Loch Ness has its monster. Does San Antonio have one, too? Strange sightings of a huge flying creature have been reported as recently as six months ago. Is it a monster or myth? Guadalupe Cantu III was busy working his newspaper route, but he says the big news of that day 10 years ago flew right over his car. He says he's seen what most have not — an unidentified flying object, one that still scares him. "We were afraid that it would come at us. So we stayed in the car till it passed this way," witness Guadalupe Cantu III said. "This thing's all feathers, all black. Much bigger than me. It looked at us. It had verystooped-up shoulders." The beast has been spotted from the Rio Grande Valley to the mountains of New Mexico.
"(It) looked like what was possibly two people standing on top of a mountain up there," said David Zander, who saw the monster in New Mexico. "Something that big ... I guess it kinda makes you feel like it could come over and carry you off if it wanted to." San Antonio's Ken Gerhard has written a book on these dark birds as big as planes, with wingspans from 15 to 20 feet. Native Americans called them thunderbirds: depicted in their art, their flapping wings were said to cause explosive noises. "What's interesting is that the reports of these giant, raptor-like birds do continue into modern times," saidGerhard, a cryptozoologist. Cryptozoology is the study of and search for legendary animals to prove their existence. He says there's solid evidence something is overhead. "I believe there's a good chance that a lot of large, prehistoric animals, if you will, remain undiscovered by modern science," he said. So what could the giant birds be? Some witness sketches eerily resemble prehistoric creatures, like the pteronadon of 160 million years ago.
The giant man-eating "Haast"s Eagle" of New Zealand really did exist according to new research, it would have weighed up to 40lbs and is thought to have hunted flightless birds such as moa and evenhuman children."A massive man-eating bird of prey from ancient Maori legend really did exist, according to new research.
Scientists have known about the existence of Haast"s eagle for over a century based on excavated bones, but the behaviour of these giant birds wasnot clear."
Cryptozoologist Karl Shuker looks back at a case from 1998 in which he received information from a University Professor on a possible stuffed thunderbird being kept in the town of Spanish, Ontario. "Karl Shuker: In 1998, I received the following fascinating information of possible relevance to North America"s ongoing thunderbird or "big bird" mystery.
And this time it involves something much more substantial than a missing thunderbird photo - nothing less, in fact, than what may be a missing stuffedthunderbird!"
More sightings of a huge flying creature, originally reported by KENS, have prompted an investigation to determine if it is a monster or myth. "Even though it was dark, the thing itself was black. The blackest I"d ever seen," said Frank Ramirez. Years ago, Ramirez thought he was after a prowler in the back of his mother"s Southwest Side home. But what greeted him on the garage rooftop still gives him goosebumps now. "That"s when the thing up there turned to me, and it was in a perched state, and it started to turn," he said. "It started to move its arms and this giant blackness was just coming out. At thatpoint, I dropped the stick and I ran." Ramirez sketched a drawing of the large, bird-like creature.
The image is disturbing, and similar to dozens of sightings across San Antonio and South Texas. "If you were to take a man"s face and pull his chin down, just like a stretched face," said Ramirez. "I was just terrified and as I was running. I just thought it was going to carry me off or something." An earlier KENS story about a large, prehistoric-like bird drew more than 100,000 hits on MySanAntonio.com. More than a few people in San Antonio came forward to say they"d seen the creature, too. One woman contacted KENS by e-mail, saying that because of our story, she now knows she"s not crazy. KENS caught up withcryptozoologist Ken Gerhard at the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge. Gerhard recently wrote a book, called "Modern Sightings of Flying Monsters" on the large, dark birds. "When investigating mystery animals, it"s important to point out that there are vast areas of land, even here in South Texas, that remain uninhabited," said Gerhard. "If an animal like big bird does exist, it certainly needs some habitat, somewhere to hide.
Loch Ness has its monster. Does San Antonio have one, too? Strange sightings of a huge flying creature have been reported as recently as six months ago. Is it a monster or myth? Guadalupe Cantu III was busy working his newspaper route, but he says the big news of that day 10 years ago flew right over his car. He says he's seen what most have not — an unidentified flying object, one that still scares him. "We were afraid that it would come at us. So we stayed in the car till it passed this way," witness Guadalupe Cantu III said. "This thing's all feathers, all black. Much bigger than me. It looked at us. It had verystooped-up shoulders." The beast has been spotted from the Rio Grande Valley to the mountains of New Mexico.
"(It) looked like what was possibly two people standing on top of a mountain up there," said David Zander, who saw the monster in New Mexico. "Something that big ... I guess it kinda makes you feel like it could come over and carry you off if it wanted to." San Antonio's Ken Gerhard has written a book on these dark birds as big as planes, with wingspans from 15 to 20 feet. Native Americans called them thunderbirds: depicted in their art, their flapping wings were said to cause explosive noises. "What's interesting is that the reports of these giant, raptor-like birds do continue into modern times," saidGerhard, a cryptozoologist. Cryptozoology is the study of and search for legendary animals to prove their existence. He says there's solid evidence something is overhead. "I believe there's a good chance that a lot of large, prehistoric animals, if you will, remain undiscovered by modern science," he said. So what could the giant birds be? Some witness sketches eerily resemble prehistoric creatures, like the pteronadon of 160 million years ago.
The summer of 1977 was chaotic for central Illinois news media. The most talked about local story was the multiple sightings of giant birds throughout the region. These numerous accounts commenced with the alleged attempted abduction of young 10-year-old Marlon Lowe by one of these birds on July 25th. A black bird with a white neck ring reportedly swooped down on the undersized boy and, grabbing him by his shirt, briefly raised him from the ground before dropping him—ostensibly from a blow from the boy’s flailing hands.Exactly what type of birds these were has been argued and debated by cryptozoologists and brave ornithologists now for the pastalmost thirty years.
Next summer will mark the three-fold decade anniversary of the sightings. Some of sightings have been told countless times on paranormal internet websites, while others, such as the fact that one of the birds alighted just outside a softball outfield fence while the game was progressing—the umpire actually stopped play and all the participants gawked and the avian immensity, have remained for whatever reason neglected. One particular contemporary event that has been complete ignored might just hold the clue that could explain the crazy events of that summer.On July 22th, just three days prior to the now infamous Lawndale incident, a rural New Holland man [New Holland IL is 20 miles from Lawndale] saw an exotic bird on their farm. Anaccount from the Lincoln Courier described it as such:“It was larger than a turkey,” said Kenneth Knollenburg, describing the bird on his farm. “I’d guess it weighed 25 pounds or so.” He said the bird was a dull gray with a white neck, small beak and a crest of feathers on its head, hee [sic] added. The bird’s wingspan was estimated at four feet.“It wasn’t afraid of people,” the New Holland farmer explained. “We wondered at the time if it hadn’t escaped from a zoo.”
Hidden in the shadows outside of civilization, monsters are believed by some to exist. According to folklore, a large primate stalks the Pacific Northwest and a giant reptile lurks in the depths of a Scottish lake. And in South Texas, people carefully watch the skies for Big Bird, a flying creature that terrorized the area in 1976. “This bird’s got a habit of going after people,” said Guadalupe Cantu III, an eye witness. “This is strictly a nighttime bird, though. ... From 11 o’clock on, everybody’s bait.” While most scientists would write off a man-hunting bird as pure myth, a group of researchers takes such accounts seriously. The researchers are called cryptozoologists.“It’s considered a pseudo science,” said Ken Gerhard, 38. “I like to call it a frontier science.”A Houston-based cryptozoologist,Gerhard is researching a book that will focus on the Big Bird.
He will speak about his research before the Brownsville Enlightenment Society at 7 p.m., Tuesday at Shoney’s Restaurant. The meeting is free to the public.While other zoologists might consider the existence of such a large unknown species impossible, Gerhard and others keep an open mind.“Cryptozoology is the search for animals that have not yet been verified by science,” Gerhard said. “Most people are familiar with the marquee animals – Bigfoot, the Loch Ness monster and Big Bird. ... The less glamorous side would include a new species of beetle.”In 2005 several new birds, plants and other species were discovered in the Foja Mountains of Papua, New Guinea. Scientists announced 27 new species earlier this year, discovered in California national park caves. Large creatures have also been revealed recently, with the first photographs of a live giantsquid taken in 2004.“New species are discovered all the time, a lot of people don’t understand that,” Gerhard said. “Cryptozoologists feel that those ‘real scientists’ aren’t doing a good enough job.”Don Farst, executive director of the Gladys Porter Zoo, remembers the excitement in January 1976 when people would ask about giant birds and livestock-attacking beasts. He said nothing was ever proved, but he can understand why some believe in unknown animals.“Nothing is impossible,” he said. “But I usually believe that either I or somebody that I trust has seen, and preferably photographed next to something of a known size.”
Thunderbirds are one of the few cross-cultural elements of Native North
American mythology. Stories of Thunderbirds are found among the Plains Indians,
as well as among Pacific Northwest, the Illini, Ojibwa,
and Northeastern Tribes. Thunderbird mythology is found among the Early
European Tribes also, but readily apparent traces are masked by later
cultures. The Quileute, sometimes spelled Quillayute, is the name of a Native
American tribe living along the Quillayute River in the Pacific northwestern
state of Washington on the Olympic Peninsula. The following is their version
of the Thunderbird legend from stories adapted from Indian Legends of the
Pacific Northwest by Ella E. Clark,
University of California Press, 1958:
Long ago, there was a sad time in the land of the Quillayute. For days and
days, great storms blew. Rain and hail and then sleet and snow came down upon
the land. The hailstones were so large that many of the people were killed.
The other Quillayute were driven from their coast villages to the great
prairie, which was the highest part of their land. There the people grew thin and weak from hunger. The hailstones had beaten
down the ferns, the camas, and the berries. Ice locked the rivers so the men
could not fish. Storms rocked the ocean so the fishermen could not go out in
their canoes for deep-sea fishing. Soon, the people had eaten all the grass
and roots on the prairie; there was no food left. As children died without
food, even the strongest and bravest of their fathers could do nothing. They
called upon the Great Spirit for help, but no help came.At last the Great Chief of the Quillayute called a meeting of his people.
He was old and wise. "Take comfort, my people," the Chief said. "We will call
again upon the Great Spirit for help. If no help comes, then we will know it
is His will that we die. If it is not His will that we live, then we will die
bravely, as brave Quillayute have always died. Let us talk with the Great
Spirit."
So the weak and hungry people sat in silence while the Chief talked with
the Great Spirit, who had looked kindly upon the Quillayute for hundreds of
years. hen his prayer had ended, the Chief turned again to his people. "Now we
will wait for the will of the One who is wise and all-powerful." The people waited. No one spoke. There was nothing but silence and
darkness. Suddenly, there came a great noise, and flashes of lightning cut the
darkness. A deep whirring sound, like giant wings beating, came from the place
of the setting sun. All of the people turned to gaze toward the sky above the
ocean as a huge, bird-shaped creature flew toward them.
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From the dark recesses of history comes a legend so amazing and terrifying, it’s astonishing that more people don’t know of its existence. If you live in the St. Louis area, chances are you are familiar with the legend; or may have heard bits and pieces of it here and there. As historians and scientists dig deeper into this legend, more becomes known about a monster from the past that called the St. Louis region its home, and may still call it home today. Upon exploring the Mississippi River in 1673, Louis Joliet and Father Jacques Marquette noticed the strange likeness of a creature painted and sculpted on the side of the bluffs. The creature was described as “a large creature with horns like adeer, red eyes, a beard like a tiger, a face like a man, body covered with green, red, and black scales and a tail so long it passed around the body, over the head, and between the legs.” The painting depicted a dark secret that, up until now, only the Illinois Indians had known.
The Illini lived on the banks of the confluence of the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers, surrounded by forests and tall bluffs. The location is now home to the city of Alton, IL. The Chief of this village met with Joliet and Marquette and, when asked, reluctantly told the explorers the two hundred year old tale of the beast they now called the “Piasa Bird” which meant “bird that devours men”. One night, several braves had returned to the village with a terrifying tale of a monstrous beast that had attacked their scouting party. Theyexplained that the flying monster had swooped from the sky and picked up men and carried them off into the night. Their arrows had merely deflected off of its tough scales as they tried to defend themselves. For several weeks the village suffered as the creature they were now calling “Piasa” attacked at night, carrying off a victim each time to an unseen fate. The Illini turned to their chief, Ouatoga, to rid them of this menace. After conversing with the Great Spirits, Ouatoga devised a plan. He believed that the creature would be vulnerable under its wings, where the scales did not protect. He had his warriors hide in the forest with poison-tipped arrows, while he offered himself as bait. The Piasa Bird appeared and went directly for the chief. He threw himself to the ground and held on to a tree root asthe Pia...
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(Read the FULL Article here... | 3123 bytes more | comments? | Score: 0 ) Posted by nuke on Monday, April 10 @ 13:34:15 CDT (25 reads)
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Loch Ness has its monster. Does San Antonio have one, too? Strange sightings of a huge flying creature have been reported as recently as six months ago. Is it a monster or myth? Guadalupe Cantu III was busy working his newspaper route, but he says the big news of that day 10 years ago flew right over his car. He says he's seen what most have not — an unidentified flying object, one that still scares him. "We were afraid that it would come at us. So we stayed in the car till it passed this way," witness Guadalupe Cantu III said. "This thing's all feathers, all black. Much bigger than me. It looked at us. It had verystooped-up shoulders." The beast has been spotted from the Rio Grande Valley to the mountains of New Mexico. 
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Thunderbirds are one of the few cross-cultural elements of Native North
American mythology. Stories of Thunderbirds are found among the Plains Indians,
as well as among Pacific Northwest, the Illini, Ojibwa,
and Northeastern Tribes. Thunderbird mythology is found among the Early
European Tribes also, but readily apparent traces are masked by later
cultures. The Quileute, sometimes spelled Quillayute, is the name of a Native
American tribe living along the Quillayute River in the Pacific northwestern
state of Washington on the Olympic Peninsula. The following is their version
of the Thunderbird legend from stories adapted from Indian Legends of the
Pacific Northwest by Ella E. Clark,
University of California Press, 1958:
