In this strange old photo, it is not a thunderbird, but also an unknown huge flying creature, supposedly killed in Texas. Many claim that this is a pterodactyl.
In recent years, cryptozoologists around the world have often discussed a photograph taken about forty years ago, which supposedly captured the legendary thunderbird
People who held this photograph in their hands said that it showed a wooden barn wall, to which a huge dead bird with spread wings was nailed.
The bird has dark plumage and looks like an eagle. Six men in cowboy hats stand in front of the barn. They extended their arms to the sides and touch each other with their palms. If we count the arm span of an adult man to be approximately equal to two meters, it turns out that the wingspan of an unknown bird is 11 meters.
Eyewitnesses saw this photograph in the hands of Ivan Sanderson, a famous American naturalist who 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 thunderbird. During that trip, he took his famous photograph. The bird was first heard in 1890. Then an article appeared in the Colorado Springs newspaper, where it was reported about 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. Legends of the thunderbird have existed in Pennsylvania for centuries. The American historian and chronicler Sir Robert Lyman wrote about these myths. The flying monster appears in the summer 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 itself 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 small children from the cradle and feeds their chicks with them. The Sioux 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, who was killed several decades ago by the leader of the tribe. By tradition, a hunter who kills such a game becomes a leader. However, it is very difficult to shoot a huge bird, it has tight and durable feathers and skin. The bullet does not always pierce this shell. To kill the Mechkwan for sure, you need to get in the eye. Only very well-aimed shooters are capable of this. In addition, the bird is extremely cautious and aggressive and, it happens, pecks hunters to death.
The Indians told the guest that she 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 strongly advised him not to do 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 tracked down the Mechkwan for a long time in the Appalachian prisons 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. Mechkvan pecked the guy in the eye, he screamed terribly, cowboys ran up to the sound. They threw up their rifles and killed the monster with heavy fire. Then the famous photograph was taken. Sanderson intended to bring the corpse to Newark, where he then 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.
Together with the cowboys, Sanderson went to the nearest town, where the unfortunate guy who had lost an eye received medical attention. They left the killed bird next to an abandoned barn, but when they returned the next day, 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 carried away by its own relatives to feed their chicks.
The cryptozoologist was accused of losing an eye to their tribesman, and it was announced that Sanderson was in trouble. Probably, there was some truth in the predictions of the indigenous people of the continent. Next year, during another expedition to the Arctic regions
Canada, where a naturalist tried to track down a mutant polar bear, he froze his legs and lost his feet. All subsequent years, the scientist was seriously ill and was bedridden. Modern American cryptozoologists 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 was to serve that photograph. However, all materials and drafts of the cryptozoologist concerning mechkwan mysteriously disappeared.
In Kazakhstan, in 2007, summer residents watched as two huge birds flew over the village
- When I watered the garden, and it was at about 21.00, I looked into the evening sky and saw a giant bird at an altitude of 100-150 meters with a wingspan of about three to three and a half meters, which was flying in a northwest direction. This bird did not move with its wings, and its pronounced outlines resembled the representative of flying foot and mouth disease, which we know about from science fiction films, says an excited amateur gardener Alexander Konovalov. - I served in the army for 30 years and it is difficult to scare me with anything, but then, I confess, my soul went straight to my heels, I even wanted to hide in some shelter. But curiosity still overcame my fear, and I watched the flight of the creature for another five minutes until it disappeared from sight. Immediately asked the neighbors if they saw a huge bird in the sky? One of them confirmedthe other two did not see anything, as they were busy weeding the garden. Moreover, they perceived my story as the delirium of a madman. But soon all the ridicule was stuck in their throats, because another bird appeared, which flew in the same direction as the first …
Stunned summer residents could not come to their senses for a long time after what they saw. Then, after consulting, they found a prosaic explanation of what they saw. In their opinion, this is one of the Semey enterprises, known for the invention and manufacture of various giant dinosaurs, which has launched a mass production of "pterodactyls" for weddings. Allegedly in honor of the newlyweds, giants are launched into the sky like doves - in this way local oligarchs turn the wedding of their children into an unforgettable show.
However, the president of Kazakhstan-Salute LLP, where huge self-propelled exotic and prehistoric animals are really made, Vadim Gostev completely refuted all the guesses of summer residents.
- What are you? We didn’t do anything like that,”he said.“And it’s not just the high cost of our animatronics. It takes at least two years to make one such giant. What wedding will wait so long?
Thus, the question of what kind of creatures or UFOs it was that frightened the inhabitants of the dacha village "Murat" remains open.
Here is the time, as it always happens in such cases, to doubt the mental health of Mr. Konovalov, who reported an inexplicable fact to the newspaper. But I can assure you that he is fine with that. Veteran of the armed forces, retired colonel Alexander Vladimirovich today works as a full-time specialist in military accounting at Semey University named after Mukhtar Auezova (former law institute of KazGUU) also gives military training lessons at the Semey College of Law and Business. In addition, three more gardeners who witnessed an incredible phenomenon are ready to confirm his words.
In 2002, in the skies over Alaska, the pilot almost collided with a giant bird in the air
Residents of southwest Alaska saw in the sky a giant winged creature resembling a Jurassic Park character, reports the Anchorage Daily News. According to eyewitnesses, this bird is much larger than all the birds they know. Last week, the pilot almost collided with this pterodactyl: he claims that the monster's wingspan was not inferior to his Chesna (the length of the Chesna's wing is almost 4.2 meters).
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Unfortunately, the bird has not yet caught the eye of any of the ornithologists. Biologists are skeptical about the testimony of eyewitnesses and believe that the size of the monster is “somewhat exaggerated” and over the past 100 thousand years, science has not observed such large flying creatures. Scientists are inclined to believe that the notorious bird is Steller's sea eagle, one of the largest birds in the world.