The Legendary Thunderbird Photo

[Mythopoeika]

That is the best collection I've seen so far.

 

[kamalktk]

Hi all, I hope you found my previous article on the San Diego Dragon interesting. In my latest article, I attempted to gather all the known candidates for the Missing Thunderbird Photo in one place, along with their corresponding backstories. This post was a huge undertaking to compile, and I hope everyone finds it useful!

Thunderbird Photos Exposed! (A Gallery of Fakes & Recreations)

Incredible detective work!

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

Hi all, I hope you found my previous article on the San Diego Dragon interesting. In my latest article, I attempted to gather all the known candidates for the Missing Thunderbird Photo in one place, along with their corresponding backstories. This post was a huge undertaking to compile, and I hope everyone finds it useful!

Thunderbird Photos Exposed! (A Gallery of Fakes & Recreations)

Great job to collect all the photos together!
Must admit that I feel slightly disappointed (but not really surprised) that every single one is a hoax though.

 

[ThunderbirdPhoto]

Thank you! It doesn't mean that there isn't a real one out there, though. I have encountered many of these images being shown as possibly being the real deal, so I thought it would be helpful to present the story behind each one. I'm personally in a 50/50 place after researching this topic for a few years. False memory is very common, and I've seen it in action with the Thunderbird Photo. On the other hand, I've interviewed various people who were close to Ivan T. Sanderson in the 1960s and they all tell a similar story about him showing them a similar photo. False memories after more than half a century? Perhaps. But it also feels like a "where there's smoke, there's fire" situation. Whatever the truth might be, this is a fun case to investigate and it generates a lot of creativity!

 

[ramonmercado]

Hi all, I hope you found my previous article on the San Diego Dragon interesting. In my latest article, I attempted to gather all the known candidates for the Missing Thunderbird Photo in one place, along with their corresponding backstories. This post was a huge undertaking to compile, and I hope everyone finds it useful!

Thunderbird Photos Exposed! (A Gallery of Fakes & Recreations)

Three Cheers For You!

 

[MercuryCrest]

I have encountered many of these images being shown as possibly being the real deal, so I thought it would be helpful to present the story behind each one. I'm personally in a 50/50 place after researching this topic for a few years.

Wow. A lot of those are new to me (I've been trying to collect every one that claims to be The One, as I, too, remember having seen it). What I love most is the attention given to each photograph.

Very well done, sir/madam. You have given us all a lot to ponder.

 

[ThunderbirdPhoto]

Thank you, @MercuryCrest! I'm curious, which of the existing photos or illustrations is closest to what you remember about the original?

 

[MercuryCrest]

@ThunderbirdPhoto It's been a while, so I might have forgotten things, but I believe that the "BIG BLACK BIRD ON THE BARN" photo is the closest. I'd have to look back through my own comments to see what I seem to remember seeing at this point.

 

[ThunderbirdPhoto]

Very interesting. In the interviews with Sanderson's associates, they all described it as a big, black bird.

 

[MercuryCrest]

Very interesting. In the interviews with Sanderson's associates, they all described it as a big, black bird.

IIRC, It was almost like a crow but gigantic.

Mind you, again, this was a long time ago.

 

[Ogdred Weary]

Hi all, I hope you found my previous article on the San Diego Dragon interesting. In my latest article, I attempted to gather all the known candidates for the Missing Thunderbird Photo in one place, along with their corresponding backstories. This post was a huge undertaking to compile, and I hope everyone finds it useful!

Thunderbird Photos Exposed! (A Gallery of Fakes & Recreations)

So, not only does the Thunderbird photo exist, it is posting on our forum! Just post a selfie and we will have definitive proof!

 

[Cochise]

The problem with all the photoshopped jobbies is that a) none of them really look like what I remember and b) they are all far too recent to have been in a book in the 1960's/70's.

It's not like I'm the only one that remembers it from that far back. In my memory the creature was definitely a very large bird, not any sort of reptile or hybrid.

 

[Ogdred Weary]

The problem with all the photoshopped jobbies is that a) none of them really look like what I remember and b) they are all far too recent to have been in a book in the 1960's/70's.

It's not like I'm the only one that remembers it from that far back. In my memory the creature was definitely a very large bird, not any sort of reptile or hybrid.

What percentage would you put on your memory being an actual one and not false? Not calling your veracity into question, just as Forteans we know what a tricky thing memory is.

 

[Cochise]

What percentage would you put on your memory being an actual one and not false? Not calling your veracity into question, just as Forteans we know what a tricky thing memory is.

That I remember that there was a picture of a large bird being displayed by hunter types in a book (or possibly magazine) back before I'd ever come to this site - say 85%.

That I correctly remember exactly what the picture looked like much less.

I entirely accept that I may have latched on to a false memory as a result of reading about the legendary picture, of course I can't rule that out, the only thing I am reasonably certain about is that I knew of the alleged picture way before it became an internet meme - certainly no later than the mid 1990's.

 

[ThunderbirdPhoto]

Outside of SITU, Daniel Cohen discussed the Thunderbird Photo in some of his books (one which showed an illustration of a monster bird, but flying) but then the story gained more popularity due to the coverage by Strange Magazine in the '90s. The memory of the bird looking like a giant crow or raven is one I keep coming across, especially in some of the earliest accounts.

 

[OrsonSwells]

Not entirely related, but there's something about this photo that reminds me of the various Thunderbird pictures.

 

[ThunderbirdPhoto]

Not entirely related, but there's something about this photo that reminds me of the various Thunderbird pictures.

View attachment 56630

My heart raced when I saw that image! That's exactly what we're looking for, just a different animal.
I'm tempted to add that to my article.

P.S. And I live in New Jersey. You mean I've been swimming with that?!

 

[Paul_Exeter]

Not entirely related, but there's something about this photo that reminds me of the various Thunderbird pictures.

Do we know if this image in genuine? There was a giant freshwater specimen caught recently in Asia

 

[ThunderbirdPhoto]

I just checked and the photograph was published in several newspapers in 1933. So it's at least not a modern hoax.

Edit: Snopes investigated the story and labeled it "Mostly True." It is a taxidermy specimen.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/giant-manta-ray-photo/

 

[lordmongrove]

A Brief History of Birds Nailed To Barns & the Thunderbird Photo​

https://thunderbirdphoto.com/f/a-br...EhiD9sAXvJPhvbnqOMBsNid9ulhbxftD8J1I7fLnvkIa4

 

[ThunderbirdPhoto]

Thank you for sharing! That one was a labor of love to write.

 

[lordmongrove]

Stuff flying round with wings.
https://thebiggeststudy.blogspot.co...MQYiUWWzAkiAo_0xG23OY2mvFwhh5HfJK8V0_xfs1zGn0

 

[ThunderbirdPhoto]

My most recent article investigates a different sort of reputed Thunderbird evidence:

Did the Smithsonian Collect Thunderbird Bones in the Late 1800s?
https://thunderbirdphoto.com/f/did-the-smithsonian-collect-thunderbird-bones-in-the-late-1800s

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

I've seen it posted a fair few times. No idea where that came from. Or indeed if it's a genuine bird. I mean, if it *is* that's incredible, in its own right. But all the same...

The image which most have described doesn't quite match this though. That refers to it being nailed to the wall of a Barn, and with multiple people in the photo. Cowboys, in fact. Or at least of that period. And not in American Civil War costumes. It was also less Bird like and more prehistoric, I believe. I could be wrong.

This came up in today's Quora.
It's a model recreation of Teratornitis - a gigantic condor-like bird thought to have gone extinct around the Pleistocene–Holocene boundary (around 11,500 years ago). So it certainly overlapped with human occupation of North America and I agree that this is one of the most likely candidates to have inspired the Thunderbird legend.

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

I browsed the entire thread earlier.
Many of the posted links are now dead but, to summarise, both the photos of US Civil War soldiers standing around a supposed downed pterosaur (the Freakylinks one and the canoe one) are confirmed hoaxes and something of a red herring.
The legendary "missing" photo that people recall seeing had a large winged creature - possibly feathered, possibly not, stretched out in front of a barn or similar building.
A brief Google, using these criteria, displays a number of photos and a few sketches.
I won't bother posting the drawings, but I assume the following photos have long since been thoroughly debunked?

View attachment 35895View attachment 35896View attachment 35901
View attachment 35899

Isn't it possible that mock-ups like these have been used in cryptozoological publications and credulous readers took them at face value as genuine photos?

Let's face it, finding an extant pterosaur or even an Argentavis magnificens would be utterly fantastic - but it isn't going to happen and these magnificent creatures haven't graced our skies for millions of years.

I've been living under a misapprehension all these years!
I always thought the staged photograph of the US Civil War soldiers standing around a dead pterosaur in the FreakyLinks TV show (think Scooby Doo for adults) was this one:

...but that was a later staged shot and the pterosaur prop now resides in Loren Coleman's cryptozoological museum.
It was though apparently inspired by the photo staged for FreakyLinks, which is the one with the pterosaur's wings looking like two halves of a child's canoe.

The particular programme - Season 1 Episode 4 - Coelacanth This! is now available on YouTube and the pterosaur image (it's referred to as a Pteranodon and Thunderbird in the show) starts at the 30:05 mark and is followed by close-ups of the soldiers and the beast's head.

As there is no evidence of this latter photo, which has got Young-Earth Creationists very excited, existing prior to FreakyLinks (October 2000), it appears almost certain that it was staged for the show. Unless any of you know otherwise of course?

The episode is available to watch here:

Finally, a mention for Lisa Sheridan, who played researcher Chloe Tanner in FreakyLinks, and who tragically died so young.

 

[ThunderbirdPhoto]

Skeptoid investigated and revealed the origin of both Civil War pterosaur photos:
https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4605

 

[maximus otter]

I've been living under a misapprehension all these years!
I always thought the staged photograph of the US Civil War soldiers standing around a dead pterosaur in the FreakyLinks TV show (think Scooby Doo for adults) was this one:

View attachment 64004

...but that was a later staged shot and the pterosaur prop now resides in Loren Coleman's cryptozoological museum.
It was though apparently inspired by the photo staged for FreakyLinks, which is the one with the pterosaur's wings looking like two halves of a child's canoe.

The particular programme - Season 1 Episode 4 - Coelacanth This! is now available on YouTube and the pterosaur image (it's referred to as a Pteranodon and Thunderbird in the show) starts at the 30:05 mark and is followed by close-ups of the soldiers and the beast's head.

View attachment 64006

As there is no evidence of this latter photo, which has got Young-Earth Creationists very excited, existing prior to FreakyLinks (October 2000), it appears almost certain that it was staged for the show. Unless any of you know otherwise of course?

The episode is available to watch here:

Finally, a mention for Lisa Sheridan, who played researcher Chloe Tanner in FreakyLinks, and who tragically died so young.

Fakers: When setting up a bogus Civil War-era Thunderbird photo, remember that the average Union soldier was 25 years old, 5’8” tall and weighed just over 10 stone. Using models who are over six feet in height, 40+ years old and obese is a bit of a giveaway, no matter how accurate their uniforms and weapons.



maximus otter

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

Fakers: When setting up a bogus Civil War-era Thunderbird photo, remember that the average Union soldier was 25 years old, 5’8” tall and weighed just over 10 stone. Using models who are over six feet in height, 40+ years old and obese is a bit of a giveaway, no matter how accurate their uniforms and weapons.



maximus otter

Well that was kind of my point - that it was a staged photo for a TV programme, but unfortunately some credulous people thought it was real.
Not sure "fake" is the correct word though to describe what was basically a stage prop surrounded by actors.
Interestingly, this thread kicked off just a few months after FreakyLinks was broadcast, so did the whole Mandela effect thing spring from that?
Is there any tangible evidence of a supposedly real photo of a pterosaur surrounded by armed men (or nailed to a barn wall) prior to 2000?

 

[ChasFink]

Interestingly, this thread kicked off just a few months after FreakyLinks was broadcast, so did the whole Mandela effect thing spring from that?
Is there any tangible evidence of a supposedly real photo of a pterosaur surrounded by armed men (or nailed to a barn wall) prior to 2000?

The FreakyLinks photos were deliberately meant to reference the already established thunderbird photo "memories".

I remember reading about the thunderbird photo in the 1970s or so. Unless that is a false memory!

 

[Trevp666]

Whilst reading about the Thunderbird photo being in the large format book by Readers Digest (was it Mysteries of the Unexplained) I know that I had that book when I was quite young (possibly in my early teens) but I had lots of similar books as well.
But I had a very strong memory of seeing the Thunderbird photo in a 'regular size' book which was of the sort that is pages and pages of text and then 4 or 5 pages of glossy (ish) black and white photographs, and then back to the text again.
I'm thinking 'Charles Berlitz' but IIRC he mainly did books on the Bermuda Triangle and The Philadelphia Experiment.