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OLIVER LARCH AND THE THUNDERBIRDS

(FLYING DINOSAURS)

On a snowy 1889 Christmas Eve night, eleven-year-old Oliver Larch disappeared while outside his South Bend, Indiana, farm house. As the Larch family entertained holiday guests, Oliver was told by his elders to bundle up and refill a decanter that was near empty. With pail in hand, Oliver went out into the snowy night.

From the farmyard came the sounds of a mortal struggle. The Larch family and friends ran outside, from the dark sky, Oliver screamed, “Its got me, help, help!” The boy’s shouts faded away.

Oliver’s snowy footprints ended before they reached the well. Away from the tracks was the youngster’s water bucket, as if it had fallen from a great height.

Since the late 1800s this amazing yarn has been in print. Skeptics have labeled the Larch account, a fairy tale. I hope they are right. If not, what could have abducted the youth? Aliens from outer space or a large bird?

Indian legends tell of a flying reptile that menaced mankind. With ease the feathered beast could pick up a deer or a man in its massive talons. The captured prey would be taken to the monsters’ nest and devoured. Young Larch weighed less than an adult man.

These aerial reptiles lived in what is now the Illinois-Lake Michigan area, and in the high deserts of New Mexico and Arizona. Indians of the Southwest called these virulent carnivores, ”Thunderbirds”. The beating wings of these monstrosities sounded like distant thunder.

The Midwest Illiniwek tribe known today as the Illini, called their Thunderbird a “Piasa”. Which means, “The Bird that Eats Man” or “The Bird of Evil Spirit”. The flying monster had a life span of over a thousand full moons, its domain stretched from the western prairies to the eastern forests; its sustenance was large animals and humans.

The rampaging monster decimated the Illiniwek’s population; women and children were attacked by lakes and rivers. The tribesmen were carried off as they hunted buffalo on the plains. After many years of searching, Illiniwek scouts found the monster’s den.

According to legend Illiniwek chief Ouatoga, gathered his bravest warriors. Together they trekked to what is now Alton, Illinois. As Ouatoga assailed the beast’s cave, which overlooked the Mississippi River, a plan was formulated.

After singing a death song, the warriors followed their chief and crept down a ledge that ended at the Piasa’s cave. Wearing layers of leather, Ouatoga would offer himself up as bait in the flat of the cavern’s entrance. The warriors would strike from the side.

The Piasa sighted the Indians from its den and attacked. Out of instinct or intelligence the flying reptile disrupted the Indians advance and made its stand at the narrow of the ledge.

Headmost of his men, Ouatoga faced the hovering Thunderbird on the escarpment’s shelf. The goal of combat was realized, but the fight to the death would now take place on a precipice with no flank support.

Moments into the bloody struggle, the Piasa broke the chief’s bow. Ouatoga was forced to fight the monster with knife and arrows. Ouatoga was wounded by the Piasa’s talons, beak, and blows from its wings. Bruised, bleeding, and nearly knocked senseless, Ouatoga managed to inflict a mortal wound upon the dinosaur with stab wounds to its neck and head.

The Thunderbird fell from the cliff into the fast flowing river and sank. The courageous chief was helped off the rock wall; his wounds were bandaged. The Mississippi’s banks were searched, the Piasa’s carcass was not found.

To commemorate Ouatoga’s epic victory the Illiniwek carved onto the Mississippi cliffs, two Piasa murals. Jesuit explorer and missionary, Father Jacques Marquette in 1673, recorded in his journal the huge Piasa depictions. Unfortunately the engraved lime cliffs were dynamited and quarried around 1847.

In 1848, Professor John Russell and a guide explored the supposed high cave nest of the long dead Piasa. The grotto measured twenty feet by thirty feet, with a height of twenty feet. Animal and human bones littered the tunnel’s floor. With a spade, the Shurtleff College scholar dug at different spots to a depth of four feet. More bones and skulls were unearthed. The academician estimated the den contained the remains of over a thousand bodies. Was this proof, the Piasa legends were true? What could account for so many skeletons, in an elevated cave? Ritual sacrifice, an Indian body dump, or had Russell discovered the Thunderbird’s nest?

Some cryptozoologists think it likely, a few Pteranodons or Pterodactyls escaped extinction and managed to live into contemporary times. These flying Jurassic dinosaurs were the stuff of Thunderbird and Piasa legends. Maybe this wild theory has substance?

During the 1890s, the state of Indiana was abuzz with numerous sightings of an aerial monster. On September 5th and 6th, 1891, hundreds of residents of Crawfordsville, Indiana, saw a winged serpent monster hover at an altitude of one hundred to three hundred feet. The creature was estimated to be twenty feet long and made wheezing sounds as it gyrated. Calculating the size of anything airborne is difficult due to lack of landmarks. The flying dinosaur could have been much larger or smaller than thought.

On September 23, 1893, Mrs. Mann and Mrs. Grosswick (no first names were found in the archives) were attacked at night on the outskirts of Greensburg, Indiana, in their horse-drawn buggy. A seven foot tall alligator like creature, climbed down a tree and chased the buggy driving ladies. The winged beak faced monster, ran the road as it to tried to climb into the back of the speeding wagon. Perhaps the scaly creature flew as it chased the women.

The frightened ladies met up with two men and their dogs a mile down the road. The monster reasoned discretion was the better part of valor and ran into the woods. Did these people come in contact with the animal that abducted Oliver Larch four years earlier?

A flying feathered reptile? Hogwash, think the skeptics. How do the agnostics explain the following tales and facts?

In February 1856, a crew of French railway tunnelers unearthed a large limestone rock on the St. Dizzier-Nancy line. The boulder cracked open, a Pterodactyl was found encased inside the rock’s cavity. The Thunderbird fluttered its wings, made some croaking noises and died. There are limestone cliffs near Alton, Illinois. Did something similar happen but the Midwest creature lived? Did a landslide crack open a rock cavity that contained a beastie? Could this theory explain the Piasa’s existence?

In 1890 according to Wild West lore, cowboys near Tombstone, Arizona, shot down a Thunderbird. A purported faded photograph of the dead monster made the rounds through many media publications decades ago. The image is now thought to be a fake. Legend is usually based on some truth.

The most believable account of the Tombstone incident had two cowboys shoot at a Thunderbird. The flying dinosaur was out of range of the horsemen’s fusillades and flew away. The reptile was estimated to have a wingspan of twenty to thirty feet, which would be the size of a small Cessna airplane.

While exploring the Southwest during the 1500s and 1600s, Spanish Conquistadors were told by the Indians, how their ancestors had become the sustenance of a desert Thunderbird. After suffering great losses of life, the Pima tribe went from prey to predator.

The high cave lair of the dinosaur was found. A pyre was built and ignited at the mouth of the monster’s cave. The flames kept the reptile in its den, the smoke from the bonfire asphyxiated the monster.

A debunker reading these accounts would think the bull is off an antique American Buffalo Nickel; or show me proof, not fanciful tales.

During the summer of 1977, two large, black birds with long necks and curved beaks were seen flying over Illinois and Indiana. On July 25,1977, in Lawndale, Illinois, at 8:30 PM, one of these giant birds swooped into the backyard of Jake and Ruth Lowe. The predator with a fifteen-foot wingspan attacked ten-year-old Marlon Lowe and his playmates.

Marlon’s friend Travis Goodwin jumped into the backyard’s swimming pool to avoid the bird’s talons. The creature went after Marlon who weighed seventy pounds. The bird grabbed hold of Marlon and carried the screaming kicking boy thirty to forty yards. Marlon managed to strike the bird repeatedly as he was carried to a height of ten feet. With torn clothes and scratches, Marlon was released from the creature’s claws. With a thud the bloodied youngster hit the ground.

Was this attacking bird a Condor or a small Piasa? In theory, a bird of prey can pick up half of its weight. Do Condors or Turkey Vultures grow to weigh one hundred and forty pounds? Not according to ornithologists. What ever it was, the creature and its mate were not seen again.

Perhaps in 1889 Indiana, on a wintry night, a Thunderbird fancied the taste of human flesh and spotted Oliver Larch on his way to the well. If a Piasa did not seize young Larch, then what did carry off the eleven-year-old? (1)