Thunderbirds

The Classic Crawfordsville Critter

Cedar Rapids [Iowa] Evening Gazette September 11, 1891 THE CRAWFORDSVILLE AIR MONSTER. EDITOR GAZETTE: — The article which appeared in THE GAZETTE of Tuesday, Sept. 8, in regard to the mysterious monster in the air, seen at Crawfordsville, Ind., brings to my mind an occurrence of a very similar character which took place in Chicago in the spring of 1849. Although I was a small boy at the time I remember the incident very distinctly. The first appearance of this “monster” was between 9 and 10 o’clock at night. People who were on the streets were amazed and terrified by [...]

Civil War Pterodactyl to Maine

I’ve returned from Patrick Huyghe’s cabana, completing this weekend, the extended adventure in transporting the “Civil War Mystery Pterodactyl” to New England. The following images are courtesy of Allie Huyghe. The photo above is courtesy of Gregg Hale, Executive Director, Haxan Productions, Fox TV (at the time). My deep thanks to the Huyghes for their great hospitiality, cryptozoological conversations and Fortean brainstorming. By the way, if you were the passenger in a car with New York plates driving on I-84, who rolled your window down to ask me “What is that?” – and then had a short dialogue with me [...]

Fenghuang: Mothman in China?

Monday afternoon, August 13, 2007, a bridge fell in Fenghuang, China. Early reports are of over 30 killed, 46 missing, and 86 saved. (Update, August 15: The death toll is 36 with 23 missing.) You must look closely at the photographs above and below to see the humans and their recovery equipment; the bridge collapse was massive. Our sympathies to the families and victims. Unknown to the mainstream English-speaking journalists who are reporting this breaking news, you will want to know that the name of the Chinese location is heavily tied into myth, legend, and folklore concerning a special cryptid [...]

More On Lakota Thunderbirds

Following up on the current report of Thunderbirds or Mothmen from the Standing Rock Indian Reservation mentioned yesterday, I wanted to share this map of the location of the sightings. The Lakota and Dakota have stylization their representations of Thunderbirds for hundreds of years. How some of these have come into white culture is as subtle as these designs published in Boy’s Life a few decades ago. Boy’s Life, the Boy Scout magazine, used to have a monthly column from “Whittlin’ Jim” (1946-1991), and this is an example of one of his “slides of the day.” All were without copyright.

New Lakota “Mothman” Sighting

 The image of the “Thunder Being” or Thunderbird is a relatively rare one at the Jeffers site, appearing only 3 times. The multi-jointed wings in this glyph correspond to ethnographic descriptions from Dakota Indians recorded during the late nineteenth century. University of Minnesota. I’ve received word today that “Mothman” (the term used by my Native informant) or Thunderbirds have been recently seen by individuals at the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, which is a Dakota and Lakota Indian reservation in North Dakota and South Dakota in the United States. Specifically, there may be some additional activity in Ziebach County, South Dakota, [...]