That Lost Thunderbird Photo

In Mark A. Hall’s book, Thunderbirds: America’s Living Legends of Giant Birds, he examines the alleged photographic evidence for these cryptid birds in depth. At the end of his discussion, he writes: “The status of the infamous ‘Thunderbird photograph’ has remained the same for years. A lot of people think they have seen the picture. Everyone wants to see it. But no one can produce a copy.”

Writer Shawn Lindseth over at Awesome Or Off-Putting penned a new mini-feature on Thunderbirds in 2006. Okay, that’s interesting, but what is more intriguing to me is the “photograph” shown with the blog, pictured here:

Is this the long lost “Thunderbird photo”? There is no caption. Why keep all this mystery going with another old seemingly “lost” photograph? From our Cryptomundo commenters, of course, it is just another computer-created “lost Thunderbird photo”. But it does beg the question, how many times are we going to see this photo popping up again and again as “the” lost T-bird snapshot?

The internet has many formerly flying candidates for the “lost photo.” They have included everything from the drawing of what people remember (below)…

…to the confusing “Mystery Civil War Pterodactyl” photo (directly below), in fact produced for the year 2000’s fictional program, “Freaky Links.”

Pterodactyl photograph used with permission of Gregg Hale, Executive Director, Haxan Productions. Credit, Fox TV. The actual object, all 11 feet of it, is now housed in the International Cryptozoology Museum. Another version of the image is below:

What’s in your wallet? Do you have a photograph of the Thunderbird? Or have seen it?

[Old comments on this previously published blog have been retained, because they are, well, interesting and entertaining to read, once again.]

Loren Coleman 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.

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