Moment in Oddity - High Hopping Wallabies
At History Goes Bump, we love everything weird. From stories of hauntings, to sightings of cryptids and aliens, and even strange animal encounters. So when our listener Michael Rogers posted about a kangaroo that broke into a pot farm, I had to know more. The high jumping bandit had supposedly broken into a grow farm in Australia and ate so much of the crop that it took the poor creature 4 days to sober up! Well, that story is not true, however, a story that IS true is that of unusual crop circles that were being found at a poppy farm in Tasmania. Tasmania is the world's largest producer of legally grown opium for the pharmaceutical market. Opium is produced from poppy flowers. The mystery of the crop circles was revealed when intoxicated wallabies were found in the fields, high as kites. Wallabies are marsupials and basically look like a smaller version of a kangaroo. The critters had been breaking into the poppy fields and eating the heads of the flowers. They would get so high that they would erratically hop in patterns before their ultimate crash. Although the crop circles were not as precise as ones we have seen on television shows that some people believe were left by visiting aliens. The destruction concerning the poppy popping pests was such a big deal that Tasmania's attorney general stood before parliament to address what might be the world's most unusual agricultural crisis. Thankfully, there was no long term damage suffered by the wallabies once their highs wore off. But farmers watching their pharmaceutical crops become makeshift dance floors for high-hopping marsupials, certainly is odd.
Legends of Feathered Terrors
Can there be anything more terrifying than a monster that can swoop down out of the sky and attack? Perhaps even pick you up? Probably the most famous scary flying creature of American lore is Mothman, but the pterodactyl would have to be the most petrifying flying monster in the history of the world. But to be sure, neither of these creatures have feathers. They seemed to fly with bat-like wings. However, there are a class of feathered fiends that could give both of them a run for their money. Join us for legends of feathered terrors!
Kelly, there are some pretty scary birds that live in Antarctica and they are called skuas (Skew uh). These are dark-feathered birds that resemble seagulls. Now, while I have had a seagull dive bomb my sandwich on the beach a time or two, seagulls are not really anything to be feared...maybe, we'll get into that in a minute. The skua is quite different as Antarctica's top avian predator. King George Island in the South Shetlands is home to the brown and south polar skua. Scientists who study and tag the birds have found out the hard way that these birds will guard their nests at all costs. And like a scene straight out of Hitchcock's "The Birds," the skua fire off alarm calls that alert the other parent that there is a stranger and they both dive-bomb the scientist, pecking at the head and face. They scream the whole time and have no mercy. Now honestly, any bird with sharp claws and beaks can be scary and attack. And there once was a violent attack by a group of birds that gave Alfred Hitchcock inspiration for his movie. There was a mass bird attack in the seaside town of Capitola in California on August 18, 1961. The event was described as, "Capitola residents awoke to a scene that seemed straight out of a horror movie. Hordes of seabirds were dive-bombing their homes, crashing into cars and spewing half-digested anchovies onto lawns." There was a cause for this behavior from the birds that wasn't known until more recent times. Toxic algae. But it really doesn't matter what caused the birds to become crazy attacking birds, the fact is that they became feathered terrors.
Terror birds are said to go back about two million years and they had been the apex of predators in South America. These were large, flightless birds that were carnivorous. Terror birds are technically known as Phorusrhacids (For us rock ids) and they ranged from three to ten feet in height and could hit weights up to 770 pounds. They were believed to have highly flexible necks that gave them the ability to strike fast and hard. And their tightly fused beak could cause a lot of injury by pecking. Could some of the reports of large birds in more recent decades be connected to these ancient large birds?
A man name John Bolduan was camping at a resort near Webb Lake in Wisconsin in June of 2005. He enjoyed bike riding, so set out on one of the bike paths. He came to a grassy field and he noticed a bird that looked similar to a Sandhill Crane with silver feathers, but the bird seemed to be really large. John set his bike down quietly and crept through the grass to get a better look. He told Linda Godfrey in her 2014 book American Monsters, "At first I thought it was an emu, an Australian bird that can get up to six or seven feet tall that some farmers in the area were raising, but as I got closer, I knew it wasn't an emu." He spooked the bird and it took off and John said, "The size was then truly apparent as it flew away. The wingspan I estimate must've been eighteen feet. It was at least three times as large as any eagle I had ever seen. It was gawky as it flew away, the flapping of those huge wings was slow and seemingly laborious. The wings seemed to roll as they flapped, like dropping a big rock in water and seeing the waves roll from it. It was not graceful. Not only was the wingspan large, but the wing itself must've been two feet wide as it flopped over the horizon. It almost looked like the size of a small airplane or ultralight aircraft - in fact, there is a small airstrip there where small planes take off and land, and this bird was the size of a Piper Cub as it flew over the trees." John estimated the wings were as wide as the road, which was twenty feet across. Was this some form of mutation of a crane? John was positive of what he saw and he never saw it again. Nor did anyone else report the Webb Lake Big Bird.
Native Americans told stories of Lake Monsters fighting with giant avians. These giant birds were referred to by Native Americans as Thunderbirds. Some of these myths claimed that Thunderbirds could carry off humans and even whales. Many of these stories came out of the Pacific coastline and the Great Lakes area and the reason they were referred to as Thunderbirds was because when they flapped their wings, it sounded like thunder. Native Americans even created myths that lightning came from their eyes and rain was water falling off their backs. These became a sort of trickster spirit as well. The Lakota of the Black Hills called them Thunder Beings. They felt they had a divine nature. Depending on tribe, thunderbirds could be good or bad. Could these Thunderbirds have survived through the years?
The Mukwonago Chief reported in November 24, 1916 about a Battle With Giant Eagles, "California Deer Hunters Had Fierce Fight Before Overcoming Two Monarchs Of The Air. Attacked by two monster eagles while deer hunting in the Malibu district, Doctor Kingsbury of Ocean Park, G.M. Wilson, a rancher, and Policeman Harry Wright of Santa Monica, fought two hours before they were able to kill the birds, writes a Los Angeles correspondent. Shrieking and screaming, the eagles tore at the men with their claws, tearing Wright’s clothing in many places and inflicting a flesh wound on Kingsbury’s right shoulder. The fight began with only one of the birds. Then men were hunting on the Williams ranch with two dogs. Suddenly a huge eagle swooped down and grabbed one of the dogs. It circled 20 feet in the air with the dog in its talons before the men could fire. The first shot missed, but the second shot from Kingsbury’s gun brought the bird down. As the three men rushed forward, the eagle dropped the dog and struck out at Wright, screaming all the while. Its screams brought its mate, the latter making an attack on Kingsbury and sinking its talons into his shoulder. Williams shot and killed the bird that was fighting with Wright and then the two rushed the remaining eagle. It started to fly away and then came back. The men began shooting at it, driving it a little further away with each shot. For four miles they chased the bird before finally killing it."
In 1977, there was a report out of Lawndale, Illinois that a 10-year-old boy named Marlon Lowe had been attacked by two large birds while he was playing outside. One of the birds actually picked him up and carried him over 30 feet before his mother realized what happened and she ran after the bird and it eventually dropped her son. Not only did the mother witness this attack, but several other people were nearby and saw it. These witnesses described the birds as having a white ring around their necks and large black bodies. Their bodies were four-and-a-half feet long and each of their wings were four feet long. These birds were nicknamed Bigclaw. A man claimed that when he was a kid he saw the same birds that grabbed Marlon a couple days before the incident. He was hiking with a couple of friends along Spring Creek near Lawndale and they noticed these birds dropping from the air close to them.
One of the most well known reports of a large bird in America was reported in the Tombstone Epitaph on April 26, 1890. Two gunslingers claimed that they shot a large bird out of the sky. They described it as having no feathers and a head like an alligator. The story went that the bird was dragged back to town and photographed, but that seems to be a total legend as the issue on file at the Library of Congress reveals no picture. If this really happened, the bird sounds like it was some kind of pterodactyl. One of the men told a reporter back in the 1930s that he was one of the men who shot at the monster. He said that the story had been misreported - or maybe they lied - but they didn't hit the bird. They merely spooked it and their terrified horses took off with them on board. So there was no bird brought back to town.
Cryptozoologist Loren Coleman wrote of a couple of large bird encounters in his book "Curious Encounters: Phantom Trains, Spooky Spots and Other Mysterious Wonders." He wrote about a sighting that occurred on April 10, 1948 in Overland, Illinois. Three people said they saw a large bird that seemed to be the size of an airplane, flying over them. There was a similar sighting shortly after that in Alton, Illinois where a father and son claimed to have seen a giant bird with a body the size of a Piper Cub airplane.
Marco Polo wrote stories of a creature called a Roc in his Book of Travels. The Roc also appeared in the book Arabian Nights and was a creature from Middle Eastern folklore. This bird was so large, it blocked the sun when it flew during the daytime. Polo wrote that the wings were as big as palm leaves and that it was white in color. The bird laid eggs that were over 150 feet in circumference. One of its favorite prey was elephants, which it carried high into the sky and dropped to kill them. In Arabian Nights, Sinbad is carried away by a Roc after he has a shipwreck and he is placed in the Roc’s nest on top of a mountain. In the nest is an egg that is as large as 148 hen’s eggs. Sinbad escapes by lashing himself to the Roc’s leg with his turban. He flies high in the sky with it and manages to get away when the Roc flew near another island. In another story in the book, Rocs destroy ships by picking up huge boulders and dropping them on the ships.
There was a recent sighting in South Greenburg, Pennsylvania reported on Lon Strickler's Phantoms & Monsters website, "There was a sighting of a monstrous bird in South Greensburg just as it was getting dark, four people were sitting around in the yard having a barbecue and enjoying the beautiful weather when suddenly, their attention was drawn skyward by a sound like a 'swish' or a 'swoosh' or as one witness stated, 'like the air coming straight down.' Several of the observers at almost the same time yelled out some exclamations including one man who said, “What the hell is that?”
They were all startled to see a tremendously large bird that was flying over a tree in the yard about 30-40 feet overhead. The man who was going the cooking turned and looked up to see the creature fly above him at a distance of about 40 feet away. As the bird passed the tree, it veered slightly to the right and went straight down the road ahead maintaining its low-level path. When first observed the massive wings of the creature were in an upward position and were beginning to drop slowly, almost as if they were rolling to the bottom. The swoosh sound could be heard when the wings were moving. The powerful bird had flown about 125 yards down the road, at which time the wings were coming back up. The creature was observed as it continued to move steadily down the road, passing just above the rooftop of a house with its wings flapping slowly and steadily about 3-4 times until it reached a group of trees about ¼ miles away, where it was lost from sight. It took about 20 seconds to go the ¼ mile distance. As it passed over, it appeared as though it was peering below, with its head and beak positioned downward. It was estimated that if the bird was on the ground it would stand between 4 ½ to 5 feet tall. The entire body was the same dark color, either darkish brown or black. The body width was about 25-30 inches wide. One witness said the body, “was very bulky and husky.” The head was oval-shaped, and the beak was short for the size of the animal, about 8-10 inches long. The tail was about 2 feet long and came out wide to a point. It was the size of the wingspan of the creature that impressed the witnesses which they estimated at 10 feet or more in length. When asked why nobody thought to take a picture, they pointed out that while there were cell phones lying there with camera functions, all involved were mesmerized by the encounter. One witness felt as if he was almost ‘in shock’. It was later learned that another witness who lay along the road where the big bird flew over also reportedly saw the creature. One witness has been a long-time hunter and is very familiar with birds native to the state and is certain that he saw something quite unusual. The area where these observations have taken place, while surrounded by some wooded locations, is well populated, and nearby Route 119 is a highly traveled roadway."
Clinton County in Pennsylvania has some recent stories. This is towards the center of the state and is a place of rivers and valleys. Two people reported seeing a “large bird with a very long beak” in the summer of 2010 near Coudersport Pike. Then in June of 2012, two girls said they saw a Thunderbird while camping in Chapman Township and this bird had a 14-foot wingspan. There were no feathers on its head. The youngest of the two went running screaming into the cabin when the bird swooped low over her. The other girl said, "I know people think I’m strange when I talk about it, but it was real."
The Pennsylvania Wilds website continues the stories of sightings in Clinton County with this, "The biggest champion of the Thunderbirds was Hiram Cranmer, a retired postmaster who lived in Leidy Township, Clinton County. Cranmer was a sort of connoisseur of the weird, often discussing ghosts, UFOs, and monsters. He claimed to have seen his first Thunderbird in 1922, and four others after that. They had a tendency to inhabit northern Clinton County and southern Potter County, which, to be fair, is a pretty remote area. A large flock of Thunderbirds could be pretty easily hiding up there. Once, there was even said to have been a photo of a Thunderbird. According to the story, some men managed to kill one, nail it to a barn, and take a black-and-white photo while they posed in front of it. The photo, now missing, has become known as the “Lost Thunderbird Photo,” and is itself a story of legend. It may have ended with Cranmer. Researcher Ivan Sanderson claimed to have left the photo with Cranmer when he visited in 1963. Cranmer died when his house burned down in 1967, possibly taking the Thunderbird photo with it. In Lyman’s book, he hints at this as well, mentioning that the photo 'burned in a home.'"
Pennsylvania seems to be the most popular place for large avian monsters when it comes to more modern sightings. Someone living in Greenville, Pennsylvania had noticed a large shadow passing over them and they thought this was from a small aircraft, but they looked up and were startled to see a grayish-black creature soaring overhead. And this wasn't a quick sighting. The bird hung around for 20 minutes. The witness said the wingspan was around 15 feet with a body of about 5 feet. A neighbor saw the same bird the next day and said it was "the biggest bird I ever saw." A month later, it is believed this same bird was seen in Erie County, Pennsylvania. The report had the same wingspan and described the bird as being "dark gray with little or no neck, and a circle of black under its head. Its beak was very thin and long—about a foot in length."
Someone going by MP reported to Lon Strickler, "You know that Indian folklore in part tells the truth. I'll explain. Back in December 2001 to be exact, I went on a cruise to the Caribbean. It was a Royal Caribbean cruise. On our third or fourth day, we landed in Puerto Rico. One hour into port, a group of ten of us got a tour guide for just about an hour. Well, the tour guide was explaining spots of interest on the island, but since it was like a rainy-overcast day, he said that it wouldn't be possible to visit those sites. He took us to the beach in San Juan. We all got out, the sun was out just for like 20 minutes. I was married to my ex-wife at the time and I was taking pictures of her just a couple feet from our tour bus. Well, I saw the clouds coming in, the cloud was shaped almost like an arrow, and at the tip of the arrow were two giant birds. They both had white rings on their necks, one was way larger, and the other one was about the size of a Cessna propeller airplane. I yelled to the tour guide to look up at the clouds and repeated to all the members to look up, but by that time, the two giant birds went straight up higher than the clouds. Then the rain came down and we quickly got into the bus. Nobody believed me. I took pictures of the cloud. I still have them, but the birds weren't in the view. Indian legend says these birds bring rain clouds to villages that are in need of rain for planting their harvest. In a way the Indians were right."
A man named JD had called Lon Strickler with this unbelievable report. It's the largest modern day one we have heard and this near an airport in Virginia. He later wrote this statement and sent it to Lon, ""On Monday Dec 15th at 6:45 PM (dark) I is was traveling on the Airport Rd near the New Kent Co., Virginia Airport. This section of road went by the New Kent trash collection center. The road is bordered by woods on both sides.
As I approached this location, I noticed something large and dark on the road very near the trash collection lot. I hit my brakes and came within 50 feet of what appeared to be a huge bird. Like I told you on the telephone, when I say huge, I mean something of unbelievable size. First of all, it had the overall shape of an eagle. It definitely had talons which were lighter in color. It also had beak which seemed too large and long for it's face. The overall color was dark, I'd say black. The height was at least 8 feet, probably more as it bobbed up and down. It may have been eating something when I approached it. It's head moved toward the direction of my car and made a grunting sound. It turned away from me and the long tail with feathers swung around in my direction. The wings, which extended across the road, unfurled as it lifted off the surface. The wings were massive, but like I said reached past the width of the road. I told you 25 feet on the telephone, I still believe that is a correct estimate."
CNN reported back in 2002 about a massive bird sighting reported out of Anchorage, Alaska, "A bird the size of a small airplane was recently said to be seen flying over southwest Alaska, puzzling scientists, the Anchorage Daily News reported this week. The newspaper quoted residents in the villages of Togiak and Manokotak as saying the creature, like something out of the movie "Jurassic Park," had a wingspan of 14 feet - making it the size of a small airplane."
A resident named Moses said the bird made him think of an old Otter plane, but when it banked, he could see that it was a bird. Scientists were skeptical of the size. They assumed people were seeing a Steller's Sea Eagle, which can be quite large, but they are native to Japan. So if that is what this was, it was far away from home. Of course, their wingspan reaches 8 feet, which is far off the mark of 14 feet. And no witnesses reported the color of the bird being black and white like the Steller's Sea Eagle. A Raptor Specialist named Phil Schemf said, "I'm certainly not aware of anything with a 14-foot wingspan that's been alive for the last 100,000 years." Some time later, a local pilot saw the same bird and said, "The people in the plane saw him. He's huge, he's huge, he's really, really big. You wouldn't want to have your children out."
Linda Godfrey had this great passage on Texas Monster Avians from the 1970s. (pg.28)
Most cryptozoologists are very strict in their definition of a Thunderbird and so many don't believe a Thunderbird has ever been seen. In order to be classified as a Thunderbird, the cryptid must be between four and eight feet tall with a wingspan of fifteen to twenty feet And they are dark in color. Whether a bird hits that mark or not, it is clear that some species of birds are much larger than their counterparts and have lead to some terrifying interactions. Did or do any of these feathered creatures exist? That is for you to decide!
No comments:
Post a Comment