Ancient Protector or Modern Predator?

If you like cryptids and call the Midwest home, you’ll have heard of the Thunderbird.   

Admittedly, these do not rank among my top cryptid sightings.  They’re perfectly lovely as far as the unusual goes, I simply tend to have softer spots for those of the ocean and wood.  But like any researcher, if I don’t know much, I want to know more.

Being an Illinois resident, the first stop on my search is 1977 Lawndale, IL.  A great uproar occurred in a backyard in town, as a giant bird attempted, and almost succeeded, in carrying a 10 year old boy away.

The boy escaped with the aid of his mother, who left this description, “It had a white ring around its half foot long neck. The rest of the body was very black. The bird’s bill was six inches in length and hooked at the end. The claws on the feet were arranged with three front, one in the back. Each wing, less the body, was four feet at the very least. The entire length of the bird's body, from beak to tail feather was approximately four and one half feet.” - Ruth Lowe

History of Thunderbird sightings reaches back hundreds of years.  Several indigenous peoples from north to Central America told tales of massive guardians and protectors.  The name springs from the description of the thunder sound that’s created by flapping wings, and lightening that can come from its eyes.

As mentioned prior, these birds were once viewed as strong and powerful protectors of native tribes, as many great birds were.  In fact, one of the forms prohibited to Skinwalkers was the Eagle.  The interpretation of them as more frightening human predators is more recent.

It has been proposed that the thunderbird legend is based on fossils of flying reptiles or raptor like avians.

However, modern sightings report birds that at up to 20ft in wingspan, are very much alive.  While occurances dwindled for a few years, One woman reported a sighting in Alaska as recently as 2018, and she isn’t alone. Many sightings occur with several witnesses, such as the sighting by bush pilot John Bouker and his plane-load of passengers.  [“The bird is] huge, he’s huge, he’s really, really big,” Bouker later told reporters. “You wouldn’t want to have your children out.”

Thunderbirds are also credited with being among the mysteries of the Alaskan Triangle, an intriguing area which will be further explored in upcoming posts.   As people disappear, some theorize that a few of them have fallen victim to these massive raptors.

I’d like to believe they are neither based on fossils or hungry giant condors.  I prefer that whatever has been seen are the last of a dying breed.  Perhaps the offspring or grandchildren of the Teratornis merriami, king of the birds who purportedly  died out at the end of the last ice age.

At the conclusion, I’m still more enthralled by the megalodon, and the Sasquatch, but I’m probably going to be checking the skies more often than I used to.