Thunderbird

On the evening of 25 July 1977, in a yard outside Lawndale, Illinois, four
adults reported two large dark birds crossing low over the property, one of
them taking a ten-year-old boy by the shoulders and carrying him a short
distance before letting go. The Illinois River valley and the Black Forest
country of north-central Pennsylvania supply most of the rest. Wingspans are
given between three and five meters, plumage dark, a pale band at the throat,
and a glide held long distances without a beat.

The most-filed item here is a photograph nobody has produced. Since the early
1960s the company has taken statements describing one image: a large winged
animal nailed to a barn wall, men standing along it with their arms out for
scale. They agree on the number of men, the wall, and the posture. They name
the magazine they saw it in, and they name it consistently.
Those issues have been searched. No copy sits in any collection the company
has reached.

None of the Lawndale witnesses withdrew, and the boy’s account did not change
materially over forty years of interviews. No feather was recovered from the
yard. The largest bird recorded in that part of Illinois has a wingspan near
two meters and weighs about three kilograms, which is a measurement and not a
conclusion. Accounts still arrive at a low rate, most recently in 2023, and
they describe the flight rather than the bird: something crossing a road at
the height of the power lines without beating a wing.