birdzilla," which was pretty cool.

Various traditions are attached to Thunderbirds, but the general consensus is that they were gigantic, predatory birds with massive wingspans that often preceded great thunderstorms. The other, generally agreed-upon, trait is that they sometimes kidnapped small children. Some accounts even have them terrorizing grown men, but these are far more rare.

Like so many of these cryptozoological oddities, accounts of Thunderbirds began in ancient times -- well, ancient to us, anyway. In fact, there's no way to know exactly how far back such stories go because the white man only started hearing them from Native Americans during exploration of the New World, so there is no recording of accounts prior to then. At the very least, we know that reports of giant birds attacking men and small children go back to at least the 16^th-17^th Centuries.

There was a resurgence of Thunderbird sightings in the mid to late -1970s, with at least one famous attack on a small boy taking place in a Mid-Western state. Further, not only does photographic evidence of some of these creatures exist, actual motion picture evidence of at least two of them was taken in 1977!

The interesting thing about this particular episode of MonsterQuest was that, while no real conclusions were made (see previous entry), even the pedants were stumped! They couldn't find two experts who agreed on anything when it came to what sort of bird could have attacked a 10-year old boy, nor what species of bird(s) were shown on that piece of film.

Now, I'm a weird sort: When any, relatively intelligent or observant, person tells me he saw something out of the ordinary, I tend to give them the benefit of the doubt. I'm not saying that I automatically accept that he saw something Unexplained; I'm saying that, if he says it's so, then the next step is to start researching the subject -- not dismiss it out-of-hand. Further, I tend to give eyewitnesses who have practical experience with the wildlife in their area more credence than some nerd who spends all day in a cloistered room looking through a microscope.

When a Cherokee Indian who has lived in the same area his entire life and knows its legends, flora, fauna, and landscape tells me he knows what a Turkey Vulture is, and what he saw was not a Turkey Vulture, I take that into consideration. It certainly carries more weight for me than when some Ornithologist clear across the country takes a brief look at a few seconds of film and "debunks" it.

But I digress.

There have also been reports of great birds since the 1970s, and there are great swaths of wilderness in North America, and throughout the world that have never been fully explored, and probably never will be. I heard one guy talking about how these birds would fly, and so they would have to be seen -- well, they have been!

See, the problem isn't that these giant birds are making themselves scarce; the problem is that the Poindexters who receive millions of dollars a year to study Bald Eagles spend all their time looking at mites under microscopes and discussing the migration of field mice, so they've fooled themselves into thinking that absolutely nothing outside their little bubble could possibly exist without them already knowing it.

And this is true of these "professionals" when it comes to basically all cryptozoological pursuits.  They also discredit laymen, and researchers who do all the work, in order to lay claim to these discoveries.

But I love Thunderbirds and I have been trying to get a post or two out about them out for a while now.  If I get a chance today, I'll try to bring you some accounts of Thunderbirds from some of the sources I have (see sidebar).