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Im looking for info on these photos if anyone has any ideas or knows anything about it.
It looks like the manager of a postal company had them, so its likely the photos became postcards. It would be neat to see them.

Original paper here
An “American” eagle? Weird phrasing. Assuming a bald eagle is meant but it could be a Golden eagle which is more plausible in size, where the average wing span is near 7 ft..
 
An “American” eagle? Weird phrasing. Assuming a bald eagle is meant but it could be a Golden eagle which is more plausible in size, where the average wing span is near 7 ft..
Many old American newspaper articles mention the "gray eagle." I'm still uncertain which bird they're referring to, bald (perhaps juvenile?) or golden. Of course, I'd like to think it's evidence for Washington's eagle. :D
 
This story looks legit to me based on the individuals named in the article. Here is the info I found on them, in various issues of the Williams News and in James H. McClintock's history of Arizona:

Benjamin F. Sweetwood was one of the pioneers of Williams, Arizona , having located there in 1893 and attained prosperity as the area grew. He was extensively engaged in cattle ranching and was also the proprietor of the Sultana Theatre. He was born in Michigan in 1872 and arrived in Williams in 1893. He worked there for three years as bookkeeper for the Saginaw Lumber Company and then turned his attention to railroading for one year. He was connected for a number of years with the liquor business but then shifted successfully to cattle raising. Sweetwood's large cattle ranch was northwest of Williams. In 1912, he built the popular Sultana Theatre, a modern building for the time that could seat 664 people and had a roomy stage adequate for producing most any kind of play. Sweetwood married Nellie Seibers of Los Angeles in July 1902. Sweetwood was a member of the Williams city council an the Fraternal Order of Eagles (apropos).

George B. "G.B." Kirkpatrick was manager of the Postal Telegraph relay station in Williams, a prestigious role at what was considered an important hub of the telegraph system. Kirkpatrick arrived in Williams from Los Angeles in 1911 and made many friends due to his "gentlemanly and courteous treatment" of those who did business with the company. His family remained in Los Angeles although his wife eventually joined him in Williams. Kirkpatrick engaged in competitive shooting as a member of the Williams Shot Gun Club. He became involved in civic affairs and served as Williams' mayor before leaving for Santa Barbara in 1919 to establish an electrical and auto supply business. Kirkpatrick died there on March 25, 1949, age 81.

Bert Brown relocated to Williams as a child in 1906 (being in the 3rd or 4th grade). He married Mae Owen in 1916. Bert was working at that time for Williams Transfer and the couple settled in the city. In May 1918, he attempted to enlist in the U.S. Army (or was drafted, it's unclear) to fight in World War I but was ultimately rejected for service. The Browns stayed in Williams and raised a family.

Due to the cited wingspan of the eagle (over 8 feet), it sounds like a normal golden or bald eagle on the higher end of expected size. While this could just be one of many eagle trophy photos from the era, the fact that it took place in Arizona (Tombstone being center to the Thunderbird Photo legend) and could have been misremembered over the years as showing a larger bird (especially since the article said that boys posed with the bird) makes it worthy of investigation. The weekly Williams News had the ability to print photos in 1913, but frustratingly the issue immediately following the report on the giant eagle is missing from the archives. I'm putting out some feelers to institutions in that area that have historic photo collections. It would be very cool if this photo still exists! This is, I think, one of the only articles of this nature that specifically mentions that photographs were taken of the large bird that was killed. Not even the original Epitaph article (which is about a dragon-like monster, not a bird) does that, in spite of what people remembered. I will follow up if I find anything more.

The cosmic trickster strikes again, just as we think we are near to some evidence one way or the other, it's no longer available.
 
Fairly recently I met some one who thinks he's seen the infamous titular photograph. He remembers it as a bird of some kind, held up it is roughly the height of an adult man and has a wing span of maybe 40ft. There are several men holding it up or otherwise in the picture, in his memory they are predominantly white men in "old timey" clothes with moustaches and men who are not white -though he does not recall which ethnicity and these are dressed, at least, partially in what might be their traditional dress. This latter detail isn't one I've heard of before. He doesn't recall any buildings. He thinks he saw it in a magazine rather than book and it was likely late 70s that he saw it.

He's mostly certain he has seen it but was at least vaguely aware of the phenomenon of many people claiming/thinking/believing they have done so and is aware of false memories and is open to the fact that this may be the case here. He's generally interested in the paranormal, mostly ghosts. He also holds a PHD in some branch of physics, though is not an academic.
 
Fairly recently I met some one who thinks he's seen the infamous titular photograph. He remembers it as a bird of some kind, held up it is roughly the height of an adult man and has a wing span of maybe 40ft. There are several men holding it up or otherwise in the picture, in his memory they are predominantly white men in "old timey" clothes with moustaches and men who are not white -though he does not recall which ethnicity and these are dressed, at least, partially in what might be their traditional dress. This latter detail isn't one I've heard of before. He doesn't recall any buildings. He thinks he saw it in a magazine rather than book and it was likely late 70s that he saw it.

He's mostly certain he has seen it but was at least vaguely aware of the phenomenon of many people claiming/thinking/believing they have done so and is aware of false memories and is open to the fact that this may be the case here. He's generally interested in the paranormal, mostly ghosts. He also holds a PHD in some branch of physics, though is not an academic.
Ive been looking for people who have seen it, mostly so I can ask for a drawing of what they remember.
Any chance he could draw us something up?
 
Sorry to be pessimistic, but I feel that the waters have been well and truly muddied with this case. There have been so many proposed sources of the photo, so many subsequent mock ups of it, so much speculatiion and such a wide signal to noise ratio:...and now someone is proposing that the original maybe actually hails from Australia! Too many cooks spoil the broth. If the `original` is ever located then you can guarantee that its authenticity will be immediately disputed and the whole thing will rumble on....

I am reminded a bit of one of the so called `Mandela Effect` cases whereby some people claim to recall a painted portrait of Henry VIII standing and holding a leg of lamb/mutton/whatever. I was one of the people who `felt` that they has seen this picture when I first read about the claim. Now though, if I am to be really really honest with myself I think the image was probably just projected into my mind when I read about it and I then imagined it to be a `memory`. (After all, there are all kinds of historical-cultural reasons as to why a painting of Henry VIII in such a pose would not have been painted in his time.)

It's worth pointing out that there are plenty of people around who have no recollection of ever seeing the Thunderbird photo. I am one of them. I am in my late fifties and had a wasted childhood/youth of flicking through library books and paperbacks on The Unexplained in those pre-internet times, I can recall some pretty out-there and rare photos - such as the one where Roosevelt (?) is with a fellow golfing buddy and they are both holding what could be dead alien - and yet the Thunderbird photo? Nope.
 
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Sorry to be pessimistic, but I feel that the waters have been well and truly muddied with this case. There have been so many proposed sources of the photo, so many subsequent mock ups of it, so much speculatiion and such a wide signal to noise ratio:...and now someone is proposing that the original maybe actually hails from Australia! Too many cooks spoil the broth. If the `original` is ever located then you can guarantee that its authenticity will be immediately disputed and the whole thing will rumble on....

I am reminded a bit of one of the so called `Mandela Effect` cases whereby some people claim to recall a painted portrait of Henry VIII standing and holding a leg of lamb/mutton/whatever. I was one of the people who `felt` that they has seen this picture when I first read about the claim. Now though, if I am to be really really honest with myself I think the image was probably just projected into my mind when I read about it and I then imagined it to be a `memory`. (After all, there are all kinds of historical-cultural reasons as to why a painting of Henry VIII in such a pose would not have been painted in his time.)

It's worth pointing out that there are plenty of people around who have no recollection of ever seeing the Thunderbird photo. I am one of them. I am in my late fifties and had a wasted childhood/youth of flicking through library books and paperbacks on The Unexplained in those pre-internet times, I can recall some pretty out-there and rare photos - such as the one where Roosevelt (?) is with a fellow golfing buddy and they are both holding what could be dead alien - and yet the Thunderbird photo? Nope.
The Henry VIII Manadela theory is covered and gently debunked here:

"It is a painting similar to this that many people seem to have a memory of. The key difference is that Henry VIII is holding a turkey leg (or drumstick) in one hand. Others seem to recall him sitting at a table (at a feast or dinner) showing just his upper torso. The memory is a usually foggy for most, but the common memory is that it is definitely a Renaissance style painting, and he is definitely holding a turkey leg. The problem is neither painting exists"

https://www.debunkingmandelaeffects.com/painting-of-henry-viii-holding-a-turkey-leg/
 
Sorry to be pessimistic, but I feel that the waters have been well and truly muddied with this case. There have been so many proposed sources of the photo, so many subsequent mock ups of it, so much speculatiion and such a wide signal to noise ratio:...and now someone is proposing that the original maybe actually hails from Australia! Too many cooks spoil the broth. If the `original` is ever located then you can guarantee that its authenticity will be immediately disputed and the whole thing will rumble on....

I am reminded a bit of one of the so called `Mandela Effect` cases whereby some people claim to recall a painted portrait of Henry VIII standing and holding a leg of lamb/mutton/whatever. I was one of the people who `felt` that they has seen this picture when I first read about the claim. Now though, if I am to be really really honest with myself I think the image was probably just projected into my mind when I read about it and I then imagined it to be a `memory`. (After all, there are all kinds of historical-cultural reasons as to why a painting of Henry VIII in such a pose would not have been painted in his time.)

It's worth pointing out that there are plenty of people around who have no recollection of ever seeing the Thunderbird photo. I am one of them. I am in my late fifties and had a wasted childhood/youth of flicking through library books and paperbacks on The Unexplained in those pre-internet times, I can recall some pretty out-there and rare photos - such as the one where Roosevelt (?) is with a fellow golfing buddy and they are both holding what could be dead alien - and yet the Thunderbird photo? Nope.

I understand your point of view, but Ivan Sanderson himself cast doubt on where the photo was from originally, Mark Chorvinsky searched the library of congress and found nothing. I also contacted the library of congress a few months back, nothing.
So the possibility of it not being in America is not unlikely.

Additionally, has anyone found anything as close to the missing photo and story as this, especially ones that predate Cranmers account in 1963?
Its an account, two in fact, of the theme, pre1963. One of which even mentions photos, so its really worth a look. Its possible its still lost because we have the details wrong, but even so ‘leave no stone unturned’ as they say.

Side note, I’d love to see the alien photo.
 
Forgive me if this photo has been posted before, I didn't see it when looking back several pages, from the 1800's:

1693426512612.png
 
The Henry VIII Manadela theory is covered and gently debunked here:

"It is a painting similar to this that many people seem to have a memory of. The key difference is that Henry VIII is holding a turkey leg (or drumstick) in one hand. Others seem to recall him sitting at a table (at a feast or dinner) showing just his upper torso. The memory is a usually foggy for most, but the common memory is that it is definitely a Renaissance style painting, and he is definitely holding a turkey leg. The problem is neither painting exists"

https://www.debunkingmandelaeffects.com/painting-of-henry-viii-holding-a-turkey-leg/

I think the remembered portrait of Henry VIII is likely to be a Renaissance-era style illustration from an encyclopedia, school textbook or a magazine that had wide circulation.

I have no memory of such an image, but off the top of my head (and being a big history nerd) I do recall painting(s) in which he had gloves(?) in his hand. I will just pop off and find out if that exists...

Henry VIII Chatsworth - A painting of a man in a suit and hat


It does! In fact many copy versions of this portrait of Henry holding gloves in his right hand are extant. I wonder if someone, somewhere did a comic twist of the image years ago in a book or periodical, and replaced the gloves with a big chicken leg?
 
Oh, God. The Henry VIII one has made me need a lie down. I too remember the image. But something is telling me that it may have been a TV advert or an actor playing the part on TV (Brian Blessed maybe) rather than a still image. Have people then conflated it with the classic Holbein pose?

Edit: In my mind he was holding it near his mouth, his right eldow quite high up. And I'd say a leg of mutton rather than a turkey leg.
 
Oh, God. The Henry VIII one has made me need a lie down. I too remember the image. But something is telling me that it may have been a TV advert or an actor playing the part on TV (Brian Blessed maybe) rather than a still image. Have people then conflated it with the classic Holbein pose?

Edit: In my mind he was holding it near his mouth, his right eldow quite high up. And I'd say a leg of mutton rather than a turkey leg.

These will be memories of Charles Laughton’s performance in The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933):

PrivateLivesOfHenryVIII14.jpg



maximus otter
 
These will be memories of Charles Laughton’s performance in The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933):

PrivateLivesOfHenryVIII14.jpg



maximus otter
So Debunking sites have said, only I've never seen that film. And my memory is of a colour painting, him standing legs spread wide, holding the drumstick/leg in his right hand. He isn't eating it, just holding it almost horizontal near his mouth. His clothes were brown and yellow.

I think the memory is most likely a conflation of a Holbein painting and maybe a TV sketch or a parody.
 
Oh, God. The Henry VIII one has made me need a lie down. I too remember the image. But something is telling me that it may have been a TV advert or an actor playing the part on TV (Brian Blessed maybe) rather than a still image. Have people then conflated it with the classic Holbein pose?

Edit: In my mind he was holding it near his mouth, his right eldow quite high up. And I'd say a leg of mutton rather than a turkey leg.
Maybe it's a thunderbird leg?

Or toe?
 
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