Thunderbirds are Go!

Am I cuckoo for condors? No, but seeing a condor on TV recently reminded me that I should post on the multifaceted Thunderbird mystery.

For centuries, various Native American tribes have told legends of enormous birds able to carry off men, horses, cattle, etc. Some stories of these predatory birds give them wingspan rivaling jet planes. What is interesting is that there may be some basis in fact for the legends. First, of course that condors are the largest birds capable of flight, and there is a species of California condor. The Andean condor is the largest member of the species, and some birds reach 10 ft. Wingspan. Further back in time, North America was home to Teratorns, birds related to modern condors and much larger than the Andean condor. Teratorn carcasses have been exhumed from the La Brea tarpits where the poor birds were trapped while scavenging from animals already trapped. The birds lived as recently as 8000 years ago, which sounds distant, but still places them squarely within the period of human habitation. In fact, teratorn remains are often found in conjunction with evidence of human habitation. It's not impossible that thunderbird legends are tribal memories of run-ins with these monster birds.

Could the Teratorns still be flying around? It's highly unlikely. But reports of enormous birds still trickle in from around the United States. Even urban legends tell of exceptionally large birds trying to carry off pets, or kids.

One of the most persistent stories about Thunderbird sightings involves a newspaper article and photo published in the Tombstone Epitaph. The story claims a group of ranchers shot a thunderbird out of the sky, and the picture shows about ten men standing fingertip to fingertip in front of the dead bird. While many people claim to have seen this picture, no one can find a copy of it. There is no record of such an article in the Epitaph archives, and no negative on file.

Here's where the story takes an even stranger turn. In the early '90's, a photo started circulating on the Internet showing a group of federal soldiers from the Civil War standing triumphantly over the body of -- not a bird -- but a Pterosaur, a flying dinosaur which has also been suggested as a Thunderbird candidate. Soon, other "old" photos began to surface.

It turns out that the "original" photo was mocked up by those nice people who brought you The Blair Witch Project, Haxan Productions. They were ramping-up for their X-Files-esque TV show, Freaky Links. Haxan never really intended for the photo to be a true hoax; the website was intended to blur the line between fantasy of the TV show and the reality of the viewer. (Not unlike, incidentally, this website.) Apparently, they did the job too well.