Ivan Sanderson, famous American naturalist, died in 1973. Sanderson is known for his articles on the Scottish Nessie, the Jersey devil, the moth man and other unusual representatives of the fauna, and is considered the largest specialist in cryptozoology.
In 1966, he took a trip to the heart of Northern Pennsylvania, from where there were numerous reports of the mysterious bird thunder. During that trip, he took his famous photograph.
The bird was first heard in 1890. Then in a newspaper published in Colorado Springs, an article appeared, which reported on two cowboys who saw with their own eyes a monster bird with a wingspan of at least ten meters on the Colorado prairie. The daredevils claimed that they shot at her with rifles, but missed.
“Her eyes were like saucers, and her legs were like those of a horse. The bird was covered with black feathers that glistened in the sun. She sat on the ground, but when we crept up and fired the first shot, the monster soared into the air and flew away, - this was the description given by the cowboys.
Thunderbird legends have existed in Pennsylvania for centuries. The American historian and chronicler Sir Robert Lyman wrote about these myths. A flying monster appears in the summer, arriving from the Appalachian Mountains. The frequency of rumors, Lyman established, is thirty years. Locals believe that the bird nests somewhere on the tops of the mountains.
In general, the legend of a huge bird in one form or another is present among all the indigenous people of North America, among those who settled along the western coast - from California to Alaska, in the central part of the continent and in the northeastern United States, in the Great Lakes region.
According to the legend of the Cree Indians, the bird arrives before a thunderstorm - hence the name. The Kree believe that the feathered monster not only foreshadows, but also causes a thunderstorm and produces thunder with the flaps of its huge wings.
In the language of the Cherokee Indians, the bird is called tanuva. The Cherokee are terribly afraid of her, as they believe that a bird with black plumage carries away small children from the cradle. The monster feeds its chicks with babies.
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Siu is called the mechkwan bird. During his trip to Pennsylvania, Sanderson attended a festival of the Assiniboine Indians of the Sioux group. He was struck by the traditional colorful outfits of multicolored feathers. The black feathers were especially huge. The Assiniboins told the naturalist that these were the feathers of a mechkwan killed several decades ago by a tribal leader. By tradition, the hunter who kills the bird becomes the leader.
However, it is very difficult to shoot a huge bird, it has very Tight and durable feathers and skin. The bullet does not always pierce this shell, in order to kill the mechkwan for sure, you need to hit the eye. Only very well-aimed shooters are capable of this. In addition, the bird is extremely cautious and aggressive, and it happens that it pecks hunters to death.
The Indians told the guest that this bird flies to their lands once every thirty years from the Appalachian mountains. Sanderson wanted to see the bird and, if possible, photograph it. However, the Assiniboins warned him against this. Mechkwan does not like to show himself to people, and if he meets them, he tries to peck. Therefore, you need to go in search of a flying creature only with the intention of killing it.
Then Ivan hired six cowboys and an assiniboine guide. They hunted the Mechkwan for a long time in the spurs of the Appalachians and only a week later they met her. An Indian, a young guy, tracked down the feathered giant, but for him the enterprise ended tragically. Mechkwan pecked the guy in the eye, he screamed terribly, cowboys came running to the screams. They threw up their rifles and killed the monster with heavy fire.
On the net you can also find such a photo with a huge bird. Possibly done in the same places.
Sanderson intended to bring the corpse to Newark, where he lived and worked. After careful research, he wanted to make a stuffed bird out of it. But the killed monster was so huge and heavy that it could only be transported by truck.
He, along with the cowboys, went to the nearest town, where the unfortunate guy, who had lost an eye, received medical attention. They left the killed bird near an abandoned barn, but when Sanderson and his assistants returned to the site the next day in a hired truck, the dead bird disappeared.
Ivan suspected that the Assiniboins had a hand in the disappearance of the prey, but the Indians did not admit this. They said that the bird was taken away by its own relatives to feed their chicks.
They accused the cryptozoologist of losing an eye and announced that Sanderson would be in disaster. Probably, there was some truth in the predictions of the indigenous people of the continent. The following year, during another expedition to the Arctic regions of Canada, where the naturalist was trying to track down a polar bear-mugang, he froze his legs and lost his feet.
All subsequent years, the scientist was seriously ill and was bedridden. Modern American kriltozoologists tried to find members of the Sanderson expedition to Pennsylvania - the cowboys who killed the bird, and the boy 'who lost his eye, but it turned out that they all died. Perhaps this is the result of the thunderbird's revenge.
Sanderson was going to publish a book about a mysterious bird, one of the illustrations should be that photo. However, all materials and drafts of the cryptozoologist concerning the mechkwan mysteriously disappeared.
S. Mikhailov
Source: “Interesting newspaper. The world of the unknown No. 11 2014