Up to 15,000–18,500 new species of animals are discovered and identified each year using cutting-edge DNA testing around the world. In fact, extinct and even undiscovered animals are continually being discovered these days as well. So, what happens when myths about extinct species being sighted are proven to be true?
The Thunderbird is a common mythical beast or great spirit in Native American stories from the United States and Canada. People said that the huge bird was a supernatural being. It was a sign of power and strength that kept evil spirits away from humans. It was called the ‘Thunderbird’ because its strong wings made a sound like thunder when they flapped, and lightning would shoot out of its eyes. The Thunderbirds brought rain and storms, which could be good or bad. When the rain was needed, it was good, but when it came with strong winds, floods, and fires started by lightning, it was bad.
There were stories that the birds were so big that they could pick up a whale in their claws. They were said to have sharp teeth, claws, and bright, colorful feathers. People said they lived in the clouds and atop the highest solitary mountain peaks. Different tribes have different stories about the magical Thunderbird that they both feared and respected.
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Native Americans created folklore tales about unusual creatures like Thunderbirds in North America’s wildernesses. The mythical animals are shown as gigantic birds that can generate thunderstorms. They served the Great Spirits of the World as servants. These monstrous creatures inspired awe and revulsion in equal measure.
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Scientists and archaeologists believe that these legendary thunderbirds belong to the genus Pterandonon, which includes some of the largest flying reptiles in the world. Many of their fossilized remains have been found in North America.
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The North American region’s inhabitants claimed multiple encounters with large birds with lizard-like traits more than 200 years ago, despite the fact that these animals had been extinct for millions of years. A photograph from the American Civil War shows six Union soldiers with a huge reptilian-like bird lying dead beneath their boots in the 1864 war. The creature looked exactly like a dinosaur and could have possibly been one.
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Three teenagers from Lawndale, Illinois, claim that a thunderbird or giant bird flew off with one of their friends featured in a 1977 article as well. The boys said that they had gone out hunting when they became hunted by a giant bird which caught one of the group mates- Marlon Lowe and flew off with him. However, the bird dropped him when he struck at it.
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Native American legends are not the only stories about the Thunderbird. The Thunderbird is almost always listed in catalogues of mysterious animals by cryptozoologists. It has been seen many times, but no one has ever taken a good picture or video of it, and it has never been killed or caught, except maybe once or twice.
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In 1890, two cowboys in the desert of Arizona heard a story about a huge flying creature and decided to see it for themselves. Upon finding it and seeing it, they carefully aimed their guns at the strange creature and shot it out of the sky. According to an article in the April 26, 1890, issue of the Tombstone Epigraph, the cowboys and their horses dragged the dead monster into town, where its 190-foot wingspan and 92-foot-long body were measured. It was said to have smooth skin, no feathers, and wings that were “made of a thick and almost transparent membrane.” Clearly, the creature’s description sounded more like a pteranodon, a pterosaur, or a pterodactyl than a big bird.
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The scariest thing about the giant birds was that they sometimes tried to fly off with small animals or even children. Some people say that a “huge eagle” took a five-year-old girl named Svanhild Hansen from her parent’s farm in Leka, Norway, in June 1932. The girl weighed 42 pounds and was only five years old. The big bird carried her for more than a mile, the report said, and then let her go on a high mountain ledge without hurting her.
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Pennsylvania is where most stories about thunderbird sightings, both in the past and recently, have been reported. These stories go back to the 1800s. In the past, most of the reports have come from Cameron, Clinton, Lycoming, McKean, and Tioga counties, which are in the north-central part of the state.
In the last few years, there have been a lot of reports from the southwestern corner of the state. Stan Gordon, a paranormal investigator who lives in that part of the state, is interested in such cryptids and is eager to hear reports. There have been a few dozen reports from these two parts of the state in the last ten years.
Grant Lawrence wrote about seeing what he thought was a thunderbird. He saw it just across the western state line of Pennsylvania in Ohio. In his writings, he described the giant bird, “This bird was an extraordinarily large bird that looked as big as an airplane. Its wingspan looked 2 to 3 times bigger than that of a bald eagle. Now when you are looking in the sky, it is very difficult to say for certain how large an object is or how high up it is. But I can say with certainty that this bird was fantastically large.”
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Every day, new findings have brought forth more and more evidence that long-believed-extinct species are somehow alive and exist in some parts of the world. But this won’t be the end because new discoveries will continue to be made in the future as time goes on and new advancements in technology become available.
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