Legendary Thunderbird Photo

[Jolly Guzzi]

This is a big one among the cryptozoology (study of unknown or unidentified creatures i.e bigfoot) rings. There is a reputed photograph of a Thunderbird, which was shot and then nailed to a barn. Six men are said to stand legs out and arms out in front of this thing. The wingspan would have been roughly 36 feet in length. While many older cryptozoologists seem to recall seeing this photo at one time or another, nobody seems to have a copy of it. Such a thing would be a treasure in its own right, and could make somebody well known.
A few people recall seeing it in an old textbook or something along those lines. This is a really well known thing among the cryptid hunters, and is actually one of the more popular legends. If anyone has any hits on such a photograph, I'd love to hear about it.

This is a rough sketch of what the photo may look like.

 

[Gypsy Heart]

this?

 

[Gypsy Heart]

or

 

[el_gral]

VERY INTERESTING! Thanks to you, now i have something to read up on while im at work! Ive been checking out these sites these are the links for some interesting reads:

http://www.gmdstudios.com/weblab/freakylinks/WWWFRE~1.COM/FREAKO~1/TAILS_~1/THUNDE~1.HTM

http://www.cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-news/lost-t-bd-photo/

Theres another pic on the freakylinks site but I cant upload anything at work so check it out guys!

Also I think the OP was talking about a different pic, varous people remember seeing a pic of the bird hoisted or tacked up on a barnwall. Different from the ones on this page.
I posted several other pics i came across online. Well anyways this has been very fascinating and has made my day go by faster!

 

[Jolly Guzzi]

No, these are often brought up though, and I'm glad to see some interest in the topic .
These were all promotional pictures for some T.V show in the 70's, but due to lack of popularity, the only thing really surviving are the pictures. They've been recirculated so many times that they developed their own stories, supposedly being civil war photos of a troop taking out pterodactyls, but it was finally uncovered as mistaken identity. Keep trying though!

 

[el_gral]

yeah youre right, I just read that the ones from freaky links have been debunked as fake! I find it odd that so many people remember seeing the one on the barn, but no one has been able to locate it. Some kind of group shared memory!

The second pic from the top also seems to be fake, some sort of modification of outlaw John Sontag's Death pic i read.

 

[Jolly Guzzi]

Indeed. Sublimnally perhaps, people have created something that doesn't exist. But I think it does. If you want a good site on cryptids, pm me and I'll send you some links.
This is another popular photo people throw out when talking about the thunderbird.

 

[Oroblanco]

Greetings,

I too am among those who can remember seeing the photo, in a very old book. I now wish I had kept the book, for those who now say the photo never existed.

Loren Coleman (famous cryptozoologist author) maintains a blog that is updated almost daily, with one part being dedicated to Thunderbirds. The link is:
http://www.cryptomundo.com/cryptozoology/thunderbirds/

Thanks for the pix, keep us posted in your search? I am also interested in cryptozoology.

Good luck and good hunting, I hope you find the treasures that you seek.

Oroblanco

 

[Springfield]

I have nothing to back this up with, so take it or leave it: a friend and myself observed something similar in size to these 'thunderbirds' soaring above Rattlesnake Ridge in the Cookes Range NE of Deming, NM, three years ago. The animal had a wingspan of greater than 20 feet, determined by carefully comparing it with a nearby tree and later observing the tree. It had the general appearance of a condor/vulture in silhouette. Our size estimate was carefully estimated - my partner is a surveyor and I'm an engineer, and we were trying to be conservative about it.

As we began inquiring with long-time locals, we discovered that similar sighting have been made in the same area since at least the 1930's by no-nonsense ranch families. Big Bird is real, boys.

 

[Oroblanco]

Thanks for sharing your experience with us Springfield, it takes guts to even talk about such a sighting. I would sure like to ask a few questions if you don't mind?

Do you remember the date? Had there been a thunderstorm recently? What was the weather like? Any other details you can remember?

I know the "skeptics" and 'experts' pooh-pooh all such incidents, and in their case nothing would help other than if they were to see it for themselves - but I am interested in it, and am convinced there is some kind of critter flying around in our skies that is not supposed to be there according to the science books.

Thanks again Springfield, and in advance as well,
your friend,
Roy ~ Oroblanco

 

[Springfield]

....Do you remember the date? Had there been a thunderstorm recently? What was the weather like? Any other details you can remember?....

Roy ~ Oroblanco

Oro, it was a clear day in spring, 2004, probably March or April. No recent weather events that I can remember. We saw a shadow on the ground pass us on the side of a canyon, high up nearly to the base of a prominent rimrock escarpment. We looked up at the bird soaring above us. It had the familiar shape and color of a vulture, although my partner seems to remember some white on it (I don't). We didn't think much of the bird until we noticed its wingspan was clearly larger than a distinct juniper tree it was close to at the top of the escarpment. As you know, it's difficult to judge size and distance in the desert and this tree looked quite large from our vantage point. We decided to climb the ridge and examine the tree to satisfy our curiosity. The juniper had a drip line of just about 20 feet. At this point we were a little stunned and we reviewed what we had seen and it was clear the bird was much, much larger than anything we had seen before. We contacted a bird expert we knew and he said the bird might have been either an errant Condor or an Imperial Vulture, both of which have large wingspans, but not more than 12/14 feet max. Our sighting was at least half again bigger. As I mentioned in a prior post, similar sightings have been reported in the past in this mountain range, although we don't know if they were in this canyon. Below are photos of the escaprment where the sighting was made, and a pinnacle across the canyon that was heavily covered with 'hawk chalk' near the top. Some day we'll go back and climb that pinnacle to investigate. By the way, the Cookes Range is home to some fabulous treasure clues and legends.

 

[Oroblanco]

Thank you Springfield! You obviously recall a good deal of details! I believe you 100%.

Too many scientists dismiss eyewitness testimony as "worthless" when it has a great deal of value, in fact if we are to dismiss all eyewitness testimony then we must dismiss much of scientific discovery as well, since it is recorded by those fallible human beings.

The fact that "Thunderbird" sightings and incidents have been following patterns that would fit with a living population of large predatory birds is fair evidence that such birds do exist - and are quite rare. There are folks who insist that if something exists, then we MUST have a body of it to "prove" it, ignoring the facts that rare creatures are so un-common and often live in such remote places that few humans ever traverse the regions, so the finding of a body would be nearly a miracle.

These Thunderbirds are also not a made-up fantasy animal either, there are known, real animals within the 'fossil record' that fit the description pretty much perfectly, such as the Teratorns, or even more strangely some of the flying dinosaurs. A surviving dinosaur might sound ridiculous, but remember that most modern paleontologists are now saying that dinosaurs did not disappear, they evolved into modern birds. The Teratorns existed up until the last Ice Age, and were living when men were in the Americas, this is known from the finding of Teratorn bones among ancient Amerindian sites dating to the period. It is ASSUMED that they went extinct with the rest of the Megafauna, with no good explanation as to why this would happen. (The "best" answer is that their prey animals disappeared, which ignores the fact that Teratorns would have plenty of prey in bison, deer, antelope etc)

Perhaps we can one day prove that the Thunderbird still exists. Thanks again and I hope you have a great day!

your friend,
Roy ~ Oroblanco

 

[Old Dog]

Springfield,

I seem to remember an article some years back about these big birds in an issue of National Geographic. I may be wrong.
Another name for them is Roc
Pronounced ''rock" There seems to be quite a few modern day sightings.

Not sure it will help but it's worth a try.

OD

 

[Zincoln Miner]

first time I heard about this was in a fate magazine article from(don't remember) the
early to mid 80's(mentioned barn no pic).I hear on coast to coast am of pa sightings
recently.

 

[adh247]

I cant get enough of these legends, Im only 29 and they all seem so fascinating, here i am living cocoa beach florida, you think i would be searching for all the lost gold too! i have the time too... maybe i should start re-thinking my future? lol

 

[cptbil]

There is a "HUGE!" Indian ? painting of a

"Thunder Bird"

Way back into the Black Range Mnts, NM
Anyone been there/know of it ?

 

[BenThereDoneThat]

There is a "HUGE!" Indian ? painting of a

"Thunder Bird"

Way back into the Black Range Mnts, NM
Anyone been there/know of it ?

I grew up in NM.....Capitan to be exact
every year in the spring for about two weeks there would be a migration of these HUGE black birds ...They weren't buzzards or turkey vultures they looked more like Condors for sure as they were two or three times the size.
Every year like clock work they would be there......same place, cotton wood and aspen tree grove just off main street.

 

[cptbil]

This drawing is about 40 feet long
It looks just like the "Bird" in the first "post "
Wings outstreched, etc
It must have been very important for them ??
To have gone to all of the time & trouble to "Paint" it on the cliff !
I have never seen the likes of it anywhere in the West !
&
I have been in Ca-Az-NM-Colo-Utah, etc
It's too bad that we'll never know the story of it!
Maybe a though investigation of the surrounding area might come up with a clue or two
Quien Sabe

 

[ghostdog]

For what it is worth, the photo of the bird tacked to a barn,was in one of those supermarket tabloid rags of the 1970"s,as I recall seeing it in the super market checkout line.The name of the magazine was World something or another. The photo stuck in my mind and I thought it had a real feel to it. Reminds me of the time I was exploreing in a tree grove close to Beaver,Penn., and suddenly saw a skeleton of a very large bird lodged in tree branches. It scared the shxxt out of me,and I took off....

 

[Oroblanco]

There is a theory about the migration of a possible surviving population (few of course) of Teratorns, those terrible huge birds - the largest one "Teratornis Argentavis" had a wingspan up to 26 FEET, larger than some small planes! That migration route includes PA, and is it coincidence that we get sightings reports of giant birds from the very same areas?
Oroblanco