Alternate Perceptions Magazine, February 2025
The Thunderbird Mythos Revisited
by: Dennis Stamey
We also said that there are three types of aerial phenomena: celestial prodigies (one researcher calls them super ghosts, a truly apropos term), or fantastical visions in the sky such as shields, crosses, angels, or other phantasmagoria, unexplained lights, and flying machines. We proposed that UFOs, defined as flying machines or solid objects seen in the sky, were not observed until around 1870. This suggestion was met with skepticism. But we stand by our statement. Some researchers claim that disk-shaped and elliptical objects were observed in ancient and medieval times, although this is still debated. There were a lot of configurations manifesting in the olden sky; some of them did have tubular shapes similar to those over Nuremberg in 1561, the perfect example of super ghosts. However, by tweaking the wording in these moldering manuscripts and dairies, somebody could easily describe a modern-day UFO. We’ve perused UFO reports of the early modern period from the 1600s up through the mid-1800s but never uncovered anything that suggests a UFO as we know it today, nothing but stories about errant meteors, visions, dazzling lights, and peculiar cloud formations.
People have been observing weird dazzling lights since the dawn of time, but this is a different type of manifestation although strange lights and flying machines can appear together in the same locality and even on the same night. This also happened during the airship waves of the late 1800s and early1900s. But how is this possible if they are two different types of manifestations?
These lights are globs of electromagnetic energy while the solid objects, be they spaceships, airships, mystery zeppelins, and mystery planes, are electromagnetic energy that has assumed temporary physically. The same goes for cryptids or even ghosts (ghosts are not necessarily flimsy sheets). In Operation Trojan Horse, John Keel notes that most UFOs are “soft” luminous objects, whereas solid metallic ones are rare. We dispute that “hard” objects are rare, but the lights do constitute a majority of the aerial phenomena reported.
Let’s examine examples of each of these three categories. First, the celestial prodigies or super ghosts if you prefer.
Early on the morning of June 1st, 1853, just as the sun was rising, a group of students at Burritt College in Spencer, Tennessee noticed two glowing orbs in the sky to the north, one resembling a large star and the other a "small new moon." The "moon" slowly faded away while the "star" kept getting closer until it became a large sphere.
Professor A. C. Carnes, who interviewed the students and reported the sighting to Scientific American, reported: "The first then became visible again, and increased rapidly in size, while the other diminished, and the two spots kept changing thus for about half an hour. There was considerable wind at the time, and light fleecy clouds passed by, showing the lights to be confined to one place."
According to the Wilmington, Delaware Tribune for July 30, 1860, the residents of that city were startled by a pale blue light that seemed to engulf the sky on the evening of July 13. Looking up they noticed an elongated light, maybe 200 feet long by some estimates, flying along a flat trajectory about 100 feet above them. Trailing behind this body at roughly 100-foot intervals were three "very red and glowing balls." A fourth abruptly joined the other three after shooting out from the rear of the main object, which was "giving off sparkles after the manner of a rocket." The lead object turned southeast, passed over the Delaware River, and then headed straight east until it was lost from view. The sighting lasted for almost a minute.
The Littlestown, Pennsylvania, Adams County Independent for May 2, 1919, reported that on April 27, residents of the town saw “two large balls with a bow between them” in the sky. One of the balls opened and they saw what resembled “a large serpent uncoiling” and stretching over to the other ball. Then the second ball opened and “the large head of a serpent appeared.” After that “the letter M” materialized. The paper didn’t specify if the letter replaced the serpent head or was juxtapositioned beside it.
The Dublin, Ireland, Sunday Independent of August 29, 1937, carried a story about residents in Donegal observing “the white-robed figure of a man with arms extended” walking through the sky. The apparition made no sound and appeared to be 800 feet in the air. The robed man was also seen further to the south. Everyone considered it an ill omen. We should mention that the British government partitioned Ireland in the early 1920s, cutting County Donegal off from Derry, a town that had served as the county's main port, transport hub, and financial center for centuries. By 1937, Donegal was in economic turmoil.
The Kalamazoo Gazette of January 2, 1954, says that several residents observed a crucifix made of “brilliant white light” hanging in the sky early that morning. Even more incredible was that after the crucifix faded, it was replaced by “the full figure of a robed woman.”
Here are examples of unexplained lights. The Heber, Utah, Wasatch Wave for July 29, 1890, reported that on July 27, around midnight, locals witnessed “a ball of fire about six inches in diameter” rise from the mountains north of the community of Midway, ascend several hundred feet into the sky, and fly off to the northwest.
Lexicographer and linguist J.A.H. Murray was walking across the Oxford University campus on the evening of August 31, 1895, when he noticed a “brilliant luminous body which suddenly emerged over the tops of the trees before me on the left and moved eastward across the sky above and in front of me. Its appearance was, at first glance, such as to suggest a brilliant meteor, considerably larger than Venus at her greatest brilliancy, but the slowness of the motion . . . made one doubt whether it was not some artificial firework….” The strange light continued moving east until it disappeared.
The Port Huron, Michigan, Times Herald of January 26, 1954, reported that the morning before at around 6 a.m. witnesses observed “three balls of fire hanging together” flying across the sky.
There’s an article from the Cork, Ireland, Evening Echo for December 21, 1979, which recounts the story of Nolley Balderson from Sunderland who twenty years before was lying in bed with her husband when she watched something float through the window. “I can only describe it as being about the size and shape of a swandown powder puff, the kind one buys in a box of bath-tale, but this phenomenon was a beautiful blue, glowing and pulsing as it moved, an electric blue is the only word can use to describe it.”
She added, “It moved slowly the room and across the room and hovered about 18 inches above my head.” After a few moments, the orb disappeared through the wall. She also noted that as soon as the light entered the bedroom, there was “a most intense silence.”
Associated Press reports from July 28 and 29, 1984, stated that around 3:45 a.m. on the 27th, a fireball emitting sparks splashed into the Puget Sound south of Lummi Island, Washington. The crew of a fishing vessel stated that the fiery object made two U-turns before going into the water creating a tidal wave 75 to 100 feet high. The Coast Guard from Seattle reportedly combed the area but didn’t find anything unusual.
Let’s move on to flying machines. We mentioned in our writings that the first real UFO sighting, not balls of light or heavenly oddities, occurred in Ohio in 1870. But there seems to be an earlier account. One November morning in 1866, in a letter to the Sydney Morning Herald published on November 20, Magistrate Osman Edward Middleton described hearing a “peculiar rushing noise” while walking near his home in Morpeth, New South Wales, and looked up to notice a dark object traveling rapidly toward the southeast. It appeared to be revolving on its axis.
We noted in our book that many of the 1897 airships had wings, which we considered a throwback to the Thunderbird mythos. Here’s an item from the Chicago Chronicle, April 13, 1897, concerning a strange craft that passed over Fontanelle, Iowa, on April 12: “The airship was seen here at 8:30 tonight and was viewed by the whole population. It came from the southeast and was not over 200 feet above the treetops and moved very slowly, not to exceed ten miles an hour. The machine, measuring sixty feet in length, was clearly visible, and the wing vibrations were evident. It carried the usual-colored lights, and the working of the machinery could be heard, as also the strains of music, as from an orchestra. It was hailed, but passed on to the north, seeming to increase its speed, and disappeared. There is no doubt in Fontanelle that it was the real thing, and is testified to by the most prominent citizens, etc.”
The Philadelphia Inquirer of January 26, 1902, ran a story about a curious object seen flying over Georgetown, Delaware, the day before. Onlookers first thought that it was “a large white bird,” but as they kept watching it, they realized that it “was some kind of mechanical device for navigating the air.” The object soared above the town “at a high elevation,” stopped momentarily, and then raced off toward the southwest. We suspect that the craft had airfoils.
The Strabane Ireland Chronicle of May 22, 1909, reported that people aboard the steamer Earl of Dunraven including the captain observed “a monster aerial machine” hovering above the Inishowen Mountains. The witnesses said that the craft resembled a “winged aeroplane.”
As we pointed out in The Circus of Illusions, there were also sightings of winged serpents from the mid to late 1800s. This flying anomaly seems to have first materialized in Nebraska in the late 1850s. As one ballad describes it: Twas on a dark night in '66 When we was layin' steel We seen a flyin' engine Without no wing or wheel It came a-roarin' in the sky With lights along the side And scales like a serpent's hide.” If the lyrics are accurate, then this winged serpent was half-machine, half-organic, and likely represents the beginning of the flying machine phenomena.
Also in our last book, we detailed several accounts of these airborne serpents, but there are a few we missed. The journal Zoologist for July 1868 quotes from a Chilean newspaper item published sometime in April of that same year about one such sighting. After completing their day at the Garin mine, workers gathered for their evening meal when they were stunned to see something flying overhead. The creature had a huge wingspan, brown plumage; and a grasshopper-shaped head "with enormous eyes wide open and brilliant as stars and covered with something like hair or bristles.” Its body was long and serpentine. A miner reported seeing brilliant scales clashing with a metallic sound as a strange animal flew. Allegedly, similar creatures were spotted near the mine nine years earlier.
A metallic sound? Again, the creature sounds half-machine, half-biological.
One of our most glaring omissions comes from a story published in the Los Angeles Times on January 18, 1882, concerning what happened to a Southern Pacific train the day before. When the train reached Los Angeles that night, the engineer, fireman, and numerous passengers swore they saw a flying serpent hovering above the tracks. They estimated it was about 30 feet long and 12 inches in diameter. The fast-moving locomotive clipped off a portion of its tail, enraging the monster and causing it to attack. The infuriated beast "gave the train a lively thrashing, roaring like a cow in distress all the time." As women and children screamed, the beast shattered several windows. Some of the passengers came to their senses long enough to unholster their pistols and fire at the beast through the broken window frames. The bullets didn’t seem to hurt the monster, but it did pull away and sail off into the desert. "This is vouched for by everyone who was on the train, and is given for what it is worth," stated the Times.
Did anyone go back to look for the serpent’s tail?
In August 1885 near Fletcher, Illinois (we’re referencing the Bloomington, Illinois, Weekly Leader for August 6, 1885), farmer James Vincent, Sr., and several of his neighbors saw four airborne snakes sailing over Vincent’s farm. One was larger than the rest, perhaps 30 feet long, while the others were between 18 to 20 feet in length. One of the smaller serpents grabbed a lamb by its jaws and slithered toward the larger snake but dropped it when one of the men hurled a fence rail at it. The smaller snakes then attacked the men but they managed to fight off. However, one of the creatures again snatched a lamb and put it in the larger snake's mouth. The farmers fired several shots at the larger snake, but it only seemed to stun it. The smaller snakes quickly flew into the big snake’s mouth. The serpent then unfurled its wings, struggled to gain altitude over the property's hedge fences, and finally flew away.
Given its fantastical nature, one might speculate if the *Weekly Leader* fabricated the story to boost sales. That wasn’t uncommon back in the unsophisticated days of journalism. But perhaps there is a core of truth to the report.
In June 1890, according to the San Francisco Examiner of June 8, a boy named Jimmie Dillar was playing on the hills of Balboa Park in San Diego when he saw an enormous “half-bird, half-beast” soaring low through the air with bat-like wings, a long bill, and a tail twisted into a doughnut shape. The boy dove for cover as the beast flew over a few feet off the ground. It then flapped back into the sky and accelerated eastward disappearing. The paper said that another San Diego resident identified as "Mr. Marvin" spotted the same monster that very day over Switzer Canyon near 28th Street, swearing to it “on a stack of Bibles.”
By 1900 as the American frontier gave way to progress, the flying serpents went extinct replaced by mechanical contrivances that still often bore wings. The Thunderbird mythos had to adapt to the changing technology. Flying snakes were too fanciful. But nonetheless according to the South Wales Argus (Newport, Gwent), the citizenry of Llandrindod Wells, Powys, declared that during that same month, they beheld a mammoth snake” in the air following a brief thunderstorm. The serpent swooped down upon the terrified crowd, estimated to be in the hundreds, its mouth belching smoke, but flew back in the sky just in time, disappearing into the clouds.
Maybe this aerial snake was a super ghost.