Comments on: Lost Thunderbird Photo Found?

By: ThunderBirdMD

ThunderBirdMD — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 10:41:39 +0000

i believe they may look either like a vulture/condor/buzzard or more like a hawk/eagle. the first would probably be southern like in southern north america and south america and the second in northern northern america and canada.
but,
i could always be wrong.

By: ThunderBirdMD

ThunderBirdMD — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 10:35:22 +0000

I have grown into a HUGE thunderbird fanatic. my dad told me a story about why they are called thunderbirds and mentioned “the photo”. a bird nailed to a barn accompanied by a half dozen men spread finger tip to finger tip. i will ask him where he saw / if he has the photo.

By: reaper2k

reaper2k — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 02:43:02 +0000

I know this is an old thread, but I have to share my story. Like Kim, I believe that I once saw the thunderbird photo in a book.

I visited the local library a lot in those days (this would have been late-’80s to mid-’90s) and read the book often. I was really into the Philadelphia Experiment, and I believe the book had a chapter on the disappearance of the Navy ship as well. (I can’t remember the title. Sorry.)

One day, I was doing some reading about the thunderbird and how the photo had been lost. I thought, “That’s weird, it’s in that other book.” I went to the library and looked through book I knew so well. I looked repeatedly, but could not find the photo. There was a description of the photo, but the photo itself was not in the book.

I know exactly what it looks like. It’s in my head, an image of several men standing by the side of a barn with a large bird/pterodactyl tacked up on the side of the building. The men are standing a bit a part with arms stretched to show the relative size of the bird.

Reading Kim’s story freaked me out a little because it mirrors my own. I don’t know if I buy her “time travel” theory, but something is amiss in the universe’s continuity. Maybe it is false memory. If it is, that in and of itself is an interesting phenomenon.

By: jeepiedee

jeepiedee — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 22:09:46 +0000

I too remember seeing the Thunderbird scene: five or six grim-faced cowboys holding shooting irons, standing side by side in front of a huge barn to which a spreadeagled pterodactyl is affixed.

However, I don’t recall seeing it in any of the commonly quoted sources, and it wasn’t a photograph.

Back in the 60s, when I was an impressionable 8-10 year old, I was an incurable reader of weird books. Among my favorites were a series of pocketbook reprints of Ripley’s Believe It Or Not cartoons. My 40-year-old memories tell me the Thunderbird scene was one of Ripley’s realistically rendered comics.

Perhaps that’s why a _photograph_ of the Thunderbird eludes discovery.

Has anyone ever searched Ripley’s archives (if there is such a thing) for leads into the Thunderbird story?

By: madrone

madrone — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 05:50:11 +0000

I too remember this photograph. The first time I heard about the controversy I was confused. I remember seeing it clearly in a book in my elementary school library in the early 80’s. I’ve forgotten the title, but it was some variation on “mysteries” and/or “unexplained”. The cover photo was of the crystal skulls. In retrospect, I suppose it’s possible this photo was a representation relating to the missing photo mystery. When did people first start asking this question?

The photograph I remember showed a half dozen or more men standing and kneeling behind the outstretched wings of a giant creature, although I remember it as being across a shallow-pitched low roof rather than a wall.

I think I’m going to have to go back to my old school and try to find this book.

By: gghg

gghg — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 14:25:02 +0000

When I was around 10 years old (I’m 40 now)I saw this photograph in a book about sea serpents. It had all kinds of strange creatures in it including bigfoot, loch ness monster and others. I know without a doubt that this thunderbird photo was in that book. I remember the cowboys standing in front of this giant bird nailed to a barn wall.

By: SaruOtoko

SaruOtoko — Mon, 22 May 2006 21:54:36 +0000

Ok, I know I just posted a few minutes ago, but geez… this is REALLY messing with me! I know I saw the picture, I know others have seen it as well. Why can’t we find it? I don’t know about you guys, but, this is nuts. Group false memory? I have no idea……..

By: SaruOtoko

SaruOtoko — Mon, 22 May 2006 21:45:29 +0000

Gotta say, I remember that photo as well… (the one of the supposed Thunderbird nailed to a barn wall) my memory is of it looking oddly crow-like… the feathers were tark grey or black… hard to tell because the photo was black & white. I do remember the thing, and I remember having a strong reaction to it. Damn, just wish I could find it!

By: seneca1

seneca1 — Tue, 02 May 2006 12:56:14 +0000

I’m newly passionate of Cryptozoology, with a special interest in thunderbirds. Regarding the Thunderbird photo, I’m not one of the people that “supposedly” saw or had this fascinating photo. However, in the Internet I’ve found a sketch of this photo, made by a person that argues that has seen it in elementary school in a book about Dinosaurs. I hope this sketch can help people that say that they have seen it to have a clear picture about it.

By: wendysjungle

wendysjungle — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 05:10:24 +0000

I own both the Reader’s Digest book “Mysteries of the Unexplained” and the full Time-Life series “Mysteries of the Unknown”. I’ve looked through “Unexplained”, and the Thunderbird is never mentioned, and there is no photo. The closest thing is a brief story about French miners in 1856 who broke open a limestone boulder and were startled when a creature stumbled out of the boulder and died at their feet. The article gives a good description of the thing, and says a local paleontology student identified it as a pterodactyl. (page 45, for those who want to read the story themselves).

I did not look through every one of the Time-Life books, but the Thunderbird is never mentioned in the “Mysterious Creatures” volume. Thankfully, I own the master index book for the series, and it lists “Thunderbird” as being discussed in “The Mysterious World” volume on pages 47 and 50, and “Pteradactyl” on pages 67, 68 and 70 of the same volume. There are brief comments, but again, no photos, just a drawing or two.

I also could have sworn that I saw the famous photo “somewhere”, and was initially sure it must have been in one of the books mentioned above. After looking at the internet photos, however, I’m pretty sure these are the ones I was remembering.