Pastor Swope’s Bird
Posted by: Loren Coleman on February 10th, 2009
In the summer of 2003, Pastor Swope saw this cryptid bird as he was driving to a graveyard near Lake Erie, Pennsylvania:
He shared the story with me last year (for possible inclusion in Jacob Covey’s Beasts!: Book Two), but just publicly released the details for the first time here.
Swope said, “It was brown and the feathers had the same sheen as a pigeon’s. It was about double the size of a pigeon though, and had a bright orange beak. I also noticed that it had no tail feathers whatsoever.”
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
I hope that photo is merely representing what the actual bird looked like and it isn’t being claimed as an actual photo, because it’s obviously fake.
It’s called a chicken.
LOL graybear, I think it is just like an artist’s rendering based on the eyewitness description.
Looking closely at the bird, it looks alot like a chicken to me, just a few pencil strokes shy of being a chicken anyway. And a small, free-range hen would be about twice the size of a pigeon. Then considering it isn’t a photo and is drawing that I’m sure isn’t perfect, I really see a chicken there, lol, a Kentucky Fried Cryptid.
The illustration resembles a large rail to me. Rails tend to have very short tails and are poor fliers or flightless.
As a “regular” over at Pastor Swope’s blog, I have to say the Pastor knows perfectly well what a chicken looks like and would have identified it as such if that was the case. He is used to encountering “strange things” and to him this looks like one of them. From his postings over at his excellent blog he has shown himself to be a religious, thoughtful man of integrity who has experienced “supernatural” phenomena and continues to do so—plus he has collected incredible reports of “Fortean” phenomena that his colleagues have encountered over the years that he has been kind enough to share with his readership.
So yes, it might somewhat look likea chicken, but that doesn’t mean it is. Again—could be, but I believe the good Pastor is more knowledgeable than one would give him credit for. I’m not saying anybody is kidding around here, but really—that’s it???
Hey, maybe it IS a rail. Let’s look at that possibility. If that IS a chicken, it has got to be the most mutated, “ghetto” chicken I’ve ever seen. Looks like a chicken that’s been through a mugging. So no, I don’t think it’s a chicken. Let’s just not dismiss this outright, Ok?
This is not the first time Swope has encountered anomalous birds. Last year he described and drew a picture of a “thunderbird”-type creature he saw while working in a graveyard in 2001. You can find the description and excellent drawing he made over at his site—there’s a link to that old post in the post about this bird.
As far as I know, the sighting he had of that earlier bird has never been discussed here. If I’m wrong I own up to it. 🙂
Interesting description. Maybe the bird lost its tail feathers in an accident or fight with another creature or predator. I was thinking maybe some sort of duck, but no mention of webbed feet. The body shape of having no tail feathers could resemble that of a Australian Kiwi, however the beak and shean of the feathers don’t match up as described.
Here’s an image of a King Rail, taken from the website of the PA Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources (with the following description):
“The king rail is so named because of its large size and bright coloration. This plump chicken-sized bird is a bright rusty color. They range in size from 15 to 19 inches in height and have 21- to 25-inch wingspans. Males are larger than females. Bills are long, slightly decurved and yellow with brown tips.”
LOL cryptidsrus. I’m trying not to laugh too hard, but your defense for Pastor Swope really doesn’t work in his favor, IMHO. I mean, cryptids are just that, cryptids, and very rarely seen by anyone, and you want us to believe that he has had MANY encounters with anomalous birds. Sorry, but your description makes him sound like a well known bird, a cuckoo bird, lol.
Just joking.
I really hate to harp on the “chicken” theory, but as one who raises the birds, it is the spitting image of a Rhode Island Red or New Hampshire Red (hen in both cases) that has had an encounter with a predator. My dogs occasionally get a hold of one of my birds and they can remove all the tail feathers in one snip. Not uncommon at all. The beak on the birds range from a light yellow to a light orange. The feathers on both breeds are super shiny with a beautiful sheen. Just a thought.
Ok, Cliffhanger042002:
Ok, so it could be a chicken. I’ll take Tropicalwolf’s word for the fact that it could be a type of chicken. I was simply expressing the fact that it seemed that people seemed to be dismissing this out of hand as JUST a chicken. I was just reinforcing the fact that Pastor Swope wouldn’t just put something like this out there if he hadn’t thought of some possibilities, Ok? It just seemed like this was heading into “Let’s just dismiss this outright” territory—that’s all.
Oh, and I never said he has encountered lots of weird-looking birds—I said he has encountered weird things before. Two of whom happened to be bird-like.
What is the incidence of turkey’s in that area? They are expanding their range and population. If they were new to the area. . . Though the sheen is an interesting point. While there certainly are some strange breeds of chicken (go to any county fair), sounds like the Pastor would recognize them.
Golden eagle on the ground, or immature bald eagle?
Hi Guys,
Pastor Swope here. I was raised on a farm where poultry was commonly harvested. It was not a chicken. Did not look like a King Rail either, from the provided photo. Sorry if my photoshop butchering does not do what I saw justice. It looked more like a brown pigeon on steroids with no tail and a bright orange straight pointed beak. Local Game Commission had no clue and I never saw it again.
The “chicken” theory also meshes with Swope’s statement, “… it just stood there and looked at me…. It never got out of the way, and as I passed it, it started to follow me down the dirt trail.” It was a tame, domesticated bird.
And, strictly speaking, the chicken is “no indigenous creature” to Pennsylvania.
I don’t think Pastor Swopes is the type of guy to get confused with a chicken or a person that is easily fooled by what he sees, just spend some time on his blog.
Definitely not a chicken, a kiwi, emu, or any of the known flightless, or ground birds known.
I took the time to go and visit Pastor Swope’s blog and read the entire entry, about the “mystery bird” that is the subject of this thread, and his account of the Thunderbird sighting. I found both stories very interesting and enjoyed the read, but everything I read still makes me think it is highly probable that he saw a chicken. It’s not just the photo, it’s also the description of the animal’s reaction to Pastor Swope’s vehicle passing and the fact that is followed him. And both TropicalWolf and Fhqwhgads made some good points. Just because you have some experience with an animal doesn’t mean you can’t mistake it for something else if it is out of place and it’s appearances have possibly been altered due to an attack or just severe weathering.
I saw Pastor Swope’s drawing of the alleged Thunderbird as well and it looks remarkably like a Blue Heron. And I just can’t fully buy in to the reported size of the animal and how it was “measured” because comparing a flying creature to a fixed object on the ground while the animal is in flight is not at all accurate and can be very misleading depending on distances and angles, etc. I can’t say for sure, I wasn’t there, obviously, but it sounds to me like it is very probable that the Pastor has had experiences with known bird species under conditions that made it seem otherwise. There is just nothing in the reports that really stand out and make you think that it couldn’t have been anything other than a cryptid, and there are just too many similarities with known species.
But I will be going back to Pastor Swope’s blog and visiting, I really enjoyed the ghost stories.
Likely an adolescent of some other species that may have fallen out of a nest.
Possibly a juvenile white ibis, hence the brown color? The beak looks too short however….
BTW, Loren…Aside here…
I meant “they” to be the comment makers…not you. Sorry if I left that impression. 🙁 Thanks for the post, though.
You know, to be dismissive of Pastor Swope and mock him for wondering about an encounter with an unknown animal is pretty small minded and petty. Cryptozoology for me has always been about a sense of wonder, a belief and hope there is still mystery in the world. I think Pastor Swope understands that sense of wonder. I have to wonder if some of you here do.
I think just about everyone that vists here has a sense of wonder, to some degree or another, or else they wouldn’t visit this site. But I think some of the visitors, myself included, take a more analytical approach to “reports” and take each one with a grain of salt. I read some reports, and after going through and reviewing them very closely and trying to pull out facts, consistencies, inconsistencies, etc maybe there will be something left in the end that seems truly cryptid or paranormal. But there are some reports that you can analyze and have nothing spectacular left at the end, nothing that really makes you say to yourself that the report isn’t easily explained by normal phenom and is worth looking into. In this case, there is nothing to look into further really at this point. Now had there been several reports from different people in that region describing that same bird, then it would be worth looking into, maybe, if all parties involved agreed that it wasn’t just a chicken or rail. But that’s not the case, we have one report, from one person, and a drawing that looks like a chicken that was in a fight.
So I “wondered” quite a bit about Pastor Swope’s bird, and put alot of thought into it, read all the comments, carefully considered each one, read Pastor Swope’s blog, considered some more…..Yeah, I guess we’re all just small-minded, lol, just because we’re not Pastor’s Swope’s followers and will believe anything that he says and take it at face value without careful analysis…..
Cliffhanger- I agree one hundred percent. I’m one of those visitors too, and your approach is typically very similar to mine.
I really am a little tired of the old chestnut that we are somehow “small minded” or “petty” because we actually yearn for more and better information rather than taking everything at face value. I DO have a sense of wonder, which is why I really want to get at what is really going on based on proper analysis. To me this is the truly open minded approach.
Hi!
I think it is stereotypical and intellectually bigoted to call someone who simply backs up my claims a ‘follower’. Echoing the great Stan Lee I must say, ‘Nuff Said on that point.
I have little analysis because there was but at the most 10 minutes with the bird. But having spent over 10 years of my young life sending such fowl to the dinner table I am pretty darn sure it was not a future tasty snack I saw on a dirt road 6 years ago, even if the darn thing followed the truck for about 100 feet.
And yes, I have to admit my photoshop rendering does look a little fowl.
I do not ask anyone to take my word for it, heck if anyone reads my blog you know there are a lot of stories I retell there that I myself have a hard time to believe.
But I like to believe, even in the face of logic.
But as an avid naturist and having spent a good time in the Pennsylvania woods, I have to say I have never seen such a bird before. Even on a dinner plate. I am not sure if said bird was even suitable for munching.
What was it? OOP avian? Perhaps.
With any luck I can come up with a suitable likeness or even an example of the avian that I saw all those years ago.
But I have to say with all sincerity. I know it was not a chicken. Just because I used chicken legs in the photoshop reconstruction of the creature don’t make it so….
🙂
You know, Cliffhanger and Mystery Man, being “properly analytical” does not mean mockery like your “cuckoo” comment (and saying “just joking” and peppering your posts with “LOL” does not remove the intended insult). I visit Swopes’ blog infrequently and I’m not a “follower” by any means. But it’s clear he doesn’t claim to be a biologist or scientist of any kind – I’ll wager most of those who post here are not trained scientists (BTW, I did graduate work in terrestrial ecology working with small mammal populations at a major university in the mid 1970s, and have Master’s degrees in computer science and clinical psych so I consider myself pretty analytical and objective).
I see no reason to question Swopes’ claim that he knows chickens, and this was no chicken. He saw what he saw, and I think he was asking: what do you think it was? It’s one thing to offer an answer to his question in a helpful spirit, it’s another to offer mockery. But then, he’s just some Christian pastor running a paranormal blog, and I have to wonder if that is the real issue some of you have with his observations.
Vingogly- I feel I should point out that I myself did not call Mr. Swope “cuckoo,” nor did I say that he must be lying. I’m not sure why you chose to lump me with cliffhanger in that regard. I have no particular issues with Mr. Swope’s claims, I was merely advocating an analytical view. Unless advocating a critical approach to evidence rather than just accepting everything presented is your definition of “mockery,” then I don’t believe I was mocking him at all. I didn’t say anything of the kind.
I don’t know what exactly you mean by your comments of him not claiming to be a biologist, saying that most commenters here are not scientists, or pulling out your graduate work. For our part Cliffhanger is an engineer and I do research on the effects of invasive species on native ecologies in Japan, as well as teaching biology (so in actuality, I guess you could say that we are scientists), but we don’t come on here pulling expert cards as you appear to be doing. Besides, this has nothing to do with the subject at hand, which is approaching evidence scientifically. This is something even a non scientist can appreciate the importance of.
Please read my post again. I just think that every angle has to be considered, and I agreed with cliffhanger in that respect, so why does that have to be considered a dig at Mr. Swope? It isn’t intended to be. I think you’ll find that it was not me who called Mr. Swope names. I have at no point called Pastor Swope a liar or even claimed it must have been a chicken he saw. I don’t know what it was, but I’d be willing to look at all of the options without being accused of mockery. I have not mocked him or his beliefs, or anything of the sort in my comment, and I think you were perhaps a bit out of line to direct your comment at me in that manner.
Thanks Mystery_Man. I think this will be comment number 25, and for what, a bird that looks like a chicken??? Pastor Swope says it isn’t a chicken, and that’s fine, it’s not a chicken. But what is it, does it even really matter considering there is only one single sighting/report?
I think this has to be 1 of 2 things, and I have thought this all along. It is either a known species confused for something unknown, or it is an escaped exotic pet. But since there has only been 1 single sighting in approx. 6 years, and all we have as evidence is an admittedly “poor” illustration that doesn’t clearly depict the creature for readers to get a true visual idea of what it really looked like, then we really have nothing to debate about, as far as I’m concerned, and that’s just my opinion.
This debate seems to have quickly went from readers here looking at the photo and posting their opinions (based on the evidence provided), to Pastor Swope’s loyal “readers” telling us that we should believe that it’s not a chicken because “Pastor Swope knows it’s not a chicken and he’s encountered anomalous birds and strange/weird things in the past”. I’m sorry, but that’s not enough for me. And without better proof than the “illustration”, there is no need for me to dig deeper than what I already have. I read all this here, all of Pastor Swope’s blog and the respective comments and I still have no better guesses than a chicken or rail.
If Pastor Swope can provide a very clear illustration of exactly what the animal he encountered looked like, I’m sure at least one of the readers here can provide a reasonable explanation.
And for the record, I never directly called Pastor Swope a “cuckoo”. I simply remarked about one of the posts saying that the elaborate defense saying he’s encountered numerous cryptids made him sound a little cuckoo, because to me, it did sound a little on the goofy side. And I was sincerely joking around because I found that post very humorous. I never meant it to be a personal insult to the pastor, I was simply poking fun at the way the “poster” reacted to my comment about the photo because it was a little over-the-top and not at all objective. “Readers” from his site made very defensive posts when a couple of posts went up saying it looked like a chicken, seeming angry that readers and posters here would even suggest that. But, I mean, if you post a photo that looks similar to a chicken, what do you expect?? And some of Pastor Swope’s readers that came rushing to his defense provided no real evidence other than saying basically “he knows it’s not a chicken”.
But if I offended you in any way Pastor Swope, or seemed as though I was attacking you personally, I sincerely apologize.
I sensed this was a shapeshifter, Native american by design.
There is land connected to the region on which Indians lived, and this creature was very curious about the Pastor; merely was checking him out, I feel.
Sometimes you just have to rely on Occum’s Razor, lol.
To me, that’s what it was…and probably still is.
😉